Moving... Continued.

Yesterday at 8:30am my packing crew for our move showed up.  Had two real friendly guys, they got right to work on disassembling furniture, packing dishes and folding clothes.  All I had to do was sit back, surf the internet and stay outta their way!  By 9:30am the crew who was loading the van's and the guy driving the truck showed up.  Before I knew it, it was 11:45am and they were done and my place was EMPTY!  We used United Van Lines and they were amazing!!!  The crew not only constantly called me ma'am but they double checked to see if some items (like my digital camera that I nearly forgot about) were to stay or go with them. 

Now our apartment is pretty bare, minus the few items I left to sort through and take to Alabama.  It's amazing how small every room appears without anything in them.  Yep, small... not large!  Bare walls, cluttered carpet, empty cabinets.  It's so weird being there.  We still have to pay $1880 to "break" our lease without reaching any other penalties.  If our unit is in great condition at move out then we get our $300 deposit back and who couldn't use extra money?  Our next apartment is costing about $600 in security and pet deposits, but it's also more money we qualify to get back when we move out.  We're hoping that this time next year we're in the position to buy our first home.  Nothing big or fancy, but just a place we can call our own. 

This week we're just living with my parents at their house, have our going away party on Saturday afternoon with close family and friends, then leave Sunday morning around 5 or 6 am.  We have the moving company on the 23rd at noon unloading our items so we have about 5.5 days to get there.  We originally planned to stop in Fort Smith, Arkansas but now we might stretch it to Little Rock.  Can't say I've ever been to Arkansas... lol, guess I should look it up and see if there is anything fun!

Livid.

Money.  What is the true meaning.  Really, it's just an exchange.  We earn it then exchange it for goods we need to survive (and some to enjoy) life.  I have never met people who revolve so much around money as X & Y.  It bothers me, because I was raised very spoiled... but by the time I was independent & working, I realized the true value of a dollar.  We work to afford the things we NEED and dream of the things we WANT.  I can't imagine giving birth to children then relying on THEM to help me 30 years down the road as my source of income because of MY failures.  Sure, I don't work now, but not working has BONDED Ryan and I more than anything in the past 5 years we've been together.  We get along well, we have a great love life, we joke and laugh... I can't remember the last argument we had or what it was about.  Money doesn't buy our happiness, nor does it prevent our arguments.  I *HATE* gold diggers and those who only seek money.  I'm over it. X&Y will not be a part of my Ramage life because of their desires for the green... I've been poor, Ryan and I have been in debt collection and had bounced checks.  It's not fun.  Money and Paychecks PAY our debt... it's the free things that are more meaningful than anything.  Roadtrips, walking around cities, sitting on our couch watching movies... those are the meaningful things.

I pray for those who don't see the great things UN associated with money.  It's horrible that someone only cares about money, possessions, materialistic objects, costs of rent, what they drive, etc... in order to be HAPPY!

Moving

Well today I am expecting the moving company surveyor at about 10:00am.  They're going to guesstimate the weight of our furniture for the truck load and for SAIC for the bill.  I just hope this guy isn't here forever, I have a lot more things to do.  Since mom helped me yesterday with cleaning up I really just want to clean and move, lol!  I have the kitchen clean, minus the fridge & pantry.  I worked on the den all yesterday... got the desk and bookcase out.  Next is the end tables & 2 microfiber chairs.  The moving company will take my grandpa's chairs, they will go nice in our guest room.  Oh yeah and we picked up the curio & wood bench from my mom's yesterday.  The bench will go really nice in our guest room... when we have kids it will make a nice toy trunk, but we'll have to put on those things that make it shut really slow -- or stay open.  We think it's actually a blanket bench.  The curio is going to house all our knick-knacks.  Oh and the collectible stuff that my grandparents gave me... more like family heirlooms, but they are also of good value. 

My upstairs neighbors moved out about a month ago.  Can you believe that the maintenance crew is JUST now cleaning it?  How disgusting.  There are quite a few units here available, we (in my opinion) have a good unit, but I don't really favor it.  I wish we could've seen it before we moved in, but it wasn't "ready" to show.  Oh well.  Our new place is gorgeous!  A/C, attached 1.5 car garage (1 car + storage room), granite-like countertops, 2bed 2ba both like "master" suites, wine rack heck yes! LoL....

We're having a going away party on Sat the 17th for anyone interested!!

Been a Few...

So it's been a few days, we got back from Alabama on Friday evening.  It wasn't too bad.  We flew American to DFW on Wednesday, then to Huntsville.  On our way home we flew to Chicago then landed in Seattle.  I preferred the flight to DFW but the flight from Chicago did have a movie.  I didn't mind though, we flew free!  The other airlines that fly to Huntsville are AirTran, Delta, Alaska (through American) and United I think?  

