Moving Mishaps
I'm currently on a train to NYC for a work event. At first I had been wishy washy about going and having to board Ro, but after we moved into our rowhouse I sort of jumped at the chance to get away for a night.
We’ve been in Philly for 3 weeks now. Three weeks of not feeling at ease in my own damn home. That we pay way too much money to rent… but at least it has a parking spot! It’s truly one of the only upsides I can cling onto, like when I take Ro for her evening stroll and walk by all the cars squeezed along every inch of the curb on every street.
I'm already trying to start the discussion of where we should move next year. The housing prices near us are pretty astronomical, and a place with a parking spot is already rare, so it will be hard to stay in the area. But Noah likes to walk to work; we’re just not commute people! All I know is that I don’t want to keep living here as of now.
Some of our bad luck this moving cycle isn’t the fault of our current living situation, to be fair.
It started all the way back in May 2020 with our stupidity, when we took our leasing agent's word for the fact that we can extend our lease one more month if we need to, no problem.
Then it was both of our fault for trying to save a couple thousand dollars in opting for PODS instead of a real moving company. In the end, our stuff was delayed by 2 weeks. And after all the headache of juggling a ton of moving parts, we wasted that $2k on righting the mishaps anyway! Woo.
And maybe we just have too much crap, especially random kitchen stuff. I really took our past storage for granted it seems. But yeah, unpacking has been slow because we keep having to come up with storage solutions.
Also I just don’t feel good in the house.
It's a little drab. Like no sunlight comes in. It’s also incredibly humid even if I have the AC set low. The bathroom doesn’t seem to vent out, probably just into the ceiling, because it stays so mildewy for quite a while. The thought of cleaning that dusty bathroom fan and uncovering what's in our ceiling gives me shudders even right now. Yuck. And I can't open the windows yet because the screens are broken on some, and even the working screens have gaps for critters to scrawl through.
And boy do we have critters! Mice scurrying between the cabinets, the occasional cockroach, and very agile mosquitos. As the exterminator told me on the phone, “welcome to Philadelphia!” yeapp.
Thanks for the warm welcome, new underground neighbors! Sorry we didn’t have much food to offer you this past month, because we didn’t have a fridge until this week. The old fridge smelled like death from the moment we moved in, and made our food smell like that too until it stopped working completely. But we finally have a brand new shiny working fridge, and with it, the ability to store groceries instead of eat take out everyday.
It was nice to have a glass of ice water today, finally. Noah installed a separate faucet for filtered water so we don't have to drink that oniony chemically BO-y tap. Things are on the up and up!
... As long as it doesn’t rain! Because the drywall is leaking near our patio doors. Last heavy thunderstorm we collected a cool puddle in our bowls. I feel like I live in a cartoon. It’s absolutely comical how ridiculous it is. But we had to pester our landlord so much for a fridge, I think it’ll take another rain for us to bring up yet another issue. One thing at a time.
Luckily(?) for us that's probably today! The place is already starting to smell moldy, like I'm afraid to take a single deep breath.
Anyway, I'm going to sleep (comfortably, I hope) in a hotel tonight. A little breather before going home and addressing these issues one by one.
Anxious to meet people for the first time, but also excited to a lone midwest bumpkin in the big city! :D
A rare selfie! At the train station.