i hate to say it but if corey didn't wait til the very last minute I think you would worry about what was wrong with him. They shouldn't be allowed to charge you for an old carpet. I think all they can do is take your security deposit which might be a lot but it is not worth injuring yourself! Be kind to yourself even though I know it is next to impossible!
Love
bobby

We only paid $99 security deposit. They can sue us for any remaining damages. Even if our security deposit was equal to one month's rent, they could sue us for the cost to repair any damage that greater than that.

The carpet was old when we moved in, and we have been here for 7 1/2 years come August when we will be moving out. Because of normal wear and tear, they will have to replace the carpet no matter what. They will say they have to replace the carpet because of smoke damage, which is NOT normal wear and tear, but since they need to replace the carpet any way, I will not pay for that because that would allow them to PROFIT from the fact that we smoked in the apartment. I will pay for materials and labor to repair the smoke damage otherwise, provided the charges are reasonable. IDK about the "cat room." They may have to treat the sub floor.

Have they given you any idea what they charge for cleaning?
You may want to ask.
just A thought.
(((((HUGS and LOVE )))))
bizi

I'm not going to ask the management here what they would charge us if we left the apartment a mess. I imagine it would be a lot. One way or another, we will leave it clean.

After all the work I did, when they came to do the walk through of the apartment yesterday, they didn't even LOOK in the "cat room" LOL!!!

I was really having A LOT of anxiety because the "cat room" needed the most work and I couldn't get anything done in there because there was so much **** in my way. So, all the work I did over the weekend was hardly a waste of my time- I just didn't need to do it at breakneck speed and hurt myself doing it. There is still a lot of work to be done in there, but I've made A LOT of progress.

I wish I could just be satisfied with all that progress and allow myself to rest and heal, but I'm manic, so sitting still and not cleaning is torture. The online apartment search isn't providing me with the same kind of satisfaction as cleaning.

Aside from running errands, I did manage to sit still long enough to develop some insight into my situation. I can't continue to clean to the point where I keep hurting myself, and being manic is very dangerous for me. Medicating may mean I lose some time cleaning because of sedation, and I won't be as productive once I come down, but I have to break this episode.

My pdoc is on maternity leave until next month and I don't trust the covering one to mess with my meds. So I'm going to do exactly what my pdoc has done as step 1 since I maxed out on Seroquel, and increase my gabapentin from 300 to 400mg. I'll give it a couple of days and if I don't start to come down, I will make an appointment with the covering pdoc.

I am glad that you are insightful.
Sounds like your plan to increase the gaba is a good one from past experience.
Sorry that you pdoc is away on maternity leave, hope she comes back.:eek:
Well they did the inspection on a monday!!!!! Glad that that step is behind you.
I hope you can rest and repair your tired body(and mind)
(((((HUGS)))))
bizi

Kay,

Good luck "breaking" this episode.
Work things out so you get what is best for you.


M

I increased the gabapentin last night, but I still woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I've been very high and it's only been one dose tho.

I followed up on my apartment leads yesterday:

I called the office at the complex that we would really like to move to, and and they will probably have two units opening up that will be available when we want/need to move, but there is a wait list, and the manager didn't know where we were on it when I called. He said that most people who come in just fill out an application and don't submit their financial information, but since we did, we would be higher on the list. He said he would call me back later in the day, but I haven't heard from him yet. I don't know if that is a good or bad sign. I also forgot to ask what floor the apartments are on.
Please cross your fingers for me that this situation works out... It would be PERFECT.

I called two rental agencies and they didn't have anything that was either available in our price range or accessible right now. I will continue to touch base with them occasionally if I need to. I called a third rental agency and they had nothing. I will call a fourth today.


The online apartment search is FRUSTRATING and I'm having a hard time sitting still and staying focused. I'm kinda all over the place and don't know what to do. I think it's premature to make phone calls for individual listings because most apartments are "available immediately," which likely means they won't be around in July when we are ready to move.

I'm getting EXTREMELY anxious again.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you that the apartment where you want to live works out for you and that they call you soon.
I am sorry this is such an anxiety producing situation. I think it is perfectly normal to be anxious about this.
Glad to hear that you will give your body a break from cleaning. maybe you can take a good nap today?
love you
bizi

I am still sky high. I'm not sure, but I think I may be hypo vs. manic now. I was able to take a 3 hour nap yesterday, but I had just taken 1mg of Klonopin, so that probably helped. The higher dose of gabapentin hasn't been sedating yet, and I was up at 5am this morning.

I haven't heard back from the guy at that apartment complex yet. I'm really trying to remain cautiously optimistic, and am hoping that he is just crossing his T's and dotting his I's in some ways, for some reasons. I've been waiting for a call back since Tuesday afternoon. My husband thinks I should wait to call back until Friday.

