A lot has happened since my last blog, one of which is that Donna and I finally spent the first night in our new home Sunday night September 24, 2006. We were going to do it Saturday but Rommel didn’t get the chance to hook up our range so Donna had him come in Sunday to do just that.
We cannot turn on the pilot light in our water heater so we had to call my father-in-law Daddy Dick to try and help us figure it out. Of course, he was able to make it work. So now we have our sorely missed hot water! At this time, I have no idea when I’ll stop depending on him for everything! This old guy has been my crutch for the last 20 years or so!! I really got spoiled by him during our stay in California.
With all of our split type air conditioners installed and hooked up – after almost a week of the contractors tearing up some of the house’s outside walls, water heater working, it’s definitely home sweet home! The only two major loose strings to be tied up: 1) the Georgian bars on our windows still have not been properly installed. These are those plastic stripes that are glued to the glass. 2) Rommel could not seem to figure out how to make our water filter system work. We turn it on and it can almost fill up a pitcher of water and then poof, it stops. After waiting several minutes or so, it starts flowing again. I just don’t think it’s supposed to work that way. 3) And of course our full size mattress on a queen bed spring issue is still not resolved.
Our music room is pretty much all done with my Bose home theater system and projector all hooked up and I’ve given my workers a taste of it by showing them the battle scene of Narnia with the volume turned up high enough to simulate watching a movie in the local multiplex. Suffice it to say, they were pretty blown away. Heck, I was impressed! The floor to ceiling curtains and the insulation that we glued to the ceiling really helped manage the acoustics of the room.
Let me tell you about a couple of major happenings before we moved in though. The first one is of our friend Alan Sanchez’ father’s passing away last Tuesday September 19, 2006. He’s 85 and has been bed ridden with a stroke and Alzheimer’s for the last couple of years. I’m proud to say that Donna and I were with them all through the wake and the final interment last Saturday September 23. In appreciation, Alan and Neneng came a couple of days later and presented us with a case of Diet 7Up. There’s a story behind this which is too long to tell here.
Through the phone and text messaging, word quickly got around and some of our classmates (Ned Canlas, Tonette Magtoto, Myrna Alvarez, Aurora Mallari, Marlyn Liwanag, Mar Guevarra, Romy Sanchez, Nida Navarro) were there to offer their prayers and sympathy as well.
The 2nd is of Donna’s bout with some sort of intestinal flu. She started feeling dizzy and nauseous so everyone was teasing her that Daniel might have a brand new sibling soon! When it persisted, I had to call Mareng Tess Santos (Rach’s Auntie, by the way) who’s a local Ob-Gyne. She and Pareng Romy actually visited us (I did’t know doctors still do house calls in this day and age!) with her stethoscope and stuff and prescribed her some antacid and pain pills. I think her prescriptions worked because Donna’s feeling much better. She still watches her diet quite diligently by staying away from fatty and fibrous foods. She has to take her antacids a few more days but she hasn’t taken any pain pills for a couple of days now.
October 7, 2006
Today, they finished installing all the rocks for our two water falls. We’ve tested the one in the front and somehow the top water supply wasn’t working like we hoped it would. Our mason had to pull out some of the rocks to try to figure out why. On Monday, October 9, we should be able to test the one at the back by the Jacuzzi. The pond in front of the porch is almost done too. Rommel just had to install the water spouts on its edges.
Our granite counter tops for the kitchen and bathrooms have all been cut, polished and installed. I have to admit, they look a little better than the formica which we originally planned to use. The living room furniture, dining room and kitchen furniture have all been put in place, along with Donna’s curio cabinet full of her elephant figurine collection and china cabinet. We still have to hang all our paintings though which I’m hoping we’ll do next week.
We’re 95% finished on our unpacking. Since we moved in, Donna and I almost always go to bed around 1:30ish in the mornings unpacking boxes and putting things away. By the time we’re done though, we would have disposed of about 15% of our stuff, 10% of which will be given away and 5% thrown away as trash.
A few days after we moved in, our friends Mike Estacio and Dan Garcia came and checked out the house. And early this week my sister Ating Auring and husband Kong Edeng visited us.
Last Tuesday, I went to the Department of Health lab and turned in a small bottle of our tap water to be tested for bacteria. We would save a lot of money on bottled water if it turns out to be safe for consumption. Our workers have been drinking it, however and nothing drastic that I know of has happened to them. I’ll go back on Tuesday to pick up the results. When I went to the cashier to pay for the fee, lo and behold, our friend Marlyn Liwanag works in the same office and she took me to another office where another old high school friend, Nida Navarro Cordero (whom I haven’t seen since 1970) works. I found out she’s a grandma and that her husband Rey Cordero (another classmate) passed away five years ago.
After church today, we talked with Father Sito who arrived from his mission in the States (and a much needed vacation in Canada) and we set up a date with him to perform an informal blessing of the house on Tuesday morning.
