I got an email from one of the people I sent emails to about the trailer.  This is the one who had emailed me even after I’d posted a “pending” email to Freecycle to get people to stop asking about it.  That’s how many people declined to take it… sheesh.  Well, she seems *really* excited about it, and says she doesn’t care how bad it is or needs cleaning.  So, since DH was sick today, I told her he could show it to her at 6pm tomorrow evening (Tuesday).

I sent 16 and 12 over to the place to clean up the rooms some more… it’s gotten to where I can’t bring myslf to go.  It is seriously such a huge psychological thing with me. I hate that it has a power over me, but I recognize that it does.  I’m so screwed up.  So, anyway, they went over and said someone had been in there again.  There was a pad of graph paper on the couch. So they took it, and got some of the stuff out of the house, then our old tom cat who won’t come with us to the new place ended up scratching 12.  He was probably upset they didn’t have any cat food.  He’s always been quite pushy. I hope whoever takes the new place likes cats, cause he goes with the house. Hah.  Anyway, so she got a big scratch and so they came back to get a bandaid and 12 stayed here.  16 went back over to the place, but called and said she was creeped out and didn’t like being there by herself even with the doors chained.  So she came back home.

I REALLY REALLY wish DH would just get the last of the stuff out of there and have it done with. I can NOT believe it’s taken this long.

Well, if all goes well, the woman will like the place, go apply to be pre approved to live there and take the place off our hands.  That’ll get him motivated to get the last stuff out of there.  It might just make me get off my arse and go clean it up too.  I just dread it SO much.

The guy who said he’d buy our trailer for $300 down and then another $500 over 5 months has backed out because the landlord is an asshole.  So, after a few days of discussion DH and I decided to give it away.

I was sick today, some stomach bug or something but deinitely needed to be near a working bathroom all day (blech) and so couldn’t go work on cleaning out the old trailer like I’d planned. I decided to send 16 and her boyfriend over there to get as much done as they could. She said she got the living room and kitchen all clean, but didn’t touch the bedrooms which are what needed it the most of course.  While she was there I texted her to ask the neighbor who had backed out of buying if he would take the place for free.  We just asked that he’d pay April’s rent and give us one more week to get it all cleaned out and haul off the junk.  He said he’d mull it over and get back to me… he never called.

So, I put it on Freecycle.. or tried.  The ad never posted. I have no idea why.  So after a few hours I posted a short one and then sent the moderators an email asking why it was not approved and yes I really was giving away a 2 bedroom, 1 bath home.  Well, the co-mod wrote back and said she didn’t know why it was never approved, but now that she’d read about the place, she was interested in it for her adult kid who was paying too much for rent.  So I sent a very detailed email listing the stuff wrong with it and all the good stuff as well. It’s in an IDEAL location, (well other than the asshole landlord), and that helps a lot.  I mean hell, put about $5000 into the place and you could make it look like it was on HGTV. I know I could do it with that much anyway. heh. Well, she’s not replied either.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better day to give away a house.

Oh, and a couple days ago, DH had mentioned there was an email for him at work about bonuses and how to check what his would be etc.  He was set to get $3400…  but today he came home and said his store didn’t meat the goal to get hte bonus.  DAMN.  That money could have changed our lives.  It would have paid off his old medical bills and gotten us out of cash advances and right where we need to be.. a clean slate.  But no… we’re still a year behind on Dr bills and almost 2 months behind on electric.  I’m sick of having no money and  being so damn far behind.  I knew my ideas on money were really changing the last couple of times DH and I went to eat lunch together, I felt guilty. I know we need to pay these bills and get them off our backs. I’d rather have a PB&J sandwich and send the $20 we’d spend on lunch out to a Dr or save for his medication.

I had plans to go get the Rapid Refund check tomorrow (Wednesday) and depositing it on DH’s lunch break since he has to be with me to sign it.  However,… there is a ton of snow on the ground!  Well, ok it’s not a ton, but for this town it might as well be 3 feet.  We’re in the South first of all, and our town is actually sheltered all around by mountains, so even though we have a higher elevation than some counties around here, we never ever get the kind of snow that they get.  My hometown still gets 3-5 inches now and then – good snowman and sledding depth I think.  But we’re surprised if we get 1 inch and it stays longer than an hour.

