I Hate Moving

That is all. 

We're Moving Again

My lease was up at the end of February.  Paul asked me periodically throughout January if I was going to sign another lease or look for some where else to live.  Honestly, I was resigned to signing another 12-month lease because I knew there was nothing else in this school district that we could afford and moving the kids to another school is not an option.

However, Paul knows how much I hate living in these stinking apartments and he wouldn't let it go.  He looked on Craigslist, he looked at other online sites, he looked on the board at his work, he looked every where.  And every once in a while he'd mention something he found.  Each one was either too expensive or across town or had only 2 bedrooms or something else that wouldn't work.

Until.  Until one day he called me at work and said, "Quick, call this guy now, this house is going to go fast!"  I took the information and my hopes were raised a little when I heard what the rent was (exactly, to the dollar, what my rent would be on another 12-month lease).  And even more when heard the ZIP code (the same as ours).  And even more when Paul said that the major cross streets are the same cross streets for my apartment.  I estimated it to be less than a mile away.

I called the guy immediately and he said I was welcome to come look at it the following weekend but that he needed to warn me that someone else had already called so they had dibs.  (Yup, it's gonna go fast.)  So we went on a Saturday morning to check it out.  The owner told me that the other interested people had seen it that morning, too and since we'd both seen it, whoever was ready to sign a lease first could have it.

It's great for us.  There are 3 bedrooms (that disappointed the boys a bit, but at least their room will be quite large) and 1 bathroom (I'm a titch nervous about that) but aside from that, it's perfect.  The living room is large enough to accomodate all of our current furniture and then some.  The kitchen is huge compared with what I'm used to.  There's a pantry that is easily 6 times larger than the closet I call a pantry now.  Can we say Costco membership?  There's an attached garage -- no more hiking up to the third floor in snow and ice with sleeping children and/or groceries!  There are small front and back yards -- yards tend to be pretty small in this area as it is and this neighborhood has even smaller than usual yards.  But, our back yard faces out to a dedicated open space with a biking trail, a creek and lots of blue sky.  We can even see a bit of the mountains from the back porch.

I called the owners that afternoon and told them that I wanted to look at their lease.  Within 3 days, it was all signed and accepted.  We're moving in on May 7.  I am so excited about not having screaming neighbors on the other side of my dining room wall any more.  Actually, excited doesn't begin to describe how happy I am about the whole situation.  Woo!

We Did It!

The move is finished.  It took most of yesterday and I am exhausted.  Everything hurts.  Today I am unpacking and organizing and settling in.  Yesterday was not fun but I like today.  It's fun to figure out where everything fits and when all of that is done, I get to put things on the walls and prettify the place.  Yay!

Also, a million thanks to everyone who helped.  I truly could not have done this without you -- no way, no how.  Thank you to Jennifer and Caleb, Kim and Blake (and your kick ass trailer!), Paul, Lance (who was too sick to work but not too sick to help me move furniture. :winkwink: ), Lisa and Megan and Lisa's brothers (I'm sorry, I don't remember your names. Please forgive me).  You guys make a girl grateful that she has such awesome family and friends.  Truly.

Coming soon to a blog post near you -- photos of the new place!  Fun!

Moving Day!

It's finally here!  I don't want to go into all the back story because it makes me really angry every time I think about it, but moving day almost wasn't going to happen.  But it's all good now and I'm so excited!  I'm sick of living with walls of boxes around me, sick of my boring walls, sick of worrying about what might go wrong, sick of my rude neighbors and so, so, so ready for more space.

The utility companies have been informed of my move and are switching my accounts to the new place either today or tomorrow.  My friends and family are coming tomorrow morning to help me with the bulk of the moving.  I'm hoping to go to the leasing office today and get keys for the new place.  I've been told the apartment is ready so there really isn't any reason I can't have them today.  The kids and I are going to take the vacuum, dusting cloths and other cleaning supplies to clean it to my standards.  If we're feeling ambitious we'll even move some of our boxes and get them unpacked.

It's really happening!

Moving Update

After much thought, I have decided that we will move to another apartment in this complex when our lease is up at the end of February.  I briefly considered buying a town house near here because this is such a great time to buy a house.  When I looked at my financial situation though, I decided that it might be better to buy in another year or two.  Just because it's good for most people to buy now doesn't mean it's good for me, you know?

Once I decided not to buy now, the next logical choice was to stay in this complex (the rent really can't be beat) or move to one of the other few in the kids' school district (their school really is unbeatable).  The others didn't have 3 bedroom apartments available in the time frame I needed them and this one did.  So we got lucky.  I hassled the leasing manager for 3 weeks and finally got a deal worked out.

So we're moving in less than two months.  I'm excited.  We'll have more storage space and Miriam will get her own room.  She's over the moon about that.  The new apartment is on the third floor, which is good and bad.  Good because we won't have Bigfoot or noisy fighting over our heads.  Bad because hauling groceries will be a major chore.  Anyway, it's all part of apartment life; a life I hope to leave behind in the next couple of years.

