Well it's been an interesting couple of days.
We were supposed to have heard back from our landlord Tuesday on how his "discussion" with the Trolls went. By 8pm we still hadn't heard from him and suddenly music started blaring from the basement. We have NEVER complained about noise. We have made a point to be extremely tolerant as we know our household is not always quiet with two little guys running around (mind you, we limit this potential noisiness to a couple hours a day between arriving home from work and bedtime at 8pm). Anyway, the music started and then we could hear they had a group of people over. It was clear that there was drinking involved. As the evening progressed, it got louder and louder. Thankfully the boys are sound sleepers. I have NO idea how they stayed asleep.
After gritting my teeth for several hours, I went to bed with earplugs in at 11:30. Super Husband stayed up. At 1:30am they all piled into their bathroom (directly under our bed) and started smoking. Aside from the smoke that wafted up we knew this because they had a LOUD discussion about smoking and how they "didn't fucking care" about the fire hazard or health issues. The music finally subsided after 2am.
Super Husband was beyond furious. He announced the next morning that he was calling the landlord directly and to start searching for a new place to live.
So on my scheduled day off I searched for rentals and made an appointment to see a house at 6pm.
Super husband called me to report at lunch that he spoke with the landlord and that he had apparently spoken to them the day before. Super Husband gave him the update on the party/actions from the night before and he indicated that he was going to tell them to leave.
Well it's about time.
Because we are not ones to go with out a backup plan, we kept the appointment to see the new place.
I really wish we hadn't.
The damn thing was AWESOME. It would be perfect for us. I will not torture myself to recount all the details but it really was a great house. In fact, we loved it so much we were ready to tell our current landlord to refund our deposit and December's rent and we would be out by January 1st.
Would you believe that when Super Husband called landlord to give the update he was actually pulling into our driveway to evict the Trolls?
We were stuck in an impossible position. We were FINALLY getting what we wanted after months of complaining and begging for help at the exact time we found the perfect solution.
So there we were. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
In the two minutes we had to call the shots we told landlord to proceed with the eviction. We felt that we owed him to stay and commit to seeing our lease through if he was finally kicking the Trolls to the curb.
So the Trolls have apparently agreed to vacate as soon as they find a place. They have been instructed to look as soon as Christmas is over and be out ASAP.
The whole thing is bittersweet. I'm THRILLED to have an end in sight (though I will believe it when I see them leave) but at the same time I am really sad about losing out on the new place.
Jeesh...am I EVER happy? (I can hear Super Husband saying this even if it is just inside his own head). In reality...he's secretly bummed too.
December 22, 2011
December 20, 2011
Oh! I Almost Forgot!
How silly of me! In all the commotion with the Trolls I forgot to mention....
The dryer belt broke again!
Fan-Fucking-Tastic, I say!
Do I sound sarcastic? Good. I meant to.
The dryer belt broke again!
Fan-Fucking-Tastic, I say!
Do I sound sarcastic? Good. I meant to.
The Non-Update Update
Well so far I have nothing to report on the Troll situation.
Sunday we went out for the afternoon (to brave shopping the last weekend prior to Christmas) and came home to the place smelling once again like an ashtray. In yet another fit of anger I promptly called the Landlord. I demanded an update on the situation. The update is no update. He promised that he would be doing a face to face visit with Mr. Troll himself Tuesday. That would be today. He is supposed to get back to me afterwards.
So....what will this visit achieve? That's the question we are asking ourselves. I preume nothing. My intuition tells me that I will get a follow up call at some point to say that the Trolls claim they are not smoking anything in the apartment and to give them another chance. Essentially that's what has been happening every time we complain.
At this point, Super Husband and I will make a decision. Do we stick it out or do we go back to the Landlord and ask him to allow us to "break" our lease out of compassion?
The bottom line is something needs to change because the current situation is not working. We are not willing to subject our children to this health risk and plus....it's making us crazy. Being at home is a constant stressor. I feel so much better when I leave and can literally feel my blood pressure skyrocket when I get back.
Fingers crossed that a freaking Christmas Miracle happens today!
Sunday we went out for the afternoon (to brave shopping the last weekend prior to Christmas) and came home to the place smelling once again like an ashtray. In yet another fit of anger I promptly called the Landlord. I demanded an update on the situation. The update is no update. He promised that he would be doing a face to face visit with Mr. Troll himself Tuesday. That would be today. He is supposed to get back to me afterwards.
So....what will this visit achieve? That's the question we are asking ourselves. I preume nothing. My intuition tells me that I will get a follow up call at some point to say that the Trolls claim they are not smoking anything in the apartment and to give them another chance. Essentially that's what has been happening every time we complain.
