Category Archives: Relocation Updates

A Combination of Celebrations

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With my impending family visit, the gears in my head have been working overtime. Finding a balance with family has been a little tougher than I had once thought, and it warranted a sharing that I thought you would all enjoy.

I have noticed that when I lived close to my parents, Craig too, that everything was obviously as it should be. We got together for the holidays, brat frys, and birthdays. But what happens to all of those normal annual events when you move away? When you don’t live near them at all?  Obviously, there is change.

Here is the problem: Mom is coming for a visit, with Bob, along with Craig’s mom and dad. I am thrilled they are coming, but then I realized how much I had missed celebrating with them. Yes, birthday cards and packages can be mailed, but having them all here, FOR REAL, makes celebrating almost priority.

Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Kyra’s Graduation, Emily’s Birthday, oh and all of THEIR Birthdays we didn’t get to see them for also. It is really overwhelming, and I am sure I am putting more stress on myself than needed.  We skyped Christmas with my parents this year and it was very hard to enjoy- it wasn’t the same. I feel like I should be decorating my house with every holiday known to man for their arrival.

It’s funny, but I remember talking to a particular co-worker who would tell me about their Thanksgivings with the family and that was when everyone comes in town- they would have not only celebrate that, but also Christmas.  It just isn’t something I ever gave full thought to until this past year.

Yes, I thought about “how” I would cope with this- and dealt with it every time a special day came up. But I can also say that the “specialness” of those days wasn’t necessarily what the celebration was, but the combo of it with the relative I was sharing it with.

My point? Relocating changes family dynamics, traditions, and relationships. No one wants it too, but it happens. I believe we all don’t think it will, we all say in our heads or even out loud “We will get together.” But life happens, and when in a new town/city/state things are constantly taking your attention, that sometimes it’s easy to forget what you left behind. “Out of sight, out of mind” will never be your family, you will always love them- but the relationship you had with them will change whether you like it or not.

My advice? Well, don’t procrastinate on any of the celebrations, whether you live close or not. Keep up with the birthdays, calling and staying in touch will help any relationship. Making the effort shows that you truly care about them and whether they ever reciprocate it or not should never matter. Find a way to make it work, because this is how things are now and I have to tell myself that almost every day.

Now I want to reiterate, I AM OK….some of you read these posts like I may be typing them in some corner rocking back and forth. I reassure you I am fine, like everything about my blog, it is about keeping it real. I have heard MANY of you say “I could never leave my ________ behind.” Well, I did, and so did Craig, and this is just one of those oddities born from it.  Keep it in mind and have a great day.

 

Eleven Months and Counting…

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We are coming up to the eleventh month of our residency in the Orlando area, and I wanted to update you on how we are all doing. I hope it inspires, encourages, but most importantly, keeps things real- enjoy!

Living Space

I have enjoyed our home very much- it’s comfortable and “feels” like a home.  I have been in some beautiful homes in the area, but I truly love the layout we have and how it is spread out. The tall ceilings give a sense of space, and we absolutely adore our lanai. Every morning we open the patio door, and our cat Dory is the first to run out and smell the FL sunshine. Yes, I believe it has a smell.  The sun dances off the bright blue pool water and on occasion we have hot air balloons floating by.  We love it.

Neighbors have been ok- one is Emily’s best friend, and others want nothing to do with you. In the Midwest we respect each others lawns, and it seems that many of the kids in our neighborhood see nothing wrong with bike riding or cutting across our lawn. It’s not a huge problem, but I have raised my girls to recognize that respect comes in all forms and that is one of them.  People, respect other people’s property, it’s just a nice and common sense thing to do.

I thought I would miss our basement, not having one has been almost weird. At times I have thought about storing something, then it occurs to me I have the laundry room, our walk-in closet, or the garage. I am happy we have a large garage, but anything put out there has to be sealed so the bugs don’t get in.

