Going Home Again

Well, I've been moved out from my parent's house for a whole two and half weeks and already I'm back home, though it is just for a night! I came back up to visit and watch chick flicks! My poor mama is outnumbered by Dad and Troy so she can't watch girlie movies. I decided to stay and sleep in my old bed and snuggle with my cats, so that they don't crowd mom and dad like they have been. I hear that once the cats snuggle in--usually one between your feet and one by your side and one by your head--mom has an impossible time moving without disturbing kitties!

We are watching the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana, a TV series based on a book series. It is simply adorable.

I'll bet reading this makes you itchy!

Because really, who can read about fleas without suddenly thinking that every tiny itch and hair on your body is a flea? I sure can't. And we do have fleas. In our apartment. Crawling on us. Sucking our blood.

(Take a moment to scratch. I don't mind.)

They seem to be concentrating on me, mostly. Nick has a few bumps on his ankles, but he never finds them. I've sat on the floor and immediately found three jumping on my legs. I sat on the couch and found one on my foot. I left to go to school and found one on my arm. I range from thinking it's not that big a deal--they aren't the kind that has diseases, so all they are is pests--but as soon as I find one on me I go through a period of shakehairshakeshairSCRATCHITCOULDBEAFLEA! and paranoia. Right now my calf feels like there might be a flea on it. Now my foot. Now my toe. Now my thigh. Now my ear. And I go from trying to ignore it because I'm probably making myself itch to MUST LOOK AT ITCHY SPOT TO TRY TO FIND THE FLEA. And then Nick asks for my help cleaning the kitchen because he knows I'm compulsively googling "How to kill all fleas" and "declaring war on fleas in your home" which just makes me itch more, because I'm reading about fleas jumping around other people's houses, EW.

(shudders. scratches.)

We have flea bombed the apartment, and that worked for about a day. Then the pest control guy came out with his chemicals and sprayed our whole carpet and patio. We thought they were gone, I told mom they were gone, and fine damn minutes later there is a fucking flea on my ankle, and now I am paranoid again, and trying to figure out how long after spraying it is normal to have fleas. Does it take a while for the chemicals to kill them? Mr. Pest Control Guy said to call him if we still had fleas in 3 weeks. Does that mean today is okay? Oh God my knee is itchy and now my chin stopitkatie.

So! I hope you're all good and itchy now and looking suspiciously at your animals. You're welcome. Thanks for reading. Kisses!

Apartment Living

For ten days now I've been living with Nick in the city. What can I say? I love it!

I do miss my family, but I've seen them a few times already, and since it's only a 45-50 minute drive I suspect I will see them quite a bit. Just yesterday Troy and I met up with Dad near his work and we all had lunch! (Sushi, mmm! Also, a historical moment, since Troy ate a sushi roll piece and declared it okay!) So while I miss them, and do miss my boys Io and Oz, (and my last foster baby Billy, whom my wonderful mom is taking care of!) I'm so excited to be on our own. I do feel sad for Clair, Nick's nine year old sister. She wrote him the sweetest note (with glitter!) about how much she missed him, and it made my heart break a little bit. I don't know what to do about it yet.

So! Adventures in apartment living!

First, our brand-spankin' new microwave broke after two days of use. Apparently the "Minute Plus" button is just there to taunt you, and if you actually press it everything just stops working. It's not the big a deal (yet) because it has a complete warranty and there are service centers all near us. (The benefit of city-living! Everything is so close!) But now it is taking up space in our pantry until I get around to calling them.

Second, we are right on the levy for the American River. Which means that 35 miles of bike trails and walking paths are right outside our door. It's fabulous. We went for a bike ride last night after dinner (of pasta! dinner of college champions!) and the weather was cool and lovely, it was so fun! Especially with Nick making fun of me for wobbling around on my mom's bike. ^_-

Third, we have fleas. Yes. I will that sink in. Much like a flea sinking into warm skin, searching for blood, hopping around, making you itch, and EW! The first flea I noticed the day after we moved in, when I was sitting on the rug futzing with some wires or something for Nick. There was a black speck and I picked it up and then promptly fell over and died of horror. I was pretty certain it was a flea but opted to go with DENIAL, because Denial Land is where happiness lives. A few days later I found three more and Denial Land became Panic Land, resulting in a visit with the manager who gave me a flea bomb and a promise to get Pest Control back out to spray. The flea bomb worked for a day or two but I found TWO fleas on me last night, ZOMGSHOWERRIGHTNOW. Pest control should be coming very soon. Very, very soon.

