I realize that I haven't posted in forever, and I don't know how often I'll post. Val has a new blog (she always has some kind of blog going), but I hope she will still post. We actually have some opposing views on the "child" detainee in GTMO that is currently being tried. I'd love for Val to post something about this, and then maybe I will do a rebuttal or something like that.
As far as how I'm doing, pretty well. Baby #2, or baby #last, is on the way and should arrive mid-October. Kind of strange how the Army really helped me prep for some of the physical challenges of parenthood. I can get up and stay up all night long thanks to all that sleep deprivation training. Thanks Uncle Sam!
If you haven't heard, things are supposedly winding down in Iraq. We'll see. We're still in Kosovo and Korea for cryin' out loud and will probably be in all these locations for a very long time. I'm wondering when we can really see some large reduction in troop numbers in Iraq. 50,000 still over there. All the action is in Afghanistan right now. Things died down in Iraq because the party moved to Afghanistan. Same assholes, different turf.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
My Army Bill
The Army sent me a bill yesterday. Yes, an actual bill. They believe they overpaid me in October 2007, right after I got home from Iraq. Want to know the funny part? They still owe me money. Lots of it. The Department of Defense came out with a compensation plan for frequently deployed soldiers. I had three (yes, three) deployments since 9/11, so I was in that category. The plan gives these soliders a ton of extra administrative leave. Mine was not done correctly (surprised??), so I've been trying to get it fixed ever since. Except I'm out now. Well, forget getting money from the Army if you aren't in the Army. Apparently, they have a means of collecting money if you aren't in the Army! I sent a nice letter back to DoD and their henchmen explaining the problem. I also was kind enough to cc Senator Levin. I'm tired of the military screwing shit up to benefit themselves! Sure, I'm just another victim of complicated paperwork nightmare, but it's an expensive mess. I'll be damned if I pay the Army anything when they owe me three times as much! Let's see if the DoD is as quick to pay as they are to collect! Bastards!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The joys of our new puppy
I thought I'd share a funny story about our new puppy Roscoe.
We are in the middle of that delightful time most people refer to as potty training. Roscoe just doesn't seem to get it, no matter how hard we try.
Today, Rick and I were driving out to his parent's house to drop some stuff off. We had both of the dogs in the truck with us. Throughout our trip, Rick kept asking what that smell was. I, amidst allergy season, had no idea. He kept asking this over and over for hours, eventually changing it to, "Is that dog piss I smell?"
When we got home, we were lifting and moving furniture and he just so happened to catch a whiff of his own shirt. Roscoe, bless his little heart, must have had his shirt confused with a puppy pad. But do you think this will teach Rick to pick his clothes up off the floor? No siree!! Look at that face!! How can you even TRY to be mad??
We got Roscoe at four months, and we are his third and last set of parents. He came in to our lives and immediately made himself right at home. He has a thing for bras. Forty dollar VS bras to be exact.
Roscoe gets along famously with our purebred yorkie Chester. They go back and forth at all hours of the day and night. They also seem to be very protective of each other.
Every day we notice Chester and Roscoe picking up traits from each other. Roscoe was a fish in his former life. This dog loves anything to do with water. He enjoys sitting in the tub when we take showers, he drinks rain water out of potholes (yuck) and he likes to get sips of water here and there by sneaking in to the bathtub and hoping that our faucet is leaking. Chester is not a big fan of the water, and never liked to hang out in the tub prior to Roscoe. These days, if a dog is MIA, he can usually be found hanging out in the bathtub. Muddy paw prints in our tub our nothing new.
When Chester is in trouble, he usually knows it as soon as you start staring him down. He will do this cute little thing where he slinks around, head facing the ground but looking up at you with his eyes. Then he will roll over on his back and patiently wait for you to rub his belly. When he is in trouble, his signature move comes out and it never fails! We have recently noticed Roscoe doing the same thing when he gets in trouble.
Having two dogs is definitely an adventure. There has not been a day where I regret getting these two little buggers. Having dogs is a truly enriching experience and I love it.
We are in the middle of that delightful time most people refer to as potty training. Roscoe just doesn't seem to get it, no matter how hard we try.
Today, Rick and I were driving out to his parent's house to drop some stuff off. We had both of the dogs in the truck with us. Throughout our trip, Rick kept asking what that smell was. I, amidst allergy season, had no idea. He kept asking this over and over for hours, eventually changing it to, "Is that dog piss I smell?"
When we got home, we were lifting and moving furniture and he just so happened to catch a whiff of his own shirt. Roscoe, bless his little heart, must have had his shirt confused with a puppy pad. But do you think this will teach Rick to pick his clothes up off the floor? No siree!! Look at that face!! How can you even TRY to be mad??
We got Roscoe at four months, and we are his third and last set of parents. He came in to our lives and immediately made himself right at home. He has a thing for bras. Forty dollar VS bras to be exact.
Roscoe gets along famously with our purebred yorkie Chester. They go back and forth at all hours of the day and night. They also seem to be very protective of each other.Every day we notice Chester and Roscoe picking up traits from each other. Roscoe was a fish in his former life. This dog loves anything to do with water. He enjoys sitting in the tub when we take showers, he drinks rain water out of potholes (yuck) and he likes to get sips of water here and there by sneaking in to the bathtub and hoping that our faucet is leaking. Chester is not a big fan of the water, and never liked to hang out in the tub prior to Roscoe. These days, if a dog is MIA, he can usually be found hanging out in the bathtub. Muddy paw prints in our tub our nothing new.
When Chester is in trouble, he usually knows it as soon as you start staring him down. He will do this cute little thing where he slinks around, head facing the ground but looking up at you with his eyes. Then he will roll over on his back and patiently wait for you to rub his belly. When he is in trouble, his signature move comes out and it never fails! We have recently noticed Roscoe doing the same thing when he gets in trouble.