The Bugs

I get asked about this question quite a bit still, so here it is. There are MANY bugs here, and once you live with them, see them, and get used to what is what, it becomes just as common as seeing an ant. When we first got here, I saw a beetle first- and yes, it was huge and gross. Now, I haven’t seen one since, but I see wolf spiders, palmetto bugs, dragon flies, and fire ants.  I have gotten much calmer with my encounters with them now, and we spray as much as we can to avoid them.  Like everything in life, educate yourself with what kind of bugs that live here before your arrival and then at least you will be in the know.  Also quite important to know because you don’t know what is poisonous or not.

The Weather

You can’t beat warm, comfortable, and sunny pretty much every day here. What I am starting to prepare for is the hurricanes and tornadoes. Not having a basement for these violent weather patterns is uneasy on us, only because we are used to heading down every time a warning flashed across the TV screen.  We have a room that we have been told to use for them, but we also need to make sure we get a our hurricane prep kit and a small generator.  

The Traffic

Before the car accident, I wasn’t fearless, but I wasn’t as defensive as I am now. I don’t get very close to anyone while I am driving, and I am very aware of who is around me while I am in motion.  I know that it will get easier with time, but for now, I avoid any long length of time on Interstate 4. I have learned how to get “around” the tourists and their traffic for my every day needs, and that has helped me tremendously.  You can do as much as possible to avoid it, but the biggest lesson that I learned is to just deal with it and eventually you get the hang of it.

Church

I miss my Choir- it will be a year soon that I sang with them for the last time, and I just truly miss them. I love my Disney, but the group that I met with every week in the house of God inspired my soul every week to try, try again.  No matter what storms I faced, they were always there for me.  I need to find another group, another choir, something that is away from the Disney stuff. Because of the blog, my life gets immersed in the fun. Yes, it is wonderful, but I want my life Christ based and to be an example for others to follow.  We visited First Baptist awhile back, and I did love it, but it’s a ride down I4 every Sunday plus any other ministries I would like to get into.  I would like something that is easy to get to and that I don’t fear driving too. I am visiting a church in Clermont tomorrow which is off Hwy 27, a beautiful and scenic road, so I am hoping maybe this will be the one. Pray.

School

I have decided to keep what and where the kids are going to school, private. If you really need to know, and I know you, PM me, as far as Virtual School goes. To protect my children’s futures, I will no longer be disclosing future sites of education.

Family

No matter what ups and downs I have faced outside the walls of my home, my family has always been there for me.  Having Craig and my girls to experience the last 11 months with was a true gift because we all have different views of what this experience has been like.  For those who move here single, I encourage you to have a strong circle of friends and supporters to help you through the transition.

It’s been 6 months since I have hugged my Mother, and that has been rough.  The small things we did together I have been craving, and I cannot wait to see her next month. I have decided that any side job I can do I can save the money to go home to WI more and spend time with her. I am always nervous that I will be crushed by the amount of guilt that her death will bring me.  I know that many people only see each other a couple times a year, but I have invested so much time into our relationship that now I feel like a piece of me is missing when we are apart.  I don’t know if this will ever change, and that scares me because the only way to rectify it is living close to each other again.

Balance

After 11 months, we have gotten to a healthier balance of what life is like in FL.  It’s a peaceful place to be in when you know what you want, how you want it, and that helping others is so much more rewarding than helping yourself. Blogging from WI was my past time, something that was a hobby that I could lose myself in because every post got me closer to my dream. Now that I achieved that dream, I have enjoyed inspiring and helping others achieve theirs.  It has become a part-time job now, and I try to balance it with family time, household chores, and fellowship time with others.

Living next to an exciting place like Disney World is all about balance. We have certain nights we schedule to head over, along with many weekends for a snack or a ride.  I am there the most because of the blog, but there have been times I don’t want to go at all. With anything, too much of a good thing isn’t good for anyone. When I have family coming into town, I try to back off the Disney visits until they get here- that way I am just as excited as they are to enjoy the magic.

In closing, I have enjoyed the last eleven months here and I hope to have another eleven more. Our year anniversary is coming up this June, so make sure to keep an eye out to see how we will celebrate it.  God bless your weekend!

The Car Wars Saga

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It has been two days since we picked up our car, and I purposely gave the time to my family and myself to recover from the miserable four weeks we have endured. This is one of those posts that I am laying it all out there to help YOU make better choices than we did, and to keep you from being ripped off or even physically harmed from the creeps we bought from. Enjoy!

