Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

Here's what I don't get:

What makes people think that a fun time is hanging out in a basement apartment and spilling out of it into the basement and the airshaft/courtyard (where you're specifically not supposed to hang out because it's too loud and disrupts all other apartments) and smoking and drinking beer?

I seriously don't get the appeal. It's lame.

So we moved this weekend. Well, this weekend and unfortunately also last night and this morning.

We were retrieving Billy the dog and Emily the kitty from our old apartment around 7:30 this morning. They did not exactly enjoy the trip. Well, Billy probably did, though he choked himself a couple of times, but given that Emily literally never leaves the safety of our little apartment home as soon as I opened the door into the hallway at Anderson Street she was already half in a panic. I had to zip her into my coat and wrangle Billy with one arm while I made sure she didn't escape with the other.

Rob was parked at a hydrant waiting for me. Luckily it was a quick drive over though traffic was building up in the opposite direction on Storrow Drive.

Anyway, Billy was all worked up and Emily, after a quick inspection of the premises and being yanked out of one box (because it was full of clean clothes which I intend to remain free of cat vomit) went into hiding in the far corners of the closet, where I'm sure she'll mostly stay for a while until more of our stuff is put away and she finds new favorite perches to sit on.

Every muscle in my body hurts and I didn't get a single second of sleep last night. I'm exhausted. I'd like to get some stuff put away tonight but you can bet that I won't be up very late and I won't have the mental capacity for too much more other than things like folding laundry and putting hangers on the bar in the closet.

Anyway, I took some in progress moving photos which I'll try to put up soon. Billy is possibly getting used to his new dog bed, though at first he objected and refused to climb up on it. We might need to remove more beans.

This post is kind of a mess but I wanted to update you all my faithful readers! As you can see, Rob was super on top of everything and already has the server back up and our sites redirected to the new IP address. Good job robreed!

Well we're still not pleased overall with the way it happened (i.e. us getting rules after signing the lease) but our new landlord/manager amended our lease to state that Billy was a dalmation weighing over 50 lbs, so at least we're not in violation anymore.

The bottom line, we are moving into this place, no need to fight over getting our deposit back or find a new apartment. Phew.

However since all this past weekend we didn't do any moving because of this potential problem, we're now probably not moving until this upcoming weekend or later. At least we'll start doing a lot of packing etc. and we have an appointment tomorrow (OK, later today) for our internet installation at the new place, then another appointment the next day for cable.

Gotta get all the important stuff ready.

Anyway, just an update for all of you.

Well, our chests, me and robreed.

If you know me and you haven't heard the source of that line, let me know some time and I'll fill you in.

Anyway, at the moment I don't even want to write all that much about it because I don't know how much of a problem it's going to turn out to be and if I'll get in legal trouble talking about it but...

We were supposed to be doing a lot of moving in to our new place this weekend, even though we have till the end of the month to be out of our place on Beacon Hill. Just nice to try to do it quickly etc. and at least have enough stuff there to start living out of there and just come back here to get the last few things.

Anyway, Friday afternoon I picked up our keys and welcome packet. Friday after work Rob and I walked over, it was the first time he had seen it in person. The walk went pretty quick and he got to see all over the building, we rode the old school elevator, checked out everything in the apartment itself, went down to the basement to see the laundry room, etc.

So we were feeling kind of OK about it and talking about what to put where etc. Then late late that night Rob was reading through our welcome packet and found a page folded up and stuffed way down in the back behind other papers in the folder and it was a set of Pet Rules for the property.

First rule? Dogs can't weigh over 50 lbs.

Oops. First of all, we never saw these rules before, they weren't included in our lease or along with our lease when we signed it in February. Secondly, Billy weighs about 75 pounds. And I specifically cleared that with the realtor.

So all weekend we've been going crazy trying to figure out how to handle it, what to say, etc., on Monday when the management office opens back up. Obviously we can't just go ahead and move in as things are now, as we'd apparently be in violation of building rules. But I don't know what will end up happening so this is the part where I have to say I'll tell you the rest later.

Suffice it to say, I will be down at that management office as soon as it opens tomorrow and something will be happening.

Here it is on Craigslist, folks. Get it while you can!

Seriously, if you have pets this is the landlord for you, she's great. Not only does she allow them, she remembers all their names and asks after them any time I talk to her.

Note: she upped the rent, we weren't paying quite this much!

