To Texas!!??!

So yesterday evening,  I emailed the Sequoia senior apartments, since I know they have been working at home and offices and common areas have been shut down.Their general, public portal had a limit in characters I could type in, so I basiclly reminded them that I had toured in February and at that time they had said six weeks for a time frame to wait (end of September). I was wondering if that timing will still good or if things had beome a more complicated.  I also wanted to find out, if there were future spikes and so on, if they had been able to exchange keys and allow folks to move in during the current quarrantine.

This morning, during our call back, the rental agent said "Oh, by the way, we have two of those two bedrooms open right now".  Talk about a shocker!  When it told her I wouldn't be able to take advantge of them, she was surprised and wanted to know if I was committed to a lease,  or something else was in the way. I said yes, but the real issue was that I simply needed more lead time since I am moving from Colorado and hadn't done any serious work because I thought we were looking at one October. 

Not sure what that second bathrom will get used for unless I need a caregiver...

Well, let's just say that this call and the conversation that resulted have me changing my plans and intent and speed of action!  Said rental agent sugggested that if I was looking at October, I should fill out the actual application, deposit and so on by the end of July at the absolute latest since I'm on the waiting list but haven't actually done the "contract stuff". I did forget to ask if my daughter was acting as my agent if she could pick of the key and so on and so forth with my POA (I'm in a position to, and willing to, pay a month while finishing up here if needed). Oh, and when I asked her how she had been handling new move-ins in case my dates coincided with new a stay at home period, she said  they do almost everything virtually and have as non contact as possible a procedure for key exchange.

So realistically, my space could be open as early as one October or any time thereafter. Hey, maybe earlier. Maybe even this summer.  This changes a lot of things for myself, son, and others.

Note:  I've had the deep conversation with sister. She is adamant, that even on a very small fixed income, she is unwilling to live without a real house and a yard. She let me know that she would even rent just a room in someone's house to have access to a yard. In this we are diametrically opposed. While I hope she comes to Texas we would not be living together in those circumstances. And honestly, our lifestyle and relationship was one way when she was working, but there have been changes in how we respond to each other with two of us home full time. So this may be the best choice.  As for son, he would consider staying here and sharing half the expenses and using his spaces and mine for a few months. But his goal is to move out.

All of this has shown I need to speed up my planning and action items-just a bit!

• I'm going to wait to have the family discussion/landlord talk in July. I have no doubt that brother will suggest sister get a roommate to share the uppper part of the house, assuming son does not stay, as she cannot afford more than she is paying now. And while I've said nothing specific so far, they do know that my daughter has been pushing me to move. I do expect that they will want me to make a specific day commitment and that if the apartment is not ready then, I will stay with my daughter. And if I need to pay brother a month on the other end I can.
• I need to agressively save throughout the summer.  While the application fee is not great and I only pay the current month rent in advance at this new place, I will be wanting to either rent a small truck or a pod, buy some new (as in real new) furniture and be able to help son with his initial aprtment deposits and move in costs. Since I do not see myself doing alot of socializing this summer, this should be easy. Groceries, gas, and an expense here and there should be it.
• Now that thrift shops are re-opening, I have alot of donation items all ready gone through to get out of the house. My next goal is to get everything organized and into containers. This may sound strange, but except for books and kitchen stuff, I'd like everything else "contained" as I think when the time comes it will be easier for whomever has to move it. As opposed to fabric sitting on a shelf, I put it in plastic bins and baskets and so on. Hopefully you understand what I mean here.
• I would say that I need to transition my diva group, but honestly I don't see anything happening here. Restaurants will open next week with a maxium of six people per party at tables eight feet apart with masks and so on. Neither I nor my co-assistannt meetup person are inclined to host any real group event any time soon, and our Zoom thing has been very low number wise.  Instead, I plan to close down the meetup, knowing that it can re-open later with help from me even from afar.
• I (and my son) need to do our due diligence and research, in depth. He needs to look at the approximate costs of house sharing, versus an apartment alone, taking in the cost of dog walkers and so on and so forth. I need to research everything from reviewing all the apartment offerings again, to  so many other things.
• I need to make lists. And maybe assign a notebook specifically to this project. I already have a working list of what I will take with me, what I'm not taking that son will want in his apartment and what neither of us wants and will need to be donated, sold or given away. I also need a list of things that can go in the pod (most things ) and things that we will need to transport in our cars (china and crystal, memorabilita and pictures, jewelry, my clothing). And those two lists are just off the top of my head.

Lord willing and the creek don't rise as they say, I'll be taking a trip to Dallas in July (it seems the safest time right now), to visit DD and SIL and further get the proverbial lay of the land apartment and local scene wise. Meanwhile, I thankfully was not bored before, and now there is no doubt that will have more than enough to keep me busy!!  

Really looking forward to using a pool and spa more than two and a half months a year.