Blech

Ok, so, today's reflections are bad, so I'm going to talk about yesterday.

I have returned from most of my travels. I had an incredible week last week, seeing friends, hiking up a mountain, spending a day in my pj's and going through Ireland pictures, and then dinner at Pat and Kathy's, line dancing and talking a good portion of a night to Walker, who I had only been away from for a week.

Good times. Good friends. Good rejuvenation.

Beka wedding good too. A lot of people I know complain about Southern Oregon but I seriously love it. I think it's so beautiful and open down there. We stayed at a house on a hill overlooking Roseberg and it had such an incredible view. We sat out on the porch just enjoying the peacefulness of our surroundings. Beka looked just like a warrior princess, complete with flowers in her hair and a knife strapped to her thigh (it made the garter toss quite interesting!). I was so glad to come home, though. I was very sad to leave my friends, but I was glad to get home.

It's sad to come back here, just because it means a long time until I see friends again and a long time until more adventures. I am going to try to keep up the exercising but it's hard to keep it up when I'm not having as many adventures.

Anyway, I don't really want to dwell on that.

When I got home, it was so wonderful. I'd been driving for 7 hours and I drove up to see my church family having a picnic dinner under our new breezeway at the church. They were grilling and sitting under a tent, laughing and talking. I was so happy! I love my church family! They were so excited to see me and I just really enjoyed relaxing and chatting with them. My brother was very excited to see me too, which made me happy.

Monday Bobby and I spent all day together, which is so funny to me. Bobby even admitted, multiple times, that it was incredibly boring without us and that he missed us a lot!! Yay! He has been talking non-stop about "Creation," a Christian music festival the youth group went to that he absolutely loved. It has inspired him to really think seriously about getting the young adults together to do worship at least once a month. We talked about life, about summer, about Conference, about all sorts of things. I gave Rosie (my car) a bath (yay!) and ended up taking Bobby shopping (horrible idea. Now I understand why mom just drops him off and gives him money. It took him 4 hours to buy a t-shirt and a pair of shorts!!!!!!!). Then we played music and sang for an hour or so and then watched a movie. I was happy.

Today was not as happy. Basically what I've decided is that the finance forces are against me. But, I have learned that when dealing with landlords, get everything in writing and always get a copy.

Issues:

• I may have already mentioned this, but my new landlord is a jerk. When I got home I found out that even though he told me the first month was free, he contacted my parents while I was gone demanding July rent. He called at 4:00 on Friday (the friday my parents were leaving for our church campout) and said he needed a check for over 1000 by Monday. My dad asked if he could mail it and my landlord said, "Well, it might get here on time but if it doesn't I'll have to charge you." So my dad had to drive up to Kirkland (in Friday traffic!!!) before then having to drive all the way out to the ocean...later in the day. ARGH. So, mean...but, even more than that was the fact that since he went back on what he said, I had to pay double rent for July. I would not have chosen that place if i had to pay for July...but it was too late and so my parents had to pay it...which is tough on them and now I have to pay them back.
  
• It gets worse...today I go to clean up my old apartment with Jess and I enter and she gives me a cold hello. Apparently our apartment claims we never let them know we weren't renewing our lease. We did, however, sign 2 forms. One saying we were not renewing our lease. Another we filled out declaring our intent to leave on July 29. We both signed it, and I turned it in on June 19 at around 2:30 in the afternoon. I remember handing it to a new lady at the desk and asking if there is anything else I needed. She said she didn't think so. I should have asked for a copy but I didn't figure she'd lose it. ANYWAY...we are now responsible for August rent. The good part is that our apartment is spotless so they'll be able to rent it immediately and it will probably go fast, meaning we may not have to pay the whole month's rent. But still.
  
• Now, I have to pay an additional $1800, unbudgeted. This is in addition to trip expenses I will need to pay from Ireland and for Conference. I had all these things I have been putting off buying until I got back but now I will not be able to get any of them because of my two untrustworthy landlords.
  

ANYWAY...my mom, bro and sis left for Conference and precon today. I had to stay behind because I couldn't afford Precon. I worked on a budget tonight and I think i've got it figured out but I'm going to have no room for food until October...

blech

Reflection: I love my friends. I will miss them. I need adventures in Seattle--preferably ones not involving finances. When you deal with landlords, get them to write down and sign everything they tell you that you want to hold them to.

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