On the Street Where You Live…Part 14

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Fred retired from the Air Force and from Langley AFB and we stayed in Virginia for another seven years in that house.

Both of our daughters had married, and we decided we didn’t want to live in snow anymore in the winters.

My only sibling – my brother, and his family, live in Florida and we had visited them many times, and liked it.

And so we came to Orlando, looking for a house.  We actually settled on a new house in Kissimmee, in a new subdivision.

It was a three-bedroom, two bath, split plan house, with the master suite being on one side of the house, and the other two bedrooms and bath on the other side.  I liked that idea – the separation was convenient when we had visitors staying with us.  The living room/dining room were sort of together, so that was something we had to arrange furniture around.  The kitchen and family room divided the master bedroom suite from the other bedrooms. 

The master bathroom was an interesting shape.  Along one wall were two sinks in a counter space, and a long mirror covering the entire area.  At the end was the glass-walled shower, and next to that was a garden tub.  There was a window over the tub with an “orange slice” at the top.  We eventually had that window filmed for privacy.  The toilet was in a room off the next wall, with a door.  Interesting and convenient.

This small chest of drawers is now in the guest bedroom

There was a small wall space between the bathroom and closet.  Only wide enough for a narrow chest of drawers.  We had one TV and some book cases in the bedroom with us, as well as a dresser.  The closet was a walk-in closet; small but efficient.

At the end of the hall leading to the other bedrooms and bath, was the space for the washer and dryer.  Along that hallway was a narrow pantry.

The second bathroom had a door in it, leading to the back yard.  Since so many houses in this area have pools, that door was for the purpose of coming in the house after getting out of the pool.  We didn’t have – nor did we want – a pool, so I covered each pane of clear glass in the door with “crystal” contact paper, so all things going on in the bathroom were private but still let in outside light.  It had a single sink, a toilet, and the tub/shower.  Small but quite efficient.

The ceilings in this house were modified cathedral ceilings, peaking over the kitchen.  They were finished with the popcorn finish.  There were many cabinets and cupboards, and the sink looked out into the family room.  There was the usual refrigerator and stove and dishwasher included.  It was a quite comfortable kitchen to work in.

There was door leading from the kitchen to the garage – a double-car garage.   There was an open doorway from the kitchen to the dining room/living room.

There was a patio in the back yard.  There were sliding glass doors in the master bedroom and the family room.  It was covered, and made of concrete.  We didn’t use it much.  I had thought of screening it in, and we might have used it more, but we never did.

When we began thinking of moving into Orlando, realtors kept telling us we needed to put in a pool, as no one would buy it without one.  We didn’t need or want the expense of adding a pool, and as it turned out, the lady who bought the house didn’t want a pool!  So it would have been a real waste of money to put one in.  It might have even negated a sale to have one.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: Military Life, Retirement, Retirement living