13th of September, Friday...

    So, someone just posted on Facebook, "Is Friday the 13th still a thing?" I have to vouch, that yes, yes it surely is! I woke up this morning with a 102.0 degree fever. Unknown cause. I started feeling under the weather Wednesday night when I got out of work and the rest is history. My throat started hurting on the right side and I kept alternating between hot and cold (cue song "Hot n' Cold" by Katy Perry now). I didn't think it was anything until I walked into work the next day and felt like I would pass out, so they sent me home. Stayed in bed all day. Muscles ache. It was horrible.

    This morning, though! I was terrified when I saw that my temperature hit a high of 102.4. I told Ian and he made me make an appointment at the Prime Care Clinic. The earliest available time was at 3PM, so Ian told his boss he had to leave early and ran home in the pouring rain to change and get me into the car to take to the hospital. I have the best hubby on the planet. The doctor diagnosed me with either strep throat or pharyngitis. She took a CBC, urine sample, and strep swab - won't get the results until Monday. Until then, though, she prescribed me a broad spectrum antibiotic - Augmentin 875 mg - BID for 7 days and told me to get probiotics, which I did since I know what antibiotics do to me.

    So while Ian and I are waiting for my blood to be drawn, who do we see but our slumlord? Ugh! Friday the 13th. Seriously! We completely ignored him and didn't acknowledge his presence whatsoever, although I saw him staring at us multiple times...that creeper.

    We also went to look at our new apartment again today! It's better than I thought! Haha...I mean, I knew it was awesome before, but going back and thinking about furniture to put in there and where to put it...it's a whole different feeling. We cannot wait to move in! Hoping the current tenant will get her house closing on time, and will be out sooner rather than later!

    That's the news for now. TTYL. <3

Prayer answered...

    We did it. We put down the security deposit on the apartment! I am SO excited! Truly and honestly, I cannot wait to get out of this apartment. It is a hideous eyesore, small, and very old. Now, don't get me wrong, I adore old houses...when they are updated. When they don't look like they have been sitting around for years without care.

    We started packing a couple of days ago, but now we can start packing full-force!

The Hope, the Truth, and the Will.

    So Ian and I went to look at an apartment this evening - a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom duplex. Fully refinished, insulated, new windows, absolutely gorgeous. Huge refrigerator, electric stove, microwave, washer/dryer in the basement. Lots of storage space. The rent is a bit pricey, especially since there are no utilities included...but it is pet friendly and it is a million times nicer than what we are in right now. It would still be affordable between Ian and I, we would just have to cut back on our spending! Which is probably a great idea anyway. I think this one will be the one.

I pray it is the right decision.

Good? Better? Bad? Worse?

    Things have been getting...I'm not sure...better? Worse? God only knows. God also is the only one who knows what our destiny holds for us. Sure, we have a part in it, but goodness is it difficult.

    Nagyi (my grandmother) has been getting better, getting stronger. My mom told me this morning that she sat up in bed today to eat and is complaining to everyone and about everything! Believe me, that's a GREAT sign. My nagyi is a strong-willed, opinionated, and no-bull kind of woman. She makes me proud. I am ecstatic that she is getting better...although I am extremely worried about this fluid buildup that keeps happening. She should be getting a lot more diuretics than she is due to her CHF. Hopefully they will address this when she is discharged from the hospital.

    Ian and I's uncle and family came up Thursday and we were able to do a ton of fantastic things with them. They are literally our favorite family members. They are understanding, don't buy into the propaganda, respectful, fun, humorous, and adventurous. And our aunt's parents are really trying to help us out with our apartment hunt. They made us an offer that we probably should not refuse, but we might have to...which would be a great shame. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

    Anyway, the weekend started off on Thursday (9/5/13) with a BBQ at Walter and Candy's house. We had a lot of fun, sitting around, talking, taking random pictures, and munching on cookies and brownies. 

    9/6/13 - The next day, Ian had work but I went out with the family into Cooperstown and had some delicious food at "The Pit". BBQ Pulled Pork with cole slaw on a kaiser roll - yum! We took a walk down to Otsego Lake and headed to Mr. Shake! I'd never had it, so needless to say, I was excited! And believe me, I was not disappointed. Their shakes and ice cream are scrumptious! They had a mini-golf set up outside which was free...we kept skipping around the holes, and with Grandma Joanie playing, hilarity ensued. No one won, no one lost. It was perfect.

    So we go back to Walter and Candy's and Ian joins us just in time to shoot targets! Ian had never in his life shot a gun - and he did great! I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn't shot a gun in YEARS and I thought I was going to be very bad, but shockingly enough, I did VERY well! (I told my parents, and my dad goes, "you are daddy's girl!" Haha!) I was also surprised by our cousin's shooting skills. Fabulous! I love that we were able to do that. Down in the city, you literally get to do nothing like that. As someone said today, "The city is full of liberals." How true it is! Everything is SO restricted and for some reason everyone believes that anyone who owns/carries a gun is a serial murderer or a lunatic who will shoot your brains out. Education about guns and the real uses for them - hunting, target shooting, and protection - are VASTLY inferior downstate. It's pretty sad. Although, I've seen more lunatics downstate than I have up here.

    When we were done, we rushed our butts to Turning Stone Casino. Seeing the size and activity, you would think you were in Atlantic City! Great time there too! We ate at the Tin Rooster - Ian and I ordered an "All Pork" Platter (More pork...by this point I'd already eaten two meals full of pork...and by this last one I most definitely felt like I was turning into an oinking piggy!) with corn bread, hush puppies, and cole slaw. Delish. 
    Then we hit the TABLES!!
    I took out $200 and gave $100 to Ian and kept $100 for myself. Well, we sit down at a $10 blackjack table with our Uncle and start to play. Wouldn't you know it, by the end of the night, Ian and I had turned $200 into $540. Go team! Haha!
    Driving home, though, was terrifying. Ian was so exhausted I thought he was going to fall asleep behind the wheel. Luckily, we got home safely, fell into bed, and passed out immediately.

