Ok... so I posted here a few weeks ago about the dream of a realtor I had found who promised to work with me to get this rental because she had "been there done that" herself years ago -- rented a house off-season while she looked for a job and a more permanent place to live.  She swore that she would not turn her back on me like other realtors in the past.  She said that all the owners wanted up front was one month's rent as a deposit and a signed lease stating that I'd take it from October 2007 - May 2008 for $875.00 a month -- a bargain when you consider that "crappy" apartments in Virginia Beach start at $700.00 and there's no way I'd be able to afford a mortgage on a beach house for $875.00 a month.   I told her I had no problem with that and that as of "right now", I had enough money saved up to carry me through October, November and December, if necessary, if I didn't get a job right away.

First, the house was going to be available for viewing the end of April.  It wasn't.  Then, the house was going to be available at the end of May.  It is.  Janelle is still planning on checking it out tomorrow for me.

Then, the realtor e-mails me the day before yesterday and says, "The owners would be very happy if you could pay several months up front."  I wrote her back that the original agreement was one month up front and then I explained to her that 1) my money is making me money by being in my savings account and 2) I need a safety net in case something catastrophic happens between now and then and I need access to funds.  I didn't get any kind of response to that except to confirm that she was meeting Janelle on Wednesday.

Then, about 2 hours ago, I get an e-mail from the realtor asking me to pass along her cell phone # to Janelle and oh by the way, "the owners want to know what you are doing about a job?"  Ok, ya know... it's 6 months away.  Who is going to hire me 6 months away when I don't even have a place to live????!!!!  I mean-- hello-- what part of "need an off-season rental I can rent month-to-month while I look for a job" didn't she read?  Where is the "I won't let you down"?

So, I'm thinking-- the winter resident who just moved out probably wants the house for next winter, too... and the realtor doesn't want to be the "bad guy" so she's saying that the "owners" want all of these things -- more money, a job lined up, etc-- so that I'll just decide I don't want the house and she'll be off the hook.  Letting Janelle see the house is just a show of good faith.  "I had every intention of renting to you, Bev, but the owners make the final decision," she can say.

So, I'm kind of frustrated right now.  I can feel the house slipping through my fingers... and to be honest, I'm thisclose to scrapping the whole blinking plan, moving into a nice place here, quitting my job and finding something else and just visiting the beach more often with the money I have in savings. Thisclose, I tell ya.

Next, she'll do a credit check (I'm surprised she hasn't already.  She mentioned having me complete an application when we first started writing, but then she never sent it to me.) and see where I was on a debt consolidation plan for the past 5 years and my credit is in the toilet. (Nevermind that I'm debt-free.... they won't be able to get past the charge offs or whatever the debts show up as when you only make principal payments for 5 years.)

Ok, venting done.  I'm going to bed now.  LOL!  I'm all fired up.  I doubt my "relaxation" CDs will work tonight.

So, I woke up today with another one of those fun migraine wannabe headaches.  Good thing it was a day off considering I have no sick time left.

I slept pretty much all day, but there would be brief periods of time I'd wake up and turn on the tv to see how the world was doing and it seemed like every blinking channel either had LAW AND ORDER on or CSI.

Made me think-- just how many blinking episodes of LAW AND ORDER are there and when the world ends, will the only things that survive be roaches and LAW AND ORDER DVDs?

(The "how many episodes?" question was rhetorical.  I don't really want to know.  I'm just adding that disclaimer because if this were the LOST message board I frequent, there would be at least 3 people who would come back with the exact number of episodes and probably correct me and tell me that LAW AND ORDER by itself doesn't have that many episodes, but if you add up all of the episodes of all of the versions....)

For those of you who (in the US) like ghosties and ghoulies and paranormal stuff like me, there's a show on Friday June 1 on the Travel Channel called MOST HAUNTED LIVE.  They did one at Halloween and it was pretty mind-blowing -- if you have an open mind.

Also - shout out to my friend Guntram (he's the one who posts with a picture of a cow sculpted out of butter) for sending me two great CDs (per Ilyana's suggestion in another post) of "white noise."  One is thunderstorms and such and the other is Southwest type sounds and music.  I've listened to the thunderstorms one and it's great -- once you get past the first track of chirping birds.  Around here, chirping birds signify a rising sun and time to get up and not very helpful for sleep.  But, the remainder of the CD is very soothing.  I don't think the cat likes it much, though.  She keeps going to the window looking for rain.  I haven't listened to the other CD yet.  I'm sure it's fantastic, though.

Before I forget -- a moment of remembrance for all of those who have given their lives for this country, any country, any war, anytime -- whether they agreed with the purpose or not.  The president was on tv today talking about the men and women who have given their lives for the war on terrorism and I just wanted to throw something at him because it's his fault so many people have died.  (stepping off of soapbox)

Have a great week everyone!

