Miracle of Miracles!
A lot has happened since my last entry, for better and for worse.
Let's start with our apartment. I hesitated to say everything that was wrong with the place, but now I can go on and on. I already mentioned the painted over outlets, the holes in the floor and ceiling, and the lack of fridge. I failed to mention the gaping hole in the back door where a deadbolt was SUPPOSED to be, the crack in the upstairs window, the unfinished window in the kitchen with exposed insulation, the uneven floors and window moldings, and missing ceiling tiles in the living room. In the upstairs bedroom, the paint job isn't finished -- needs another coat because you can see blue under the white he used to paint EVERYTHING IN THE APARTMENT. Most of the windows don't have locks and none of them have screens. The fridge finally arrived yesterday afternoon and this morning the landlord started painting the outside.
Add to all of this that our neighbor is a crazy drunk man who was CLEANING OUR APARTMENT when we showed up to move in. When I asked about the painted over outlets he got defensive, raised his voice and said, "Hey, you know? That's life!" Nick came over and we got him out of the place. There were extra pieces of carpet in every room and nothing was vacuumed. There was a broken screen in the side bedroom and extra ceiling tiles, along with lots of spiderwebs, were in the closet. Tools and left over parts were left all over, and pieces of dirty rags lined the counter tops. Cigarette butts were in the sink. I had to stop and clean the damn house so we could start moving in. We were furious and the landlord offered to take $75 of the next month's rent.
When we called back about something else, the landlord assured us that the drunk neighbor, Jimbo, would be out by June. For the rest of the day, Jimbo blasted his music and left his front door open. He was so drunk, his singing sounding like moaning. At one point, ho got on his cell phone and we could hear him (he was under our open bedroom window) yelling and slurring his words. He said, "Mike wants me out? FINE! I was in that place for 14 hours cleaning up! The guy that moved in was MEAN. He's an asshole." Nick and I kept his bow cutting knife on us at all times because we feared what Jimbo might do. Luckily, he has left us alone.
We tried to make the best of it but I was scared and miserable and I cried every day and night. Wednesday, when we discovered we had NO phone jacks in the house, we called Verizon and learned that the installation of 2 phone jacks was going to cost over $250. When we told the landlord, his response was, "well.... I don't normally include phone jacks." WHAT?! If we had known that there were no phone jacks, we would have looked for another place. This was Nick's breaking point. We were done trying to be understanding and patient. This guy said the place would be ready by May 1st and it wasn't. It probably isn't even up to code. It's not safe for us to be there and it certainly isn't a good place to have Malachi. We decided we wanted out.
We called a few places, and I found a place in Manlius that I loved. It's a 3 level townhouse. The rent is going to cost us a bit more, but since we're splitting it down the middle, Nick's half is still less than his 1 bedroom apartment was costing him. We've got a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, and a washer and dryer in the basement! It's not close to our jobs, but it's much closer to church and Uber Dewitt Wegman's is a straight shot up the street.
Getting the money for the first month and deposit was tricky. Wednesday afternoon, I called my Dad to ask if he could loan us the money. I really hate asking him for anything. I work two jobs and would rather go without then call one of my parents for help. I ended up breaking down and sobbing on the phone with him. I told him how scared I was and how much I regretted picking the apartment we were in. He thought on it and later that night, after talking with Nick, he agreed to loan us the money. Later he told me that "part of it could be a graduation present."
We're moving everything out of this shithole and over to Manlius this Saturday. The night before we moved last week, I broke down in tears telling Nick that I didn't to move to Spring St and that I wished we'd moved back home to the Ludlow area. This time, I'm actually looking forward to getting settled in our new place.
I hesitated to call Mom because I didn't want her to worry about me. By Wednesday, however, I needed to talk to her. I texted my brother and he said that she wasn't feeling well so he turned off the ringers on the phones at home and didn't tell her. This sounded strange to me, but I told him just have her call me soon. Yesterday, she called from her cell phone, which she never uses.
