On the positive side...

My last posts have been fairly negative. With that in mind, I began looking for the positive and found plenty. I'm enjoying having my own washer and dryer. I'm liking that my laundry hamper is in my bathroom (1st time ever). I'm liking the extra drawer space in the kitchen. I have a lovely balcony with a tree right outside. So far, the apartment management is very responsive. This apartment isn't perfect and there are things, as with any home, that I'm not crazy about. But, it has let me learn what it is I like and don't like. It might not be easy to find, but I know what to consider next time and know what works best for me (like one bathroom as opposed to two). I'm filing it all under "live and learn."

And, finally, as of last week, my cat is finally not spending all her time in the spare bedroom or under a bed. At least not at night. She spent all weekend on the couch with me and is getting in my chair at night. She still has her moments, but it's getting better. Plus, I found a really nice cat sitter.

To seal the deal, I finally got a new driver's license. I thought I'd be smart and go first thing last Saturday morning. Me and everyone else. Lesson to this story. Probably better to go an hour before closing as everyone tries to get there early. Getting new tags for the car was a lot easier. There's an office close to me and that was basically walk in and get it done. I put the new tags on the car today.

The best good news for me. I get to make a last trip to IL to say goodbye to my Dad's childhood home. I tried to make it a quick trip, but it was too quick, since I'm flying. So, we delayed it a week and I added a day to the trip and it's the right thing. I'll have three days there and then I'll splurge and take the Monday off after I come back. I won't get back in town until almost 8:00 pm and that's after traveling all day. It wouldn't be my brightest idea to go to work the next day. I'm looking forward to the trip.

I've had a couple of visitors to my patio, including the small frog pictured above. In fact, after a heavy rain, I dumped water from the plant pots only to realize that there was a little frog in the pot. I'm sure it was drawn to the water. I suspect it might have been the same frog, but I don't know. We've had more rain, so I've emptied water from pots again and no frog. I've also had a couple of lizards visit, but wasn't able to get a good picture.

I leave you with a photo of kitty sacked out on the couch.  

Muddling through...

Well, it's been a little over a month with the new job. The more I learn about this organization as a whole, the more I know this is not an organization I want to work for long term. So, I'm coming up with a game plan and hope to be outta here after a year or so. When I took this job, I thought I'd done my homework so to speak. So, I'm more than a little disappointed at how bad it's turned out. You think you've learned from your mistakes, then you realize there are plenty of other mistakes to make. In this case, I simply didn't do enough research on the company. So, I add it to the lesson learned list and start making plan B.

To compound the problem, I still don't really care for the city, but I can manage until I can come up with a better place to live. For me, anyway. The city itself isn't bad, it's just not for me. Strangely, I've only ever lived in other place that that I didn't like. At least in the past, something was as least good. If the job was bad, I loved where I lived and if the city wasn't great, well, the job was okay. What I've learned from this move, is that there are things that I'm looking for in a city and a short trip for the interview didn't tell me enough. I'm not even sure a house hunting trip would have made a difference, but I'll definitely check out the future city a lot better.

The apartment has been a challenge on several levels. First, the trains, which some days I'm okay with and others I'm like enough already. So far, Sundays are high volume train days with an average of five trains going through between around 5:00 AM and 11:00 AM and there have been two trains through within a 45 minute period on Sunday mornings. I know because I've been working out and it's a 45 minute workout. Some aren't bad, others sound and feel like they are about to come through the house. Sadly, I didn't take my cat into account with the trains. In fairness, when looking I didn't realize they'd shake the apartment, but they do. So, I've got a kitty that is still spending the majority of time under the bed. I may consider moving to an apartment closer to work and further from the trains, both for her and for me.

Another challenge was the upstairs neighbor. Labor day was particularly bad, not just their stereo but a lot of thumping and banging, which at one point bounced my ceiling. I finally complained to management. Long story short, we wound up calling the police non-emergency number Memorial Day night. A lot of people according to the apartment manager and hosted by someone not on the lease. I hate being the cranky old lady downstairs and have never done anything like that, but it really was more than I could handle. There was no peace in my apartment for almost the entire Memorial Day weekend and my home is my sanctuary.

