Thanks for the answers. You both sound like U have done great in your Apt. The one they showed me was neat as a pin & looked like a doll house. I hope mine will look the same to other people. I have no family at all either here or there. My family is all in VA but don't want to go back there as I'd have to live with my son. For several reasons I don't want an apt there. One is I'd still have to have a ride to church & places. I hope it won't be long before I can move but probably at least 2 months. They give U 30 days notice to get ready. My DH & I had 2 twin beds put together to make a king size. Buying a new bed is expensive. I will check on the storage trunk & see if I can find one. I have kinda make mental notes on what to keep & what not but sure have a lot of MAYBES & can't take. I have given this all a lot of thought. My DH was a collecter. He left MANY oil latterns.. BOOK & more BOOKS. I have a complete set of Louis A'Lamore books. I will be leaving many plants such as over 100 Hostas. I hope to find homes for them. That is just part of the things he collected. My desk is almost 4 ft long with a separate side unit which gives me some storage. I hope there is room for it as I'd like it all. It is 23 inches deep so won't take up too much room that way. I now have 2 computers & want both so will have to find storage for that. My desk has a shelf over it for things like my scanner & I may buy a scanner printer in one to use less space. My desk also has shelfs under part of it. I hope I still have the shelfs that was taken out of one side when we put 2 puters on the desk. That would help. I can't afford a laptop. I only have a love seat & one comffy chair I want to take Plus an end table which I think I'll get new so I can have storage space in it too. I saw some at WalMart that I liked. I hope I can find help putting things together. I may just have to learn to do those thing. I'm hoping one of the students will need a couple of extra dollars & help me. I know a couple of people there. One of our past preachers teach there. I have also met a few there. The trash can is a good idea but where would I get the board cut? They told me I could leave my favorite hoe in the shed they have. I want to grow some tomatoes to share. At least my cell phone will work there & I can call friends & family at nite & weekends. I have to be in town here to get out. I'm not sure how much counter space there is as I have only seen it once. I may be going to a lectureship there next month so can get another look I'm sure. One thing I do have to find space for is my Microwave. I hope there is room for a small cart which will give me more storage. I'll use on top of refrig as the last resort. I am one who doesn't eat at the table. We always did when there was 2 of us. I have lost 2 husbands & both times it was hard for me to sit at the table alone. Maybe now with total new surroundings I can. I'll have to get a new table as mine is WAY to big. I have a nice card table so I'll use that till I can get a small one. A nice table cloth will do wonders for it. I guess I'll have to use my sewing machine chair for awhile. I hope to have room in the bedroom for that. I have a OLD breadbox that DH bought me off E-Bay. We cleaned it good even though it didn't look dirty. It is a roll top. I have some of the metal shelfing from Lowes & hope I can get some help putting a couple of them up. I also have a cart made of the same thing for towels & such. I hope to have the top shelf left for things like lotion. A over the toilet unit is one of the 1st things I'll get. I won't have to use it for towels though. The bathroom is pretty large so I know I'll have room for my cart. Did U have any problems getting an extra phone line or cable for the internet put in? I hope I don't have as much free time there as I have now on this farm with no where to go or way to go. One thing I'll have to get used to is buying groceries for a week. I buy in bulk now as I don't know when I'll get to the store again. I have a large freezer now to. I'll miss that but the refrig has a freezer over it. It will be fun fixing my apt but I will be leaving a lot of memories behind. I left a lot behind when I left VA to come here with my 2nd husband. I have never been sorry but he wasn't supposed to leave me so soon. We only had 4 years but 4 good years so now I move on. He would want me to move on & even get off this farm. We talked about moving into town so I wouldn't be so far out if he went first but never did it. He would have been miserable in town. Before coming here I was a city girl. Now I hope to be one again. I have rambled on enough for now. Thanks again for answering. Dar

