On the move (again), but not so much by choice this time

So I have to move. Yes, HAVE to move. I was informed by SCA that they have chosen not to renew my lease. I suspect that is because I have been having financial troubles which means I have been paying my rent late. Please know: it gets PAID with additional late fee no less, but it has been late the last few months. You see remember a few months ago when I was all excited about the prospect of buying a house and then I went to that thing at the convention center and that guy took one look at my credit report and basically said, "AS IF!!!"? Well, that got me all fired up to get my credit straigtened out. So I contacted several of my creditors and made payment arrangements. Those payments take a HUGE chunk out of my monthly income, and not to lay it all on the feet of paying bills, I must admit that my failure to curb my dining-out habit and other spending has not helped. But in my defense, another problem is our wonky pay schedule at the State. We get paid every two weeks which means I might get paid on say the 1st, the 15th and the 29th one month, but another (like say this one and next month) on the 8th and the 22nd. That means my rent check is the one that comes on the 8th which makes rent 5 days late). Now, you're probably thinking, well then pay you rent with your 22nd check. That would work, but then I have no funds to cover the automatic withdrawals from my creditors that I have prearranged to come out specifically in the middle of the month because I thought that would be easier. Since I was born, raised and continued to be a poor black child with terrible money management skills, I live paycheck to paycheck and don't have any reserves that would allow me to pay my rent and bills on time the right way. Well, none of that matters so much now. I have to move and now I have two months to find a place and this is going to make the $$$ situation worse because I now have to pay application fees and security deposits and first-month's rent (possibly even first and last because that might be my only option without a co-signer) and I also have to worry about being rejected because of a negative rental history because of my late payments and terrible credit report. And let me tell you, I am already worried about what I might be able to find because YIKES!!! The rental market has passed me by. I have been looking at places on Craigslist as well as visiting sites for buildings I've lived in before and man, have things changed. I won't lie, I suspect another reason I'm getting the boot is because they are about to bump the rent up crazy-high. I mean, my place is pretty damn sweet (which is why I'm actually bummed that I have to move). Remember when I was searching last time? I got everything on my wishlist EXCEPT a gas stove. My clawfoot tub, my wood floors, top floor, lots of storage. Plus stuff I didn't as for like dark wood trim and lots of windows (and annoying neighbor dog and radiators with a mind of their own and centipedes, but I digress). This time around I don't even know what I want. I think I might go more "modern" this time. Carpet, a/c, definitely an electric stove. Not sure about what neighborhood. Truth is my neighbor's barky little bugger and dodging dog crap all around the way doesn't make Stevens appealing to me anymore. I can go for a Cats Okay building, but I'm about done with the dog thing. I'm thinking Uptown, but prices up that way are bananas (because you're "close to the lakes" or whatever). I might consider Nordeast, but I'd have to be right by the Quarry because that is what I want! Oh, or in the St. Anthony area near the Wally World/Cub area there. I know my limits without having a car. I have also spotted some stuff over South, as well as in Richfield and St. Louis Park. Anyhoodle, now that we're upon the first of the month and landlords requiring a 60 day notice (or who give a 60 day notice in my case) will know of any openings. I plan to keep searching and seeing what's out there over the next week and hopefully, I can start visiting properties the following week. I am hoping for an April 15 lease start, but I might even consider an April 1st if I found the right place (and they would have me). Maybe SCA could rent my place out early. Not holding my breath. But since I have to be out of my apartment on April 30th at noon, I would need someplace that I can move into at least a few days early, so that I'm not homeless for 24 hours. I also hope I can get a decent moving crew together. Too bad all the boys I know have left the dang state for the most part. Not that it would have to be boys, but I do need someone who is willing and able to drive the truck. Oh, well. I'm babbling. It's a real slow day here and I have jack-all to do, so I have completed my state and property taxes and watched some Fright Night (2011) while sending out a bit of mail and entering some SAs. I've also scanned Craigslist some more and will probably do that some more again once I finish this rambly piece of business. Which I guess I am gonna do right now. More to come on this whole moving/apartment search-y thing.

