Au Revoir Orlando

   Before we headed home from our successful weekend of finding our dream home to be built in Sarasota, with our realtor, Anita Wise, Michael and I still had to find an apartment to rent during the seven or eight months we were told it would take to complete. We had called several complexes, but because so many people were doing the exact same thing as us, they said they didn't have any available units until January 2022 at the earliest and we needed to be able to move in by early September. 

   Michael found an apartment called ShoreView and they were able to let us tour a unit on the bottom floor. She actually told us that it would be the exact unit we would live in, if we decided to sign. Their buildings were so new that nobody had lived in that unit before. It had a wrap around porch that faced the river. The pool area was very pretty with covered cabanas! They had a seven month lease available and the management team was so nice, and since we could move in at the beginning of September, we immediately signed for it! 

     When we got home, after we excitedly told Anita which inventory home we had picked to be built, we started packing. Michael rented a Uhaul and took all of the molds and supplies to his new job at the medical simulation company. He wanted to get his office ready and have all of the projects and equipment up and running for his first day at work at headquarters. He spent a lot of time getting everything down from the attic, including all of our holiday and Christmas decorations, as well as my wedding dress. I packed all of the little books and toys that I wanted to bring for Emma, and left all of the other ones in the hall closet. 

   One thing I loved about Michael renting the Uhaul truck was that I got to drive Emma home all by myself once he picked up the truck, and drive her to the Uhaul lot the day he dropped the truck off! The business was only 10 minutes away, and we made sure to suction her before we left, so there weren't any issues, but it was still very exciting for me! Usually one of us always has to sit in the back with her, for safety reasons.

   Sasha's 14th birthday was on August 24th, so I made her a little cake of cinnamon rolls and Beggin Strips. She didn't eat the cinnamon rolls- they were just to make the pictures look better. Her fanciest birthday "party" will always be the one I threw for her in California: PART 1, and also- PART 2.

   My last day at work was Sunday, August 29th. A nice, beautiful weekend where we celebrated with breakfast bagels (my favorite) and I didn't have to go out "on the desk", answering 911 calls. I stayed in Teletype with my best friend, Alex, and the two Jenn's, entering stolen vehicles, clearing stolen items that had been found, running people to see if they had warrants and faxing their information to the jail if they did. And watching The Office in our down time. Sundays were not as busy in that department because they were busier on 911. One of the women on night shift who I trained a couple times, Kristine, gave me a beautiful orchid, which I was able to take care of for several months until October when we went to Delaware for Emma's leg surgery, and I wasn't able to water it again in time.

   The core foundation of our friendship:
when Alex watched Blood Widow with me in October 2018!!
(That's the film Michael and I worked on after graduating from film school.)

Interestingly enough, the 911 office was right next to our film school!!

   Emma also watching The Office at home!! Which was actually also the first thing she would have watched (or listened to while she took naps on us) when she finally came home from the NICU. 

   Michael and I packed some things up ourselves, but everything we didn't care about as much, we left out for the movers to box up. They did that on September 7th, which I felt weird about since we were just sitting on the couch, watching them, while they spent all day doing that and labeling the boxes. We put red tape on boxes and large items that would stay in storage until the new house was finished, and green tape for items that would be unloaded on the 9th at the apartment.

   They came back again on Wednesday, September 8th, with their huge truck -the official loading day, and our very last day in the house. Michael, Sasha, and I had spent five years and three months living there, and Emma spent three years and four months there with us. I didn't feel sad about leaving the house because "Emma grew up there" because I always joked that Emma's first "house" was the hospital, since she spent so much of her first year there. And that was a place we were very happy for her to "move out" of! :) 

 

 

   Billie, one of Emma's NICU nurses from the night shift, who lived nearby, came by to spend some time with us and Emma again before we left Orlando. She was so sweet and brought a few presents too! I didn't mention it in this >> Trach Baby post from August 2017, << but I instantly liked Billie the first time we met her. It was our first time giving Emma a bath in the NICU, or at least the first time since she had her tracheotomy surgery. Her first surgery of many. She was just over two months old at that point. Without me needing to ask, Billie picked up my phone and began taking pictures of this very special moment of us giving her the bath. A million bonus points for her!! The last two pictures of that blog post were taken by Billie.

