We're Done!

Well, my hands are raw, my fingers are cut up into a million pieces - just in time for my best friends wedding  on Saturday.

But,

We are completely moved out. Had our inspection done. I got angry and near tears. My sweet husband took me out for Qdoba, our favorite "special" spot. I started feeling better (food helps when you've scrubbed and scrubbed all day, were just dealing with a minimal low blood sugar and you're completely exhausted because you've done nothing but deeeeep clean, take care of the babies all day for the last week.)

I felt proud for using the numerous plastic bags I accumulated for packing instead of buying packing materials for the dishes that'll be put away till... ....yeah. Heehee.

I feel confident that when I take my precious dishes out of their safe storage spot that no tears will need to be shed on behalf of a few of my favorite things.

I'm happy to be finally done with that. I'm happy to no longer be driving back and forth every day to clean/organize/store/clean. No more juggling baby and puppy with cleaning an apartment. No more spending way too much money on gas every day just to drive back and forth so much.

My best friends wedding is on Saturday. Maid of Honor duties for me. I couldn't be more excited for her. I just hope that I'll be able to make her day as special as she helped make mine nearly 3 years ago now!

Long week

It's been a terribly long week. I hate the company that "Landlords" our apartments and a dozen (or more) others in the area.

It's simply ridiculous how much they expect of their tenants upon moving out. They already require 1/2 the deposit you put down for cleaning purposes. Then they can keep the rest and charge you for every hour their 'special' cleaning person is there ($14.00/hour). On top of that they get to charge per thing that needs extra cleaning.

I'm not talking normal things here, like the stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer/dryer... I'm talking insane things to expect people to clean:

The light-switches and plug-ins must be scrubbed clean, there can't be dust ANYWHERE - even on top of the doors and the "door sills." All the lightbulbs, light fixtures, door knobs, grout. The stove and refrigerator must be pulled out and cleaned all around, vacuumed under and scrub every part of the actual appliances.We've gotta take the windows out of their tracks and scrub them all around. There can NOT be ANY streaks on any of the glass or mirrors.

...how do I know all this? Well, of course they provide a handy dandy cleaning sheet to help remember it all.

This would also happen the 2nd time around with this company.

When I was 6 months pregnant with Rylee we moved from a 1 bedroom at this same apartment complex into a 2 bedroom to accommodate our new little miss.  We gave ourselves just a couple days between the move out of the old one to the move into the new one.

It wasn't that bad all in all, my mom, mother-in-law, sister, sister-in-law all came and helped clean. You would think that between the 5 of us we could clean a 640 square foot apartment to a satisfactory condition.

Nope.

Not only did we not get back the other 1/2 of our deposit - the charged us $20 for "ALL" the extra cleaning they claim was needed.

Granted, I didn't really look at the move out list. No normal person would think to wipe down the plug-ins or on top of the door-sills for barely visible dust.

I also know that they check these things. Our land-lady did it right in front of me. I was a little more than angry.

This time I've spent a week on this place. I'm sick of cleaning. I'm sick of driving back and forth. I've driven over 1200 miles just between houses trying to get crap moved and cleaned.

Tomorrow is the 31st, it's our last day there. It's my last day of cleaning. Then I'll be done. I'm getting up bright and early to be OCD one last day to finish the job that will never truly be done. They'll find other ways to charge us. There will always be something wrong for these people. Kenny pointed out today that it's basically like they want to be able to perform surgery in there. Ha! I should be boiling everything! Whatever. I'll just OCD clean the grout with my kitchen knives getting all the little bits of grime and dirt out.

I think I'll be doing a little happy dance tomorrow around 5-6pm. Depending on how the actual walk through goes - it might be a little later than that because I might have to recover from dealing with the evil landlady (we really don't like her as an individual). After this it's on to better, awesomer things!

Adjusting

As it turns out *I* am the one having the hard time adjusting to the move.

Me, the one who has moved all across town over a dozen times. Not Kenny who can only remember 2 real moves in his childhood and said the last time we moved apartments that the next time would be into a house of our own. Not Rylee who is the baby who should be having a hard time adjusting to a new house.

