Discouraged

Hi There,
I have looked at two apartments in the last week. The first was amazing:

• 1bedroom -$650/month - which included utilities.
• Upstairs bedroom with balcony overlooking Lightner Creek.
• Front porch with deck.
• Gas Stove.
• Month to Month Rental options.
• Lots of landscaped property for LB to run around on.
• Nice local landlords who plow the driveway faithfully in the winter.
• Clean carpets.
• 5 minutes to work/daycare

They of course got 40+ calls over the weekend and decided to go with a strapping young man who would help them with the yard work instead of a single mommy who worked full time. Very upsetting. This was, by far, the most attractive rental I have seen yet. I thought I had a shot at it too, after talking to the landlords for a while. I mean, hey- they didn't refuse to see me because I had a baby, that's a plus in itself.

Very nice people, even called me to let me know they had picked someone else, instead of blowing me off (which is what people usually do).

I then went to look at the second rental.

• $625 + $140 in utilities (no choice in the matter, since the apt is part of a house).
• 350 total sq footage.
• No living room, only a kitchen with a bathroom off one end, and a bedroom off the other.
• Ceilings so low I could reach them, and I'm 5'5".
• Electric stove
• Previous tenant had yet to move out, and his stuff was everywhere.
• The property is actually up for sale
• If the property DOESN'T sell before Oct, then you have to sign a lease for the winter.
• The landlords live in New Mexico, therefore would not be there to fix issues.
• Was dirty, disgusting and depressing.

I couldn't believe how much they were trying to get for this place. They actually were showing it as an open house, and lots of people got to the front porch and turned around and left. This apartment was barely big enough to fit a dining room table in the kitchen, and a twin bed in the bedroom.

I was so discouraged after getting rejected from the lightner creek apt that even going to look at this place was a bad idea. I should have known better. And the worst part? I KNEW these people! They were my dad's LANDLORDS. Total granola hippies. Scum-sucking, money-grubbing, dirty Hippies.

It makes me sad to think I am described as one.

Hippiecrites.

P.S. From now on I'm going to take photos of the places I look at, and have you rate them. Would you rent this place for this amount?

Word.

100 things (bloggerized)

So you know those cheesy FWDs you used to get in highschool about your friends' personality profiles? You filled out a hundred of 'em and still people managed to find more? Well its been about 7 years since I graduated from my 5 person class, so I thought I might fill another one out. Hopefully I can find 100 interesting things about myself.


P.S. I stole this from Mrs. Chicky, cause she's so damned cool :)