   I walked around the backyard one more time with Sasha, very slowly. Partly admiring how nice of a backyard we had, and also scanning for poops to bag up and throw away so the grass was pristine for the new family coming in. That was one thing I asked Anita to put in our signing contract when we originally bought the house in 2016- for the original owners to pick up all their dogs' poops in the yard, because I noticed a lot when we looked at the house. They had two big golden retrievers. And even months after we lived there, I would find things (clothing items) that their dogs had buried! 

   Having a fenced in backyard was a huge "must" on my list before. I did want one this time too, for our new build, but that wasn't usually included. We will have a small yard this time in Sarasota. Less upkeep, which is good, so we don't need to add "lawn maintenance" in our budget, but enough room for Emma to run around and play outside as she gets older. This house in Orlando checked a lot of boxes. It was a really great first home and I'm glad we got to live there for a chunk of our lives. 

  ^^ Emma's bedroom, which started as my scrapbook room/ guest bedroom area. However, five months after bringing her home from the NICU, we learned that "a small baby does not equal a small room". Especially when that baby comes with tons of medical equipment which quickly heats up that small room. Here is the post about the Bedroom Swap << from September 2018. Those baby thighs!!!

   As the movers finished each room, we took turns vacuuming really well. Once they left, Michael vacuumed the whole hardwood floor again. Emma slept through it. Then he went to Publix and grabbed five freezer bags so I could put everything from the fridge and freezer in those bags, for us to take to the new apartment in Sarasota. Some things we did throw away, and then I wiped everything down really well, and we dumped/melted all of the ice in the sink. Michael had a bit of a snafu with getting the garage to close manually since he had to turn in the remote to the new owners, but he finally got it and we waved goodbye to our house.

Bye neighborhood!.. And then, 30 minutes later, Emma's excitement kicked in!!

   An hour more later, Sasha watched as Michael somehow missed our turn to get to the apartment, haha! That night we all slept on blow up mattresses, then the next morning the movers arrived to first unload everything with the green tape on the boxes to be used at the apartment. After that, Michael went with them to the nearby storage unit, where they were thankfully able to fit everything else into that rented space! He showed me a picture of how packed it was, yet over the next seven months, as Michael continued to shop for house items in eager anticipation, he was somehow able to keep fitting all those things into the storage unit. Even when they were items like long cabinets, side tables,  and a faux Christmas tree in a large box!

   It seemed to take for-evv-err to get all of those boxes from the kitchen unpacked. I believe it took a week. Maybe five days? I don't even want to think about how long it will take to unpack everything in the new house in two months. I already have a mental list going of all the things I plan to donate. Mostly clothes. 

   A month and a half after we got to that ShoreView apartment complex last year, our dressers and side tables finally arrived -six months after Michael ordered them- from Rooms to Go. We called several times to make sure they were being delivered to our new address and not to the house. The woman told me that we had to pay more because the Sarasota sales tax is 1% higher than it is in Orlando.. even though we had already paid for everything in May! That is so dumb. It only ended up being about eight dollars, but still! Before these beauties arrived, I was using a gold and white tray stand next to my side of the bed, and Michael was setting his things on one of the medium sized packing boxes. The Rooms to Go side tables are really nice and even have USB ports on the back.

   Going back to the second week of September 2021 ~ Emma quickly adjusted to being in the new apartment and woke up happy in her new room, even before it was decorated. Also, do you think we brought enough toys for her? Sasha didn't take long to find her perch on the couch, where she had a great view of all the people walking by with their dogs. And since we were in a corner apartment, she had lots of great windows to track everything, and growl and bark until we pulled her off the couch and made her have quiet time for a while. Sometimes her barks get so loud that they make Emma cry.

   Shortly before the closing date on the house, Michael got a call saying that we didn't have to go back up to Orlando for it, and that a notary was able to come to our apartment on Friday, September 10th instead. That was super convenient for us! It saved us three hours of driving that day. The notary woman, Annie, was so sweet and fun. Emma was very interested in her paperwork. We found out that Annie was a Christian and she even recommended a church for me that she attends. One of those great big non-denominational churches that I like, with a passionate pastor in his 30's or 40's and an enthusiastic band that really makes you get on your feet and feel alive!! That's my jam. I went that Sunday and took a lot of good notes. 

