Zen is dead and buried

I. am. livid.  I wish I could say that despite my hot anger I am able to stay calm and not yell.  My peace, my calm, my zen is dead and buried.  I can say that holding Cooper and looking at him smiling at me in the middle of the night is my drug of choice to make everything all better.  Thank goodness for Cooper.

The real estate agent for the landlord called yesterday morning.  Chris answered.  The agent says he has put our phone number down for other agents to call and schedule appointments.  Chris went off.  He tells the agent that we aren't his secretary, it isn't our job, and that by law he is required to give us 24 hour written notice when HE schedules appointments to show the house.  The agent says, 'Oh, you're going to hold me to that, then?'.  WHAT?!?!  WE JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GUY!!!

Another agent calls wanting to see the house.  Chris answered.  He tells the gal to call the listing agent that we are the tenants.  She says but this is the phone number listed.  Chris explains that it was a mistake and he fixed it this morning.  He isn't the secretary and the lady agrees.

The landlord calls.  I answered.  First thing out of his mouth?  "So you guys don't want to have the property shown?"  I just about lost it.  I yelled at him for 10 minutes and I doubt I was very eloquent.  I explained that it isn't our job to schedule appointments for people to come see the property.  He says but we are the ones living at the property.  I told him he has no right to ask his tenants to do this, that it is outrageous and absurd.  I also remind him he has to give us 24 hour written notice and appointments can only be scheduled during regular business hours.  He says then he'll just have people come over every 24 hours.  I tell him that I don't care as long as he gives us written notice.

He tells me that I'm just angry and making it difficult.  I told him I am angry, but within my rights to have these expectations.  I have other things to do...LIKE FIND A PLACE TO LIVE WITH A NEWBORN!!!  He says that we were the ones that didn't want to sign a lease.  I told him he was right, but that doesn't mean we don't expect him to respect our rights.  He says he is going to call his lawyer.  I tell him I can just send him the tenant and landlord rights.  He tells me I don't need to send him anything.  I tell him I have to go and promptly hang up on him.

Chris and vented to each other.  I mean REALLY?!?!  WHAT THE HELL IS THE LANDLORD THINKING?!?!  He is paying an agent 3% to schedule appointments.  If he wants to pay us the 3% we might consider doing all that work.  We might also think about making sure the house looks great to show and not mention to potential buyers that the property is over-priced, has mold issues, drainage problems, you have to run the water for 10 minutes before it gets hot, you have to bake your food for 10 minutes longer at 25 degrees hotter in the oven, and that 2 houses down there are two beagles that bark morning, noon, and night.  But since I am a tenant holding a 60 day notice, with a newborn and only 6 months until I move back to CO...I HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO HELP HIM SELL HIS HOUSE!!!

Am I angry?  Yes!  Do I have rights as a tenant?  Absolutely!  Does the landlord have to respect those rights?  You better believe it.

We are positive we'll have to fight for our deposit back.  Small Claims Court should be easy and if he doesn't pay it, they'll put a lien on the house and it can't be sold until we get our deposit back.  Chris and I have plenty of time to fight it.

We went to look at a few more properties yesterday.  I nearly wanted to just suck it up and go sign a lease for the apartment we looked at the day before.  I'm so over this living situation.  We found a couple of cute bungalows with little yards for Scout.  But they are priced a little high for 2b/1b and it will add 15 min or so to my commute.  With Cooper, I'm not interested in increasing my commute time.

We also went to look at another apartment.  My friend Caren lives in them and they are really nice.  It's a little pricey since we would be giving up a garage, washer/dryer, and yard for Scout, but we could be happy there.  There are tons of amenities and it will cut my commute by 15 min.  Plus we would be just a few blocks from the beach.  What a way to live just before we move back to CO.  There are two more places we really want to look at, but we desperately want to turn in our 30 day notice and get out of here as soon as possible.  We plan to sign a new lease before leave for Denver next Wednesday.

On a better note...

Cooper is ghetto baby.  We only bathe him once a week, twice if he's lucky.  He gets more baths if he has blowouts.  I figure he doesn't really get dirty.  He doesn't spit up, doesn't crawl, doesn't do much of anything right now, so how dirty can he really get?  Well yesterday his head smelled like a sweaty old man.  Well, how I imagine a sweaty hold man would smell...I don't make it a habit of smelling sweaty old men.  So I gave him a bath and I am going to try to bathe him a little more regularly to prevent the sweaty old man smell.

He took a bottle the other night with no problems, and then easily latched on to me right after.  We are going to try to give him at least one bottle a day (recommended by the lactation consultant at the hospital) until he gets it.  Then we just have to do it once a week to remind him how to do it.  He'll get plenty of bottles when I go back to work in August.  I was able to pump more milk than the last time, so that's good.  I have to say, pumping is so weird and unnatural.  I prefer to feed him directly.

My cousin Monica is ready to give birth any day now!  I'm very excited for her little boy, Gunner James, to make an appearance!