Sunday, May 14, 2023

Still Making Plans.

 If you know me, and you should by now, I'm a planner. My plans have plans. I put things I want to do on paper first, (usually), and then I write them in my journal, which, again, is paper. I may end up blogging about it. I may end up just doing it, but my plans are well formulated before I just jump off the cliff, thinking I can fly. Nope. I will not jump off any cliffs without first strapping on the latest and greatest set of mechanical wings ever to be seen on this Earth. (Even then, the cliff would have to be something like 8 feet in height so I didn't kill myself.)

    One of my plans is to move out of my apartment where my dear, sweet, kind-hearted, loving, annoying, obnoxiously loud, and stinky daughter Laura lives. Why do I say those things about her? They are all true! I love the stuffings out of all of my kids, and of all of my three kids, she's the ONLY one I could ever actually live with. It's just that I've lived with this person FAR FAR FAR too long. We're roommates; she's not mooching off of me, but still. She's gotta go, and if she's not gonna go, I'm gonna go! (LOVE YOU, SWEETIE!)

    It just seems that every freaking time I have an actual plan to move out from under her or force her to move out from under me (We both want the two-bedroom apartment that we currently live in now.), something drastic happens that changes all of our well-thought-out plans! She may lose her job, and I can't kick her out, or I may lose my job, and she can't kick me out. There may be a pandemic! I hope that never happens again, and there could be a situation where the housing market rises, and people leave the city! That's where we really are today, to be honest. 

    The housing market skyrocketed recently, and there's no way in hell I'm going to pay those prices. It's just not going to happen. I will have to stay with the woman until my last breath, but I'm not paying what they're asking. NOPE.  There seems to be a way out of it, though -- and I'm learning more about that loophole every single day. I am about to accept a position where I will work from home, and when that happens, I'll be able to work from home ANYWHERE.  I worked from home during my last stint (3 months), but I had to go into the office from time to time. The position I'm hoping to get, and will blog about later, is 100% remote. It's so remote my team, if I get that team, has six people, and we all live in different states. (Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, California, and me, Oklahoma) Crazy!

    OK, so the thing is, I'll likely stay in Oklahoma, but I don't have to. I may end up moving to another state, but probably not. If I did, I would lose both my best friends and my family, so why not move to Scotland at that point? Right? (Because it's an American company, and I'm not sponsored to live in Scotland, but if I also taught at a university as a visiting professor, I could do that! See...plans!)

    If I did move out, rather than forcing the red-headed spawn to leave, I would probably move to a rural area with a good-sized center of town with shops, restaurants, churches, and grocery stores. There has to be at least one Walmart, Dollar General, or Family Dollar; that's a must. There must be a Braum's. If you live in this area, you understand me. There doesn't have to be a Sonic, but it would be nice to have one. I will not live without Braum's unless I'm in Scotland. That could possibly be harder to live with than missing my kids and best friends. If you live in this area of the country, you'll understand.

    So, I live in Oklahoma City right now. Right in the middle of the capital city, and as I was telling my daughter, I don't really do anything here because I've already done it 1000 times. I don't go anywhere other than where I go, and that is limited to shopping for food, pretending I own a place while walking the aisles of Home Depot, and I often go to the mall with my son, but only with my son because I can't get the red-head to do squat! My little one lives 115 miles away, we Facetime, and she's coming by today to drop off kids for me to babysit. LOVE IT.  I wish I could do that more often, actually. 

    I live in the city and would have to move somewhere about 30-40 miles out of the city in order to get better prices on a house the very same size, shape, age, and condition as I would expect to buy here, but it is literally 50-60% cheaper when you go to the outskirts. You can't argue with the numbers. It's STUPID to pay $150k for a house that you can get for $75K if it's the same size, shape, age, and condition about 30 miles out. You can't pick your neighbors wherever you go, but you can check the crime rates and pretty much get about the same type of safety and protection for the half-price house as well.

    I know what you're thinking - - if you're not from around here anyway, you're thinking what kind of a house would sell for $150K let alone $75K? Well, in Oklahoma, you can get a decent brick 2 bed/1 bath home with an attached or detached garage; it's also likely to have 16 huge trees or stumps. You'll find that most of the real estate in our neck of the woods is a lot (a LOT) cheaper than in the rest of the United States. Even down in Texas, the same $150K won't get you that. It may get you a two-horse barn.  This is another reason to stay in the Sooner State. I'm not a materialistic or needy person. I'm much more like a cave dog. I just need something small and cozy. I do cozy really well. 

    The benefits of moving out of town are: it's so much quieter. SO SO SO much less traffic, less drama, less irritating people, and less everything negatively associated with being in a big city.  The downfalls? It's quiet, nothing happens, and there's no one really to argue and fuss with. BUT...you can have more dogs!! Oh yes, you can have six or seven dogs, and NO ONE complains. I won't do that. I'll have two....well, maybe three, but I won't be that woman who has ten, I promise. I have to be sure there's a vet and a hospital close enough too. 

    Some of the areas I'm thinking about are Kingfisher, El Reno, Noble, Shawnee, Choctaw, and/or Chandler. They all have a Braum's, are near a hospital, they have access to a highway which can take me to a good line of stores and shopping, and they are far enough out that I can pay less and have the same amount. I like that. They all have a bunch of churches too, but I think I'll stick with my online preacher. I like him a great deal, and whenever you walk into church without a husband these days, you're either talked about or hit on...neither of which seems appealing to me. 

    So that's my plan. I'm making plans. I think I'll start now so that in six months, when it's ready to make it happen, I can call my good buddy Jeff Straka and have him find me a good house to live in for the rest of this life anyway. I don't think he's really in charge of the one I will have after this life. I just don't see that happening. I happen to think that may be what Dad is doing right now; fixing up my place in Heaven so that when I do get there, it will already be full of love. Sigh...

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

Link to Movoto (Real Estate site) see for yourself: https://www.movoto.com/

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