Sunday, April 11, 2010

Holding Pattern?

Yes, it's been a week (almost) since I've posted.  Mostly, I've been too busy and too cranked to actually post anything coherent.  Things have gone from annoying to downright unacceptable and a bit beyond with the whole apartment thing right now.
I used to like our landlady.  Sure, she was a bit slow with a few repairs and things, but nothing that I would call out of the realm of "ordinary" or "every day" kind of issues.  When it really mattered, like when the kitchen faucet broke and I couldn't do dishes, she was pretty quick.  So, overall in the past 4 years I really haven't had much complaint.  And she's even done us some good things, like painting Boo's room a color of our choice and when she replaced the windows in the building that saved us a ton of money in heat.  She even painted the kitchen and dining room (again, we got to choose a color) when she was having the bathroom painted last fall.
But... she's playing the blame game and has gone from nice to... well... I don't have anything nice to say anymore, so I'll just keep my trap shut.  She's gotten downright hostile with Gak earlier in the week.
So, I think we've been released from our lease come June 8th.  I'm still not 100% sure with how she worded the email, so I sent her one to confirm.  I'm OK with that.  She could have been a total stickler and said no, because we didn't give her the 60 days written notice (which would have been April 1st) like the lease says.  I'll take what I can get.
No, nothing has been sprayed or done.  She had the gaul to ask us when it was going to be done.  Uhm... last I checked, this was your building and most places won't come out without the owners permission to spray etc.  We did get Terminex out here to give us a second quote.  Theirs is much more in line with what I was expecting.  About $2000 all told for the treatment and 3 follow up visits.  And they don't use a pesticide, the freeze the buggers.  Yep, that's right, it is a freeze treatment (I'm guessing with a liquid nitrogen application or something like that).  Orkin uses steam, Terminex freezes them.  It's way more effective than any pesticide (other than maybe DDT, but as everyone who went to school in the '80's should know... it's just slightly illegal in this country...).  That and it is much safer for the house, for those of us living in it and the environment.  I mean, they'd be releasing N2 back into the atmosphere where it came from.  Not NOx or SOx or CO2 or any of the other "greenhouse" gases.  It's a win all the way around.  That and doing it this way will pretty much ensure that they don't come back.  I mean, she can spend $300 every 3-6 months for the rest of the time she owns this building, and spend as much in 2-3 years as she would if she does it right the first (well, second) time.
Friday I spent a long time agonizing over an email that I sent to her.  I attached both quotes, the information that we had about the two treatments and told her that we request she make the appointment as it's her building and therefore exterminators (or other contractors) won't show up without her blessing.  Which she knows, and threw in Gak's face last week....  I didn't mention anything about payment.  I didn't offer her anything, other than the information.  I have no idea what she'll say or do.  I'm not sure I care.  I just want my bed back and to be able to sleep with my hubby in the same room, in the same bed and not itch or be paranoid that I'm going to find bites all over my son one morning.

So, yes, we're moving.  Where, we don't have a clue.  The place we looked at Monday well... it was OK but I'm not going to put in an application there.  We probably wouldn't get it and well, quite frankly I don't like some of the questions they ask.  I don't mind them asking for where I bank.  I do mind them asking for my SSN, my account number and balance.  Nope, sorry, not your business.  If I can pay the deposit and monthly rent and have a stable job, what do you care what's actually in my bank account?  That and I just don't love the place.  Like I said, it was OK and would do for a year or two, but definitely not a long term solution in any stretch of the imagination.  We looked at another place yesterday.  Well, Boo wouldn't even let me put him down while we were there.  None of us got the "warm fuzzies" from the place.  The bedrooms were about as small as our bathroom and the flooring had seen much better days and was actually coming up in places.  Yeah, sorry, not going to work.  And there was almost zero storage in the one bedroom and none in the other.  Nope, not happening.  For a single person who is going to use the second bedroom as an office or the like, it would be acceptable.... not for a family with an active little boy.  (Although, there was a nice HUGE yard... but that was about the only plus there was...)
We've got a couple more leads and some ads.  I hope we find something in the next 6 weeks.  If not, we may be trying to find someone's couch to crash on for a few weeks.  I really don't want that to happen, but since our lease here isn't month-to-month, but renews on a yearly basis, I'm not pushing my luck.  Especially with the oh-so-warm reception we've received from our landlady recently.  I hate leaving this place, and I really hate leaving it under such bad circumstances, but... it's got to be done.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Work's been going right along.  We're officially sold to the new corporate now.  The best part so far (and the only noticeable difference) is that we get to use our old name again, but with the new corporate name in front of it.  Even though I love our old name and was using it for years after the Big Corporate bought the company, I'm having a bit of trouble answering the phones quite right.  Oh well.  Sometime this week we're supposed to have meetings about the benefits package and all the "onboarding" things that need to happen to move us from one company to the other.  I'm almost looking forward to it, other than the fact that it's one of our busiest months of the year.  Oh well.  Life happens and you deal.  (Of course, I've got enough on my plate at home, I really don't need drama at work too.... here's hoping for a smooth transition!)

But, I've got to get to bed.  I hope everyone's been enjoying the pictures over on Flickr.  And for those of you who have been keeping track and look forward to the monthly dragon pictures, there aren't any for April yet.  You see, I kept forgetting, the drama started and I'm just too worn out and my camera batteries finally dies and I don't have any AA's lying around the apartment and I keep forgetting to bring some home from Gak's office.  Maybe we'll get them tomorrow, for a mid-month update.  *sigh*  I'm not sure how long this will continue after we hit 2 years though, it may become a bit more sporadic.

I've rambled on long enough.  Other than the drama above, not much is going on.  (The weather is beautiful, my son is amazing, and playing "hock-key!" with any "stick" he can get his hands on and my husband and I are trying to hold it together as best as we can.)

Peace to all and may your drama only be on stage and your family wonderful.

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