Since Seth and I are out of the dire situation we were in, I thought I would post something to let everyone know I'm alive and all. I've already explained what happened in several places, so I'll keep it short here; Seths Dad got him a job at the woodworking place where he's pretty high up on the food chain, so to speak, we had to do 2 weeks worth of packing AND moving in 2 DAYS, and now we're north of Dallas staying in one of those extended stay hotels, which his dad paid the first 2 weeks on, taking into account when Seth would have his first paycheck. If you want more detail, IM me if you know my messenger (Not posting it out for everyone to see, sorry.) or you can PM or E-mail me. Depending, I might give you my messenger (Skype or AIM) name, because I SHOULD be cleaning this place up, so there's a good chance that my responses will be slow. But, yes.. Things are looking up, we just have to manage until his first check, and.. below, well, there's some more info on what's currently happening. It's a bit babbly, but that's because this is the first time in quite some time that I've had the ability to sit down and type out a post of ANY meaningful length.

First of all I should probably be doing something productive, but it's only approaching 7:30am, so it won't be long before I'll busy working my butt off to finish making this place look more like an apartment, wanting that to be finished sooner rather than later. Also I'm factoring in that, apparently there's a "Preventative Maintenance" check today, which means they'll be coming in, though a neighbor says they typically only check your heater/cooler, sometimes your fridge and stove, but that's about it, which means a short visit, but since I DO NOT want people in here with our stuff without me here, I can't leave to get anything done until after they've done our place. Since this complex is huge and has so many tenants, hearing that the checks were very fast didn't surprise me, and since I don't like strangers in my home, landlord or otherwise, that suits me just fine. The only issue is, I think the A/C might need repaired, so that SUCKS, because it means strangers in here for longer.. But I'm convinced, especially after making friends with an older couple here and being invited into their place, that there's something wrong with our unit. The heat doesn't work at all, though just turning the A/C off causes this place to heat up pretty fast. The issue is that said A/C is just not putting out enough cold air, and with a very HOT summer coming up, worse than normal is what they say it's going to be, I want that thing working as best it can.. We'll be paying enough, that the air conditioner SHOULD work the way it's meant to. But anyways, onwards.. as I was saying, the examination, at least, should not take long at all once they actually DO get to our room.

I like my privacy, Seth likes our privacy, and we're not really keen on the idea of strangers coming in and knowing what we own, how our belongings are set up, and other things like that.. I can't be the only one who feels that this is none of their business unless I call them due to an issue, but I know there's nothing I can do about it. I can't tell them 'No, you can't check the equipment that you technically own.'. But hey, I guess it is more motivation to get out of this place asap rather than even trying to put it off, though we still plan to save as much as possible while we are here, and there are certain animal related things (Vet visit for one neutering and three declawings, which means angry kids for awhile, but it's for their own good and ours.) that we feel HAVE to be taken care of before we move again. If the declawing thing bothers you, feel free to contact me privately.

Even though I'm not working yet, Seth is going to be bringing in enough money to more than take care of everything, but I know if I look hard enough, I can find an apartment or something else fairly quickly, and once I'm working part time, finances won't be a huge issue, and we plan on setting aside every dime we can just to be safe.

Though to be perfectly honest, we are VERY seriously considering a medium sized motorhome instead of an apartment (Class C motorhome, not one of those land yahts - I think those are class A.. I might have the classes wrong though. It's early.. But the point is that the type we're looking into gets better mileage than the mini-van we have, and if we can get a newish one I think 2003 or newer, I'd have to look it up again, those actually get remarkable gas mileage for what they are, especially on the freeway.), just something big enough for our needs, maybe a tiny bigger than that for extra comfort purposes, room for the kids to run around in, and having company over, uncommon as that may be. As for the argument of Apartment vs. Motorhome, it would partially be because then at least, even if we don't just flat out buy it in cash, since we would obviously be getting a used one, the monthly payments would be going towards OWNING it, rather than money going into the abyss for years at a time, and us never having a chance in hell of owning the place, and we both like that kind of security... and let's face it, right now, buying an actual house is WAY too risky for two young people, even if we could afford it, needed, or wanted it... and we don't..

Be critical if you want, but believe me when I say I am, and have been doing my research on the pro's and con's of RV living. In fact, I've been doing research for approximately two and a half years now, off and on, though the research intensified in the past 8 months. I've gotten into a number of groups and forums full of folks who live in RV's year round, so I'm learning quite a bit about that lifestyle, and if you're not a moron about it, once your motorhome is paid off, saving up your money for whatever it is you want in the future, even with the cost of gas and everything else, is a LOT easier, and you can save up more at a time, which for us means that on his days off, with just a small bit of what he's made, we can go out and have a fun day, maybe see a movie, or perhaps *GASP!* go shopping once in awhile rather than.. once every three years.. so that will be.. new to us, but we can't exactly see it being bad.

