Diaries of a Ghetto Extended Stay

And when I say "extended stay", I mean "place people live who have nowhere else to go". Which described our situation perfectly, so we were definitely in the right place.

When we first moved down to Orlando at the beginning of September, we knew we'd need some time to find a place to live and for Colby to find a job (kind of important). So I got a place on Airbnb for us to stay for a month. It was a pretty good price for a 1-bedroom apartment (glorified studio) in a decent neighborhood and it worked out pretty well for us. I thought by the time the month was up we'd have found an apartment. Unfortunately people don't like to rent you stuff unless you have income. Weird. So we didn't even seriously look for a place during that time because we knew it was pointless. We moved here in the first place for my job but that doesn't start until much later than we thought. (I finally start next week!)

So when September was ending I was trying to find another place we could go while Colby was interviewing for a few jobs. I didn't really want to commit to somewhere for another month since we were hoping we wouldn't need to stay somewhere that long. I found an extended stay that looked decent enough and had a good weekly price. Let's just say you definitely get what you pay for. 

We ended up staying there for 2 weeks and I have never been happier to leave a place! Here are a few highlights of our time there:

• Apparently they assume you'll be fine without a blanket since it's Florida or whatever. There was a sheet on the bed and a "comforter" that was literally thinner than said sheet. Luckily our comforter was easy enough to get out of our storage unit!

• We stayed in a non-smoking room and supposedly a smoke-free floor, but everyone and their mom was smoking everywhere you went. So we smelled like smokers ourselves (which we didn't really realize until we would leave) and when we finally got out for good, we had to wash the "clean" clothes that were just sitting in our suitcases twice to get the smell out. Side note: can you dry clean suitcases? Asking for a friend.

• There was a good 24 hours where we didn't have hot water at all. Apparently the system went out and the closest replacement part was in Jacksonville. I feel like that's one of the top requirements of a hotel?

• One night Colby was coming home from a temp job at about 1 in the morning and one of the "residents" walking around in the parking lot at the time (obviously) came up and asked him for money. That's what you want to come home to.

• I was walking around the hallway with Dez one day and a guy said something to me in Spanish. I didn't think he was talking to me, but he came closer and asked me in broken English if I had a knife. He said he just needed to cut something. Good thing I always carry I knife around in my purse. Never know when it will come in handy!

• That same day, we were near the lobby when I heard a lady yelling at another lady, calling her an effing whore among other nice things. It was because that lady was with her 7ish year old son who decided to just whip it out and pee on the floor of the lobby. The mom just kept saying there was nothing she could do because he just starting peeing and it wasn't her fault. I don't know I would have gone as far as the lady who called her a whore, but being his mom and all there are probably a few things she could have done! Good thing the desk lady saw it and cleaned it up, because the mom made no attempt to do anything about it. 

• Oh, and there was a dead guy found in front of the lobby one night. Died of gunshot wounds. Nbd. We didn't even find out until a couple days later when they posted flyers asking us to call the police if we knew anything about it. Eeesh.

Again, I have never been so happy to leave a place.

So about the week after we first got to Florida, Colby interviewed for a job with a really great company, but they said the whole hiring process usually takes 3-6 weeks. I thought they were just saying that. They weren't. This past Monday Colby had his final interview with them after doing 3 or 4 evaluations and interviewing with about every manager of every department. They called him back that day to offer him the job! Best. News. Ever.

The very next day (our last day at the extended stay from hell) we went out and looked at places to live all day, hoping we'd be able to move in somewhere the very next day. By some miracle it worked and we were able to move in on Wednesday! It's beautiful and perfect and I love it so much.