My search is more organized now. I made a list of unacceptable places (too expensive, no pets, etc), so I will stop wasting my time clicking on them. I have called about a couple of apartments and heard back that two of them have already been rented. I haven't called other rental agencies, but will probably do that today. And I will keep searching...

But it's all very discouraging. I'm worried. Now I feel like moving was a bad idea...

it was definitely a good idea. keep the faith
love
bobby

Because of yoour physical limitations and the history of poor maintenance there and cold showers!!!!!!!
I am glad that you are moving. Am not glad that cory does not seem to help you.
(((((HUGS)))))
take care of yourself. Glad that the mania has subsided.
bizi

Kay,

I believe that you are going to get the right apartment at the right
time for you.

You keep working towards the goal as you have been doing and you
will have everything you want.

That is my wish and my belief.


M

you are awesome Kay@!!!!!!!

congratulations on the apartment!!!!!!
bizi

Thank you so much for the encouragement ladies :grouphug:
I really needed it because I was ****ing freaking out yesterday.

The search is over!!! I called yesterday, and we got an apartment at the place I had my heart set on!!! :):):):):)
We are both very happy and relieved that we've landed a nice new place. I think we will be very happy there. We can't wait to move now!

We will have a balcony with a view of the lake. The rent is $150 less than what we are paying now, and includes heat and hot water. If we renewed our lease here, our rent would be going up at least another $50, so we will actually be saving $200/mo. I wish I could view OUR new apartment, but the tenant isn't moving out until July 11th (my birthday) and they are at least replacing the flooring in the living room, but may have to update cabinets, counter tops, etc. The office manager wasn't sure about what exactly what needs to be done in our apartment.

All I know is that the apartment will be ready Aug. 1st (a Tuesday) at the latest, but I hope we can get in there earlier because we have to be out of this apartment and turn in our keys by noon that day, and it would be much easier to get help moving the weekend before. We would need to hire movers otherwise. The lady in the office said in many cases they get new tenants their keys a couple of days earlier... and I hope that's the case with us. I will try to gently press the issue around the middle of July and hope that things work out in our favor.


After taking 4 doses of the increased gabapentin (400mg), I'm definitely hypo vs. manic now. It's an improvement, but I'm still too high. I'm not going to increase it to 600mg or see the covering pdoc yet tho. I'm hoping to come down slowly at this dose... maybe less stress/anxiety will help?

I still can't clean anything yet because I haven't recovered from the damage I did to my body last weekend. I haven't even done laundry. I need more time to recuperate. Since we won't be moving until the end of July, I will have more time than I expected to work on my "moving soon list." So, there's no need to rush into anything else now.

Again this is fantastic news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so happy for you. Yes rejuvenate and rest today. YOu deserve something nice for your hard efforts. Have you ever gotten a massage?
Glad it is hypo vs. Mania.
hugs to you today!!!!
((((((((HUGS))))))))
bizi

You did great! Happy early birthday!
 

Congratulations Kay!!!! :highfive:

Soooo happy to hear that you have the place you set your heart on!!!!!!!

:yahoo:
And it is lake view!!!!!
And new flooring!

Re the balcony? Does that mean that you have stairs? Are you in a two story building?

What is the laundry situation?
I hope you get some good rest.:sunchair:

M

utterly fantastic and thensome.....will you screen in the terrace for the cats?
will you pay extra for the cats? do they have a garage or how easy is it to park? Is it nearer to your husband's work?
souch great news! you deserve it!
love
bobby

The new apartment is further away from Corey's work, but he says he doesn't mind. He usually just reports directly to job sites in the morning anyway. There is a lot of traffic going the most direct route from his office, but there are a lot of back roads he can explore. He is usually good about figuring those things out.

I will be able to park right up to the front door, and there are only 3 steps to enter the building vs. 7! :)
The way most apartment buildings around here are built, when you walk in, you either have to go up the stairs to the 2nd floor or down the stairs to the 1st. Right now I go down the stairs, but when I move to the new apartment, I will be going up because it's on the 2nd floor. There's really no difference. It's a 3 story building, but going up to the 3rd floor would be too much for me.

In these buildings, 1st floor apartments are almost always partially underground whether there is a patio or not (we have one here tho). Both bedroom windows are blocked by shrubbery. I also don't like being on the 1st floor because everyone crossing the lawn on the way to the door can see into my apartment through the slider in the living room, so it will be nice to have more privacy on the 2nd floor. Our new balcony isn't screened in, but the kitties will be able to see a lot more birds etc from the windows and the slider, especially since we will be by the lake and there are a lot of trees. I won't let the cats onto the balcony because they may jump.

There is no "pet deposit" or "pet rent." We just pay our 1st month's rent and security deposit when we sign our lease sometime in July.

