Okay we’re not buying a house anytime soon. But that doesn’t keep me from wanting one. :-) I know houses have their downsides, but there are definitely things I’m looking forward to.

#1.
Having a place (basement, yard, just space inside the house) where we can open our tent to dry out after a camping trip. This is also why we can never camp in the rain, or pack the tent while it’s wet.

#2.
When Paul is doing quiet time, being able to send him to another room so I can make noise if I need to.

#3.
One word: NEIGHBORS. Oh, I am so looking forward to some distance between me and my neighbors! Case in point: to have noises coming above me just being the reindeer on the roof on Christmas Eve. To be able to breathe in my house and on my porch without having to share in my neighbors’ disgusting smoking habits. And most of all, my recent pet peeve: To not hear the guy below us using the only word in his vocabulary: “F***”. I am not kidding. There are times when he just repeats that word 5 or 6 times. Paul and I just stare at each other. We never hear him otherwise (just smell him, since he’s one of the smokers). He must have quite a temper because he’s yelling pretty loudly. If I ever saw a girl go into his apartment or heard a female voice, I would be seriously concerned because he sounds so vicious. And seriously, dude, learn another word!! It’s driving me nuts. We weren’t sure which neighbor it was at first, but we’ve decided in the past week that we’re pretty sure it’s the guy below us. I don’t know if we’re going to complain at the leasing office or try leaving a nice note on the door. Or, maybe we should do nothing and just keep music on all the time. I dunno. I just really hate hearing him shouting in general, and it just makes it worse that it’s a vulgar word that I don’t care to listen to.

At our last apartment, we were on the bottom floor. Some people in our building always walked their dog right by our windows. There was a hill right outside our window, leaving only about a 3 ft. wide path. I didn’t mind the dog walking, except for three things. One, the dog was a pit bull and never on a leash. Two, they never picked up after him and it really made our apartment stink when we had the windows open. And three, the trigger word that the owners used to get their dog to go was: “Go sh**”. Not kidding you, they would stand right in front of our apartment and yell that over and over to their unleashed dog who certainly had other things on his mind. Fortunately, these guys were only in their apartment for about three months when they suddenly disappeared. I guess there were other problems with them as well. :-)

Anyways. I’m sure everyone has horror stories about apartment neighbors. These are a few of mine! There I feel better now. And still looking forward to that house!