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Down to the Wire

What to say...my brain is everywhere! Literally everywhere. This isn't a drill anymore people! Here we are a whopping 5 days out from departure. Everyday our checklist gets smaller and smaller. It's currently down to, get random pictures developed from a zillion years ago (FYI they apparently don't develop film anymore...who knew...it's about a zillion dollars now and takes an entire week to get it back...ugh...21st century fail! Sad day for the film lovers out there like myself), go pick up 3 month supply of medications, pick up dresses from dry cleaners, take dogs to vet to receive health certificate for life on the USVI, and print driving records so we can get a license when we get there. That's IT folks! Technically the only pressing thing on the list is the health certificate for the "island buchos" as Jason likes to call them : ) We are already packed, the bags weigh EXACTLY 50lbs each. We are maxed out! God only knows where those 2 dresses from the dry cleaners are going to go. It's THAT tight at this point.

So, I've played it over and over in my head. What is that flight going to feel like?! What are we going to talk about for 3.5 hours on the way to well...just the REST of our lives...no big. Hah! I see lots of tears, happy ones of course, and me jamming out on my new blue tooth headphones to my STX (St. Croix for future reference) playlist on Spotify. That of course includes lots of Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Kenny Chesney, Rusted Root, and a few other random Raggae(esque) tunes. Everyday feels like groundhog day at this point, for both Jason and me. We talk about it daily. "Hey...here comes yesterday again." It's like life is in limbo in S...L...O...W... motion. Contrary to how it feels though, we have gotten a lot done while we've been in Georgia. My parent's have been great, and we're so thankful to be able to stay here in the in-between life that we're currently living. Homeless and happy. It's a nice break from doing doing doing every 5 seconds in trying to prepare a house to sell!

The only negative thing so far was the horrendous lightening strike that we all experienced the other day. Side note, it has rained here in Georgia for an entire month and a half, with the exception of oh...4 whole days. Last week my parents and I were standing on the back patio, and Jason was upstairs taking a nap with the dogs. A storm was rolling in but nothing unusual, in fact, we weren't even under a thunderstorm warning. Now I'm from Texas "Y'all"...I know a strong storm when i see it coming...and this was nothing to toy with...whether the weather man agreed with me or not! Contrary to the weather channel however...a huge BLUE ball of light and a huge crack, followed by another huge crack scared us all to death. I instantly knew lightening hit the house, keep in mind we're outside...not entirely smart...I suddenly realize the strike was on the corner of the house where Jason and the dogs are sleeping (insert scared to death moment here...yes, I thought they were dead...not cool bro). In fact...the strike was approximately 6 FEET from Jason's face...As I run towards the stairs I get about 3 steps out from the kitchen and my dad starts screaming, "The TREE...GET DOWN! It's coming in!" So we are all 3 covering our heads in fear of being smashed by a huge tree that is coming down on the house...My dad watched it blow about 6 feet back (away from the house) after the lightening struck it...then slam into the ground (even the tree guy hasn't been able to get the remnants out of the ground yet. It is literally slammed FEET down into the earth). At that point it came falling straight at the kitchen. It landed about a foot short of smashing the house at the top of the tree...and partially landed ON the roof where Jason was sleeping (now approximately 2 FEET from his face). The tree never came through the kitchen, thank God...but we couldn't get out of the house from there either...so I continue running up the stairs, where I smell smoke immediately (great now the house is on fire)...I make it to the bedroom and my little family is fine...but scared (the dogs) Jason is calm as ever and literally watched the whole thing happen. At that point everyone was fine but the house smelled like it was on fire, so my mom instantly went into a panic and dialed 911 (which I commended her for), I round up the leashes and got all the dogs ready to run...the lightening storm was still full blown outside the window and at that point I was upstairs with it...The fire truck was there in about 7 minutes or so, checked the house, no fire, just probably a bunch of burnt wires or...something. Over the period of the next few days we found all sorts of damage. So far I believe in electronics alone it's racked itself up to a whopping 5 GRAND in damages. That doesn't count the fact that the lightening (electricity traveling) itself cracked the exterior foundation of the house (pictures below) and the bricks surrounding it. CRAZY! You could literally see the path from the tree, through the dirt, it burnt a fern planted in the ground, went up the cement, destroyed that, and then traveled all through the house eating electronics as it went...lots of them...The good news is we're all alive. Although I definitely feared for everyone's life like never before! Thank God everyone is ok. You think lightening strike on a tree and you don't think much of it...this...was traumatic, loud, scary, REALLY dangerous. The tree is HUGE, not just a freaking pear tree tumbling to the ground. It's probably 3 times the height of the house itself. The fireman told us we were incredibly lucky the house did not catch fire the way it traveled through it.