"Why am I have such a hard time adjusting?"

Well, not because I don't love my In-Laws. They are great. Kenny's parents have just been awesome. Very accommodating, very easy-going, just wonderful. Kenny's Mom has watched Rylee several times for us while we were moving. So we got to 'go out' and have lunch - sorta a mini-date. Those were definitely cool times for us.

Yet, it's not MY house. That's just the problem. It's not MY house - and being as how we were looking at houses to buy before Christmas it feels like a step backwards. I know all too well that it is NOT really a step backwards. Rather a step forward, for schooling and a "better" life.  Or, whatever God has in store for us.

I know that God's timing is perfect. It's been so clear in so many ways. I'm really excited that we'll actually be able afford a new Insulin Pump for me in a few months (when hopefully the latest and greatest thing will be out). For now I continue to be ginger with mine and hope it lasts so I don't have to go back to shots.

I really don't like getting used to new stores. I LOVE the Northside of town. I don't like the valley. I love the people at the places I shop at on that side of town. My brother, his girlfriend and my nephew are over there and I'm not able to just stop by and see them now. You know what? I'll be fine. I think that once I've finished going through the stuff still back at my old place and have it all cleaned up - turn over the keys and everything - I might be able to actually sit back and relax. It's probably just too much hanging over my head right now to really focus on settling in.

Productivity

After being set back by my own self last night. Having gotten off of work late, went to Home Depot late, got out of Home Depot late.... it was too late to go out to my In-Laws to get started on the carpet cleaning I wanted to do.

Tonight, though, was the night. I got the carpet cleaned. My wonderful Mother-in-Law helped me get started on my painting! She has all sorts of wonderful tools for painting! Step Ladders, a TV Tray so my paint tray doesn't have to be on the ground when I'm trying to paint up high... she's genius!



Yes, I painted that wall a bright vibrant turquoise-ish color.

I'm a bit bummed. I forgot my 2 inch tape at home and didn't tape the ceiling before I started painting. SO... I got paint on the ceiling. Oh well. I'll just have to touch it up. - And not do that on any other walls to save myself the extra work.

It was a pretty productive night. While I was gone away painting our new home, Kenny was at our apartment tearing it apart and re-building his computer.

Yep. It was a busy, busy, busy, productive night. One that isn't over yet. I'm now off to help Kenny finish cleaning this mess before daybreak and Rylee.

Busy Bee's

Things are busier than bee's in the summer around here!

We had 2 awesome birthdays last week for my Lovely Sister-in-law and my Awesome Brother.

No nephew to be held and loved and cuddled yet, he's still snug as a baby in the belly. Although there is a chance of Induction tomorrow because her Amniotic Fluid Level was really low last week (mine was really high, so it's cool to see the differences in pregnancies).  She's 39.5 weeks now so there should be a new baby here soon!

Things are in full swing for the upcoming move. Our house is becoming more chaotic. The Walls are empty, rooms are echoing, I'm feeling more overwhelmed as I realize that there is still much to do.

My Mother-in-law is a freaking Ninja. Her house is almost completely rearranged for us. She managed to stuff most all her Sewing/Stamping/Scrapbooking things into the smaller room - it's amazing! The room we'll be moving into is now almost ready for us to start doing stuff with!

I get to paint!

I'm so excited. I love painting. I'm excited to be able to at least do that and make our new living place more 'our own'. I've had colors in my head for years to paint a room someday, so those are the colors I'm going to do.

Everything is coming along and I think we'll be in there much sooner than we had originally thought. It's going to be crazy, and awesome. Hopefully we can all stay sane and be able to stand each other by the time we actually move in. Just kidding, my in-laws are awesome.

Diaper Rash, and everything else.

Rylee has had diaper rash for a month and a half now. We've changed the brand of diaper we use (we even did cloth at one point and loved it until Rylee's butt proved too sensitive for that, which was a bummer), the type of baby wipe, slathering her butt in Desitin Paste, A&D, Cortizone 10. Yeast infection cream - per doctors orders. Letting her run free and loose as the happiest naked baby for an hour+. Gotten prescription meds. Seen the doctor for it twice. 