Having two dogs is definitely an adventure. There has not been a day where I regret getting these two little buggers. Having dogs is a truly enriching experience and I love it.
Vicky's Dictionary
Now that I'm a mom, I understand why people always thought their children were so funny. I was one of those people that thought children were annoyances, dirty all the time, and schedule restrictions. Kids can still be all of the above, BUT, I find mine one of the best sources of amusement. She is forever making me laugh with her actions and words. Her latest trick is her expanding vocabulary. I thought I'd share with you the Dictionary according to Vicky:
Dog-All animals on four legs regardless of animal species. Popular animals to be included with dog species are deer, goats, cows and horses.
Duck-All animals that fly and have wings and feathers. It does not matter if it is a bird that is adverse to water, it is still a duck.
Joose (Juice)-Any liquid that is connsumable by humans regardless of appropriateness of liquid for children, i.e. coffee and alchohol are also "joose".
Pooh (Winne the Pooh)-All stuffed animals can be classified as either "Pooh" or "Beer" (see below).
Beer (Bear)-All stuffed animals can be classified as either "Beer" or "Pooh" (see above).
Peeaz (Please)-The majic word that secures any desired item into your possession. Simply point your hand in the direction and say "peeaz".
Ca-ca (Ca-Ca)-Anything found on the floor that is possibly not for children's play. Typical items include fuzz, dog hair, minute pieces of dust impossble to be viewed by human eyes, dog toys, etc.
Poon (Spoon)-(This is not a dirty word) Any food delivery device regardless of composition. Forks, serving spoons, chopsticks and knives are all "poons".
Car-ker (Cracker)-Any food item that is held and possibly crunchy. Popular items that are "car-kers" are onion rings, pizza crust, bread, toast, chips and actual crackers.
Vroom-vroom-Any motorized vehicle real or play. While driving in the car and passing farm equipment, boats, motorcyles or other cars, Vicky will announce "vroom-vroom".
Chi-Chi (Chin-Chin)-Every meal time is a celebration with Vicky. Grandma taught her to toast and clink her sippy cup with somebody's drink and say "chin-chin". Vicky is known to say "chi-chi" with her glass held out several dozen times per meal. She finds it compelety inappropriate to drink without toasting. Thank you grandma.
Dog-All animals on four legs regardless of animal species. Popular animals to be included with dog species are deer, goats, cows and horses.
Duck-All animals that fly and have wings and feathers. It does not matter if it is a bird that is adverse to water, it is still a duck.
Joose (Juice)-Any liquid that is connsumable by humans regardless of appropriateness of liquid for children, i.e. coffee and alchohol are also "joose".
Pooh (Winne the Pooh)-All stuffed animals can be classified as either "Pooh" or "Beer" (see below).
Beer (Bear)-All stuffed animals can be classified as either "Beer" or "Pooh" (see above).
Peeaz (Please)-The majic word that secures any desired item into your possession. Simply point your hand in the direction and say "peeaz".
Ca-ca (Ca-Ca)-Anything found on the floor that is possibly not for children's play. Typical items include fuzz, dog hair, minute pieces of dust impossble to be viewed by human eyes, dog toys, etc.
Poon (Spoon)-(This is not a dirty word) Any food delivery device regardless of composition. Forks, serving spoons, chopsticks and knives are all "poons".
Car-ker (Cracker)-Any food item that is held and possibly crunchy. Popular items that are "car-kers" are onion rings, pizza crust, bread, toast, chips and actual crackers.
Vroom-vroom-Any motorized vehicle real or play. While driving in the car and passing farm equipment, boats, motorcyles or other cars, Vicky will announce "vroom-vroom".
Chi-Chi (Chin-Chin)-Every meal time is a celebration with Vicky. Grandma taught her to toast and clink her sippy cup with somebody's drink and say "chin-chin". Vicky is known to say "chi-chi" with her glass held out several dozen times per meal. She finds it compelety inappropriate to drink without toasting. Thank you grandma.
Friday, July 31, 2009
My nightmare move...and it isn't even over yet. **Very long**
Okay, so this isn't the comic relief Mama G is asking for, but its a start. I have had a crazy, horrible week, but as soon as things settle down I'll be back. I promise!!
This is a long story with no end yet, so bear with me. This is pulled from Hot Under the Collar forum on a website I frequent. DF here is my fiancee, Rick.
DF and I signed a lease a few weeks ago to move in to a townhouse owned by the same management company as our two last apartments. We were all set up and told we could pick up our keys on Sunday morning at 9am. Sweet. We have to have our old apt cleaned and keys turned in by 3pm and our Uhaul turned in my 430. We can do 9am just fine.I show up at 9am, after getting my papers of course, and am told they are changing the locks and they keys aren't ready yet. Okay, minor setback, that's okay.
Fifteen minutes later, DF shows up with the Uhaul and is at the townhouse. He doesn't see my car and calls me and I tell him to come up to the office to get his key too. He gets there and we wait another ten minutes to get our keys.We drive over to the townhouse and I am trying to situate the dogs in the car, opening the windows for them, etc, just until we get in and check out the place. I get out of the car and he is looking at me with this weird look on his face. I ask what it is and he asks if I am sure this is the right place? I say yes, this is the address on our lease, why? He pushes open the door all the way and I look inside and my blood pressure immediately shoots through the roof.
The place is a complete dump! Furniture from the last tenants are still in there, holes in the walls, unpainted, FILTHY carpet with huge stains everywhere, stunk to high hell of smoke. I said this can't be right. He goes to check out the basement and I take the top floor. Same thing-one big nasty dump with crap everywhere. I ask DF is he unlocked the door and he tells me no, the door was just unlocked when he got up to it. He just pushed it right open.I go back out to the car and try to look through the packet of paperwork they gave me to find the office number. I'm so mad I can't see straight so I said screw this, we're going down to the office.
