Local Stupidity

Local Stupidity has been updated :)

This just in...

Dave left me a voicemail a minute ago and reported to me that the tenants who were planning to take our contract are still going to take it. It is too late for them to back out because they're already planning to get out of their current apartment. They are going to move in to our old place and live there for the last month of our lease.

I feel so bad!

That means they have to go through the utter hell of moving TWICE within ONE MONTH. They'll get incredibly cheap rent for that time, at least, but then they have to leave and find somewhere else because they can't pay what rent will be after the increase.

I feel SO bad!

I know we aren't exactly the cause of their plight, but if it weren't for us they wouldn't be in this situation.

How do you get rid of that kind of guilt? :(

Well, at least we now know that they're taking it and we don't have to freak out over selling the contract to someone else...

Crap, Crap, CRAP.

I'm a little stessed and hopefully blogging about it will help me relax.

While cleaning out the old apartment this morning, a neighbor said 'hi' to me and while we were talking she casually mentioned the raise in rent.

"What?" I asked in horror. "They're raising the rent?!"

"Yeah, didn't they tell you?"

"No! They didn't tell us anything!"

Apparently, they are raising the rent by $50 starting this August. I had no idea! Freak-out mode commenced--no one had mentioned this to us, ever!

We have new tenants lined up to take on the last month of our contract, and then they'll sign on again for a year. But they are expecting to pay $50 less per month, so now we are a little worried. What if they choose not take over the lease? If they don't, we'll have less than a week to get it sorted out and find someone else. But the WORST part of all this is that the manager is on vacation, so we're totally stuck even if we DO find new tenants. They can't sign a lease because the manager isn't there and we can't contact them. Regardless, rent is due on the 1st. If we get hit with the rent for the old apartment because we could not get a hold of the manager to sign up new tenants, I will NOT be very happy.

Is there some sort of legal thing that would get us out of having to pay that rent, since we could not get a hold of the manager? If anyone knows, PLEASE tell me... :(

Moving Adventure

Well, it's a crappy adventure. That is, the act of moving is crappy. Being MOVED IN to the new apartment is great.

I was going to proceed with a string of complaints about how much moving sucked this weekend, but then I read my SIL Jamie's blog and was updated on her awful moving experience and now I feel like I have no right to whine about things, since our move could have been much worse :) (hope things are going well now, Jamie!)


I really hate moving. I have been 100% stressed-out trying to get everything done. We had help loading up our 14' UHaul with our belongings, so we were very grateful for that. Everyone seemed pretty exhausted by the end. It was still awful at times, though... our sofa just didn't want to fit through the door, so we had to take it off and everything, carefully balancing the sofa up on the balcony railing as we tried to maneuver its massive upholstered self through the doorway. Everything else fit alright, though. i just watched all of the big furniture get moved and bit my lip and paced back and forth and wanted to curl up in a ball.

At this point, all of the big things are moved and now we just have some junk that is still on the floor at the old place. We'll have to clean it out once the stuff is gone. But as long as ANYTHING of ours is at the old place, I can't stop worrying about having to move it. I am hoping that cleaning the old place isn't too bad, but we'll probably have to devote several hours to the task.

More than anything this weekend, I learned that I own too many things. As I finished packing things the day of the move my stomach was a ball of stress. Item after item was shoved into a box or a bag or wherever they would fit, and all of those would have to fit in the UHaul and be unloaded and carried up stairs and a place would then have to be found for them in the new apartment. I swear there were like 10 garbage-size bags of clothes and shoes that were MINE. WHY do i need to own so many articles of clothing?

I have really decided to dedicate myself to SIMPLIFYING. I've said it before, but this time I'm absolutely serious. If there is not a place in our new apartment for something, and I'm not going to be needing it in the next six months, it is GONE! I feel so tied down.

So the new place is nice so far. We do live next door to a house with dogs, but they are fairly quiet. I had to take a cold shower because our gas was not yet hooked up, and THAT was shocking. But mostly things are fine. It's all falling into place.

Update

Local Stupidity has an all-new, very stupid update for you to enjoy.

It's HOT!

I'd forgotten just how hot it can get around these parts. Any moment that the the AC isn't on is a moment I'm in misery.

We had a lovely weekend, though. I went swimming for the first time this year. We sat out by the pool in the sun, and then jumped in the pool for a while. It was cold at first, but that's what you want, right? It felt incredible!

It was Father's Day on sunday so we went to see Dave's folks and have dinner. After that we went up in the hills for a little while and looked down over the valley with the breeze blowing and all the green trees and grass below us, and the sun hitting everything in glorious gold, and I felt so peaceful and at ease at that moment. It was one of the most tranquil moments I'd ever had. I held Dave close and we enjoyed the view together until it was time for us to go home.

I need more calm moments, I think, especially right now. It is instinct to begin flipping out at the prospect of moving, and even though there's really nothing to worry about I can't help but fret about moving day. I want it to be over, and just be living in the new place already. But it's going to be worth it, and Dave keeps telling me it's going to be okay, blah blah blah.

I'll post pics of the new place as soon as we've started moving in :)

Our Feathered Friends

Last year, after spring had started, Dave and I noticed some activity going on in a hole in the roof overhang of our apartment. As it turns out, a family of birds had taken up residence there. A momma bird had laid (...lain?) her eggs in there, and soon they hatched into adorable little squeaking chicks!

This year, the momma bird (and I guess her mate, too) returned, and raised another little flock of babies in our roof. Here are some shots:

(Here is the hole. If you look at the large version of the picture, you can see the babies sticking their heads out!)

(Either the momma bird or the daddy, watching over the babies from afar)

(momma feeding the babies! It was kind of an awkward angle to get into the nest. Sometimes she'd just feed them like this and fly away instead of going all the way in.)

In case you were wondering: why, yes, baby birds squawking all day, every day, for nearly a month IS annoying. The older they grew, the louder noises they'd make. And each time the momma would bring more food, they'd start making all the noise they could. Lucky for us, they flew away about a week and a half ago, and things are once again quiet around here.

Don't get me wrong, though...we loved having them live in our roof. It's just that there comes a time when kids finally need to move out!

Where's my Electric Car?

Last weekend, we watched the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" for movie night. With gas prices the way they are, I think I became especially hysterical as I watched this movie. I mean, we HAD electric cars, and there were people who WANTED electric cars, but they went away anyway, crushed and destroyed, so no one got ANY! NO ELECTRIC CAR FOR YOU! HAHAHA!

Enough maniacal caps-lock screaming. I just think that Electric cars are such a good idea. I know they aren't perfect, but for most people such a car would suit their needs very well. And no oil changes, fewer parts to maintain, and no more gas! It is far cheaper to charge one of these puppies than it is to fill up a gas

tank...by, like, a TON. Just watch this movie and you'll see why I want one so much. Plus, check out the car on the left. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?

ON ANOTHER NOTE: I went to my 5-year high school reunion last weekend. Let me tell you, it is beyond strange to think that I've been out of high school that long. Dave went with me as a guest, but it was fun for him because we went to the same school and he's only a year older then me, so he knew people there. It was okay. I don't know if I should feel old or not.

The moving day is coming soon. That is very exciting! I've been packing some things and getting ready by cleaning and getting rid of some of the things we don't need/can't fit in the new apartment.