The one where I talk money

I've always had goals. Now, I have a daughter, and so I have new goals. I want to be in a better place financially. Oh wait, that was always my goal. I guess now I'll just have to work harder at it.

With me moving on my own all of a sudden, some of my bills are doubling so I can pay rent and damage deposit and various moving fees. I decided to be smart. I did up a budget for the next three months, and by the end of February all my bills should be paid off, including money owed to a friend, plus I should have a little bit saved in the bank. 

Once I'm ahead, I'd like to start taking part of my extra money every month, and putting it on my credit card, so I could have it paid off in less than a year. 

And yes I did include Christmas shopping on my budget. I got a little upset a couple of nights ago thinking I wasn't going to be able to afford to buy anything for my pumpkin's first Christmas. I know she won't know any better, but I would. 

I get to move a week from today. I made the call, and I am keeping my internet hooked up at the new apartment. I don't know what I do if I didn't have Twitter sometimes in those middle of the night feedings. 

It's just nice that for the first time since deciding to move, I know that not only will we be okay, but we're not going to be just barely getting by. 

Life = Adventure

I have great news. Well, for me. I got the apartment! I had to get in contact with an old landlord about a reference, and she said she would give me a great one. That must've done it. I'll probably never be be allowed to have friends over, but I got the apartment I was in love with. I'm pretty excited about it. 

I know funds will be super tight from now on, but it's cheaper than I expected to pay for a two bedroom, and I know I can afford it as long as I stop any extra spending. Plus, if I go under budget on my gas, food or electricity, that's just more money for me. I'm going to try to be a better saver from now on so me and Chloe have some emergency money to fall back on. Yeah, I'll admit it - I live from paycheck to paycheck and I've always been this way. 

My mother came down Friday morning and spent the night to help me pack. I did get quite a bit done, but it still feels like there's so much to do. But as long as I can line some people and a truck up to help me move the big stuff, I'm not going to worry about anything else. 

I'm looking forward to getting out on my own and being completely independent for once. I've always either lived with roommates, a boyfriend or my mother. This is something completely new to me. 

The catch? I probably won't get my internet bill paid off at my current apartment in time to move it to the new apartment. Hopefully I can have it all hooked up quickly, but if not I will be missing from my blog for awhile. 

Sadness, I know. 

I'm not going anywhere for a little while yet. But it will be an adventure, that's for sure. 

[ via ]

I look like a teenage party animal with a baby

Here's a fun, unknown fact for you. I'm apartment hunting. 

You know what's great about apartment hunting? When early on you find a great place. Hardwood floors, ceramic tiles, new kitchen appliances, a huge living room with lots of space for a craft area.

You know what's not so great? The landlord to my dream apartment giving me 'the talk' about how there's no partying, no noise, no teenagers in and out. Um hello lady? I'm twenty effin four years old. I'm not a teenager. I have a (not even) two month old daughter, which leads to very little partying. The baby was there with me. I told her I wasn't much of a partier. She said there's no parties at all. Yeah, I get the point. 

She seemed less than thrilled when she said I'd need to fill out an application and I asked for one. She was friendlier when I called about returning it to her. I know she called one of my references - my current landlord who wouldn't even give a reference because my name isn't on the cheques, yet when I talked to him he made a big deal about me moving out because my name is on the lease. I never signed the lease, therefore I'm not legally entitled to stay here. Not to mention B. is staying her and continuing to pay rent as usual. 

So I know crabby lady called that one reference, but I know she hasn't called S., who is one of the other references. I'm tempted to call my boss at work and ask if they called her yet. 

I did find one other place that I like quite a bit (even though the current tenants seem to be kind of like hoarders... of empty beer cans), but I can't get the other apartment out of my head.  

I pray that crabby lady gets desperate and rents to me. It is, after all, the 18th of November so December 1st is fast approaching and she hasn't rented it out yet. 

Either way, I need to know because if not I need to make my calls about my second favorite apartment. 

The joys of apartment hunting. 

[ via ]

Not Quite Home

Maybe you can help me, because I'm sort of lost. You see, I just moved a few days ago. 

