Hurricanes and Happiness

What do you do when there's a hurricane and you are stuck inside? Write your blog, of course!

August was a very eventful month. We packed up and headed south to Florida and have spent the last few weeks settling in and getting the house organized.

The house we are renting is fully furnished and decorated which is great and made moving in super easy...that was until I decided that I wanted to change pretty much everything about the place and put my own spin on it :)

So, I completely redecorated the house ( I mean, bedding, towels, wall hangings, knick knacks....everything!)  The owners said we could redecorate but I'm not sure she realized that I would change EVERYTHING! Lol! I hope she doesn't pop over for a visit because I think she will be very shocked. I have all of her stuff hidden away in any nook and cranny I could find...behind the entertainment stand, at the tops of closets where I can't reach anyway, and under every bed in the house. So now we have the house just the way we want it and can start enjoying island life.

Not that we haven't been enjoying it already! Being able to work from home and take little breaks during the day to walk down to the beach cafe for a bite to eat or walk across the street to the beach to swim for half an hour or so has been amazing and exactly what I hoped our life here would entail.

I still can't really believe we live here and I keep waiting for Mike to tell me that I need to pack up and head home to Ohio! I have always dreamed of living by the ocean ever since I was a little girl and to be able to have the dream turn into a reality...I am one lucky girl!

Fast forward to the present and we are dealing with a hurricane.

When Mike said we should look for a raised house I was very argumentative. I thought it would be too difficult for Goldie (since she only has 3 legs) to negotiate the stairs multiple times a day for potty breaks. She has since proved me wrong, like she does every time I underestimate her. We bought her a special carrying harness and for the first few days we had to wear her like a purse and carry her down and back up the stairs every single time she needed to go out. She very quickly started going up the stairs on her own and now will go down the stairs on her own if you set her on the second from the top step. She is amazing! I can't imagine how terrified I would be of stairs if I was missing a leg!

Anyway, Mike was right, as usual and I am SO glad right now that we live in a raised house! Our street is completely underwater and most of our driveway is as well.  We have been fortunate enough that the water hasn't come up to our garage yet, but we have lattice blow out walls for that very reason to let the water go through. Our yard is flooded as well but there is any empty lot across the street that is just high enough that we can wade Goldie across the street to the grassy lot for potty breaks.

Every place we have lived has challenges and sometimes you have to deal with some pretty crazy stuff to be able to fully appreciate and enjoy the good stuff!

We were prepared. We bought water and food, extra dog food for Goldie and had candles and flashlights at the ready. I even went out one day and floated in the street for a bit (before the water got too high and nasty).

Life is all about what you make of it...how you deal with situations that are thrown your way. Not every day is going to be an easy day. It's when you're faced with the hard, scary stuff that you see what you're really made of.  Sometimes you just have to try and find the silver lining in a bad situation. Put on your wellies and wade through the high water, and smile!

Now, I gotta go put on my bathing suit and go dance in the rain....