Unfortunately, I think the laundry is on the 1st floor, but I can buy a laundry hamper with wheels and drag it behind me. A lot of people here do that. What I'm using now is too big, and the wheels are too big, to take stairs. I will work it out.

I had to go out an buy a new cordless phone yesterday because I dropped the only working handset in one of the litter boxes when I was trying to put it back on the hook, and I couldn't really get it clean enough (not that it would ever have been clean enough for me after that). I can't believe how expensive they are now!!!

I am STILL bruised and battered from all the cleaning I did last weekend. I must have been more manic than I realized to continue to abuse myself to the point where I still haven't recovered after about a week. So, I still won't be cleaning anything. My husband has been hoarding pay stubs for years for no good reason, so I guess I can busy myself shredding those to keep myself out of trouble because I'm still hypo...

I've been on 400mg of gabapentin for 5 nights now. I'm hypo and still not sleeping well even though my anxiety isn't as high, so I'm considering raising it to 600mg tonight. IDK. I guess I will see how I do today...

It sounds so great! Were you able to get a floor plan? Is it about the same size? How many apartments? With the money you are saving it is a shame you can't get your own washer and dryer.

God is really taking care of you in spite of yourself lol
love
bobby

You are wise keeping your activity at close reign.
happy that things are progressing nicely.
((((HUGS)))))
bizi

I compared floor plans and the new apartment is actually bigger than the one we're in now. The living room and master bedroom are larger, but the kitchen is a bit smaller. There's no washer/dryer hookup, so I will definitely have to do laundry downstairs.

I'm getting very frustrated trying to sit still. It's been a week. Ready or not, I think I'm going to start doing little things again. I can't just sit here, and every time I run errands, I end up spending money I don't need to...
I have a list of a million things I need to do in the long and short term running through my head constantly and everything I look at needs to be cleaned. I rewrote my "moving-soon list" to reflect the work I did in the "cat room," but there is still so much to do...

I was a little calmer yesterday so I didn't increase the gabapentin again. I had a 3 hour nap, but only slept for about 4 hours last night tho.

We're meeting my father-in-law and his kinda-girlfriend for lunch today. We're also meeting him next Sunday for breakfast on Father's Day. When he comes up from Florida, he expects to come over at a moment's notice. I've already explained to him that we threw out most of our furniture, and the apartment is "under construction", so this isn't a good place to meet this year. He knows we're moving, and I told him how busy I have been and we will be, but we're really going to have to drill that home to him today. He got angry with us last year because we wouldn't accommodate him on our anniversary because we already had plans.

Seeing them today will be a good test of how hypo I am right now... seeing how much/how fast I talk and how agitated I may get, etc. I guess I will make the decision about upping the gabapentin based on my behavior.

Good luck today kay. I hope your hypo doesn't interfer with your visit.
(((((HUGS)))))
love bizi

Yesterday, I was behaving normally. I was pretty preoccupied by how horrible I was feeling physically, but we did have a pleasant visit.

I had a 4 hour nap when we got home and managed to sleep for 6 hours last night, so that is an improvement. I will keep the gabapentin at 400mg.

I don't know if I should stay still or what. It doesn't seem like I'm getting any better resting and inhaling Advil. I guess I will try some stretching and range of motion exercises and see if that helps. I am miserable and frustrated.

I'm doing laundry. It's the first thing I've done in a week.
They increased the price without notice or warning, and washing and drying one load now costs $4.00. I would have been mad as hell if I didn't have enough on my card to do my two loads this morning (I am already behind). I hate this ****ing place... I'm so glad we're moving :)

I am so glad that you are moving too!
bizi

I didn't do any kind of stretching or exercise yesterday, but maybe I can force myself today. I ended up taking 1/2 Vicodin in the afternoon and it did help. I had a crap "nap" because it interferes with my sleep, but I slept for 6 hours last night, and that's pretty good.

Last night I decreased the gabapentin to where it was before this episode to 300mg because I felt like I was coming down, or had come down enough, but I think that was a mistake, so I will be going back to 400mg again tonight.

I think I will clean the bathroom today, but I'm not going to go nuts doing any scrubbing etc, so it will be fairly light work and I want to see how I tolerate it.

Kay
So glad you will be moving.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

I did not clean the bathroom yesterday. Instead I got into doing a bunch of **** in the "cat room" I should not be doing right now. When I got going I couldn't stop... I'm am definitely still hypo. Fortunately I didn't do too much more damage to myself though.

I only have a couple of little things left to do in there now, and then all that will be left to do will be cleaning the blinds and washing the walls. I would love to finish off that whole room, but that's going to be a HUGE job that I know I'm not ready to tackle right now. I KNOW I would really hurt myself trying. I can't get into it until I'm able to pace myself and practice some restraint.

