Gina's Jewels

Making progress....

Monday….it was back to work.   We headed to the Zenith house after breakfast and the day was filled with more painting, cleaning and floor installation.  

It was funny to hear the individual accounts of the first night our friends spent at the house.   Olivia captured her thoughts on her I-Touch detailing all the noises that kept her awake (dogs barking, snoring, growling tummy, etc.) in addition to the discomforts of sharing a room with the rest of the family.  It was very funny.

 
 

Despite their sleep interruptions, the girls kept Wagner busy all day playing games and swimming. 

April and Harley are helping us so much that the house is coming along much quicker than we ever anticipated.   The 2^nd bedroom walls are finished and ½ the floor is installed. 

Yesterday after Stephan completed his 4 hours of workcamping in the morning, he picked up a used dryer that I came across at St. Matthews Thrift Shop.  

Later, Harley and Stephan made another Home Depot run and then made some adjustments on the trailer in preparation for the NC trip.   The guys are leaving for NC on Saturday to relocate all of our things from storage to the Zenith house.   Wagner is looking forward to spending a few days with his NC buddies.

Fleamasters and Costco

 

We took a break on Sunday and spent a few hours cruising around the Fort Myers flea market.   Stephan, who hates flea markets (almost as much as Wagner), purchased a large trash can for about $20 off the Home Depot price.   Harley had the windows on his car tinted for about $300 less than he was quoted back home.  April and I spent the bulk of our time at the market trying on and deciding on a few casual wear items. 

One of the booths had an assortment of pet products and a few cats and dogs.   I found this cat to be a tad creepy – kind of like E.T.

 

 
 
We rested at one of the food courts and split an order of sweet potato fries – nobody wanted to try the gator tail.

 

We had originally planned to head to Ft. Myers Beach for the sandcastle competition but decided that it was just too windy.   Ida had entered the Gulf and was creating waves of strong winds.  We decided to head to Costco to pick up a few more household items.

We sampled salmon, filet mignon, pasta, etc. before coming to the Vita Mix demonstration.   The salesman made smoothies, soup, and sorbet for us to try which we enjoyed so much, both our families purchased a mixer.

Afterwards, we let the kids swim for a while before heading home for the evening.

A dishwasher for less than a trip to Starbucks.......

The kids spent the day swimming, Harley and Stephan worked on the house, and the moms were “released” to shop for appliances on Friday.   Whooooooo hooooo!   I can’t remember the last time I was sent out to shop with a girlfriend!

Bonita Springs has several charity run thrift shops, so we started our search there and we hit the jackpot!   The rest of the gang met up with us and loaded up a great looking GE dishwasher to take to the Zenith house.   It cost us $10!   We saw a few stoves but decided to keep looking as they weren’t in good enough condition.  After the dishwasher steal, I’m going to have to come to terms with the reality that a stove WILL cost more than $10.

After a full day of working on the house, we all returned to the rig and enjoyed a humungous salad for dinner before calling it a day.

Before (yellow walls with graffiti and urine scented carpet):

 

After (with fresh paint and a new floor):

 

 On Saturday, the guys started installing the floors (which look fabulous).  April and I spent time at the rig letting the kids play games, etc. before heading over to the Zenith house.  The house is getting to the point where they can camp out in it and rather than paying a nightly hotel fee.   In preparation, April and I hit the local Walmart for a few necessities.   We discovered that the Lehigh Acres Walmart is a happening place on Saturday night and it took us a bit longer than expected to accomplish our mission.