Well, cut to a couple of days ago when I am sitting in our empty Colorado apartment, hardly any worldly possessions in sight... sitting on a couch that we dug out of the garbage.
That's right. I said it: We dug a couch out of the garbage.
Well, technically, it wasn't IN the garbage... it was right next to the dumpster. And it was there right when we pulled up to the apartment, so we figured it must have been meant to be. It was this HUGE sectional, three pieces, and one of the sections had a hideaway bed. I don't know if you've ever tried to carry a section of a couch with a bed inside of it before, but, let me tell you, it is NOT easy (especially when there are stairs involved). Let's just say that it was a good thing I was doing all of this beforehand, otherwise, I don't know if I could have done it.
But then, once we get it up to the apartment, we decide to just take the mattress out of it for our bedroom, and just use two of the three sections in the living room. So we had to take that section all the way back down to the dumpster again.
Then, we went to the Salvation Army to buy something to cover the couch up with, and, badda-bing, badda-boom, here it is:
Oh, and do you see that black cabinet holding our computer? We dug that out of the garbage too!
So, I don't really recommend that stuff about getting rid of all of your worldly possessions anymore (unless you're moving into a furnished apartment or something), because this has all been kind of tough on me.
Our apartment smells.
I stole toilet paper from the library (just a handful, enough to get us through a day) because we didn't know where any stores were yet.
And I don't really want to judge the other people who live here, but here are some things that have caught my attention:
1) The parents yell at their children and tell them to shut up (openly and in public, like there isn't anything wrong with it).
2) I don't think I have seen a neighbor yet who DOES NOT smoke.
3) Everybody is insanely messy. Cigarette butts and trash everywhere. And you know how when you'll get a flyer from a local pizza store or something and they leave it in your door... and you know how you take that flyer into your house and then throw it in your garbage like a normal person? Well, our neighbors take that flyer and throw it onto the ground in the common area. Along with their cigarette butts.
So, we don't exactly fit in here... except DID I MENTION THE FACT THAT WE JUST DUG A COUCH AND A COMPUTER CABINET OUT OF THE GARBAGE?
Maybe we fit in better than I think.
(Oh, and I also taped black garbage bags up to our bedroom windows. How's that for classy?)
This is my life, people. I am not making this stuff up.
8 comments:
lol, omg. "Nice windows, you make that yourself?" Its a nice touch. It shows the neighbors you have no issues with their terrible habits.
Yeah I moved from NH to Texas. (Im the one from FB who strongly recommended Portsmouth/Dover to you) I still gasp when I see people driving with a kid in NO carseat while the adults are smoking. What is that?!?! Then I find out its legal to not have a booster seat for my then 4 yr old. WHAT? Its apparently still the late 1980's here or they haven't seen any research since then. I almost lost it at 9mo pregnant in my new place when I look through the peephole and see 8 people sitting on the ground smoking!!! My "courtyard facing" apt is really just a nice almost closed in space for assholes to gather and smoke while I glare and make my kids run by. Yes I don't care anymore if I'm the snob.
I don't know how I would respond to a parent speaking that way to a child in front of me. If I started to feel it was normalized by the parents I live near I might just go home and cry.
I've been in TX a year now, still no end in sight. Occasionally I still go home and cry too. Its really isolating to feel you don't fit in in the area you have to live in. Think towards the future because at the very least you know your headed elsewhere soon enough.
Oh I'm so glad you're back online!!!
Just need to get your kids busy making art & getting it hung up on the walls & y'all will feel better. And get a little tea tree oil & lavender oil, a few drops with some water in a sprayer, and spray the couch & carpets & it will smell fresher.
The smoking thing. Yeah. I just... I really hate it. Our neighbors smoke, and I hate that I can't open my windows in the spring when they have their windows open or when they're outside... because then instead of the amazing smells of nature, I smell cigarette smoke. It's the most nasty of all nastiness. ((hugs))
No worries about the trashpicking. I love trashpicking.
At least you have internet. :-D
I miss you and I am sorry your house smells.
Mix some baking soda with lime essential oil and give the carpet a heavy dose. Let it sit there for an hour or overnight. Then vacuum (do you have one?) it up.
Dr. Bronners peppermint in a bucket of water to scrub down the kitchen and bathroom (including the floor)and the walls. I am sure people probably smoked in there before you, so wash the walls really well. Have the whole family join in!
You want the cold strong clean smells for this. Lime and peppermint!! And I like the idea of spraying the couches too.
i love your blogs goofy momma - someday you'll remember these as the days....
-denise
This reminds me of TX. Everyone smoked, no one recycled, everyone spanked their kids at the park etc. It seemed so weird but slowly I found my people and it was more tolerable.
BTW, we went to the API picnic at Nokomis and Mr Joe was really lost without Ezra. He misses him a ton! When are you coming back :)
LOL, no, you don't fit in there! Sorry to break it to you :) We have a blanket with snowmen on it pinned up over one window, and gross fuzzy brown blankets that Mark got from a hardware store pinned over two other windows. A few years ago Mark saw a set of golf clubs on the side of the road for free so he grabbed them, only to find out when he got home that it's a ladies set and they're all warped. (lol!) You don't fit in there because you are an awesome mom who treats her kids with love and respect, and you have common sense.
I will agree, some artwork on the walls would really spruce the place up. Blast some music and have a cleaning/scrubbing party with the kids so it will smell better. Keep exploring the area; branch out and check out different places each day. Familiarity is good sometimes but it's also fun to find new favorites, especially the ones that are unique to that area.
I look back on my childhood home, the tiny house with brown carpeting and linoleum floors and the neighbor whose yard my mom always had to mow because she couldn't stand the 2 foot-tall grass and weeds and the other neighbor whose teens had a garage band and were probably smoking pot while we played nearby, and I know my mom wasn't a fan of it. But I have so many fond memories of that time. Kids see things so differently, so try and see if you can look at things the way they do. If it's really awful and you want to move and can swing it, then go for it. But if you're stuck here, turn the lemons into lemonade. Make some fun videos and take interesting pictures (ok, that's a selfish suggestion :) You will definitely look back on this and laugh, and you never know - you might look back on this with fond memories someday. (Yes, I know it's easy to say when I'm not there with you, but I still say go for it - what have you got to by trying?)
Oh, and you are a stud for carrying a couch with a hide-a-bed anywhere, let alone up stairs!!
I am sorry it is hard right now. You have an amazing ability to make the best of situations, and I hope you get back into your groove soon. I hope you find some friends, because that always helps.
I can honestly tell you that you WILL look back and laugh one day! Been there, done that! We slept on a mattress we got out of the garbage for several years. And it wasn't comfortable, lol, it was already worn in with indentations for our bodies so we couldn't roll anywhere at night, haha. But it beat using our Papason cushion with the loveseat cushions to sleep on.
Thankfully we were young and poor but my husband worked with high ranking officers, so they gave us lots of their old stuff when they bought new. Our kids got beds as they grew out of the crib.
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