Still, the danged rash persists.

The final 'straw' was pulled today when I was changing her diaper, as normal, she started sobbing in pain and I came to see that she was actually bleeding in a couple spots from the sores on her butt! I called the doctor right away after slathering her more with ointments to at least relieve the pain. We got an appointment for first thing tomorrow. I want this cleared up! I want them to tell me I'm doing something very wrong, or she's got an uber sensitive butt and I need to do other things, or that she's got something else that's making her 'sick'!

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I'm now in the process of trying to figure out where we'll store everything that we won't be bringing directly with us and won't 'need' for the next year or two. 

I applied for financial aid tonight, we'll see how that goes. I'd love to be able to take at least a year of schooling in Graphic Design and Photography. 

I still can't believe how much is going to change in the next month for us. I haven't even started sorting through ANYTHING! ...mostly I'm waiting for our tax return so we can get plastic containers to store our crap in for who knows how long. After that happens, (hopefully tomorrow!) I'll be in the full swing of the life that is moving.

For now, I gotta get off of here so I can make sure I get Rylee to her appointment on time tomorrow!

The Scoop:

Most of you know Kenny and I were looking at houses all winter when we realized it was actually a possibility for us. There were a lot of great houses, a lot of options.

Shortly before we started looking at houses we found out that Kenny's job will pay for schooling up to 9 credits a quarter/semester and he only has a little more than 2 years left for his BA in Computer Science. (Catch is we have to pay for the tuition up front then they reimburse us)

After deciding it would just be foolish not to take advantage of such a sweet perk from his job we started getting ready to send him back to school this fall. Coming to terms with the fact that a house would have to wait. We didn't want to be strapped for cash anymore than we already are. heehee.

We searched for a new place to live that would save us money for all the gas that will be spent driving out to the College (it's a good hour drive) all the time, and the potential loss of work hours, all we came up with were places that just weren't suited to living with a young toddler.

We knew both My parents and Kenny's parents would graciously open their homes to us should we need it. My parents' house is a bit full these days and about to get a little more full with the addition of a new grandbaby any time now. So, if we were to go to one or the other, it would be Kenny's parents.

At first we didn't explore that train of thought too much. We've been married near 3 years and haven't even considered moving in with parents unless we were sometime in dire need. It was honestly a bit of a pride issue for me. I like my stuff my house "mine mine mine" heehee.

Upon realization that housing is just too expensive to handle with school, baby, loss of work hours............ we explored the idea of moving in with our Parents a little more. The more we talked about it, the more we thought about it, the more we prayed about it - the more it made sense.

As Kenny and I were talking I thought we would just take over his sisters old room, it'd be a really small for the 3 of us, but I thought we could manage okay. I didn't realize he was talking about his mom's sewing room!!

The poor woman! With only one kid left at home these days she had just turned that room that was once the craft/school room completely into her craft room. She was in heaven. Happy to go down and just sit in that room just to sit, because it was her craft room.

Kenny was adamant that her craft room would be the best room for us to move into, the most 'room' for the 3 of us if we were to move in, if they were really okay with us 'coming back.'

So, we drove on out and laid our request before them. They were beyond gracious, even though Doreen would lose her beloved craft room. I couldn't believe she was actually as accepting as she was. ...I mean, I believed it, she's totally awesome like that. Yet, it's her room and she loves it. It's an amazing sacrifice for her, and I am SO grateful!

So, through the next few weeks we'll be helping get their house rearranged and moving out of our cute little apartment into a cute little room with our parents! It'll be a wonderful adventure! Allowing Kenny to go to school, and quite possibly, I might get my chance to go to school as well.

It feels so surreal. I can't believe we're actually going to do this. It's gotta be one of the craziest things we have done! It is going to be great, though. I'm excited for the next year, possibly couple years. So, here we go!