A New Hobby

June 5, 2008

I have decided to start blogging. This is because I feel a need for a creative outlet. I don’t scrapbook, stamp, photograph, sew, quilt, crochet, or knit. For years I kept a written journal – I have a plastic shoebox full of journals. Then I started singing and that seemed to take the place of journaling. It’s been a long time since I’ve done either and while I would love to start taking voice again it’s not in the budget. Writing as a creative outlet is free, and if I type an online journal I won’t get writer’s cramp, ha ha. I’m constantly thinking of things that I would like to write about and lately I’ve been enjoying reading the blogs of other moms. Maybe some day other moms might enjoy reading mine.

Last weekend we moved to a new apartment. Now we live in the same building as BIL and SIL1 and their family. (One of the great things about blogging is that I can totally retain my anonymity, but in order to do so all my family must also be anonymous. I don’t really know how I will do this in order to keep everyone straight but for now BIL1 is DH’s older brother and his wife is SIL1. I’m sure I will be referring to them often.) Our phone line is not working so BIL1 gave us the mad hookup to their wireless internet connection. BUT it keeps kicking me off which is frustrating. Why does it do that just when I want to be creative? Meanwhile I’m typing a Word document which I’ll copy and paste to my blogspot tomorrow. Said Word document does not recognize the word “blog” in any form so there are numerous red underlinings throughout.

There is a lot that I want to write about but I don’t want to kill the fun of a new hobby by trying to do it all at once. So I’m just going to write about our new apartment, and what I like and dislike about it.

What I Like About Our New Apartment
-the Boogie has her own room, at last
-it is much bigger than the old apartment
-there are lots of windows, and a nice view out of them
-there are brand-new tile floors, and not the kind with grout, either
-the Boogie has her own room
-it has central air
-it is upstairs from BIL and SIL1 and the cousins who are the Boogie’s favorite small people
-there is a double sink in the kitchen
-the Boogie has her own room
-it is across the street from MIL and FIL who have a backyard with a swing set, and also a washer and dryer that they let us use FOR FREE
-when I don’t feel like walking across the street with my laundry there are two washers and dryers in the basement of this building
-I can walk to the post office, the bank, the park, and Wawa
-did I mention that the Boogie has her own room?

What I Dislike About Our New Apartment
-the floors are very, very creaky
-the kitchen has about 4 square feet of counter space
-there is no pantry in the kitchen
-when our downstairs neighbor listens to music the bass vibrates through the floor and up my legs (a very strange sensation)
-when my next-door neighbor goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night I can hear their equally creaky floors and also their toilet flushing (thankfully that’s all I can hear)
-the toilet is opposite the sink in the bathroom and is so close that when I “take care of business” my knees touch the vanity
-there is no exhaust fan in the bathroom
-there is a window in the shower

We’ve only lived here for five whole days. I’m sure I will come up with more likes and dislikes. Right now I want to elaborate on the very last dislike. Would someone care to explain to me why anyone would design a bathroom with a window in the shower? Perhaps originally it was only a tub, in which case I don’t have a problem with a window above it. But now it is a shower. And it’s not a shower-friendly window. It’s a regular one that opens and closes, with a mini-blind and a wooden frame around it. How am I supposed to keep the wood from mildewing? (Ack. I so hate mildew. It is my enemy. But more on that later.) Right now I have taped a 30-gallon plastic trash bag over most of it. This partially defeats the purpose of a window for ventilation. If I were remodeling this apartment I would drywall over the window and put in an exhaust fan. I would also put in new sub-flooring and carpet since I forgot to mention in my dislikes that despite being shampooed last week the carpet smells faintly of wet animal, namely dog. I would also put in a lot more cabinets and counter space in the kitchen. All in all, however, it is a nice apartment and I’m happy to be here. Now I’m going to put away the clean dishes so that I can put away the dish drainer so that I’ll have room on the counter to make DH’s sandwich for his lunch tomorrow.