I had the same problem. It was horrendous. We were harassed by a nut who lived below us for 4 years in our apartment building, and who called our walking "stomping". We are an older quiet couple, don't entertain at home, have the entire apartment covered with 2 layers of rugs and walk in our bare feet. Like the above, we go to bed late, but our main habits are reading, TV at low volume and getting bedtime snacks. But this was not good enough for the neurotic man below us who gradually escalated his complaints every time we tried to be even quieter, and we were already quiet - nobody in our entire lives had ever complained about us and we have lived in apartments all our lives. We never play loud music, and we as I said walk in socks on two layers of rugs, wall-to-wall rugs. In the end as we decided to consult a lawyer and fight back, he moved out! What a relief! And the strange thing is, this couple actually caused US problems beyond their harassment of us through emails, verbal complaints and trumping up complaints to the Board. Ever since he moved in, the bed we slept in had strange sensations running through it. It's hard to explain but the only apt analogy is Havana syndrome. There were odd sensory movements coming through our mattress, and interfered with our sleep on a daily basis. A couple of months before they moved, my husband finally got the nerve to question him about if he had any electronic equipment right under our bed that might be causing these strange sensations. He completely denied it and showed us their bedroom which had a work area (hidden) not quite directly under our bed. I know this person had a background in science and don't know what he was up to with his computer under our bed. I know this sounds absolutely nuts, but after they moved out these sensations abruptly stopped. I'll never know what caused these weird sensations in our bed, but they were extremely disconcerting. I never complained publicly because how do you explain this? One more thing, I was always wondering when we lived there if he was trying to intimidate us, as older people, out of our apartment, because we own one of the prized top floor apartments in the building.

Hi Katclaw~ I just wanted to say that I totally agree with Lindamarie. You should most definitely check out Dave Ramsey's site (link below). I honestly believe that through Dave Ramsey, God has TOTALLY changed our lives, saved our marriage and helped make our family's financial future brighter than ever. Now, while almost everyone else is looking around wondering what the heck they are possibly going to do, we are finally sitting back and breathing easy for the first time in our 18 1/2 years of marriage! It is such an incredible and liberating feeling! We are finally debt free except for our mortgage, which we just got last year when my husband finished building our dream home. However, we fully expect to have it paid off in just a few years!! Dave has an awesome book called 'The Total Money Makeover'. It is available at Amazon, Wal*Mart and on Dave's site. It is a super easy read and it is the very first step toward finding your financial peace and freedom! Dave also has a program called 'Financial Peace University'. This is a life-changing 13-week program/class that teaches you how to make the right decisions with your money. In addition to teaching you so many amazing ways to financial freedom, Dave has many, many resources available to you on his website, including what you are specifically looking for at this time, financial counselors. Plus, if you are like me and the website looks a bit overwhelming, you can call them toll-free at 1-888-227-3223 and explain your situation. One of their counselors will be happy to help you get on the right track and show you how to handle those creditors. (Just remember, FOOD, SHELTER, TRANSPORTATION and CLOTHING must come FIRST! Everyone else can wait, including credit cards. If that dings your credit, then so be it, but those 4 things must come before anything.) Also available through his website are what he refers to as 'Endorsed Local Providers' (ELPs). ELPs are providers such as Lenders, Real Estate Agents, CPAs, Insurance Agents, Tax Preparers, Attorneys, etc. who are all endorsed by Dave. They are only recommended after being very carefully screened by Dave and his staff. My husband and I have been very pleased with a couple of these who have been recommended to us. Remarkably, so far we have not had to pay one red cent for any of the advice they have provided! However, if we should need the type of service they provide in the future, we would not hesitate to use them or recommend them to our family and friends. I hope and pray this has helped you, or someone else, in some way. I'm telling you, my husband finding Dave on the radio is the best thing that ever happened to our finances and to our marriage. Just try it! What do you have to lose??? Here is a link that might be useful: DAVE RAMSEY

Walnutcreek, what a cool lamp! Somehow I'm really seeing that on a buffet or a console table. It would be gorgeous! Suero, that table is lovely. You're right, it's way more than I want to spend, but it's absolutely beautiful, as are all the other things on their web site. I like all the choices of woods and finishes too. Well, the budget's a problem. As is my lack of ability to make a decision. I'm currently stuck between the West Elm nesting coffee table paired with the Ethan Allen end table with drawer; and the Crate & Barrel Sims coffee table & matching end table. (For the second end table in either case, I'm going with that little orange metal table.) I think the wood on the Crate & Barrel tables is much nicer, but the tables themselves are a little boring; in addition the West Elm + Ethan Allen (gads, how many people pair *those* brands together?!) are more practical since they give me a drawer and a de facto shelf or two. Have read not such good things about West Elm quality - not sure if that applies to this table, which is constructed differently from their usual furniture. And it irritates me that I'd have to pay $70 in shipping, for this table!!! (And it doesn't even come assembled!) I don't know - there's the style thing. Maybe I just don't know who I am. I want to project a slightly funkier image than what I think I'm coming up with... maybe it's the carpeting that's the problem. The carpet ain't funky. And the funky furniture on top of the carpet just don't go. The furniture that goes with the carpet ain't so funky. I am *not* a fuddy-duddy! I'm NOT!!! (Or am I???)