Moving Day!

After so long it is finally coming, and not a moment too soon. In retrospect I am in no way the same person that I was that long 20 months ago. I think about when it finally clicked and I told my boyfriend of five + years, father of my youngest child, that it was over FOR REAL, that since he wouldn't leave we were. Wow that was so hard, I was so depressed (understatement) at that time. I had gained almost 54 pounds, didn't care about myself to wear any makeup, dress nicely, and barely brushed my hair. I had a highly stressful job as a store manager where my boss was on my ass constantly, everyone was a back stabber, I worked an average of 55-60 hrs plus drive time of 1 hr 30 min round trip per day, work nights/weekends/holidays, and my staff called me constantly with stupid questions and situations that they should have handled on their own. I cried daily and just felt so sorry for myself, I was such a downer and so cynical. Len still had control of me. It hurts to think and remember myself that way, as I said I am completely different now.
Where I cried daily or multiple times daily, now I would say I rarely cry. I have lost 45 pounds and eat healthy and exercise daily. I have a new career in insurance where I work 8:30-5 mon-fri, ( I still have the drive though), Len no longer has control of me, and although I still have not technically been on a date or anything (since 1999)-it is ok, I am happy, I try to be upbeat and positive, and doing so I think I am a better mother and role model to my children. Life is again exciting to me-just to see what is coming next. I do wear make-up and brush my hair again! WOOHOO! I care about my appearance and just generally try to take better care of myself. I am happy to have my life and appreciate that everything that has happened has brought me to this moment and made me the person I am. Although I have been through a lot of tough situations, it has really helped me to become stronger.

SO-the move!!
Yes we are moving this weekend! We are still going to be in the same town, which is good and bad. It is a 2 story 3 bedroom house with a huge backyard and big pantry. My dog and cat won't be forced to life in the basement, there is a huge front porch and flower beds too! I am a big believer in things happen for a reason and destiny, so here is the story!
When Len and I moved into our old house in 2000, we had been looking for a while and finally found our house. It wasn't great-but it was a house. So after we moved in and got all settled, my brother and his wife started looking to move. They lived in this huge 3 bedroom house in the same town, but wanted to move the next town over. When they finally found a house, and they said their landlord, who happened to live right next door to them, asked if they knew anyone that would want to move in to the house they were moving from. They asked us, and I thought about it, but we had just finally gotten settled, just got our dog, and only needed 2 bedrooms. We passed. That was 6 or so years ago. So fast forward to April-I was driving around the neighborhoods by Caitlyn's school looking for "for rent" signs. I saw this huge beautiful white house on a street I never really noticed. I wrote down the number and turned the corner to another street, which just happened to be the street my brother's old house was on. As I drove past his old house, I saw a U-haul truck and people moving OUT! There was no "for rent" sign or anything, but I just thought, hmmm! So I thought about it and I decided the next day I would just knock on his old landlord's door, see if they still owned the house, if they are looking to rent it, and tell them I am interested. I went and after a few times circling the block and getting up the nerve, I knocked on the door. No answer. I called my brother and talked about it and he gave me their name. I looked it up in the phone book, found their number, and the next day I called them. No answer. I left a message saying who I was, etc etc. I thought I would hear from them that day, but after 4 days of waiting and not hearing, I decided to move on. I looked at a couple of other houses that were OK, but didn't compare. So on that 5th day I was driving home and I got a call from the landlord. She told me that those people had given her 1 day notice and would be out by that weekend, then she needed to get in the house and see what needed done, repair it, and then she would give me a call. One thing my brother told me about those landlords is that they were total procrastinators and drug their feet for everything. So after about 10 days I called her back. She said there was still a lot of work to do, that it should be done by June 1st, she was planning to put a "for rent" sign up (huh? why?) and needed to get applications, she was gonna do that the next day and call me. Four more days go by-no call so I called her. I got the voicemail and left a message. 1 week later still no word, so in the meantime I had looked at another house, a duplex, very cute, very artsy, and I LOVED the owners-they were my age and cool. So I put in an app for that. The next day I called Jimmy's old landlord and thought I would give it one last shot. I called to tell them I was still interested but that I was looking at other places too, I got her dad. He was very talkative to me and told me all about the work he had been doing in the house, etc. they own it together and live together. He put his daughter on and I told her I was still interested and she said it still wasn't done and wouldn't be done till the next week. I could tell she was getting annoyed with me. I started to ask her if she had an application and as I did so her dad was in the background saying have her come over and get the application. So she told me to get it the next day. In the meantime I thought it was strange that I had never heard from the duplex people. But I did take Gabriella to bring the app to the other people and talked for a little bit w/ the dad and told him my situation with grandma, etc. He is close to her age too. So anyways, the next day I turned in the app and they were very vague about it and said they would call me. She called me the next day and asked me what kind of pets I had, I told her worrying that that would be the end of that. She then called to say that the number to my old landlord was disconnected, I told her I had no other number but gave her his wife's name too so that she could try to find it online. She said she should know something by the end of the next week, that was Friday 5/26/06. On Saturday I got a call from the duplex people, they wanted to offer it to me. I was so excited but told him that I was waiting to hear about another place too and I asked if I could call him that Tues, he said sure. So I decided I would call the house people and tell them I was offered another place but preferred theirs, and had they made a decision about me. I got the voicemail and left a message for them to call me. She called me back soon after and I told her the situation. She said she was pretty sure her dad wanted to rent it to me but that she needed to check with him and call me back. I said that was fine. She called me back that night and told me they wanted me to rent it and that I could move in Saturday 6/3/06-possibly late Friday night. They were getting new carpeting put in on that day for the entire first floor.
How about that story? ...DESTINY>>>>
I think had we moved in their 6 years ago we (Len and I) would have messed the situation up with all of our drama we had. So all those events led up to this great news and opportunity for us!!