I've been planning to move for quite some time now. First, I was planning to move to Scotland, but the company I was going to work for decided not to start up due to C19 issues. I get that. It would have been really something, but it didn't work out, and that's all good. God has a plan. Now, I'm planning on getting my own apartment for 6 months and then maybe saving to get a small condo (we don't sell apartments in this state. You can buy an apartment like building or "flat" but it's really a condominium.) Right now the market is such that the sellers are asking way too much, and the buyers are refusing to buy. We never go above asking price here, but there seems to be a trend among the younger set to make that happen so they can out bid someone who has agreed to pay the asking price. I'm not playing that game.
For me, just making my plans is good, and it's fun, and it keeps my mind occupied. I live in a great complex now; one I've lived in several times throughout my life. If there is an available unit in a month or so I'll likely just do that, and call it done. We only have one and two bedroom units here. There is a 2 or 3 year waiting list for the two bedrooms and you have to live here to be on that list. It's really not even a prestigious sort of place; but we have our standards. I lie and tease and say I've lived her over a 100 years, and that the others have been here longer. We have a substantial amount of older tenants. People will literally die in their unit before moving out - - that should tell you something. We do love it here.
For the past 18 years or so we've had the same landlord and the same maintenance man. We have a second maintenance man, but he's only been here 6 years, so he's still being broken in and we still call him the new guy. He has a name; we all know it, but we call him the new guy. The long standing maintenance man is like an uncle to my kids which makes him like a brother to me. He'll tell you straight up what he thinks and doesn't care if he offends you in doing so. He's not necessarily rude, but back in the day I could and would come home from work and he'd be in my apartment drinking my milk, watching my TV, and loving on my animals. He said he was going to charge me for babysitting. That's the type of place we live at, and it really is a good family feel.
My new place will be so clean. I look around my apartment now, the one I share with my daughter, and I shake my head. I don't live this way! I don't have things laying about on the floor. I may have books out of their shelves and sitting on tables, but not dishes, not clothes, not horse tack, and more. I decided to cut bait and get out before I go completely mad. I don't have the least bit of OCD, but I just can't stand to be in a cluttered place either. To me, if you don't need it, if you don't use it, you should give it away, sell it, throw it away, or store it. I could never understand people who will fill up a 10x10 storage unit with boxes and never see what they have stored, but they sure pay the $$$ every month to keep it there. If you don't use it, get rid of it! (that's me, it may not be you)
So, over the weekend I decided to run up to Home Depot, At Home, Target, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. I went play-shopping and pretending. I decorated my entire new fake apartment and I pretended to buy furniture, sheets, comforters, curtains, lamps, and I even bought new pots and pans. I want everything in the new place to be fresh, new, mine, and without a history really. I may take one or two art pieces that I have now because my daughter Caity made them, but that's about it. I'll supply her with more canvasses and paint and let her have at it - - I need to fill up a wall or two. No one else will have pieces like mine, and I'll be happy - - win win.
I've also decided on buying a love seat rather than a full sized couch. I am getting a Papasan chair with a really nice cushion, and I won't let anyone spend the night with me or stay over. (I say that, but I know I would let a certain few stay.) I don't want my kid coming back and trying to move in with me. I want to be on my own. I have wanted to be on my own for over 7 years now. It's MY TURN thank you very much! I want the food I want, the clothes I want, the towels, dishes, carpet cleaner, soap, and shampoo that I want. I don't want to go into my bathroom and see two towels hanging up. I don't want to see her shampoo, her conditioner, her makeup, her toiletries, and such. I want it all to be MINE.
While I love this place, one thing I don't love about it is, they don't replace carpet, replace kitchen shelves, even appliances if they can be "fixed" or "cleaned" to work better. We've lived her 7 years now, and the carpet wasn't new then. They won't replace it unless and until all of the furniture is off of it and that can't really happen very easily, so when I do move I will demand new carpet and I will also demand that they replace Laura's as well. We'll move things off at that time. She deserves that. The cabinets in my unit now are so old and in need of simple repair. I could do some of it, but why should I? I rent. The counter tops are original from the 70s and they most assuredly need to be replaced. When I do move I will INSIST that they replace the counter tops or I may have to seek other arrangements. I just don't feel like being all that nice about it anymore. Gone are the days that I agree to compromise my comfort if I'm paying for it.
One of the best feelings about planning the move is knowing that I won't have to put up with my little girl cackling and carrying on as loudly as she does when she's on her game. I work from home. She works from home too, but we both do tend to get on each other's last nerve with things we do. I constantly interrupt her and she constantly scream/laughs to the point that my clients ask where I am and if I'm safe! I do laugh. More and more of us work from home these days, but it does rather annoy me that I have to have my office in my bedroom because I don't have space to put it out in the dining area where it should be. I don't keep it there because there isn't a door that separates that space from the hall and her door is always open and she'd be cackling even louder at that point. NOPE.
I love the stuffings out of that woman, but she is a grown woman, and she needs to be on her own! She really hasn't ever been on her own and that's something she must learn to do. She was at home until she was 18 or so, then lived with friends, sister, cousin, even her brother for a while. She's never been forced to budget, plan meals, pay all of the bills, or be fully responsible. It's damn time. She knows it, I know it, we all know it, and so the plans are in place. We've made these plans before and then C19 hit. We've made these plans after that and she lost her job or I lost my job due to another issue with C19. It's done, it's over, it's time. I am leaving and I won't look back - - except to visit, play with her cats, and have dinner now and again with the brat. I will likely live across the hall or the breezeway, it's not like she couldn't stalk me. She will stalk me. I know she will.
The bottom line is, I am about to move and it feels so very wonderful to be able to get out on my own and be on my own. I don't have to call out "I'm going to Home Depot" or "Going to Braum's do you want anything?" You can't go to Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store and not ask that question. You can, but in Oklahoma it's considered a misdemeanor. I won't have to step over her cats. I won't want have to kick the cat water dish in the hall. I won't step over horse tack. I won't go around closing the cabinets that the cats open. I won't sit on an animal that is hiding in my chair. I won't open the refrigerator door looking for my food only to realize it's been eaten. We have a HUGE rule in our house about that. If you take the last thing you let people know, and you write it on the grocery list. She really can't seem to remember to do this very often.
It's happening. Hopefully it's happening in May. I don't want to wait until June, but I do want a downstairs unit and I do want one on this side of the complex, so it may be a minute. Did I mention her skinks, geckos, snakes and rats? Yeah, I don't have to remember to leave the cats outside the door when I leave; she's just simply going to miss me when I'm gone and I will likely, from time to time, miss her too. That's why God made cell phones and Facetime.
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