And yes to a question that has undoubtedly popped up in some peoples minds, I have priced various RV "campgrounds" between here and his job, and a great many of them cost very little even if you need to empty your dirty water and refill your clean water, plug in to charge this or that, etc., and nothing says we have to stay in those every night anyways, since most WalMarts will allow you to rest in their parking lot for a few days or more at a time if you want to, because you'll be going in and spending money, and there are a number of other options, just too many to list here, and this is already WAY longer than I meant for it to be.

Also, it would mean that our house is mobile, and it's that way at all times, so if we want to go somewhere we don't have to go through an ordeal to get it ready to get on the road, and so when we wanted to and were able, depending on vacation time and finances and such, we could just start the engine and drive to visit family or friends, never having to worry about leaving our kids behind, wondering if they'll be okay, worrying about break ins and all of our stuff being stolen, etc., because our house will always be with us. (We plan on having some modifications done if we take the motorhome route, to make it MUCH harder to break into than one that's not been modified. For example, that flimsy side door would be replaced by something much sturdier that was secured far better, with multiple bolt locks; Top, middle, bottom, and the windows would be replaced by something of higher quality and more durability than their standard issue, perhaps even with bars on the inside (Able to be unlocked of course in case of emergency, just not from the outside, etc. - All of it would be done a step at a time of course because we don't want to NOT have a nest egg because we decided to be dumb and have it all done at once, but in the end we're feeling that it would be worth it, and it isn't exactly a random, impulsive leap we just took one day, this is something we've thought and talked about a great deal, for quite some time. We were even discussing it a bit before I started doing any real research.

Still doing a lot of research though, so we may not end up going that route, it really depends on a number of factors. And like I said, be critical if you want, but if you ARE going to do that, I would greatly appreciate if you sent me your opinion in PM, so everyone doesn't have to see it (I will just delete it if it's posted openly, because I don't feel that type of conversation or argument needs to be had where everyone can see, it's just unnecessary at best.), E-mail me, or contact me through Instant messenger. I typically use AIM, but I do have skype as well, and am willing to give out my skype or AIM name if someone wants to seriously talk to me.

I'm also a lot more likely to get one of those types of contacts within a reasonable amount of time, at least right now with how little actual internet time I have that isn't spent looking for things we need or may need in the future, and just.. generally getting set up in our new living conditions.. Which, by the way, we're THRILLED with. Just me, Seth, and the kids... It's amazing what getting away from certain types of people, as well as a horrible environment, can do for you, and I have to say that despite the stresses of moving and having to get things transferred, like our meds to local pharmacies as an example, setting things up, getting settled into the place, etc., the stress levels for  BOTH of us has dropped to 1/3rd if not 1/4th of what it WAS.. And for us, being as high strung as we naturally are, that's a pretty big deal.

Anyways, I'll end this shortly because it's turned into a damned novel, I just thought I'd post some kind of an update so my friends knew what was going on, or at least some of it.

Now we just need to wait for his paychecks to start coming in, because right now.. it's uh.. Interesting, to say the least, trying to stay fed, get our meds (Something we've not been able to do just yet, aside from one that was on the $4 list at Walmart, woo..We need to get his pain meds, and that hasn't been possible. With what he's doing, I'm honestly freaking out a little bit, because there's no telling how long he can manage without those meds, and he CANNOT afford to lose this job.. That would be the absolute end of this opportunity, and we would be fucked.), and get other basic things we need to live on our own, since we didn't have a lot of it before, having never needed it, so that's caused a lot of financial strain, since we didn't exactly come up here with any kind of nest egg, my job not paying enough or offering enough hours for that to even be possible. But once he starts getting paid, we should be just fine.. it's the area between now and then that has me contemplating standing out on the freeway ramp with a sign asking for money for food >.> (Kidding, kidding, I couldn't do that.. but I have thought about it!). And due to when he started, it's gonna be a bit (Well, longer than a bit,...) before he does get his first check, though on the upside, it will be a fairly decent sized check.

Okay, time to stop babbling and get to work.. Got to at LEAST make it so the maintenance can GET to the cooler, stove, etc., though I also intend to clean this place up as best I can before they show up, as well.

-Vincent