[~Personal Blog Post: First Home of my Own!~]

Hiya everyone! Bridget here with a personal blog post, something I don't do that often, given it's more about IRL happenings and I try to keep much of that separate from the project development if possible. ^^"

I think the last time I did one of these it was nearly a year ago? 

At the time, my parents and I moved across country from the Midwest to Florida as my parents decided years ago that they'd retire down here full-time. I was split between staying back in the Midwest with my Brother and friends, some other family up north or coming here.

I ended up doing the later, knowing my Dad would be working most of the week for another 2 years down here in Florida. Which meant, my Mom would've been on her own for a while without really knowing anyone in the area and so I went with them to spend more time with my parents while getting the tail end of my college done last year and sorting out other stuff.

There's been plenty of ups and downs with living in this area of Florida on the gulf coast side, a ton of the population around the area on average is something like.. 65+ ^^" Which means, it's very rare when I come across anyone out in public that's within my age group 20-30. I don't mind the older folks, but it's also just more of a passive passing of them in the community and not really having too much connection outside of that. :S

The weather has also been a huge adjustment, dealing with our first Florida summer last year and up until around maybe mid-November? That's when the heat began to die out and make a difference! 

Not only that, but we made it through our first hurricane season without anything major affecting the gulf side thankfully. I think the big one from last year that really affected a ton of people, was the one that hit Jamaica? That one just sounded extremely scary with how the formations and everything was slowing down directly over the island, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're still recovering from damages.

There's been plenty of upsides to Florida though! We're not too far from the beach, and there's never a dull moment around the area since you go 15 miles south and there's another town, not even 5 miles west and there's stuff to do, 5 miles east? Eyup, another town! North? About 30-40 miles, but yet more areas all within less than a hour distance. 

Overall, about a year into living here and it seems like we have a good idea of what to expect.

But, let's dive into the main topic of this post! Recently, my Dad decided on getting me my own place not too far away from their place. Soon as 2026 hit, he broke the news to me that he found a place and it wasn't super expensive, but clearly it has some mini projects for me to take on. ^^"

January was a big limbo period, where we went back and forth with the park community we live within, that needed background checks done on me and the process for that took the entire month.. <.< Not because of me personally and my history, but rather the process was handled through email with some 3rd party app.

It seemed like it took my information the first time, only for the park office to contact me and ask if I've sent stuff off. So, there was a long back and forth of trying to get everything provided to them, have it actually go through with the background check, cleared, and finally getting the deed to the place, etc. :S

The start of February was when I could officially begin moving in, but it's a good thing I held off on moving a ton of stuff over at first and I'll get to that..

First thing I did in the first week of being able to move stuff over, was install new locks on the doors to the lanai. Since, those doors are the only ways into the home section of the place and with multiple dogs who aren't too great around other dogs, or they bark upon hearing other dogs or more so, if they see them..

Yeahhh, that's a big consideration where I wanted to replace the hook and latch locks with deadbolts, but that was also a process for a first-timer DIY'er! ^^" I've helped my Brother install locks on wood doors and frames in the past, but not aluminum.. So, I had to research what kind of tools work the best and get masks to prevent breathing in anything while making cuts, safety goggles, etc.

It took multiple days, mainly because the dremel tool I had didn't last very long on it's full charge battery, not to mention the door itself was awkward to get the lock in and have the clearance to move just right when using it.

During this process, I'd use the downtime to pitch some of the old stuff that the previous owner left behind that wasn't worth keeping. A lot of 60s/70s decor within the living room/kitchen space especially. (Maybe not full blown time capsule looking, but the place easily has that visiting your grandparent's home kind of feel if they've never updated their home for many decades.) 

At some point, I kept feeling what I thought were ants getting onto my legs after a couple days into getting the locks installed. Fast-forward a bit, and I quickly realized it was actually fleas! >.<

The first day or two I noticed it, the situation wasn't that bad? But within the 2nd or 3rd day, the infestation really took over and even with my Mom and I getting some flea and tick fog bombers for the place, it worked on anything else hidden away in the place, except for the fleas.. ;_;

Sooo.. Mini interjection story-time.