At this point, Super Husband and I will make a decision. Do we stick it out or do we go back to the Landlord and ask him to allow us to "break" our lease out of compassion?
The bottom line is something needs to change because the current situation is not working. We are not willing to subject our children to this health risk and plus....it's making us crazy. Being at home is a constant stressor. I feel so much better when I leave and can literally feel my blood pressure skyrocket when I get back.
Fingers crossed that a freaking Christmas Miracle happens today!
December 15, 2011
Livin' the High Life
Okay. I do feel like a bit of a complainer as of late. But really, if I didn't have this crazy stupid stuff going on I would have nothing to talk about.
I think it's fair to say Super Husband and I are very nearly at the end of our rope with our living situation. Namely, the Trolls Downstairs.
The good news? They've finally stopped banging on the ceiling.
The bad news? They have not stopped smoking. In fact, they've kicked it into high gear. Now we not only get to deal with second-hand cigarette smoke but with weed as well!
To make a long story short, Super Husband smelled weed last week. He went and did a walk around of the house and saw nobody outside. He left it at that. A couple of evenings ago, he smelled it again. Again there was nobody outside. Then yesterday morning he went to drop off the latest gas bill to them. When he opened the storm door that goes downstairs to the apartment he was hit with a wave of weed. They've been smoking it in the house.
In an apparent episode of VERY bad timing, the landlord called me this morning to check in.
Let's just say I wasn't in the mood to be nice.
By the time the conversation ended, I had given him an ultimatum: get rid of the Trolls or we are leaving. End of.
I've given him three days to figure out what he is going to do and call me back.
This is going to get interesting....
I think it's fair to say Super Husband and I are very nearly at the end of our rope with our living situation. Namely, the Trolls Downstairs.
The good news? They've finally stopped banging on the ceiling.
The bad news? They have not stopped smoking. In fact, they've kicked it into high gear. Now we not only get to deal with second-hand cigarette smoke but with weed as well!
To make a long story short, Super Husband smelled weed last week. He went and did a walk around of the house and saw nobody outside. He left it at that. A couple of evenings ago, he smelled it again. Again there was nobody outside. Then yesterday morning he went to drop off the latest gas bill to them. When he opened the storm door that goes downstairs to the apartment he was hit with a wave of weed. They've been smoking it in the house.
In an apparent episode of VERY bad timing, the landlord called me this morning to check in.
Let's just say I wasn't in the mood to be nice.
By the time the conversation ended, I had given him an ultimatum: get rid of the Trolls or we are leaving. End of.
I've given him three days to figure out what he is going to do and call me back.
This is going to get interesting....
December 7, 2011
How to Make a Memorable Impression in the Boardroom
And I don't mean in a good, career-building kind of way. But then again, I bet you already knew that would be the case by virtue of the fact I'm writing about it..
Yesterday morning was a brutal one. In fact, yesterday as a whole wasa piece of crap challenging.
Buddy has decided that life is simply too boring when you do things like listen or be cute and say sweet things. That is SOOOOO yesterday. Today is, apparently, time for a bit of a shake up. It's interesting to see just how much a few extra tantrums, meltdowns and diabolical freak outs can shake up an otherwise mundane day!
By the time I got the boys to daycare yesterday I was ready to snap. Or make an emergency trip to the LCBO. I pulled myself together and went in to face a day of nonstop stress at work.
Well, about 45 minutes into a meeting I casually glanced down and realized there was something poking out of my collar. What the fuck? At this point I have 4 other people staring at me in either pity or horror, not sure which but I guess it doesn't really matter.
I reach down and pull out.....
.....a pirate-themed washcloth.
Complete with skull and crossbones.
I have two little boys - what can I say?
I actually thought the whole thing was quite humorous. Thankfully I wasn't presenting to senior management!
The day continued in this fashion. Buddy tantrumed the whole way home and then I got an email from the cake lady who I ordered Little Man's Birthday cupcakes from casually letting me know that "oops" she "overbooked". Sucks to be me.
The 5 places I've emailed so far are totally booked up and unable to take on the order.
I guess this is a reminder as to why I usually do everything myself.
People Suck.
Yesterday morning was a brutal one. In fact, yesterday as a whole was
Buddy has decided that life is simply too boring when you do things like listen or be cute and say sweet things. That is SOOOOO yesterday. Today is, apparently, time for a bit of a shake up. It's interesting to see just how much a few extra tantrums, meltdowns and diabolical freak outs can shake up an otherwise mundane day!
By the time I got the boys to daycare yesterday I was ready to snap. Or make an emergency trip to the LCBO. I pulled myself together and went in to face a day of nonstop stress at work.
Well, about 45 minutes into a meeting I casually glanced down and realized there was something poking out of my collar. What the fuck? At this point I have 4 other people staring at me in either pity or horror, not sure which but I guess it doesn't really matter.
