And I’m annoyed. Of course, the world must revolve around me, right?

Well…lets just say…my house is on the market and it seems to me to be an exorbitant price. Yes, it is between the coveted Elmwood and Delaware strip. Yes, the property has a carriage house (which we live in) that has a 2-bedroom apartment upstairs and downstairs in addition to the landlords property which is an old converted barn loft with 2 car garage. Fine. But let me tell you…the place needs work. The bathroom floor is sinking, the bathroom tub pretty much needs to be replaced and let us not even discuss the merits of the non working toilet that has been *rigged* and *fixed* more times than I care to recount, and yet STILL doesn’t flush. And if you do reach your hand in the tank to pull the little ball to make it flush, the pressure still doesn’t make it flush…you know toilet paper is hard to get rid of. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Anyhow, the bathroom downstairs needs to be completely redone. And oh, insulation would be nice. Since when you open a closet door you feel a breeze. FREEZING old house. The windows need screens. The kitchen floor linoleum is stained beyond stained and has never once looked clean.

And I just don’t know about the upstairs or the main house. I do know overall, the house is nice. Erin and I really liked it. We have a washer and dryer downstairs as well as a parking space. Which makes up for some of the expensive rent. A wee little backyard with lilac bushes. Nice. Of course the lawns were rarely maintained and looked like crap most of the time, but that is another thing. And we just got a new roof and the house FINALLY got a paint job, this Fall. I guess it really is time for our landlord to retire to Florida. Of course Erin and I really enjoy our landlord and love the area…there are just a few things that get to me after a while.

The fact of the matter is…I am not QUITE ready to move yet. We have been at this place for almost 2 years. (Which is huge for me! Over the last 10 years I have had 2 apts in Amherst. 1 in North Buffalo. 2 in Allentown and 1 in the Elmwood Village.) Moving sucks. I sorta like having a 2 bedroom house to myself. Of course this is wholly unfair to Erin, who pays rent but never stays. Do we try to sublease her room for a while? That would be more equitable right? Do I pick up and move my stuff (and my two adorable gatos) into one of those *looking for a roommate* situations for a few months? Somedays I think YES! DO IT NOW! Other days, I don’t want to exert the effort. And oh yeah, I like living alone. I also know it costs money (money is one thing I do NOT have) to rent a truck to move and pay for security deposits etc. Blah. Blah. BLAH.

We did get rid of expensive cable a while back. And I did tell Erin we should ditch the too expensive high speed internet (very $$$ since we were unsure whether to sign a year contract not knowing where the year will take us!) And besides, I could use my afternoons and evenings for other things than surfing the net and emailing. Right?  DAMN RIGHT. Thank you Artist’s Way!

So where the heck was I? Oh yeah. Moving. Blah. Mark and I were browsing Artvoice yesterday afternoon after I found out at the VERY LAST MINUTE (ok, that is a lie, it was about 2 hours before) that the realtor was coming through with another appointment at noon. (Didn’t he call you? Sayeth my landlord as he trumps into my apartment with a man who *just wants to look at the bathroom one more time*) Grrrrr! We WERE IN BED! No one called!!! Perhaps they assumed we were still out of town like we were for the Open House on Saturday. BUT WE WEREN’T! We had stuff haphazardly placed all over. Who knows if the toilet was even FLUSHED! (See above annoyance about our plumbing!) But there they were. Surprise. OH MY GOD am I going to have to go through this for the next GOD ONLY KNOWS HOW MANY MONTHS? Oy! PLUS if they DO sell right away? I am certain if the new owner wishes to keep us as tenants he will want a lease. Right now we are month-to-month. Oh yeah, and all that work he is going to want to do? Rent will most likely go up too. NOT feasible.

So I am looking at Artvoice with Mark after being kicked out of the apartment. And he came across one of those *too good to be true* deals. A 3 bedroom WITH studio space above it! Alas, in South Buffalo. Far, far away from reality. And cozy coffee shops. (Mark needs a studio. Artist and Martial Arts instructors needs space!) We did a drive by and called the owner, but did I mention far, far away in South Buffalo? Mark doesn’t even have a job here in Buffalo. But I assume, we assume…that this is going to happen. But not necessarily, um, NOW. Or maybe now? Another sucky thing about needing to find an apartment so soon…I don’t want to get sucked into a commitment somewhere else when Mark might be in Buffalo soon. Alas.

I hate this apartment crap. With a passion, that lives here.

Talking points to take out of this post.
1. Jen needed to rant. 🙂
2. Jen is looking for an apartment (with roommates? or with Mark?) (Sooner or later?)
3. Jen needed to rant. 🙂
4. If anyone is looking to spend $330,000 I can help find a way.
5. If anyone has a job for an artist…um, let me know!