Yesterday (Monday) 16 called me from her cell at school and said they were getting out early at noon due to an ice storm headed this way. I laughed. But she was right, city schools let out at noon.  It snowed, then it rained, and stopped.  It apparently made black ice an issue after dark (Black ice is about all we ever have to deal with here, and it is actually dangerous).  But today, our city was the only one in the 3 state region to NOT cancel school – not even a delay!  Well, they did manage to go all day, but 16 said the buses were sliding.  That makes me ill.  I remember being in my fair share of bus wrecks involving ice when I was a kid.  It comes with the rural area – you get used to it really.  It snowed a little bit again today, but barely enough to dust things. So, I figured the kids would go to school tomorrow – wrong.  We got a Schoolcast text and calls this evening  saying due to the ice and snow here now and the snow on is way, they were closing schools and offices for tomorrow.  Huh.

So, a little earlier tonight, I got up to get a drink and noticed the windows were a lot brighter than normal, but it wasn’t from car lights.  That’s when I realized, the roads weren’t the dark grayish black like normal… they were white and reflecting the streetlights, making it quite bright.  Snow simply never stays on the streets here, ever.  From what I can see, there’s about an inch on the street and it’s still really coming down.  They did forecast 3-5 inches, but that never happens.  We usually laugh at the forecasts and get out our shorts.  They’re always wrong.   Well, they got it right this time!  Even if it’s not 3-5 inches, it’s still on the roads.

Now, the problem here is that DH has to drive to work at 7:30am.  I am hoping the snow powder will keep any ice that’s under it from being too slick.  He should be one of  the first ones out in the morning.  As for my plans.. well, obviously it’s all going to depend on several things – first of all, our refund check has to come to the office so I can pick it up.  Second, I have to be able to drive the car, so the streets can’t be too bad.  Third, I have to have the car gas tank key since I will need to drive straight to the gas station and get gas (it’s on DH’s keychain and I need to go get it now…that means getting out of my chair). It’s below the E  … I HATE that, but the gas station is around the corner, so no biggie if I have to walk home – just annoying.   So, yeah those 3 things must happen tomorrow.

As soon as I know the refund check is there, I’ll call the trailer lady and tell her we’ll be ready to put the down payment on the trailer ASAP.  In fact, I’m hoping we can get it done Thursday.  DH is off Thursday, and if we can get it all taken care of this week, then I can rent a Rug Doctor this weekend and shampoo the carpets.  They were cleaned recently it looked like, but hopfully (in my dreams) there have been workers walking in and out fixing the thermostat, cleaning the fridge and sink, etc.  I figure that’s not really been happening, but there was mysterious new drywall up over the huge holes in the wall that second day.. less than 24 hours since I’d seen the holes in the walls.  So, who knows. I can hope they’ve fixed stuff.

So, the kids are out of school tomorrow…  I should be thrilled to have 4 able bodied people to help get the house cleaned and packed up and stuff ready for Goodwill, Freecycle, etc…  HAHAHAHA  not my kids.  They whine and complain and do as little as possible to be able to say they did something.  I hope they find some work ethics before they enter the job market, or I have the feeling they’ll be moving back home whining the world is too mean to them.  UGH.  Ideally, they’ll get the living room straightened up and fold the dry laundry and sort it into “keep for school/work” or “pack for move”.  They won’t.  I’ll find the clean clothes thrown onto the couch and then knocked off by the kids and the dogs making half of it dirty again – I know cause it happens nightly while I’m working and they’re unsupervised (whether DH is here or not at night makes no difference – he watches TV and ignores the house and kids – thus making me the tyrant that gets ignored). – but that’s a whole other post, and I’ve done a few.

