I have a lot of places to call within the next several weeks. I have addresses and phone numbers for the Housing Authority of New Orleans, Louisiana Workforce Commission, the New Orleans Field Office of HUD, and a few vocational rehabilitation places. I know that I'll probably have to already be living in New Orleans to get some of the services I need, but hopefully I'll be able to get some of them with no problem.

If any of you are the praying type, please pray that I'll be able to get through this move. I'm hoping to leave Dallas no later than December 31st. I'm going to have to talk to one or two of my brothers to see if they can help me...

Garage sale, Saturday 4/3

I have a huge box, a storage bin, a couple of small boxes, and a bag full of stuff to sell on Saturday. I'm selling a lot of clothes I no longer wear, some books, CDs and DVDs, and some other things. I'm hoping to get at least $100, which I will then use to open my Chase Bank account. I can't wait!

It's a little over a week and a half until Anne goes to New Orleans. She promised to keep in touch while she's there. Can't wait to hear what she thinks about it! Hopefully the roads won't be a big problem... that's really the only concern I have about making the trip. But once I'm there, I'll be there for at least the next four years, I think, so aside from a few trips back to see family and stuff, it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm tentatively planning a trip to Chicago to see Anne in late May for my birthday. As much as I'd love to see the boys in Vegas that night, there's no way I can afford it. Too bad. It would be nice to go see them again. But I think they'll be in Atlanta in August (I think that's what she told me), so maybe I can see them then. That would be really cool.

Thursday, 3/25/10

I'll be closing my Compass account and transferring the funds to Chase at the beginning of next month. (As long as I open an account there by April 30. they'll give me an extra $100 in my account! Cool... at that rate, it won't take me long to save up the $700 I need for my move... lol.)

I also need to stop by Home Depot on the first and pick up some boxes. I have some storage totes that I can use, but I need a big box to pack my tv and DVD player. I have plenty of sheets and pillow cases to use as cushioning, so won't need to get any of those from the truck rental place. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and rent a dolly when I go to get the truck... there are enough big strong guys in my building to help me move stuff out, but what about when I get to New Orleans or Chicago? Need to ask Anne about that.

I'm thinking about running up to Chicago in May for my birthday. I'd love to meet Anne before we actually move in together, and I'm sure she wants to meet me. Too bad I won't be able to meet Jonathan before we move down there. I'd like to know what he's like too. At least we all share the same taste in music, lol.

Sent Anne an email asking her to ask Jenn how much a LA state ID will cost, and also how much they cost in IL, in case we end up in Chicago. I also need to find out about low-cost grocery stores like WalMart. I only get $130 worth of food stamps a month, and as I told her I doubt that I'll get much more than that where ever we end up. (As of right now, I'm assuming it'll be New Orleans, so that's where most of my inquiries are being directed.)

One thing I really want to know, closer to moving time, is when she'll be getting to New Orleans. The trip between Dallas and Chicago is almost 24 hours, so I'm assuming it's about that to get from Chicago to New Orleans. If she leaves Chicago at around 8:00 p.m., she should get there around 6:00 p.m. the next day. I want to get there myself around the same time., hoping that Jonathan and his mom or someone will be there to help us get our stuff moved in. I'm bringing my friend Ira along to help, so maybe we'll get everything arranged.

I just found out on the news tonight that the national average for gas is like $2.89 a gallon, and it's likely to go up by this summer. That means I'll probably have to save closer to a thousand dollars to move. I don't know if I can do that. It's going to be so hard...

Update

Three weeks until Anne goes to New Orleans to see Styx and check out the city. I had my cell phone, internet, cable, and landline disconnected to save money for the move. I'll need at least $700 to move... $400 for the truck rental, $150 to pay my driver, and $150 for gas and food along the way. I can save up that much in three months. I'm going to have my "get the fuck out of Texas" sale next month, so that'll help a lot. Most of my furniture will be coming with me... my bed, desk, rolling storage carts, entertainment center, TV, DVD player, etc... so I won't need to buy much when I get there.

I'm glad I'm sorting things out now, so I won't have to worry about it closer to time to go. I don't know if I can wait three months, though... I am not a patient person. It so needs to be July NOW. lol I got most of the stuff out of my closet, now I just need to fold and pack all the clothes I don't need to wear anymore. Jeans, sweaters, jackets, all that kind of stuff. I have four or five storage totes packed with shorts and T-shirts that I can swap out. I need to go through those sometime this week to see what else I have in there. Hopefully some things I can sell. Right now all I have are some clothes and an a few DVDs and some books. I need to find out from Anne if I'll need to bring dishes and pots and pans with me, or if we'll have enough with what she and Jonathan will have. (I'm just assuming for the moment that we will end up in New Orleans.)