Well it was not fun but we found a place.

Here are a few pics. Our lease starts March 16 so we will be moving starting then, and hopefully it will be a quick process and as painless as possible!

(Mouse over images for descriptions.)

So we have to move.

Probably anyone who knows me knows this already.

I don't have the energy at the moment to go into all the issues behind it, but suffice it to say the 3 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment isn't working out anymore.

So it totally sucks ass in a lot of ways. Now I'm sure we'll find a place, and I'm sure not only that we'll find "a place" but that we'll be able to find something decent, and where we can live comfortably, and that's convenient enough, etc.

But looking is annoying. Places sound better than they are when you see them in person, people can be shady and weird, etc.

I've only been to one place so far and while I wasn't expecting the greatest thing in the world, it was kind of bad. It was smaller than I was expecting, it was "garden" meaning "basement" with literally no window (unless you count the sliding glass doors leading out into an under-sidewalk pit) and the community washer/dryer directly outside the front door, and while the tub was nice (what they took a picture of) the floor, sink, cabinet and toilet left a lot to be desired. And the neighborhood was questionable.

Today as I was walking back from Finagle a Bagel with our breakfast I was thinking about how much I don't want to leave Beacon Hill. I'm sure some people think it's a little insane but I really would pay the same price for a small studio to stay here that I could pay for a big 2-bedroom in a suburb. It's just so awesome to have everything walkable, to be so close to places like Whole Foods and The Hill Tavern (with their awesome burgers and sweet potato fries), as well as being a 5 minute walk from the Common or the Esplanade - I don't want to give it up!

We decided that another good spot would be Bay Village but it's a small area and we're not that likely to find a place there. While I'm sure parts of Back Bay or the South End would also be nice, and I even think we're still OK with the idea of the North End (although we got screwed out of 2 separate apartments there, thanks to the same realtor, plus one before that thanks to Heather), I really think Beacon Hill might be the best spot. It's right in the middle of everything.

The good news is, although so far most of the places I've seen coming available have been for Feb 1 or March 1, (our lease is up April 1) there always seem to be a few around here, so I'm hoping we can end up staying put.

So I'll try to keep everyone posted, and wish us luck!

Here's an interesting DIY cleaner maeybe loves. Personally we tend to use tap water and a little smidgen of dish soap, which works great for most things. The vinegar concoction might be better for greasy stuff, I'm not sure.

Also, just an FYI, there was an article in a recent issue of Real Simple about an upscale school for professional housekeepers to the rich and I learned that the best cleaning product for hardwood floors is either water and mild dish soap or a mixture of water and vinegar.

So no need to spend a gazillion dollars on cleaning products - even rich folks don't.

So our internet service was down suddenly the other day and we couldn't figure out why.

Unfortunately it was because someone yanked the cable out of our DSL circuit box or whatever it's called, and cut it so it was too short to reach, then wrapped it around some other random phone cord.

So sadly for us, our DSL line was never really installed correctly but suffice it to say fixing it involved throwing a new cable out our bedroom window, climbing around in a sketchy alley behind a restaurant and re-attaching the copper wires to our DSL circuit.

Excellent!

So who knows what will happen next?

First we spent dinner time watching Survivor. (Don't worry, we Tivo'd My Name is Earl and The Office.) Then Heather watches Grey's Anatomy, which I don't care about so I went into the kitchen to do a backlog of dishes. Rob stayed in the livingroom cleaning and making fun of the show.

I made cookies for dessert and soup for me for lunch tomorrow while the TV watching in the livingroom continued into Nashville Star.

Right now I'm done baking and cooking and I walked back into this scene: Heather and Rob both looking up stuff about Cowboy Troy online because apparently they had been treated to a rap by him on this craptastic show and they were trying to find the lyrics to whatever he performed tonight, "Bufalo Stampede" or something.

Heather was sitting on the floor with her laptop and Rob was at the desk using the server. They were randomly quoting lyrics to each other and Heather was playing clips of Cowboy Troy songs from iTunes. The dogs were lying down on the floor looking like they wished we were watching better TV. Oh, and thanks to Tivo the terrible show was paused.

Now the show is back on. Um, yeah. I'm a TV whore for REAL but I can't even deal with this show. These people are super lame.

Now for some reason Rob is asking me to look up "sale of Dollywood".

We are FUCKING COOL, folks.