I have no clue how I didn't go in their screaming and swearing. I went in there and I said we have a HUGE problem here. S, the leasing manager who we have been working with all along, overhears me and comes out to find out whats up. I tell them "either that is not my new apt or someone here is not doing their job. That place is a frickin dump! It hasn't been touched by anyone because the carpet is filthy, there is furniture in there, trash, anything and everything!" Her and another girl, K, start apologizing saying they don't know what has happened and they'll look in to it right away. They ask us to go have a seat.DF and I are livid and I am insisting that they gave us keys to the wrong place and he says no way in hell are we moving anything in there.
S comes back out and says she figured out the problem. The old tenants didn't move out until the night before. They were supposed to be out on Friday, but they moved out late, so no one had a chance to go in and do what they do after a tenant moves out. I ask why the heck not and why in the world would you give me keys if that place is looking like that. She said she doesn't know, she is sorry, but she's working on getting someone in there right now to rip up the carpet and paint, blah blah blah. Fine.
Then she tells us we can still start moving our stuff in, but we have to work around the painters and people who are working on the carpet. She says we'll have to work on non-carpeted areas and move all of our stuff in to the kitchen. I say, are you kidding me? We have one truck full of stuff, plus atleast one more truck back at the old place and we are doing this ourselves!!! Just the two of us! I said I'm not moving stuff in while work is being done, period. I'd be in their way, they'd be in my way, I have two dogs who can't be around that, AND I'm not moving a whole truck worth of crap in to the kitchen. She says, well, can you move it in the basement?? I say NO, I can't move our 100 pound dressers down the stairs in to the basement only to turn around and try to get them up two flights of stairs to the top floor later!! Then she says, well, do you want to move your stuff in to a vacant apartment for now? Ugh. Once again, NO, I'm only moving my stuff ONCE today, unless you are going to help me unload the stuff into a vacant apartment, load it back up in to my truck, and then unload it again in my finished apt. Seriously, is she even thinking here??? I put my foot down for about the fifth time and tell her we aren't moving anything in to a dirty, unfinished apartment. She says okay, well how about I give you a call in a little bit and tell you when it will be ready? Okay, but what about our Uhaul? I'm not paying extra for something that isn't my fault? We can't have our old apt cleaned and keys handed back in until all of our stuff is out. She says she can get with the property manager, C, about paying the extra day/late fees and call our old property manager and see about pushing the time back. Okay. We now have until 9am tomorrow to be out of the old place.
I still want to know why we are even in this situation and she has the balls to say, "Well you did sign a early move in waiver which means that not everything may be done." You've got to be kidding me. You've got to be!!! I said I know what an early move in waiver is and it IS NOT something I signed so that I could move in to an apt that hasn't been touched!! It doesn't mean I move right on in to someone else's filth. This still gets me furious that she said this. This went on for about twenty minutes and we decide to go back to our old place and see what else we can get done. We drive by the new place and don't see any movement, no cars there working on anything, nothing.
S calls me back about a half hour later and says that they are ripping up carpet and painting as we speak and we can start moving our stuff in at 1pm. Around 130, we head back over to the new apt. We pull up to the townhouse and see cars and workers inside and outside so we go inside and find out if its ready. I walk in and one of the guys tells me they are just finishing laying the carpet. I walk back to the kitchen and another guy asks me if we are there to clean the place. I say no, actually I'm here to move in. We were supposed to be in at 9am. I ask if he knows anything about the painting since it isn't done yet. He says not his job, but he knows the guy whose crews are painting and says they should be over soon. DF asks how long he thinks until we can get in. He shakes his head and says, honestly, probably not until 430 or 5. Wonderful! Just fricking wonderful! We both have to work on Monday, DF has to be up at 330am!!
So we head down to the office again. I see S and tell her that we came back to start moving and they haven't even touched the walls yet. She is completely clueless to this news. She says okay, well I'll figure out when the painters will get in and then I'll give you a call in about a half hour. She also says she walked through the place after we left and can't believe I went in there and wasn't yelling. (yeah, me too) We drive BACK across town to our old place for the second time that day and we've done what we can do so we decide to take a nap. We've both been up since 630 and we thought our day was going to go a lot differently.I can't sleep because I'm too busy trying to make sure I hear my phone ring. 230...no call...300...no call. At 330, I call the office and speak to someone and let them know I need to talk to S. She's out on the property, but she can give me a call back. I explain the situation, tell her it is time sensitive and I would like a call back asap. Still no call.
Finally at 445 I call again and talk to A. She showed us the model when we very first looked at this place. I explain the situation...we haven't even started moving yet, and we both have to work and we need to have our old apt cleaned and keys turned in by 9am the next morning. She says she'll send a manager over to our townhouse to see if the painting is done and give me a call back in five minutes. At 520 I still have no return call so we get in my car and drive across town AGAIN to go to the office and get some face to face answers. We get there and go straight to our townhouse, door open and unlocked. It is painted and carpeted, but there is trash from the contractors and the place still has not been cleaned. The took out most of the furniture, but left the stuff in the basement, and our washer and dryer aren't there yet either. There are still brown cobwebs on stuff, dirt everywhere. DF goes to lock the door when we leave and neither key even works in the door!
We go to the office and the entrance to the office is closed. I'm not screwing around anymore and I'm good and pissed so I go walk around to the employee entrance. I get in there and there is only one girl working and I ask where S and A are. She says they left for the day!!! At 5pm!!! It is almost 545 now! We tell her our keys don't work and we've been waiting all afternoon for a phone call from someone who can give me an answer. I tell her how mad I am. She says she'll find out the issue with the keys and drop them off to us. I ask why no one called me back? How long have the painters been done and how long ago could we have started moving?? I tell her I want a phone call from C, the property manager in the morning.
