The story behind the move
Our landlords go back and forth between being really nice and being total pains. On their nice days, they've let us be late on the rent when my husband's been in the hospital, they give our daughter candy or toys, and occasionally give us stuff that they no longer need or other tenants have left when they moved out. On their bad days, they gripe about every little thing and generally make life miserable for anyone around. Even though our lease says we can have 3 cars here as long as they're tagged and running, they made my husband move his toy, a 76 Dodge Dart he's restoring. And I have suspected for a while that they come in while we're gone and poke through our stuff.
Anyway. The landlady showed up the other day and claimed she needed to check the heater. Mind you we've lived here almost 3 years and they've never bothered to check it before, nor had we told them there was anything wrong with it. It was a bad time since I was trying to get my daughter down for a nap and she won't lay down if there's anyone but us here. I tried to ask the landlady if she could come back later, but she barged in anyway. I went back in the bedroom to try to get my daughter down, but after a few minutes, it was apparent it wasn't happening so we came back out and I went to see what was wrong with the heater. The landlady was gone and had left my front door hanging wide open.
Later that day, my daughter and I walked up to the mailbox. She detoured to the landlords' house since she knows they always have candy and snacks for her. As soon as we walked in, the landlady told me to sit down because she needed to talk to me. Then she starts going off on me about "the state of the house" and how we're destroying the place. I'm in total shock. While our place wasn't spotless (I have a little one, it doesn't happen while she's awake), it wasn't bad either. I had a few dishes in the sink, some toys in the living room floor where my daughter plays, a couple baskets of laundry by the washer, and 2 bags of trash sitting in the hall (they were tied up, but hadn't been hauled off yet; can't leave them on the porch because animals get in them).
Then her husband asks me if my husband is doing drugs because he supposedly came in sideways on the road the other day around sunset. Which is bullshit because my husband was home sick that day. The only time he left the house was after dark. Not to mention, there's no way he'd come flying in sideways because he knows there are lots of little kids here, including our daughter, who are always outside playing.
Then if that wasn't bad enough, they noticed my daughter had a bruise on her cheek so they asked about that. It was nothing really. She had just bumped her cheek on the coffee table. They were acting like me or my husband had did something to her. It's crazy. We rarely even spank her.
So then they're saying if thing don't change, they're going to have to do something about it. They basically threatened to evict us and call child protective services on us.
I was ready to explode. The only thing stopping me was the fact my daughter was there (and didn't need to hear the words I felt like saying) and I couldn't afford for us be evicted before we had another place ready.
You know the crap about my house and my husband's driving, it irritated me, but I could ignore it. But nobody threatens my baby. I've heard way too many stories about kids being taken away because of a bogus complaint and then parents having to fight the system to prove they didn't do anything wrong and get their kids back. I'm not taking a chance of that happening.
So I told my husband what happened. After calming him down and talking him out of going up there to straighten them out (which was difficult because I really wanted to do it myself), we decided to move as soon as possible. Our goal is to be out of this place and into a new one by the end of the month.
Since I know with my husband working I'll be doing the majority of the packing, I've already started. I've already got the majority of the living room packed and about half the kitchen. I'm just leaving out the bare minimum of what we need to get by until we're in the new place. I tried packing up my daughter's toys and leaving our the ones she likes the best, but that went over like a lead balloon so her toys will be among the last things I pack.
My mother-in-law babysat Friday night as a test run. She'd never babysat my daughter before so I wanted to make sure my daughter would be okay staying with her. Things went well so she'll be keeping my daughter a couple days a week while I pack and look for a new place.
We were worried about coming up with the money to move, but my husband is selling one of his trucks. I hate for him to sell it since it's our backup vehicle, but right now we need the money more than we need an extra car. Between the money we get from selling it, our tax stimulus money, and saving every dime we can this month, we should have enough to get in a new place without borrowing money from family or resorting to cash advances on my credit cards.
Anyway. The landlady showed up the other day and claimed she needed to check the heater. Mind you we've lived here almost 3 years and they've never bothered to check it before, nor had we told them there was anything wrong with it. It was a bad time since I was trying to get my daughter down for a nap and she won't lay down if there's anyone but us here. I tried to ask the landlady if she could come back later, but she barged in anyway. I went back in the bedroom to try to get my daughter down, but after a few minutes, it was apparent it wasn't happening so we came back out and I went to see what was wrong with the heater. The landlady was gone and had left my front door hanging wide open.
Later that day, my daughter and I walked up to the mailbox. She detoured to the landlords' house since she knows they always have candy and snacks for her. As soon as we walked in, the landlady told me to sit down because she needed to talk to me. Then she starts going off on me about "the state of the house" and how we're destroying the place. I'm in total shock. While our place wasn't spotless (I have a little one, it doesn't happen while she's awake), it wasn't bad either. I had a few dishes in the sink, some toys in the living room floor where my daughter plays, a couple baskets of laundry by the washer, and 2 bags of trash sitting in the hall (they were tied up, but hadn't been hauled off yet; can't leave them on the porch because animals get in them).
Then her husband asks me if my husband is doing drugs because he supposedly came in sideways on the road the other day around sunset. Which is bullshit because my husband was home sick that day. The only time he left the house was after dark. Not to mention, there's no way he'd come flying in sideways because he knows there are lots of little kids here, including our daughter, who are always outside playing.
Then if that wasn't bad enough, they noticed my daughter had a bruise on her cheek so they asked about that. It was nothing really. She had just bumped her cheek on the coffee table. They were acting like me or my husband had did something to her. It's crazy. We rarely even spank her.
So then they're saying if thing don't change, they're going to have to do something about it. They basically threatened to evict us and call child protective services on us.
I was ready to explode. The only thing stopping me was the fact my daughter was there (and didn't need to hear the words I felt like saying) and I couldn't afford for us be evicted before we had another place ready.
You know the crap about my house and my husband's driving, it irritated me, but I could ignore it. But nobody threatens my baby. I've heard way too many stories about kids being taken away because of a bogus complaint and then parents having to fight the system to prove they didn't do anything wrong and get their kids back. I'm not taking a chance of that happening.
So I told my husband what happened. After calming him down and talking him out of going up there to straighten them out (which was difficult because I really wanted to do it myself), we decided to move as soon as possible. Our goal is to be out of this place and into a new one by the end of the month.
Since I know with my husband working I'll be doing the majority of the packing, I've already started. I've already got the majority of the living room packed and about half the kitchen. I'm just leaving out the bare minimum of what we need to get by until we're in the new place. I tried packing up my daughter's toys and leaving our the ones she likes the best, but that went over like a lead balloon so her toys will be among the last things I pack.
My mother-in-law babysat Friday night as a test run. She'd never babysat my daughter before so I wanted to make sure my daughter would be okay staying with her. Things went well so she'll be keeping my daughter a couple days a week while I pack and look for a new place.
We were worried about coming up with the money to move, but my husband is selling one of his trucks. I hate for him to sell it since it's our backup vehicle, but right now we need the money more than we need an extra car. Between the money we get from selling it, our tax stimulus money, and saving every dime we can this month, we should have enough to get in a new place without borrowing money from family or resorting to cash advances on my credit cards.