I will probably finish those little things in the "cat room" today because leaving them undone will really bother me. It won't be physically demanding or time consuming work. Since I will already be cleaning, I probably won't be satisfied with only doing that, and will probably clean the bathroom too. Hopefully I can leave it at that.

good luck today with pacing yourself today cleaning.
Please try to not over do it and hurt yourself.
bizi

I was much more restrained yesterday. I cleaned the bathroom without going nuts and did a couple of things in the cat room, but didn't force myself to finish up in there even though there isn't much left... just my husband's guitars, which are covered with cat litter dust.

I took a 5 hour nap and slept for 6 hours last night, which is more normal for me. I'm not going to try to guess if I'm hypo or not from one day to the next, but I do know that cleaning can be activating if I allow it to be. I have to stick to small projects right now.

I'm not at 100%, but I feel much better today. I think maybe I was sitting around for too long and needed to engage in some level of activity without overdoing it. I'm sure getting more sleep helped, too. I'm very relieved because the pain wasn't getting better :)

Kay,
I think waiting till close to time to move to take care of the guitars makes
sense because the cat stuff will just be there either way.

I'm so glad things went well.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

Glad to hear that you got sleep and that you had a good day.


M

I did a lot yesterday, but I was forced into the worst of it.

I went to get my coffee and play the lottery... my Thursday ritual. Then I had to buy Father's Day cards at Walgreen's, went to PetSmart because the handle broke off my pooper scooper while I was cleaning the litter box in the morning, and went grocery shopping. That is a full day for me.

But when I got home it reeked of stale cat pee. So I swept and bleached the floor in the kitchen in case the swifter I used the day before wasn't strong enough to get rid of the cat litter dust residue from the things I cleaned in there. When I turned on the AC, it blew out a foul odor, so I had to have my husband pull out the filter so I could clean or replace it. It was reusable so I washed it. The cat pee smell remained, so I laid down a ton of carpet powder and vacuumed the WHOLE apartment.

The smell isn't new. It crops up every year when it gets hot and humid. My husband has thwarted my attempts to permanently deal with the situation in the past because he's cheap and doesn't want to help...
A couple of days ago I treated a spot with Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer. While it didn't totally get rid of the stain, it did substantially improve the odor. I think I just didn't use enough. I think there are invisible areas that still smell. I'm going to sniff them out and saturate them. It's going to be expensive to use so much product, but it's worth it. I don't want to live with this odor for the next 6 weeks, and it may mitigate some of the damage to the carpet and/or subfloor.

More work for me.

After yesterday, I'm very discouraged and I feel overwhelmed. I can't see how I'm going to get all the work I need to get done- done, especially if other projects keep coming up.

I'll do what I can about the urine odor, but there will be absolutely NO re-do's. My plan is to start to finish up the cat room next week and put it behind me so the rest of the work will seem more bearable. I'm no longer using the lightweight litter, which was the source of the problem, so I should be able to maintain the room fairly easily.

could febreze fabric strong odor killer help?

Wish I knew a solution. But hoping it works for you.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

Kay,

Do what you can.

I like the no "re-dos."


M

I'm definitely hypo. No doubt about it. Nothing else on my "moving-soon list" will be anywhere near this activating, so maybe once I'm done I can get off this roller coaster...
But that doesn't mean I should allow this to continue until I finish up in there. I'm considering upping the gabapentin to 600mg now.

Bobby, the scent of cat urine is nearly impossible to get out if it sets in, and the smell is ****ing heinous. Humidity and wetting an effected area usually makes the odor worse, so fabric refreshers aren't a good idea, and air fresheners don't work well or last long. The odor is overpowering and is overtaking the whole apartment now because it's been hot and humid.

Yesterday I bought 3 GALLONS of Urine Destroyer and 2 large spray bottles for my project today. I'm sure spraying to to the point of saturating everything (as directed) will take a long time, but at least I will know I'll be treating the spots evenly before running out of product. I have to go buy a couple of rolls of paper towels before starting tho since that thought didn't occur to me yesterday.

Nature's Miracle suggests cleaning the carpet with their shampoo after the spots dry completely (apparently it's very important to let the product dry). I already have their shampoo and a crappy little carpet cleaner, but I think I may wait to go through that until I'm done cleaning the walls.

It smells ****ing terrible in here!!! I hope treating the carpet in the cat room is enough to kill the smell in the rest of the apartment, but maybe we'll be dealing with it until I clean the walls, too? IDK. I hope not.

for two little cats I have to empty the litter twice a week. I don't envy you

Before we moved here, we lived in a townhouse-style condo, and never had any problems with urine marking. We down-sized, so maybe there was more territorial competition? IDK. Also at that time I only had 2 cat boxes and one was covered...
The peeing didn't stop until I added a third box and took the covers off. All the cats use all 3 boxes now.

I scoop the boxes every morning, and I bleach them and change out the litter every 3 weeks or so.

Kay,

That is a big job.

You have plan and you are taking care of yourself.


M