Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sorry for the break...

Hello all!

I am so sorry for not posting anything lately, but my mind has just been crazy. LOL. So much has gone on over the last few weeks, that I don't even know where to start. Well, I guess I'll just start after I signed up for the CNA class. We made the first payment on it that day & have made 1 other payment towards it. Just have a lil over $280 to pay up before the class starts on May 16th...yup, only 19 days away...wow, where did the time go!? LOL! I'm getting excited though! My dream of becoming a nurse will finally be on it's way. I know that I won't be a "nurse" persay, but that's ok. This will just be the 1st rung on the ladder to my ultimate dream. :) I'm really looking forward to it! Once it starts, I'll try to keep y'all updated as much as possible to let you know how it's going! :)

Something else has happened in the last few weeks that I am NOT too happy about. You see, we are renting our mobile home from my husbands' parents...who also just happen to be our next door neighbors...yup, you read that right...they live RIGHT. NEXT. DOOR. When my husband & I first moved in here back in November 2009, it was ok. We needed a place to live in Wichita, as the job market in Newton was NOT going well for me (I was working as a desk clerk @ a hotel @ that time), and we were barely making ends meet. So, even though I knew I would be leaving my friends behind, we packed up and headed for Wichita. Luckily, it is only 30-40 minutes away from Newton. LOL! Anyway, Travis' dad & stepmom came to own the trailer next door to theirs & offered it to us, as they knew the situation we were in. Of course, we would have to pay them rent ($160/mo on top of the $140/mo lot rent), which was fine with me, and yes, I knew that we were going to take it in a "as is" condition, but they were in the process of fixing some of the major problems. So we move in and things are going well......for the first few months, that is. Then, things start to go downhill. The first issue that pops up? The bathroom floor in my bathroom has not been finished, even though we were told it would be done BEFORE we moved in. Granted, I had a floor, just no tile to cover the plywood. Well, after MANY requests for it to be finished, and many "we don't have the money at the moment, but we will get it done this month," my husband decided to take it into his own hands and finish the floor himself. So, we went to Lowe's and picked out a nice tile for the floor, and around 3 hours and $45 later, the floor was tiled. Yes, that was ALL it took to tile the floor. Now, tell me, HOW HARD is it for someone to do that!? I mean, c'mon!!! You promise us it'll be finished before we move in & we end up having to finish the job ourselves? Um, yeah, that should've been the first warning sign of things to come.

As the months go by and we get closer and closer to the 1 year mark of living here, more problems arise. We begin to have soft spots appear in the living room & kitchen floors. We tell my in-laws (aka, our landlords) and once again we are told they don't have the money to fix the problem at the moment, but that it will get done by the end of the month...and that is repeated over and over, even to this day! The soft spot in the living room is completely ridiculous and on the verge of dangerous, and the kitchen floor just looks terrible. I am honestly embarrassed to have any of my friends over because of the condition of this mobile home. There is a huge hole under the sink in the cabinets, the above counter cabinets are rotting away in places, the windows are not sealed properly, so winter was AWFUL for drafts coming in whenever the wind would blow (and it was freaking COLD this past winter), there are broken panes of glass in different windows throughout the home, and our a/c & heating unit is ANCIENT. I swear to god that thing has go to be like 80 yrs old! Our poor electric bill was absolutely horrendous this past winter because of it. But, I digress. So, even though we have told my in-laws about the problems in this home, nothing has been done to rectify it. EVEN THOUGH, they seem to have the money to go to the casinos whenever they feel like it or go on day trips to god knows where. Yeah, we get the excuse that they don't have the money to fix the problems right now, but yet, my father-in-law even ADMITTED to me that they do the very things I have mentioned in the sentence above. This has been a VERY sore subject for me, and if you were to ask them, my friends can attest to this very fact! LOL. I'm grateful that they are there to listen to me bitch about things, but on the other hand, I feel bad for dumping it on them. Some days, I just need to get it out or I will burst!! My husband has also felt the brunt of that storm quite a few times over the last few months, and thank goodness, still loves me to this day. LOL. So anyway, a couple weeks ago, my mother-in-law calls up Travis & basically tells him that we HAVE to take the trailer from them (they would transfer the title to us, free & clear) OR come July 1st, we are out on our asses with no place to live. YUP, you read that right. That was the ultimatum. Take the trailer or be homeless. Boy, did that set me off!! I even had a heated argument w/ my father-in-law over this whole thing, and let me just say, it felt good to get out everything I had held in for almost the last 2 years.

So, you're probably sitting there saying "what's the big deal? You'll have your own home now." The big deal is the fact that my husband and I do NOT want to live here anymore, and actually had a plan to move out as soon as possible after I got a job as a CNA. Now, we are going to be stuck w/ a broken down trailer (yes, that's how I look at it) until we can find someone that would be willing to take it (as is, minus a few repairs we plan on making) from us for practically nothing. We even got a phone call about a week after my mother-in-law called my husband, from the apartment complex we were looking at moving into (and accepted at), saying that they would probably have an apartment available the middle of June. Wow, can you say ROTTEN TIMING!? Or should I say, everything's falling into place, just at the wrong time!! Sadly, we will not be able to take that apartment at this time, but we are still very interested in moving into the complex, and hopefully another one will open up in the next few months/by the end of the year. Lord knows, I do NOT want to be living here come next Spring...shoot, I don't even want to still be here by this Winter! I just hope & pray that once I get a job as a CNA & we get some money saved up, we will have the funds & opportunity to move into that lovely apartment complex & really start "living."

Well, I think that's about it for now...if I think of anything else, I will post another blog. Until then, I hope y'all are doing well & I look forward to chatting with you again soon! :) Take care & stay safe!

Later gators!

*Jolene*

P.S. Sorry if this is/was a little confusing...it is almost 4am here after all! LOL! :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Soon to be CNA...I hope! :)

Well, the title says it all! Yes, I am officially enrolled in a CNA class for May. After years and YEARS of talking about doing it & never following through with it, I finally did it! YAY!!! And, I get to take it with one of my best friends, so that makes it EVEN better! :) I'm so excited! I can't wait to say, "Hi, I'm Jolene and I'm a CNA." Hehe!! Just kidding, I won't say that....well, at least not in public! LMAO! :) I'm not going to stop there either. This is just the first step in my "nursing ladder." I hope to one day get my RN & will possibly go into Pediatrics. This CNA class will definitely help out, not just professionally, but personally. 

Having grown up the daughter of a nurse, I have wanted to be one since I can remember! As I said before, my husband & I have talked about me going into nursing for YEARS, practically since we first got together, but unfortunately, the funds have never been there...until now. :) Granted, this class is taking nearly $900 from us, but it will be worth it in the end!! I can already tell that my husband is feeling better about where I'm headed in life, and I can just picture his face, when I come home that wonderful day & tell him I passed the state boards....which I'm planning on doing! I know it'll be nerve wracking to go and take that test, but I'm sure this class will prepare us well for that day...and again, I'll have a terrific gal by my side to say "You can do it!" :) and vice versa, of course! Hehe! Every day I go to my job now, I think "only a couple more months & you won't have to do this." I am looking forward to that day...the day I can say, I have a CAREER, and not just a job. I will be so proud of myself, as I'm sure my mom & the rest of my family will be. Dang it, why can't May 16th be here already!? LOL! :)

Well, I hope this post finds you all well, and I will post again soon...take care & stay safe! Later gators! :)

*Jolene*