I promise I have not forgotten about my poor abandoned blog, just been a little busy getting settled here in FL. As I'm still working on posts about our travels, I have fallen behind on my normal updates. I'm working on trying to get caught up.
The house is finally all unpacked and just about everything is put away. I'm still working on some organization, re-decorating Brinleigh's bedroom, hanging pictures and sorting random things that we need to get rid of. All of which needs to be done sooner rather than later since I started working part time this week.
I had a couple of interviews at Best Buy and Target a couple weeks ago and was offered a seasonal position with both stores. Target seemed to be a better fit for our family since they were so willing to work around Kolt's duty and deployment schedules. I will be working in the evenings and some weekends until January and then I will find out if they want to keep me on as a permanent part time employee. So this will also be a trial period for us to see how it works with me working opposite shifts from Kolt.
Kolt got assigned to a deployment team and will be going on his first two week deployment in a couple of months. He makes extra money every time he deploys so he is going to try and go as often as he can. We did find out the results from the big test he took back in May to try and promote and unfortunately, they only decided to promote the top four scoring tests (for his rate). He took the last week and half off of work just to study and prepare to take the test again today. He will get his "raw" score in the next couple of weeks, but we never know how many people they will promote so we really won't find out anything for a few months.
After arriving in Florida, we decided that we aren't going to be using the trailer as much as we planned to. Our financial situation has also changed drastically with the PCS and leaving Alaska. So as of right now, we are desperately trying to sell the trailer, one less financial responsibility. So cross your fingers and pray that we can get rid of it ASAP.
My free time is being spent on some crafting projects to help organize our families daily life and routines and also redecorating Brinleigh's new bedroom. (I will post more about that later.) Kolt and I have also been working on our very first furniture re-purposing project. At some point while we were in Sitka, I decided that I wanted a new TV stand. Something taller so that Brinleigh couldn't touch the TV and preferably with cabinets or drawers. And then I came across a dresser re-purposing project on Pinterest and became obsessed. Of course, as soon as I saw the type of used dresser that I have been looking for posted for sale online, I jumped all over it and sent Kolt to pick it up. I was even more ecstatic about the project when Kolt got excited about helping me with it, but that might have been more about him being able to buy and use power tools.
Waiting for everything to dry is what took the longest. Kolt sanded everything down and then I proceeded to stain and then re-stain before applying several coats of polyurethane. We chose to leave the top middle drawer out and put down a piece of plywood to make a shelf for the blu ray player and cable box. Kolt drilled a hole in the back for all the cords to go through so we could plug everything in and then I replaced all the hardware on the drawers. We are pretty proud of how it all turned out since it was the first re-purposing project we have ever done. I have another dresser sitting on the back porch that I plan to start working on this weekend. It is long over due since I got the dresser when we were in Sitka, but I am going to make it a storage piece for all of my craft stuff.
Surprisingly, Brinleigh is still sleeping in her crib and so we decided to keep it that way as long as we possibly can. We are gathering all the necessities and prepping to start our potty training adventure soon, so wish us luck with that. I'm really not looking forward to the potty training, but I'm super excited about not changing diapers anymore. We recently taught her "Patty Cake" which has turned into one of her favorite activities and has got to be the cutest things ever. She is in love with squirrels and all things animals so we decided to go check out the Tampa Zoo next week. She is still growing like a weed and starting to talk more and more every day. She is such a happy little girl and so much fun to play with. I am so proud of how patient she has been with all the changes that have been happening in our lives and how well she has adapted.
Surprisingly, Brinleigh is still sleeping in her crib and so we decided to keep it that way as long as we possibly can. We are gathering all the necessities and prepping to start our potty training adventure soon, so wish us luck with that. I'm really not looking forward to the potty training, but I'm super excited about not changing diapers anymore. We recently taught her "Patty Cake" which has turned into one of her favorite activities and has got to be the cutest things ever. She is in love with squirrels and all things animals so we decided to go check out the Tampa Zoo next week. She is still growing like a weed and starting to talk more and more every day. She is such a happy little girl and so much fun to play with. I am so proud of how patient she has been with all the changes that have been happening in our lives and how well she has adapted.
