Getting ready to move

As soon as Dallas Housing Authority inspects my new apartment I can move into it. It's just downstairs from where I'm living now, but it's a lot bigger. More room to put my stuff and more room for Alaska to run around. And it'll be good for when I finally move for good. I'm still debating about whether I want a house, a townhome, or maybe a condo. (I hope condos allow pets.)

I still need to find someone who will be willing to co-sign on a loan with me when I'm finally ready to move. I asked my two best friends, and one's credit is as bad as mine and the other flat-out refused. ("I don't co-sign for my partner or my kids, so NO!" lol Well I don't blame him.) Maybe I can get one of my family members to help me out if I need them to.

Well, I better get back to work. Right now I'm trying to clean out my closet and decide what to keep, what to give away, and what to throw away.

More eager than ever to be on DAC

I found the perfect apartment in La Grange Park, IL (a suburb of Chicago). 2 bedrooms from $800 and it's pet-friendly! The town has a population of a little over 13,000 people (almost twice the size of the town I lived in before moving to Dallas). I'll have to go up and see the place for myself before I make any decisions, of course, but as of right now it looks like I've found my new home.

I would like to go up there in December or January to get a taste of what the winters are like. I'm not ignoring the fact that I have arthritis in both knees, so I have to be mindful of that. I do plan on getting a Hoveround chair for when I'm not able to get around well. I also want to buy a cane/walking stick to use too.

Please, God, let me get these benefits!

Looking for a place of my own

Well, I won't be moving in with my friend after all. So if and when I get my DAC benefits, I'll be saving up to get my own apartment. There's a place right down the street I'm considering called CityVue, and I plan to stop by the leasing office next time I'm out and about to ask about them.

I'll also consider a townhouse if I can find one for $500-$600/month. I wouldn't mind moving up north of here, say Plano, if I can find an inexpensive place. I'll have to get an apartment guide and see what's available. Of course I could move out to Irving too. Or move back to Ft. Worth/Richland Hills. I can ride the TRE back and forth to visit my friends here.

Or I could save my money and find a place out of state. My friend Nessa lives in New Orleans; maybe she could help me find a place there. I've always wanted to visit. It's such a beautiful old city, rich in history and culture (those parts of it that weren't destroyed by Katrina, anyway).

Or I might could go to Chicago. Yes, the winters are brutal, but still it's a lovely city, and I've been wanting to go there (to visit) for quite awhile, too. I do need to research the cost of living where ever I decide to go... don't want to live anywhere that I'll spend all my money just on expenses.

All this is just pie in the sky fantasizing at this point, though... I don't even have my appointment to file my claim until Tuesday. And even then it could be months before I hear anything, and even then I could be denied. (If I am, though, I'll appeal it.)

We'll just have to wait and see...

I'm still very "up" today

I am a little bit sore, though. We walked from the mall to a Target not far away, and I don't know why, but I was just hurting all over when we got there. We picked up some stuff to eat and sat around catching up for an hour or more. We did some browsing and found some cute kitchen appliances that she liked. Then we went back to the mall and browsed a bit through a furniture store, took some pictures, talked a lot, laughed some, and generally had a wonderful time. We talked some about setting up savings accounts. A household account for home maintenance/repairs, and one for emergencies, like in case one of us has to go to the hospital. We'll both be on Medicare, but unlike Medicaid, that requires a co-pay for medications (don't know about hospital stays or any procedures/surgeries). She also suggested setting up advance directives and making each other our emergency contacts, which makes sense. Neither of us are particularly close to our families, so we'll know more than they do about each other's medical issues and needs.

Out of $1,300/month (I'm still going to try to put at least $500/month into savings), I'd like to put $50-$100 into both joint accounts (household and emergency).

I found out last night when I checked my email that I have to redo all the forms that my lawyer sent me because they misspelled my last name on the first batch. Oops!  :-) But I don't mind; I'm used to people not being able to spell or pronounce my name. lol (I've thought about changing it partly for that reason. Ciana Douglas (the name I use on forums) is a little easier to spell and say. Besides, I happen to think it's a beautiful name.)

So that's what happened yesterday. I'm hoping to get together with her again soon, maybe at the end of the month, providing it's not cold and rainy like yesterday.