Well, Ryan took the position.  The position was amazing, Ryan loved it.  His boss even picked him up at our hotel.  Stephenie was given a tour of the city by a local realtor, Wanda McLemore who even took her to lunch at the Main Street Cafe in Madison.  For the record, this is the best place ever... although, Rosie's Cantina was really darn good.  The margarita's were incredibly good.  Pretty much everyone we met raved about it.

Anyways, Ryan starts on April 26th, 2010 which means we are moving out of here fast!  We really couldn't resist the position, he's getting so much more than what he has at LSI the past two years.  He'll do work on the Kiowa Warrior's again, which he spent six years in the US ARMY working on.  Although rather than jeans & tee's he'll be wearing khaki's & button up's!  WooHoo.  No more grease on my carpet and finding helicopter parts in the laundry!  He's also salaried at 40 hours a week, has access to a gym at work & cafeteria (no more fast food!).  He also gets:

- 10 sick leave days upon hire

- 10 paid holidays

- Tuition Reimbursement (most employees there have their PHD, paid for by the company!)

- Paid Relocation (including breaking our apartment lease, moving our second car, and packing up our items for freight moving!)

- Salary Position

- Minimum 7 years permanent position; if job goes under, the company replaces you somewhere else in the company rather than just axing you

- Company is a Fortune 500

- & more!

This is also the same company that flew us down to Alabama for the position, even after mentioning that they generally do not fly spouses!  We had our airfare, rental car & hotel paid for!  We have the moving truck coming on April 12 and we are departing WA either the 17 or 18th, rather than our originally planned 19th departure.  We will be back in WA for Byron & Kate's August 14th wedding.  Hopefully we will be back for Mexico in December as well!  Of course... we welcome visitors =]

We also got a quaint 2bed 2ba apartment w/1 attached garage.  We're feet away from the fenced in dog park, a man made lake and the clubhouse with pool, bbq grill, laundry room & gym.  It's really common to have to buy your own w/d down there.  I'm curious if its because A/C is standard in the apartments or it just keeps the cost of living cheaper.  No biggie, we'll just use the laundry room once a week for a few weeks, it'll keep our house expenses down as well and allows us to buy a really nice washer & dryer later on. 

hello from alabama

So we had a great flight here. Crowded flight from sea to dfw but from dfw to hsv it was so empty the last four rows were empty so we had a row to ourselves. The weather is gorgeous as are the sunsets. The scenery reminds me of home minus traffic and pollution. The people have that sweet southern charm, everyone is real nice here.
I'm a bit disturbed by the obesity, but who am I to judge. Shell gas stations have hot wing restaurants attached and bbq joints at nearly every corner.
Ryan's boss, Glenn picked him up today. In a Porsche carerra convertible! Ahhh jealousy. I'm meeting Wanda, a local Realtor today she seems friendly. She's showing me around. We have an apartment reserved at a complex here but guess ill inquire about the area. The Madison one did look nicer but ive gotten to know one of the leasing agents so well.
Well the heat is feeling good, 80 in April woot.

Sunshine & Black Skies

Today's weather is absolutely insane! We had a hail storm and crazy down pour at 5:30am with super high winds what woke Stephenie up. Ryan had to drive down I-5 in it going 45mph to avoid hydroplaning or getting in an accident. By 11am it was blue skies, sunny... and a dark black cloud looming in the south. A few hours later another huge hail storm... it would make you forget that it is almost April (April Showers bring May Flowers!).

Speaking of April, I still am shocked that it's almost Easter! Where or where has this time gone. Not that we have any super plans, but goodness this year is just going by so fast. Hopefully after Easter the candy companies will stop pushing all their chocolatey goodness my way! It's so hard to resist everything.

We leave for Alabama to tour the city (and our new apartment!) on Wednesday at 7am... yuck, that means we'll be up at 4-5am and at the airport by 6am. I'm used to waking up at 8am... this is going to suck! The good part? It's going to be sunny and upper 70's... woohoo! Maybe I can get a little tan in. I'm packing a few books for the plane trip: Middlesex, The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life, and The Last Song ...which I've been reading The Last Song on and off for the past few weeks... I just really don't care for the way it was written, ugh. Too bad I think the plane ride is 8 hours total? Ugh... so definitely going to be reading a lot.

I think I'll hop on over to Itunes and download some movies for our Ipods... The Time Traveler's Wife looks pretty good...

Aunt & Uncle

Today we got the OFFICIAL, word... we're going to be Auntie & Uncle!  We're not really close with Ryan's brother, Rob or his girlfriend, Jill, but everyone knows a child is a blessing!


Aubrey Anne Ramage is due August 27, 2010 -on- Stephenie's 25th birthday!

Proud Parents: Rob Ramage & Jill Cooksey