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.

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.

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.

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!

My friend and I are texting each other right now, trying to get a feel for what the other is like. I'm a Democrat, she's Republican (we both agree that the way to avoid conflict about politics is not to discuss it); I like rock and heavy metal, she likes Christian, pop, and praise and worship music; she's very neat and organized, I'm messier... this may be an odd couple sort of thing. lol. It seems that we're almost total opposites.

I'm wondering how our dogs will get along. She has three, I have one. Alaska (mine) isn't used to other dogs, so she might get rough with my friend's dogs. It won't be for very long; just until she gets used to them. My friend's dogs, on the other hand, are what she describes as "domineering", since two of the three have had puppies. (Alaska's been spayed, so I don't know how she'll be with two mama dogs.)

I just asked her if she thinks that the fact that we're opposites in almost every way will be a problem. Depending on how she responds, we'll go from there.

Text @ 4:12: "I don't know."

Guess we'll both have to think and pray about it really hard...