It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in an apartment.

Now that I am in one again, I remember what I liked and what I didn’t. I’ve only been in the apartment a total of 6 days, but there are things I’ve noticed and things that bring memories back, the good and the bad.

I said its been a long time, and I wasn’t kidding, it’s been about 14 years, I bought my first house in 1999. First house…makes me sound like I buy and sell houses like crazy, nope, only had 2, trying to sell the one I have, wanna buy it?

When I tried to sell the first time, I thought about finding an apartment somewhere near the beach, a little 2, maybe 3 bedroom. A bedroom, office/guest/hobby room, definitely with a back deck/patio. If I didn’t have a mortgage, I’d get any kind of job, maybe beneath the apartment I was renting, just need something to pay the bills, is that wrong? Have a job with no pressure, get to do whatever I want and ensure everything is taken care of, sounds pretty good to me!

So, back to the apartment. I know people who have owned homes, sold them and are now in apartments and don’t want to go back, despite the benefits of owning a home, especially financially.

Let’s see…with an apartment, sometimes all or most of your utilities are included, there’s no yard work, if something breaks or needs repairs, like the A/C or dishwasher, you call someone and they come and fix it. Exterminator, routine maintenance, general grounds work, not your problem.

On the other hand…you can hear almost everything, the sound of bodies being dragged down the hall (I know it was luggage, a cart, maybe a dolly), voices in the hallway, someone hammering on the wall next door at SIX AM! really? We have no lights in the living room, either bedroom, not even sure if there are no, I so cannot remember the word at the moment, the thing that you can attach a light to,there are light switches, but no lights. Our bedroom has a very nice walk in closet, but the other bedroom closet is smaller than a hall coat closet; there is no place to put linens.
Did I mention the stupid pet fees?

I will say, it’s not horrible, but it’s a bit of a haul to get from parking to the apartment, mainly when toting a lot of groceries, haven’t gotten a wheeled cart yet, left the others back in Atlanta, but I can walk to the grocery story, restaurants, shopping, incredibly convenient and their is a very nice gym that is down the road and we get a discount for living here.

On the other hand…there is the opportunity to make friends easily, saying hello to a new neighbor, maybe at the pool, there are a lot of people with dogs, that’s a good way to make friends. Sometimes they have social events you can participate in, the funny thing is, in this place, they put those notices in the elevator, which we only used to load in our stuff when we moved.

We’re limited on space, as you know, I put most of my stuff in storage, so I have very little here, especially in terms of my crafting items. I selected the specific things I wanted to work on until I can get to my things (DCM said that if he’d known how much crafting stuff there was, he would have bought me more! If he’d told me that before we loaded up the truck…). It does seem a little odd going from almost 3,000 square feet to a little over 1000, but so far, it’s been good. There is a bedroom, an office (which will be a guest bedroom for you to crash in when we get a pull out sofa in there!), a comfortable living room, an eating area, a nice sized kitchen with lots if cabinets, a laundry room with a washer and dryer and a balcony to enjoy, do we need more?

Did I mention covered parking? Annie will be so happy in the winter!

I’m almost done unpacking boxes and once that is done and we can throw away or put into storage what’s left and get some furniture: I am an admitted bed snob, I am 5′ 1 1/2″ tall with a king sized bed and I like it that way! Bedroom furniture, lighting, some shelves for books and one for my plants on the balcony, hang some of the artwork we brought, a little shelf for me to put my crafting projects, keep them organized, I think we’ll be in business.

It’s all new for the cats, but they seem to be adjusting well, Peanut loves to jump in, over, up, on all the boxes, they’ve found places to hide and sleep, especially by the sliding door that leads to the balcony, plenty of sunshine! the life of a cat is a tough one!

All in all, we are settling in quite well, we’re cooking dinners together, only been out to eat once so far, I’m learning the area, where to go and how to get there, I know you’re not surprised at that one. So I can say, it’s not bad in an apartment, kind of like riding a bicycle, comes back to you.