LINK TO NEXT CHAPTER

https://mitcheryl-roots.blogspot.com/

See you there!

Almost there...

We got over the final hurdle of which we were holding our breaths: whether or not we would be approved for the lease (the concern was that because Mitch isn't currently working, there is no W-2, and since we've been living in an RV, there's no record of a steady landlord or mortgage).  

Once again, we've been blessed that the plans were not made in bubbles and that like the sale of the RV, finding an apartment almost immediately, came about.

We signed the lease today and can pick up the keys and move in any time after 4pm on Saturday.  The new bed comes on Sunday and hopefully all our other belongings will arrive some time next week.

So far our plans have been blessed

So far all the plans we laid out have gone off without a hitch.  I'd like to believe this is exactly what is meant to be.

Tuesday: buyers came, were impressed with seeing the RV in person, accompanied us to the bank where the cash payment was counted and deposited.  We were all finished and hit the road up to the hotel in Kissimmee at 2:30, where we set up our computers and ordered in Chinese food for dinner.

Wednesday: left the hotel at 9:00 and had breakfast at IHop, then drove to Sanford to catch the auto train.  It was a pleasant ride (although - warning - not for anyone with motion sickness!) and we chatted with a very lovely older couple who sat across from us.

Going off topic for a moment... last Thursday, I had a little accident and I fell.  I've been having terrible pain in my side upon movement, particularly getting up and down, turning in bed or lying on that side, bending, breathing deeply.  I suspect it's either a pulled muscle, a broken rib (or 2) or internal bruising.  Either way, I know there's nothing other than time, Tylenol (or Aleve or Advil), and ice that would help so I didn't bother going to the ER.  However, by Wednesday, it did not seem to be getting better.

Thursday: The train arrived at the Lorton, VA station an hour early, so rather than heading to the in-laws (our daughter's in-laws actually) immediately, I decided perhaps it made sense to find an urgent care center.  The closest one we found had a broken x-ray machine, so that wouldn't have helped, and the next other one in the community didn't have an x-ray tech available that day.  So we gave up and continued to just give it time.  We arrived at their house about 10:30, and had a very lovely lunch, dinner out, and overall a wonderful and fun time with them.

The first thing we said when we stepped off the train was "we're not in Florida anymore!"  Being used to the 90 degree plus temps, we were freezing when it was 65!

Friday: Hit the road from VA at 9:00 am.  It's supposed to be about a 4-1/2 to 5 hour drive but we were warned (and expecting) hours of Labor Day weekend + Friday traffic (which, no matter when it is, traffic in that area is always horrendous).  Quite surprisingly, except for about a 10 minute construction delay further down from where the traffic would be, it was clear sailing all the way and we did indeed make it in 5 hours (which included stopping at a rest area for lunch).

We settled into the hotel room (which is a lovely studio apartment), and then went to visit with Jessica and Griffin.  They treated us to a wonderful sushi dinner, as we didn't have time to prepare for Shabbat (although I did light candles and we recited the kiddush blessings).

Saturday: We observed Shabbat and returned to our "home away from home" shul in Cary, where we have a number of acquaintances.  They welcomed us back with open arms, thinking we were there once again for just a visit.  They were surprised and pleased that this will now be our permanent home.

Saturday night I cooked a bean dish and we just watched some tv.

Going off topic again... last week (before we left), I had seen a post in one of my Facebook groups (Cary apartments) from a guy who was looking for someone to take over his lease as he needed to relocate for work.  We looked at the photos he had taken and then at the property website and realized that if the photos did it justice, it was 95% perfect for us.. it was within our budget, within our distance to the shul, and had a ton of modern amenities both inside and outside the apartment.

Sunday: We met with that person to view the apartment and the complex and we agreed it really was perfect for us, at least for now.  The remaining lease is only 6 months, but that gives us plenty of time to see if we want to stay there longer, or find something even closer to the shul (this is 4 miles away), or perhaps even invest in a condo.  Next step is to go thru the application process. Unfortunately, the leasing office is closed on Monday (Labor Day), and Rosh Hashanah is Tues & Wed, so the earliest we can go over there is Thursday (we have a 9:30 am appointment).  Assuming we are accepted and they do the paperwork quickly, we could potentially be moving in on either Friday or Sunday.