It all started with a simple thing, a used car with affordable payments. We looked through the yellow pages, surfed the internet, and went to several places.  We needed a low down payment, so we went with Auto Specialists. A “Mom and Pop” shop that had a small variety, but we were at a point that our current car was on its last breath and we needed something now. Again, keep in mind we are new to this state and area, we didn’t have much to go on but we found. They seemed nice as pie when we bought the Versa from them, because of course, we were making them money.

Come to three days later, the accident. There is a blog about that you can read titled “Just Breathe.”

What happened next was something I couldn’t have for seen in a million years.  First, let’s begin with why we chose the Body Shop we did. When we purchased our car, Frank, said over and over again how the body shop had been around for 20 years and that they do a great job. Since we had JUST purchased the car from them, we thought, “What luck! Our dealership has a body shop, and since they sold us the car, they would probably be able to help us out the best.” Not over the top thinking right? So when we needed it towed somewhere, we chose Auto Specialists again.

The day after the accident, they needed the car key, and I had accidentally went home with it. I was so upset from the whole incident, that I didn’t even think about having it on me.  Otis gave me a ride over there, and as I handed it in, I broke down in tears that I could not believe that it all had happened. Whether it was the tears or not, Frank, Charlie, and Tony promised me that they would put our car at the top of the list and have it by FRIDAY. No joke, 4 days from when it was in an accident. Now, at the time I thought “Wow, they are so kind and willing to get it done so fast.” Along with that, Frank promised us a loaner car THAT day, so I left feeling that things were going to happen fast.

Then the nightmare began, from our insurance taking their sweet time to get their adjuster out to the body shop, to the Auto Specialists lying to us every single day we called. Every day we would call and ask about when they could get us a loaner car, and when the repairs would be done. Let me be VERY clear here, EXCELLENT customer service means that you let someone know if and when they will be getting a loaner can, and updating your customer on where the repairs are at.  If they are such experts, and have been doing this for 20 plus years, they would know by now how this works.  If the part isn’t going to be in, YOU LET US KNOW. If we call and ask if the car is ready, and you tell us “Yes come get it” and then we get there and you have the AUDACITY to tell us it STILL isn’t ready, how foolish do you look?!?

Let’s talk about the loaner cars. Yes, cars, plural. First, I am the first one to admit to you all that we didn’t include rental car coverage on our insurance plan, we NOW know better. I will also tell you that they did NOT have to offer us a loaner car, but the problem is they DID. Was it nice of them? Of course, we had no car at all now. Here is the problem, with ANYTHING in life, don’t promise something, especially to someone who is really down in their luck, and then lie about, string it out, and then officially deliver it KNOWING you are giving something that is junk.  The first car they drove out to us to use was falling apart, so much that the employee was holding the door shut with his own force- we said no and they ADMITTED it was a piece of garbage and parked it back on the lot.

Car #1- the PT Cruiser. They loaned it to us on a Friday, and we felt alive again.  We held out hope that our car would be done soon, so the loaner and it’s odd smells would have to do. Again, it was “A” car. Monday came, weekend it drove fine, and I headed out to grocery shop, grab some breakfast, then head to Shelley’s new pad to welcome her to FL.  I got to McDonalds, and as I drove out with my order, it sounded like someone was cooking soup under the hood of the car. Loud and bubbling noises, I freaked out and pulled back into the parking lot.  I turned the car off, and it was STILL doing it, so I recorded it so my hubby could hear what I was hearing.  I had a choice to make, drive home and pray I got there, or call someone to come check it out.  Running out of patience, I just drove it home instead, hoping that the good Lord would get me home safely.  He did, and I rolled up to a very angry husband. You have to remember, at this point we had been lied to, led on, and now they gave us a lemon loaner. Our stress level was at an all time high.

