Backtracking

I’ve been incredibly neglectful of my blog lately, and quite a bit has happened.  If you’ve followed me on twitter, you probably know the majority of my past few months. If you haven’t followed me on Twitter, here’s the gist:

• A kiitten fell into my lap!  No, really, it did.  A friend of mine had a litter of kittens, and needed a home, so Mike, the stray roommate we took in, said he’d take one.  When I moved, he came with, because Mike wasn’t around the apartment with Utt and Futt all that much to care for him.  Originally, his name was Gabriel (not my choice, and he isn’t that much of an angel), but I’ve since changed his name to Bolt.  He tries to bolt out doors, and is VERY quick.  Isn’t he precious?  He LOVES this laundry basket!

• June 27th – Went to see Legally Blonde, the musical, with my friend, Jennifer, who had 2 tickets, and her hubby isn’t so much of a fan of musicals, she thought to invite me.  It was hilarious, I really enjoyed it!  I had no idea musicals could be so good, or funny even.
• June 28th – Jeremy and I got into an argument, over the ratio of dirty dishes to clean dishes in the kitchen…the kitchen was ALWAYS a mess, and hardly had any clean dishes, and were lucky if we could even use the faucet, they’d be piled so high.  If they were mine, they’d been cleaned, but I didn’t cook in that kitchen much because it was always in a disarray.  Basically, I asked if the kitchen was ever going to be clean, and he said he was “fixin’ to do it”….he’s ALWAYS “fixin'” to do something, but never gets done.  He then told me he wanted me out by the end of the month, and I calmly said “no” which ticked him off, and so he called the cops telling them I was trespassing!  At this point, I’d already lived there over 2 months, and it’s not like I just snuck in the house and have lived there undetected.  I went in my room, waiting for the county sherrif to show up, and prove that I’d established residency.  He then comes in my room, yelling at me, telling me that if I’d asked nicely, maybe he’d do the dishes.  I asked him if he, at the age of 23, really needed to be told to clean up after himself.  He then proceded to grab my duffel bag of dirty clothes, and throw them out the front door.  I, of course, went running after it.  As I was picking up my clothes, I made the comment to Chris, Jeremy’s boyfriend about how he’s got a real winner, which set Jeremy off, and he then began shoving me out the door.  My buddy, James, was outside the door as well, and he and Chris told him to stop, as I’m yelling.  Jeremy stopped, then ran back to my room, and smashed my floor lamp in his rage.  I, then, feeling unsafe, called the cops, myself.  Cops came, and asked me if I wanted them to arrest him.  I felt, ONLY because he didn’t actually hit me, that it wasn’t necessary, but the officers advised I leave for the night, which I did.  Jeremy, being the liar he is, told the cops my lamp was broken from the door swinging open, which was never the case.  Jeremy tried changing the locks previously, and I asked the officers tell him not to change them on me, and they warned him.  The officers stayed until I left, which I was grateful for.  I stayed the night at my good friend, Jennifer’s house, and was grateful she took me in.
• June 29th – As if I hadn’t already had a rough weekend, it only got worst when i was pulled over by a cop, for expired tags…I passed him only because he was on his cell phone, and figured a man can’t multi-task, and pay attention to my tags at the same time!  He’s an exception, I suppose.  He got me, and decided to mark me down for 2 infractions, instead of just expired tags, which cost me an additional $12.
• June 30th – found me a new place to move, thought it would be great, living with a couple of girls, back in Bellevue, and pretty cheap.  Put down first months rent that day, needing to get away from the messy living situation I was in.  I was grateful for her taking me in.  The downside was it was only 3 months, because the one girl was getting married, and her and her husband were going to live there.  I didn’t care, just needed to feel safe.
• July 2nd – MOVING DAY!  Was SO glad to be done with the drama.  Didn’t unpack half of my stuff, knowing it was only a short term lease.  The first weekend there, I thought I was in heaven…the sink was void of any dirty dishes, AND I could hear the vacuum being used!  NEVER would’ve happened at the old place!
• July 22nd – I went on vacation…to Virginia and Michigan.  My friend, Katie, moved to VA at the end of May, and seeing as I was headed to MI, to see my dad, I’d take a slight detour to see her.  I stayed with her for a week.  She even gave me her room to stay in, it was SO nice!  Her husband is a pastor there, in Lynch Station, and she lives in the parsonage, which is beautiful.  I went to his church, and it was VERY traditional, and definitely not what I usually go to, but it was alright.  Katie showed be around her town, and her country store, where she works, is adorable.  Katie is such a good hostess, going out of her way cooking dinners and stuff.  She even let me have a Melaleuca party, which some of the ladies made some purchases.  I had a great time visiting her and her family.  She’d wanted me to move there with her, and was still kinda pushing it when I visited, but that town just isn’t for me.  The people were very sweet, though, and I loved their different dialect.
• July 30th – I arrived in MI, after an 11.5 hour drive from VA