Update

She's trying to set up a telephone appointment for me to apply for my DAC benefits. She spoke to someone earlier who took my information, and their going to do what they can on their end to speed up the process. I imagine I'll still need to get my medical records from the joint yOureserve base (formerly Carswell Air Force Base) and the doctor who did my back surgery 25 freakin' years ago. I'd hate to be whoever has to go through the archives to find my records. I just hope like hell they still exist.  :-(

Not much else is going on. I'm still busy decorating the new house, lol. (My roommate and I haven't even gone out looking at houses yet. She's been getting on me a little bit about "putting the cart before the horse", which I admit freely I am. I'm just so excited! I've never had a roommate before, so this should be interesting. And as I've said before, it'll be good for Alaska, cause she'll have other dogs to play with, plus a much bigger living area. We really want a two-story house with four bedrooms and a large (I insist on fenced in) backyard. (I don't want to risk Alaska getting out and maybe running into the street and getting hit by a car.)

I also would love walk-in closets. I'm a huge clothes hound, and I'd love to be able to go shopping and buy nice clothes that actually fit well. I'll probably end up doing a lot of online shopping (Amazon, Lane Bryant, places like that). When you buy alot of stuff and don't have a car, it's just easier to get it delivered. I can take a taxi if a store is close, but not if we don't live close to a mall or something.

I'd like to start saving up for a car. I don't drive, but I'm hoping my roommate knows how. That would be a big help. We could go places we couldn't get to on the bus. I'd like to explore the city, but my knees are getting pretty bad. (Arthritis) Of course, exercise would go a long way in easing the pain, I'm sure. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday, and I'm hoping to get a knee brace. (Hopefully they'll also have the results of my labwork back and can tell me more about what they discovered last time.)

Well, it's half an hour until NCIS starts, and an hour and a half until NCIS: L.A., so I'll end here. Chris O'Donnell directed tonight's episode of L.A., so I'm eager to watch it. I'll probably be tweeting all through it. Might even post on Facebook about it.

Randomness

Wow, I've had this blog since October, and already I've posted 68 (including this one) entries! I wonder how many I'll post by this October (the one year anniversary, eight months from now)? I look forward to that. Hopefully I'll be posting from wherever my roommate and I are living at the time.

I'm hoping that I get my dad's check (for Feb.) on Monday or even tomorrow or Saturday. (I think it may have gone out Tuesday.) I'm planning to take it right to Chase Bank and opening a checking and a savings account with most of it, and keeping something like $50. I'm also expecting my check for March on the 28th or so, and I'll be doing the exact same thing (and using it to set up direct deposit so it won't  get lost in the mail again... the first time this has happened!

Hey, I just thought of something! It would be awesome if my roomie and I each got north of $1,000/month in disability. That way we could afford to pay more for a nicer house! I'd like to be able to get a really nice place. (Or at least a fixer-upper that doesn't need much fixing...) My roomie has been looking at 2, 3, and 4 bdrm houses, which would be good. (Possibly we could have guests if we got a 4 bdrm? We'd like one to use as an office. Keep our computers, files, etc. in there.)

I'm not sure how she'd feel about a two-story house. It would be fun for the dogs to be able to run up and down stairs, and I could also use the exercise, lol. I need to lose some of this gut! (BTW, I found some workout clothes on Amazon, along with a Total Gym. I already have a Total Gym, although I don't know if I'm going to take it with me. I may donate it to the building and see if anyone here would want to set it up and use it. If not, I can sell it.)

I also have to work on finding out how much land goes for in OK. I inherited about 5 acres (I think) from my grandmother, and since I don't plan on ever living up there again, I'd rather have the money than the property. My brother is willing to buy it from me if I can find out how much to ask for it. If I can get my cousin David's phone number, I could call him and find out.

............