When I questioned why she was on it, she admitted that she was in the hospital. She has pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She sounds better than she has in the past few weeks, but she says she's on an oxygen tank and she's worried they're going to make her get one 24/7. I told her to take whatever equipment they give her and tow it on up here because she had to be here for my graduation. She laughed and said that she'd be sure to be out by then. I told her about the whole apartment thing and she said that she would sleep better knowing that I was going somewhere safer. She was sure to add, "The next time I tell you I don't like the place you want to move into, will you listen to me?" I said yes and added, "When will I learn that you just know better?"
She ended the conversation by telling me that we "needed" to go shopping when she got up here. I asked, "For food for you and Billy?" "No," she answered, "You and me need to go shopping. Don't you guys need food? Furniture? Anything?" We really didn't need anything, but I appreciated her offer. I thought quickly and said, "We could use some bedding. We've only got one fitted sheet for the bed." This pleased her and she answered, "OK! I'll bring my JC Penny's card!" It put my heart at ease to hear my good ol' Mom coming though. The last few times I've called, she's seemed annoyed and depressed. During one call, I tried to cheer her up by suggesting we go to Fudrucker's (our favorite burger place that's down in CT) when I come home. She responded with a very despondent "yeah... maybe.... we'll see...." For weeks, I've thought that her depression was because I wasn't coming home this summer, and I felt as though my not being home was depressing her, making her sick, and taking days off her life. Now it's clear that she's been skipping dialysis, and her mood and "I don't care" attitude were from the build up of toxins in her body. She sounded much better last night, and I'm hoping this is just one of her many little trips to the hospital that end with no new complications.
I work TelAuc tonight and tomorrow and then next week is filled with finals and graduation preparation stuff. Laurie is coming out Friday (!!!!). I'm so excited about life again. Things have turned around, and we are blessed. I've told Nick over and over:
Nothing will ever be easy for us.
But stick with me, and together, we will find a way.
KittyKate >^.^<
.
Let's start with our apartment. I hesitated to say everything that was wrong with the place, but now I can go on and on. I already mentioned the painted over outlets, the holes in the floor and ceiling, and the lack of fridge. I failed to mention the gaping hole in the back door where a deadbolt was SUPPOSED to be, the crack in the upstairs window, the unfinished window in the kitchen with exposed insulation, the uneven floors and window moldings, and missing ceiling tiles in the living room. In the upstairs bedroom, the paint job isn't finished -- needs another coat because you can see blue under the white he used to paint EVERYTHING IN THE APARTMENT. Most of the windows don't have locks and none of them have screens. The fridge finally arrived yesterday afternoon and this morning the landlord started painting the outside.
Add to all of this that our neighbor is a crazy drunk man who was CLEANING OUR APARTMENT when we showed up to move in. When I asked about the painted over outlets he got defensive, raised his voice and said, "Hey, you know? That's life!" Nick came over and we got him out of the place. There were extra pieces of carpet in every room and nothing was vacuumed. There was a broken screen in the side bedroom and extra ceiling tiles, along with lots of spiderwebs, were in the closet. Tools and left over parts were left all over, and pieces of dirty rags lined the counter tops. Cigarette butts were in the sink. I had to stop and clean the damn house so we could start moving in. We were furious and the landlord offered to take $75 of the next month's rent.
When we called back about something else, the landlord assured us that the drunk neighbor, Jimbo, would be out by June. For the rest of the day, Jimbo blasted his music and left his front door open. He was so drunk, his singing sounding like moaning. At one point, ho got on his cell phone and we could hear him (he was under our open bedroom window) yelling and slurring his words. He said, "Mike wants me out? FINE! I was in that place for 14 hours cleaning up! The guy that moved in was MEAN. He's an asshole." Nick and I kept his bow cutting knife on us at all times because we feared what Jimbo might do. Luckily, he has left us alone.
