The job search isn't going too well. Josh heard back from several companies, but they weren't offering him the pay and benefits he'd like. He makes pretty good money here (with some awesome benefits) in San Diego and they're offering him jobs for $12 and $15 per hour with little to no benefits. That's a huge pay cut and I can understand why he doesn't want to do it.... Even if it all balances out in the end. Less pay, less cost of living and less rent. We'd be almost as well off as we are here. However, we're moving to Saint Louis in hopes of being be one step up from where we are here. We don't want to be stuck in a little apartment forever.

It's looking more and more like we'll be staying here in SD for the time being and saving every penny we have. At least until Josh gets a good job offer. He's applied to and contacted (via me) almost 200 different companies in Saint Louis County. So we're still crossing our fingers that he hears back from a good one.

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In other news, I heard from the Ex yesterday. I guess we screwed up our 2008 taxes and we're being audited. :( He said we owe them quite a chunk of change. I'm worried that since Josh and I haven't received our return yet that they're going to take the money straight out of there. (Darn you EX... and doing your taxes in mid January! He already got his back...) We'll still have money left over, but it would definitely affect our plans to move. Less money back on the return = more money we are going to have to save up... If we have to stay here for a bit longer I'm gonna want to move out of this apartment which probably means having to sign another lease. We'd stay where we're at, but I'm really not liking this apartment any more. There's so much awful going on here that I just don't have the energy to list it all. (Just to name a few: Leaky fixtures that they don't seem to know how to fix. Neighbors that party and smoke RIGHT outside our door. Dog poop every where you look - and step! Never any hot water - We take luke warm showers. Washing machines that only do half loads -Sick of paying $60+/month to do our laundry!) The only real upsides to living where we are is that it's only a 5-10 minute drive to work for Josh AND we have central heat and air.

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I'm still on my mini blogging break. I just felt like updating. Not sure if I'll ever get back into blogging as much as I was. It was taking up a lot of my time and I'd much rather be spending that time with my kids and Josh. :)

*By the way, weight loss is going pretty well!! Lost about 6lbs so far!*

Before Josh and I got married and moved in together I hadn't lived in an apartment in about 4 years. I forgot how much I hate apartment living! Noisy neighbors. Paper thin walls. People smoking right underneath your window. No hot water when you need it. Electric stoves that don't work right. Awful appliances that look like their from the 80s. I could go on and on... It's definitely not worth the $1,100 a month price tag. (And that's considered cheap for a 2 bedroom out here.)

This morning I was really looking forward to a nice hot shower... It's been pretty cold in the mornings here and a hot shower was sounding pretty good. I turned it on and let it run for a little bit to get the water to the right temperature. I get in only to find out that there's NO hot water! On the hottest setting it's luke warm and only gets colder as my shower goes on. Ugh. So much for my shower.

Luckily, the rest of my day is going pretty well. Especially when someone from the electric company came out to give everyone in the apartments (who qualified) a bunch of free stuff. The lady who came gave me several energy efficient light bulbs to replace my old ones along with some night lights. In about 2 weeks a contractor is coming out and we'll be getting weather stripping on door (we need it badly!), a new microwave, new floor lamps and a new shower head. It doesn't quite make up for my cold shower, but it's a good start. :)