We Live in Florida!

We made it happen, folks. Over the past 8 days, we've moved and gotten ourselves settled in Florida. Here's how it went down...

Sunday: Mom & I leave from Atlanta. Arrive in Florida to meet landlords and get keys. Landlords are an hour late and very flustered. Proceed to point out everything that's wrong with the apartment. Seriously? Not a good start. I was so glad Mom was there or I might've a)cried, b)checked into a hotel, c)texted B to "GET HERE NOW." Instead, Mom put on music and we unloaded the things we had in our cars, got them organized, then went out to dinner at the fun Mexican place down the street. Shared our new air mattress in the empty apartment. Picked up a few staples from Publix.

Monday: TECO arrives to turn the gas on (hot water!). POD teases us! I'd spoken with the zoning committee, who said it would be no problem to have the POD in our street for up to 30 days (we only wanted 3). The POD people balked ("um, they didn't read far enough down. At the bottom of that page it says 'NO PODS ALLOWED ON STREET OVERNIGHT.'"). That's exciting! So we told them to get the POD there asap, called movers, and had the whole thing unpacked and off the property in a total of about five hours. Did I mention that Mom is amazing? Yes. Mom slept in guest bed, I slept on air mattress. B arrives in time for bed (post bachelorette finale, which we watched with our neighbords; so fun!) and gives the place his approval (yea!).

Tuesday: Cable guy arrives and is mean and crude and just mean. B was out on a run when he arrived and Mom and I literally stood at the window watching for B to come back. If you know us, you know that's not like us! He stood around, dented and bent things, then left without hooking anything up, "because this stuff always works." UGH. Called Comcast, complained, got part of our bill reduced, scheduled two new people to come out. Sidebar: The first guy also made it clear he was an area cop, so I felt so NOT ok complaining about him. Anyone else had to deal with that?

Wednesday: Mom and B headed off to run errands (bless them!) while I had a job interview at a local bakery (yea!). They're not even really sure that they're hiring, but I should know this week. Fingers crossed! Washer/dryer arrives, looks beautiful, and works. Amen.

Thursday: More organizing and settling.

Friday: B leaves for bachelor party #2. Mattress arrives. Bed arrives. Everything finally in the apartment! Mom & I celebrate by hitting two "First Friday" events in nearby neighborhoods.

Saturday: Mom and I enjoy a lazy morning, then a five mile walk (she walked alll over our neighborhood this week in anticipation of her upcoming hiking vacation; go Mom!), then lunch at a cute town center across the river. We tried to go to church and failed, and Mom decided she'd head home on Sunday morning so she could get a few things done in Florence.

Sunday: Mom hugged me goodbye, I went back to sleep, then B arrived around 2pm, after I'd finished a few hours of work. We spent the afternoon laying in our new bed watching movies and bad TV (seriously, have you ever seen the Hotel Children of Orange County? It's not a slasher flick, but it is a scary true documentary of homeless kids) before walking our tails to Publix to get things for dinner. I'm trying not to fill our fridge, only buying what we need as we need it. Here's to budgets, minimalism, and the love of clean fridges!

So it's Monday now, I think. I'm working this morning while B sleeps off the rest of the bachelor party. The apartment is starting to feel like home; after all, it does have all our stuff!

B's awake! Love him.