Fourth, we have no internet. Comcast is the only option for internet so we called them last Monday and made an appointment for a guy to come out on Friday. (Five days of no internet! Yuck!) Friday rolls around and we wait patiently during the two hour window when Mr. Comcast was supposed to show. Then I get a missed call on my cell (bad reception inside) and a voicemail saying Mr. Comcast was outside but no-one let him in and since we didn't answer the phone, we'll have to reschedule. Nick runs out to the gate but he's gone, and I call Comcast and talk to a girl who assures me that Mr. Comcast left way too fast and they'll get him back within the hour. Satisfied I go inside. It makes sense! We got ahold of Mr. Comcast right after he left. He can't have gotten far. Well. The hour passes and nada. I call again and talk to a very nice girl who checks with her supervisor and assures me that Mr. Comcast is on his way, should be there very soon. Still happy. Ten minutes later and I get a call from comcast dispatch. There's no way he's coming out, don't know what those girls were telling you, we have to reschedule. For a week from now.

We were pissed. Dispatch knew it. If Comcast weren't the only damn option we would've dropped them like a hot potato, but we were stuck. I grudgingly made the appointment and brushed off the apologies. Grrr.

Yesterday I talked to the Comcast rep for our complex and she managed to get us the appointment a whole 24 hours sooner. We get internet tomorrow between 2 and 4. If there is a mix-up again, I cannot promise that this blog will be child appropriate.

Fifth, Nick is getting me addicted to video games! Wario Ware (weirdest game ever), and MarioKart (I do still drive off the road) and some others. He just brought Metroid, the Other M, and I was fascinated by the movie-like story portions of it. It made me cry!

Sixth, blahdeblahblah. I'm happy. I like it there despite the fleas. I love living with Nick. I even like pasta five nights out of the week. Now what I would REALLY like is a whole day to enjoy having our apartment without having things to do! Ah, well. Maybe Saturday.

Moving Impressions

*Wow, my legs hurt.  

*There are a LOT of people on the road before eight in the morning. Hello, city!

*Car alarms.

*Lovely weather—it's sixty-two outside at nine-thirty in the morning. Yesterday while moving we had the windows and doors wide open all day, and it never got hot. And last evening Nick and I went for a walk and it was beautiful out!

*Our patio is huge. Mwahaha! We are one of three large patios in this apartment complex, very shaded, very nice.

*We have no internet. It kind of sucks. What did people used to DO without internet?

*We are so, so, super lucky. We have all the furniture we need, we were given a couch, our parents are handing out supplies and food like they're candy on Halloween, and they are very supportive.

*Being the last people to move into this complex means that the cardboard box recycling bin is FULL. Now my coat closet is filled with cardboard.

*Since we are right on the bike path, I have a feeling we are going to be walking and exercising a lot.

*I need to do the dishes.

*I need to steal some paintings from my house. Our walls are nekkid.

*Our bistro table is SO. CUTE. I lurve it.

*My mommy brought us beautiful pink roses from her garden and they smell deeelicious.

*Nick made me breakfast, an egg sandwich. Mmmmm.

*It takes less than three minutes to drive to his college from our apartment. I dropped Nick off so he could get oriented (our bikes are still at our houses and the short bike ride turns out to be a loooong walk) and it took me longer to get out of the school than it does to drive there, sweet!  

*It's a good thing I can listen to the same music over and over again since my iTunes is sadly lacking and we have no radio tuner yet.

*We are close to EVERYTHING. For a girl that's used to driving 15-45 minutes to get something, WHEEEEEEEE!

