New stuff…

The “lease to own” thing with the renters is off the table.    They weren’t prepared for the real cost of the house, though we are probably going to continue to let them rent the house.  In the meantime, we’ve been boxing up some stuff we don’t use on a regular basis until we are officially moved out.   So, still on the right track… Sept 1 is still move out date.

I did the dishonorable thing and didn’t go back to Target.  Technically, my last day is August 14th.  But I really didn’t want to go back, and Dad was in town.  So I just didn’t.  I talked to Cam about it beforehand, at least.  I don’t ever want to go back to working there, so honestly it’s not much of a point to continuing there.  So, I consider myself an ex-employee (team member) of Target. Huraay. What a release of stress from my back.  I hated the way the management would treat us (and me) … I think I worked pretty hard for them, but no real thanks. Ahhh… chalk it up to experience I suppose.

Dad booked me a couple of nights in Marietta for next weekend, so on Friday we’re driving down to TN … spending the night, and I’ll be staying in Atlanta during the weekend. The kids are excited.  I’m excited!  I just want to be on the road down there to live permanently.  

Cam’s in Miami this week for Sapient training.  I decided to renew my WoW subscription to see if I can piss away some time at night since I won’t be playing with Cam for the week.  We’ll see how that goes.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…

A lot (well, maybe not *a lot*) has happened since I last blogged.  But here’s what I can say:

1.  Cam and I decided to rent this house.  We found someone who wants to do a “lease to own” type of deal.  Which works out for us, so we can cut out all the garbage of putting the house on the market, being stressed out, etc.

2.  Refinancing of the house.  Hopefully we can shed a few dollars off the mortgage while we still have it in our possession.

3. I QUIT TARGET!!! (well I put in my 2 weeks notice anyway)

The folks that want to move into our house, want to move in NOW… whereas we still haven’t found a place to live in ATL. 

We still need to find a place to live.  I *really* like a house I saw for rent in Woodstock, GA… great schools (which has been a problem in the areas I’ve been looking), although it looks like it’s in demand (sigh) so I’m not even sure if we’ll get it.  But it’s a house that’s just about perfect for our family (about the same size as we’ve got here in STL)  … so we’ll see.  They are doing an open house on Sunday (the 15th).  The landlord sent me several pictures of the house (they looked fine)  … to be honest, as long as the house is big enough to house our brood, and the schools are good… I don’t really care what the house looks like.  Well I do, I mean I don’t want a decrepit, falling down kind of house … but a normal house is just fine.  Oh, and if we don’t get this particular house, there’s a townhome in Alpharetta that I wouldn’t mind living in either.

Initially, we thought about getting an apartment … however finding an apartment in the area was not that easy.  We have 3 children … so 4 bedrooms would be optimal… but we were accepting of 3 bedrooms only because.  But the square footage… I absolutely can’t live in something smaller than 1500 sq ft.  (Our house now is about 1800 sq ft)  Apartments/townhomes just don’t seem to be built like that.  Or be prepared to pay a lot (more than our mortgage!) … so no thanks to that. 

I did a few searches, and I did come to find that Woodstock place… and that Alpharetta place. I may call realtors in that area to see if they rent homes.  I’m thinking I’ll come into something soon.  Hopefully… at least before my trip down there on the 14/15/16th of August!

Which leads me to the elation I’m feeling about my trip next weekend.  I put my 2 weeks notice at Target last week.  I really felt like I wasn’t getting anything done, if I was worried about my job at Target, and since I hate working there (minus a few cool people I worked with)  and Cam’s paychecks are coming in now… WHY AM I STILL THERE?  So my last day is the 14th of August (Dad’s b-day btw)  … so after work (my last day!), I’m picking up the kids from MIL’s house and driving down to TN that day.  And then going to GA the morning after! 

School.  That’s one thing that is really bothering me.  I hate that I’m sending the kids to 1 school for a few weeks and then taking them out of school for at least a week or two, and then putting them in a school in GA.  I wish I had something a little bit more concrete.  But I don’t, and I know when it’s all said and done, we’ll figure out what needs to be done.  I really want this to go well, and I don’t want the kids to suffer in the meantime.

And yes, I’ll be able to see Cam again. IN THE FLESH not on SKYPE! The kids will be excited, I’ll be excited… though I’m not exactly thrilled with the idea of driving into Atlanta… but since it’ll be a Saturday, (I hope) the traffic won’t be that bad.

Today I work at Target from 11:15-7pm.  It sucks, because Dad is here and I wanted to spend some time with him… but at least he’ll have the kids (and the kids love spending time with him)  … being in GA, I’ll be able to spend more time with my family and that truly makes me happy. 

 

So I close this blog post on a happy note… finally I am able to see myself in Atlanta in the very near future… though, if only I could finalize plans on a house down there.

Insomnia strikes

I get insomnia from time to time, unfortunately.  Usually when my brain can’t process everything and it goes into hyper-mode.  Or if the house is too warm.  And tonight, I think I had a little bit of both.  Oh add that too I have been having mild panic-attacks. Yikes.

