It turns out the the front desk people were misinformed and something was wrong with the internet up here — repair people came and dug around in the ceiling crawlspace with wires and tools and now I’m up and running. Not a moment too soon. My iPhone is magnifying the deterioration in my eyesight as I find myself subconsciously moving the phone away from my face so I can read the tiny print. I’m not really supposed to need reading glasses before 40, am I?
Anyway, after the horrors of house hunting this morning, we may have found an acceptable option this afternoon. We’ve realized the biggest problem with our housing budget is we’re trying to house 6 people on the same allowance that most people are housing 2 to 4. Add to that the shortage of housing in the neighborhoods we want (close to base) because people have been moving away from the areas with all the protests, and you get these choices:
junkyard next door — perfect for picking up spare auto parts
an inviting death trap right outside the living room door
this house was special: dining room
look where they are in relation to each other: the kitchen was a room on the landing and you had to go down a flight of stairs to the main house and up a flight to get to the bedrooms.
these stairs were steep!
But we finally found our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The pot was half empty, but it’s enough. There’s something about seeing cockroaches the size of your thumb that really makes you appreciate semi-clean carpet when you find it. This house may not be my dream house, but it’s livable and I think it will be perfect for us. Either way, it’s a hell of a lot better than anything else we saw.
kitchen
Not horrible. Yes it has a pool (sigh), but we found out the base will do an inspection and require them to put in a fence across the side yard and a locking mechanism on the sliding glass doors to limit access. We’re going to sign some paperwork that reserves it for us for 7 days and keep looking in the meantime. At least I can go to sleep knowing I don’t have to live in any of those other houses.
And now, to add a little levity (since I certainly need it): Little miss was tired and crabby and needed a boost.
She was flopping on the table at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and fussing
until her chocolate croissant came
fistfuls of chocolate makes it all better
