Profanity and News: We're Moving and We Have a Destination!

I cannot disclose the location of our destination. I can only say that where we are going, sunshine will abound and we will have snow in the winter. Where we are going, we will be on 5 acres of land, close to a lake and a river, and close enough to the city to use the electric car.

            Where we are going, we can take all three cats. We could take Baby, too, if we wanted to, but fuck that bitch. She is Pat’s responsibility. He has plans for her.

            We are moving much, much more quickly than we anticipated. Due to the fact that I do not trust the property management people to prorate rent properly this month, we are moving absolutely as soon as we are approved for the house in the mountains. You may wonder which mountains, but there are some I’d rather not know our destination. Imagine all the mountain ranges in the United States. Now imagine which ones have affordable housing. Good luck finding us.

            The important thing to note in this entry is that if all goes well, we will be moving on Tuesday, May 2^nd. This would mean I’d head south on May 3^rd, after spending a night with my grandmother in Tacoma.

            Packing has begun. The majority of my books are now in boxes and I only await the visit of my friend for the return of one. We've thrown a few options out to the four winds to see who picks up on them. People think we are moving to Colorado, but some think we might go to Las Vegas. I haven't mentioned how we've looked at houses throughout Texas, in parts of Arizona, and also in areas in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

            There’s not much more to say, here. More news will come once we are settled in the new place. It could take a while. I just hope it doesn’t throw a wrench too far into the gears of my machinations.

Chaos: Moving Again in Less than A Year

It has been nine days since I last wrote and posted a blog entry. In these past nine days, enough has happened to fill a book, but not enough has happened to properly close any of the stories that have been upset.

            Becca left and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were then forced to hold our breath again when the people from Pettit performed their interior inspection. We were not allowed time to relax after the inspection, as we were given three pieces of paper—all of which read “Comply or Vacate” at the top. “Too many people,” they said, and “too many pets.” They didn’t give us any further details, except that if we were to refuse to comply, our rent would be increased. So, we hit scramble mode one more time to figure out what to do and I left to spend time with Gizmo, the one and only person in Washington State who consistently and quickly clears my head when I need it.

            He helped me realize where the bullshit is and isn’t and he lit the fire within me to squash the bullshit out entirely. This is about my family, he made me realize, which means that no one else really needs to be in my house and if we can make it work with one or two under the radar, that may be okay, but that it is black and white on the lease and that is what really matters to these people. So, I went home and I put my foot down. We got things moving with a few agreements on who would leave the house, who would at the very least do everything in his power to find another place, and who would be okay to stay under the radar because they can essentially be stuck in the attic for inspections. We began to move towards righting everything for the follow-up interior inspection, which is scheduled to happen three days from now.

            Pettit, or at least the owner of the house we rent, has decided not to give us the chance to make things right again. They’ve decided that the unexpected recent activity is simply too much and rather than give us time to redeem ourselves, they want to seek a mutual severance of tenancy. The reasons they’ve listed are complete bullshit, we know it, but we aren’t interested in fighting because we have, technically, violated our lease. As such, however, I insist that we do not leave on anything less than our own terms.

            I’ve contacted the Housing Authority, who put me in contact with the Northwest Justice Project, who deals with landlord/tenant laws and ought to be able to help me with these issues. I want the house to be inspected this week and I want, on paper, how much the place is worth to rent, so that I can take it to Pettit and show them how we’ve been overpaying and therefore will not pay them another dime if they are forcing us to leave early.

            I want to negotiate a mutual severance that allows us two months of income so that we can move as comfortably as possible, especially considering we are going to Colorado Springs.

            Yeah. Colorado. We almost moved there, once, but had to come back because of debts. The debts are taken care of, now, and the only thing left is my court case, which will be settled no later than May 3^rd. Everything is in constant chaos in my house.

            It is time to start packing. Today is Tuesday and the follow-up inspection is Friday. We need to have everything in order by Thursday so that we can negotiate with Pettit as much as possible. I’m waiting for a call-back from the Justice Project. It’s all very stressful. But I finally feel as if I have my head roundly on my shoulders, quite soundly. I feel level-headed and prepared. I feel as if I can now move forward and get a real fresh start. I’ve never lived in Colorado, only visited. Colorado Springs has no one I know except perhaps a former co-worker or two. There is hope where there is sun and Colorado has much more sun than Washington.

            I know this is all very sudden for anyone close to me who reads this. It is for us, too. It’s all quite unexpected and fast. And it isn’t done, yet…