Neighbors

So you know how I used to complain about Bigfoot upstairs and the punks downstairs that were always slamming doors and smoking and letting their dog howl without ceasing?  Well, I got lucky and both sets of neighbors moved out at the same time in September.  I had a glorious few weeks of peace and quiet.  It was all I'd dreamt it could be.

In October I got new neighbors both upstairs and downstairs.  The downstairs neighbors ticked me off right away by taking up two parking spots with their big, stupid SUV.  Fortunately, they straightened up quickly and kept me from having to point out the error of their ways.  They do smoke outside a lot but in the winter it's not a big deal.  (And sometimes, if I'm in just the right mood, I don't mind smelling cigarette smoke out on my patio.  I can deal.)

The upstairs neighbors are another issue entirely.  At first I thought it was another particularly exuberant Bigfoot.  But then it became obvious that Bigfoot II has a partner and dogs and they like to play croquet or badminton or some other lawn game in their living room at 9:00 PM.  The only thing that kept me from complaining to them or to the management was that they usually quieted down by 10:00 PM.  A couple of times I awoke to hear stomping or thumping in the middle of the night but it didn't keep me up long.

Until last night.  Last night was scary.  There was slamming of doors, crashing of large items, shouting, cursing, screaming.  It was awful in a gut-wrenching, horrifying, sickening way.  I called the police.  The police didn't get any where, but not for lack of trying.  They knocked on the door, pounded on the door, yelled through the door, tried to get someone to open the door for nearly two hours.  The scary person or persons upstairs never opened the door.

I have a bad feeling.  It's a sad, scary feeling.  I'm not comfortable in my own home because of the nastiness upstairs.  I don't want to be here.  It was better when they were just annoying, inconsiderate idiots.  But now I know that someone is being hurt up there and it's terrifying.

February can't come soon enough.

Good News

My last post may have led you to believe that my life sucks, but it doesn't.  At least, not for the most part.  There are good things that have happened in the last month.

The weather has been phenomenal.  We had a fantastic snow storm.  And then it warmed up, the snow melted and we went about in short sleeved t-shirts with the air conditioning on full blast.  In case I haven't mentioned it lately, this is one of the reasons I love Colorado.

The kids had fall break and therefore, so did I.  They left for a couple of weeks and I got caught up on laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning and all sorts of other fun stuff.

Another of my family moved to the area.  Yay!  Denver is getting better all the time.

Paul and I enjoy spending time together.  A few weeks ago he had surgery, came through it pretty well, and is recovering now.  Things are mostly back to normal.

The kids went to their first school skating party.  It was my own special little hell, but they really loved it.  I'm trying to figure out how to help them have more fun next time and how to get me out of it.

I met with all the kids' teachers this week to go over their progress during the first trimester.  It was all good news.  All three teachers said that my children are a bright spot in their classrooms.  All three kids are working hard, learning well and behaving themselves.

I am looking at some where else to live.  My lease will be up in February and we need 3 bedrooms.  This is a stressful, daunting, frustrating task.  I don't like moving, but it is kind of exciting.

Paul and I have seen some excellent movies.  Inglourious Basterds was fantastic.  Of course, it's by Quentin Tarantino so do with that information what you will.  The Invention of Lying was highly entertaining, but I warn you that not everyone would agree.  Think: questioning the existence of God and How Things Came to Be.  Most recently we saw The Men Who Stare at Goats.  If you have a problem with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor making you laugh your hiney off, you probably shouldn't see it.

So that's how things are here.  We are trudging along to the end of the year, the end of the school year and we are another year closer to the Empty Nest.

One Year

Today is February 2, 2009; one year exactly since I left Texas. It doesn't feel like it has been a year. So much of Colorado still feels new to me. I guess that's what happens after spending the entirety of my adult life thus far in one city.

A few times during the last year, various people have asked me if this move was worth it, if I'm sure I made the right decision. In a word, yes. Yes, it has been worth it and yes, I made the right decision. But that doesn't mean I don't miss Texas. We had a good life there and I miss a lot of it.

Unfortunately, life doesn't allow me to pick and choose pieces and compile them into my own personal utopia. In Texas, I had the perfect job for me, the perfect church for me and a lot of very good friends. But my nearest family was an 8 hour drive away. Here, I have settled for a job I like, but not love. I'm making friends. But I have family 15 minutes from me. In either place, I'm missing things important to me.

Mom and Dad always said life isn't fair. Boy, were they right.

Neglect

So, I haven't posted anything significant in a while. Things have been crazy hectic since before our arrival in Colorado. Between the last minute packing up, the traveling and the settling in, I've barely had a moment to collect my thoughts. What a whirlwind!

The last week of our Texas residency was spent in a flu-induced haze of fever, coughing and exhaustion. It was awful. Truly awful. The kids and I missed most of our going away stuff, which was very sad. It made the good-byes even sadder since we didn't get to say many of them.

Our friends came through in an amazing way to pack us up and see us off. I can't say enough how much I appreciated the help with getting boxes, the friends who took my kids for a bit so I could pack and the army of volunteers who loaded the U-Haul. I will not forget your helpfulness. (Although, I have wondered if maybe it was a bit of pushing to get us out of town? Totally kidding! Ha!)