Oh-- and cross your fingers for me -- my friend Janelle is going on Wednesday to do a walk-through on the beach house rental.  I hope she comes back with a rave review.  The realtor is trying to get more money out of me, however, so I'm also looking for back up plans in case she reneges on the original offer/deposit.

Without giving it much thought, list 10 words or short phrases that describe your life right now.

Mine:

1. hopeful
2. predictable
3. average
4. sleepy
5. cluttered
6. friendly
7. humid
8. overtime
9. debt-free
10. restless

So, I heard on tv the other night that there's going to be a "blue moon" this month-- which led me to do some research. 

I read a romance novel about a year ago about the "magical" happenings that occur during a blue moon, but I wasn't able to find anything concrete about that.

Here is what I did find:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon

edit:

Here is the book I read:  Star Quality

Have you ever been really really tired?  So tired that you feel like you could sleep forever?  Then, when you crawl into bed, you can't sleep?  That's how I've been lately.  I hate it. 

We've been having "unlimited" overtime at work -- from the first day I started my new job.  We have so much to do that it just can't be done in 8 hours.  I don't mind it, really-- the day goes fast and it's money.  Extra money.  But...  I'm tired.  It's starting to catch up with me.  I've been putting in about 10-12 extra hours a week, which means I'm putting in 11 hours almost every day.  I need a rest.  But, once I lie down, my mind won't settle and I think of stuff-- all kinds of stuff.

I finally fell asleep around 2 last night and then I had a dream I was lying on a cot in a daycare and someone was patting my back, trying to get me to sleep.  I woke up to Molly stretched out in the middle of my back, doing that "kneading" thing.

I scheduled Monday as a Mental Health Day.  Maybe it'll be a dreary gray rainy day and I can take a few Benadryl and sleep.  :)

I'm worried about my future beach house.  I haven't heard from the realtor lately.   In April, she told me the house would be vacant at the end of the month and that my friend could go see it.  Then, she e-mailed me that it wouldn't be empty until the end of THIS month and that she'd contact my friend to go see it.  I can't quite shake this "it ain't gonna happen" feeling.  Part of me wants to have someone e-mail the realtor, pretending to be interested in the house for the summer, and ask if they can view it just to see what kind of answer she gives them.  (sigh)  I don't want to look for another place.  This place sounded perfect.... which is why I'm worried.  NOTHING is ever that easy in my life.  EVER.  So, I don't know why I thought my fate/destiny/karma ship had finally come in this time.  :P 

I'm not a patient person.  Yeah, I've said it a bunch of times already.  I know.  Jobs, diet, exercise, relocation, money.... I want immediate gratification and results.

Hey-- I saw a commercial on tv tonight for a dating site where this guy is mocking eHarmony because he got a "rejection" letter from them telling him he had no matches.  I guess I wasn't the only one. 

Now, I'm off to bed.  Maybe I'll fall right to sleep tonight.  Maybe.  Any takers to come over and pat my back until I doze off?  Anyone? Anyone?

No offense to Ryan, but I don't want to work in Minnesota. Yet, MONSTER.COM keeps sending me job notices for Minnesota.  I don't want them.  I have studied my profile from every blinking angle to see if I accidentally clicked on something that says "send me jobs in Minnesota ONLY" but I didn't.  Grrr.  So, I just disabled the whole "send me search results" option.  Hope that helps.  No, no, no-- I'm not trying to find a replacement for my new position already.  Just doing a little bit of pre-work for the move to Virginia. Checking things out. Compiling a list of places who may be hiring.

So, the other night, I was watching tv and a commercial for eHarmony came on.  A small niggling part of me wondered if there really are that many "perfect for me" people on the site.  But, I quickly remembered all of the bad bad experiences I've had in the past and quickly squashed the urge to log in.  Then, I went to work and had to call a customer who sounded pretty interesting on the phone.  While I was looking at his account, I noticed that he had a charge for eHarmony.  So, that night, I logged into eHarmony, hoping I could "browse" for the guy and see what age group he fell into and if it was worth my while to use my phone sex voice the next time I called him.

Turns out eHarmony doesn't have a browse function unless you register so I had to answer a bunch of questions just to get to the search thing... and by then, I was kind of frustrated with the whole thing.  I mean, they ask you 101 ways the same basic questions -- "how important are looks?", "Are you attractive?" and few other "mood" indicating questions.  There was one section where I had to select 10 things that are total turnoffs and I wanted to check the whole darn list. 

