New Quilt

 As of late July, Bliz is a new grandma! Unfortunately, in late July I was in no position to sew anything. I know this because I tried. However, with the creative studio set up in our new home, I made this for baby Lala. 

  

Mystery Solved

Karen was the house with the round hedges. Fortunately, she was standing outside in front. Also fortunately she only invited over one other person. 

I had a nice time. And I'm grateful to be included as the "new girl" in town--been in that situation before where it wasn't this social. Instead, it was lonely and depressing. Someday I hope to repay this kindness and be the local Neighbor Karen or Corona Debbie and welcome the new girl with open arms. 

And now I'm off to introvert for the next few days. 

Silly Social Anxiety Problems

I have a dilemma. Neighbor Karen (who is delightful--and I also happen to like the name Karen) has invited me over for coffee today to meet a few of her friends. I suspect I'll be the youngest person there by about 15 years. Plus, I don't drink coffee, but I'll deal with that hurdle later. 

My problem is I don't know where she lives. She's been over three times, each time pointing in the general direction across the street, indicating she lives somewhere that way. I've narrowed it down to four possible places. 

The Sunshines this week have been cautiously peeking outside, looking for signs of Karen or Karen's brown car. None of us are any closer to solving this mystery. "What about that house?" Marty said, pointing to the home with the two palm trees. "I think Karen is the type to have rounded hedges. Maybe?" I counter, gesturing to the one two doors down. 

About 1:25 today, I'm going to have to start knocking on doors and hope she answers. Or hope that the other three neighbors I haven't met are friendly and maybe one of them will help me out. I mean, if I know Karen after less than two weeks of living here, they must know her too, right? 

I Live in the Suburbs

 

So these have been posted in the past twenty-four hours on the ol'e FB neighborhood page. I've spent the last hour researching what plants repel bears. The answer is none. The best I can do is buy copious amounts of wolf and mountain lion urine pellets--the experts suggest both, just to be extra-cautious. Marty is simply being unreasonable and isn't on board with us spending money on gallons of animal urine.  

By the way, I've borrowed these photos. The sightings took place on the next block. Others posted them on social media. This is a public service, even if the pictures have been strategically relocated to this blog.   

Arbitrary DeBary, Sunday Edition

Last night three of the four Sunshines and three of the three animals were awakened around 3 a.m. when the back yard motion light flickered on and off. Then, there was a terrible screeching that lasted about 20 minutes. Luna growled, revving to get out the door. The Overlords took center stage in front of the sliding door, watching the ruckus. We looked outside a few times but saw nothing. And from the sound of it, none of us wanted to venture into the back yard. 

"Think it is a couple of birds?" Marty asked. No. I did not. First, most birds around here are diurnal and are sleeping at 3 a.m. Second, whatever it was, jumped over our fence into the retention basin behind us, to continue the brawl. So, bigger, meaner, and the creatures had knees.

We never figured it out. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't a human. 

Perhaps a bobcat? 

Do bears jump fences? Asking for a friend. 

***

Another rock and roll church

Buck and I visited another church today. He liked the vibe better. I liked the fact there was less singing--the pastor actually played the electric bass. The folks were nice. There appears to be a young adult group (the reason Buck is coming with me, I'd just find a Catholic church or Church of Christ at this point.) and several family-friendly events. I did not like the fact the pastor's sermon went--and I'm not making this up--37 minutes. We put this one on the "we'll visit again sometime" list. 

***

It's a busy-ish week in the Sunshine house. We are getting a refrigerator delivered tomorrow. The existing one that came with the house... I'm sorry. I just can't. 

Also, we are finally getting our flooring installed on Tuesday. We knew this day would eventually come. The former owner poorly installed peel and stick tile in two rooms. We had budgeted for new flooring. Once we get the flooring in place, we can unpack more boxes. But first! Floors. 

***

Polly and Sherman broke up. I'm sad for them as a couple. I'm sad for them individually. I like Sherman. But, I'm happy Polly made a confident decision about her future.  

Road Trip

A Polliwog on the beach

The Sunshine crew took a minor road trip yesterday. We went to Daytona Beach. As road-trippy as that might sound, Daytona Beach is about 25 miles away. In fact, as the crow flies, I live closer to the ocean than I do to any major theme park. 

     A future beach bag or two. 

While we were in the area, I wanted to check out an upholstery fabric store. I'm looking for water resistant fabric to try my hand at making a beach bag or two. We hit up the Buc-cee's because... reasons. We also made it to Trader Joe's. I must say, it was a great experience to actually go into a Trader Joe's and not stock up on five of everything.* 

Of course, it didn't feel right to go to Daytona Beach without a visit to the ocean. None of us felt like hanging out on the beach too long, but we walked a bit, enjoying the lack of tourists. There are a few galleries, museums and quilt shops I hope to check out in the area. So, I'll be back. And if I can go without the young adults, I can skip the Buc-cees.  

*I'm realizing how differently I shopped in rural Texas and how mainstream it became. A trip to a big city: Little Rock, Dallas or Shreveport once every five-six months and stock up on much better priced meat, spices, and the more unusual items we like. The prices were always much cheaper, leaving us to buy milk and bread locally--which were about $1.00-$2.00 more expensive in Texarkana. The produce at the grocery store wasn't great either, but fortunately, I had connections to better quality veg. I didn't mind the lifestyle and it was nice to go out of town with a family member or a friend for the day to get the shopping done.  

Arbitrary DeBary

Sandhill cranes live across the street. Its fun to see them, not hear them. However, aside from a couple of cottontails, a hawk and an unfortunate snake sighting from late July, that's about all the wildlife I've encountered. I've been told there's a lot more out there--including several neighborhood bear sightings. 

***

We don't have kitchen chairs. I have zero idea what happened to them in the move. They weren't left behind. They didn't arrive in Florida. If you happen to be driving along Interstate 10 and see six farmhouse chairs on the side of the road, hit me up. 

Oh yes, I'm also waiting for the rest of my dishes because they also didn't make it to Florida and I bought half a set last week and got a rain check for the rest of it. 

***

I cannot explain this, but I'm having to sleep under a wool blanket at night. Our AC is set reasonably high, so it isn't that we are freezing ourselves out. It is just cold in the house at night. 

***

Our unpacking is at an impasse. We are waiting on flooring for two rooms before we finish unpacking those rooms. At that point, we'll get furniture for the empty rooms. We are waiting for one cabinet from Amazon AND the hardware for another cabinet (the seller keeps asking which hardware we need and I keep responding, "ALL OF IT.") before we can finish unpacking the kitchen. 

***

The Fur Mafia is having a field day exploring the new house and all of the half-opened boxes ("Any idea where the air fryer/purple towel/Dad's socks/frisbees happen to be?" "Check that box over there."). They both want to go outside, but the hawks are laying in wait. So are the bears. They are making the best of their incarceration.