• My visit with my dad

The next day, I drove another 3 hours to Wolverine, MI (SUPER itty bitty town, if you blink, you WILL miss it), to my dad’s cabin, to spend some time with him while he was this side of the Atlantic.  It was nice getting to see him, I’d hardly spend 2 days with him since he’d moved to Great Britian 3 years ago.  The downside, however, was his girlfriend, Sandra, was there.  I’ve never been disrespectful to her, however, I feel my father can do a whole heck of a lot better than her.  Then, I find out her 2 sons, Andy, 22,  and Trevor, 19, are coming up for the weekend, too, and each bringing a friend with them!  See, my brother, Tommy, 21, said he was going to go up north a day later so that I could spend some much needed one-on-one time with him, but with a total of 7 people and her stupid dog there, it made it extremely difficult to have some alone time with him. The next day, my brother came up, there wasn’t much to do, it was raining, so my dad and Sandra went grocery shopping, and I stuck around the cabin.  I was all about spending time with my dad that weekend, so I didn’t stray too far, but somehow, that was misconstrued as waiting to be waited on.  I don’t know how he came to that conclusion, I did anything that was asked of me, I may not have taken the initiative, but I was right there when asked.  Even though I used to live up at that cabin over the summers of my teenage years, I really felt as if I was more of a guest as opposed to family, because I didn’t know where anything was, and hadn’t been up there since I did my internship 4 summers ago.  During dinner that night, my father and I had a blow-up, over him saying I’m supposedly just a lump on a log.  My dad didn’t stray from the house much, and I wanted to hang around him.  I was so frustrated, I was ready to leave right then and there, and head back to my mother’s.  I really felt as if he didn’t even really care that I was up there…like he didn’t even know me, nor really care to.

See, when my parents separated, I thought there was major progress in our relationship, like he cared, and was making an effort to have a relationship.  I came home extra weekends to spend time with him because I knew I was going to be moving away, and he was a pretty cool dad at that point.  Before their divorce, the extent of our conversations were “Hello, how was your day?” and a few other topics as they arose.  He seriously enjoyed talking to Sandra’s boys more than he did me.  And, according to my mother, my brother’s always been his favorite, and I really hoped that wasn’t true.  It was.  Tommy could do no wrong, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t do anything right.  Tommy had been to the UK to see him, I have not, even Sandra had been there to see him, so I wasn’t too pleased to hear that.  Another thing that annoyed me is my brother brought up our dog, Casey, which was around long before my parents divorced, and my dad always loved the dogs, and he could have cared less to see him.  Casey wants nothing but love from everyone, and my dad bothered to pet him twice the whole weekend.  I had told my brother to bring him up thinking he’d love to see him, but with Sandra’s dog, Dudley, in the picture, Casey and I had a lot in common that weekend.

After the argument with my dad on Saturday night, I really had very little intention of talking to him the next day.  He did, however, invite me to ride along in the golf cart while he, my brother and Sandra played golf.  My dad is VERY stubborn, and it’s rare if he admits he’s wrong, so this was an attempt to correct the situation.  I was happy to go.  It was an alright time out on the golf course. I was glad to be included.  (Her kids and friends went home by this point, thankfully). We came back, my brother drove home shortly thereafter.  I decided to hang around a little longer, which turned into staying an extra night.  Had a relaxing morning the day I left, however, it wasn’t the good-bye I thought I’d get.  I got a better hello hug from him.  It felt like an obligatory gesture.  So, basically, the weekend was me feeling like I was more of an obligation, as opposed to a family member…certainly not what I had hoped for, almost wished I hadn’t gone, but had I not, I would have felt like I missed out.

I drove back to my mom’s, hung out with her for a few days, and we got along great, better than usual.  Typically, because we’re too much alike personality wise, we get on each other’s nerves a lot quicker, and she’s pretty used to living alone (except that my brother lives with her, but they never see each other during the week because of work schedules).  I enjoyed getting to see family, and just to have a change of scenery amidst all the chaos I’d been through in weeks prior.

