This Sucks!

I have received two pieces of bad news in the past day or so.

1) I have nowhere to live from mid December until the wedding.
That's four months! My lease expires on the 31st January and the plan was for Aimee and I to move out and go and housesit for some friends of hers who are going to live in London for a year. Since they rent, we'd be taking over their lease for them and Aimee was hopeful another girl she knows might move in with us. That way she wouldn't risk being stuck with all the rent when I got married. Anyway, that girl has decided not to move in and Aimee doesn't want to move into these people's house in case she finds it hard to replace me down the track. So we've said 'no' to housesitting.

This was a real disappointment for both of us. People were asking me about my living arrangements until the wedding and I was happily telling them that I had somewhere to go. Now neither of us have anywhere to live. Aimee is going away to Mauritius for a while so we decided to move out on the 15th December (her date of departure) and go our separate ways. Obviously we'll be breaking the lease and the stupid real estate agent said we have to find someone or keep paying rent there. My dad's a property manager and he said that's THEIR job and only if THEY can't find someone do we keep paying rent there. Sheesh!

I really don't know what I'm going to do! I was looking at possible rentals on the net and there's no way I could afford any of them. $300 a week for a crappy two bedroom shack in a dodgy suburb. Or $135 a week for a ROOM in a house with five students. No thanks! Did the whole student housing thing for three years. Never again!!! I have no furniture (my place is furnished) and not enough money to rent on my own.

My only option seems to be to beg someone to let me stay with them but I feel uncomfortable doing that. And who'd want me for four months! I'm also wary of living with some of my friends because we're very different and I feel it just wouldn't work. Yes, it's only four months but I'm wary of damaging our friendship. I'm hoping that some kind soul will let me stay but I also want our friendship to be intact.

2) My writing day has been taken away for next year
Some of you will know from this post last year that I've been working four days a week this year instead of full time and have been spending Wednesdays at home writing a novel. Well, I forgot I had to reapply to stay part time for next year and so they have made me full time instead. But then one of the managers told me that even if I had remembered, it's almost certain that my application would have been rejected. The library is making everyone full time or 0.5 and they don't like 0.8 people like me because I make their budget more difficult. So the book will have to go on hold after New Year until after the wedding when I resign (yes another piece of news I'll have to blog about).

Right now I'm disappointed and angry. I was so pleased that everything seemed to be falling into place until the wedding and now everything has been turned on its head. I like control, I like plans and I hate being in limbo, not knowing what's going to happen. Part of me is wondering why on earth God is allowing me even more stress after the stress I've already had this year. But God and I often have different agendas - I want peace, comfort and orderly plans that fall into place and he wants me to learn perseverance and patience and all that stuff. I don't think God's out to 'get me' but I'm afraid he wants to teach me something and the only way I can learn it is through difficulties. I'm terribly afraid that he's going to provide accommodation for me with ferals and 'difficult' people in the lead up to the wedding in the process of making me more like Jesus. I know I need to trust him, to trust that he is good and has everything under control but my first reaction is to freak out. My mother-in-law to be has encouraged me to reflect on the life of Joseph in the Bible when things go wrong and we don't understand.

I'm so over renting it's not funny. I feel so unsettled after moving from flat to flat then back to Albany then back to Perth again during my three years in student housing and that's why living in one place with Emma for three years was so good. Renting is far worse when you're single and you have to find people to live with as well as find a place. Some of my single friends are constantly moving house or replacing housemates and find it so tiring. I look at people who live at home til they're married and think that it's not fair! Be grateful if that's you. I can't wait til I'm married!

If you know of anyone who's looking for a housemate or has a cheap-ish furnished granny flat for rent, then please point me in their direction.