Apartment Living

There are advantages and disadvantages to a family of four living in a two-bedroom furnished apartment.

ADVANTAGE:  When you misplace something, there just aren't too many places for the thing to be.

DISADVANTAGE: When you want some time alone, there just aren't too many places for you to be.

ADVANTAGE: No lawn care or yard work.

DISADVANTAGE:  No garage -- and the Texas sun can make your car darn hot.

ADVANTAGE:  The laundry room is just a few steps away from both bedrooms, both bathrooms, and the kitchen.

DISADVANTAGE: Four people sharing two double beds.  (They may be queens -- hubby and I haven't figured that out yet.  We're so spoiled with our king, anything else makes for a rough night.  Our daughters have started taking turns sleeping on the sofa.)

ADVANTAGE:  An air-conditioned workout room and two pools all just a two-minute walk away.

DISADVANTAGE: A flight of stairs to climb to get back into the apartment -- especially odious after a half-hour in the workout room.

ADVANTAGE:  The mental challenge of figuring out how to operate new appliances.  (Our toaster has a "cancel" button on it.  Hmph.)

DISADVANTAGE:  The aggravation of learning how to operate new appliances.  (It took me all day the first day of doing laundry to figure out which setting on the dryer would actually dry my clothes.)

ADVANTAGE:  Someone to call immediately when an appliance is messed up. (Like when I come home after three hours and the dishwasher is still running and the dial hasn't moved.)

DISADVANTAGE:  Missing cooking supplies.  (I bought a blueberry muffin mix at the store . . . only to remember when I got home that we don't have a muffin tin.)

ADVANTAGE:  The creative new meal options resulting from having to make do.  (Blueberry muffin-bread, anyone?)

DISADVANTAGE: Phone calls and mail for previous owners.  (We haven't given out the apartment phone number to anyone -- I don't even know what it is -- so when the phone rings, we just let it ring.  We know it's not for us.  And it rings and rings and rings.  AND apparently there have been at least two different counselor/psychologists in our apartment before us.  I'm enjoying skimming their professional journals and magazines, but I wonder if they're missing them.)

ADVANTAGE: Setting the thermostat wherever we want because we don't pay that bill.  (Although hubby likes it much colder than we do, as does everyone in San Antonio, it seems.  I take a hoodie along to wear when I go into buildings because the air conditioner is set so low.  They do love their extremes here.)

DISADVANTAGE:  The overabundance of togetherness.

ADVANTAGE:  The overabundance of togetherness.

The girls are griping now, but I expect in several years, they'll look back with some fond memories of these couple of months.  Or at least their moments of misery here will seem amusing.  :)