Moving, But I Love This Apartment

I'm planning to move in a few months. It is my choice - I'll be moving into a van to travel around North America and will convert the van into a little RV-like dwelling as I go. The van has a high roof so I can stand in it. I like to say it will be my bedroom with an ensuite, and the world will be my living room.

I'm sad about leaving my apartment, though. It has been a real blessing and a gift from God. I've been in this apartment since January 2015. Before this, I lived in a nearby apartment on the ground floor in another building. I was happy most of the time there, until December 2014 when the people above me were making constant noise with their stereo and I became agitated by it because I couldn't even leave the apartment to get away from it. That feeling of agitation was very unusual for me... not my normal thing!

I went to the apartment manager about it and she told me I could move into this apartment in the other building, on the third floor. I was amazed when I saw it. This is a corner-of-the-building apartment and has two windows in one of the bedrooms. There is a wonderful view in each direction.

After I moved in I realized the apartment is a gift from God... because He knew the apartment was empty and available, though all I knew at the time was that my apartment had become uninhabitable for me because of the noise upstairs. So I moved, and ended up in a much better apartment than I had before.

So now, I'm getting ready to leave, and I'm being a bit sentimental about leaving this wonderful place I've been living in for the last few years. I used to host Bible studies in here - with lots of dear friends. I've been blessed in so many ways since being here... but I'm feeling a call to go, to get on the open road and make traveling my lifestyle.

Because I'm leaving this happy place, I've decided to start now and take photographs of things in this apartment. This is my first in what I hope will be a series.

Gratitudes:

1. I'm grateful for the years I've lived in this apartment.

2. I'm grateful for my new cell phone.

3. I'm grateful for the First 5 app for communicating with other Christian women online.

Plan for the day:

1. Get ready for shopping tomorrow.

2. Watch The Dead Files

3. Study the Bible.

Currently reading:

1. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks

2. Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

An Update - My Life During 2013 and 2014

A lot has happened since I last posted here.

1. In March 2013 Bob's instability and indecisiveness helped me reach a breaking point for my residency in Happy Camp and for the relationship. I became 100% determined to move and leave him, to the point that my emotions died. I truly felt emotionally flat and desperate to change my situation there.

2. I decided to move to Idaho, and proceeded to downsize. Bob wanted to go with me. I threw away bag after bag of needless things, gave things away, gave most of my books to the library book sale, gave writing books to the Chamber of Commerce, sold what was left of my furniture including my grandmother's bedroom set which I really didn't want to sell... but I realized the need to sell my furniture so I could move more easily. [It turned out to be a good idea.]

3. The day before my move to Idaho, Bob annoyed me for the last time by threatening to burn down the house with me in it, and I told him I never wanted to see him again. He finally (!) agreed to remove all his possessions from the U-Haul truck we were loading, and the house, and he vanished into my memory. I missed him for a while, but no longer do. I'm happy he's no longer part of my life. He is a narcissist and I needed peace of mind . . . and indeed, I do have peace of mind now.

4. I gave my car to Bob before he vanished. I gave my van to my son... neither were working well enough that I wanted responsibility for them anymore. I decided that I wanted to be car-less so I'd be forced to get more exercise - walking and cycling.

5. I drove myself to Idaho, but not before I nearly died from heat exhaustion while cleaning out the house I vacated.

6. I found a nice apartment in Post Falls, Idaho only hours before I would have been forced to live in a homeless shelter.

7. Two weeks later I walked into a church for the first time in many years, and gave my life and heart to Jesus.

8. I attended a lot of church services and Bible studies, and made new friends. All my closest friends here in Idaho are Christians.

9. I started the Book Lady YouTube Channel and made a lot of videos in 2014.

10. I was baptized on July 4, 2014. Freedom in Christ.

11. I trained myself to ride a bicycle and took a 37-mile bike journey on October 4, 2014. I rode on the North Idaho Centennial Trail from the Washington state line to the end of the trail on the eastern edge of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

12. Now I'm in the process of moving again, to another apartment in Post Falls. I'm leaving a ground floor apartment to live in a third floor apartment. . . and I'm very happy about that.

Moving

I can't believe I'd even consider moving from my wonderful home in Happy Camp... but we are really thinking about leaving sometime during the next year. The main reason is because our teenage daughter doesn't have any friends here, plus she's nearing college age and needs to settle into a college town before that time comes. We would like to stay near her during her early adult years. She's even talking about staying in our home past the age of eighteen. My son will probably want to do that too, though we haven't talked about it. He's 14 and I don't think he's even considered moving away from us eventually.

So my daughter's choices of college towns are Eureka and Santa Cruz... both very nice seaside areas to live in. We're planning to move to Eureka because its closer to where we now live. Plus we like what we've seen of it on our many visits there.

I'm sure only a person who's lived in the absolute boonies (like where we are now) could appreciate what we see in the town... in terms of advantages. Here we have no choices... like there's just one grocery store, one pizza place, one clinic, etc. But in Eureka we'll have so many things available to us, its mind boggling to us.

The only problem is.. we don't want to get rid of our pets. I know if we were willing to do so I could get a rental there right away and be moved, but we won't let our pets down... they love us and don't deserve to be abandoned to strangers. I don't want to break their hearts.

So, knowing that finding the landlord that will let us move our pets into their house will be like locating a needle in a haystack... I've decided to advertise for a home by making a new website that will show who we are and list what we're looking for in a home. I'm going to make the website structure and my daughter will be installing the detailing.

I've already offered her a part time job in my web design business... she's so good at site design already and I like her style!