Life Update: Vacay Mode For the Time Being

Vacay Mode kinda sums up our weekend attitudes.  It’s hard to believe that we have been in our temporary housing situation for four months now.  When we first moved in we laughed that the kitchen and small family room area reminded us of a space that we have rented at the beach in the past except for the fact that our “stuff” was in it.

Looking back we were frantically trying to find a roof over our heads because there wasn’t much availability.  As the saying goes “beggars can’t be choosers” and that is truly how we felt.  All in all we were so lucky to find the cute little house that we are renting for the time being.  It’s not ideal, but it works.  This is my third post about our lives this year.  You can read about where I thought we were moving to when our home sold here, and then you can read the next update about the curveballs that happened and brought us to our current situation here.

Tshirt | Shorts | Sneakers

Why We Feel We are in Vacay Mode

Just to give you a little back story.  We lived on a manicured acre in a large home with a pool for the last 17 years.  We custom built the home and then updated and renovated it a couple of times during the 17 years.  With Mark in the homebuilding industry, there were always things that we wanted to add to the home to make it fit our lifestyle even better.  Thus, there were a lot of little luxuries in the house.

With all of the little luxuries and space came a lot of work.  Even with a lawn service and other people helping to maintain things around the house there was always something that needed to be done.  Whether it’s a house, a car, or a body with age comes maintenance.

With that being said, moving into an “empty nester” neighborhood of sorts most of that goes away.  We live in a section that is duplexes so all outside maintenance is taken care of by the HOA.  So here’s a list of why we feel we are in Vacay Mode.

• Don’t have to worry about any outside maintenance.  Including talking to the lawn maintenance people to make sure they do what they are being paid to do.
• If a summer storm comes thru we don’t have to worry about who is going to to out and take care of the pool and  to get all of the debris out of the yard.  That includes fallen trees (happened to us a few times and gets very pricey when the tree guy comes in).
• We aren’t worried about “what’s going to break next” since the home had some age on it.  Mark was always trying to stay one step ahead of that game with maintenance, but that doesn’t always work.

What We Miss Most About Our Home

• Private, serene outdoor living spaces.  Our covered porch off the kitchen, our screened porch near the pool and the pool deck.  All were so private and peaceful any time of day or night.  And the pool itself.
• The Master bathroom.  I had the Rolls Royce of Jacuzzi bathtubs and I miss it EVERY single day.  Didn’t realize how much a part of my evening wind downs it was.
• The big his and hers shower.  We each had our own “space” in the shower with separate types of shower heads that we each preferred.
• Cold weather hasn’t arrived yet, but we know that we will be missing the heated floors that were on a time so that everything was toasty when you got up every cold morning.
• My kitchen appliances.  I love to cook and I truly had a cook’s kitchen with wonderful appliances and a HUGE pantry.
• Our HVAC system.  It was equipped with humidifiers for winter, dehumidifiers for summer, and extra filtration systems so that the house rarely got dusty.  Also seemed to really suck the cat hair into the systems and off the floors too.

What This Experience Is Teaching Us About Ourselves

So I guess this tells us that we like to be very comfortable when it comes to temperature and humidity, we like a private yard, to eat home cooked meals, stay clean in a luxurious bathroom.  What we have concluded is that we can have those things, it’s just that they need to be on a smaller scale.

Right now we are staying put and are waiting to see how a few things shake out.  I will keep you posted, but wanted to leave you with a few photos from our current living situation.  This will help explain why I say “it works”, but isn’t ideal.  What will be interesting is when we do land somewhere again and retrieve our belongings from storage how much more we will purge/donate.  We donated/gave away/consigned a lot and still half of our belongings are in offsite storage.  If you are thinking for going thru the downsizing process this article is a great one to keep in the back of your mind as you go thru your “stuff”.

Current Situation

OK, here’s the spare bedroom.  Silly me thought that we could set up a queen size bed and one nightstand just in case we needed it.  Some of these boxes are empty and just being stored until repacked.  Others have things in them just in case I need them.  Needless to say, I keep the door closed at all times.

Here’s my version of a side by side refirgerator.  There wasn’t a refrigerator in the house so we still had my overflow refrigerator which is on the left and bought another “garage” refrigerator so that I have enough space for everything.  Issue was that there was no space in the garage for the garage refrigerator so it is in the dining/multipurpose room.

Now the garage.  Had to share 2 views.  The first is what you seen when you step out the door every day.  More boxes.  Some unpacked, some half unpacked because I needed something, and a few still packed. Oh and on the right is the only “laundry sink” in the house.

Had to include this view of the garage.  Mark has to pull his truck in so that the rolled up hose goes between his rear two tires.  When both cars are in I can barely squeeze in and out of my car.  Forget opening the door even half way.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Now you can see why I say the situation isn’t ideal, but it works.  Hopefully one day we will look back and have lots of laughs about our time here just camping out with minimal amounts of our “stuff”.  After all stuff is just stuff, right.  We have our health and a roof over our heads and that’s what counts.  Oh, the furry boys are happy here too.

Hugs,