Just messaged my aunt on Facebook and asked her if she knew how to get in touch with him. Hope she gets back in touch with me. I don't know if the property is in my name or not (probably not; I never signed any papers or anything that I remember... although I was so upset at the time, I may have forgotten. I don't even know what happened to all the stuff that was in the house... I do know that I've never gotten anything.) I don't know why I'm writing all this. It's been a little over six years since she passed, and while I think about her all the time (and it still makes me sad that I won't see her again for a long time (God willing), I'm talking about what I can get from her estate?!?! Does that make me sound like a greedy biotch? I hope not. I remember what my aunt said at her funeral, because it was the same thing I was thinking. Grandma had three children of her own, but she had ten kids. Me and my three brothers, her brother's four sons, plus her own. She was a remarkable woman with a huge heart, and I can't say enough about her. What I wouldn't give to be able to see and talk to her again. I'll miss her always.

Musings...

As I said in my Facebook status update yesterday morning, I called a disability attorney who is going to try to see if she can get me my DAC benefits. If she does, I'm going to start saving up money so I can get an apartment away from here. I really want out, and I can continue saving money for when my roommate and I are ready to buy our house (yes, we're going to do the "rent-to-own" thing). At this point, I really don't care where we live, whether we stay in Texas or move out of state. I just want to leave.

Some things I'd love to have for the new place: nice furniture (we both have bedroom stuff, but we need living, dining, and kitchen stuff); I want my bedroom and bath (if we have 2 bathrooms) to be decorated in shades of purple (plum, lilac, orchid, that type of thing). She prefers peach and burgandy... she'd like burgandy for the living room. I wonder if we could add some peach and purple accents? I guess we could go to some kind of furniture showroom and get some ideas. She suggested awhile back that maybe we could go to Lowe's or somewhere and get some stick-on borders (with her asthma, we can't do any painting). I wonder if there is any such thing as wallpaper you can just stick on? I mean stuff you don't need paste to put it up. That would also be a good thing. (Don't want her having an attack because of the fumes.)

Also, I want to save up to buy some new clothes (even if they're only new to me, i.e., from Goodwill). I have some nice things that I'll be taking with me, of course, but I want some new pants (as of now, I only have two or three pairs that fit). And if we end up moving up north (Seattle or Minneapolis), I'll need some good cold weather clothes (sweaters and coats and such. Don't forget the long johns, either! :-)) And I want some new sheet sets. I have a few sheets, but I want to be able to change my bed more than a couple of times a week. Maybe I'll sell my current bed and save up for a full size? That way Alaska and I will both have room. (Yes, she sleeps with me.)

I also need a dog carrier and a bed for her. I'd like to be able to take her to the dog park (there's one at White Rock Lake, I think, off of Mockingbird), and the only way my counselor (onsite) will take me is if she's in a carrier. Which is understandable. If we ever got into an accident, she could be hurt, and I'd be devastated.  George understands that she's my baby (he has dogs, too, and I bet he feels the same way about them), and how it would tear me up if anything happened to her, especially if I could have prevented it. So when I get my check next month, I'm going to Petsmart (there's one on Greenville, not too far from where I live) and price carriers and beds.

..............

Yay! I just went to Amazon, and they have a purple zebra stripe pet carrier for $39. I'm going to get it! (I hope shipping isn't too much...) So next month I can go to the dog park and let Alaska run around and play with the other dogs. I'm happy now! :-)

May be leaving Texas

I don't know if I've mentioned before that my roommate has asthma really bad, but she wants to move to an area that's good for asthma sufferers. The three cities in the running right now are Cape Coral, FL; Seattle (home of Starbucks! Yay, I love Starbucks, even though I don't have enough money to go there very often), and Minneapolis. Minneapolis, as we all know, is a large city with a high pollen count (and probably high pollution), it also has a number of asthma specialists, so that's a very good thing.

I'm a Southern girl through and through (never really thought about living further north than maybe VA or MD), so I don't know about living in Washington state or Minnesota (it would satisfy my love for snow in the winter, although I don't know how I'd feel with snow and ice up to my bum, lol). Also, Minneapolis isn't far from Chicago, is it? (Within a few hundred miles? I ask that because I would love to be able to see Styx in their hometown, and I don't know how many dates they play in or around Minneapolis. Also don't know if they play in FL.)

I'd also prefer FL because it's near the ocean. I don't know if Cape Coral is near the ocean, but it has lots of canals (water!). I don't swim, but I'd love to be able to lay out on the beach sometimes and get a tan during the summer. (Also can do that during the winter, too.) OMG, I just thought of something... living in FL means we may be in the path of hurricanes!!!! So maybe that's not such a good idea. My roommate and I will have to discuss it. At least in WA and MN we won't have to worry about wonky weather (I can't remember hearing about tornadoes or earthquakes or anything in those states.)