The previous owner of the place is actually a elderly lady we'll refer to as "Granny". Now, Granny doesn't live here in Florida anymore and she's been trying to sell the place for a while, with the help of one of her neighbor friends we'll refer to as "Canadian Guy" since he's in his 40-50's and from Canada. 

Canadian guy lives two or three places over from my new place, he was the one who had the deed and mainly the person I was dealing with to purchase the place and however he handles things for Granny. <.<

Now, prior to my Dad purchasing the place for me at the start of January. A lady in her early 40's was living in my new place, watching over the place for Canadian guy and more so.. Kinda just living there as her own place, including smoking inside the place when it isn't her place. (The Canadian guy didn't seem to like that information, but that was the least of my worries to get rid of some light smoker smell in the living room that no longer exists now.)

We'll refer to this lady in her early 40's as "Dog Lady" since she has a medium-large dog who stayed with her in the new place for at least two months? Probably more than that while the place was on the market, etc. Dog lady's parents, a elderly couple that aren't too important in this story live directly next door as my neighbors and after I moved into the new place, Dog lady moved back in next door with her parents again.

(Supposedly short-term before she wants to move to another state and do some sort of van life, mini RV thing from what she told me during January when we first stepped foot in the place to look around prior to the purchase.)

Now, Dog lady is important to all of this story, because her dog was staying in the place for at least all of January and probably December too before moving out. When I first stepped foot into the place to begin doing stuff, I had noticed a few odds and ends left behind, pretty typical stuff that's sometimes left behind.

Stuff like insect sprays, paints, a shed full of garden and yard related sprays. You get the picture, but there was a unused flea and tick can bomb in the lanai area sitting on one of the two sofa chairs when I first came into the place to begin work on stuff.

I didn't think much of it, same with other insect spray cans and stuff like that. But of course, once the flea infestation stuff started up pretty soon after I stepped foot in there and got the locks installed, pitched some stuff, etc.. 

I mean, the timing of it happening and the can being left behind, it kinda looks as if Dog lady purposely knew that her dog might've had fleas, tried dealing with it the best she could prior to moving out? But I'm also kind of assuming, just piecing together the idea she lived there with her dog and the unused can made a bit more sense once I noticed the fleas starting up. 

My Mom and I get the impression she had to have known her dog had fleas for it to be as bad of a infestation as it was.. But, again when I first stepped foot in there, it wasn't until 2-3 days after when I really began to notice "ants" getting onto my legs too often and realized it was a flea here or there, which quickly evolved into stepping foot within the lanai itself for 5 seconds and I'd instantly have 5+ of them on my legs. :S

I brought this up to Canadian guy when picking up the deed from him, and given the awkward situation of him letting Dog lady stay in the place and the original owner Granny. It's one of these situations where his hands are untied, since technically the original owner is out of state and has nothing to do with what's going on? But he said he'd contact Granny and see if she'd help cover the costs to get the place sprayed and rid of fleas. 

(Which Granny didn't feel the need to do, and of course Canadian guy is more of a middle-man and felt no need to do anything himself. Not to mention Dog lady denies that her dog has any fleas, which just makes the entire thing more puzzling.. Because, my animals at my parents place didn't have anything, otherwise their place would've been badly infested like my new place easily.)

Heck, just to be safe. I even went out and got frontline flea prevention for all my animals who haven't stepped one paw into the new place yet. So, maybe the timing of the fleas was just really perfect and Dog lady really doesn't know a thing about it? But who knows...

All I know is that, we ended up stuck with the bill of $350usd to have a pest control guy come out, spray both the inside and outside of the new place this past Wednesday finally. The period of discovery of the fleas and trying to use those fog bombs and those failing, leading up to the professional's spraying, I didn't even bother going back to my new place to step foot in there, knowing I didn't want to risk bringing anything back to my parents. >.<

Just having to unlock the front lanai door for the professional this past week was bad enough, standing right outside the front door for 5 seconds to unlock it for him to enter. I had easily 8-10+ fleas bounce onto my legs without stepping foot into the lanai, inside it was much worse.