The girls were so excited about packing and moving that 12 and 10 took all the china and glassware I had on display on open shelves and cabinets in the kitchen and put them all on the kitchen table.  They had every intention of washing them and then packing them.  I wasn’t thrilled with the idea.  Some of the china my Mom gave me and I don’t want it broken.  But I told them they could wash it carefully and I’d help pack it.  It’s all still on the kitchen table in everyone’s way, getting papers and other stuff laid on top of it.  I just know it’s all going to get broken.  It’s all really horribly filthy.  They’ve been in the cabinets over my stove – where the grease and smoke goes. But there weren’t any doors on the cabinets.  I took off the old doors and they were nasty pressboard and wouldn’t take paint so I trashed them, and made new doors out of thin plywood.  When I got to the ones over the stove, ,I thought it looked a lot like a china cabinet and would be nice to display my decorative stuff.  No, I never thought about the grease.  To be fair I always planned to put glass doors up there, but never did.  So this china and glassware has years of grease and grime on it.  I need a day alone in my house where I’m awake and alert, I have a few boxes, newspaper, Sugarland cranked up on the stereo and just get to it.. wash it, dry it and pack it.   That is so NOT going to happen.  The only time I’m alone here is when people are asleep.  I can’t wash dishes with the MP3 player cord dangling everywhere and I HATE earbuds.  I like my music open and free and loud.  And I need packing tape to put the flat boxes back together, and we can’t find it. And we have no newspaper or paper towels.  sigh Oh well.   I can’t be too bummed. I’M MOVING!!!  In fact, I might just wash the china that’s got handpainted stuff on them and pack that, but pack the glassware as is and wash it in my new dishwasher when we get the water turned on.  Dishwashers always make glassware sparkly.    You know, it’s been so long since I’ve had a dishwasher that 16 is the only one who remembers one.  (I’ve had 2 portables and both broke and were tossed out).

So, this was kind of a rambly post about not a lot. Not even any pics of the snow.  Maybe I’ll get some tomorrow.

If you have a snow day, be careful, but do enjoy it!

As I posted earlier today, WE GOT THE HOUSE!!

So, what’s the next step?  Well, it wasn’t getting any sleep, that’s for sure.  I decided it was finally time to pack, like seriously make a dent in it.  Fortunately DH and I had picked up a bunch of boxes behind the Dollar Tree.  I completely cleaned out my closet of hanging clothes, packed the stuff i know I won’t wear in the next month, and put stuff with stains or holes into the trash bag and nice stuff i don’t want or can’t get into, went into the Goodwill bag.  The local schools lets school out at noon due to the ice storm we were set to get.  So when the kids got home, I let them know the good news and they started packing their stuff. I told them to box up anything they don’t wear to school normally and any toys they can live without for a month or two. I don’t have a clue how long it will take to get settled in with heat and water and all that, so I don’t want them to pack stuff they’ll be crying for later.  Though to be honest, I don’t see it taking long to unpack everything.  There’s not much room here for them to actually own much.   It’s DH and I that have too much junk.  Even he impressed the heck out of me today.  He looked around the room at the progress I had made and said “My knick knacks and things I want to display…  throw away any of them that are broken.”  I asked if he was sure since almost all of his things are broken due to the kids knocking them off tables and shelves and breaking off pieces of them.  Poor guy.  He nodded yes. and said, “I am tired of having things that are broken.  besides it gives me an excuse to buy new ones I like.”   …  wow.  Can it be that DH has finally come around?  He’s no longer the “I don’t care what the house looks like as long as I have my books and laptop.” kind of guy.  He finally cares!  Groundhog Day is AWESOME!

Oh, and when DH got home from work, he had checked the mail, and the last W2 had arrived.  Since he has to work 13 hour days the next two days, I asked my boss online if I could come in late, then called and made a last minute appt with H&R Block and headed to town with DH.  16 was supposed to make dinner, which she of course didn’t do. Lazy kid.

We did the 1-2 day Classic Rapid Refund. We’ll get the check in 1-2 days. Usually it’s the next day when we get it. I hope it will be so in this case too.  As soon as I get the money, I’m going to call the trailer people and set up a time to meet and do the down payment and sign papers etc.  DH is off Thursday, so I guess that’ll be the day.  Meanwhile I’m hoping they’ll let me go check out the trailer again.  If it didn’t seem kind of creepy, I’d love to just go and sit down in the floor of each room, and *feel* what it’s like to be there. I’d start cleaning, but they need to do that as part of their agreement of things they do.  I’d LOVE to start putting moving boxes in the bedrooms to get them out of here!, but that won’t happen til we put the money down and get the keys (even though they leave it unlocked right now.)

I guess I can’t really get the electric and water and internet started on the whole switching over process til I have the keys and can say it is OUR address.  OMG a new address!!  WOOHOO.  I’ve had this same address for 16 years and it’s a horrible street name and we always have to spell it for people. I hate it.  The new one should be much easier for non-locals.  And locals will all know where it is from the name.  Pretty cool.

Oh, and the other day when I showed the house to DH, I took some pics with my camera (I finally found it again). The front porch, kitchen, DH checking out the sink cabinet for water damage (none we could find anywhere! woohoo), the kids’ bathroom and the view from the back porch.  The bluish gray line in the background is the mountains.  I’ve got to cut down that brush stuff blocking my view!