Another reason I'd love to live in FL is because I have an aunt there. I'd like to be in a place where I know someone. Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm basically leaving it up to roomie where we move. As I told her, it's her health and comfort that's really important.

Texting my roommate

I've found out a little more about the house she found for us. It's 2400 sq.ft., large backyard w/ enclosed dog run, gourmet kitchen w/ marble island, plenty of cabinet space, media/theater room upstairs, unfurnished, don't know how many bdrms/baths. She's waiting for the owners to reply to her email about if they'll be willing to do a rent to own type of thing. I'm sure they'll want to meet us (I would, just to see what kind of women we are. Hey, we may be in our forties and disabled, but that  doesn't mean we don't know how to have a GOOOOOOOD TIME! LOL Although we probably won't... *g*)

It looks like this may actually happen! I'm getting more and more excited. I'll definitely keep everyone updated!

She just texted me and told me that her dog that just had puppies just had a seizure. We're hoping nothing happens to her, because that would leave the babies without milk.

*Sigh*

I'm not sure whether to get my hopes up or not. I just saw a Facebook message from my friend that she found a house that are rent-free for the first three months and then $450/month beginning the fourth month. That would sure help us save money to buy stuff we'll need, but after so many disappointments, I'm not sure how to feel. I guess I'll wait for her to text me back (I asked for more info).

I'm more than ready to get out of here (even though she doesn't have her disability yet... I guess if she doesn't get it within those three months, I could use my savings to pay her half, and she could pay me back?!). I have an appointment at Social Security on the 31st to apply for SSDI, so maybe I'll be getting more money myself. I hope so. One of my biggest dreams (I've said this before) is to have a home of my own (or in this case, half of my own) with nice stuff. I'm keeping most of my furniture except for one chest of drawers that I don't use. So I have a bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, and a wicker chest to keep stuff in. I also have three trash cans (one we can keep in the kitchen, one for my bedroom, and one for the bathroom); I have dishes and silverware and a couple of pots and pans (I do have a wok that we can use for stir-fry if we want). I don't know what all she has, but I suspect that there's a lot we'll need. (Living room/dining room furniture, for sure, and probably other stuff for the kitchen, which we can get off of freecycle. We'll need at least a couple of TVs. I can buy one, I guess, since I'm planning to anyway. We'll need to see how much the utilities (gas/water/electricity) will be, then see how much we'll have to spend for internet/cable (or satellite).)

I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear back from her.

Just contacted an attorney

Now, now, don't freak out. No one's in any legal trouble; I just need help in getting on disability.

I've applied before, but Social Security told me that in order to collect my dad's Social Security, I had to have applied within two years after his death. Well, when I applied for SSI in '97, no one told me that. I had no idea I could even apply for SSDI under him. So now I'd like a lawyer to help me get it. Maybe they can find some sort of loophole or something that can allow me to have it. I'm hoping so, anyway. My rent will increase, but I don't care about that. All I care about right now is that I can save a lot more money under SSDI than I can under SSI. (I'm not sure how much they'll let you have in savings under SSDI, but it's only like $2,000 under SSI. I want to at least save enough to make a down payment on a really nice house in a nice area.)

I'm not sure how long it will be before we find a house. I'm still hoping it will be soon.

I just posted on the Richland High School Alumni page on Facebook. I hope someone will see it and be able to help. If not, I guess we'll continue searching on rent.com or some other site.

Y'all please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

I'm putting back $150 of my SSI check in savings. That means in four months (by my birthday) I'll have $600 saved up. By July it'll be $900. I think that's enough to buy a new computer and an iPod. I'll wait and buy the other stuff I want for Christmas. (The stereo and CDs and stuff.)

Unless my friend and I end up moving before then (I hope we will), then I'll just use the money for my share of the down payment on the house. I haven't been on freecycle in a while, so I don't know what kind of stuff they have on there. It really depends on what area of the city we move to. The "high rent" areas (for lack of a better term) will naturally have nicer stuff people want to give away. Hopefully the people whose house we end up renting/buying won't mind if we install a satellite dish in their yard, because I really want to get something like DISH Network (I wonder if they have internet service? I guess I'll call and ask when time gets closer for us to move.).