   I've gone to a different church, with the same vibe, several times in the area that we live in now. Annie's church has a lot of different locations, and it looks like there is one not too far from our new house, so hopefully I can go there often as well. I wear my Covid mask each time. Not many people do anymore. (I was pleasantly surprised to see a sign in the window of a Dick's Sporting Goods store last week that said, "Per the CDC, masks are still required, even if you have been vaccinated." I'm paraphrasing, but I thought more of those signs should be displayed. Then people would stop getting sick.)

   When Annie was at our apartment, and we were in the process of signing the closing papers, she needed to call Anita for clarification on some things. It seemed that the buyer's realtor/company had some confusing paperwork, or odd wording, and Annie wanted to make sure we did everything right so we wouldn't have to end up going to Orlando and fix anything. Thank you!! By the way, Annie and I added each other as friends on Facebook shortly after meeting, and I saw that she just became a realtor herself! Woohoo!

   After closing on our house, we got a special treat sent to us from Edible Arrangements from Anita. It even came with a stuffed bear for Emma- so sweet. I only knew about the "fruit flower" bouquets, so I was surprised to see dipped apples and bananas, as well as strawberries. They were all very yummy! And it also came with -boy, oh, boy- my mouth is watering as I type this.. three mini pumpkin cheesecakes!!! Another thing that my mom and I need to try to make together for Thanksgiving this year. I'm not sure why I always think I don't like pumpkin flavored things that much, and then I have something and it's always so good. I even thought about how I have never had a pumpkin spiced drink from Starbucks (or anywhere) before. So un-American. So it is now on my 2022 Fall "bucket list"! I already have the drink picked out and everything.

   I absolutely love when we go on family walks. Michael found a boardwalk type of place along one of the rivers, and he loved when we stumbled along a marina. He always likes looking at the different types of boats- the bigger the better. And he never fails to ask, "What do these people do for work to be able to afford these?" Especially when we see the yachts! I don't care about yachts though. I've always been more of a jet ski girl, haha. Way cheaper.

   To end this "Goodbye Orlando/Hello Sarasota" post, I will share the first time we went out to eat down here, once we officially became residents. Michael found a cute beachy/ outdoor tiki hut restaurant on the water. We debated going out that evening because it looked like it was going to rain, but we lucked out. It ended up being good weather the whole time, and only started to sprinkle right as we were getting back in the car. And there was barely anyone there, so we got fast service. 

   For months Michael talked about getting a Mai Tai once he got this job. That was the main reason he picked this place for us, called Caddy's, because it was one of the few restaurants he could find that sold that drink! Michael found a new favorite drink too, a recommendation by the waiter- a Miami Vice, which is a mix between a strawberry margarita and a pina colada. I think he was debating between which one to get, so the waiter was like, why not get both! :)

   We were celebrating Michael's new job, as well as my retirement from the Sheriff's Office/ getting to be a stay at home mom with Emma, and the start of our new life together. Yet after almost a whole year of living here (three more weeks to go!), he says he doesn't feel like he really lives here yet, since we're still bouncing around from one apartment to the next, and for ten days in between the two, we were staying in a hotel! I feel like we live here, but "his roots aren't planted yet". All of his hobbies are still packed away in storage, while I've been able to blog and scrapbook and write letters (snail mail) this whole time. We keep telling ourselves that we'll be settled into our dream home before we know it, and in a blink of an eye, just like it's been a full year since we came down to Sarasota, looking for a house to build, another whole year will have passed.

   I'm looking up the menu to refresh my memory of what we ordered. I remember thinking I would not come back to that place because there wasn't much on the menu that I cared for, and I felt like the menu was small, unlike the Cheesecake Factory's chapter book menu! Ha! But Michael said that he did like this place and that he wanted to bring his mom there at some point. I know we ordered the trio dip (queso, salsa, and spinach dip) with chips because that is pretty hard to mess up. The quesadilla sounds really good, but for some reason I'm thinking I just got the chicken tenders with fries. Maybe I was in a weird food mood that day because I see a handful of things on the menu that look good right now. 

   This morning I asked Michael what he ordered. He says he doesn't remember, but that he most likely got a burger. From the menu, I'm going to guess that he picked the "Caddy's Burger"- half pound black Angus, topped with cheese, applewood smoked bacon, and the other usual burger toppings. Over the years I have learned that he also really likes Reuben sandwiches, so that could have been his second choice.

   That's all, folks! :)