DF calls my dad to come over since he is out of work now, and we go run to get something to eat. By the time we start, it is 630pm, and we are moving our stuff in to a dirty apartment. By this time, we are trying to get done before it gets dark so we are just unloading stuff in the kitchen and living room. We still have atleast another truck full of stuff to load up, so one of my sisters stays back with me and we start moving stuff upstairs to make room, since most of our furniture still isn't there yet.
By the time we get done with the next load, it is after 10pm. Everyone goes home and we still have to clean the old apartment and deal with dogs who are upset about being locked up in their crates and neglected all day. (I felt so bad about them all day. We tried to take Chester to my dad's house to play with his dog since we knew Roscoe would be okay in the crate. Chester wouldn't play at all and my dad said he just sat on the couch, wouldn't let anyone touch him, and stared out the window for the three hours he was there. He finally called and told me he was worried about Chester and he just wasn't happy there. My heart broke so I told him to just bring him back.)
By the time we clean the place, turn in the keys, and get the Uhaul turned in, and get "home" it is almost 130am. DF had to get up at 330 to go to work. I couldn't even find any of my stuff for work-clothes, badge, shoes, nothing. I had anticipated being done at a decent hour and starting to unpack my important boxes, but that didn't happen. I ended up calling in to work the next day. It looked like our apt had been hit by a tornado. My dogs had nowhere to go either, and I couldn't leave them home like that.
I was up at 645 to start cleaning and unpacking. DF came home mad because after he got done loading truck, UPS asked him to drive and he had to say no because he only had 2 hours of sleep. As a seasonal driver, you are supposed to be able to drive whenever they ask. Lost pay there, and lost pay for me too. He takes a nap and we get to work.
We took the front door off the hinges to try to maneuver our queen size box spring up the stairs, so I put the dogs out on the patio. We couldn't get the box spring upstairs so now we have to take the bed to his parents house. Our dogs got out from under the fence around the patio and DF just so happened to see some girl driving away with Roscoe in her lap!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank god he happened to be looking out the door at that time. He runs after her and asks her what the heck she is doing and she says oh is this your dog. He tells her yeah and she says are you sure? She says, oh, and hands him back over. He has tags on and everything. I couldn't believe it!
I go down to the office and ask to speak to C, the property manager. She's not on site. Go figure. I say I want a phone call back and I still want an explanation for how we came to get keys (that didn't work) to an apartment that was clearly not ready for us. I get a VM from K (who seems to be the only one who can call me back) saying she spoke with C and both her and the maintenance manager will be by that afternoon to do a walk thru and talk to me. Around 430 still nothing, so I call down and talk to K again and say we are going out, what's the time frame because I don't want to miss them. She says she doesn't know but can I leave my list of what needs to be done on the door in case we miss them. Sure. We leave for dinner, I totally forget to leave the list, and no one shows up anyway.
We go to Comcast to get internet and we can't even get it because the prior tenant has a delinquent account and they haven't closed it out yet. That's awesome. They can't do anything without a copy of our lease and both DF and I called on separate days asking what exactly we needed (address provided too) and were never told about the lease.
Next day (yesterday) still no contact at all from C, the property manager. No apology, no hey how's it going what can I do for you? no nothing. S stops by to see if we are all in. I say yeah, I had to take the day off from work as you can see this place is a wreck. She asks if there is anything she can do. I tell her no, we are waiting on C and the maint manager to come by, that's about it. She says, oh, well I know you are on her list of people to see today. She never showed up.
We go to dinner last night again (still can't get to the kitchen) and swing by Comcast afterwards. We get up to the counter and have the same lady as the night before. She pulls up our account and looks all confused. She says I was just in this account. She describes the couple and I realize we were in the same room as the people who started this whole mess. DF and I both saw them...their appearance definitely matches their dirty living style. We get the internet setup finally.
Today, still no call and now I can't think about anything else all day. I'm just still completely livid at the whole situation and how no one is giving me answers and how the property manager can't find time to talk to me. I come home from work on my lunch and go straight to the office. S is there and I ask for C. Oh she isn't in. Okay, that's fine. Who is her boss then? Why? Why do you need to know? she asks. I say, well, she can't seem to find the time to stop by or even call me and she has had three days to do it. If she can't find time, maybe her boss will. She says she'll go back and call C. While she does that, K (the nice one I like) starts talking to me so that I can't hear the phone conversation. S comes back out and says that C will be over today. I tell her great, I'll be home from work after 5 and I want a phone call from her with an exact time she will be there because I sure wouldn't want to miss her.
She asks what the problem is. Sigh...she knows, but I explain again anyway. I tell her the place is a mess, was never cleaned, my dogs were eating cigarette butts off the back patio, I got a carpet staple stuck in my foot because again, no one cleaned!! I have no covers on my switches or outlets, I walk in my kitchen and get black feet. She says well when I was over there yesterday you said everything was good. I said, no, I said I didn't need anything from you because I was waiting on C and the maint manager. She says no I didn't say that AND that the place WAS cleaned!!! Now she has set me off and now I'm not even trying to be quiet. I tell her I'm sick of her BS and don't f*in lie to me. I am the one who has been living there since Sunday and I know what clean is. She still insists it was cleaned. I say fine, I would love to see your documentation, and she says okay. I tell her go get it since I know for a fact it doesn't exist! She says, Krystle, I know it was cleaned and I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. I said there was piss on my toilet seat when I got there and if the place was cleaned it wouldn't be there!!!!
