It's cool to be cool

I don't know if I mentioned in my last post that our AC/Heat unit was on the fritz. It is a Geo Thermal unit, the kind that has wells buried in the back yard with antifreeze and it keeps the water circulating through it at a constant 70°. This keeps the electric bill down and helps with the hot water costs. Anyways, the guy came out on Friday, May 29th to do whatever he could to make it run. After about 3 hours, he told me he could fix this and that and it would cost approximately $3,500 and maybe last a few more years. The unit was put in the 39th week of 1985. So it's old. Or, I could spend $7,600 and get a brand new unit that will last 25 to 40 years. I told him to order the new unit.

It was a hot, muggy week and a half, but on Tuesday, June 8th, two guys showed up at the house at 8am. They worked on it until 7pm, but it's done. They did have to make a couple of adjustments. The old unit had an air return in the ceiling of our hallway with the thermostate in the hall also. This unit being brand new stainless steel (did I say, it's really pretty) has a return on the side instead of the back so they had to cut a 24"x24" hole in my dining room wall and that's where the return and thermostate are located now. I was hoping that the hole could be cut closer to the floor, but nope. It's pretty much right in the middle of the wall, which really sucks. I asked them if there was anything else they could do and they mubbled off a few things that didn't really make any sense to me. Oh, I was at work during the installation, so the mubbling took place on the phone. And they didn't tell me the hole would be 24"x24". I thought it was going to be like 9"x9" (like an air vent). It's probably alot more noticable since my walls in the kitchen and dining area are a tuscan terra cotta reddish color. I wonder if I could paint the grate?

By the time they were finished it was 91° in the house. It took several hours to get it to a comfortable 75° and it was so nice to be able to sleep without sweating.

Let's see, my son moved out into his own apartment. That left a vacant bedroom and I had some big ideas of turning it into my knitting room. I wanted cubbie shelves on one wall and I was going to have all of my yarn sorted and displayed beautifully. I wanted to put a big chair in there and a tv so I could sit back and knit. Also, I wanted to move my desk and computer into that room. My big ideas quickly dwindled when Chelsea said, so is that going to be Hayden's new room......If you've been reading my blog for very long, you might remember that a few years ago when Chelsea was pregnant. I remodeled my house for the new baby. I turned the formal living and dining room into a mini suite. Chelsea and Brennan's room was the living area and Hayden was in the dining room side. I thought about putting a wall between the rooms, but ended up running out of time and money. They have a king size quilt hanging as a room divider. So back to my original story. Chelsea wanted to know if Hayden could move into the other room. Of course I wouldn't deny my sweet boy anything and off I went to purchase new paint, curtains, a book shelf, etc. We got everything painted and set up and last night was his first night in his new room. I was a little worried that I would be up all night. But he didn't wake me up at all. I never heard him even once.

So, I think my next plan is to go ahead and put up the wall between Chelsea/Brennan's room and Hayden's old room. I'll turn his old room into my new yarn room/office.