To a deluxe apartment in the skyMay 2nd, 2007 @ 7:01 am
We moved into our 1 bedroom, high rise apartment in downtown Seattle when I was about 4 months pregnant with Babboo. We had just sold the house we had built ourselves. My emotions were a mess with the new pregnancy, an upcoming trip to Europe, and of course, packing up a house full of items (of which we sold most of or put into storage) and trying to cram ourselves into our little apartment. Neither one of us knew how long it would take to build our new house, so we didn’t know how long we’d be in the apartment.
It’s been about 18 months. The little apartment feels like home now. We’re settled. By now I’ve forgotten about all of my things that are put in our storage unit. (What was I thinking when I put all my pre-pregnancy clothes in storage? I miss them. I want them back.) I can’t remember what the furniture we sold even looked like. I don’t miss cleaning the 3 bathrooms. I sure as heck don’t miss weeding the yard. I don’t miss having to sweep dust bunnies off the wood floor in the spare rooms, or looking for Preston hiding in one of the closets. I don’t miss trying to locate a hammer in our massive 2.5 car garage.
But I do.
I miss having another bathroom to get ready in so that I don’t bother The King while he shaves (or poops, either way). I miss not having to leave my house to do laundry. I miss not having a room that I don’t have to share with a crib. I miss not having a couch to read on while The King watches TV on the other couch. I miss having spare rooms for house guests. I miss having grass and a fence. I miss not having to pay $200 a month, just for a parking space in our own complex. I miss having the quiet of my own house.
While it’s more money to live in a downtown apartment as opposed to one closer to where our new house is, I love living here. I truly believe that I have the best commute of anyone in the entire world. Bold statement, I know. I walk 4 blocks to work. The King walks about 15 blocks. Dude, you can’t beat that with a stick.
And while I complain that all 3 of us aren’t set up to share a bedroom, there is no way I could justify paying $800 (or whatever it was) more a month for a 2 bedroom apartment. No way at all. We didn’t even look at a 2 bedroom unit. We didn’t want to be tempted. We kept telling ourselves, this is only temporary.
Right about now I’m starting to get a lot of the when is your new house going to be done questions. I never know what the correct response is. Do I lie; we’ll be moving on August 1st, wanna help me pack? Or do I tell them the truth; I have absolutely no idea. Mostly I just say; The King is working as hard as he can. He’s over there every evening and every Saturday. Remember, he’s building this house himself.
When we finally get into the new house I picture it being like a fat guy on Thanksgiving. You know when he undoes his top button and his gut just hangs over and he breaths a sigh of relief. We’re just going to spread out and love all the space.
I really don’t know how much longer we’ll be in our high rise apartment. Maybe the end of the summer? Maybe until Christmas? Maybe by next spring? I don’t know. I try to not think about it.
Instead I try to find more places in the apartment where I can store my things. Pretty much the only available space left is in the elevator.
Do you think the other tenants will mind if I keep the boxes full of my winter clothes in there?
Apartment Living · The First House · The New House
Kathleen
said,
May 2, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I’m first! Yay!
Man, I so know that cramped feeling. When we lived in Maine, we had a huge 3 bedroom house to spread out in, plus a yard and both our front and back porches were enclosed.
Now? We live in a 700 (if that) square foot apartment. It sucks.
There’s really no point to this except to say I totally feel your pain. Here’s to having a bigger place to live soon!!
Britt
said,
May 2, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I bet you’re so excited for the day when all of your stuff comes out of storage, and you get to dig through it and realize that you’d forgotten about most of the stuff you own. It will be like Christmas!!! Fun!!!! Can I come?
heidikins
said,
May 2, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Ah, don’t you love the storage unit? Mine is conveniently located in my dad’s unfinished basement. And sometimes when I’m feeling kind of sad I go and sit on my big leather couch that won’t fit in my apartment and open boxes and look at things, and touch things that I can’t use right now (like a linen tablecloth from Russia and a teaset from Belgium) And I just dream of the someday I’ll have room to keep my things with me, instead of buried in someone else’s basement.
janet
said,
May 2, 2007 at 5:25 pm
I vote August! The King is awesome, which you already know, of course. I have the same desire to get out of our 1 br apt…but we have nowhere to go, darnit!
TV Goddess
said,
May 2, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I am so impressed with the King. The house is looking amazing! I can’t wait to see it all finished!
Frema
said,
May 2, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Eight hundred dollars for a two-bedroom apartment? Hell, no. I wouldn’t have paid that, either.
Luke and I will be upgrading from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom next month in preparation for the baby, but Indianapolis is a much cheaper market than Seattle. We so thought we’d be in a house this summer, but that was before we decided that we want to move closer to Chicago. A move that is currently on hold because of the baby. See the vicious cycle?
Marci
said,
May 2, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I feel your pain- not about being crammed in a tiny apartment (our rental is actually bigger than our old house) but about having everything in storage. All of our stuff is in boxes in our basement, and it sucks to even think about digging though all the boxes to find one thing. I think I had a come-apart the other day because I couldn’t find a glue stick and I couldn’t face unstacking and stacking all of the boxes to find one.
I can’t wait to have my own place again, too. I miss all my froo froo decorations
Marci
Julie
said,
May 2, 2007 at 7:29 pm
I’m impressed he’s building the house himself!
Corinne
said,
May 2, 2007 at 8:20 pm
that new house is HOTT. So jealous
Kait
said,
May 2, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Wow, building it himself? He really is the King! That’s awesome.
I hope that he’s able to get it done soon so you can relax like the big Thanksgiving guy!
SJ
said,
May 2, 2007 at 10:31 pm
The King rules, he’s building a house with his own hands. Major cool!
In the end it’ll all be worth it. I can’t wait to see the finished product!
Molly
said,
May 2, 2007 at 11:06 pm
The exterior design of the new house is fantastic. You’re right, it’s only temporary. Then you can go back to cleaning umpteen bathrooms. I’m going to try the “only temporary” mantra on myself, as we pack away almost everything we own.
Carrisa
said,
May 3, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I can’t believe the King walks 15 blocks to work. Why not drive that fancy car that costs so much money to park?
MK
said,
May 3, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I think the elevator is a great idea! Go get a shelving unit, place your name on it and your set! people can aquish to the side.
Durga
said,
May 4, 2007 at 10:39 am
I was home yesterday and I watched day time tv(which i do v.rarely). Oprah was on and had a really awesome show on all the stuff we own that is just clutter and how it relates to our emotional and physical wellbeing plus our relationship with people living with us. The specialist on the show said that if you haven’t used something in a year - get rid of it. If you have to think for more than a second if u “need” something then u should get rid of it. storing things from the past as ‘memories’ and things for the future as ‘i may need this some day’ are the most common reasons for clutter. He talked about selling things off (ebay,yard sale etc) or giving them to charity. I found the show great. CoZ I tend to buy things for the future all the time and Michael stores ‘memories’ from the past all the time. Things in storage are just waste of space and money. I’ve got boxes in my mum’s garage.
Plus we live in a little apartment too and probably won’t be buying a bigger house so I have a lot of giving away to do. Espcially all the clothes and books.
Anyway, this is a looooooong comment.
I bet by this time nexy year u’ll be in the house that the King builds. You’ll be super happy and have loads of space!
CPA Mom and Soccer Mom Angela
said,
May 7, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Dude, you will have a guest room eventually, right? Where else am I going to stay? teehehehe