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Apartment Life

Well, I'm all moved in.
a little more than 2 weeks ago, I got the keys.
The first weekend I started moving in. It was also my first official weekend with the boys. And it was my birthday weekend. And it was hot - Sunday broke a record.

Well I decided to not work the whole weekend. I did work most of the weekend. But I took the boys out to eat most of the meals - as a birthday/moving treat. We also went to the movies. And there were a couple of shopping trips - I got a futon (bed/couch) at WalMart. And we went in the pool at my new apartment complex. The good news is that the pool is really close to my apartment. The bad news is that the people on the first floor like to smoke outside :(
The boys slept over Saturday night, and pretty much seemed to enjoy it.

I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. I got the 3rd floor so I have a vaulted ceiling from the dining room, going up in the living room. It even had a wood-burning fireplace!

It is at the bottom of a hill, along a stream. Which means a bit buggy, by Colorado standards. Which would mean not very buggy by East-Coast standards :)

I had taken Monday off, to have my birthday off from work. But I wound up moving most of that day too. I only made 2.5 trips that day, but I had a lot of organizing to do. I also did some cleaning to be nice. I vacuumed up the 'study' after I moved out all I considered mine. I left behind the DVD 'Red October'. That was a grey area. I knew she liked it, and we picked it up on a shopping trip together.

It took me another car load Tuesday evening to pretty much finish it up. There was a theorectical possibility of taking the boys one evening during the week. But I declined, because the apartment was just way too cluttered. It would have been hard for the boys to get to their beds, and there was not a lot of room to move around.

Last weekend on Saturday, I went up to Denver for a geocaching event. I did some geocaching with a couple of other geocachers I knew. Then I did a few more on my own afterwards. I broke my 1-day record. In the past, I'd done 6-in-a-day twice. Saturday I did 7 caches - 8 including the event. That isn't much compared to a lot of serious cachers - but it was pretty good for me. Especially since I didn't get started until late morning to head up.

Sunday was my day to get the apartment more organized. I started setting up shelves and stacking boxes in a more organized fashion. I set up a shelf right where I come in the door. I wasn't really happy with the location, but it was where I had space. I told myself I could always move it after I got more organized. I finally got the bed frame set up, so I wasn't sleeping on the mattress on the floor. This also gave me some storage space under the bed.

Last night I decided to move the second plastic shelf from the living room to my bedroom. It is a good thing I have a single bed, as the whole other wall is storage right now. I am also storing stuff where a washer and dryer could go. But for the moment, I do not need a store room. I plan to try to organize the stuff in the boxes better - but mostly that isn't a rush.

I'm getting a chance to catch up on movies on DVD a bit, which is nice. I actually have not made it back in the pool but once since the boys were over. There were a couple of days that were really hot during the day - but by the time I got home from work, there were thunderstorms rolling through the area.

Another nice thing about the apartment is air-conditioning. Yes, you don't usually need a lot of air-conditioning in Colorado, but there are times it comes in handy. And even more so in an apartment complex. So I've been enjoying the airconditioning. But I've been trying to remember to set back my thermostat during the day. Usually I remember. But I think it will pay off for me to by an automatic set-back thermostat.

Tonight I get the boys for my first real weekend with them. My eldest has an event that will keep him busy for most of the day Saturday. But I have to drive him around as well. Other than perhaps a little geocaching, I haven't decided what to do with the boys. I am pretty sure there is a new kids movie or 2 we could hit.

My eldest asked to have a blanket to keep at my apartment. I was glad to do that for him. I asked him what kind he wanted. He described something similar to the blanket he has now. He is very attached to his blanket. It turns out his blanket and mine are a matched set - from New Jersey. He inherited my wife's old one a long time ago, when she upgraded. His blanket was not in great shape, and I'd offered him mine a few times, but he declined. Well, when I offered him mine this time, for use in my apartment, he seemed happy with the idea. While my blanket was not in as bad shape as his, it was definitely showing it's age too. It was looking torn at a couple of the edges. So I got out my cheap sewing kit - it actually had been a dollar store item I'd planned on adding to a new geocache. But instead I kept it aside when I moved. I put in a DVD movie, and started sewing. Okay, so my 43-yo eyes were showing their age. I used to be able to see-and-thread a needle pretty easily. Well, in spite of my sight not being as good, I still managed to have the instinct for threading the needle. Which worked out well - as I had to thread it about 8 or 12 times. It seems the seams were torn at all 4 corners, and had started to tear even further on 2 of the corners. I am no expert sewer, but I think I did a pretty good job. It took the whole movie and all the extra features (but not watching the movie again with commentary) to sew up the blanket. But it is ready for him. I also bought him a new pillow too. I figure he deserves that and perhaps a bit more - because overall he was a big help when I moved. He carried a number of loads with little complaint - and helped out with his brothers a lot.

Enough rambling for now :)

Comments

Hah! I remember a time when lightning wouldn't keep you out of the pool! ;-)

I'm glad you're settling in...sometimes I think that's easier when you're alone...

Will you post pics anytime soon???
Unknown said…
Glad you're getting settled. :)

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