The current renter had a beautiful sectional sofa/ottoman and 2 bar stools to sit at the kitchen counter with, that he is selling to us.  Other than that, we have absolutely no furniture.  We realized the first thing we need is a bed (although in the interim we can sleep on the couch or on an air mattress).  After that, we'll need a dresser so we don't have to live out of boxes for our clothes (although the walk in closet has some shelves).  Then a table and chairs or desk to work on (interim: use kitchen island counter)  

After looking at the apartment, we went across the street to Harris Teeter to stock up on the foods we'll need for the holiday and to a bakery for some challah.  Afterwards, we stopped at Rooms To Go and were a bit overwhelmed.  We were going to head back to the hotel and chill and either go out to eat or order in, but then Jessica called to invite us over to pick up some shortbread cookies that she had just made.  Since it was about 4:30pm, we went over there and decided to have dinner out together (yes, my diet has completely gone to pot and I probably put back the 10 lbs I lost.  But I promise to resume when we get settled in again).

Which brings us to today, Monday (Labor Day and Erev Rosh Hashanah). We started out the day going to Mattress Firm (we hoped we'd find some good Labor Day sales, which indeed we did).  We ordered a mattress and adjustable frame (I had forgotten how painful it still is to get up and down, especially from a bed, so testing mattresses wasn't exactly ideal.  NOTE: there IS a great deal of improvement now so healing is definitey happening).  Afterwards we stopped at Restore (Habitat for Humanity) to look at some of the donated furniture.  When we're ready, that's probably a good place to find some stuff.  There are also plenty of other furniture stores in that area as well as the option to order online.  Just need to get the basics first.

After the furniture shopping, we returned to the hotel around noon, where we had to do some laundry and I needed to prepare foods for the next 2 days.  Tonight there are services and a community dinner at the shul and then very long services the next 2 days.  It is observed like the Sabbath, so we will not be doing any work or using our devices.

So hopefully my next post will say that we've moved!  Shana Tova!

Down to the final stretch

 These last few days have been such a whirlwind.  Besides my clutter issue, it was total insanity for me because I have a desperate need to be in control of my environment or at least my plans.  I believe that there is a solution to every problem, but being that things were being pulled out of every closet, drawer, cabinet and just being thrown all over the place (either in designated places such as our bed, the kitchen counter and a drawer or 2 for things will need at the hotel, or thrown onto every surface everywhere else for the movers to thrown into boxes), I was unable to have any focus and felt like I was in free fall.  All that got me thru was knowing it would be over soon and I would have control back again.

So the movers came yesterday (Sunday).  They were supposed to come at 2 but didn't show up until 5:15 (actually the window was 2-4 so I'll cut them a little slack).  They finally finished up at 8pm.

Today was a lot calmer as we just needed to dig thru all the stuff we put in the designated areas.  Unfortunately, there was still quite a lot that we didn't give to the movers to pack (or that they couldn't take such as liquids--detergents, shampoos, etc, chemicals, medicines), so we needed to further organize into what we absolutely needed to live with at the hotel, what can be packed into boxes for the apartment (when we find one), and what can easily and cheaply be replaced and therefore thown away.  Same applied to all the food.  We started at 8:00 am and it is now 4:00, and we are pretty much done except for all the last minute stuff that needs to wait until the morning.

So the plan (we pray it is not made in bubbles this time) is that the buyers are coming around 10 tomorrow morning (Tuesday), so we hope to hit the road by 2ish.  We will drive about an hour to a hotel in Kissimee (halfway point and the cheapest place we could find en route) and stay overnight.  Wednesday morning we will drive the rest of the way to Sanford, where we will pick up the auto train.  We will arrive in Lorton, VA on Thursday morning, and will drive to our daughter's in-laws (who are also our friends).  We will stay overnight there and then drive down to Raleigh on Friday morning.  Plans to have dinner with the kids.

Then we have Shabbat and since Monday night starts Rosh Hashanah we only have Sunday to do some holiday food shopping and unpacking boxes.  Then holiday days (in shul most of the days) on Tues & Wed.  Start apartment hunting and back to work on Thursday.

Prayers again that everything goes off without a hitch!

In a whirlwind; and onto the next adventure

As you may recall from my last post a few weeks ago (https://mitcheryl-stayput.blogspot.com/) the plan was find a campground within 25 miles of the Chabad shul in Raleigh and move the RV there while we tried to continue to sell it.  We did indeed find such a place and planned to move out of here around November 1st, when all the holidays were over and before the next month's rent was due.

As it turned out, on Saturday night (today is only Wednesday), we got an inquiry about the RV (another nibble).  After a bunch of email exchanges, on Sunday afternoon, he made an offer and after a few more exchanges, had his inspector come on Tuesday, to give us a cash deposit.  So the RV is sold!!! 