I reach down and pull out.....
.....a pirate-themed washcloth.
Complete with skull and crossbones.
I have two little boys - what can I say?
I actually thought the whole thing was quite humorous. Thankfully I wasn't presenting to senior management!
The day continued in this fashion. Buddy tantrumed the whole way home and then I got an email from the cake lady who I ordered Little Man's Birthday cupcakes from casually letting me know that "oops" she "overbooked". Sucks to be me.
The 5 places I've emailed so far are totally booked up and unable to take on the order.
I guess this is a reminder as to why I usually do everything myself.
People Suck.
December 1, 2011
6 Month Update
Well, well, well. It's hard to believe we have been living in our crazy tiny rental for (almost) 6 months now. That means we are half way through our initial intention of one year.
It's safe to say it aint happening.
We knew that months ago and that's okay. As long as we keep ourselves focused and have a "plan" in place, it's okay.
So....here's our current, slightly revised plan.
1. Remain in our rental (or possibly another rental if the situation with the Trolls downstairs doesn't improve) for another 1.5 years.
2. Pay off all or almost all out debt. Not a small feat!
3. Buy a home in Markham. Why Markham? Because the location is good. It's close to the city and Super Husband works there. Housing prices are WAAAAAY lower than the city and the schools are ranked highly. It also means we can stick with one family vehicle which is super important to us. Two cars = far too much unecessary expense!
4. We like it there. And we have friends there :)
So. How do we change our situation between now and then? Improve cash flow (insert sarcastic laugh here). But seriously. Up to this point, we have not make many significant financial advances since selling our house. The money that we ended up with from the sale of our home went to credit card debt. We have been making at least minimum payments on all credit each month since then and not incurring new debt which in itself is a huge win but it mainly appears as though we are "treading water". That part sucks and makes me want to throw a tantrum that could rival my three year old. But it gets better. Eventually.
1. In April of 2012 I am due to get a decent bonus payout. We plan to pay off the car with that and eliminate $427 in car payments each month.
2. In June 2012 Little Man will be 2.5 and move to the Preschool room in day care. Yippee....that will save about $250 a month.
3. Also in June (ish) we are expecting a really good tax return (thanks to a move >50kms to my office and the fact we have reciepts for lots of daycare dollars)!
4. In August we will eliminate Buddy's day care fees. We pre paid his last month up front and he will be starting school full time in September. That gives us $950 per month back. Granted, we will have to pay for some level of after school care but it will be significantly less.
5. All the savings from points 1-3 above (~$1,600 per month) will be applied to our existing debt load. Once we reach a "comfort point" we can then start saving a lump sum for a down payment.
It's a long, slow process but if I keep focused on the end result, I find it manageable.
It's safe to say it aint happening.
We knew that months ago and that's okay. As long as we keep ourselves focused and have a "plan" in place, it's okay.
So....here's our current, slightly revised plan.
1. Remain in our rental (or possibly another rental if the situation with the Trolls downstairs doesn't improve) for another 1.5 years.
2. Pay off all or almost all out debt. Not a small feat!
3. Buy a home in Markham. Why Markham? Because the location is good. It's close to the city and Super Husband works there. Housing prices are WAAAAAY lower than the city and the schools are ranked highly. It also means we can stick with one family vehicle which is super important to us. Two cars = far too much unecessary expense!
4. We like it there. And we have friends there :)
So. How do we change our situation between now and then? Improve cash flow (insert sarcastic laugh here). But seriously. Up to this point, we have not make many significant financial advances since selling our house. The money that we ended up with from the sale of our home went to credit card debt. We have been making at least minimum payments on all credit each month since then and not incurring new debt which in itself is a huge win but it mainly appears as though we are "treading water". That part sucks and makes me want to throw a tantrum that could rival my three year old. But it gets better. Eventually.
1. In April of 2012 I am due to get a decent bonus payout. We plan to pay off the car with that and eliminate $427 in car payments each month.
2. In June 2012 Little Man will be 2.5 and move to the Preschool room in day care. Yippee....that will save about $250 a month.
3. Also in June (ish) we are expecting a really good tax return (thanks to a move >50kms to my office and the fact we have reciepts for lots of daycare dollars)!
4. In August we will eliminate Buddy's day care fees. We pre paid his last month up front and he will be starting school full time in September. That gives us $950 per month back. Granted, we will have to pay for some level of after school care but it will be significantly less.
5. All the savings from points 1-3 above (~$1,600 per month) will be applied to our existing debt load. Once we reach a "comfort point" we can then start saving a lump sum for a down payment.
It's a long, slow process but if I keep focused on the end result, I find it manageable.
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