It's time!!!

Dear Gentle Readers:

This is my last post to you ... from the apartment, that is. It's very early Friday morning, the 24th of August, and I can't sleep. It's not from excitement, because goodness knows, I'm tired enough to sleep. It's called Bouncer and Smudge playing Kittydega around the place till 12:30 in the morning and since I'm supposed to be sleeping so I can get up at 4 AM to get ready for work ... Let's just say that I'm pretty sure work isn't going to happen today.

Quentin gets paid on Thursdays by direct deposit. His employer requires that or they give you a payroll deposit card which charges the user for every little thing under the sun. We decided to forget that option and went with the second chance checking option at a local bank, where they let you open the account with a dollar and call it done to get going. The hope is that you'll keep the account active even a little bit. We run two paychecks through there every week, so there's little chance of the account not being active.

What does this have to do with this being my last post from the apartment? Yesterday, on my way home from work, I stopped at the electric company office near the plant. I pass it every day on my way to and from work. I had thought they closed at 4 PM, and was told yesterday that no, they closed at 5 PM. Turns out they close at 4:30 PM, and since we worked till 4 PM and it was twenty after by the time I got my car out of the plant parking lot, I cut it pretty close getting in. Thankfully, they take debit cards to pay for stuff, so I was able to get them the info they need and get the majority of the deposit paid to get the lights turned on. The rest will be on the first bill, natch. But the best news is, the gal said, "How's tomorrow sound for getting the meter in?"

Considering I don't even have to BE there when they do it, I was all for it. Texting Quentin about it made him very happy. So we have three options for moving now.

Option 1 - the original option was for him to take next Thursday off as a point, which kills him getting his holiday pay for Labor Day, but allows him to move us before the rent's due again next Friday. With a weekly rental, that would mean today would be our last rent paid, as we'd be out before it was due again end of next week. We'd be without TV and internet for a day or so, but that would be it. He'd take Friday as a vacation day to get everything set up in the house as best he could, and we'd finish up together over Labor Day weekend.

Option 2 - Tell our landlords we won't be paying this week's rent, but will be completely out by sometime tomorrow. This allows us both to work a full week this week, plus he can avoid taking a point next Thursday, thus getting his holiday pay. He'd call the tv company Thursday morning and set up the appointment for the TV/phone/internet install for his vacation day Friday so he'd be home for it, and we'd be without TV and internet for a few days, till sometime end of next week.

Option 3 - Looks like this is what we'll be doing. Both taking a point and moving today, because with the cats not letting me sleep, I won't be fit for work. Since the electric's going to be on later today, we might as well move our butts to the trailer and get this thing finished up. I'm tired of moving in bits and pieces.

Now the good thing about using option 3 is that we can also, by not shelling out rent THIS week, put that money instead into the move. Gas for the vehicles, then a run back up here where Q's cigarettes are cheap and the Lowe's (which has better prices and way better service than Home Depot around here does) to get a few supplies for fixing up the house (sliding screens, screen door and hardware, and brackets to hold a clothes rod we can improvise for now so our stuff can hang up in the closet). Also to hit up the dollar store for these alfredo ramen noodle things he likes that I can't stand, and our regular Wal-Mart to get groceries for the week. Thank goodness for the grocery store and neighborhood Wally World near my job, because I can pick up fill-in stuff there if need be after work. The bad thing about option three is it'll put my points up high enough that there's no way to work them down enough before "fresh" season (Turkey Day prep season) so that I get my Thanksgiving bonus check, but oh well.

Because we NEED to move. The gas is killing us and the commute is killing me by inches. I'm so tired from all the extra driving some days that it's all I can do to make it here to the apartment in one piece, even with a longish stop at the property. Quentin isn't faring much better anymore, he'll be 38 end of October and he is just old enough that he CAN'T do a lot of things anymore that he used to be able to do, like go two or three days on little to no sleep. At least the rent we'd shell out here for the week will do things like fill the pantry with food, get us moved, and do a couple minor repairs on the house while we're at it! And we'll still make it financially. Wow, what a concept, heck we might even have money left next week when the hubster gets paid again, instead of breaking even like we've been doing.

So there it is in a rather large nutshell. I'm offline for a week or more because the Big Day has finally arrived, sooner than we thought it would. When I'm online again, I'll post and hopefully have some photographs to add then. Until later, my dear Gentle Readers, take care of yourselves!