so, right now, it's looking like december will be our last month in this house. at this point, there's no way we're coming up with more than $450 of the rent, and we may not make more than $400-425. rent is $925. the reason? utilities. we received 5 disconnects in the last few days, four of which will be handled this friday and one which will be paid the first. it's easy to say "well, let something go", but here's the thing: i let something get shut off, i not only have to pay the past due but the full current bill plus a reconnect fee. that's literally hundreds of dollars i never have all at the same time. once one of the utilities is gone, it'll be gone with no way to get it back any time soon. that means a choice of no heat, no water, or no cooking. no amount of juggling will save this.
i suppose the good news is that i'm not freaked out about it. around the end of december, i'll push utilities and not pay, keeping them on as long as possible before we have to leave. and i'll start looking for a hotel for the 4 of us, hopefully one where we can take 2 of the cats with us. i'll start home hunting for the dog and the other two cats again soon, i guess. which is the one thing that makes me sad. we love all our animals, and i hate to have to send any of them away. more than likely, we'll keep the two older cats. vagner just needs to be watched closely and has to eat a really expensive food. we might be able to load ororo to our oldest, but not sure how saxy feels about that, even though it means being able to keep a third cat and homing only one, probably my rogue.
anyway, there's a slim possibility the landlord will try to work with us, but i'm honestly not holding my breath. he's a good guy, he's kept us housed this long, but he's an awful landlord, and his partners, well, haven't met them, but he's had to advocate for us several times. part of the problem is that we can't give a time when we'd be able to pay up. saxy won't be working at all next week (and only has 2 days? this week, so a very small first check in december) except maybe some on call work for je. he has some irons in the fire, so to speak, for other jobs, but he can't really do anything about them until he's done with classes in december. so, yea, backs against the wall and not much we can do about it.
i really had hoped we'd make it until we got our tax moneys (february at the earliest, march at the latest, depending when all the forms came in), then we could pay off all the utilities, pay all deposits on a new place, and take everyone with us (was also hoping on being able to pick up some new mattresses, because i seriously do not want to take these bug ridden things with us anywhere). however, i have no idea what our tax return will look like, so can't even hazard a loan based on it. i mean, what if it ends up being another miserable $2000 like this year. yea, that got us a car, but it won't move us anywhere. that wouldn't even pay off the utilities plus utility deposits on a new place.
but other than being upset about the animals, i'm really ready to move out of this disaster. i'm almost positive it's why the animals have this throaty cough that's developed since we moved out here, why i can barely breathe half the time. the landlord still has done nothing about the supposed broken pipe under the house because he's waiting for saxy (who is in school ft, works a pt job, and works an on call job) to cut a hole in one of the walls. he hasn't even had time to move a dresser (youngest did it for him). because of the unstoppable water, my carpet steamer broke, and now i can't clean a carpet that was filthy enough before the animals decided some of it was a litter box (*glares at ororo*). the lack of insulation puts my heating and cooling bills through the roof. and the bugs. i won't even go into it.
so, yea, sooooo ready to get out of here. was just hoping to go from here to another house, not into a motel. still hoping we may manage it, but it's not looking good.
in other news, things happening over the next few weeks or so:
kids are out of school all next week. saxy goes monday and tuesday, but is out wednesday. i'm already shuddering at the food bill, which is going to be high out of necessity at a time when the majority of saxy's check is going to stop disconnects. probably no thanksgiving, unless taz's school sends along some of those handy coupons they've given in the past. at this point though, it's not likely we'll do anything at all traditional for thanksgiving, including putting up the christmas stuff. if we have to be ready to move, decorating would add more work to the process. lol
saxy finishes classes december 7. hoping he'll get something full time as soon as he's out of school, but we'll see how it goes. he did put out more resumes and will be recontacting everyone else he got in touch with in the past as well.
in about 3 weeks (2 days after the hubs is done with school), youngest is 18. all my kids will be adult age (though taz is still not adult developmentally). no wonder i feel so damn old now. :P kitten is supposedly holding some/ kind of event for her, so at least it won't go completely unmarked.
like thanksgiving, christmas stuff is unlikely this year. but every time i say it's not happening, something makes it happen. though i do think any extra money this year would go to keeping a roof over our heads, you never know what can happen even in the next few days, so we'll see.
i will apparently not celebrate my anniversary on time this year. according to the catering company, they have events both the 31st and the 1st. o.O but, really, probably something i should get used to. he and i will just have to come up with an alternative date to celebrate. maybe not this year with things so tight, but i can see this being a problem working almost anywhere in the food business. lol
and some time mid january, linnorm will be out to visit the kids. with the childrens in three different locations, this ought to be entertaining, especially if we're hotel bound at the time.
also, some good news: the stupid cps case is being closed over taz's medications. granted, the worker said it was because both times she'd seen him, he was on his meds, but whatever. hopefully they'll leave us alone. and if taz's teachers decide to report again, i will be going in tot he principle and reminding them that my son's medications are none of their damn business, and if they're reporting me, they damn well be reporting other parents who aren't medicating their kids. taz likes his teacher, and i don't want to get her in trouble, but i won't put up with interference on something that's not life threatening.
really, you'd think i'd be a basket case by now, with all that's going on, but compared to what was up just a few months ago, this is a picnic in the park. not looking good, but less crazy inducing than it was. and for now, i'll take that.
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word of the moment: quadratura
wall or ceiling painted with arches and columns in strong perspective
