Hurray for Jose

Perhaps you've seen my previous entry about the deplorable conditions of my current apartment. Well that was then and this is now, and I have to give all the credit to our new fix-it man Jose. Shortly after moving in I called my landlord, just to make sure he knew about the ever growing hole in the bathroom floor. My landlord then sent Jose over to appraise the damage, and that's all it took. Since then Jose and his sons have completely reworked the place.

The bathroom floor that was rotting away below our feet - replaced.

Bathroom vanity that was slowly disintegrating into itself - replaced.

Toilet that required ninja-like balance to prevent its banging against the wall when you stood up and sat down - fixed.


Drippy kitchen faucet - fixed.

Ancient relic of a range/oven - replaced.


Screen door that had lost it's spring and simply banged whenever the wind blew - fixed.

There are still some major issues, such as the basement that quite possibly houses the creature from the black lagoon,


and our upstairs neighbors who epitomize the term white trash (they asked to borrow $30 before introducing themselves to me, and let's not forget the large chewed up couch that sat on our porch for a month), but thanks to Jose I can actually call my apartment "home sweet home" without choking on the sarcasm. Yes indeed, Jose is my hero. Hurray for Jose!!

Home Depot Junkie

I..........am...........a............Home Depot............junkie.

You can ask my roommates. I go there almost every day, I know the layout of the store, and soon I'll know all the sales people by name. It's bad, it's real bad.

It all started when I moved in to this illustrious apartment. Some of the former residents had left some odds and ends, which us current roommates sold on Craigslist. This gave us a little mad money that we earmarked for the bettering of our living situation.

As I have the misfortune of being unemployed and happen to be stuck in charming apartment all day, I started to get the fix-it bug. I figured if I'm going to be stuck here I'm might as well make it livable, so using the allotted apartment fund I got to work starring with a simple repair to the broken blinds in my room. When the guy at Home Depot gave me the part I needed, free of charge, I was hooked.

I then decided to hang up a couple Ikea racks in the kitchen for hanging pots and pans. This of course required that I purchase a drill, drill bits, and anchors (at Home Depot). Then I realized that I could change the shower head (purchased at Home Depot) with the help of a crescent wrench and Teflon tape (purchased at Home Depot). Then I had to put in splash guards (attempted to purchase at Home Depot, but had to get at Bed Bath and Beyond) on the bathtub so that the water wouldn’t leak down and damage the water-logged, tile-less floor. This required I get some extra caulk (from Home Depot). I also had to get a new aerator (from Home Depot) for the kitchen sink since because the old one had what appeared to be wood chips lodged in it.

And that my friends pretty much used up the last of the apartment fund, but does that stop me from going to Home Depot. Oh heavens no. I’m a junkie remember. Now I just got to tour the appliance section and drool over the gas ranges. You know ones where you can actually SET the appropriate oven temperature. There’s a 10% off sale of all GE appliances right now, and I’m trying to figure out how I can get my landlord to buy the most basic model. Maybe I could sell a kidney or better yet sell my landlord’s kidney. Do you think he would notice?

Home, Not-So-Sweet Home

As you may know I recently moved out of my fabulous, but overpriced apartment into a significantly cheaper and not quite so nice apartment.

Let's do a side by side comparison shall we.

KITCHEN

Old Apartment:
All brand new stainless steel appliances including a built-in microwave and dishwasher. Also has tons of cabinet storage space.

New Apartment:
The oven was built shortly after the discovery of fire.
This state of the art white elephant has made cooking a mystery. For instance, if you want to set the oven to 350 degrees, just give the knob a good spin because there are absolutely no numbers on the knob to tell you how hot the oven will get.

Or perhaps you want to cook something on the stove. That's fine just don't plan on using the burner in back.

Bathroom:

Old apartment:
Two full baths. One upstairs and one downstairs. Both recently remodeled.

New apartment:
Only one bathroom. Bathtub enamel appears to have been eaten away by some sort of acid.

The toilet rattles when someone sits down and stands up.

And my favorite part is the hole that was hidden by a bath mat.

I just got off the phone with the landlord about the hole. He said that he'll be sending someone over in the next couple of days to take a look.

Living/Dining Room(s)

Old Apartment: two separate rooms with hardwood floors.

New Apartment: No dining room, just a living room with the most disgusting burbur carpeting. I once attempted to walk across the room barefoot; I immediately went back to my room to put on shoes because the carpet was just that disgusting.

My landlord has given me permission to steam clean the carpets and deduct the amount from my rent. I just hope the carpet does not disintegrate.

My Bedroom

Old Apartment: Fairly small, carpeted and warm.

New Apartment: Much larger which is good since I have to store all of my kitchen stuff there, which is why there's no picture. My room is a disaster area.

So that pretty well sums up my new living situation. The one saving grace to this whole thing is the roommates. They are absolutely great! It's just the apartment that's the pits. I know I'm saving money, but I'm afraid my sanity will be compromised if I stay in this apartment for a full year.