RIP to you, my dear house.....

This was a very VERY long weekend. It consisted of packing, moving, and unpacking............lots of lifting and carrying up stairs................lots of cleaning.......................thank goodness for my awesome Mom (and my Dad for letting her sneak away), for my friends Tyler and Mande, and for a new friend Brent. They were amazing. Seriously. I owe them big time. It was not an easy move. And to say I am sore is a huge understatement. I'm sooo much in pain. But I can bet I probably lost at least 3 lbs this weekend.

This house was a bit of a pinnacle for me. It was my first REAL nice house that I could afford on my own. It was the first house that wasn't an apartment, and the first house that let us spread out in luxurious 3 bedrooms. We had kind neighbors, the kids made good friends, and I have some great memories there. I think this is the first house I've ever lived in that I'm actually going to miss. Leaving there was hard. When I was finishing cleaning last night I kept thinking of all the progress that I had made personally in that house.

One thing I won't miss? The property management company. Ohhhh boy were they bad. They seemed really nice when we first started working with them, but I should've known that something was up when I moved in and I could tell the place wasn't professionally cleaned. It was clean...but in a way that a tenant would do a final clean. From there, I had a maintanence call that didn't do much good, since the guy didn't fix the problem. And had heard through work that they had been having issues with their service guys stealing stuff from homes. And then, there was the house incident.... you can refresh your memory here.

And now. Friday I get told that "Guess what? Someone is going to rent your unit!" Cause I care so much, my lease was up and I was month to month. Then "So when are you going to be out? They want to be in on Monday." Ok, not a prob since I was planning on that anyway (another hint they do not professionally clean their apartments, someone couldn't do it that fast). And then "Now you need to schedule the carpets to be cleaned." Wait what?? They are holding $120 of my deposit for what I assumed was carpet cleaning, since thats what just about EVERYONE does here. Oh no. That is a lease initiatory fee that I apparently get to pay them for the pleasure of renting a unit from them. SERIOUSLY?!

So I just had my final walk through with them and I left the unit cleaner than I found it. Except for a stain up in Nate's room that I couldn't get out of the carpet, a couple light bulbs that I forgot to replace, and like 2 drawers that didn't get wiped out. How much can I bet you that they will take as much as they can possibly take from my deposit? I have bets on not getting a dime back.

NOW..................

Time to count my blessings.............even though downsizing has been extremely hard, it has been worth it. My boys are happy, we are in a pretty nice apartment with a rent I can manage. The group that owns it has an office onsite which makes life easy for service calls and paying rent. We have a play area right outside our door and a pool to play in. And the landlords, well, they are spectaculiar. The whole process was almost too easy, especially for a tax credit place.

This is my breath of fresh air.............and I'm taking deep breaths. As much as I hated leaving my old place, this is a new chapter and will be an amazing one. I'm sure of it. I'm sooo happy to be leasing from a company I can trust, who I know will not try to screw me over. I'm truly blessed.