Anyway...back to STX...every day we check the STX MLS and recently what I would refer to as probably my dream home has popped up on the market. It's ALMOST the right price and it literally has EVERYTHING on our list...with the exception of a space for a mini donkey to live. It might actually have that too but the pics don't look too terribly donkey friendly so we'll see about that when we arrive. The realtor (who conveniently broke his foot the week before we arrive... poor guy : ) is having another realtor take us house hunting on Monday! This house is the first up (or it should be as they said they'd prioritize it for us). I want to snag that bugger before anyone else does! It needs some work as most of the houses down there do, due to the salt and the rain forest climate, but praying it's nothing we can't handle at this point : ) Feel free to join in on that hah!

Needless to say we are SO ready. Oddly enough I'm not scared at all...well...except about the flight there with the dogs. I hope to Pete that Guapo doesn't bark the entire flight. He usually goes into a state of sensory overload when there is a lot going on around him so hopefully that will be the case on Saturday too : ) We've packed mini packets of peanut butter to quiet them down if necessary, muzzles to protect the TSA agents from a fear induced bite, plan to ask the vet for prozac...and lots and lots of poop bags on deck. Lucky for our fellow passengers, ATL Int'l has a potty spot for them to stop at before we take off...your welcome flight crew : P

So the plan right now is to land in STX. Jason will wait for the luggage while I head to the rental car desk. I think I'll plan on spinning around and picking him up in the car so they don't see the dogs actually get IN the car. Pretty sure that isn't supposed to happen...unfortunately...we have no choice : ) Do I care...not really. We do however...have a hand vac that we can zip the hair up with! What they don't know won't hurt them I suppose.

From that point it's navigate to the Air BnB. I HIGHLY doubt the GPS will work there so my navigation skills should come into play and save the day. The hardest part will be driving on the LEFT side of the road. That will be interesting. Jason is driving. lol. There we will decompress, spend some time comforting the confused "beach buchos" and then probably at some point venture out to find a grocery store or K-mart to buy some necessities. We packed some...but we'll need food for sure. I hope to God "Bucho" doesn't mean anything vulgar in Spanish...I should probably check the Urban Dictionary on that one. lol.

Here we go...

Bucho was originally a general insult for someone acting like a jerk or idiot, but has become a catch-all term used to indicate a homey or big man (hahah). It is also a Spanish cooking term not unlike "lard," which would make sense for the big man definition of the word, as in "Fat Bucho..."

OK so we're calling our dogs fat beach jerks/homies...that happens to be fairly accurate : ) If I've learned anything so far from this venture...and my life leading up to this moment...it's that this journey isn't for everyone. But I find it sad that other's can't see the potential in their own life. Money isn't everything. I learned that lesson the hard way. Also...life is short...(also learned the hard way after 15 years of living with cancer). What have I taken from those 2 lessons alone? I wouldn't trade them for the world. They gave me courage. They gave me strength, and they made me realize what is important in life...and possibly even more importantly...what is NOT. No matter what happens, you will survive (unless it's your time to go of course). So, get out of your comfort zone, go beyond your last limit, make goals, REAL ones, and stick to them! If you fail, get back up and go again. Be smart and methodical about it and move forward, one day at a time. Sitting around hoping life will get better...does not make life better. Doing what everyone else THINKS you should be doing, does not improve your quality of life...ever. Getting off of your ass and doing something about it and having faith in yourself...does : ) Next time someone tries to tell you how to live your life, where to go, or how to spend your money...rather than instantaneously doubting yourself and being insecure about your decisions, trust yourself, your gut, and your experiences. Sure you can listen to advice, but you have been led you to where you are for a reason. So, get on and ride : )

Moving on...This blog is probably lengthy enough so I'll end it there. I'll post some pics below of our Georgia adventures! Get excited folks! The next blog post will be the real deal! We'll see you in paradise ♥️🐠🌴🇻🇮🏝😜

Guapo looking especially adorable in my suitcase. I think he knows he's coming along this time!

We bought Doggles for our pups, however they arrived WAY too big for the island buchos. My mom's dog Mocha however, is enjoying her new shades!

Sleepy Beats.

Dad coming home after a long tiring day of flying to the Caribbean and back...#firstworldproblems #barbadosorbust

No caption neceessary...

Reminiscing on Papa's road in SoGa.

Papa's old Tobacco barn in SoGa.

Another SoGa barn of Papa's.

2 of my hairy Guapo boys

House sitting for the neighbor, we met a new friend. Bucket is the sweetest ♥️

Pixie enjoying her evening walk, looking up at the squirrels.

Beats pretending like Dad isn't looking him in the face. LOL. This is when they first met. He's Dad's new lap dog now.

I don't even know...

This purchase was so tempting...unfortunately there was no room left on the pallet : (

I proposed we name him "Bonkers"

Weekend outting

Jason making fun of me in his giant cowboy sombrero for packing my Hutchinson cane syrup...St. Croix is known for it's sugar cane after all...so...I suppose I could have left it behind but...no way jose! Love our family syrup! ♥️ We'll see if St. Croix's compares once we get there : P Stongly considering starting my own crop since the conditions are right : )

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