Our New Lifestyle

I mentioned in the last blog post that we had big changes coming soon. At the end of October, we purchased a one bedroom “co-op” apartment in Avalon, PA. I would call it a condo but it is a co-op which is slightly different. We own a share of the building instead of a deed to a specific condo. We weren’t sure of the difference at first and have learned that the biggest benefit is that taxes are included in our HOA fee. So we don’t pay taxes separately since the building is taxed as the entire building. The HOA fee also includes gas and water. The furnace, air conditioner and water heater are all maintained by the building - another big benefit.

Our new home

We chose to buy a “condo” rather than a house mainly because we plan to be snowbirds. Since we won’t be there about 5 months out of the year, we thought that being in a secure building was safer. We don’t have to worry about snow removal, pipes freezing or making it look like it is occupied while we are gone. I definitely like the idea of someone else handling the maintenance. We were also happy to find a one bedroom because we didn’t want a large place. We are used to living small and wanted to keep doing that.

We chose a building that is only a few blocks from Katie’s house so she can keep an eye on things while we are gone. It is close enough to walk over for visits while we are in town. The building also had major updates like a new roof, new carpeting, lighting and new elevators within the past 10 years. That means that we should not get hit with a major assessment bill for upgrades in the near future. It seems to be a very well maintained building and is fairly quiet.

Needless to say the rest of October flew by while we were purchasing the unit and getting moved in - well at least somewhat moved in. When we starting full time RVing, we did not really keep furniture. So we were starting all over again. Luckily, Kim and Greg said they were no longer using some of the furniture that we had given Kim so we could get that back.

The dining room waiting for furniture

After we purchased the condo, we ordered a mattress and box spring which we just put on the floor in the bedroom. We had a few lamps and our camp chairs and table in the living room with a TV stand and TV that we brought over from our room at Katie’s. It worked for a few weeks until we were able to make a trip to Cincinnati to pick up the furniture at Kim’s. Greg had it all moved into the garage, wrapped in moving blankets and shrink wrapped around that. All we had to do was load up the trailer and go. He made our lives much easier.

the living room before we got the furniture

It took us a couple of weeks to clean the unit well, get new carpet installed and move our stuff from the motorhome and Katie’s into the unit. It is still fairly empty because we need more furniture. We really liked the Amish built furniture that we had before so decided to order our dining room table and chairs as well as a dresser and nightstands for the bedroom. Those will be in sometime in January.

starting to get some furniture in the unit

So what about your RV you ask? I last told you the fifth wheel was delivered to Florida and we sold the motorhome. We were anxious to get on the road to Florida and this purchase definitely slowed that down. I also had one more appointment with the surgeon so once I had that, we finally were able to get on the road and got to Florida the second week of November.

Unfortunately, this winter is going to look different. The surgeon feels that I need to get the surgery sooner so I need to head back in January for surgery. We will spend the holidays in Florida and then head back north. We will probably be in Pittsburgh until early March and then go back to Florida for a couple of months. So a little bit of back and forth this year.

Since we have been back in Florida, we have been enjoying the warm weather and beautiful sunshine. I think that Aunt Tish is happy that we are back and we have been over to her place a few times a week and spent Thanksgiving with her. We also have met up with Sue and Greg the last two weekends for lunch, shopping and of course to play cards.

enjoying the day in winter garden

me in mount dora, with you know who

We met them in both Winter Garden and Mount Dora, two towns that we always enjoy. It was great to see the holiday decorations in these towns. They are a couple that definitely remind me of Hallmark Christmas movies type of towns. Definitely puts me in the holiday spirit. Even though we are still unpacking the stuff we brought here from the motorhome, Tim found me the Christmas decorations so I got our RV decorated for the holidays. I guess the next post will have to be our Christmas letter.