#renting is hell

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Repair guy, week 9 out of 8: Hi we've come to install the bathtub!

Us: Promise? 🥺 Okay, we'll let you work in peace.

Repair guy, 10 minutes later to his coworker: NONE OF THIS FITS HOW DOES NONE OF THIS FIT WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS ENTIRE TIME?

I'm sure it's fine and I don't need to go investigate.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

The municipal water and power company has added electricity to our water contract out of nowhere.

The lady on the phone said they must have noticed we didn't have a different contract and some kind of time limit expired or something. Which is... Strange, considering our electric company confirmed everything was okay 2 months before, which they can only do if the municipal company connects them to our apparent in their database.

What *has* happened, is that the landlord asked if we got registered with the municipal water company, and if he could have a copy for his records. About, oh, a week before we got that letter.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Our laundry machine is four and a half floors down. If I use the dryer right now, it's gonna either cause the heat to rise up to our apartment, or turn the swampy basement into a hot swampy basement. The swampiness means the drying lines in the garden are the only ones that work, which is one floor up from the laundry room.

Did I think of any of this when I changed the bedsheets and decided the duvets and body pillow needed a wash, too? Of course not. Did I see we had normal clothes, towels and cleaning cloths that needed washing? Not even a little.

Gym just sent out a notice that class is cancelled due to extreme heat. I'm on my sixth load of laundry in 36 hours. There's at least three more before I might be done. Ngl, I might get more cardio this week than I was ever planning on.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Our landlord has been harassing me to go thank the neighbors who have been opening our basement for us in the apparently neverending "Pull An Internet Cable Up" saga that has been going on with our IP for two months, half of that time involving the neighbors. I was gonna after this is over (and the kitchen is done) but, sure, fine, I'll move that forward.

It's the one neighbor who is up late all the time and the other neighbor who prefers not to talk to anyone, so it's tricky to find a time that is socially acceptable, but not annoying to them. And the landlord is the kind of guy who treats his tenants as wayward children, so it needs to look like we actually mean it.

Enter my evergreen solution to dealing with my social anxiety and awkward situations: baking. Except an entire cake for people living alone seems a bit... excessive. So, muffins! ... My muffin recipe is either low cal or, chocolate. Which, for some reason, a surprising number of women in these parts seem to reject as an option in baked goods.

So I asked my mom for the "American" muffin recipe we made back in the Dark Ages (the late '90s) since that's decently decadent, not overly sweet, and comes in a fruity variety. Makes 12, so I upped the amounts to 18 so we would have 3 muffins each to enjoy in the next 4 or so days.

...

I somehow have 23 muffins. I would blame it being a mom-sourced recipe, except I cut this sucker out of the magazine myself. I have made it from the magazine clipping approximately fifty times. It's always made 12, maybe 11. Somehow, just my mom typing it out has added the kind of witchcraft that makes more muffins.

Or I'm making smaller muffins.

Anyway, picked out the 12 best-looking ones, took 6 each to the neighbors, said thanks, shocked the hell out of the neighbors by putting in "so much effort", aaaaand... The late-night-neighbor only took 3, the quiet neighbor doesn't do cake.

If anyone needs me, I'll be texting other neighbors to see if they want free muffins.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

I'm not saying putting off buying a lamp for the kitchen until the very last possible second influenced my purchase in any way.

I'm just saying my dad put in an 800 lumen bulb that's half-hidden behind a wall mounted cabinet and we've been living like that for a month. And I'm shopping for a lamp after sundown.

If the neighbors think Gondor calls for aid every time we put pizza in the oven for dinner, that is going to be a them problem.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Our previous apartment was the first time we lived near a kid. And it mostly taught me that I don't mind crying babies, or tantrum throwing toddlers, or teenagers who are loudly misunderstood. They grow out of it, they find their groove.

Parents who think shouting can replace parenting and childless neighbors with a stereo are far less capable of change.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Everyone in the building seems to have noticed this weekend has the perfect weather to hang up laundry outside and did laundry.

Did any of us check if the outside laundry lines were clean?

...

So, what I'm trying to say is, all the drying lines in the basement are very full and no one is feeling particularly called upon to go down into the garden with a damp and soapy microfiber cloth.

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

Movers postponed, mom freaked out, but we finally finished packing all... 59 moving boxes.

If I counted right.

I'm allowed up to 60.

Do I go to the store and just get one more, just to save us some dragging work?