Homeless.. what?

 As many of you know we decided to move back to Florida this month. The Tampa area was home for my husband and I before we were even husband and wife, and for many years after. We moved farther south to be closer to his daughter then up to South Carolina so I could be near my parents as my mom came to the end of her cancer battle. 

When I was leaving my very last stop ever working with the census my suv got stuck in a massive hole. I was stuck for HOURS! I had walked barefoot to all the houses around me, but no one was home or no one could help. My tires were stuck deep and my undercarriage was stuck on sand/clay mixture. It was awful. Once we finally got out I was covered in sand and mud and we were still over an hour away from home. On my way home I realized that my car now needed an alignment. The next day I took my car in to the dealership I bought it from and had them do the alignment and I told them to check my brakes because I knew they would need to be cleaned out. Hours later, they said everything was fine and I was ready to go. I could tell when driving the next few days before we moved that my brakes still weren't quite right, but I figured that the junk would come off on it's own and I wouldn't worry about it.

Fast forward to yesterday, my brakes have been getting worse and got to the point that I couldn't drive it safely. I found a local mechanic that had good reviews and thankfully he was able to take care of my car. But because of the dealership not doing their job I had to get new brakes, rotors, calipers, and brake lines! I called the dealership to let them know and was told they were going to send it up to management and they would call me. So far, I haven't heard from them. Shout out to Poty Auto Repair on N. Nebraska Ave! He did all the work in one day and his cost was amazing!

When we got ready to move we got a great deal on a moving truck from budget, way cheaper than anywhere else we looked. My dad had used the same company and when he went to pick it up they didn't have it. So for ours I called the week before, they said they couldn't tell me if they would have it because it's so far in advance, but she didn't see any issues with having the truck the next week. The morning of the day we were to pick it up she calls me and says "I didn't try hard enough" and they didn't have my truck. She could give me two 16' trucks, if that would help. No, no that will not help unless you're planning to drive it for me lol. I send corporate a message and I basically got a message saying that it's busy and they're sorry it happened. And that was it. So, we scrambled around and found a uhual that had what we needed. More expensive but reliable.

My husband had been down here for a month already working and looking for a place for us to live. Rentals down here are crazy expensive and hard to find. He had a place lined up, we put a deposit down to hold our spot, and they told us to be there October 1 in the morning. We got there around 10am and she tells us the unit isn't ready and to come back in the evening around 4pm. We were already starting to look at other places to rent. We went back that evening and it's still not ready. So we had to get a hotel for the night. We went back the next day and can't even look at a unit because there isn't anything ready. Then we talk about pricing and it goes from just under $900/mo to over $1200/mo. We saw an ad for the location advertising a 2/2 for $890, so we ask her about it and she said oh, we don't have any at that price. That's just a starting price for the units, but that's before we add on this and this and this. It was really ridiculous. I told her that was false advertising. 

So, we had to get a storage unit for all of our things and unloaded it all and a hotel for night number 2. The second hotel was supposed to be a nicer hotel and was a bit more expensive, but we chose to stay. Once we get in the room we find that there are roaches all over, but we were too tired to even deal with it. My husband took video of the roaches so he could show management in the morning. Thankfully, they refunded our night.

On Friday we found a place close to where we used to live all those years ago, that had a 1 bedroom apartment available. We did the paper work and then had to wait for our previous landlords to respond to the office here before they would even submit us for consideration with corporate. So my husband went back to his friend's house that he had been staying with while we were still in SC and the boys and I (and my cat of course) drove a couple hours south to stay with my brother. We stayed for 3 or 4 days and then headed back. This wasn't the first time my husband had been homeless in his lifetime, but it was a first for me. We were able to move in to our tiny apartment and are still getting things situated. I'm still trying to get things situated. Our storage unit is a 30 minute drive from us, so it takes a little planning to get things back and forth. There are things we can't find, things that broke along the way, and way too much stuff than what we need. lol The plan is to get rid of a lot of it when it's time to get a unit that's closer to us, but we will see when that time comes. 

Hubby went back later asking for our deposit back (money order) and they had already deposited the money and gave him a paper saying he had to write a letter to their main office and say whey we thought we should get our deposit back! It's a good thing he wrote it because I don't think I would have been able to be very nice. We didn't even have a place to live and they are saying we have to jump through hoops just to get our money back. Hubby sent it certified to make sure that they got the letter and there weren't any other issues. We still have not seen the signed portion of the certified mail and we have not heard anything from them. It's so frustrating. 

We are having to really adjust to this tiny living. The boys share the bedroom and hubby and I move our mattress to the living room floor at night and store it in the bedroom during the day. It's hard to have all of us under 600sqft, but we're making it work. The biggest adjustment is all of us sharing one bathroom Lol! The boys are still doing virtual school which has been a task all on it's own. We weren't able to get internet installed here until today. So they used my phone's hotspot until it ran out, and yesterday we sat at Denny's while they did school. 

I'm thankful they don't really understand the struggle or even realize that we were homeless. 

Hubby is still working and providing. I'm so thankful for him and thankful that we're together and doing life together. We are happy to be back.

There are perks to the small space though. It's very quick to clean! The trash dumpster is right across the parking lot and the pool and laundry are also right across the parking lot. The one thing that isn't nice is that because of COVID the pool is only open when the office is open. I'm not really sure why that's the way it is, but it keeps us from being able to use the pool on the weekends when we would usually go. We've been once so far. The boys love having the pool. 

I attempted to save a bee from drowning while we were out there. I was so happy when he started drying his wings and walking around. Sadly a little bit later he curled up and died. The boys thought it was really cool to see a bee up close and see the stinger. They were surprised that it was fuzzy. 

There's more things that just aren't working like we hoped, but we're safe. We have a roof over our heads and God continues to provide for us. I see and feel his love continuously. 

That's all for now. I pray that if you need help you get the help you need. Remember, it's not an easy path, but it's a path worth taking. <3