Shopping .... Jan 15th - 23th

Replacement flowers for the ones Dianne sent before Christmas.

Well .... back in Vancouver after coming back from the island, it was time to make Dad's house more comfortable for Ray. We have to stay here until the house is sold and that looks lilke about 6 months before all the paperwork is done and a sale can go through. Hopefully sooner but we are prepared for it to take some time.

Dad's mattresses are old and uncomfortable so we made the decision to purchase an electric split king bed that we had planned on now, instead of waiting to get it when we buy a condo or house later this year. This also included ordering a new head and foot board to match our existing bedroom suite  currently in storage. Expensive, but necessary so that Ray is comfortable when he needs to lay down for a couple of hours each day. This will enable him to rest his back and still be able to watch TV without impacting his neck. His degenerative disc disease has now moved into his neck vertibrae.

Next on the list was new lazyboy chairs for him and I. Dad's old chairs are also uncomfortable for his back and the one I sit in is way too big and forces my neck forward. and I am now suffering daily with a stiff neck.  We ordered 2 chairs that match the new couch and chair that Dad bought only last year, for our future residence. The wait for them will be about 8 weeks, same as the headboard but at least we will have the bed as of Saturday. I am having to move to the spare room's bed in the middle of the night as I get way too sore sleeping in Dad's bed.
(Saturday .... sleep ... mmmmmmmm. The new bed is fabulous, Ray slept great and I actually slept through the whole night for the first time since I got here mid-December.) We also had Shaw Cable come and hookup the cable jack in the bedroom so Ray can watch TV from this position.

Yup a very, very happy camper!

The final "large" purchase is a new 2017 Ford Edge Sport. Our current Edge has pretty much been run into the ground and is now blowing "blue smoke". Originally it was a rental and had 35,000 miles on it when we bought it 5 years ago. I did not want to put any more money into it as the electronics are starting to fail ... backup camera, door ajar signal etc.the air conditioning only works under 25C or 77F. With all these problems, we'd planned on getting a new car when we got back in the Spring.  So it seemed a good time to buy last years model while there are good discounts to be had. They actually gave us $8000 for a trade-in! I was expecting $3000. We were supposed to take delivery on Monday, Jan 22nd after they swap out the towing airbrake system and hitch from our car. They called us Saturday, unfortunately we needed to order a new tow bar system to fit the car.  The car has shutters in the front to control air intake and the new system accommodates this, so another $1600. Necessary though, or we don't take this car. (We got another silver Edge as Ray's research indicates silver shows the least amount of dirt! lol)

This is what the car will look like before the front hitch is put on.

Rear View

Interior and yes we have a large moon roof with heated and cooled seats!

The rest of the time we spend mucking out cupboards of junk to make room for all of the stuff I had stashed in the motorhome. Emptying out our house on wheels that we have lived in for the past 5 years was quite something. I really do have a ton of storage in the rig. I am paying my Dad's caregiver, Larny, to detail the inside since we are completely emptying it and winterizing it for the first time. Every nook and cranny is being cleaned of all "desert dust"and oiled. Once that is done, I will close it up for the winter with just a little heat on inside. It will be nice to start fresh again after the house is sold.  Larny couldn't believe the amount of stuff in the cupboards.

I've spent many hours scanning pictures that I found in the house and from our albums which we brought back from the island. I am making a slide presentation of my Dad for his Celebration of Life on Friday, Jan 26th. Still cannot believe he is gone ... lots of tears this week while making this presentation and writing his eulogy.

Ray took me out to lunch to help cheer me up. Sushi yumm. Flaming Unagi Roll and it was on fire when they put it on the table and a Lobster Roll. New place called Kami Sushi fairly close by. A definite do again.

More things have needed attention ... the ensuite toilet is not flushing and the plumber will be here this week to replace it before all the company comes on Friday. Today, Tuesday, the shower pole fell down off the wall as the spring is shot... Ray will pick up a new one tomorrow. This is on top of the new hot water tank we needed to be replace in the first part of January.  Ray even had to to replace the two toilet paper dispensers, which had been torn from the wall. Yikes ... hopefully this is the end of repairs before the house can be sold!

The weather has been very rainy.  At least being in South Surrey we have had less of the wet stuff than North Vancouver.  Grey days seem to be the theme including a huge windstorm that caused a power outage at our house from 8:20 am to 5pm Sunday. Fortunately Dad's family room is really bright with lots of big windows and two large skylights so at least it is not so dreary, even when raining. So that's the wrap up for the last two weeks.