It's just the little things.

Now that I'm back from my mini mental health break for Carmel it's time to be an adult again :(

One of the many things I love about the Carmel house is the fireplace. Years ago it use to be wood burning. Back then an elderly couple use to rent the house for 3 or 4 month every year. They would burn so much green wood (that is very bad) it would fill the house with smoke. It got so bad that they actually disconnected all the smoke alarms. I only discovered that when one of the smoked detectors wasn't level on the wall.  On top of all that, they would complain that the house smelled like smoke (wonder why) and wanted the inside of the house painted before they arrived the following year. As time went on, they started to damage things in the house.  Pulling on locked cabinets that were clearly marked as a private family closet and damaging the doors. Trying to change a ceiling light bulb but when he couldn't get the glass panel down just ripped it out the socket. I will say it wasn't an easy light fixture to change as I had to do it once and it took a lot of fussing around. Common sense would just have you call the management company to send someone out to change the light bulb. The last straw was when the man fell against the front French doors (they have been painted shut for years) and broke a panel. Almost all the glass windows are originally to the house which was built in the early1940's. The window glass all have gas bubbles and a nice rippled look of age. I'm guessing he was trying to open the doors as there isn't any other reason to be near it. So Im not sure who decided their time in Carmel was over but after that they never rented the house again. 

A gas fireplace was finally installed and it was a game changer. Besides not having to deal with wood smoke, the fireplace can be set to turn on when things get really cold even if no one is there. The upside to all that is the front part of the house doesn't get damp anymore so doesn't get that a moldy stale smell. It's nice to just press a button to enjoy the fireplace in the evenings. 

Now off to packing up a few more boxes before heading out to my next dog sitting gig.