Peace & Quietly Flying Solo

So my lovelies!!! I have been away for a while. Life got in the way again, but this time for a pretty cool cause.

I have by some amazing feat of amazeballs have been able to move-in to my very own studio apartment.

Insomnia and stress were the original culprits of not blogging all of February (okay, there was one post from the third, but you know what I mean). The plan was to find another 30-day challenge to do for March. (Took a break from writing challenges since February was a short month.) But it wasn't until the end of that short month I got my approval letter for this little studio that is all for me, myself, and I... and all the other personalities I house within.

And that has been the main point of stress for me. Yikes!

I was excited. I mean, I ACTUALLY got something I really wanted for a change. Not to be too pessimistic about it, but I'm used to the reverse being the case. I would go from waves of excited and worried, thinking things like Can I really do this? Then I'd come home and there would be many reminders of why I need to get the frak of CrazyTown.

It's sad that when in prepping for the move, coming home to the place I'm moving out of, I had started a list... of things that I would NOT miss from living in that house.

• tiny dogs barking at anything and everything at any time of the day (and hearing my Landlady grumble at them to shut up)
• the elderly man my Landlady cares for swinging doors open and slamming them closed... or yelling from his room for someone (and usually for nothing important)
• not having access to store or cook anything in the kitchen 
• having to clean/disinfect the toilet after the elderly man has visited the bathroom before me
• the counter around the sink suddenly transformed into a pool
• stepping in dog pee
• the smell of skunk since one of the dogs ran after one outside, got sprayed, and then the house was surrounded by funk
• coming home to find either a skunk, possum or raccoon pilfering the cat food dish that the Landlady had left for the cats she feeds from the porch and then forgets to take inside the house at the end of the night. (If I had a nickel for every time I had wait for some animal - usually skunks - to leave before I could go inside.)
• all the crazy drama that seems to flow infinitely through my Landlady's life (and strangely, I feel like even though she complains about it and wishes for peace and quiet in her life, I don't think she can function without it.)
• random house guests that I used to be informed of but haven't been so I'm left to find someone sleeping on the couch or in the garage... thankfully I'm familiar with the usual suspects, so it's all good.
• piles of mess everywhere... and NONE OF IT IS MINE!!!

Yeah. I think you get the idea.

Now the added stress to my life is feeling like I don't have enough time to prep for the move. Since it's a brand new building that I won't have access to until my walk-through on the 25th (moving day is the 28th), I have yet to physically see the unit or inside the building. I've driven by the building, but that's the extent of it.

And since I live with Older Folk, everyone's usually in bed or at least in their rooms by the time I get home (or by 8pm at the very latest). That leaves weekends - during the day when everyone is awake - to pull/rip tape, move/stack boxes, throw trash, plant mines, set up booby traps...

Okay, maybe not those last two... maybe....

I'm trying really hard to keep my shit together. My body acts bad to stress - as I'm sure everyone's does - but ever since turning in the paperwork for this lottery of possibly getting an apartment... and then waiting to be picked... and then getting picked... and now trying to make everything work in my favor move-wise... my body is not pleased. I'm hoping once the chaos of moving is over, I will go back to just being regular dysfunctional me... as opposed to whatever I am at present.

I mean, I've been so frazzled and preoccupied, I haven't been able to think about anything that isn't the move or packing or work.

I haven't even done my taxes yet. FRAK ME!

Ever since I gave my Landlady my 30-day notice, she hasn't said anything about it to me. We've been two ships passing in the night. So friends and family knowing how cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs my Landlady can be have asked, "So how'd she take it?" I knew that she knew, but she seemed okay and was acting all normal, etc.

One day about a week ago at most, I was in the bathroom getting ready to take a shower when I heard her on the phone venting about all the stuff she needed to get done at the house. She's been renovating - stripping wallpaper, paining, redecorating, cleaning out the garage, etc - and people that were supposed to help her with some of the things have bailed on her. (And we're not going to talk about her one son - she has two - he is a separate story that I don't have the energy for right now.)

So in this rant, she's talking about having no room and how the person she's on the phone with needs to come and get their stuff out of the garage because she can't store it anymore. I also got the gist with her talking - she was calm in the beginning - the person kept cutting her off which was pissing her off, and finally her tone changed whenever she spoke. At one point in the convo, I heard her talking about space, making room, and said "When Rae gets out, I'll be able to put stuff in that room." So then it was like A-HA! VERBAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT!!!