1. I'm a Pisces (obviously).
2. But my moon is in Aries, so I seriously have issues.
3. I put hot sauce on pizza.
4. I went to film school.
5. I was born in Wine Country, California.
6. I don't live there anymore (obviously).
7. I am still technically engaged.
8. I moved to New England when I was seven.
9. I don't live there anymore (thank you Ms. Obvious)
10. My dad is a musician.
11. My mom was a social worker.
12. I have one little sister.
13. She lives in Alaska.
14. She studies rocks.
15. My baby was supposed to be a boy.
16. I work full time.
17. I am currently homeless, unless you consider mooching off grandma, and couch surfing a home.
18. The cost of living in my town is 110% of the national average.
19. I'm now obsessed with medical & mommy blogs.
20. The Wal-Mart in my town roasts green chilies outside the front door.
21. I'm also guiltily obsessed with Zero-Carb Rockstars
22. Amendment to #17 - I am currently "Permanent-Address less"
23. I love Sharpies
24. I love sharpie commercials
25. I am not a sharpie huffer, if that's what you're thinking.
26. I have huffed whipped cream though (ok, this was years, and many brain-cells ago).
27. I have shoplifted cosmetics (I mean COME ON! They are so small and overpriced).
28. I danced with the aging hippies at a Crosby, Stills & Nash concert.
29. Do periods go inside the parenthesis/quotations or outside?
30. I hate the word period
31. I hate it more when people refer to it as "af."
32. I hate it when people refer to their husbands as "dh"
33. Ok, so I'm really just bitter about my own "dh" (or lack there-of).
34. Its 3 years till my high school reunion.
35. I'm getting old.
36. I believe in miracles due to the fact that my daughter managed to receive only the good genes from her terminally screwed up parents.
37. Legalize it. Hippies Represent.
38. I miss the ocean.
39. But I happen to think Durango is the closest thing to heaven....besides being at the ocean.
40. I don't know if I believe in heaven.
41. Or hell.
42. I believe that the soul never truly dies.
43. I love cats.
44. I think pitbulls are the most humorous, loving, loyal dogs on the planet.
45. I think the people who breed pitbulls to fight are the scum of the planet.
46. Let your freak flag fly.
47. I tried to egg President Bush's limo outside of the Park Plaza hotel in Boston.
48. I've marched in peace rallies
49. I've attended Pride conventions
50. Three words: Telluride Blues & Brews
51. I used to call LB "Gollum" when she was itty bitty, due to the "my precious" noises she would make.
52. I now call her Doo Doo Bear.
53. My mom refers to her butt cheeks as "bundy bundins".
54. I feel like every year I'm out of college, my IQ drops a point.
55. I mean, look at my grammar.
56. I used to go to this hippi-sorry.. independent school in Vermont where we make gingerbread houses for credit.
57. The school prepared me to read and understand Shakespeare, but fail basic algebra by 9th grade.
58. My daughter was born 3 weeks early.
59. She was born 2 days after 6/6/6.
60. My midwife was a moron, and didn't know she was breech.
61. I was wheeled into surgery when they discovered LB's feet were coming down the log chute instead of her head.
62. I heart percocet.
63. I heart the morphine clicker.
64. I am not a drug addict...anymore.
65. I quit smoking when I was pregnant.
66. I broke down after a few nights of screaming baby.
67. I quit again due to breastfeeding.
68. I only break down every couple of months now.
69. Wine in a Box Rox.
70. They used to call me "Pippi the Hippie" in High school due to the fact I wore my hair in braids all the time.
71. I was also bullied in high school due to the "hippie" thing.
72. I've moved almost every year of my life.
73. I really hope I don't curse my daughter with the same fate :(
74. In College I played basketball, even though I'm 5'5" and I'd never played in my life.
75. It was only Division III.
76. In a school where everyone was either an actor or an artist, guess how many people showed up to our games?
77. I've been mistaken for a drag queen.
78. I was completely uncomfortable around kids before I had any.
79. I still don't know what to do with the older ones.
80. By older, I mean anyone who is above the age of 14 months.
81. I think I am a good mom.
82. I don't know how to react to people complimenting my child.
83. I feel like saying "thank you" is somehow wrong for taking credit.
84. I can't wait to see what kind of a person LB will become.
85. I love the desert as much as the ocean.
86. LB has a rockin' birth chart.
87. She was an unplanned pregnancy.
88. I hated being pregnant.
89. I think I'm getting the hang of being a mom.
90. Being a single mom is still kicking my Ass, though.
91. I think every girl should read "Reviving Ophelia" and "Queen Bees and Wannabes". Mothers of girls should DEFINITELY read these.
92. My favorite book about pregnancy is "Misconceptions" by Naomi Wolf.
93. My favorite movie about pregnancy is "Knocked Up" by Judd Apatow.
94. My claim to fame is that I used to work for the Jim Henson Company.
95. I really was only an intern.
96. I graduated college, wondering if my experience was worth the debt.
97. I ate the biggest chocolate chip cookie I could find at 2 pm everyday after 30 weeks when I was pregnant.
98. I hate that feminism is now a dirty word, but I don't deny it.
99. I love the Dixie Chicks.
100. I hate humidity.

Peace Out Mamas.

No more please!

Everyday at work, I get at least one call saying:

"Hi, We're moving to the Durango Area and I'm wondering about your pre-school program..."

Sometimes I feel like responding: No. Stop. We have reached maximum capacity. Please turn around and go back to where you came from. The quaint town you are moving to will not longer be quaint if you people keep moving here. You will get sick of it, complain about the train smoke, and eventually leave when the traffic becomes bumper to bumper. Save us the time and energy.

Then I remember, I was in the same boat about 12 years ago.

But honestly. The more people move here, the more landlords can charge for rent, because the demand just gets bigger and bigger. My dad's landlord says over the weekend she received EIGHTY calls for her 1 bedroom listing. I was not one of those calls because she is renting her 1 bedroom for $895!!! I felt like calling her and asking her how the HELL could she sleep at night, knowing she was charging a that much money for ONE room?

You know what drives someone to do that?

1. Greed
2. The fact that 80 f***ing people called her over the weekend who are willing to pay that!!!!

How am I going to compete with that? I can bitch and moan about the woes of over-priced housing, but if people continue to pay it, then what good it that going to do? There will always be some dumb shmuck with money who just moved here and will cough up just about anything for the fresh air and sunshine.

It really just gets my goat.

Take the money and run

I received a letter from a brand new housing development, saying they wanted me to come in for an interview and bring the following:

• Social security card and birth certificates for children
• SS Card and other form of ID for me
• Pay stubs from the last 4 months
• Address and bank account information
• Proof of child support
• $100.00 (Administration Fee)

After filling out 1o pages of paperwork, they informed me that they will call me once they have checked out my:

• Bank Account Status
• Employment Status
• Rental History
• Credit Score

I told them: "Look, I know my credit is bad, and I have limited rental history due to the fact I have moved so many times in the last two years. I put this on my initial application. Now you want $100 before you check all these things out"

They say: "If you don't have good credit or 2 years of good rental history, you can fill out an Alternative letter of Recommendation form."

My $100 is non-refundable.

I just don't understand it. What kind of people are going to be applying for a Housing Project in the first place? People with good credit? People who have stable housing? No.

I am not expecting a call. Might as well move into a motel already.