Omigosh, I’m getting so backed up in my writing! I’ll get as caught up as I can now. Okay, so… We might have one foot in the door of our new home but we don’t know for sure yet. They did a credit check yesterday so hopefully, we’ll know something soon.

It’s the wall house, as I call it, that we saw in Cali and liked right away being that it backs up to a stockade fence with nothing but a field behind it full of lush vegetation. It’s also in a small park in a rural town. The road leading to it is surprisingly hilly but that’s probably why it’s not a flood zone.

It was frustrating, though, because when we went to look at it, the car’s battery was low and we had to stop and charge the damn thing which meant we ended up being 20 minutes late. Had we been just a little later, some other lady who came to look at it might’ve gotten it.

I called the realtor to let him know we’d be late. He’s a guy named Bruce and he lives there. He’s from Alabama, has lived there for a year, and says it’s quiet yet I could tell right away that he has hearing issues, so we’ll see.

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I could hear a commercial plane overhead. But the question is are there just a few a day or are there 50? There was even a helicopter as we were leaving. Looked like a medical helicopter. Because we plan to soundproof, I’m not worried, though.

FlightAware is a great site for monitoring live plane activity. This includes all types of aircraft. So far what I’ve observed looks good.

The houses and the lots don’t look as fancy as in Cali but that’s a good thing. It shows that they’re not as obsessed with appearance. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be some annoying projects but they don’t seem to have a million stupid rules. It is on leased land, though, but there’s still some good in that. This way we get in faster and people are less likely to leave their dogs outside.

I was disappointed that they allow motorcycles but not surprised. And yes, Florida does have some loud vehicles. The motorcycles and boom stereos on the roads are way worse than Cali but I expected that.

Heading up 19, it was kind of ugly and industrialized-looking. We’ll probably do most of our dining and shopping in the other direction like maybe in Crystal Lake.

I don’t know why but the traffic lights here are so long.

Onto the good stuff! The house has tan vinyl siding which isn’t bad but I don’t like the maroon trim on the shutters. One of the shutters is missing as well.

I also don’t like that the grass is kind of ugly looking being patchy as it is but again, that means that there isn’t an annoying landscaping craze to listen to regularly. The whole outside of it is kind of ugly-ish but that’s not too big of a deal because I’m not outdoors much anyway. Not in this humidity! My skin sure loves it, though.

The back is definitely ugly and part of the fence is broken. It’s up to the park to fix it. The shed that’s back there is kind of nasty too, so we might replace it.

They don’t do bulk pick up there so we’ll probably gather up stuff and have someone come out and haul it away. They do trash pickup twice a week but Bruce says I’ll hardly notice them and that they’re in and out. Guess it’s a smaller truck and some guys jump out to dump the trash rather than the automated kind in Cali. I’m sure it will still be somewhat loud till we’re soundproofed.

Anyway, the house itself, a 1990 Jacobson model, is small but adorably cute and should be sufficient for our needs. It’s 31 years old so it does need work. It’s furnished, and while we do want to eventually get our own beds, the furniture was very comfortable and gorgeous from what I could see. I just want to get an upholstery cleaner for the couch and two plush rocker chairs in the living room.

I didn’t inspect the kitchen chairs closely which were soft and covered in vinyl but it looked like the kitchen set was in good condition and probably didn’t cost less than $600. The hutch (not built-in) is gorgeous too. In the corner of the kitchen by the hutch was a beautiful cherry tree (fake) with colorful “birds” on the branches.

I don’t know if we’ll bother to replace the kitchen countertops. They’re blue and actually kind of cool-looking. The sink and refrigerator definitely need to be replaced. Not sure about the dishwasher yet. Love the flat-top stove! Although lacking in counter space and cabinets, it’s a nice room except for the fact that one of the drawers can’t be opened without opening the oven door. We’ll have to do something about that eventually. There’s a little pantry too, but not as big as in Cali.

The furniture in the bedrooms seems nice and there’s also a little wicker table and chairs in the Florida room. We decided to just call it a lanai, though, as it’s easier.

Love how all the rooms have ceiling fans with lights! They didn’t leave as much stuff behind as the people in Cali did but there is still quite a bit of stuff to go through, especially in the kitchen. Maybe some of it will be useful. If not, we have a pretty big trash bin and since they pick up twice a week, we can easily get rid of what we don’t want little by little.

The toilets are horrible and will be the first thing we replace along with the flooring. The kitchen and hallway area have laminate flooring but the rest of the place has horribly stained carpet. The beds are going and I’ll start off on a cheap mattress-in-a-box like what I had before. He wants to eventually get a Murphy bed.

Love how one bathroom can be accessed from the hall and how both bedrooms have walk-in closets. A decent-looking office chair was left in one of them.

We also want to replace the AC with a split system, and the roof at some point along with the windows. It basically needs to be completely redone. Not sure about the bathroom sinks and countertops. I don’t remember them looking that bad, and a quick glance in the showers didn’t show anything too bad either. They definitely look better than our old showers!

The walls will be wallpapered.

There is a top-loader washer and a dryer in the storeroom at the side of the house. He’s going to use the second bedroom as a combination bedroom and office like he did in the last place but I think I’m going to set my office up on this cute little built-in desk just inside the door off the kitchen area.

There were also small closets in the hallway and master bath. No back door, though. Just the front door by the kitchen and a slider between the living room and lanai. The lanai has a door too, of course.