Craig called Tony who said to bring it in and they would give us a new one, with no compassion or care that something could have happened to me while driving this piece of smudge.  It also felt like we were inconveniencing them with the phone call.  If you DON’T want to deal with your own loaner cars having problems with YOUR clients, DON’T lend them out! So Craig get’s in the PT Cruiser to take it back to Auto Specialists. Now, you have to know that they are located 30 miles from us, off John Young Parkway. Of course buying from them should have been a one day deal, and we would have never have had to go back, so their location should have never mattered.  Now having to drive 30 miles just one way to return a car sounding terrible wasn’t an easy feat. First, we had put in a tank of gas on our dime that once the car was handed in, we would never see that money again. On top of the fact we would have to put more money into gas for the next loaner. 

Craig takes the car down Interstate 4, and for all you who have never driven it, it is a NIGHTMARE to drive.  Many tourists and cocky drivers make it an unbearable drive, and I was very worried for him.  He calls me and says “The car is overheating, I don’t know if I will even get there.”  I am now terrified for his safety above all else, and I start to pray.  The next call I get is that the car has now completely shut off and he is stranded on the side of I4 under the Sea World sign.  He tells me has called Tony and he told Craig to call Triple A and hangs up. EXCUSE ME??? Your piece of garbage could have caused a huge accident, harmed my husband, and all you can say is CALL TRIPLE A?  Needless to say he called back to let them know we didn’t have them and that THEY OWN THEIR OWN TOW TRUCK and to get their ASAP. He is now on the side of I4, and I have no way to help him, just helpless. So if you want to know where those facebook statuses were coming from, it was in these moments of absolute fear for what was going on. They picked him up an HOUR later, and as he gets closer to Auto Specialists, the TOW TRUCK breaks down. People, I couldn’t write it any better.  Craig said there was smoke pouring out of the front and another worker came and let Craig take the car back while he worked on the tow truck.

He gets to the body shop, and do they apologize? No. Do they make any sign of compassion for what Craig just endured? Nothing. They give him keys to another car and then make him call our Insurance with them to make sure THEIR money was coming. Ridiculous. 

He bring home loaner car #2 this past Monday- a red Forenza. From the minute he had it home and I drove it over to Libby’s house, I could FEEL something was wrong when it turned. But, having now been in an accident and having another car crud out on me, I figured maybe I was just having jumpy nerves.  We are now in week 4, and we figure that with all of this bad luck, our car HAS to be done soon, what more could there be to worry about? HAH.  From the day they gave us this car, we were told “Your car will be done on Tuesday.”  So, we again just hoped and prayed it would be.

Tuesday comes and goes, and what a shock, another lie and now it’s going to be Wednesday. By 5 pm they say, come pick it up. Craig calls TEN MINUTES before he is to pick it up, and they say “Yep, come get it.” So he drives the Forenza, more gas money, BACK to Auto Specialists, where he walks in to hear “It’s not ready yet.”  WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! HE JUST CALLED!!! Craig said some colorful words to show his disappointment, for not only the fact of yet one more lie being told by these morons, but that they had told him minutes before it was a go. Their response? “We thought the part would be in.”  In a half an hour?? All they had to simply say was this “We don’t know if it will be in today or not, so let’s not have you in until the car is completely ready to go.” PURE AND SIMPLE.  Again, keep in mind, now more gas money spent for a total of 60 miles to waste Craig’s time and put another nail in our patience.

He gets home, we are all now just annoyed. The rollercoaster of emotions was getting to be too much and we all needed a break. We decided to head to Epcot and ride Test Track one more time before it goes down this Monday.  Car was fine on the way there, so we hoped for the same on the way home.

As we leave the Park, you could tell the car seemed to be pulling to one side. But, it seemed to drive ok.  Then as we get on to Interstate 4, right under the Mickey Power Tower, we hear THUMP THUMP THUMP. Keep in mind, it started when we were just hitting 60 mph. I scream for Craig to slow down, the kids are freaking out in the back seat, and cars are whipping past us.  Our exit is in sight, and we are trying to get to it so we aren’t stranded on 4.  Craig does a beautiful job of driving on 4, as the car is just gliding back and forth, almost like we were on waves. As we get to our exit, we just have the ramp to get up and pray no one is behind us. This is the time some jerk has to ride our bumper, CLEARLY we were having problems, and he felt the need to make us stress out more. We get to the top of the exit, and we pull over, the car is completely disabled. He burns past us, and we get out to see something so shocking- the tread is completely off the rim, and the rim is pretty much bent off the car.  We are now stranded on the tollway, still a few miles from home, and cannot believe we didn’t flip the car or start it on fire. The tire that was disabled was the one right next to the gas tank, and it could have ended horribly.

