Well. We're moving.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Our brief and fruitless attempt at home ownership has ended in tears and foreclosure. For two months we’ve been desperately seeking something that we can afford to move into before we get formally evicted. Finally, this morning, with 3 weeks to go, we put a ten dollar deposit down on a ratty little trailer in a ratty little trailer park, with an additional $140 due Friday, and $325 a month thereafter. The landlord, one of those elderly midwestern salt-of-the-earth types, looked at us sternly and said, “I don’t allow no dopin’ in these trailers!”

Pluses: We can afford it. And it’s better than living in the car. And mini-Marli doesn’t have to switch schools.

Minuses: It’s tiny, cramped, old, smelly, there’s godawful orange carpet in one bedroom, godawful blue textured carpet in the living room, godawful dark wood paneling all over the walls, there’s about 4 inches of clearance between the top of my husband’s head and the ceiling, and no pets are allowed.

My father has agreed to let me store some of my furniture in his basement (he has plans for my fridge and my chest freezer, I know it), and my mother is going to house the dog and the guinea pig. Which leaves my two kitties. My son said his girlfriend’s mother would take them, but they would be outside, and I can’t bear the thought of them not being loved and cuddled and spoiled like they’re accustomed to. I’m in tears whenever I look at them right now; they adore and trust me, and here I am about to abandon them.

So, (changing the subject 'cause I really don’t want to start crying at work), I have two weeks to condense the contents of a 3 bedroom house with detached garage to something that’ll fit into a 2 bedroom single-wide. While still working and attending training classes. It’ll get done somehow, I suppose, and by the weekend of the 14th we should have everything crammed inside our new domicile.

My final act at the old house will be to stand in the driveway and loudly worship Satan for a while, just to irritate the crazy neighbor who keeps putting signs up on her garage proclaiming that god and her momma sees everything we do.

My first act at the new place will be to get incredibly liquored up and watch every tear-jerker DVD I own, just to get it all out of my system. But no dopin’.

This entire year has sucked.

2

Well. Let that be a lesson to ya!

Just kidding. Sorry to hear of your troubles and I hope 2009 will be a whole lot better for you.

3

So you can’t post here from the new place, then?

I’m sorry, hon. At least you’ll be away from the crazy lady, but I know that’s cold comfort. I’ll be hoping for better days for you, very soon.

4

That is one of the saddest things I have read lately. I know times are tough and you are lucky to even have a place to go, but is there any way you could bring them with? I’ve had luck convincing landlords to take pets when they proclaimed that they aren’t allowed (some just make blanket bans, but cave to repeated begging and promises to replace anything they ruin) or go over the limit (I’ve never had just one cat, and have had to finagle and beg to have more than one).

5

{{{Hugs}}} to you.

The other thing you can ask the new landlord about the cats, is if he’ll give you 30 days to find them a new home, so their stay in the trailer will be minimal. Or offer an additional security deposit to cover any possible damage. I know things are tight, but if he’ll agree to that, let us know, we Dopers are notorious for pitching in for each other, and I, for one, would be more than happy to help.

All the best to you.

6

I would be willing to help with that, too.

7

ditto here, I’m a fellow 911’er in the midwest, gotta stick together!

8

I love you guys. I suppose it’s worth a shot, all they can say is no, right? I dunno, though, they won’t allow a guinea pig in a cage, even…I guess we’ll see. My husband is not fond of the cats (nor they of him) but he is fond of me, maybe I can get him to use his gifts of persuasion to the utmost and save the kitties.

9

Wishing you much better days ahead, Marlitharn. Having read you for several years now I know you deserve a comfy place to rest your head and really hope things turn for the better for you and yours. May this be a good place for you and one you’ll look back on fondly.

10

Charming.

Keep us posted and let us know how to help!

11

Please check your pm.

Just thought of something, sending another.

12

Hey, if you can accept PayPal, I could fling a few Canabucks your way…

13

Where is “the happy home?” I’m in MN (obviously); tho’ I’m not sure what I could do (I’ve got one territorial cat that won’t tolerate another), I’d love to help out any way I could.

14

Marlitharn–I’m so sorry. :frowning:

15

{{{Marlitharn}}}

I’m so very, very sorry. :frowning: And I agree with the others… I’d love to help. If you don’t mind me asking, where do you live? Perhaps we could round up some folks to help with the packing and move. Also, there definitely might be some Dopers who’d do kitty-fostering until your able to have them again. If nothing else fails though, we’re here to listen to any venting you need to do.

You’ll definitely be in my thoughts (and have been, since your first thread on this topic). Hang in there and maybe there’ll be some way to deal with part of this in a fun manner. I mean, sometimes shabby / trashy chic can be your best decorating friend.

Good luck!

Kemi~
[email is in my profile]

16

Honestly I’d keep the cats even if the landlord still says no. I think most states have a rule that you have to give 24 hours notice to inspect rental property, and so if the landlord came over you could just find somewhere to stash the cats for the day. Chances are high that the landlord would never find out as long as you don’t let the cats tear the place up or pee everywhere or anything. (And if there is any odor, because I know that a lot of people say you can smell a house with cats in it even if they’re cleaned up after, you can always say it’s your furniture or something, that still smells from “back when you had the cats”).

I’d bet money that the worst that would happen if the landlord found out is that you’d have to get rid of the cats at that point, and at least you’d have them until that time. I highly doubt they’d evict you for the cats–they’d just make you get rid of them.

The kitties are your family. I’d do everything possible to keep them.

17

Yeah, that’s pretty bad advice, unless you’re willing to face living on the streets again. I say that as a landlord who has evicted two tenants for having pets in violation of their lease. Cats do sit in windows and can be seen from outside, you know.

18

That can be prevented, though. I can see evicting someone from a nice condo or something for having pets, but a trailer with “godawful carpet” and so on with a landlord who seems to have reason to worry about tenants doing drugs seems a less likely candidate for such extreme action over pets.

I take pet ownership very seriously, and yeah I probably would risk being temporarily homeless to prevent having to abandon my cats.

19

You guys have no idea how much I appreciate y’all. I’m in mid-MO, about 55 miles north of Jeff City, if there are any nearby Dopers willing to take on one kitty who’s as gormless as a Valley Girl and another one who drools when she’s happy and thinks she needs to sleep with her snout up your nostril.

I have considered trying to sneak them in, but the landlord and his wife live Right There, and my husband isn’t willing to risk being evicted for them.

As far as the actual moving goes, I think we’ll be okay. We’ve got a week overlap to move in, and the new place is less than 5 minutes from the old place, and we’ve got a pick-up truck lined up to borrow, as well as at least one teenager; we’ll just have to make lots of trips.

On the bright side, I will finally get rid of the Fugly Couch. This is a couch that’s so Fugly it’s earned Capital Letters. The Fugly Couch is staying in the old house; the new owners can fight with it to get it out the door. And it will be a fight. The Fugly Couch doesn’t move easily; it took 6 of us last time. The Fugly Couch is a master of passive resistance.

Conveniently, I already own a Velvet Elvis.

Thanks for listening to me vent; I’ve been trying to be a Pillar of Strength for my family and I’m realizing I need a Pillar, too; the Dopers are filling that role admirably.

20

The Fugly Couch isn’t one of the ones with a foldup metal-framed bed inside, is it? Those are evil. I was on one end of one helping move it a few weeks ago, and I never want to do that again.