Thankfully, since the guy sprayed the place, I went in there 24 hours after to begin the vacuuming process that's a daily thing until March 13th now. 3 times of doing that so far since the spraying, and I haven't seen any sign of life for fleas bouncing around. Granted, I also have opted to wear tights, yoga pants, long jeans, anything to cover my legs after the last time of feeling gross with all of them bouncing and crawling on my legs. 

So, we're hoping the spray alone did the job from the looks of it! But, it's still ideal to vacuum like crazy on everything in there. Once March 13th hits, the guy will come back out and inspect the place to decide if a follow-up spraying (Included in the original costs) is needed, or if it's safe to fully begin moving everything over.

Even if it seems fine after that, I'll hold off on bringing the pets over to really make sure there isn't anything that shows up while I'm tackling some mini projects still and unpacking. <.<

It's been a very busy month to say the least! ^^" Granted, there's also been downtime where I couldn't do anything at the new place, so I've been taking advantage of that time to keep project development moving along. But, it kind of explains my delayed posts this month. Not that they're super delayed, but some posts were intended a day or two days earlier than they came, and over on Twitter with Miki's Monday Q&A stuff from over 2 weeks, nearly 3 weeks ago.

That stuff hasn't been caught up-to-date yet either! :S I plan on getting stuff sorted out this weekend for that, but I wanted to share a personal blog style post to give everyone some insight into stuff behind the development for me personally.

If all goes well, by mid-March I'll be able to start living at my new place and little by little, fixing it up, making it feel fitting to my liking! ^^ It'll also allow me the extra privacy that I haven't had for a good year now at my parent's place, where I don't have to worry as much about my diaper wearing or hide it as much. 

I still wear 24/7 even while living with my parents, but throughout that time, I've had a few cases where I'd wet myself. But, disposing of diapers isn't too bad around here, as there's a few public restroom spots throughout the park and it's easy to dispose of them there without raising any unwanted attention. The trash in those areas is handled pretty much daily or bi-daily too, so it isn't as if anything is sitting for a long period of time.

A little more context though, I'll be able to enjoy wearing my abdl brand diapers once again! I've pretty much settled on the Goodnites pull-up brands for my 24/7 needs, with a booster to help. But, that's mainly because for day to day activities, it's just easier to be more discreet about it and add the humidity here, it makes life a little simpler and cozy. XD

That, and abdl brands are just too noisy and thicker to be more discreet! In the privacy of my own place though? Easily not something I'll have to worry about soon enough! ^^

To end my blog post, my bestfriend from the Midwest is visiting for two weeks during March and so, the timing of when she's down here is going to be pretty decent with the pest control guy doing his inspection. So, I plan on bringing up the idea of my friend being roommates with me and splitting the monthly costs, but it'll be a process naturally, since her family is all up north and she has high-functioning autism, including some other needs that might make the idea rough on her.

So, I'm trying to approach it the right way and just lightly mention that during her visit with me, she can pretend we're roommates. She'd have her own bedroom in the new place, granted it's in the lanai area. (It's split so, half of the lanai has a partition wall for the guest bedroom.) But I think that'd be a good time to test it out, and she's wanted to be roommates with me since we were younger, growing up back home in the Midwest. <.<

It'll just be mainly the factor of how she'd cope with ties to family and trying to assure her that if she decides on giving it a go, it isn't as if she's stuck in the situation. Even if she has a change of heart quickly after settling in, I'd help her get back home and ensure her belongings get there safely too, etc.

Even if she's okay, I think it'd be wise to help her put a little bit of her monthly funds aside in savings and that way, each year she can still go back home to visit family for a extended period of time during the holidays, which I know is big for her family and a trip back there with both of us at some point each year, since my Brother and his gf still live up there and my grandparents, etc.

That's more than enough rambling from me though!~ Let me know if you personally enjoy these more personal blog posts from time to time? Heading into March, we've got some exciting stuff to share for the female protagonist in our newsletter set for the 7th! Hope everyone's looking forward to what we've been busy with lately on development! <3