08/23/2009

Hello friends,

Well as I said in the edit of my previous entry, we have indeed received an eviction notice.  Definitely one of my worst fears coming true.  Our condo is privately owned so I was a little disappointed to get this news from a law firm without a heads up from our landlord.  We do have a personal connection with him as well as a business one.  He is a cousin of Aimee’s good friend Nash and we’ve always had a good rapport with him.  He actually seemed to be working with us based on previous conversations.

The letter stated we have 5 days to pay what we owe or he (landlord) may begin eviction proceedings.  The word "may" gave me some hope.  We had planned on paying him what we owed ($1,100) for June and August on the first of September and praying that we could pay the September rent sometime during that month.  And then we could be back on track starting in October.  Unfortunately all hopes were dashed today when I spoke to him.  He was very nice but like I told Aimee he IS a businessman and he needs someone who can pay the rent because of course he has own bills.  Turns out he is selling the condo so there is no chance of staying here.  I’m really sad about leaving here.  I love it here.  The condo itself, the location, the pool, the balconey that looks out over the trees.  But I keep telling myself, it only bricks and mortar.  

I have two huge and very real fears in looking for a new place.  My #1 fear (and this is hard to admit) is my terrible credit history.  Even after 9 years, I still feel aftereffects from my drug use and this is one of them.  I came close to repairing a lot of damage years ago but then I got sick and lost my job and lost the progress I had made and then some.  As for Aimee, well her credit sucks too.  I love my daughter so much.  She is smart, funny, a great worker and mother, but one area she lacks in is money management.  It is the one area that causes about 99% of arguments between us.  Several years ago, when she was still very young, she received her first pre-approved credit card.  She was not mature enough to handle it but she wouldn’t listen to me.  And believe me, once you get one card, you are bombarded with more pre-approved ones.  I personally think that young people shouldn’t be allowed credit cards until they are at least 21.  Or limit it to one card.  I think they may have passed a law about not sendng out pre-approved cards.  If you put a card with a $3,000 limit into the hands of someone who is too immature to handle it and you have a disaster.  Anyway I am digressing.  This is one of my pet peeves and I tend to go off on a tangent when talking about it.  So between the two of us, we are a credit mess!  I truly feel like no one is going to rent to us because of it.

My other fear is the cost of the move itself.  Credit applications, security deposits, first and last months rent, getting help moving.  It is so overwhelming.  But I cannot let all this fear consume me.  I have to trust in God and I have to remember that I have gotten through so much and I will get through this.  As I noted a friend, I am giving myself the day off from making decisions while I wrap my brain around the situation.  Thank you to all who said prayers for us and please continue to do so.

In happier news, yesterday was a very good day.  My friend Bonnie and I took a road trip, something we haven’t done in too long.  We visited her famiy, which I also consider my family, in a beautiful little town called Front Royal.  It’s about 1 1/2  hours from my home in DC and it’s nestled in the beautiful Shenandoah valley and has the entrance to Skyline Drive located in it.  It is surrounded by the Blue Ridge mountains.  Here take a look:   http://www.frontroyalva.com/  We visited it her stepmother, her half brother and her half sister (same father).  We never go there without spending most of the day laughing.  And yesterday was no different.  Her brother is one good looking guy, and we always flirt outrageously when we see each other.  He was in great form yesterday LOL.   At one point he said, "if my mother and sister weren’t here, I’d jump your bones" which of course led me to try and get them to go out back for an hour or so haha.  They all have such great personalities and a wonderful sense of humor.  I left there smiling and we laughed some more as we relived the day on the way home.  We also stopped at the "APPLE HOUSE" for some homemade apple cinnamon donuts.  We really lucked out as they had just finished making a bash so they were still hot.  Oh they were heavenly.  We’re going to go up again in the fall to visit and get some homemade apple cider.  We did that several years ago and I swear it was the most delicious drink I’ve ever had.

The other nice thing was that on the way home we saw a double rainbow!  It was so beautiful.  I can’t remember the last time I saw one.  I tried to get a picture of it but only had my camera phone.  This picture doesn’t do it justice and you can barely see the second rainbow but here it is:

And I don’t think I posted these before.  They are a few pics of Makayla’s trip to King’s Dominion.  Sorry if they’re a repost.

Looks like meeting Dora and Boots in person was too much and she had to sit down LOL.

Cruising:

Swinging:

Ok that’s enough.  Hope everyone has a nice week.  ((((hugs))))