She's trying to brush me off without giving me C's boss's name and I'm not having it. She finally gives it to me. I go home and tell DF that she says this place was cleaned and now he is mad too, can't believe she lied right to my face. I tell him to get on the phone with his mom and get her lawyer's #, call him and tell him the situation and ask him what we can do. We weren't able to get pictures when we very first came in because of course all of our stuff was packed. I leave to go back for work and I'm on the phone with the mgt company, explaining the situation to the girl who answered. I tell her I know they are required by law to give me a copy of the inventory/damage checklist completed after the previous people moved out, but does she know how long they have to comply? I know it doesn't exist. S even told me no one had been in there since they had moved out Saturday night. She says she doesn't know but I need to talk to the regional manager, who isn't in today. She names the woman who S gave me the number for. I ask if she can take a message letting this woman know I want to come in to the office to talk about this since I don't want to do it over the phone. (don't really want to type it right now either....lol) She takes my name, number and message and then transfers me to her VM. I leave a vm with the basics of the situation and I'm so mad I forgot to give her my dang #. Good thing I had this girl take a message.
Then DF calls me later when I'm on break and said five minutes after I left, C the property manager came over!! Well no sh*t!! All it took was for me to ask for her boss. He said she walked through and he told her what needed to be fixed/replaced and she said it would all get done. She says no way should this have happened and she never knew I wanted to talk to her. (My saved VM from K stating she and the maint manager will be by contradicts this.)
So anyway, here I sit, still with no w/d, still in a dirty house and still haven't talked to the property manager myself. I specifically said I wanted to be there to talk to C. I have to wait for the regional mgr to call me back. I'm still so mad about this whole situation. It is such BS and I'm so peeved that everyone has been blowing me off.DFs mom said on Sunday we should get atleast a month's rent out of this, possibly two. At the time I thought she was overreacting a bit, but after all of this, I'm thinking why not? All the lost wages and stress DF and I have gone through...staples in my foot...black feet from the kitchen...digging cigarette butts out of my dog's mouth...can't even clean the place because I haven't had the time or energy to unpack it all...no return calls...this is just completely unacceptable. I want to choke the living sh-- out of this S girl for being such a witch. Lying to my face!!!!!!!!! Ugh, I AM SO MAD!!!!!!
I have been taking pictures of stuff as I see it now, but I wish so much that we had a camera handy when we first walked in. At the time, I thought no way in hell was it our apt, so it never crossed my mind. We need to turn in the inventory checklist by Sunday, which will be done. That has to be done within 7 days by state law. I have read over the lease and can't find anything pertaining to our situation. I've looked at the tenant/landlord laws for the past two days in a row but I'm just not finding anything that pertains to me. I see that I as a tenant need to maintain the place and turn it in clean, but I see nothing about moving in to a place that isn't dirty. I know they have to give me a copy of the inventory/damage checklist the apt office completed after they prior tenant moved out, but no where can I find how long they have to produce it. I don't want to ask for it until I know, because I don't want them to jerk me around and then produce one out of thin air. I know there isn't one, so I need to know if they have to give it to me as soon as I ask.
This whole thing seriously has my blood boiling non stop. Like since Sunday. It is all I can think about at work, at night when I'm trying to sleep-ALL THE TIME. I have just been mad non stop and I don't know how to stop.
Update: Today we have a meeting at 1pm with the regional manager and property/leasing/maintenance manager.
To see pictures, you can go here.
-Val
This is a long story with no end yet, so bear with me. This is pulled from Hot Under the Collar forum on a website I frequent. DF here is my fiancee, Rick.
DF and I signed a lease a few weeks ago to move in to a townhouse owned by the same management company as our two last apartments. We were all set up and told we could pick up our keys on Sunday morning at 9am. Sweet. We have to have our old apt cleaned and keys turned in by 3pm and our Uhaul turned in my 430. We can do 9am just fine.I show up at 9am, after getting my papers of course, and am told they are changing the locks and they keys aren't ready yet. Okay, minor setback, that's okay.
Fifteen minutes later, DF shows up with the Uhaul and is at the townhouse. He doesn't see my car and calls me and I tell him to come up to the office to get his key too. He gets there and we wait another ten minutes to get our keys.We drive over to the townhouse and I am trying to situate the dogs in the car, opening the windows for them, etc, just until we get in and check out the place. I get out of the car and he is looking at me with this weird look on his face. I ask what it is and he asks if I am sure this is the right place? I say yes, this is the address on our lease, why? He pushes open the door all the way and I look inside and my blood pressure immediately shoots through the roof.
The place is a complete dump! Furniture from the last tenants are still in there, holes in the walls, unpainted, FILTHY carpet with huge stains everywhere, stunk to high hell of smoke. I said this can't be right. He goes to check out the basement and I take the top floor. Same thing-one big nasty dump with crap everywhere. I ask DF is he unlocked the door and he tells me no, the door was just unlocked when he got up to it. He just pushed it right open.I go back out to the car and try to look through the packet of paperwork they gave me to find the office number. I'm so mad I can't see straight so I said screw this, we're going down to the office.
I have no clue how I didn't go in their screaming and swearing. I went in there and I said we have a HUGE problem here. S, the leasing manager who we have been working with all along, overhears me and comes out to find out whats up. I tell them "either that is not my new apt or someone here is not doing their job. That place is a frickin dump! It hasn't been touched by anyone because the carpet is filthy, there is furniture in there, trash, anything and everything!" Her and another girl, K, start apologizing saying they don't know what has happened and they'll look in to it right away. They ask us to go have a seat.DF and I are livid and I am insisting that they gave us keys to the wrong place and he says no way in hell are we moving anything in there.
S comes back out and says she figured out the problem. The old tenants didn't move out until the night before. They were supposed to be out on Friday, but they moved out late, so no one had a chance to go in and do what they do after a tenant moves out. I ask why the heck not and why in the world would you give me keys if that place is looking like that. She said she doesn't know, she is sorry, but she's working on getting someone in there right now to rip up the carpet and paint, blah blah blah. Fine.
