Trick or Treat

We have completed two full weeks as new Floridians. This last week was a challenge not just physically but really tested my patience.

So one of the things in my research before we moved here was obtaining a Florida drivers license. It sounded relatively easy, bring your previous state issued license, a certified birth certificate, a passport or social security card and a utility bill or house deed. So Gene and I showed up at the Drivers License office with all necessary papers in hand and we signed in as walk ins. Well, three and a half hours later and ten minutes to closing they call us in. So the screener goes through all of our necessary paperwork to make sure we have everything in order before we are allowed through the coveted glass doors and the manager asks me if I have my marriage license, I reply no as it was not on the websites list of necessary items, and she proceeds to tell us Gene can enter but I cannot. So after the long three and a half hour wait I am left standing out in the hall while Gene disappears into the doors for another forty minutes and appears with a new Florida drivers license and a confirmation letter saying he is a registered voter of the beautiful state of Florida. So the next morning I am up at six o’clock and out the door by seven thirty to arrive by the opening at eight o’clock with all paperwork including marriage license in hand. When I get inside I find I am number 10 already on the list and don’t understand how I arrive five minutes early and there are already nine people ahead of me. After one hour I am called up to the ropes, the inspector goes through all of my paperwork, I pass the inspection and head through those glass doors. I am told to sit in the third row and given a number, after another fifteen minutes or so my number is called and I am so happy to be there I greet the woman standing in front of me with an overly cheerful “Boy am I happy to see you”! She proceeds to ask for all of my paperwork and looks at my marriage license and tells me it’s not legal, I am like Whaaaaat???? This is the only marriage license I’ve had for forty years, she says this is not the state issued license this is a church issued license. It is embossed but not by the state. Now I’m blown away as this really is the only license I have ever had so she tells me she can’t proceed any further until I get the proper marriage license, am I being punked??? Anyways after all of that I still do not have my new Florida license. I had to come home and call Washington records and am waiting impatiently for my certified marriage license. Oh brother 🙄

We then in the midst of the mess of unpacking have the Halloween holiday upon us. So we are running to the store the day before Halloween to purchase candy, our neighbor has invited us to a block party barbecue so on Halloween day after running errands and furniture shopping being gone half the day we pull in the driveway and fly through the house putting things away, I throw a salad together and head over to the neighbors. It was a really nice break and we met many neighbors all very friendly. We have a lot of construction in the neighborhood so I didn’t think there would be a lot of trick or treaters but maybe a few more than we actually had. Having been here only two weeks I did not bother to put anything out for decor, no pumpkins etc… so I wasn’t looking too festive at my house anyways. People really go all out here with the decorating, I’m looking forward to seeing how they decorate at Christmas. Maybe I’ll be enthused to pull decorations out. The house is looking more settled, I’ve been hanging pictures and can finally see the countertops and the dining table only has a few things left to clear off of it. We are still waiting for some furniture to arrive, trickling in a little at a time, we were told some things won’t arrive until late December or January. Most of those things go in the guest room so for now any guests will have to use the futon, we still have not purchased an entertainment center and I am looking for a cabinet for a wall space near my dining room that needs something there but haven’t found what I’m looking for as of yet.
It’s all coming together though, it will be quite a while before it’s all complete, we plan on installing a pool eventually so once we get the inside finished we will start focusing on re doing some of the landscaping and start shopping for a pool contractor. We won’t even think about crossing that bridge until we are finished on the living space inside first.

I have plenty of future projects for Gene as well, he is very good at doing home things, adding wood trim, shiplap, building me things, but he is a ways off from doing any type of work yet, he needs to get his garage work space set up but he needs to find the garage first. It was piled high with boxes and you could barely walk out there but like the countertops inside we can finally see the floor, so he is making progress as I unpack those boxes it is giving him floor space.

Life is good, we have zero regrets about moving here and we see more positives than negatives. We took time out last night and enjoyed a good bike ride, we look forward to more of those moments in the near future. So trick or treat? It’s definitely starting to feel like a treat.