Today was kind of a bad day.  I’m not doing well at Target.  There have been a handful of people just not show up at work (and eventually fired) … and I actually do the right thing and do show up, but yet still I’m disregarded. Or my performance is nitpicked.  And there’s the fact that I miss Cam.  I’m considering just turning in my two weeks and trying to get the house organized. 

I wish the relocation people at Cam’s new job would contact us.  I have some questions, and no we don’t actually have a place yet in Atlanta… but it still would help if I could have some questions answered.  We’re also considering a short sale on the house.  I talked to a realtor a few days ago, and basically the market is so bad that we’d have to have a sizeable amount to pay at closing… to the tune of $15,000.  With the repairs that have to go IN the house, and looking at something like that (and that being “best case scenario”) … there isn’t a way we can walk away with this, with our credit intact.  Frankly we don’t have that kind of money… end of story.  We can’t borrow that kind of money from the bank, we can’t have some sort of payment plan.  So as sad as it is, it is what it is.  Hopefully in a few years, after the dust has settled, we’ll be able to buy a house again.  But as much as we move (or like to move) I’m thinking maybe buying a home isn’t in our best interests.

Skype is the greatest invention ever

The night that I came back from Atlanta, Cam and I were discussing what form of media to use to communicate with (via camera and microphone).  As veteran MMO’rs, we have used Ventrilo (a sort of chat client with microphones) for years, but the draw back was that there was no form of video.  We are/were looking at possibly months being apart, it would both make the kids and he feel better if we could do this with video as well as audio.  Yahoo was our first choice, but it was kind of goofy and then we messed around with Skype.

I first learned of Skype by watching some silly Oprah show when she would interview guests who couldn’t come to her studio.  But never really had a reason to use it… until now.  It’s really a great invention.  The video is good (of course video would be better if you had a great quality camera) and the sound is good (with little delay).   

 I let Cam’s family know, too, that we’re using Skype.  Cam’s family and we have been very close in the last couple of years after we bought this house in 2007.  We were close before then, don’t get me wrong, but even more so… since we were so close in where we lived.  Cam’s brother lives 5 miles away and his parents live a little further away but not much.  In better economic times, we had BBQs regularly and frequent family gatherings.  This move, I know, is hard on everybody.  There is much heart-ache on all sides. It’s a hope of mine, that we continue to use Skype (and maybe this blog) well after we move down there so people can see how we’re doing.   

I went out and got a new camera and got the large TV set up with Skype.  We have the kids’ computer in the living room where it’s attached to the flatscreen.  It’s really a great setup (and hopefully will continue to be a great setup down in ATL).  We’re able to sit in the living room every night and talk to Cam… as long as the kids don’t go nuts.  Flailing around and loud yelling doesn’t make the videofeeds go well though… Ethan is having a hard time accepting that fact. But he will, eventually.

As sad as it is leaving St. Louis.  This will be good for us. As a family, as a couple.

What’s Going On: from STL to ATL

First post in my new blog!  Basically this is going to be my journal for the transition of our family from St. Louis, MO to Atlanta, GA.

A brief timeline:

Dec 2008:  Cam lost his job at St. Louis University

Mar 2009: I get a part-time job at Target

Apr 2009: Cam gets a job at Mastercard, unfortunately paying about half his salary that he had at SLU

July 2009: Cam interviews for a position at Sapient Corporation in Atlanta.  Paying a respectable salary, unfortunately though… it is in another city.  Twenty-four hours later, he is offered job.

July 18, 2009:  Cam goes down to Atlanta, his first day is July 22nd.

I actually went down with him on the 18th to get a feel for the city and the area.   Cherri, an old friend from High School who I hadn’t seen since early days of college might I add, was our hostess.  She has a house about 13 miles (or so) from where Cam will be working.  She and her husband were wonderful and generous with allowing us to “crash” there while we were house-hunting.  Freddy, Cam’s best friend, also a person who was integral in Cameron getting this job, was our guide around the city.  On Sunday (the 19th) he drove us around 200 miles going through the different neighborhoods on the northside of Atlanta.  We pretty much narrowed our search down to three areas:  Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, and Roswell.  Monday (20th) and Tuesday (21st) were spent going around to the various apartments and townhomes around the area (thanks to Promove, a company that specializes in giving perspective home renters brochures and information on different complexes based on certain criteria)  Tuesday was a little more useful (as far as visiting complexes and such) but we had to cut that short as we had to make our way to the Atlanta airport to make my flight back home to St. Louis.

So it’s now July 23rd… I’ve been home in St. Louis for 2 days so far.  It still hasn’t exactly “hit” me yet.  I go around the house, trying to organize or take down things, or make mental notes.  Today, I talked to our old realtor about selling the house.  Because of the housing market in St. Louis, the prospect of actually selling our house is pretty bleak … well maybe not the selling part as much as how much we’d have to come up with at closing.  So Cam and I are considering alternative plans with our house.  Today has been a long day and tomorrow I return back to Target (and I have to admit, it’s not exactly something I’m looking forward to doing).