*I miss my kitties and doggies and my family, but I love the apartment. 

*I just know I've forgotten something. 

Packing

There are not words to express today. 

At least not words for polite company. 

^_-

To summarize: Packed. Lifted. Carried. Packed. Played tetris by fitting boxes and dressers and tables into a car. Brought Nellie-kitten to the park-and-ride and picked her back up after she was at PetCo to try to get adopted. Brought Billy-kitten to the veterinary because he has persistent diarrhea that is not going away with regular treatments. Tried to find a new foster home for babies. Failed. Ran out of kitten food. Drove to Nick's, ate delicious turkey chili and cornbread. Drove Nick to my house, watched Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp (amazing!) and made chewy chocolate chip cookies to bribe people to help us move tomorrow. Drove us back to his. Packed more. Drove home. Cleaned. 

WE MOVE TOMORROW HOLY CRAP. 

At nine tomorrow morning Nick and I will be at our apartment filling out paperwork and getting keys and giving them money. At ten or ten thirty our parents will show up with tightly packed trucks and SUV's. We will begin to move. Will probably get tired. I will offer cookies and beg them to keep lifting the heavy things so I don't have to. Katie will lift heavy things. Then eat a cookie or five. 

This time tomorrow night Nick and I will be in our first ever apartment. WHEEEEEEE!!! 

Hair today, Gone Sunday

I got a haircut! For the first time in . . . . um . . . . way too long.

More importantly than hair, though, is that we move Sunday! Nick's room is mostly packed. Mine is not. Ack.

I have learned to stop telling people I am moving out to live with my boyfriend because a surprising number of people have opinions and don't mind sharing them. And a lot of them have a "my daughter's friend's dog catcher's mom said this" kind of vibe. Thank you very much, but I am NOT your daughter's friend's dog catcher's whomever and my experience will be different.

On the bright side . . .

We may have a couch! Nick found that his aunt's couch is available, it's hanging out at his grandma's house, and she doesn't want it there anymore! So we get it! It's apparently a large blue couch and we will go look at it soon. Yay! 

First Steps *Now with new fancy schmancy updated info!*

Today I took the first steps towards moving out of my parents house and living with Nick in our own apartment! I put down $200 on the perfect apartment--it's got a nice layout and a huuuuge patio! It's shaded and lovely and close to the university and markets and everything we need! Yay!!! 

We have two days to change our minds and get the deposit back, but if everything goes well we can move in August 29th! I'm very excited and can't wait to live with Nick!!! 

Update: As of today (Wednesday) our credit was approved (she said "terrific credit", yay us!) and we faxed her all the necessary information for our rental applications and employment verification blahblah she'll deposit our check tomorrow and it's looking more and more like we will be moving in August 29th!!! 

"A Possible Never-Ending Cycle of DOOM"

Yesterday, Nick and I drove to Sacramento to find an apartment for us to move into by mid-August. We looked at four separate apartments: one was old and friendly, one was big with vaulted ceilings and a large balcony (let's call it "Drum" because that's the moniker stuck in my head when I think about it; I have no idea why), one was out of large one bedrooms and only had a junior which made me feel claustrophobic, and one had no availabilities.

On the drive home (exhausted, hungry, tired, slightly cranky) we stopped for Chipotle and discussed which we liked best and why. Our favorite was Drum, because of the tall ceilings and the balcony, and the beautiful flowering trees outside the windows, and because it was a gated community. It was even within our budget, more so if we chose a twelve-month lease. Unfortunately, Drum was a few miles farther away from where we want to be, so it's back to the drawing board.

Which is where I am right now. Let me just tell you how tired I am of apartment rental sites and management company sites. However! My two hours of googling has turned up eight new possible apartments, four of which are perfectly situated near the school Nick will be attending.

Now we just have to go back down to Sac and look at those, and then probably find more apartments in a never-ending cycle of apartment searching doom. Wish us luck!

(On the bright side, I adore imagining what our apartment will look like so it's not all repetition and sorrow.)