The hard part of planning.

Things we still need:
Living Room Couch
Living Room Chair?
Coffee Table
Bookshelf
Lamps

Kitchen Table
Kitchen Chairs
Microwave
Cookware (pots, mostly)

Bunk Bed
Desk
Storage

Vacuum Cleaner
Rolling hamper (to walk clothes to the laundromat)
Bike (only mode of free transportation)
1 Greyhound bus ticket (TO GET THERE!)

The only room I have finished shopping for is the bathroom. We'll probably still need a few more washcloths and towels, but I figure by the time I move in, it will be July and beach towels will be on sale.
I'm almost done with the kitchen as well. We have enough bowls, plates, etc, and I'm getting a lot of cooking supplies from my mom's house. I still can't take anything too big or heavy to put in a suitcase.
Nor can I afford to ship most of the items I already have. All of the "big things" have to be bought new IN Cookeville...somehow. Even though I haven't done ONE "fun" thing for myself all month (ALL shopping has been for either apartment stuff, food, or daily necessities), I'm still broke & waiting for a miracle.

I know I could furnish an apartment in Fargo for what I find at garage sales and on Craigslist, but that doesn't look like a possibility either. Mike lives in a very isolated town that isn't close enough to any city with a Craigslist URL, and the garage sales in that area are junky at best. I didn't even see ANY furniture at the one I went to while I was there.

My friend Dawn & I started selling a few things at her garage sale today, and I made 3 dollars. That might buy a few screws for the bunk bed XD (Having somewhere to sleep when I get to the new place is my priority right now.) It was fun sitting out there...I wasn't expecting to profit much anyway...just have something to take up my time. :) I'm going back out there tomorrow to try again.
I have one weekend to try to make some more money selling my mom's stuff, but no way will that leave me enough to have a 'home.' If the car still isn't going through the court, I might have to give that up in order to move sooner. I would really like to keep the car though. It's a really nice car!...even though I don't have a job to pay for gas or insurance, so I can't drive it yet.

My mom's retirement company has just started to send out monthly checks of $325. This is added to the survivor's check I use to pay for my rent/bills/food. Regardless of how they are spent, they will come monthly until I graduate from college or turn 25, I can't remember which. Last month, my aunt took the check to help pay off the house payment of my mom's house (Which makes no sense, because one of her kids + his friend is living in it, and they SHOULD be paying rent.) I have this month's check in my purse...I'm clinging to it for dear life because honestly, I need the money more than that house does.

I get so frustrated sometimes...I don't care what happens to that house. My mom hated it, I hated it, no one in this family will ever live in it long-term. If it was sold now, that would be the best, because then the remaining money (after paying off the mortgage) would probably fund the rest of my college tuition until I graduate. That's what my mom would really want. My school was her first priority. I remember her calling me when I was in Williamsburg. She had been eating old potatoes and pasta all week because after paying my leftover tuition, she didn't have enough for quality food. That's the first thing that prompted me to leave UC. I felt terrible. Everything always comes back to money.

If only I could hang on to the next three checks...May's, June's, and July's...our townhouse/rental house/WHATEVER will be comfortable and feeling like home. If I somehow get cheated out of it, I hope my family (who insists they have my best interests in mind) enjoys the thought of me sleeping on the floor and hitching rides (no way to transport my bike either...plus it's locked up because my mom was the only person who knew the combination...) while a house nobody wants is being paid off for no reason.

ALSO, since none of my family members (who CAN afford it) have offered to help me out transportation-wise, I may have to give up the cats. All of them. Greyhound doesn't allow pets, and I can't get them their own plane ticket...or ship them in a cardboard box. XD This seriously disturbs me. The thought haunts my dreams. I don't WANT to give them to new homes, but at the cost of saving on rent every month and getting to go to a better school, I have to? Pets aren't replaceable by any means, but I imagine myself stalking Craigslist for a couple kitties to keep me sane this summer if this is the way things are gonna go... :(

*DEEP BREATH* Okay, rant's over. I have a lot of cleaning to do. Only a few more weeks of living in an apartment with a landlord who hates me. Everything has a bright side.