A house and a car

Zack came home this week and it was a nice long visit, I also took off a week from work because we originally planned to go out to California to attend his grandmas funeral but they moved it to the 17th and we couldn't change our time off from work so we were going to just go out and visit instead but with all the car trouble we were having and the cost to fix it all, there wasn't much of an option but to cancel our trip. I am so thankful Zack's family is so understanding, I mean, it really sucks we couldn't go spend time with them but at this point it was more important to make sure we have a reliable vehicle to drive. The day he got home we went down to a local car dealer and got a 2015 Honda Civic Si. We absolutely love it! It was sad to say goodbye to our old car but it was time for an upgrade.

On top of the car issues we have we are also having issues with our apartment as well. Honestly, its not a NEW thing, we have had issues since the day we moved in and its a BRAND NEW apartment complex so that's extremely frustrating. We expected better, especially for the cost of rent. Immediately we noticed the seams in the baseboards and in the ceiling drywall. When done CORRECTLY you shouldn't see the seams. There are paint drips EVERYWHERE and there were also very noticeable cutting issues on some of the baseboards and the doors were hung so crooked that the cold weather was pouring in, and now that its summer we are having issues with bugs coming in like crazy.Then, after a month we started noticing all the baseboards and door frames we pulling away from the wall. Its crazy how shoddy this place was put together.

We did have the office come in and "fix" things but they really just slapped some caulk in the cracks, screwed some plastic weather striping around the front door and called it good. The caulking looks fine now but the weather stripping hasn't worked. The only way to actually FIX the door is to remove it. fix the frame of the door and rehang the door, but they wont do that so needless to say we are beyond over it. Right now we are about 60 days out from our lease being up and we originally thought we might resign another lease because moving is so expensive and rent here in Colorado Springs is at an all time high and because two months ago the management company said they would be lowering our rent when the lease was up, but then the other day, the management company decided to INCREASE our rent at which point we decided there was no way we were going to stay here. We started looking for a place but couldn't find anything in our budget that we liked, we were ready to give up when an old friend offered to rent his home to us. Apparently he has been looking for a friend to rent to since hes moving to Durango to start college and he doesn't want to hire a management company and let a stranger live in his home and none of his other friends needed a place right now so it actually worked out perfectly. The rent there will be cheaper than rent here and its a three bedroom, three bathroom, singe family home in a nicer neighborhood. Its literally perfect. We gave notice to our apartments and we move in exactly 50 days and I am so excited. The only downfall to this situation, which isn't a big deal to me, is that the house needs a lot of work. Its not old, it was built in 2004, it just hasn't really been taken care of. At one point there were three men living there. Three very messy men. Also, most of the windows don't have window coverings and the lighting is dated so I am going to have to get creative and try to update on the cheap. I really need to repaint the dark brown living room and try to somehow fix the holes in the carpet where his puppy has chewed too. I am hoping we can go to a local carpet company and get enough carpet that looks similar so we can cut out the holes and replace it with new pieces. It probably wont look perfect but we will have to make do. That's whats so great about all this though, he is okay with Zack and I updating the house because it'll just bring in more money for him when he goes to sell in a few years, plus it'll give me a lot of projects and I love projects so I cant wait to get started. I feel so much more relaxed now that all these issues are taken care of and its starting to feel like things are coming together. I really believe that saying, "things fall apart so better things can fall together. " I cant wait to see what the next year has in store for us!

xoxo,
Jackie