In the beginning...

I had my last cigarette at the bus stop on the way to Job #2 today. I did bum one from Val when I wanted one really badly at work, but didn't want THAT to be my last one. I have been having cravings, but they aren't terrible. Actually, they seem more based on boredom and a sense that I should be doing something else. See, just now I just had the thought, "Is smoking really that bad?" YES! YES, IT IS!!! The hand-boredom is kinda unexpected. Time to find some new patterns to crochet or knit. On the caffeine front, work is too slow to give that up now. But I am trying to drink more water. This is really random, but I am not real interested in posting every craving on FB. Might be time to start journaling again. I kinda miss it and blogging just ain't the same.

Countdown to clean air

I am quitting smoking on Thursday. I bought a pack of cigarettes on Saturday and I want that to be the last pack of cigarettes I ever buy for myself. I have not done very well on diminishing my cigarette intake up to my Quit Day. I have contemplated moving my date, but I fear doing so will make me lose my willpower. I am ready, but I am nervous. I still have crazy-mad cravings now and then. Lately, I get them whenever I am heading to a bus stop. I almost went back to my apartment to get my smokes this morning so I could smoke at the bus stop. Instead, I walked to a different bus stop and the bus showed up right away and then there was a bus waiting at the light. So exercise = not smoking. Right now, it's my break time. I vaguely want to smoke, but not really. I still haven't bought healthy snacks. I bought a lot of other crap though. I'm kinda on the make-up journey. I'm old and my Black isn't cracking, but it's showing it's a age a touch. So I bought a few cheap (clearance and BOGO) foundations. I also bought new boots from Macy's. I did my Fed taxes last week. I need to do the State ones, but I haven't bought printer ink yet. I'm kinda rambling. This is what I do when I don't smoke.

One week til my Smoke-Out

Remember how I said I was gonna quit smoking on February 14 (for my heart, right?)? Well, with only a week left until my Quit Day, I'm a little concerned about actually being able to quit. Part of me wants to revise my quit plan and push the date back a few weeks. I have been doing a terrible job of whittling down and tracking my smokey treat intake. I had an app for that for a bit, but it kinda sucked so I deleted it. My plan was to smoke less and less until 2/14 and then just be done. By now I had hoped to be down to, like, 5 cigs a day. Yeah, not happening. I have not been leaving my cigarettes at home, so I smoke at work. My newest weak spot is waiting at the bus stop. This morning I decided to walk to the my downtown bus stop instead. Exercise and fight the Craving Dragon! Boom!!! My other weakness is a little tougher and that is sitting on my couch watching the YouTube in front of my TV. Yes, you read that right. I sit on my couch watching YouTube videos (Gabe and Babe are the freakin' best!!!) on my iPad with the dang TV on! What's THAT about? We need to work on that. My Netflix queue is bananas and also I can only watch so many videos about natural hair and make-up tutorials and cute IR couples vlogs. The natural hair thing is probably the next craziest thing in my world. I'm becoming a product junkie. Need to find my staples and stick to them. I really just want to buy two more things: castor oil and coconut oil. The Wedge actually has coconut oil on sale for only $5.79 this month. Cha-ching!!! I am debating the castor oil situation. Jamaican black castor oil or just the regular kind I can get at GNC? I might also need to get one other oil to counter the smell of the castor oil, but THAT'S IT!!! No more hair products!!! I imagine quitting smoking, eating better and exercising might actually contribute to my hair growth. Speaking of excercise, there is this awesome thing that I learned about that I REALLY want to try. It's called Couch 2 Five K, or C25K, and it's a program designed to get couch potatoes (ME!) off the couch and running in 3 months. It actually sounds doable. This could be a thing that I start in the spring (where else am I gonna run? I can't afford a Y membership right now.) I should get back to work. It's a slooooooooow day though. Maybe over my lunch break I can give a little update about being back at this spot. (Not all sunshine and rainbows, but also not creepy undercover sociopaths. The good with the bad and all that, right?)