Then she tells us we can still start moving our stuff in, but we have to work around the painters and people who are working on the carpet. She says we'll have to work on non-carpeted areas and move all of our stuff in to the kitchen. I say, are you kidding me? We have one truck full of stuff, plus atleast one more truck back at the old place and we are doing this ourselves!!! Just the two of us! I said I'm not moving stuff in while work is being done, period. I'd be in their way, they'd be in my way, I have two dogs who can't be around that, AND I'm not moving a whole truck worth of crap in to the kitchen. She says, well, can you move it in the basement?? I say NO, I can't move our 100 pound dressers down the stairs in to the basement only to turn around and try to get them up two flights of stairs to the top floor later!! Then she says, well, do you want to move your stuff in to a vacant apartment for now? Ugh. Once again, NO, I'm only moving my stuff ONCE today, unless you are going to help me unload the stuff into a vacant apartment, load it back up in to my truck, and then unload it again in my finished apt. Seriously, is she even thinking here??? I put my foot down for about the fifth time and tell her we aren't moving anything in to a dirty, unfinished apartment. She says okay, well how about I give you a call in a little bit and tell you when it will be ready? Okay, but what about our Uhaul? I'm not paying extra for something that isn't my fault? We can't have our old apt cleaned and keys handed back in until all of our stuff is out. She says she can get with the property manager, C, about paying the extra day/late fees and call our old property manager and see about pushing the time back. Okay. We now have until 9am tomorrow to be out of the old place.
I still want to know why we are even in this situation and she has the balls to say, "Well you did sign a early move in waiver which means that not everything may be done." You've got to be kidding me. You've got to be!!! I said I know what an early move in waiver is and it IS NOT something I signed so that I could move in to an apt that hasn't been touched!! It doesn't mean I move right on in to someone else's filth. This still gets me furious that she said this. This went on for about twenty minutes and we decide to go back to our old place and see what else we can get done. We drive by the new place and don't see any movement, no cars there working on anything, nothing.
S calls me back about a half hour later and says that they are ripping up carpet and painting as we speak and we can start moving our stuff in at 1pm. Around 130, we head back over to the new apt. We pull up to the townhouse and see cars and workers inside and outside so we go inside and find out if its ready. I walk in and one of the guys tells me they are just finishing laying the carpet. I walk back to the kitchen and another guy asks me if we are there to clean the place. I say no, actually I'm here to move in. We were supposed to be in at 9am. I ask if he knows anything about the painting since it isn't done yet. He says not his job, but he knows the guy whose crews are painting and says they should be over soon. DF asks how long he thinks until we can get in. He shakes his head and says, honestly, probably not until 430 or 5. Wonderful! Just fricking wonderful! We both have to work on Monday, DF has to be up at 330am!!
So we head down to the office again. I see S and tell her that we came back to start moving and they haven't even touched the walls yet. She is completely clueless to this news. She says okay, well I'll figure out when the painters will get in and then I'll give you a call in about a half hour. She also says she walked through the place after we left and can't believe I went in there and wasn't yelling. (yeah, me too) We drive BACK across town to our old place for the second time that day and we've done what we can do so we decide to take a nap. We've both been up since 630 and we thought our day was going to go a lot differently.I can't sleep because I'm too busy trying to make sure I hear my phone ring. 230...no call...300...no call. At 330, I call the office and speak to someone and let them know I need to talk to S. She's out on the property, but she can give me a call back. I explain the situation, tell her it is time sensitive and I would like a call back asap. Still no call.
Finally at 445 I call again and talk to A. She showed us the model when we very first looked at this place. I explain the situation...we haven't even started moving yet, and we both have to work and we need to have our old apt cleaned and keys turned in by 9am the next morning. She says she'll send a manager over to our townhouse to see if the painting is done and give me a call back in five minutes. At 520 I still have no return call so we get in my car and drive across town AGAIN to go to the office and get some face to face answers. We get there and go straight to our townhouse, door open and unlocked. It is painted and carpeted, but there is trash from the contractors and the place still has not been cleaned. The took out most of the furniture, but left the stuff in the basement, and our washer and dryer aren't there yet either. There are still brown cobwebs on stuff, dirt everywhere. DF goes to lock the door when we leave and neither key even works in the door!
We go to the office and the entrance to the office is closed. I'm not screwing around anymore and I'm good and pissed so I go walk around to the employee entrance. I get in there and there is only one girl working and I ask where S and A are. She says they left for the day!!! At 5pm!!! It is almost 545 now! We tell her our keys don't work and we've been waiting all afternoon for a phone call from someone who can give me an answer. I tell her how mad I am. She says she'll find out the issue with the keys and drop them off to us. I ask why no one called me back? How long have the painters been done and how long ago could we have started moving?? I tell her I want a phone call from C, the property manager in the morning.
DF calls my dad to come over since he is out of work now, and we go run to get something to eat. By the time we start, it is 630pm, and we are moving our stuff in to a dirty apartment. By this time, we are trying to get done before it gets dark so we are just unloading stuff in the kitchen and living room. We still have atleast another truck full of stuff to load up, so one of my sisters stays back with me and we start moving stuff upstairs to make room, since most of our furniture still isn't there yet.
By the time we get done with the next load, it is after 10pm. Everyone goes home and we still have to clean the old apartment and deal with dogs who are upset about being locked up in their crates and neglected all day. (I felt so bad about them all day. We tried to take Chester to my dad's house to play with his dog since we knew Roscoe would be okay in the crate. Chester wouldn't play at all and my dad said he just sat on the couch, wouldn't let anyone touch him, and stared out the window for the three hours he was there. He finally called and told me he was worried about Chester and he just wasn't happy there. My heart broke so I told him to just bring him back.)
By the time we clean the place, turn in the keys, and get the Uhaul turned in, and get "home" it is almost 130am. DF had to get up at 330 to go to work. I couldn't even find any of my stuff for work-clothes, badge, shoes, nothing. I had anticipated being done at a decent hour and starting to unpack my important boxes, but that didn't happen. I ended up calling in to work the next day. It looked like our apt had been hit by a tornado. My dogs had nowhere to go either, and I couldn't leave them home like that.