I actually think I'd better hold off on the computer and stuff until after the move... two things I want to buy for the new house (at least my room) are a digital TV and a DVD player. Both of those will probably cost me a couple of thousand dollars, depending on where I buy them (Best Buy or Target or someplace). I could look on Amazon or someplace like that. Maybe they'd have them cheaper. I've bought a lot of stuff from Amazon, and I've never been disappointed.

I'm hoping my friend can get her disability soon and find a house so we can get out of our respective living situations!

I like this one

My friend was searching Craigslist, and found a nice sounding house. Here's the description:

Monthly payment is only $695 -- and includes the taxes and insurance. 
NOTE: 100% of your down payment goes towards the purchase price of your home. 

This is a nice 1,215 sq. ft. home with 3-bedrooms, 1-1/2 baths and a 1-car garage. 
It's located on a large lot that backs up to a park. No neighbors in your backyard! 
The kitchen has counter space galore! 
There are two living areas- open living and dining rooms. 
The Master suite includes private half bath.

Not bad! (Although we don't really need the garage, as neither of us drive... I guess my friend could get her license, though.) Hope she calls the guy selling it so we can go look at it. It's in Pleasant Grove, not far from where I live now.

We both prefer the 3 bdrm so we can have office space. (I guess she'll need an office more than I will, depending on the size of the bedrooms.) 

I realize that we can't move right away, not until she gets her disability. I don't make enough to cover all the bills (rent, utilities, cable/internet, cell phone), so it may still be a few months. However, when her check comes in, I'll be ready! 

I guess we could keep looking, but I hope we can find an affordable place soon. The only other prospect so far is a 2 bdrm condo, and the listing didn't say anything about it being pet-friendly. So that's out (probably). 

The thing is, I'd love to adopt another dog after I move. I'd love a little Yorkie. They're so cute! But that'll have to wait, probably until next year. I want to see how my friend and I do as roomies, how our current dogs get along, etc. And of course, I'll have to save up for the adoption fee.

I'm wondering how much a townhouse would cost, or a duplex. That way my friend and I could still live together, but both have our own totally separate spaces. But we'd probably have to pay separate rent on the duplex, and the whole idea of being roommates is to split the costs. So probably no on that idea.

Another thought I've been having is that I'm going to have to let my housekeeper go when I move. I feel sort of guilty about that... she depends on these jobs for money to pay her own bills, and I feel like I'm kind of stiffing her. She just started working for me a week ago, and even though she'll probably have a few months of work, she probably figured on this being a long-term thing. After I leave, she'll have to find someone else to work for, and that may not be easy. I hope she can. I don't want her losing anything by my leaving.

I guess I'll have to talk to my property manager and my counselor about all this soon.

Hopefully it won't be too soon...

before I can move.  My friend has found a nice house in Irving, not far from the mall. 4 bdrm/2 1/2 bath, living room, den, GOURMET(!) kitchen, huge back yard... rent is $700/month, and the owners may even do a rent to own contract. If we don't end up getting that one, she knows of a few other possibilities. Hopefully we can get this moving soon.

She's writing a book right now; she almost has it completed. I don't know if she's planning to go through a publisher or self-publish (that's hard!), but she's hoping to get a lot of sales and maybe some speaking engagements out of it, so that will be good. I've offered to act as her personal assistant (no pay; I just want the experience right now), and we'll talk about that.

It may be awhile before we can make any kind of final plans to move. She's still trying to get her disability, too, plus her dog Chloe is about to have puppies, so it'll be awhile before they're weaned and ready to sell.

Looks like I'll be tossing my cigs in the not-too-distant future... maybe I'll get an e-cig. That would help me cut down on my smoking, and no harmful chemicals to make her sick. I'll have to see how much they'll cost.

It also looks like I may have to wait awhile to get my new laptop, iPod, and other stuff. But if I can work for my friend for awhile, get some experience under my belt, and then get a paying job, that would be awesome. I'd like to be a secretary someplace (or a PA for someone) to get some good money coming in. I won't ask my friend to pay me... I think it's enough that she's willing to have me move in with her. And I think I'm helping her out as much as she's helping me, so it all evens out.