But....  the catch is that he wants it NEXT WEEK (by Aug. 30 or 31).  He is also a full-timer but living in an almost dilapidated RV (which was an excellent model back in 1998).  He is planning a very long trip over the Labor Day weekend and absolutely needs to have the new one by then (we wanted to ask him to wait until after the holidays but, of course, if someone is selling a house, car, RV or such, it is totally unreasonable to ask the buyers to wait that long to take ownership).  So we have exactly one week to make housing arrangements and get all our stuff packed up.  Amazing what we've accumulated in the last 7 years!

So, the last few days have been a major whirlwind: first in trying to find the best way to move our belongings (we ended up using a moving company and paying a few extra $ to have them pack as well.  Would have cost the same as a container company -- ie. PODS -- in which we'd have to do everything ourselves including packing the container and unpacking it.  Jessica also offered to store all our stuff in her garage until we find an apartment, but her garage is on a very steep slant and there's no way to get the container there (and the company's requirements is that it must be flat anyway.  Can't leave it in the street either).  Plus, having the movers do most of the packing takes a little stress off our shoulders.  

However, we still do need to go thru all our drawers and cabinets to remove stuff we really don't need.  Mitch has started working on all his electronics and technical stuff.  Here's what our place looks like right now while he's doing it:

Remember how OCD I am when it comes to clutter?  This is absolutely horrendous, but I'm trying to be real zen about it because I know there are no options.  If you remove stuff from drawers, it needs to be placed somewhere to be sorted.  I also need to remind myself that eventually everything will be put in its proper place in our new home.

In the interim, when we pull out of the campground and out of Florida next week, we will be staying in an extended stay hotel (with a kitchenette) while vigorously apartment hunting.

Stay tuned!

A time for repairs

Mitch has found stuff to do while looking for work:

• the toilet seat tends to move when you sit on it, although the screws are as tight as they get.  He cut and installed some wood and got it tight.
• the divider he built a few years back in the medicine cabinet broke and needed to be remade.
• Some hinges on several cabinets were loose and needed replacing
• Lots of computer related stuff (too technical for me to understand enough about to relate here.  Mostly having to do with my website).
• We have a mouse in the house (again) but instead of just attacking our fruits (which are now in the frig), it chewed the wires under the recliner, so it no longer reclines.  We believe somehow that managed to also screw up the power control box.  He replaced one of the wires but is still doing a lot of troubleshooting to get it repaired.  I think one of the selling points of this RV is the reclining love seat, so it not working is not an option, nor is affording to replace it.  So hopefully with some perseverance, he'll figure out what's wrong and how to fix it.

Last week, I finally, after such a long time, got the mojo back to return to healthy eating.  WW was having a special promotion so I decided to take the plunge.  So far it's working out very well. I lost 3.5 lbs the first week and so far am not having problems finding foods to eat.  It's so much different than the keto / low carb diet I was on before, as that emphasized low carb and high fat, and this is higher (but healthier) carbs and low fat.

Lastly, we're taking a different approach to our "next chapter" in terms of relocating.  As I've mentioned, our # 1 priority in finding a location was to be within 10-15 miles of a Chabad synagogue.  Unfortunately, after much research, it is just not realistic or possible to find either a mobile home park, campground or affordable apartment that meets that criteria.  It does appear that there are a handful of nice RV parks within a 20-30 mile radius, which means 30-45 minute commute to shul.  At this point, it comes down to a choice of either (1) not having a Chabad shul, (2) not having a shul at all (more likely than # 1), or (3) biting the bullet and expanding our radius. We also have had no new nibbles on the sale of the RV since we placed the ads.

So the current plan is to see if we can find an RV park and settle there, and continue to try to sell it from that location.  Still hoping for the Raleigh/Cary area, but if nothing pans out, we will look into other locations.  Will keep ya'all posted on progress.

Update from last 2 posts

 Regarding Elsa... the forecasts were much too scary (landfall for Cat 1 was right over our area) so we decided to evacuate to a hotel.  I'm not sure whether the forecast was completely wrong, or that because I was in an almost sound-proof, safe building, I wasn't aware of anything, but it just seemed like there was a LOT of rain but not much in the way of winds.  Thank G-d, no damage to the RV and no trees down or power outages in the area.  We probably could have stayed home.  But better safe than sorry!

There was a really bad ant problem at the hotel, and since they sent the housekeeping and maintenance staff home due to the potential storm (as just about all restaurants in the area also closed, as did the schools), there was nothing they could do about it.  However, they did give us 50% off, so that made it a bit easier to deal with.

As for plans moving forward, it took a week longer than I hoped, but the RV is now officially on the marketplace.  Here are 2 links, in case you know of anyone in the market for one:

The full description:  https://bit.ly/3wxVjkp

A video slideshow with photos: https://youtu.be/d7iIMCXDB98