It's not a bad little spot. More space. Nice wood floors. Some pretty tile.

I've got a big storage closet, a room just for baby girl, a bathroom with lots of storage space, and even my own craft corner in the living room. 

But something just doesn't feel right. I just don't feel at home. 

I miss making a coffee after breakfast and drinking it slowly while listening to the country music radio and playing Dr. Mario. I miss the sun always lighting up the apartment. 

I miss eating an after-work snack in bed, then watching tv until I started to fall asleep. I miss talking to my Mom on a daily basis, even when she annoyed me. 

I miss having that sense of things being in order, even when they were a mess. 

I feel uneasy in my bedroom and livingroom. I don't feel relaxed in my homemade craft area. I can't stand being in the kitchen, and I hate the dinning room. 

I've been finding myself just wanting to go home, but that's the only home I've got. There is no where else. There's only one spot in  this new 'home' that I feel okay. 

Baby girl's room. With the pretty white furniture, the weird corner windows, and the yellow curtains I just put up. I love being in her room. It's the only place that feels okay to me. Maybe when I get things put away and things up on the wall, I may feel better. For now.. I just feel a little lost. Help me. 

Moving & Canada Day

So... moving.

I spent a few hours before work doing it. I spent all of Thursday morning and most of the afternoon doing it.

Unpacked as much as I could Thursday, but needed resting time.

Friday I woke up and looked forward to unpacking and setting up, but the bottoms of my feet hurt so much that I had to lay down and watch tv instead. I've never felt anything like it before. I wanted to unpack, but simply couldn't. But Degrassi Takes Manhattan was on, so it wasn't so bad.

I spent the rest of Canada Day in the country with a couple of friends and some family of a friend. We had a BBQ, visited some adorable cats and watched some fireworks. I was a nice, relaxing time. I got to visit my mom at her new place afterwards, and drive home wayy too late.

I don`t have photos, because we`re internet free at the new apartment for three more days. It`s kind of nice. Being at work right now is not so nice.

Hope my fellow Canadians had a good Canada Day. And everyone else, have a good regular weekend.

Moving on over

Suddenly I find myself in the middle of moving, two days earlier than expected.

It's not a far move, but it's a third floor apartment, so there's a lot of stair walking.

I will definitely sleep good tonight.

Then back at it to finish up tomorrow.

A new beginning

Moving is a lot of work. There's the packing, the taping, the moving, the cleaning, and the end. The end of a lease. The end of making memories at that particular place. Sometime around 9 p.m. tonight it will a year since we moved the first few things into "our place".

We did things quick, only having known each other for 4 months at this point, but it was what was best for us at the time, or so it seemed.

While living there we celebrated our first birthday together, our first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter, and our first anniversary. It was where we lived when I first met his mom, when he first met my grandfather. Where we first got to know each other.

Today I mopped one last room, cleaned my first oven, passed in our keys and got my damage deposit back.

I had 20 minutes to myself after the cleaning was done, and before the landlord got there to get the keys. I paced around, unable to sit still, and no chairs to sit on anyway. As I went into each room it brought back all kinds of memories from that room. The stronget memories were those from the day we moved in.

The place was so new and exciting, and I was filled with so much hope for us and our apartment.

I will not miss freezing in the winter or critters scratching inside our walls, but I will really miss the memories and everything that happened there, good or bad. Though everything didn't turn out the way I'd hoped a year ago, things are still on the right path. It's time for a different new beginning than expected.

So long Apartment 3.

Moving & Such

I fail.

Two days ago I said I was taking a week off from blogger and facebook, and obviously I fail. My problem was trying to give them both up in the same week, leaving me nothing to do to occupy my time at work. Twitter can only go so far.

Plus, I just minimzed a big chunk of my to-do list today. Me and my amazing little brother and two cousins moved all my big furniture out of the apartment. Just have to clean out the small furniture and all the boxes and random stuff.

It's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Me and S. are going to the flea market to sell my useless stuff tomorrow. It'll be nice to be rid of that stuff as well.

Things are looking up. 9 days until I'm out of this apartment.