The Old Apartment

I have had a lot on my mind lately, but not a lot of time to write about it.  I menltioned it earlier, but that's about as far as I got.  Well . . . we have moved.  It was an ordeal.  The whole month of October pretty much sucked.  A lot of people told me they would rather move across country than across town.  I understand why.  Our apartment was so small that we kind-of had to take it a load at a time, just to have someplace to put the stuff.  I can't tell you how many times I drove back and forth.  My car is still not back to normal.

{By the way . . . I'm watching "Night At The Roxbury" right now, and it's so funny I'm having a hard time concentrating long enough to write something!  "Steve, don't hit on the bridesmaid.  It's your wedding!"  I need some Fluffi Whip!}

We are mostly moved in now.  It's down to unpacking and organizing, which isn't very easy.  There's definitely more room here at the house, but we need furniture and shelving.  We ended up tossing most of the furniture, because it was old, in VERY rough shape, and some of it was even moldy (thanks to the awesome swamp cooler).  So, as of now, our seating options consist of a rocking chair.  Yeah.  It's less than convenient; especially with nothing in the kitchen.  I did go to the D.I. today (we have made plenty of trips there as well; I got rid of at least 20% of my wardrobe, and I still have too many clothes!) and I bought a chaise lounge for $20.  It's in decent shape, but pretty dirty.  Good thing we have a steam cleaner, eh?  We also need to get the couches from Logan; I don't know how or when that is going to happen.  Renting a truck will cost at least $100, and now Allen tells me that our former landlord is charging us $1200 to replace the carpet in the apartment.  I'm so pissed about that!  We have got to find that contract; it is lost somewhere in the paper shuffle of the move.  I tried so hard to get organized before we left.  It's just an ongoing process, but seriously--isn't that what a deposit is for?  Isn't carpet replacement par-for-the-course when you own apartments?  It's unbelievable that he wants to charge us $1200 on top of our $400 deposit (which we obviously won't get back).  AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

So most of October was spent moving.  It wasn't pretty, and it REALLY wasn't very fun.  We had a little bit of help from ward members and from Allen's friend Aaron, but we did most of it ourselves.  Honestly, I never want to move again.  Sure, someday I'd like a bigger house (preferably one with a master bath), but it was horrible.  I'm glad it's done.  I actually like organizing and putting things back together; I just wish I had more money to purchase shelves and blinds and such.  Why does it all come back to money?  Gah.

Even Halloween sucked.  I woke up at 3:30a.m. (just as Allen was leaving to go to work) to the sweet sound of Benji projectile vomiting.  I knew he couldn't go to school, and I also knew that I had to get a lot done, and I was scheduled for a 12-hour shift.  So I ended up calling in sick, and we spent the entire day at the apartment cleaning.  One good thing about having a child who doesn't voice an opinion on what we do is that he doesn't voice an opinion on what we do.  He didn't care that he didn't go trick-or-treating.  He didn't care that all we ate that day was pizza from Costco.  Yes, I felt like I had flunked-out of Motherhood 101 because I had to do so much cleaning at the old apartment, I didn't dress Benji up or take him trick-or-treating, and I put off so much until the very last day of the month.  But . . . Benji didn't care.  Sometimes Autism can work to your advantage.  Most of the time it sucks, and it leaves me depressed and frustrated, but sometimes it can be helpful.

There are a lot of things I'd like to write about, but I need to go to bed.  Benji has to be on the bus at 7:05a.m., and I have to work tomorrow.  I'd also like to get the curtains up in the living room, clean out my car, and pick up the chaise before I go to work at 11.  I'm glad I voted early, because there's no way I could do that tomorrow, too.  Can I just say how glad I am the election will be over tomorrow?  I hate the landscape (and airwaves) littered with political paraphernalia.  All the arguing about who is right and who is better and who did what angers me and wears me out mentally.  It's too much.  I have been listening to more talk radio lately, which I usually try to avoid.  I do think the whole Bengazi cover-up will turn into something big, and I'm angry that the administration has kept it mostly under wraps because of the election.  There is so much lying and bitterness and, while I'm glad people are getting worked up about the election, I'm afraid they are getting worked up over the wrong things.  For me, it's all about the economy.  That's what affects me every day.  Even the prices of stuff at the D.I. (the thrift store) seem to have gone up.  I can't believe I paid $3 for a used muffin tin!  The chaise was a pretty good deal, but they wanted $25 for shelves that you can buy new for $30.  I voted for Romney because I think he has a better way to get the economy back on-track.  Obama has had four years to try, and I don't think my family (or this country) can afford four more years of his policies.  I am blessed to have a full-time job, I am blessed to have a working car, I am incredibly grateful that Benji has a scholarship to Pingree, and I am very lucky to be in a house now.  It's how we can afford everything else that worries me.  Money.  Ugh.  I would like it better if I had more of it, I'm sure.