I wish I could go see Styx next month and see the city. That would be so cool. But Anne promised me that she'd send me lots of pix, so I'll know what kind of places she's looking at. I hope she can get some interior shots of houses... I want to know what they look like inside as well as outside. Especially the old houses. She says she wants to live someplace that was built in the 30s or before (preferably long before). I personally don't care where we live, although being in a 100-year-old home is very appealing. The architecture of those places is so beautiful, and so are the interiors. I've seen some pictures of old Victorian homes, and I love them. My favorite style of architecture is called Carpenter Gothic (I call them gingerbread houses). I don't know if there are any of those in New Orleans or not.

Well, I've gotta go right now. It's just been awhile since I updated, so I thought I'd write something. I'll keep y'all posted on how things are going.

New Orleans or Chicago?

Spent a few hours IMing with Anne last night, and as of right now it's a toss-up between going to New Orleans or staying in Chicago. I really want to go to New Orleans (even though I grew up in Oklahoma and was used to cold snowy winters up there, I've lived in Texas so long, I'm not sure how I'd adjust to those freezing Chicago winters). And besides, living in New Orleans seems a lot more romantic somehow. lol

Well, whatever the case, we probably won't make a final decision until June or July. I'm still planning on having a garage sale next month to sell off most of my stuff (books,CDs, a few DVDs, etc.), so if any of y'all are in East Dallas, stop on by! :-)

Will keep on updating as I can...

Garage sale time!

Looks like I'll be having a garage sale to make my money to move. My housekeeper said she'd come over tomorrow and help me weed out all the stuff that I need to get rid of. I'll sell my bed right before I leave... I want to buy a futon frame and a mattress when I get to New Orleans. The things I know I'm keeping are my laptop, my desk, my TV, and my DVD player. I may sell one of my cameras, but I'm keeping the other one and my camcorder. Don't know if I want to get rid of the cell... I'm thinking of cancelling my Sprint account and getting one through Metro PCS (don't know if they have any of those in N.O.)

I'd like to get at least $100 total to help me buy the Amtrak ticket. I can get the other $100 pretty easily, I think. Then when I get out there, I'll need to rent a U-Haul, come back to Dallas, and pick up the rest of my stuff. (I think I'm repeating things I've already posted.) Anyway, I'm hoping to be out of here by the end of May/beginning of June. My birthday's May 22, and where better to spend it than New Orleans, a party town? (Okay, maybe a party town during Mardi Gras... lol.)

Hopefully this thing doesn't fall through and I'll be disappointed...

Will have a lot of nice stuff for my new place! :-)

Without knowing it, my housekeeper is helping me get a lot of stuff for when I move to New Orleans. (I haven't told her I'm moving yet. She'll be crushed. I'm good to work for... :-)) I have some curtains, two new mattresses, some pretty pillows, and I'll probably have a new microwave soon.

I'm thinking about what I want to take with me and what I can live without. I can take three carry-ons and three checked bags on Amtrak, according to Anne (who takes the train everywhere, so she should know... *g*) Of course, my bed, desk, and other pieces will be too big to take on the train, so I'll have to rent a U-Haul and drive back to Dallas to pick them up.

I still haven't told my family I'm moving. I've sort of decided to just slip away into the night and maybe call them from N.O. (just to avoid having them try and talk me out of doing this crazy thing. lol My brother Pat, especially, is a little bit overprotective, so he'll raise the biggest fuss over it.)

I'm also trying to get on SSDI so I can have some more money. I'm supposed to be getting food stamps sometime soon (hope it's more than ten fucking dollars a month, which is how much they wanted to give me last time I applied... but then, I didn't have a lot of bills to pay back then, either.) Those two things should help me.

Well, need to go look at my stuff some more. Will update as I find out more about where I'll be. Anne's going to see Styx in New Orleans next month, and will do some house-hounting as well. She said she'll take some pix and send them to me. I can't wait! I'd like to see how they've done with rebuilding the city. I hope they've at least been able to partly restore any of the old homes and businesses that have been there for like a couple of centuries.