Where have I been!?!

I can’t promise that I’m back for every day posts quiet yet, but here’s a little bit of what I have been doing in the last week.

- Working out in the gym

- Sitting by the pool

- Watching TV on the free wireless by the pool

What can I say? Life is hard sometimes.

- Visiting with grownup people that I used to babysit long, long ago

- Perusing IKEA for a sofa bed so people can visit me

- Finding Publix, Aldi, and BJ’s and trying to figure out where I’ll get my groceries

- Looking at curtains

- Watching my mom unpack dozens of boxes while I worked to organize my kitchen

- Finding the Post Office

- Finding the local public access beach

- Taking a physical agility test – which they told me would be a “physical”. FYI “physical” and “physical agility” are two different things. One should not wear open toed sandals to a physical agility test…. Ahem

- Watching my dad do tons of “manly” work

See? I’ve been pretty busy!

Photo shoot

Last week while I was supposed to be packing, I decided to do a photo shoot with my dress uniform. I had to give all of this stuff back when I moved. I’m glad I took the time to get these shots.

WHY ARE WE STOPPING!?!?!?!?

I found this site a few weeks ago. I haven’t decided if it is horrible exploitation of children or extremely hilarious.

Anyway, in the spirit of the site I’m making a list of the many reasons why I might soon need new brakes. No, I do not have pictures. These are just a few of the explanations for the many sudden braking incidents that I experienced between Va and Fl. Sudden braking means going from 80 to 40 in mere seconds…

- There was a hill

- The sign said “Construction nightly” It was one o’clock in the afternoon

- There were signs of construction…unmanned cranes in the median

- There was a tow truck on the right shoulder

- There was a curve

- There was…nothing there…

 

 

Just one more

Mere hours before I was to permanently leave the Burg, I stopped in to one last carseat check. I could not stay for the whole event, but I wanted to see my carseat buds one last time.

I don’t think they noticed the “Florida Alum” license plate frame on the car when it pulled in. I did.

There were “issues” with his seat so the three of us were working on it at the same time. I on the back, one gal on the front, and the other on her phone looking up the seat’s manual.

“Sarah, we are really going to miss you’re help with things like this.” said the gal who was wrestling the seat straps from the front.

She turned her head to the poor dad-to-be who probably wondered what on earth we were doing to his seat.

“She’s moving to Florida tomorrow.”

His face brightened and he asked where in Florida I’d be going.

For some reason I told him the name of the town which houses the base for my new job – not where I’ll be living.

“Lecanto” I pronounced it LecOnto

The man’s face broke into a huge grin.

“That’s my hometown! But you said it wrong. It’s Lecanto.” He pronounced it LecAnto

We chatted a bit about pronunciations and what I’d be doing in his hometown. His affection for the little town was obvious. I’m pretty sure he would have gone on for quite some time had we not needed to show him how to install his carseat.

It has been a long time since I’ve doubted that this move was right. But actually leaving the Burg was hurting pretty badly Thursday night. So God gave me one more nudge. One more assurance. One more “hug” to get me up and out the next day. It was epic – especially since this one had witnesses.

 

 

 

 

Guided tour

Welcome to my new home!!

That is my window there at ground level. I have two windows.

This is my other window and the main reason I decided to rent this unit. I’m still trying to figure out how best to arrange my furniture to maximize the glorious light. Until my belongings arrive from VA I shall enjoy the spot in my lawn chair.

There really isn’t a good way to get the entire living area into a photo, so I skipped that and went straight to the kitchen. See that calendar? That going up made it official that I was home. Behind the calendar is my pantry – it is close in size to my old pantry. The other set of white bifold doors goes to my laundry room. I have a full-sized washer and dryer. They are a little big for me, but I’ll get used to three instead of six loads of laundry a week. Unfortunately, there is a terrible lack of shelving in the laundry room so I’m going to have to be creative with my linens and other linen closet items.

My bedroom is currently furnished with an air mattress with a sleeping bag and a few assorted packing items turned into furniture. I’ll spare you the glory. Instead, this is my walk-in closet. That is pretty much the total of my hanging belongings so there is an entire wall of wasted hanging space. I see several hours of staring at storage options in my future… This closet does not make up for the epic closet systems I had installed in my home in VA.

Can I tell you how excited I am about this bathtub?? It’s ginormous!!!! To say it makes me smile is an understatement.

Well, that’s my home for now. Maybe I’ll give you another tour when my belongings arrive and I am really settled.

1 Thess 5:23,24

 May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!

Saying goodbye

It has been a long week of saying goodbye.

Monday it was two friends from my teenage years.

Tuesday it was my rescue squad. There was very messy sobbing. And I quote “The Rock of Gibralter has broken in two!” Apparently not everyone knows I cry at Hallmark commercials…

Wednesday was Awesome Kelly. How I held it together when we said goodbye I shall never know. If I didn’t know that her husband would hunt me down and shoot me, I’d have smuggled her into my luggage.

Thursday was the funeral for my friend from the rescue squad. So many people came to town for the service. I was able to say goodbye to people who moved away several years ago, but were important to me at the beginning of my rescue career.

Friday I said goodbye to my home. Closing my door with no key with which to open it again hurt. Really hurt. I have loved my little home. It has been my haven, my place of rest. I loved building my kitchen with my dad. I loved building the closets. I loved putting paint on all of the walls. I know I am moving towards something bigger and better, but it was really hard to say goodbye to my first home.

I’ve had enough goodbyes – today I’m starting the hellos!!