I digress.  I wasn't able to "browse" for the guy.  So, I created a profile for nothing.  Then, to add insult to injury, I had no matches.  None.  I guess honesty really isn't the best policy...  guess maybe I should go back and change a few answers?   Now, I'm getting spammed out the wazoo by them asking me to "upgrade" my membership (pay for it) and meet "quality" people.  Maybe they withhold matches until you fork over money?  Dunno.   I went in this afternoon and deleted it.  Sorry Dr. Clark or whatever his name is.  No success story here.

Now, I'm heading off to bed.   Happy mother's day (what's left of it) to everyone because let's face it, if it weren't for you (or me), our mother's wouldn't have a day to celebrate.  ;)

I shamelessly stole the following from my friend Janelle's blog.

"This is too stupid and fun not to share, although everyone's probably seen it on other blogs by now. I just spotted it tonight. You go to Google and type "[yourname] needs" and copy the first ten sentences that sound right or are funny."

I had a hard time finding sentences that start with "Beverly needs..."  so I took some creative liberties and switched to "Bev needs" which had more to work with, thanks to the existence of "Bevin" on The Bachelor. I also didn't limit myself once I got going.  Some of them are true of my life.  :)

Here are mine:

bev needs help!

Bev needs bodyguards because her "evidence" against Bush is "so powerful."

Bev needs to grow up and realize that not everyone is exactly like her.

Bev needs to be slowing down.

Bev needs time to "mature and organize her own life"

Bev needs to go on the Daily Show.

Bev needs to break sweat.

bev needs computers.

Bev needs an army of lawyers and she can bring Bush down.

BEV needs to be an affordably priced service. 

Bev needs help on Mondays/Wednesdays in April.

Beverly needs to change labels and get back to what actually made her popular in the first place.

Beverly needs no introduction.

We can continue to provide the comfort that Beverly needs.

Beverly ... needs a million dollar make-over.

Beverly ... definitely needs to be on DVD ASAP!

with tiny little leaves have begun to poke through the soil where I planted my wildflower seeds. 

I was so happy that I went to Walmart and bought some inexpensive "perimeter fence" to put around my little patch of potential posies and hopefully protect them from weed-eater wielding lawn care men who come once a month to trim the grass at my apartment complex.

When they get a little bigger, I shall take a photo and dedicate another blog to them.

It's been a few months since I've been to my local Walmart and they are in the process of doing a remodel.  Normally, I don't mind change, but I was very frustrated that nothing was where I'm used to finding it.  They had a store map posted at the entrance and I stopped to look at it before I went into the store, but then as I wandered around, I kept wishing for little "You are here" maps to be posted in other places because either the maps lie, my memory isn't so good or they aren't done putting things where they are supposed to be because I could not find books and magazines at all.... and there was a row of Shrek stuff smack dab in the middle of where "automotives" was supposed to be.  Luckily, the garden center and the grocery store are in the same place...  but everything else was just a maze of confusion.  I don't really enjoy shopping much to begin with and if I have to work to find a simple bag of cat treats, it's not worth it.  I think I'll wait until they are entirely complete with the remodel and then go in on a slow day and just meander up and down every aisle until I feel comfortable again.

The funny part was that I wasn't the only one feeling the frustration because every few aisles, there'd be someone just like me, peeking around a shelf, looking up and down the aisle, trying to figure out if they were anywhere near what they were looking for.  We'd look at each, shrug, laugh a little, make small talk about the changes and move on.

I came home, put on some comfy clothing and watched the movie STRANGER THAN FICTION on pay-per-view.  I remember wanting to see it when it was in the theaters but never really got around to it.  The movie was pretty good, but a little depressing in places.  It's about a man living a rather mundane life and all of a sudden, it starts getting narrated by this ominous female voice, and the only person who can hear the voice is the man.  Turns out the narrator is a person typing a manuscript for a novel... and "little did he know.... he was facing imminent death".  The man then becomes obsessed with locating the narrator and stopping his death and in the process, actually starts living life...  and well, I won't spoil the ending, but I found myself getting teary-eyed towards the end.  Made me also realize I don't really do much "living".

Now, I'm off to bed.  Have a great weekend!!!

Ah, my head is a barometer.  I can always tell when the humidity levels change because I get these massive "sinus/migraine wannabe" headaches that last for days.

I could barely function at work yesterday because everything hurt- my head, my teeth, my face, my neck, my eyes...  I scheduled today off and spent a good portion of it in bed.  The air conditioning seems to help.  It seems the stuffier a place is the worst it is for my head.  My company has not turned on the AC yet eventhough it's 82 degrees out.  So, although I have a fan on my desk at work, it pretty much just circulates the same stale warm air over and over and over.  Ahhhhh, I cannot wait until August 31 and I don't have to deal with THAT place anymore and can look forward to salty sea air that actually seems to help my sinuses.

