Recently in Home Matters Category

Belgravia are making me pay an extra $500 because I'm getting out of my lease early. Here is the reason why: "It helps us cover advertising, cleaning, utilities and any vacant time." Why this annoys me:

• They already told me they have a girl moving in next weekend. Vacant time.. no more than a week.
• Utilities? I'm paying for any that I am responsible for. The ones they cover... those would have been covered regardless of whether I was there or not.
• Cleaning? That's a joke. They don't clean the apartments before people move in. I cleaned that apartment A LOT before I moved in, I even shampooed the carpets.
• Advertising? They don't need to advertise, they already have someone who is moving in. Also, they only advertise on Craigslist.

I wish they'd just say they're going to charge me so they can make money, not make up lies about how they're going to use it. Maybe I should leave a note for the next tenant telling them that they live above a recording studio, the idiots at the Azure Blue will keep them up all night and their neighbors blast music at all hours, smoke pot and burn incense all the time, and won't turn the music down no matter how many times you ask. Oh, and every single guy hanging outside of the Azure Blue will hit on them every time they walk by.

Anyway! I am loving my new place so far. No complaints, I love it.

I am trying to be more positive and complain less, but I just can't stand my neighbor anymore. She has been blasting music all weekend long - day and night. I was up until about four in the morning last night. Music wars don't really work when I need to sleep, feeling vibrations just makes me want to throw up. I've knocked on her door multiple times (she's answered once) and asked her to turn it down. So inconsiderate. I told the landlord the other day that it was way too loud and she wasn't answering the door. He went over there and she wasn't even home! Ridiculous!

This is the neighbor with an incense holder with a pot leaf smoking a joint on it... on her window sill that faces into the hallway! She burns incense in the hallway! I can't take it anymore. I guess I just have bad luck with neighbors.

I think Seth is okay with me moving into the house early. They were refinishing floors this weekend, so I couldn't paint. I think I might try to get painting done early this week and move in as soon as possible. I can at least get essentials over there so I can sleep there. Argh.

(I can feel vibrations through my desk and chair as I type this.)

You probably know that I've been having issues with how noisy this apartment building/area is is. I thought I'd get used to it, but I haven't, and it keeps getting worse. I have the recording studio below me that is loud until about 9pm, later on the weekends; the Azure Blue below that, which allows it's drunk patrons to congregate in the back to smoke, drink, scream, fight, etc..(cops there at least once a week); I have a newish neighbor that plays awful techno from the time I get home until... when I wake up? I've asked them to turn down the music twice in the past few weeks and they obviously don't realize/care that this isn't just a one time thing. Their bass is seriously loud enough that I can feel vibrations while I'm sitting on my couch. This woke me up at 4am the other day, ugh! The neighbor across the hall has a pit bull that whines and cries all night long. I could go on and on.

You might also remember that I had issues at my apartment in Lakewood with my neighbor blasting music and fighting with his boyfriend all the time. I checked out this current apartment building three separate times and got the impression that it was a very quiet place. The second floor is mostly artist studios and galleries, and there are only like five apartments on the third floor. I had no idea that I was in store for this mess. ...right now the recording studio has been playing the same beat over and over for at least an hour now.

I'm hoping they'll let me break my lease for this. It's completely interfering with my sleep (my mom can attest, the bar crowd woke her up when she was here a few weeks ago!), and therefore my job and such. It really sucks because I actually like this apartment a lot. It's a shame they rent out to anyone that will pay them.

The other day I found out that Kory's sister, Kelly's (and her husband, Seth) duplex is for rent. The upstairs. It's only a few minutes away from where I am now, which is good since it's close to work. It's in a much quieter area. I went to check it out today and she promised that it was very quiet and the only problem she had was a neighbor's dog barking once (she lived in the bottom half for a long time). Here are some random thoughts on the place:

• I don't like it as much as my current apartment. Everything in it kind of seems disconnected. I'm used to having a kitchen that comes off of the living room - this kitchen is down the hall in it's own separate room. ...there's just something about it that didn't feel "homey". The kitchen is also kind of weird.
• The place could use some work. Mostly painting I think. There are few pretty ugly things, like a closet door that is old and crummy...and the weird kitchen. Luckily Seth owns a construction company, so he said he's going to do some work on it before I would move on. He said he'd probably need a month. He's going to let me pick out paint colors too. Yay for having someone else paint for me for once.
• All hardwood floors and laminate. I know I should like hardwood floors because they look nice, but now that I've had carpet at this apartment, I think I prefer it. It's so much easier to keep up with the dog hair. Also, Mouse definitely prefers carpet.
• George. George lives downstairs. George is... kind of slow? He's nice and all, but I'm worried that I'm going to get stressed/annoyed because I'm so anti-social. George likes to talk and would probably knock on my door quite a bit to do so (answering the door is like one of my biggest fears). Kelly has been helping George out for years now though, and she told me just to tell him to leave me alone and he will (and won't be offended.) Having George there is also really good though. He's home all the time so he watches over the place, cuts the grass, shovels the driveway, etc.. 100% sure he would let out Mouse if I need him to.
• Garage with a garage door opener!
• It's on a one-way street, which is super annoying.
• There's a washer and dryer in the basement, yay!
• Seth isn't making me pay a deposit!