We call Libby and Tony who come pick us up, but in order to find us, they would have had to take the toll road to the I4 and come back around- not going to happen. We decided to walk up the toll road to our exit and meet them there. We did have 2 cars pull over and ask if we were ok, which was nice to know they do exist in FL. We let them know we had a ride, just had to get to it, and finally got to Libby’s car. We all got home safely, and I broke down in our driveway. How could anyone lend out such horrible cars and put families at risk? Of course they are going to say they didn’t know about the problems, but how different would this have been had I been calling any of you from a hospital, or making funeral arrangements?  No, I’m not being dramatic. This all could have ended so badly, and you didn’t see my children’s faces  in the backseat while the car was wavering out of control.  We left it the side of the road, called the Police to make sure they knew it was there and that we were not responsible for it any longer.

We now had no car to pick up OUR car there, on top of the fact that AGAIN the gas we had put into loaner #2 now was wasted.  When Craig called the next time, they actually had the audacity to tell Craig to put a spare on it and drive it in.  ARE THEY SERIOUS?? Yeah, I don’t think so.  Then finally Thursday night, we got the call that it was finished. Shelley was kind enough to give us a ride there, and I was honestly worried about what I was going to say on this last visit.

We walked in, and they couldn’t find our file at all. So what, we don’t exist now? After 10 minutes, he finds it, has our license plate we DIDN’T ask for, and tell us to pay the lady our deductible and plate fees. We didn’t care anymore, we just wanted our car.  Charlie walks away with another customer, and we needed our key.  So they call him back in, and he brings it out to us, chucks it at Craig, and walks away. No “Thanks for your business” or how about a “Sorry we almost killed you twice with our crappy loaner cars” just chucked it at Craig and walked away. There are no words to describe our feelings in that moment.

So, for all of you who are vacationing here, moving here, and need any type of work for your car or want to buy a used car, AVOID THESE PEOPLE LIKE THE PLAGUE.  Again, they are called AUTO SPECIALISTS of Orlando.  I would like to thank Frank, Charlie, and Tony personally for showing me who I NEVER want to be, how to treat others, or if I ever have a business, how to NEVER run mine. You are a joke and you should be ashamed of how you handled our family.  I would also like to thank you for NOT fixing the brakes, as promised, and also the chip in the windshield. The NUMEROUS times we reminded you to check both things, you seem to have just “forgotten” too.

We are having the entire vehicle inspected on Monday, by someone else, and we will officially find out if what they did was correct.  Honestly, they could have done it all right, but because of how they treated us and their negligence on the loaner cars, I would NEVER recommend them to ANYONE.

What would I have done differently? Simple. One, I would have talked more in depth with my insurance about body shops. We had picked ours already, and maybe that’s why they didnt inform us that they were not one of their “preferred” ones. Had I known, I would have chosen one of theirs, and then the work would have been guaranteed. Lesson learned. I also would have picked a body shop VERY close to my home, not 30 miles away. Every time we needed to go there, it was expensive and time consuming, along with being stressful driving on I4 so much. I would have had rental car coverage, because even though you HOPE you will never be in an accident, it is CRITICAL to have a car these days. My worry was the What If someone got hurt and I had no way to drive them to the hospital- trust me, get the coverage.

Here is the thing people, when you relocate, it’s just plain scary.  Dentists, Doctors, Hairstylists, and some others can be found “in time.” But when you have an accident, you are in that moment required to just “know” who to have your car towed too, who to have work on it, and then a friend or two in the area to help drive you home after the whole ordeal in the first place.  My advice? Be prepared, research body shops, and ask around when you meet more people.  Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and I hope that this blog post saves someone from the pain and stress that we had to endure.

Thanks again for the love and support over these trying weeks, we greatly appreciate it.