    9/7/13 - Ian and I met up with the family again at the farm and we went to a Hog Roast (OH MY GOODNESS, MORE PIG!). I paid $8 for a Chicken meal for myself and $10 for a combination Chicken and Pork meal for Ian...SO WORTH IT! The meat was tender and flavorful, and the meal came with beans, corn on the cob, a dinner roll, pickles, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, apple sauce, potatoes, drinks, and pie. You could choose what you wanted and then sat down at a family-style table and ate. It was really fun and good. Needless to say, all were stuffed. Later on, the boys (except Uncle) went skeet shooting. It is so difficult! I wish I had tried, but I was sitting on the back trunk of the car watching and clucking with the hens. Haha! Next time!

    So, I guess it's better than I expected. We have nowhere to move into just yet, but hopefully that will change for the better. I have Hope. I have Faith. Sometimes I waver...but it will work out as it should. I know it will. We know it will.

Worry and Fear

    So many things seem to be going wrong nowadays. Maybe I just can't handle the stress anymore, but a lot of the time I just want to break down and cry. 

    For example, hubby and I found a fantastic two bedroom apartment IN TOWN, near the lake, that allows pets, all utilities included, REALLY good price...we were going to take it, the landlord seemed to like us, and we even TOLD him that we wanted it. Well, two days later he calls and tells us that he won't be able to do the yearly rental because his sisters want to rent it for a reasonable price from October to May and then $1,000 a week over the summer! So that was a fail.

    A week later, our landlord posts on our door that we need to get rid of our pets because of "inappropriate pet waste disposal" and if we don't within the month, he will begin the process to evict us. Now, let me explain. We are REALLY good at picking up our animals' waste, but Daisy (blonde pup) got sick from eating a bone we gave her to chew on and we missed two spots of diarrhea that she had had on the front lawn (because, well, it was diarrhea). Apparently, someone found this offensive and decided to report it (since this landlord NEVER comes to any of the apartments). I just don't get it. We've been really good neighbors/tenants, pay our rent on time, keep the apartment clean, and even made the apartment more presentable than when we moved into it. Now, we have to leave because of this - which is actually fine with me since I would not be able to stand living here anymore. I just didn't need this added on to the fact that we didn't get the apartment I spoke about previously.

Sidenote: The landlords name is Al O'Brien and he owns the Cooperstown Motel, as well as a bunch of other apartment buildings (houses that all are white with red trim). He has been caught for credit card fraud (he isn't allowed to take any credit cards anymore), his son used to do a ton of coke/meth and is now in a rehab or hospital somewhere, and Al is nothing more than a slumlord. 

• We cannot run our microwave and toaster oven at the same time, we cannot run a vacuum cleaner with anything else plugged in, we cannot use a hairdryer because he uses GLASS FUSES, which are a MAJOR fire hazard. 
• The basement right below us is filled to the brim with junk that is rotting and growing mold all over it and we are ending up breathing in the spores. 
• When we first moved it, there were fleas ALL OVER the apartment building due to the previous tenants allowing their cats outside through the windows by cutting the window's mesh screens open (so needless to say, we have no screens).
• The garage is filled about five feet above the ground with old furniture, paper, tools, and a bunch of things that SHOULD NOT be in a garage.
• His handymen come into our apartments whenever they want, saying that they need to fix something while we are out, and end up smoking pot in the bathroom, doing nothing.
• His method of cleaning the bathtubs and sinks are to PAINT them white.
• The last time his handyman came in to clean some mold off of the bathtub, we specifically told him to make sure the door was closed because we have a cat. What did we find when we came home that night? Our cat outside. He proceeded to run into the garage full of garbage and my poor hubby and friend had to go INTO it to get the cat out.
• The floor to our living room was floorboard. The stuff you put underneath carpets. Really?
• Our bathroom is an outhouse. It was built after the house was built and turned into an apartment building, and the landlord didn't care enough to have it insulated. SO, we froze in there over the winter, as did the PIPES!

That is just a small list of the problems in THIS apartment building. I can't even imagine the other apartment buildings. He has a terrible reputation, and if I had been able to talk to other people before renting, I never would have rented this place!!

    Lastly, yesterday my mom tells me that my grandmother is having some gall bladder issues and a lot of shortness of breath. Now, my grandmother lives in Hungary. No one from our family is with her because we all live in either America or Switzerland. Thank God she has a sweet caregiver. When I called her up, she sounded terrible! I heard the SOB (shortness of breath) very clearly and I asked her to take her diuretic. She told me she did, but it was with a heavy heart that I hung up the phone. Then overnight, she was taken to the hospital because the SOB had gotten so bad. They put her on O2 and pumped her full of diuretics. This morning, thank the Lord, she is doing better - but still very weak. It hurts that I cannot be with her. I pray to God that she will make it through. I don't know what I would do if I lost her. I love her so much.

    So this is what has happened within the last 3 weeks. The stress is almost unbearable. I truly hope that today works out for the best...

To begin...

    Hey all! Decided that starting a blog and writing about my life would be quite beneficial to me. I'm one that gets easily stressed, - which is amusing since I have a high-stress job - and writing has always been a fantastic outlet for my emotions and thoughts. 

    This blog isn't very specific to anything. Just random thoughts, story telling (I am trying to write a novel and inspiration hits at odd moments), daily life occurrences, a bit of ranting & raving, and great realizations of Blessings and gratefulness.

    I hope this will be a fantastic venture into the land of blogging!