And once again, I am reminded how great my family is. Dad took off three days of work, flew to Texas, drove the U-Haul to Colorado and then flew back home. On Super Bowl weekend. He's a great dad, huh? The Amazingtons, also known as Jennifer and Caleb, let us stay with them for a week. And then they made countless trips up and down the stairs to my second floor apartment to help me unload the U-Haul. My grandparents gifted me some much appreciated funds, without my asking. Three cheers for awesome family! I really could not have made this move without everyone. Come to think of it though, without family here, I wouldn't have moved here. Whatever.

We are getting settled in. Our new place is great. It's slightly larger than our last one and has great storage spaces -- a must for an organizational freak like myself. I took the kids to register for school today. We are fortunate to be in an excellent school district; I expect good things from it. I interview with a pediatric home health agency on Thursday morning. If that doesn't seem to be a good fit for me, there are a few other leads to follow. Luckily, nurses are always in demand. So, we are getting our bearings, one little baby step at a time.

I have to share a small victory. I got a bit lost looking for the school registration office today but decided to go with it and take the opportunity to get to know some other streets in the area. I am proud to say that I resisted calling for help in the form of Google maps and found my way back around all by myself! Sure, I drove in a few concentric circles around my goal, but I did it! Finding my way out of that neighborhood back to my own presented its own adventure too, but I pulled that one off fairly smoothly.

Next step: trade out my Texas tags for Colorado tags so that when I cut someone off in traffic (accidentally!), they don't think it's because I'm from out of town and don't know my way around.

A Huge Thank You!

I was too tired last night to remember all the people who came over to help me move on Saturday afternoon and evening. I expected a few people, but you all really out-did yourselves. We packed the truck in about 2 hours. I never expected it to get done that quickly. So, thank you to Travis, Michael, David W., Kelly, Luke, Maria, Julie, Niki, Cyndee, Harry and most especially to my dad! I am so grateful to you for all your help.

Colorado

We made it. I am tired. That is all for now.

Rambling About Nothing Much

As it turns out, I'm not as sick as I thought I was. Yay for flu shots! It is rather annoying, however to walk around for three days, feeling as if I need to sneeze all the time.

I like this packing up process. It's good to have the opportunity to go through all my stuff and throw out useless stuff. I love simplifying my life this way. I have made two trips to Goodwill this month. I've also taken numerous loads of stuff to the dumpster outside.

Pandora.com is one of the coolest sites I have come across. You can search for a music artist you really like and they'll offer other choices in a similar genre. From there, I can search for them on Project Playlist and create a playlist to fit my current mood.

I met an internet friend IRL yesterday. (IRL means "in real life" -- 'cause you know, the internet isn't actually real and has no bearing on my life.) It was very cool. She and I have known each other online for a few years now. It was sort of surreal to see this person that knows some very private stuff about me, in the flesh for the first time.

I think I need to drop BCIS. It's that computer class that I was told I have to have. Looking at the book and the syllabus has struck fear into my poor little heart. I need something a little less stressful right now.

And that brings us to the end of this episode of Rambling About Nothing Much. Stay tuned for the next installment which could well feature musings about the dust bunnies I am sure to encounter when I move my furniture out of this place.

Edited to say ... for some reason this post says it was on Friday, January 18. I actually posted it on Sunday, January 20. I'm not sure what's going on with that.

Some Things I Will Miss

I will miss a lot of things about this place. Some things are obvious: friends, my job, our church, the library. I will miss the friendly openness and small town community feeling. I will miss knowing all the 'short cuts' and feeling like I know most of what there is to know about this town.

Other things aren't so obvious. They are the smaller, inconspicuous things that I am afraid I will forget because they don't stick in my mind all the time. Here are a few.


This is the sunset view from my front door. I have seen that sky in every imaginable shade of pink, orange, yellow, purple and blue. I know there will be more sunsets in more places, but I'm going to miss this one.


These are the two trees I can see from my office window. In the spring and summer they are green and lush. In the fall they turn brilliant shades of crimson, scarlet and gold. They always make me smile, as they are among the few truly beautiful trees in this desert.


The kids and I have watched -- and attempted to catch -- frogs, turtles, ducks, dragon flies and fish in and around this pond.


Believe it or not, I will miss these big, green fluff balls. They are what eventually dry up, get ripped out of the ground and make tumbleweeds. They can be pretty huge, too. I dragged one out of the street last week that was well over 4 feet across. They're kind of fun to run over with your car if they aren't huge.


This playground is one of the coolest ever. All the play structures are made from welded rebar and sheet metal. The other end of the playground has an airplane with slides coming out of it. Awesome.



How could one not miss this? It's a Texas-size longhorn skull. Pure Texas class right there, ladies and gentlemen. And yeah, there's a little part of me that will miss it.

There are lots of things I will not miss -- dust storms, constant wind, scorpions and stifling summer heat are a few that come to mind. I will not miss the lack of rain or the brown grass. I will not miss the thick odor of oil wells. At least for a while. Something tells me that I might look back on a few of these things with a sort of fondness, once I've been away from them for a bit.  But for the things I will miss ... I only hope that I will get back here for a visit occasionally.