I was up at 645 to start cleaning and unpacking. DF came home mad because after he got done loading truck, UPS asked him to drive and he had to say no because he only had 2 hours of sleep. As a seasonal driver, you are supposed to be able to drive whenever they ask. Lost pay there, and lost pay for me too. He takes a nap and we get to work.
We took the front door off the hinges to try to maneuver our queen size box spring up the stairs, so I put the dogs out on the patio. We couldn't get the box spring upstairs so now we have to take the bed to his parents house. Our dogs got out from under the fence around the patio and DF just so happened to see some girl driving away with Roscoe in her lap!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank god he happened to be looking out the door at that time. He runs after her and asks her what the heck she is doing and she says oh is this your dog. He tells her yeah and she says are you sure? She says, oh, and hands him back over. He has tags on and everything. I couldn't believe it!
I go down to the office and ask to speak to C, the property manager. She's not on site. Go figure. I say I want a phone call back and I still want an explanation for how we came to get keys (that didn't work) to an apartment that was clearly not ready for us. I get a VM from K (who seems to be the only one who can call me back) saying she spoke with C and both her and the maintenance manager will be by that afternoon to do a walk thru and talk to me. Around 430 still nothing, so I call down and talk to K again and say we are going out, what's the time frame because I don't want to miss them. She says she doesn't know but can I leave my list of what needs to be done on the door in case we miss them. Sure. We leave for dinner, I totally forget to leave the list, and no one shows up anyway.
We go to Comcast to get internet and we can't even get it because the prior tenant has a delinquent account and they haven't closed it out yet. That's awesome. They can't do anything without a copy of our lease and both DF and I called on separate days asking what exactly we needed (address provided too) and were never told about the lease.
Next day (yesterday) still no contact at all from C, the property manager. No apology, no hey how's it going what can I do for you? no nothing. S stops by to see if we are all in. I say yeah, I had to take the day off from work as you can see this place is a wreck. She asks if there is anything she can do. I tell her no, we are waiting on C and the maint manager to come by, that's about it. She says, oh, well I know you are on her list of people to see today. She never showed up.
We go to dinner last night again (still can't get to the kitchen) and swing by Comcast afterwards. We get up to the counter and have the same lady as the night before. She pulls up our account and looks all confused. She says I was just in this account. She describes the couple and I realize we were in the same room as the people who started this whole mess. DF and I both saw them...their appearance definitely matches their dirty living style. We get the internet setup finally.
Today, still no call and now I can't think about anything else all day. I'm just still completely livid at the whole situation and how no one is giving me answers and how the property manager can't find time to talk to me. I come home from work on my lunch and go straight to the office. S is there and I ask for C. Oh she isn't in. Okay, that's fine. Who is her boss then? Why? Why do you need to know? she asks. I say, well, she can't seem to find the time to stop by or even call me and she has had three days to do it. If she can't find time, maybe her boss will. She says she'll go back and call C. While she does that, K (the nice one I like) starts talking to me so that I can't hear the phone conversation. S comes back out and says that C will be over today. I tell her great, I'll be home from work after 5 and I want a phone call from her with an exact time she will be there because I sure wouldn't want to miss her.
She asks what the problem is. Sigh...she knows, but I explain again anyway. I tell her the place is a mess, was never cleaned, my dogs were eating cigarette butts off the back patio, I got a carpet staple stuck in my foot because again, no one cleaned!! I have no covers on my switches or outlets, I walk in my kitchen and get black feet. She says well when I was over there yesterday you said everything was good. I said, no, I said I didn't need anything from you because I was waiting on C and the maint manager. She says no I didn't say that AND that the place WAS cleaned!!! Now she has set me off and now I'm not even trying to be quiet. I tell her I'm sick of her BS and don't f*in lie to me. I am the one who has been living there since Sunday and I know what clean is. She still insists it was cleaned. I say fine, I would love to see your documentation, and she says okay. I tell her go get it since I know for a fact it doesn't exist! She says, Krystle, I know it was cleaned and I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. I said there was piss on my toilet seat when I got there and if the place was cleaned it wouldn't be there!!!!
She's trying to brush me off without giving me C's boss's name and I'm not having it. She finally gives it to me. I go home and tell DF that she says this place was cleaned and now he is mad too, can't believe she lied right to my face. I tell him to get on the phone with his mom and get her lawyer's #, call him and tell him the situation and ask him what we can do. We weren't able to get pictures when we very first came in because of course all of our stuff was packed. I leave to go back for work and I'm on the phone with the mgt company, explaining the situation to the girl who answered. I tell her I know they are required by law to give me a copy of the inventory/damage checklist completed after the previous people moved out, but does she know how long they have to comply? I know it doesn't exist. S even told me no one had been in there since they had moved out Saturday night. She says she doesn't know but I need to talk to the regional manager, who isn't in today. She names the woman who S gave me the number for. I ask if she can take a message letting this woman know I want to come in to the office to talk about this since I don't want to do it over the phone. (don't really want to type it right now either....lol) She takes my name, number and message and then transfers me to her VM. I leave a vm with the basics of the situation and I'm so mad I forgot to give her my dang #. Good thing I had this girl take a message.
Then DF calls me later when I'm on break and said five minutes after I left, C the property manager came over!! Well no sh*t!! All it took was for me to ask for her boss. He said she walked through and he told her what needed to be fixed/replaced and she said it would all get done. She says no way should this have happened and she never knew I wanted to talk to her. (My saved VM from K stating she and the maint manager will be by contradicts this.)
