an update on the chaos

 This past month has been total chaos. A month ago we had just gotten notice that we would need to be out of our house at the end of July. In the last month I have, in summary: 

1. Scheduled (and re-scheduled) movers

2. Found and reserved an apartment in Ann Arbor

3. Hired a lawyer

4. Learned a great deal about eviction law

5. Spent three weeks at my parent's apartment in northern New Jersey (unoccupied because they are in California (good) and without any childcare help because they are in California (bad))

6. Gone on three interviews for a job at Princeton 

7. Received and accepted a job offer from Princeton

8. Found and leased an apartment near Princeton

9. Found and reserved a daycare spot in Princeton

10. Returned to Michigan to: give notice at my job, pack up the house, and move

The most stressful part of all of this has been the housing situation. Our landlords have ZERO idea what they're doing and seem genuinely surprised that they couldn't just show up on August 1 with a moving van and kick us out of our house. Our lawyer, who is possibly the mellowest person I have ever met, expressed actual amusement at their degree of ignorance. He advised us—and I shall also advise you—never to rent from landlords who think tenants are just paying guests instead of people with actual legal rights. In other words: don't rent from morons. 

The good news is that we are probably not going be evicted—by the time our landlords manage to get us to court we will have already moved out. They are very lucky we want to leave, actually, since it would likely take them many months to get rid of us if we did not. But in the meantime they are harassing us—calling my boss, showing up at our house without notice, entering the house without permission when we are away. Two possible upsides from this: 1) I have learned a great deal about housing law, and 2) we are finally convinced buying a house might be a good idea.

And in the midst of all this I got a new job! Pretty nuts. I am really happy to be going back to the East Coast so that I can be nearer to (in no particular order): family, friends, great cities, amazing ethnic food, and impatiently rude people. I am not sad to be leaving my job and I am not sad to be leaving Michigan, but I do wish it hadn't all been so rushed and fraught. Despite my eagerness to leave, we have been very happy here. Both of our beloved creatures—dog and baby—were born here. It's really a nice place to live and I'm so glad we moved here when we did. I wish the tenor of the ending could match the overall feeling I have about the place itself. 

Baby update: He turns seven months old in a couple days! He is getting super vocal and has added lots of consonants to his babbling. He has also just today sprouted a couple bottom teeth, and without making a fuss at all. Food makes a lot more sense to both me and him now, too. This morning he was eating some yogurt and after he finished I opened a banana for my own breakfast. He stared at me with open incredulity until I shared some with him. He has also eaten: shrimp, french fries, guacamole, and foie gras. Next we both need to figure out how a cup works. I have a feeling this will take a very long time. 

a break from our regularly scheduled programming

The baby turned 6 months yesterday! Unfortunately we also learned that we are being kicked out of our rental house in a month, so no one has the time or energy to mark his half birthday right now. 

I'm taking this surprise rather badly, I'll confess. Partially because it sucks to move, and it really sucks to move with an infant, but mostly because we've been talking about a longer term plan to leave Michigan and go back east. Finding a new house here means staying longer than we wanted, and it probably means I'll need to stay at my current job longer than I wanted as well. 

I'm also just depressed about how shitty people are. Our landlords told us in May they wanted to renew our lease. Then a couple days ago they tell us we need to vacate in 30 days. These are the same people who left us a baby gift when we moved in and kept checking in to see how we were doing. Being nice is really not the same thing as being kind. 

We're going to try to get more time to stay and figure out our move, of course. We've even hired a lawyer to help us. He has assured us that just getting us into eviction court would take at least an extra month after our lease ends in July. (Also: the eviction moratorium ends the same day as our lease and there is a backlog of cases.) And even if we did get to court eventually, we'd probably be given more time if we needed it. Apparently the judge in our town is not particularly a fan of inconsiderate landlords. Not that you want an eviction court judgment on your record, even a favorable one—we'd never be able to get a rental again. 

Our landlords are not in dire straights at all, by the way—they just sold their own house and now they want ours. These people have multiple properties and a huge extended family in the area. Who cares that we have a 6-month-old in daycare down the street and two full time jobs and no family within a nine hour drive. 

So we're in a mad dash to find another place to live. Typically for us, we're also considering just chucking everything, putting our stuff in storage and heading back east now. Josh can work from anywhere and I wouldn't exactly be sad to leave my job. Too bad the "east coast" is a big place and we can't seem to narrow down the options at all. 

Sigh. At least we're taking this opportunity to get rid of a bunch of shitty furniture we don't want anymore. My rotting bookshelves (definitely a safety hazard) are going to the dump! The ugly dining room table and chairs Josh got at an estate sale before we were married are going to the local resale place! Where will the books go, you ask? And where will we eat dinner? We have no idea.