I may convince her to do some blogging, too, to help promote her book. Probably not here on blogspot, though... this place seems to be kind of dead. At least most of the blogs I've llooked at don't seem to have been updated in a year or two. That doesn't bode well for anyone seeing either of our writing. I'm going to check into a few other blogging sites and see how the writers there do as far as updating, and how their readership is. I'll still keep this one open (don't want to lose everything I've written thus far, and copying/pasting/saving and moving it to a new place seems like too much of a pain in the keister. I'll let everyone know if I find a new place to blog, of course.

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday

But a backache, plug legs hurting, plus stomach cramps, plus a severe case of the runs=not a good time had by me! I was over all of it by early afternoon, but still didn't feel well enough to get online. As you can see now, however, I'm feeling fine, although I just wanted someone to shoot me and put me out of my misery yesterday, lol.

I'm still chomping at the bit waiting to hear if my roommate's friend tells her that he has his other house for rent. That's the 3 bdrm/2 bath that I really want. I have no idea what it looks like, but it sure sounds big enough for two women and four dogs. I'd like to see some pictures, but I guess I can wait on that, too.

I guess so far my new year is getting off to a pretty good start. Unfortunately, my no-smoking thing isn't going too well. I only smoked one cigarette yesterday (because I was sick), but I bought a pack around 2:30 this morning (yeah, I was up early!) and have already smoked half of it (as of 9:00 a.m.) :-( But I promise I will quit by the time we're ready to move!

I need to remember to go by the DPS next week and get my ID renewed so I can open a bank account. It'll be easier for me to withdraw money instead of cashing a check and carrying a bunch of cash around at the beginning of the month. Also, if and when I do move, even though I'll still have to tell Social Security, I won't have the hassle of wondering if they'll get my change of address on file in time for me to get my next check.  I know they have that Direct Express card, but still I'd like to have all my money in one place (plus the bank I want to use charges a fee if your direct deposit is less than $500/month). So I need to go to the Social Security office anyway to get direct deposit set up. I guess I can wait on that for awhile; I just want a bank account for my pension check right now.

Thinking about furnishing our new home :-)

We're not even close to moving at this point, and I'm already thinking of what we'll need in the way of furnishings, lol. We both have bedroom furniture... beds, dressers, etc. I have two dressers, in fact -- a six drawer and a five-drawer (one of the drawers in the five-drawer is broken, though... the front needs to be glued on). I also have a desk with three drawers in it and a cupboard on top (gee, ya think I have enough storage?!?! lmao).

We'll need living and dining room furniture. A sofa, chairs, coffee table, end tables, lamps, a dining table and chairs... hope we have plenty of storage in the kitchen. I have silverware, a coffee maker (want a new one, though, but I can afford to buy one), a blender, and a toaster. I have a few dishes and a couple of pans and a skillet... and a wok, if we ever want to do stir-fry for a meal. I want to start going through all my stuff pretty soon and deciding what to throw out and what to keep. I have about five storage totes filled with stuff, and I can start there. Empty them out so I can pack stuff up when my roommate gives me the word that we're ready. (I just hope I have a few weeks notice.... enough time to get my address changed with Social Security, definitely. I'm going to try to go get my ID renewed soon so I can open a bank account. Of course, I'll have to get my ID updated when we move, too, so I'm not sure what to do about that right now.

She said that we can get whatever we need off of freecycle, and her friend will help us pick up whatever we're given, so that's a relief. I wonder if we should go ahead and check the groups for around the Cove? I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? But I'm just so excited! (Unfortunately, that's a symptom of my bipolar disorder. I just go off on my own little way without considering that things may not be how I think they are, and then I get in trouble. Hopefully my roommate will be able to help me rein in that impulsivity. And that's another thing... I need to find a good psychiatrist and/or therapist in the Cove when I get down there. I can look one up in the Yellow Pages, or maybe find on online or through my Medicaid plan.)