So anyway, here I sit, still with no w/d, still in a dirty house and still haven't talked to the property manager myself. I specifically said I wanted to be there to talk to C. I have to wait for the regional mgr to call me back. I'm still so mad about this whole situation. It is such BS and I'm so peeved that everyone has been blowing me off.DFs mom said on Sunday we should get atleast a month's rent out of this, possibly two. At the time I thought she was overreacting a bit, but after all of this, I'm thinking why not? All the lost wages and stress DF and I have gone through...staples in my foot...black feet from the kitchen...digging cigarette butts out of my dog's mouth...can't even clean the place because I haven't had the time or energy to unpack it all...no return calls...this is just completely unacceptable. I want to choke the living sh-- out of this S girl for being such a witch. Lying to my face!!!!!!!!! Ugh, I AM SO MAD!!!!!!
I have been taking pictures of stuff as I see it now, but I wish so much that we had a camera handy when we first walked in. At the time, I thought no way in hell was it our apt, so it never crossed my mind. We need to turn in the inventory checklist by Sunday, which will be done. That has to be done within 7 days by state law. I have read over the lease and can't find anything pertaining to our situation. I've looked at the tenant/landlord laws for the past two days in a row but I'm just not finding anything that pertains to me. I see that I as a tenant need to maintain the place and turn it in clean, but I see nothing about moving in to a place that isn't dirty. I know they have to give me a copy of the inventory/damage checklist the apt office completed after they prior tenant moved out, but no where can I find how long they have to produce it. I don't want to ask for it until I know, because I don't want them to jerk me around and then produce one out of thin air. I know there isn't one, so I need to know if they have to give it to me as soon as I ask.
This whole thing seriously has my blood boiling non stop. Like since Sunday. It is all I can think about at work, at night when I'm trying to sleep-ALL THE TIME. I have just been mad non stop and I don't know how to stop.
Update: Today we have a meeting at 1pm with the regional manager and property/leasing/maintenance manager.
To see pictures, you can go here.
-Val
Nachos vs. Kettlebell
Like most girls with a few extra pounds, I love my nachos (anything dripping in cheesy goodness really). Unfortunately, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Zone, or any of the current "hip" diets out there don't advocate consuming mass quantities of nachos. This sucks. I spend lots of time dreaming about nachos. Specifically, this little Mexican joint downtown that has an item on their menu called "Macho Nachos" that I like to refer to as "mucho nachos" (because they are mucho good, duh). I find the more I resist getting these nachos, the more I crave them. I don't know why I'm so addicted, but I can't help myself.
I started Kettlebell a couple of months ago. Best. Workout. Ever. Whoa, coming from a former Army girl that suffered through Marine Corps Martial Arts training (yeah, I'm tan belt, so what?), this speaks volumes for the workout. I love it. My trainer is the picture of fitness and has nothing to do with foods like mucho nachos. I firmly believe that she doesn't know what she's missing, but I suppose if I had her 8-pack abs (yeah, you read that right...did I mention she's 48 yrs old with this body?) I might think twice about ruining it with nachos. But, I don't have 8-pack abs. Crap, I don't have 2-pack abs, so what's to ruin, right? Yeah, yeah, I know, I won't ever get them either if I keep consuming mucho nachos at the rate the monster-truck owning hillbilly down the road consumes petrol. Obviously people that think I should just abandon these nachos have clearly never had them.
Last night at Kettlebell, my trainer delivered a great work-out, as usual. We started a little push-up improvement program and are supposed to work on our push-ups everyday for the next two weeks. I posted on my Facebook page that I might have troubles lifting my mucho nachos to my mouth after last night's workout. My trainer commented on my status and told me "Whenever you feel like eating nachos, practice your push-ups instead". I thought about this for a while. I'm only guessing (I haven't tried this method yet), but am I supposed to complete a push-up and think "mmmm, push-up, that was totally satisfying. Those nachos don't even compare to those push-ups"? Is she kidding (don't hurt me Johanna)? Sure, I'll try her advice. Clearly she does something right to keep that body of perfection at 48 (and had a kid too). I think she underestimates my attachment to these nachos. It is seriously my brand of heroin. I think they need some kind of drug that can ween you off nachos like you can get at the heroin clinic. Maybe, just maybe, then I can think "mmmm, push-ups, so satisfying".
I started Kettlebell a couple of months ago. Best. Workout. Ever. Whoa, coming from a former Army girl that suffered through Marine Corps Martial Arts training (yeah, I'm tan belt, so what?), this speaks volumes for the workout. I love it. My trainer is the picture of fitness and has nothing to do with foods like mucho nachos. I firmly believe that she doesn't know what she's missing, but I suppose if I had her 8-pack abs (yeah, you read that right...did I mention she's 48 yrs old with this body?) I might think twice about ruining it with nachos. But, I don't have 8-pack abs. Crap, I don't have 2-pack abs, so what's to ruin, right? Yeah, yeah, I know, I won't ever get them either if I keep consuming mucho nachos at the rate the monster-truck owning hillbilly down the road consumes petrol. Obviously people that think I should just abandon these nachos have clearly never had them.
Last night at Kettlebell, my trainer delivered a great work-out, as usual. We started a little push-up improvement program and are supposed to work on our push-ups everyday for the next two weeks. I posted on my Facebook page that I might have troubles lifting my mucho nachos to my mouth after last night's workout. My trainer commented on my status and told me "Whenever you feel like eating nachos, practice your push-ups instead". I thought about this for a while. I'm only guessing (I haven't tried this method yet), but am I supposed to complete a push-up and think "mmmm, push-up, that was totally satisfying. Those nachos don't even compare to those push-ups"? Is she kidding (don't hurt me Johanna)? Sure, I'll try her advice. Clearly she does something right to keep that body of perfection at 48 (and had a kid too). I think she underestimates my attachment to these nachos. It is seriously my brand of heroin. I think they need some kind of drug that can ween you off nachos like you can get at the heroin clinic. Maybe, just maybe, then I can think "mmmm, push-ups, so satisfying".
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