Turn and Face the Strange Ch-ch-changes

Riddle me this: why do I get sick at such inconvenient times?  I swear, I only get sick when my to-do list is unending, and thus have zero energy to accomplish any of it.  And I get further and further behind.  It was around September 6th when I started feeling really crappy; I left work early and sat on the couch all weekend (Grey's Anatomy marathon).  I tried to go back to work as scheduled the following Tuesday, but I didn't even make it four hours of my 12-hour shift.  I called in the next day too, and had the following Thursday off, in hopes of kicking it by then.  I had to go back to work on Friday, and while I did okay, I felt pretty miserable the whole time.  Saturday I felt a little better, and when I worked on Saturday night, I actually felt pretty good.  Yesterday (Sunday) I was very productive: I taught Relief Society, did several loads of laundry, two loads of dishes, made zucchini bread and a healthy dinner . . . and then I started feeling crappy again.  I guess I pushed it too hard.

I know I'm not supposed to run faster than I have strength, but I hate feeling sick.  I have too much to do to be running to the bathroom all the time.  Everything I eat goes straight through me (even pills come out the other end undigested, which I'm sure you wanted to know).  And as if being at war with the flora of my gut wasn't enough, I caught a cold at the same time.  I'm still coughing a little bit, but at least I have a voice now. 

And, all at the same time, we were house-hunting.  I had gone out with Marlene (our realtor) to see some houses, and I fell in love with one in particular.  By that evening, it was gone.  That was seriously depressing.  My #2 pick from that day was still available, so I wanted Allen to go look at it.  The Friday that I didn't leave the couch, he went to look at a few different houses.  He looked at the one I liked, but he hated it.  He found a house that he really liked, and he wanted to put an offer in on it before I had even seen it.  Seriously?  I made him wait until I saw it to submit an offer.  He did, and they counter-offered the next day, although they wanted another $500 in Earnest Money, with a 24-hour reply deadline.  He wanted to accept the counter then and there, but I needed some time to think about it (and to come to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to pay off my credit cards as planned).  I made him wait for at least 20 hours, because the whole thing was just moving so fast and my brain and body weren't in a good place.  How am I supposed to recognize what my gut says when it just feels sick and twisty?  I did pray about it, and my answer was to trust Allen.  I'm still not very happy with that answer; I'd rather know something for myself than rely on another person's opinion, even if that person is my husband.

So, um, I guess we bought a house.  My dad is helping us out with a down payment, and if everything goes through as anticipated, we will close on October 11.  It's still very surreal to me.  I wanted this, but I wanted to be a bit more involved in it, too.  Once Allen saw this house, he has done everything in his power to get it. It's all he talks about and thinks about.  He has been out to see it several times; I have only seen it once, and I wasn't feeling very well at the time.  I have mixed feelings about it, because of that.  Let's do some pros and cons.

Pro: It's a HOUSE, not an apartment.  Yay!
Con: It will definitely be more expensive (i.e., we'll be tightening our belts significantly)
Pro: The house was totally remodeled inside, and they did a nice job with it.
Con: The outside is very plain.  Zero personality.
Pro: We won't be surrounded by massive apartment complexes (much lower population density).
Con: The neighborhood is okay.  It's very middle-class in the West Valley/Kearns area.  A lot of the homes nearby need work.
Pro: It's on a cul-de-sac.
Con:  The backyard.  There is another cul-de-sac on the street behind the house, so from the backyard you can see about five other backyards from other peoples' homes.  Our yard is fenced in with chain-link, and there are no trees or anything to obscure this view.  Zero privacy.  I really don't like that, and I'm not terribly excited about forking out a bunch of money for a taller, vinyl fence.

And since I didn't have enough on my plate already, now we have to move.  And I have to figure out how we are going to furnish this place.  Our couches are NOT coming with us--they are in such horrible shape we can't even sell them.  They just need to go.  Plus, we have to clean up this apartment, which will be a nightmare.  Uggghhhh.  The next few weeks are going to be insane.  Again, I'm sorry for my lack of communication as of late.  I did publish a rant post I had left as a draft from August, but that's all I have for you for now.