First Two Weeks of "Paradise"

We've been in the apartment for over three weeks now, time to play catch up...

Week One: 

 I knew moving into a building built in 1950 was going to be subpar, we'd toured the building several times and knew what we were up against, however there are somethings that just make you want to scream and have nothing to do with an old building;

*On the first day two rather large palmetto bugs came to welcome us! 

*The sealant under the rug either wasn't laid properly or not at all, we could smell urine from the previous owners cat.

*The same section of carpet had fleas or mites, I was getting bit up!

*The kitchen was disgusting. The window and cabinets were covered in grease, we had to scrub them clean. We thought the cabinet handles were brass, turns out they're silver! 

By day two 2 of the 4 elevators were not working... elevator 1 was starting to have an attitude... I'm slightly claustrophobic. They gave us a four week time frame for it to be fixed. This doesn't help me any. Also, a man in the elevator was telling us about someone who got cut in half by one recently in NY. #DudeIDidntNeedToHearThat

We live on the 15th floor, the penthouse is the only floor higher... I need to start some serious fitness training so I can walk up the stairs when needed.

*Began fielding questions for curious friends as to parking for beach access, how much we pay for rent, how does our trash valet work, why did we move... Things like that.

*The building we live in is old and crappy. My OCD-self is cringing at the chipped/cracked paint and horrible repair jobs in this joint. I want to fix it all!

*I guess selling a house you lived in for 17 years and then picking up and moving to a small apartment isn't the norm.

But when have we ever been the norm? ;)

So here's the skinny: We knew we didn't want to retire in that house, the kids didn't want it, renting was too much work and little money in return, and we were sick of paying the tolls for Rich to get to and from work (and they're eligible to increase every year for the next 50ish or so years). We paid $400 one month in tolls! But we were averaging about $100 before we moved.

The only con to moving was our neighbors - we had really nice neighbors, and we did love our little house with all the work we did, but we got to enjoy it for 17 years. Now it's someone else's turn :)

Mike is with us, and Kayla was renting an apartment in Norfolk, but is now looking for a house to rent in her same neighborhood.

Day 9:

*I believe our building is the first of the taller buildings that went up here at the beach - or one of the first, its old school so the walls/floor/ceilings are thick and pretty much sound proof. Except;

-The bathtub faucet. That's the only noise I can hear from the lady next door. It's a loud squeaky noise, makes my hair stand. Like nails on a chalk board.

-And the man on the other side must be tone-deaf he yells when he's on speaker phone, so I know when he's going out to get honey's. There's also this weird rectangle hallow part in the wall by my front door that allows him to sound louder than the other neighbors. It must've been a hall to other rooms they blocked off, or maybe this was once a hotel and it was adjoining rooms? I don't know but it's weird. I need to find a way to sound proof it more.

*Received Jury Duty questionnaire forwarded from my old address, I had just served last year. Wierd. Filled out and mailed in, probably won't hear a peep from them since I have a Beach addy now.

Day 10:

*It's torture living in a resort area. ALL the food! It's EVERYWHERE! I can't go outside without smelling something delicious.

*Sunsets are gorgeous up here :)

*It sucks to go food shopping and lug it all up, we got a cart and fancy bags but we forget them sometimes.

*Laundry is easier to do on the 1st floor than the 15th floor, it feels closer - less steps.

Day 11: 

*Rich unpacked a box.

*Looking at the outside of the building, my loud neighbor looks to have a studio apartment. It all makes sense now! Also, side note. Before we moved in, the apartments on either side of him were vacant.

*I have yet to ride the elevator with a man who hasn't told me a story. The women are quiet.

*They're coming tomorrow to address our 5-day check-in list. I had quite a bit on there that needed to be fixed, let's see what they do.

*We went to the dump, the bank, and both storage units today during rush hour - we're crazy.

Update on the issues from when we first moved in:
-I found a spray that helped with the urine odor, it's called Citrus Magic Pet - Ocean Breeze scent <--funny I hadn't noticed what the scent was until now. I like it though. 

-They sent an exterminator up to spray for the fleas, one application and I never had a problem again.

-We scrubbed the kitchen and now it's clean. Except the blinds, I refuse to clean them. They'll be going down to the office when I request a new set. The photo of dirty paper towels is just from the dishwasher being wiped down.

Day 12

*Man on elevator told me this apartment building was the only one in the area during the last hurricane to have power. I'm guessing it was due to the generator, which no one here seems to know about.

*I find I'm answering questions for people who have lived here for awhile. Just have to ask the nice employees in the office and they will tell you.

*Maintenance came today and knocked out my repair list. He was a nice guy and did a satisfactory job.

*I love the jet noise, It's not as loud as we thought it would be up here. The space above our parking area is the flight path to one of the runways. The jets were flying a lot today, like non-stop, probably getting in those flight hours before the storm.

*We watched some of the fleet head out to sea (before the storm) today from the bathroom while brushing our teeth.

*We hit Total Wine & More for storm supplies, but had to stop and get a tire repaired first, there was a screw in it and we were losing air. (I'll say it first, "We got screwed."). I enjoyed the wine store so much we signed up for the points program.

Day 13:

Hurricane Dorian is sweeping by the coast, it's windy, we never lost power, but the water pump went out a couple times, but came right back on. Got some cool photos of the ocean after the rain stopped. 

Day 14:

*I finally slept this morning! After Jet noise all Thursday morning and then the storm Friday morning, I slept like a rock this morning.

*I've been to the boardwalk the past couple days to play some Pokemon Go.

*The apartment still isn't set up! You should see what we've had to go through. It's like a puzzle. Speaking of puzzles it's a good thing Rich was good at Tetris, you should see our smaller storage unit LOL.

*I sent an angry ocean pic I took from the boardwalk yesterday to channel 3, then forgot about it, mom texted me and said a photo of mine was aired. Of course it was, I wasn't watching. I was unpacking a box. What else do I do these days?

*I finally have the hang of my mailbox key two weeks later.

*I do not have the hang of my apartment key two weeks later.

Photo of King Neptune as the storm rolled out, the boardwalk was quite busy.