A New Chapter

Hey all,

Just wanted you to know that a new chapter is about to start in my life. Sorry I haven't written much lately, but it's been because of everything going on in my life. Well after many ups and downs the past week (a down being we didn't get the house we wanted) it's that time to move on. Chuck and I move into our new apartment on Friday. I've been packing for about a week and tomorrow is our last night at the place where it all began.

While Chuck really doesn't care for this area, I have a ton of memories here so I'm definately fond of it. I'll miss the place. But I have to admit I'm excited about what lies ahead. We move to a much nicer, bigger, cheaper apartment in Frederick MD. The apartment is newer, cleaner, and has amenities that our currently place of $300 more doesn't. And I'm only 7 more miles from work. So it seems like the smart choice at the moment. In fact I feel in a slight way I've been ripped off spending so much more for an apartment with so much less. But that is called "location". And while good ol' Fairfax may not seem like the middle of anything special it's well known in these parts to be the rich/snotty suburb of DC. It's where you can find the Tiffany's and Versace. So while that can be nice in some situations, it also can leave a person feeling seperated from "real" life with "real" people.

Also it well be nice to have a place that really is our own. We were living in my friends condo, renting from her. While she is my friend there are things that did get on my nerves being in her place. For one, while we paid rent for the entire place she never seemed to move out. A room full of her items remained behind. This never made it feel like it was completely ours. And the stuff just got in the way. We never could arrange our furniture the way we liked because her couch was taking up a complete wall when we also have a couch of our own. Also things never seemed to be in great working order. The balcony is a serious danger (several boards you could fall threw, when using the microwave the circuit breaker always blows, and the AC is about 50 years old and never completely got cold. I feel like I was wasting money all summer on $180 dollar electric bills to just stay warm since the thing never cooled off the place.

So looking ahead to a clean apartment with new appliances and a clean slate with nothing but our stuff puts a big smile on my face.

So I hope you understand my departure from my blog and life lately... it's been scheduled lately. I'm still alive and well, just keep me in your thoughts and throw some luck our way on moving day to make sure everything goes ok.

House/Apt hunting

Man was Sunday a story.. Chuck and I have been house/apartment hunting. We were approved for a house loan about a week ago, but the loan isn't exactly the best one we could probably get. So we are still looking for a better option/loan. In the mean time I'm more then likely either going to transfer my job (which is what I'm really hoping for) or temporary have to quit and look for another job. My job is really getting to me and I need to get out of there to keep my sanity and have a home life. Lately I've been living more at work then at home. And it's really getting to me.

If I get the transfer I put in for then I could be just 5 minutes away from the job when we move and I think the job I would transfer to would be a lot less stressful since it's a small division of our company. I currently work for the IT sector which has about 40,000 employees. The new one I would be going to has 350 employees.

So we put in 3 applications for different apartments we would like to live in, and if we get a better loan then we are very interested in putting a contract on a house.

During this whole process I lost my W2 (which was my proof of SS# since I lost my card) at a grocery store. I panicked cuze it has a lot of personal info on that bitch. We drove around and looked everywhere I had been at to that point that day. I had a gut feeling it was at the grocery store and when we went back there I went to customer service and luckily someone had turned it in.

The people we met were pretty interesting characters. Like the realtor we are working with has 5 children and her husband is handicapped and in a wheel chair. The people who are selling the house we would love to buy were cool. At first when they saw 2 guys trying to buy the place I saw the husband give an interesting look, but whatever he thought maybe faded quickly because he seemed to be a really nice guy.

The highlight of the day was an old house we looked at. Beautiful big house for $190,000. This house belongs in the movies. But I'm talking one of those movies with pyscho killers involved. You walk into the house and immediately see this house has a story to tell. First, it's built around the 1900's. All stone, amazing house and with some work you could turn the place into probably a million dollar home.

Now the thing you first walk into right from the foyer is what the current owners made into a bedroom. Weird I thought.. well it gets MUCH weirder. Right next to that room is a huge room just as big (guessing like 20x20 room) that has a tub in the middle of it, a ceiling fan hanging right above it with a cord attached that reaches down right above the tub, a toilet in the middle of one of the walls and a shower in the corner. Now if only I had pictures so you could see this. It sounds pretty impressive right? Well it wasn't at all. It looked like someone turned in the dinner room into a huge bathroom because they got high one day and thought it would be a great idea. Nothing made sense. The ceiling was falling apart and if you pulled that chain attached to the fan, you could almost see that fan falling into the tub slicing someone's head off or electricuting them!

The place was dark, old, and dirty... needing repair. Oh and get this, the house had NO KITCHEN! None. The closest thing to it was a sink in a room. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a sink on the wall. no cabinets, no appliances... Guess the owners ate out all the time.

Someone who was working on repairing the place looked like they went mental while planning it all out. The place had a new water heater, clothes washer and dryer, heating and cooling, an alarm system... yet the ceiling and floors were falling apart and a bathroom in the middle of no where and no kitchen. Nothing made sense in the house. But it was great! If I were a movie maker I would so see that house in the perfect horror movie or ghost flick.

Anyways, I got more to tell but I'm taking a break and hanging with my pup.