pass

The other morning I was jogging in a part of our neighborhood that I don't usually jog in, and I saw a cute little house set way back off the road, with a "For Rent" sign out front. We aren't really looking to move, but I was curious what it would cost to rent a whole (little) house, and what the place looked like inside. So I went to craigslist, where you can usually find any apartment rental. I didn't find the little house, but I found something else interesting; a condo in a nice building a few blocks away from where we live now.

Sean and I talked about this rental, we looked at the few pictures that were up on craigslist, and we decided to make an appointment to view it. We're on a month-to-month lease, so we could really move anytime, and the ad said the condo was $225 a month less than our current place. Not only that, it looked bigger, and I was betting the indoor hallway didn't smell like chemicals. And maybe it didn't have carpeting!

So today we went to see the place, and it was nice. It was roomier, though not actually any larger. There were no funny smells, and there were beautiful hardwood floors. Instead of being in "the ghetto," we'd be on a busy street. (We always joke that we live in the ghetto, but we don't; we live on the one slightly run down street in a really nice little town.) Instead of sharing a garage with another tenant, we'd have a space in a large garage under the building. We'd have a walk-in closet, and a kitchen that is larger than our current 9 sq. ft. kitchen. (Not a joke).

But the new place is a little farther from work, it has less charm than our current place, and the kitchen and bathrooms are kind of funky (and I don't mean that in no nice way). The laundry is coin-op and it's not in the unit, and we'd be farther from the common. The $225 a month is real, and it almost convinced me that we should move.

Sean is totally happy where we are, but he'd be happy to move too if it would mean I'd stop complaining. He proclaimed that we could either move to the new place, or stay where we are and I would have to stop complaining about our house. About the weird smell in the hallway, about the smoke that rises up from our downstairs chain-smoking neighbor's house, about the stained carpets that sweat in the humidity, or about the lack of ventilation in the bathrooms that occasionally results in mold.

As we drove home, we had a fun time discussing the pros and cons of moving. We went back and forth a few times. But when we pulled in the driveway, I got all verklempt and said, "We're home. I love this place!" Sean just smiled.

We passed. And now I'm locked into a life of chronic positivity. Life sucks. But our apartment? Our apartment is awesome.