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Looking into the future…

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

Rustic Country Market is going to change in the future.

What kind of change?

We are planning to expand our registered trade name, Rustic Country Market, into a home based business. I registered and created this website in 2015, and have an organic following on FB based on the name Rustic Country Market Living.

I’ve organized and supported others’ businesses most of my life, and now I’m going to focus that experience on Rustic Country Market. Our long term goal is to start/organize a local marketplace to sell rustic country items. In the meantime, we are going to participate in newly formed, local farmer market.

Adapting…

For some, there’s a fear of success, because success can raise the performance bar.

(Dilbert was cancelled in 2023.)

We “retired” and relocated the end of 2020, in the midst of global chaos; and took on a fixer upper in the rural White Mountains of AZ. As our home projects slow down, we are looking forward to doing what we enjoy, instead of what we have to do. We had hoped to travel in retirement, but with the economy going as it is, we’re limiting our love for travel to our local area.

It’s not the strongest of the species which survives, nor the most intelligent which survives. It is the one which is the most adaptable to change.

Charles Darwin

Believe…

We believe if you attach a feeling to a belief, you will make a way for change. We love God and we love USA country living. We love small towns. We love our garden, greenhouse, canning, home cooked meals, chickens, BBQ hut, wood fired oven and pizza. We love the smell and taste of fresh roasted coffee. We love our hot tub where we can sit under a vast starlit sky (because we live where there’s no light pollution). We love making things. We love crafting. We love going to garage sales and estate sales. We love repurposing things, instead of throwing them away. We love old and new rustic stuff.

We believe our name, Rustic Country Market, fits our country lifestyle.

Humble beginnings…

We’ve been busy planning our local, Arizona, home based business future that includes:

  • Rustic Country Decor
  • Small Batch Roasted Coffee Beans
  • Coffee Mugs & Signs
  • Nest Run Eggs
  • Various Dried Hot Pepper Spices
  • Dried Russian Sage Bunches

There’s a lot of details to attend to when starting a business.

Time has been flying. It’s funny how day to day, nothing appears to change, yet if we look back, EVERYTHING looks different.

I’ll be sharing our new journey, as things progress, on RusticCountryMarket.com, because I love to journal, write, and create.

We aren’t just a market, we are Rustic Country Market Living.

Inspiring Home Life ♥️,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR

Creating a Stress Free Zone

Published on by byjoellaLeave a comment

We bought an Aquaterra Spas Ventura 96-jet, 6-person Spa from Costco (online). It was delivered as promised, wrapped on a (partially broken) pallet. It was delivered to the edge of our property. Prior to it arriving my husband (who is a contractor) set a paver stone base for it to sit on. He was able to use his rigging skills to relocate the nearly 918 pound spa from our front property edge, on to the paver stones. After we unwrapped it, we were glad to see there was no damage to the spa caused by the broken delivery pallet.

Spa Won’t Hold Water

When we started to add water, we quickly realized there was no drain cap! The spa was also missing the cover lock key(s). I called the manufacturer. They sent them to us – no problem. Next we hired a local, licensed electrician to run the electrical. The electrician buried the electrical line under the pavers so it would not be a trip hazard. Once it had power, we were thrilled to see it had no leaks when we turned the jets on!

Within a few weeks, we decided to buy a cover lift from the manufacturer, Watkins Wellness. To add the cover lift, we had to empty the spa so we could install it under the spa. If you buy a spa, consider buying the cover lift prior to installing the tub. We think Costco should offer the cover lift when you buy the spa.

We love that the spa comes with a Bluetooth sound system. The subwoofer sounds like it is located under the spa. We learned that if the spa drops or will not connect via Bluetooth, we need to flip the circuit breaker on and off.

Got Privacy?

Our next goal was to create some spa privacy. After scouring Pinterest and HGTV for ideas, we decided to build a bamboo privacy fence to surround our tub that does not block our sunset view or inhibit star gazing.

At first we were going to put a tall fence on the back and front sides, and a short fence facing our backyard, but we quickly changed that decision. We ended up with a tall fence all the way around and we used the short fence for the gate on the front side. Once the fence was complete, my husband secured the exterior pavers with concrete.

Creating Our Desert Oasis

We added a couple solar lights, and of course I added some decorative touches! I’m sure you can understand when you look at these pictures, why we wanted to preserve our sunset view.

Finally, we added a sun shade over the hot tub to protect it from the strong Arizona sun. Large enough to create shade, yet allow us to view the night sky. We used spring clips so we can easily take it down during monsoon season.

Love our desert oasis!

Spa Challenges & Lessons Learned

Balancing the chems has been challenging. We’d get one right and another would go wrong. One day we opened the tub to find it cloudy! We found the following website helpful: https://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/adjusting-ph.htm

We added a drain valve prior to adding the drain cap. This makes it much easier to hook up a hose to drain the tub!

We learned that it is recommended you use an RV water filter on your hose when filling your spa. Who knew?!!!

It can get windy where we live, so I added some extra strong Velcro along the front edge to stop the cover from lifting and allowing dust and sand to enter the tub.

Another lesson: Don’t forget to loosen the clips on the backside of the tub BEFORE you lift the spa cover. They will break. And if (when) you break them, you can get replacement clips on Amazon.

Within 3 months we noticed that the screws on the speakers were rusting. We bought a set of stainless steel screws to immediately replace the screws. 

Problem Solved!

Inspiring Home Life,

THE RELENTLESS REDECORATOR