I have to say, with peace and quiet, I'm enjoying the apartment more. I'm not doing a lot of cooking, but I have done some, though I haven't gotten to where I'm whipping out new recipes. Still feeling my way around this new kitchen. I have found, though, a couple of grocery stores that will work for me. I also stopped by the mall the other night. I've always kind of enjoyed mall walking. Not an every week kind of thing, but I always saved up my errands and then just enjoyed a visit to the mall. Meh, the mall here was okay, but I don't think I'll be visiting it a lot. Just didn't grab me. That may change over time.

In the meantime, I continue to explore a little, mostly on walks at lunch when I'm downtown, but for the most part, I'm finding that there's enough to keep me going, but not truly endear me to my new city. So, while I'll admit I'm not doing change well these days, at least it won't be hard for me to move on from here. I'm putting that in the plus column.

On Moving to a new city....

It has been almost two weeks now since I moved to my new city in Georgia.  It has not been an easy move.  Big lesson learned - House Hunt!  If I had of, I probably wouldn't have moved. 

I moved into the apartment a week ago this past Friday.  It wasn't easy to find an apartment and this one does not feel like my home.  I have never felt this disconnected with any place that I have lived in.  It's a nice apartment and I simply don't like it.  I don't really "match" my neighbors as there aren't many professionals here.  Not bad, per se, but I don't feel like I fit in.  I don't care for the drive I'll have to work and I don't really care for the city as a whole. 

If you haven't guessed, this has been hard and I'm pretty sure it's probably one of my more poorly made decisions on a host of fronts.  If I stay here in this city, I'll have to move to another apartment in about 6 months.  People are moving out of this one in droves and I'm not too sure I can learn to ignore the trains.  Yes, trains.  They come through all hours of the day and night and the freight trains shake the apartment.  That's how close I am.  I can't imagine being in one of the apartments that's closer to the tracks.  You can't really see them as the tracks are hidden by trees. I did hear the train when I was looking but didn't realize how often they come through and how bad it would be.  Course, we had two whole days to find something and constant calls from the movers asking if we had an address.  

Add to all of this, the apartment is a cave.  Most that we looked at were.  The living area is nice sized, but I can't arrange my furniture to my liking.  The patio is nice (covered which I'm sure doesn't help with the light), not screened, but none of the screened porches I saw did much for me either.  I still overlook a tree (2nd floor) but I really, really miss all of the natural light I've had in my previous dwellings.

My Mom (who came with) is tired of hearing me lament what I've given up.  I fully accept I made this decision, but that doesn't mean in hindsight it wasn't a bad one.  It also will take me time to truly mourn what I gave up in in my previous city.  Job included, with all the crazy people and the lack of processes and the warts that came with it.  I think I convinced myself I should want this type of opportunity instead of really looking at where I was in life and was I happy/content.  Nothing in this apartment inspires me to do anything, especially cook or bake.  And, it's all electric.  And, since it's hotter here, the A/C is already on and I can't get comfortable.  So, second lesson learned - if you  are happy/content, the rest is window dressing.  Don't try to change what is working.  Think with your heart not with your head or what you think you should be doing.  Do what is right for you.  

Anyway, this is not a happy post and I apologize for that.  I keep hoping that by writing it out and talking about it, I'll find a way to move on.  I think  I have by the evenings, then I wake up in the morning and realize where I am and that it just feels wrong.  I thought I'd taken into account all my lessons learned from moving to back to Texas a few years ago and apparently I didn't.  I know I had it hard when I moved the last time, but I have never experienced anything like I'm experiencing with this move.  

I hoping that after I start work, things will be better.  Though, the longer I'm here, the less I like it.  So, sadly, I've got at least two moves left to go because I can't see living here for any extended period of time.  Never occurred to me I would not like the city I moved to as I've heard nothing but great things about it and everyone I told said, "oh, you'll love it."  I certainly didn't expect this level of dislike, but that's what I've got.  I'm just hoping working makes it a little better until I can somehow either really embrace being here or I can undo what I've done.  

Hopefully, my next post won't be such a downer.