3 Weeks and a Dilemna

For those that don't know, our lease is up at the apartment complex known as Del Dumpe (yes, even the 4 year old calls it that due to my slip of tongue one very frustrating day) at the end of this month. We signed a notice telling them that we will not be returning despite the pleads and "great special offers" or the lure of the new community center. Some of you may remember the issues we were having with maintenance and our neighbors. Frankly, we think we can do better. For the better part of the last month, I have combed through page upon page of listings on Craig's List and have found a few that look promising. We'd really like to get the 3 bedroom house. We've seen the inside and really like it. It's big and open, with more than enough space for our growing family. Not to mention that there's a 2 car garage and a nice sized, fenced-in backyard. However, I just didn't feel a good vibe from the owner. He's supposed to let us know by tonight, so we'll see. This house is also in a great neighborhood with kick-butt schools and REALLY stinking close to the water park. I have also called on a 3 bedroom townhouse that's right by Cherry Creek State Park. Again, it's in a good area with the same kick-butt schools. Hopefully, the property consultant will email me back tomorrow so that we can go down and check it out. If all else fails, we have arranged to move into a condo-style apartment about two miles away from where we are. It's really nice but, again, it's an apartment and we're trying to avoid returning to apartment living at all costs.
What's going to be interesting is finding a new place, getting the money together to move in, pack up our stuff here and load it into a Budget truck along with the things that are in our storage unit (only bare essentials are with us now), move in and get things semi-unpacked all before I have to show my face in Montrose for the start of my brother's wedding activities. Whew, talk about a busy few weeks!
Of course, add all of this to what is going on with Cara and that makes for complete chaos! I must find order in this chaos though...what choice do I have? Well, wish me luck!

Back from the Artic!

Have I mentioned that my husband is brilliant? Remember how I threatened to retreat to the Artic Circle to escape the heat and lack of air conditioning in our apartment? It seems that Ben had had enough of sweltering in the heat and decided to poke around in the closet (he had to break in since the apartment community locks it) that houses our furnace. He took the cover off of the furnace and noticed that there was a little switch. Hit the switch and the next thing we heard was the sweetest sound I've heard in a long time--the air conditioning turning on. Apparently, there must be a ground short somewhere in the apartment because this switch keeps clicking off. Ben positioned the cover just-so hoping to prevent it from switching off again. At least now, we know what happened and how to fix it. Took him all of about 5 minutes to discover what was wrong and to fix it and the maintenance people couldn't find 5 minutes out of their day spent sitting on the curb smoking to relieve a sweating family of 4? All that I can say is, thank God Ben is handy!

Oh, and look what Ben found while he was poking around in the furnace closet...


Nice, huh? And no, that's not ours!

A little consideration would go a LONG ways!

I've had it, that's it, I'm throwing in the towel, no more Mrs. NiceWoman. From now on, I'll be playing hard ball and rounding the bases in a furry.

To my downstairs neighbors, consider this your warning! We've all just about had it with your loud, obnoxious, gang-banging music blaring at all hours and all decibel levels. In case you haven't noticed...you live on the 2nd floor, so that means that people live both above and below you! It really wouldn't kill you to have an ounce of consideration for those around, especially those with little kids who are trying to sleep, who have jobs that require them to sleep during the day (and night) and, heaven forbid, those who don't want their place to sound like a club gone bad!

Apparently, informing the property manager has no effect on you, so let me just say that we are stepping up the game. The next time that our floor vibrates at an obscene hour, we will be calling the courtesy security patrol and they will be paying you a not so welcomed visit. If that doesn't work, we will be calling the police. I know, I know, they are frequent guests at your place--well, that's great, they shouldn't have any trouble finding you then. Now, please understand, we are not saying that you have to walk around on your tiptoes and whisper. See, we realize that we live in an apartment too and that certain noise is a fact of life. However, you've taken "noise" to a whole new level. Webster's has created a new definition of the term just in your honor.

That said, please, go onto Ebay and buy yourself some consideration!

Oh, and to our chain-smoking, puffing like a train next door neighbor. The city of Aurora called, there's now a new smog zone right over your head and it ain't attractive. They wanted me to tell you that every day is a no-burn day. All joking aside, we would appreciate not inhaling 2nd hand smoke every time we want to open our windows or turn on the A/C. If you want to smoke, do so in your car going 90 down I-25. That way, no one really has to smell it 'cause they're going too fast. Thank you!

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Bottom line, apartment living bites rocks! We've never had this much trouble with our neighbors before. I must be the low-life residents that this place attracts coupled with the fact that the property management does nothing to enforce the "rules" that we're forced to sign as part of the lease. We have affectionatly named this place DelPoopAy (Actually called Del Arte Lofts & Flats) and when our lease is up in August, we plan on high-tailing it out of here. Oh, I hope and I pray!