Today she told me about the city dump day where you can toss everything you want to trash out on the curb, and they'll pick it up. She said if I had anything I didn't want to take with me, to be sure I had it out on the curb by tomorrow night. I thought SECOND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE MOVE!!! I told her that I was pretty much taking everything with me, but I'd keep it in mind. Then I thought if there was  a way I could get the couch I have out of storage and bring it to the curb to be taken, I'd do that. (It's been there a while, and I kinda don't trust it. Plus, being in Landlady's house and the random bug issues she's had while I've been there? Yeah, I'd rather get something else. Plus not even sure I have the room for it in the new place.)

So far the plan for the movie is (in no particular order):

• finish packing
• figure out how to pack/move my clothes 
• do a load of laundry
• set up a PG&E account
• pay first month's rent, sign lease and do walkthrough on the 25th (I also need to bring car stuff for a potential on-site parking spot)
• measure furniture in room and reserve a moving truck
• move-in on the 28th (my move-in window to use the elevator - I'm on the second floor - is between 11am & 1pm, and I get to pick up my keys from the office at 11am)
• buy toilet paper as well as bring soap and towel for bathroom in case any of my much appreciated helpers needs to use the facilities while we're there
• also need to buy bottled water or something for people (and air freshener for the previous thing)

It's the homestretch. I'm nervous. I want this all to be done already.

In other "me" news, work has been... work. Three guys left around the same time so it was announced (or course, the week of when we've sort of known a couple weeks going) that the rest of the month's schedule was going to change. My manager asked me if I'd be available to help out on the last couple weekends, and I told her I was moving so I really needed my weekends free for packing and preparing since I can't do that during the week. I ended up being backup for this Sunday (it's not tomorrow until the sun comes up), and then scheduled the last Sunday of the month. Turns out I'm not needed tomorrow, but I have to close (yeah, you heard that right) the day after I move. The plan was to hire new people to help cover the evenings. My schedule has changed every month since last year November - most of the time without notice or asking, just telling - but since December I've had weekends off... which I've enjoyed since it gives me time to see my family (finances permitting, of course). The original plan since my brother and his family moved back to Fresno was to visit at least one weekend a month so I can spend time with the best little girl in the world and my favorite little weirdo (aka my niece Bella). And now next month that might change, and I'm not sure for how long. One of the new guys that she hired was originally supposed to be an evening person. My manager specifically said she was going to start him on night shifts for training. Then in the meeting, she announces when the two other people will start, and she's moving the first new hire - CF - to the Monday to Friday day shift that was occupied by one of the three dudes that just left. (A shift she brought up to me as a possibility to have when talking to me about availability.)

One frakkin day at a time.

I was also thinking about starting another FB page of just my nerdy loves and all that. I feel like all the shares, etc, that I do on my pages are just spamming my friends, and I don't want to do that. I try to keep it to a minimum, but I'm weird and like A LOT of things. And there are things that just make me smile.

I dunno. What do you guys think?

Had to go to the library recently to turn some books in and while there picked up my FB Book Group's book for March - "The Martian" by Andy Weir. I'm liking it. The reader is pretty cool so that's a plus. And I also picked up the first Poldark novel called "Ross Poldark" by Winston Graham. I've been enjoying the PBS/BBC series "Poldark" starring Aidan Turner. I think it's eight episodes long, and I think tomorrow is the third episode. Aside from the chic that plays Demelza and Robin Ellis - the original actor to play the role in the 70's making a cameo in this version - I don't really know anyone in the cast.

And also while packing today, I heard a song on my Songza app that I normally skip over, but I actually listened to it today... and hearing the chorus repeated a few times at the end made me question how unromantic the lyrics are, and I'm debating of making a romantic version of the song or a pretty poem version of it. (But that'll be another post entirely if I manage to pull it off.)

Okay I think I have babbled enough about me (though it was mostly about my move), and now I will leave the peace and quiet of my friend's house only to head back to my house where it's not so peace and quiet-like, but with the help of my earplugs courtesy of Jon S, I should be fine.

Then more packing and all that when I wake. *sigh*

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!
Rae