(I'm also excited about (hopefully) being able to change my location on my blog to "Copperas Cove, TX USA" soon. lol And maybe finding someone to tell me how to change the damn time  stamp on here as well! It's driving me crazy having my blog say I'm on Pacific Standard Time when I'm not!!!)

Still hoping for a house to rent...

You all will be glad to know that I'm over my little hissy fit from the weekend. I'm hoping that my future roommate's friend still has his other house (the 3 bed/2 bath one) coming up for rent. That would be ideal for our needs.

I'd love to be able to move before the summer. Why? I don't know; I guess to just have something to shoot for. I know it will probably still be ungodly hot (after all, Copperas Cove is farther south than Dallas, and I don't think the weather gets any cooler the farther south you go), but there's a public lake at Ft. Hood where we can go swimming and take the dogs too. That's nice. And the base is only about 10 miles outside of town, so I can afford the cab fare (assuming that the cab company will allow dogs in the cars... they do up here). Or I can buy a dog carrier and maybe ride the bus (I found out that there is a public bus system in town; hopefully it goes to the base).

All I can do right now is a lot of praying that things will work out like I want.

Wonderful news!!!!!

I'm chatting on Facebook with my friend who wants me to move in with her. She knows a guy with some rental properties in Copperas Cove (near Ft. Hood, equidistant from Austin and Waco), and he said he'd let us live in one rent-free! (No utilities either; we'll just have to pay for cable/internet/phone.) It will probably be about six weeks before we can move, because her dog is about to have her puppies.

The only bad thing is that it's 2 1/2 hours away, and I don't know about things like public transportation. The city has more than 30,000 people, so I imagine there's some sort of bus service there. I'm wondering about a Greyhound station, too, so I can come back to Dallas once in a while to visit.

It'll be good for me to be out on my own, have a larger space than an apartment, and Alaska will have a backyard to spend most of her time in (with three other dogs). I just asked her if the house comes with furniture, and she says we'll probably have to  furnish it ourselves. We're both on Freecycle, though, so we can post requests on there to get some stuff. Also, I'm going to be saving as much money as I can to get some stuff from Amazon (don't know if they sell anything in the way of furniture, but I can check). Also, maybe I can check eBay or some sites and see what I can find.

I'm really excited about moving! Everyone cross your fingers that things will work out for my friend and me!

Chapter 5 completed/And other stuff

Now I just have to concentrate on Chapter 6 and later. Team Gibbs, Mike Franks, and Nicole are meeting at NCIS  headquarters the next day (at the beginning of Chapter 6) to figure out where to go with the investigation. Nicole will also be meeting with Dr. /Rachel Cranston (Kate's sister -- Kate was the first female agent on the series, replaced by Ziva in season 3 after Ziva's brother Ari killed her). Anyway, since Nicole is also a psychologist, Dr. Rachel is gonna have fun getting her to open up about what happened (especially since Nicole has been ordered (by Aguilar) not to tell anyone, or her teammates in San Diego will suffer for it). lol Well, I hope I can get it written in a shorter time frame than I got Chapter 5 done.

My friend and I are trying to arrange a time for us to get together, maybe do some house-hunting, and just hang out. We need to get reacquainted with each other before we move in together. I just hope that we can be friends like we were in high school... I've changed a little bit, and so has she, but it's been more than 20 years, so who's surprised? :-)

I need to start saving up money to move. I'll have to rent a truck, get somebody to drive it, get someone to help me pack (I know what I have, a bedroom full of stuff, and a few household items -- a few pots/pans, a coffee maker, and a toaster. I have no idea what she has. We may have to go to Goodwill or someplace to get furniture and stuff, unless we can get something donated. I'll have to talk to my landlord and see if he can get us anything.)

I'm not sure when I'll be able to save up the money to get all the stuff I want off my Amazon wishlist. I just have to try to save up. The one thing we will need when we move is cable/internet/home phone service. We both have cell phones, of course, but it'll be nice to have a landline, too. Still want a TV and DVD player, as well as an iPod and a stereo. I'm tired of listening to music on my computer. My speakers aren't loud enough. I also need, need, NEED  a new computer. I'm still planning to get one during the back-to-school sales, maybe at OfficeMax if there's one close to where we end up living. I hope there will be some stores close by. We are going to be on a bus line, since neither of us drive. So that will be good.