Why August 31?  That's the day I've decided will be my last day at my day job.  I was going to wait closer until October 6, the day I plan on moving, but I have a 401K/retirement fund that they won't cash out until I quit and it takes about a month to get the money.  I don't want to be "in transit" and have the funds held up because my change of address has them confused.  So, if I quit a month before I'm ready to leave, that gives me time to clean, pack, return cable boxes, set up new utilities, turn off current utilities, have "good bye" meals with friends here, etc etc etc and start off my new endeavor with some "safety net" money in the bank.

I've been meaning to stop by and blog about the latest stage of my move to the beach plan but every time I start to blog about it, I get this wave of "ohmigoshthisisreallygoingtohappen" anxiety and excitement rolled into one and I take a moment to catch my breath, cross my fingers and by then, I'm afraid to post my blog because I don't want to jinx myself.

So, here's the latest-- a few weeks ago I was looking at the online version of the local newspaper for Virginia Beach and saw an ad that said, "Ready to relocate? I can help!"  I clicked the e-mail link and sent off a quick note stating that I was interested in more information.  I've responded to similar ads in the past but after the initial e-mail where I tell them my "budget", I never hear from them again. So, I was hopeful for a response but not really expecting anything great.

A few days later, I got a response from a realtor who asked me the typical when, where, how much questions.  I responded that I was looking for an off-season rental (condo or house) that I could rent month-to-month and use as a base while I looked for a job and a more permanent place.  I told her how much I was willing to pay per month.  A few days later, she responded that she had something for me to look at and gave me the link to an actual beach house/cottage that is decades old and located yards away from the Chesapeake Bay in a quiet, residential "older" part of Virginia Beach.  I checked out the link to the property and it sounded great-- but in the blurb, it says that the propery rents for $1200 a week.  $1200 a week!!!  There's no way I can afford that.  So, I wrote her back, thanking her for her help, and said that I can't afford $1200 a week.

She wrote me back almost immediately that the off-season rate was much much more affordable.  She then quoted a dollar amount that was LESS than what I told her I could afford.  "What's the catch?" I asked.  She said, "No catch!"  She went on to say that she had done the same thing herself years ago and knows how hard it is to find a job without a home and a home without a job and wanted to help me.  I did a quick search and couldn't find any apartments near the beach in the same price range that had the same "amenities" as the house (2 bedroom, 1 bath, washer and dryer, sunroom, deck, outdoor shower, views of the Ches. Bay, walking distance to the beach, minutes to shopping and tourism, wired for phone, cable and internet, cat allowed). 

I started to "worry" that I wouldn't have a job by the end of October  (trying to be realistic) and asked her if the owner would let me have it for November, too.  She wrote back that I could either have it for October 07 only OR October 07 - April 08 because the "winter" season starts November 1 and the owner usually rents it to someone Nov-April.  I did some quick math and realized that taking it for the whole winter actually works out better for me because I don't have to stress about finding an apartment right away and can enjoy living in an actual beach house for several months. She thought she was inconveniencing me by telling me that I'd have to take it for several months but she actually did me a favor.  It gives me time to get a feel for the area, look at apartments, find a decent job... and enjoy living in an actual beach house!!

So, right now, I haven't signed anything or given any money as a deposit. The realtor states I'm the only one being considered for the rental/winter season.  I've asked my friend Janelle who lives down there to hook up with the realtor to make sure the house and the realtor really exist and that the house isn't a dump.  I didn't want to fork over money for a deposit and then show up to discover there is no house, no realtor and no place for me.  They should be getting together any day now.  The realtor said that the current "winter" tenant was moving out today.

http://tenant.com/viewListing.php?propID=132935 is the link to the property.  If you have GOOGLE EARTH, check out how close the address is to the shore. :)

Again, I'm hopeful but not counting my chickens .... yet. 

I am daydreaming about sitting on the deck with my laptop, writing the great American novel, while gazing out at the twinkling waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  I also allow myself the occasional daydream that the owner has a son or grandson my age who is handsome, straight, single and ...  you fill in the blanks. ;)

Spring has sprung.  I planted a wildflower garden outside my back door.  I do not have much luck with flowers but something inside me really wanted to plant flowers this year.  So, I unearthed (pun intended) some gardening tools I bought years ago and turned over the soil outside my back door.  I also bought some topsoil at the discount store and some "wild flower" seeds.

Yesterday, I aerated the soil and sprinkled the seeds then I lightly watered them.  This afternoon, I gave them an additional sip of water.  I hope they take.  (fingers crossed)