Flashback

My family has never had much money. In some points of my childhood and beyond, in fact, money has seemed a bit of an imaginary concept.

We lived in student housing pretty much until I was 10 1/2 years old. Five kids and two adults in one small two bedroom apartment is a wee bit crowded. My parents slept on a hide-a-bed in the living room, I shared a room with my sisters, and my brothers shared the smaller room.

The thing was, we kids didn't really know we were poor. Sure, we knew we couldn't afford new toys, that store bought clothes (that weren't hand me downs from other families) were rare things, and so on. But...life was good. Great, in fact. We never lacked for friends, the complex was teeming with them. Our parents always had time for us. We got to go on cool day long road trips around the state/area we lived in on a regular basis, whenever we cockroach bombed the apartment.

You see, living in an apartment building full of college students, in a warmer climate...cockroaches were inevitable. To this day, I can think of few things that gross me out more. 'Bombing' the apartment only abated the problem. The roaches would scatter to the other apartments, only to return when the pesticides wore off.

I know, this is a long story, but I just had a big flashback to one day. This particular day, my Mom decided we needed to decockroach the clothes stored in our closets, waiting for younger siblings to grow into them. As she shook out the shirts and dresses and pants, we ran around, stomping on the roaches. It became something of a little party. Mom pulled out her accordion and played 'La Cucaracha' while we smashed away.

As much as I despise cockroaches, I've never forgotten that day and am SO grateful I was blessed with such a fun Mom. Love ya Mom!

Be OK

I received a note on my door yesterday that having pet food outside your apartment is not allowed. As a matter of fact, we aren't allowed to have anything outside our doors, apparently. The cat food and blanket are no longer out there, guiding Oliver home. I guess it's all out of my hands now.

Figaro and I are rattling around this big, mostly empty, apartment. Figgy hardly leaves my side, unless he's sleeping. I think he's missing Ollie as much as I am. Since I sent Kate off to ID earlier this week, it's been really quiet around here.

I have a fully stocked kitchen, thanks to the McB's and S's. Gina's parents loaned me kitchenware and gave me food. Margo's parents had been visiting Tom and Margo over the weekend, I was on their way back, so they brought me a small pickup load of my stuff (mainly kitchen and bathroom stuff). I'm sleeping on my air mattress and sitting on the McB's loaned futon until my furniture can be brought out here.

The apartment complex loans out washers and dryers, full sized. It's great to have those available to me in my own home again. I have my own space, clothing, food, bathroom(s), and at least one of my pets...so, why am I feeling so down?

My baby's lost!!!

Today was a crazy day.
Kate and I headed out about midday to apartment hunt. The first apartment complex was ok, but a little iffy. When we arrived at the next complex, though, I fell in love. First of all, the complex is managed by the same company as the one I was living in out in Utah. Secondly, the area is GORGEOUS. The complex is set back from roads in a wooded hilly area. It's like living in a park/treehouse. I actually managed to sign a contract and move all my meager belongings currently with me into the apartment, all today.
When we were lugging the last load in, including the 'boys', my cat carrier came apart in my hands and my cats took off running. Figaro didn't go far, he cowered under a car until we got him. Oliver, on the other hand, took off into the woods. He headed over a steep, densely wooded hill. Kate spent about an hour combing the woods for him (the hills were really steep and my knees had an awfully hard time negotiating the climb). No luck. As of right now, my baby is out there somewhere, lost, scared, and without a clue how to survive. To say I'm stressed/worried is an understatement. I've put out food and a blanket he likes to lay on, outside my door. I'm on the top floor, but hopefully he'll find me. I'm praying hard!
After such an up and down day, I'm beat. Just thought I'd share.

Life is like a bowl of cherries...

Sorry, I know it's been a long time. I just haven't had much internet access lately. So, my life? Well, I am working full time as a PRN nurse at KUMC, more than full time really. They are busting at the seams with preemies and sick infants and just don't have enough staff to keep up. I could work every night, or day, or both...they tend to call about every other night that I'm not working to see if I would be willing to pick it up.
The nursery reminds me much of the NICU at LDSH before we moved to IMC. It's been a bit of an adjustment getting used to the sensory overload of all the alarms in one room again. All of the basic concepts of neonatal care are the same, but methodologies and protocols are somewhat different and it's definitely been a period of adjustment.
This weekend, and the beginning of next week, I am on the hunt for an apartment. The plan is to get an apartment on a short term lease, get out on my own and financially set, then go househunting to buy a place. The KC area market is ideal for buyers right now and with the money my dad is giving each of us from his inheritance, I'm in a good position to be buying.
I'm starting to make friends at work, but as of yet, I don't have much (any) social life out here yet. There is an LDS 'Mid-singles' group (27-35) out here. I've emailed them that I'm interested, but so far, no activities have been scheduled. I'm looking forward to meeting people.
I finally got my car registered in Kansas yesterday, only to find the screws holding the Utah license plate on had rusted to the point we will have to drill them out! I finally got the plate off, but the screw head on one of the screws snapped off rather than unscrewing.
My computer gave up the ghost yesterday, finally. It's been threatening for a while, but when I turned it on yesterday, Windows wouldn't even load and the program to repair errors had disappeared. I headed to the store, and now have a newer, faster, bigger and better laptop (HP) with a much stronger Wi-fi connectivity. I now can actually connect online indoors!
Kate's hanging with me for the weekend. We did a fair amount of shopping yesterday, and today attempted apartment hunting. With the rain and other complications, we ended up at home, hunting online instead.
Well, that pretty much sums up my life at the time. I hope to find my own place soon and get a better, more secure internet connection. At that point I will do better at this blogging thing, I promise!