• Fast Forward to October 1

Moving day, yet again!  The girls I lived with were great, never had any issues, everyone did their part to keep the place clean, I was bummed to have to move.  Well, I was supposed to be out October 1, however, some issues arose, out of my control, that wouldn’t allow me to move that day.  I texted Amber, the one getting married, and her mother owned the condo, asking if I could stay another night.  Then, I talked to her fiance, Aaron, who was totally cool with me staying an extra night, didn’t see a problem, didn’t think she’s have an issue with it, either.  Later that night, I hear back from Amber who said she talked to her mother, and for an additional $20/night, I could stay.  I thought this was ridiculous, and her mother lives in MI, she didn’t even have to know I was there an extra day.  My friend, Andrea, even tried calling her to talk some sense into her about it, and she apparently told her I was such a burden, because she’s planning a wedding and all, to have that extra night.  I did move in on the 2nd of July, which, I would think, would give me some leeway, but of course not!  Amber had also left me a piece of paper that says my cat destroyed carpet, and  that it would be $60 to take care of it…I about died!  The carpet she was referring to was MAYBE a square 1/2 inch of carpeting, of which her carpet was old and had several bubbles and ripples in it, and really just needed to be stretched, which would take care of the not even noticable issue.  The only reason this was an issue is that my cat knew the door to my room (where he was confined) didn’t latch shut, and he could stick his paw under the door and pull it open.  The only way I could keep him in the room was to tie strings from my door knob to the railing to keep him from escaping.  She was well aware the door didn’t close properly, but failed to do a thing about it.  When I moved in, she was dog sitting for her sister, and the little dog kept getting in my room, and she’d have to come get him out from under my bed.  I disregarded it, didn’t sign it, and went on with my night.

Friday came, and I had an interview, went to it, and came home.  I then noticed she taped the sheet of paper to my door, however, there was an additional charge applied, saying I owed $45 for a plumbing issue.  I had no idea what she was talking about, texted her asking, she said the downstairs bathroom was stopped up (I’ve seriously used that bathroom no more than a dozen times the whole time i was there), and I later found out the fee was to pay for Myers Plumbing to come out and just diagnose the problem.  The problem was easily taken care of with a plunger.  But what kills me is I hadn’t used that bathroom at all in the time between the first piece of paper without the fee for plumbing, and the one with the plumbing fee.  Apparently, niether her or her fiance could use one properly!  Her fiance, who is a cool dude, later came upto my room, and said he felt bad for her charging me $20 for the extra night, and gave me $17 towards it (I’m guessing it’s all the cash he had).  I asked him why it was she turned ugly so quickly, and his response was she lives for it.  REALLY?   There’s more to live for than gouging an unemployed roommate for money.  Neither her or her fiance have a full time job, so I’m assuming it was because they’re hard up for money, although, her mommy and daddy have been paying for EVERYTHING, including an SUV for her fiance!  I had noticed Amber trying to avoid me by going in the back entrance, and asked Aaron if she was avoiding me, he said yes, because she’s not confrontational, so I didn’t make an effort to talk to her, probably like I should have.

Since I moved, I’d been trying to get ahold of her to to pick up my mail.  She texted me telling me she was on her honeymoon, and then told me my cat left fleas in my old room, and even after fumigation, there were still a ton left.  She said she had 40 bites right before her wedding.  My cat never had fleas, I never had any problems when I lived there, which is what I told her, again via text message.  She only gets the courage to confront you via text messaging.  She then asked me for my forwarding address.  I told her I had all my mail forwarded, so once I pick up my mail, it wouldn’t be an issue.  She apparently wanted to send me my outstanding rent balance.  I disregarded that text message.  She even texted andrea asking for her address (she told Amber to send her the bill for the $20, because her uncle dying was the reason I couldn’t move on Thursday.  She did give Amber her address, but I guess she lost it…oh well, Andrea never had any intention of paying it) I finally was able to pick up my mail today, she was never home when I stopped by before.  I had only 2 envelopes, which is because she put return to sender on all my other mail, including an unemployment check!  She did get the guts to confront me, as I was in my car, saying she needed my address.  I told her everything I’d either already told her, or would have told her, had she not been avoiding me on moving day.  It just amazes me how someone can turn so ugly, so quickly.  All I can say is her new husband is in for a real treat, hope they never have to divorce, because it appears everything that’s her’s is her’s and everything that’s his is her’s.  The other girl, Molina, that lived with us, and moved out a month early, had issues w/ her too.  She said Amber wouldn’t return her $150 deposit because there were holes in the walls from hanging pictures.  I’m sure Molina asked for permission, and she had to have agreed.  It doesn’t take that much money to spackle!  It’s a crock!

Well, that’s a synopsis of my last few months, and I’ll try to be less neglectful of my blog from now on 🙂