So I think I might try and go for it. I think I'd rather deal with the few negative things than put up with all the noise here. I don't have to pay a deposit, so it's not really costing me anything to move. I'm going to give myself another day or so to think about it, then I need to talk to my landlord about getting out of my lease.

Sigh.

This has been the most stressful move ever. We spent a lot of time working at the new house and not much time actually organizing and packing, so our actual moving day was a mess. Thank goodness Kory's parents were there to help pack and clean.

So now we have a house full of boxes and bags and miscellaneous junk just everywhere. Half of all our stuff is in the garage because the house isn't finished yet. Here is the status:

Bathroom
Right now the only things finished in the bathroom are the toilet and some of the shower. The actual tub is in, but there aren't any finished walls/ceiling around it. There's also a huge hole in the wall (probably 1.5 x 3 ft.) that looks looks directly through the basement stairs and into the kitchen. There is a door in the kitchen that leads to the basement stairs, but it's doesn't stay shut, so we have to keep something in front of it so I don't have to see Kory going to the bathroom while I'm making my toast. Our washer and dryer are also going into the bathroom (because the basement is a very dark, wet, scary dungeon). So we won't have a washer and dryer until the plumbing is finished and a new wall is built in there.

Kitchen / Dining Room
We have laminate that's going to be put down in here, but it's not down yet, so currently there is a pretty gross linoleum floor down. We don't have a stove. We don't have a refrigerator. Well, we have a mini refrigerator which can hold a bottle of water, juice, and some greens for the reptiles. We don't have a dishwasher, which is fine - but our sink is only like 6 inches deep and is covered in paint and who knows what else. Oh, and there aren't any lights.

Kory's Studio
Kory's studio is the only room in the house that hasn't been worked on yet. It's quite a disaster. All the walls need to be patched and sanded and painted. Currently this room is our storage room. The majority of our boxes of stuff are in here. It will probably be a long time before this room is actually used as a studio.

Upstairs
The upstairs is probably as finished as it's going to get. The two bedrooms have new floors and are completely painted, except for the ceilings, which probably won't get fixed and painted now that the birds are in the house (paint fumes can be toxic). The closets need to have new drywall put in, we need T moulding for the flooring between rooms, and the doors and closet doors need to be put up.

Outside
The grass needs to be cut, but we don't have a lawn mower. There is a ton of garbage stacked up (lots and lots of carpet) on the porch that needs to be hauled out. We still don't have a fence, which is one thing we need desperately. The dogs are not used to being leash walked to go to the bathroom. And it isn't exactly easy to take 4 dogs out to go to the bathroom on leashes. If I'm by myself I'll only take one out at a time, while the other three sit in the house and whine their heads off. The worst thing about not having a fence, which we weren't even prepared for, is that Mouse will not go to the bathroom at all. Quite a few greyhounds have issues with going to the bathroom on lead, simply because they've never had to before. At the breeding farms and kennels, they're just turned out into pens, so being on lead while going to the bathroom is completely new. So Mouse has been at the new house for almost three days now, and has not gone to the bathroom at all outside. She's gone four times in the house - which is not many times for three days, so the poor girl must be holding it for a long time. I don't really know what to do at this point. When I take her outside she just stands there next to me and follows me whenever I walk around. She rarely sniffs the ground, just stands there like, "Okay, what now?" She didn't have any issues going outside at the old house. It's very frustrating, I think I could literally be outside with her for hours and she still wouldn't go. I think I'm going to buy a really long lead and see if that helps at all. Ugh.

I can't wait until we have a stove so I can eat a real meal! I am so sick of eating fast food. So unhealthy and unfulfilling. And I can't wait until I can get caught up on my sleep. Tonight is the first night in a long time that we won't have to be at one of the houses working - so I think we'll go do a couple loads of laundry and then I'll come home and go to sleep. Sleeeep.

We're moving. We're renting one of Kory's grandparents' rental houses, so we've been spending all our free time over there fixing the place up (along with the help of Kory's dad). Things finally seem to be coming along, but the next week and a half are going to be very stressful.