wow.

the last couple of weeks have truly been the most stressful i can remember in my adult life.

let's see if i can recap in a nutshell...

the start date of my new contract job has been postponed. it was supposed to be september 1, now it is unknown. i do have orientation on the 24th, so i know it is a real job. i just want the contracts in place and referrals flowing my way. the psychologist who hired me said in an email about a week ago that she and the doctor that owns the company are certain that once we start, we will "all be so busy we will be wondering why we ever worried about the start date". that is encouraging, but i am, indeed, worried about the start date. this move has blown my savings completely, it is staggering.

starting with the movers showing up sunday morning with a very small truck, although the man that i booked my move with guaranteed me one trip after we discussed the contents of my house at length. josh asked if they had a bigger truck. they said they did, and left.

they never came back.

this forced me to employ, at the last minute and with no options, the most expensive movers on earth. my move cost me A THOUSAND DOLLARS. 5.5 hours, $129 an hour, plus a flat hour for their travel time. yep. the most expensive movers on earth. and also the slowest, honestly. it was a NIGHTMARE. but scheduling a move on sunday, for a monday holiday at that, is not easy.

it's over. we STILL had to rent a 90 dollar a day uhaul today to get the bits and pieces that the movers left behind, at our request, due to their hourly rate.

did i mention that this move has been a nightmare? that is only the first thing.

the toothless maintenance man apparently took photos of our paint jobs and emailed the owner, who then emailed me to paint the entire house back to "antique white semi-gloss" immediately, or be in breach of the lease, therefore forfeiting our right to maintenance, and, presumably, occupancy. i say "antique white semi-gloss" in quotes because he actually insisted that this was the original color of the walls.

the original color of the walls was actually "filthy dirty scuffed semi-puke".

it took hours and hours and hours of scrubbing with VOC-intensive cleaning compounds that i would normally never (need to) use. lots of swearing, tears and sweat and pain. i threw all the money i had left at my friend pete to finish the painting so i could do the cleaning, swearing, crying and hurting.

it is done. now, to unpack.