Before Clive and I left for our honeymoon we signed a lease on an apartment that I’d been eyeing for months. The owner was renovating the entire thing, and I really liked the location (two blocks from our current place) and literally right next door to my sister. We share a chimney. I met the owner several months ago and told her to call me when she was finished renovating. The top floor of the house was rented without me seeing it (it was too expensive anyway, $1000 plus all utilities), but the day that the “For Rent” sign went into the window, I called her and made an appointment.
It’s got nearly everything that we were looking for. Two bedrooms (one bedroom that will be my office), hardwood floors, a backyard, and in a great location. It only has a washer and dryer hookup, but I was willing to accept that I may not be able to find somewhere that has a washer and dryer (little did I know at the time of signing the lease just how expensive washers and dryers actually are. Holy shit) and I mentally prepared myself for the idea that I was going to have to buy two new appliances.
The rent was high, higher than we were originally willing to go, but we both liked the apartment, so we said yes. Now, two weeks later, WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE THINKING. Clive actually verbalized his wish yesterday that the place would BURN DOWN before we moved in (if it coincidentally does burn down for some reason, he was only joking!! pleasedontsueus so we could get out of it. Utilities are not included. Rent is almost as high as our current place that has five appliances and has utilities included. We’re pretty much up shit creek as far as expenses go. Seriously. I have no idea what we’re going to do. But we’ve locked ourselves into this agreement and there’s nothing we can do about it. So, we’re just going to try to enjoy it.
I’m getting the keys next weekend where we’ll spend a few hours cleaning- it’s got that horrible chemical smell from Mr. Clean and Lysol right now, and then start moving our stuff in. The moving process will take a week- I’m going to take a couple of stroller loads every day and let Ash play around in our unheated apartment and new backyard while I imagine the next ten months (it’s only a ten month lease, luckily) being extremely concious of every light that’s on and every shower that I take and how it’d be a good idea to invest in a pair of slippers for each of us because we’ll keep the thermostat really low.
Part of me is okay with having to pay the electricity bill because it’ll make me even more aware how much energy I waste, resulting in me being even MORE eco-friendly. So, I really shouldn’t complain that much (though I probably still will).
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Our honeymoon was great. Cuba had perfect weather most of the time that we were there (the last two days were a bit rainy). The food was okay- a bit bland- as we’d been warned- the drinks were aplenty (Clive would often have his first pina colada at 10am), the beach was beautiful, the ocean was warm, the pool was clean, Ash didn’t stop walking and exploring for ONE SINGLE MINUTE from the time he woke up in the morning until the time he fell asleep at night. There was even one night where he slept straight for six hours. A new record.
Clive and I don’t know what to blame it on, whether it’s the ocean air or the constant alcohol intake or the heavy meals at the end of the day, or maybe just catching up on lots and lots of sleep lost in the past year, but he and I were exhausted by 8:30pm every night and so that’s when we’d join Ash and go to sleep. We never went out once for nightly entertainment, we’d much rather sleep.
Having my parents there was great for the times that Clive and I wanted to spend an hour and a half in the water. It was great to not have to entertain him first thing in the morning. It was great to have them on the plane to play with him while Clive and I were actually able to watch a whole movie (Henry Poole is Here) from start to finish. We didn’t spend as much time away from Ash as we’d originally planned, but that’s our fault- we just love spending time as a family together- something we only get to do one day a week- but it all worked out in the end.
I don’t think we’ll ever do the all inclusive resort thing again, but I do have to admit it was really relaxing being able to eat what I wanted to and drink what I wanted to without having to worry about the cost. In my mind, drinking a beer is like this: “I would love a beer. But it’s $4. Do I really need to drink BEER? Too many empty calories. I guess I’ll just have a water.” I don’t like unnecessarily spending money, so it was nice to not have to worry about that. The money had already been spent, so I could actually think of drinking my beer as getting it free!
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Speaking of money. My Christmas list is really… pitiful. There are so many things that I’d like to buy for myself, things I’ve been living without but would like to have in order to make my “housewife” life easier. For example, these are some things I’m asking for:
- A new duvet- the inside part- not the cover
- A stainless steel colander with legs so pasta doesn’t touch the bottom of the sink
- A small colander for rinsing things like rice and quinoa
- My own Kleen Kanteen
- A really nice can opener
- A Beco Butterfly baby carrier
- A heavy wooden sewing table
- An ergonomic chair or one of those big yoga/pilates balls, or both
- A nice way to display my threads
- A new alarm clock
Yep, all I want is stuff so I can cook and sew and be a mom. Except for the Kleen Kanteen. Oh, and when I linked this clock on my Facebook account yesterday, my sister in law told me to remove that status update if I actually wanted it for xmas so that she could buy it for me and be the only one. Isn’t that the nicest clock you’ve ever seen? The other alarm clock on my list is in addition to this one.
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I’ve been busy sewing (as usual) lately, and have started making bib and burp cloth sets. They’ll also be sold at P’lovers, just as soon as I drop them off this week. I am absolutely in love with them. Here’s Ash sporting one.
One day, though… one day.
