A long time ago (2007) in this galaxy Jessica and I were not yet married. I don't recall exactly when the apartment hunting began. I do remember becoming tired of it after the first one or two. This was when I had barely started working on the graveyard shift. I was tired and did not feel like going to look around town when I could be sleeping. Therefore, my lovely future wife took it upon herself to select our humble abode. I gave her to go ahead to decide.
One day in November Jessica called me to say she had found our apartment. She described it as a one bedroom, bath and kitchen with nasty carpets. The lady currently residing there was a pack rat and Jessica said she had to follow "paths" to get from room to room. Ick. But Jessica had decided "this was the place".
Sometime between then and the wedding date I (it may have been a week before the wedding) I went to the apartment and peeked inside. The carpet was disgusting. I think the original color was blue only now it was more black than anything. Jessica reassured me the carpet was going to be replaced.
We tried to move in about a week before our wedding. The bank wouldn't have it because we had told them we wanted it by December 20th. I explained we were getting MARRIED on the 20th and needed it available a few days before so we could adequately move in.
We moved our stuff in about a day or two before the 20th. The carpets weren't finished yet. I called the bank and basically told them to get it done now or die. I think it was finished either the day before or the day of the wedding. Talk about cutting it close!
The wedding came and happiness followed. I must confess being alone with Jessica in "our" apartment felt odd. I could finally be with a girl and not get in trouble! Woo hoo!
Unfortunately, the previous tennant hadn't cleaned very well at all. The cupboards were nasty, the walls had stains on them and the carpet layers had left a horrible mess on the kitchen tile. There was a door in the kitchen that led to the carport, which was nothing more than mud and gravel. The gentlemen had tracked mud in all over the kitchen. Oh, and they hadn't removed the extra carpet or vacuumed up the little pieces. There was so much to do. Unpacking. Cleaning. Buying groceries. The usual. I'm so glad we didn't go on our honeymoon right off the bat! What a horrible mess to come home and find, waiting to be cleaned and polished.
Within the first week one of Jessica's friends brought her husband over and helped us clean. He helped me saw an inch or two off the bedroom and living room doors. With the new carpet being higher than the old you couldn't close the doors without much pulling/pushing. Those two pretty much saved our lives! I will be forever in their debt! Side note - once 9-10 PM rolled around I was quite anxious for them to leave so I could do some "rolling" of my own...if you know what I mean!
This is the living room. We rearranged it several times over the months we lived there. This is the earliest picture I could find. Look at that sweet SD TV in the corner! Also, note the lack of a Wii or Xbox 360. Those window blinds wouldn't go up very easily. We could have used some new ones and, ironically, the owner bought new blinds after we moved out! I was always afraid someone would peek in through the broken blinds.
There's more, of course, but it will have to wait until another time. Stay tuned!
Your first apartment sounds like a nightmare, but it looks MUCH better than our first one! I didn't know you guys had a blog! It was fun to read! :)
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