We tried to make the best of it but I was scared and miserable and I cried every day and night. Wednesday, when we discovered we had NO phone jacks in the house, we called Verizon and learned that the installation of 2 phone jacks was going to cost over $250. When we told the landlord, his response was, "well.... I don't normally include phone jacks." WHAT?! If we had known that there were no phone jacks, we would have looked for another place. This was Nick's breaking point. We were done trying to be understanding and patient. This guy said the place would be ready by May 1st and it wasn't. It probably isn't even up to code. It's not safe for us to be there and it certainly isn't a good place to have Malachi. We decided we wanted out.
We called a few places, and I found a place in Manlius that I loved. It's a 3 level townhouse. The rent is going to cost us a bit more, but since we're splitting it down the middle, Nick's half is still less than his 1 bedroom apartment was costing him. We've got a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, and a washer and dryer in the basement! It's not close to our jobs, but it's much closer to church and Uber Dewitt Wegman's is a straight shot up the street.
Getting the money for the first month and deposit was tricky. Wednesday afternoon, I called my Dad to ask if he could loan us the money. I really hate asking him for anything. I work two jobs and would rather go without then call one of my parents for help. I ended up breaking down and sobbing on the phone with him. I told him how scared I was and how much I regretted picking the apartment we were in. He thought on it and later that night, after talking with Nick, he agreed to loan us the money. Later he told me that "part of it could be a graduation present."
We're moving everything out of this shithole and over to Manlius this Saturday. The night before we moved last week, I broke down in tears telling Nick that I didn't to move to Spring St and that I wished we'd moved back home to the Ludlow area. This time, I'm actually looking forward to getting settled in our new place.
I hesitated to call Mom because I didn't want her to worry about me. By Wednesday, however, I needed to talk to her. I texted my brother and he said that she wasn't feeling well so he turned off the ringers on the phones at home and didn't tell her. This sounded strange to me, but I told him just have her call me soon. Yesterday, she called from her cell phone, which she never uses.
When I questioned why she was on it, she admitted that she was in the hospital. She has pneumonia and congestive heart failure. She sounds better than she has in the past few weeks, but she says she's on an oxygen tank and she's worried they're going to make her get one 24/7. I told her to take whatever equipment they give her and tow it on up here because she had to be here for my graduation. She laughed and said that she'd be sure to be out by then. I told her about the whole apartment thing and she said that she would sleep better knowing that I was going somewhere safer. She was sure to add, "The next time I tell you I don't like the place you want to move into, will you listen to me?" I said yes and added, "When will I learn that you just know better?"
She ended the conversation by telling me that we "needed" to go shopping when she got up here. I asked, "For food for you and Billy?" "No," she answered, "You and me need to go shopping. Don't you guys need food? Furniture? Anything?" We really didn't need anything, but I appreciated her offer. I thought quickly and said, "We could use some bedding. We've only got one fitted sheet for the bed." This pleased her and she answered, "OK! I'll bring my JC Penny's card!" It put my heart at ease to hear my good ol' Mom coming though. The last few times I've called, she's seemed annoyed and depressed. During one call, I tried to cheer her up by suggesting we go to Fudrucker's (our favorite burger place that's down in CT) when I come home. She responded with a very despondent "yeah... maybe.... we'll see...." For weeks, I've thought that her depression was because I wasn't coming home this summer, and I felt as though my not being home was depressing her, making her sick, and taking days off her life. Now it's clear that she's been skipping dialysis, and her mood and "I don't care" attitude were from the build up of toxins in her body. She sounded much better last night, and I'm hoping this is just one of her many little trips to the hospital that end with no new complications.
I work TelAuc tonight and tomorrow and then next week is filled with finals and graduation preparation stuff. Laurie is coming out Friday (!!!!). I'm so excited about life again. Things have turned around, and we are blessed. I've told Nick over and over:
Nothing will ever be easy for us.
But stick with me, and together, we will find a way.
KittyKate >^.^<
.