Andrew has been away this week visiting my family in Ohio. Most of the time, I'm the one going away and leaving him to tend the house and pets, because I travel much more for my job than he does. This is the first time in several years that I've been home while he's away. I don't think I properly appreciate all he does around the house. I struggled to do all the morning chores before I needed to leave for work each day, and it was a lot of extra work to walk the dog each morning and night. I especially missed him when I had to do all the disgusting chores - the daily flea combing and the morning when the dog got sick repeatedly all over the house. My husband is a real trooper about doing the disgusting chores. It must be part of that English attitude about unpleasant experiences building character - he never complains.
Right before Andrew left we finished the last of the unpacking. There are no more boxes sitting out anywhere in the house (as long as you don't count the single box of stuff that's ready to be donated). This makes me feel properly settled. So, how would I grade the new apartment? I'd give it a solid A-. The pluses: It's spacious and has beautiful wood floors that are just worn enough that I don't have to worry if I end up leaving a tiny scratch. There are lots of windows, and, once we purchased more shelving, enough places to store things. We have off-street parking for the car and motorcycle, and we're near public transportation. The minuses: the refrigerator is tiny (I'm taller than the fridge, and I'm not really known for my towering height), we have to pay pet fees every month, and the laundry facilities are not ideal. The laundry situation is still working itself out, in fact. There are coin-operated machines available one house over, and this is certainly preferable to a laundromat. However, it costs $6 to wash and dry one load. Even if we were careful, that would quickly add up to about $50 a month, which is, to my mind, completely unacceptable. So we've gone old school: we wash our clothes with one of these, spin them semi-dry in one of these, and then hang them out to dry. Mostly this works, but it's a lot more work than using a washing machine, no doubt about it. I'm sure that in a year or two, when we're living somewhere else, we will appreciate having a washing machine once again, just as I now appreciate having 800 glorious square feet of space in this apartment. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, after all.
4 comments:
oh dear, having a washing machine is something I still do not take for granted!!!
I use a spin dryer before I tumble dry the clothes. Keeping the spin speed at minimum on the washing machine makes it a very quiet machine, and it should last longer - at least that's my theory.
Consolation and cause for congratulation - you are being environmentally friendly.
I find it much easier to be the traveler than to be the one at home with the loved one gone. It's more than just the work you have to do. It is the fact that the home is the space for the two, not the one.
Since you have so much space!!!...
We bought a small washer off of Craig's List for $75. It attaches to the kitchen sink or the bathroom sink. We had it in the bathroom and left the drain hose in the bathtub. It is great!! We brought it with us when we moved to the house and now I use it for diapers.
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