rent

I've been in a bit of a time warp lately and April has gone incredibly fast. Both Ben and I have a bit of a cold, and since I don't get sick often I forget how out of sorts being sick makes you. I'm not sure what caused it although he was chewing on some communal toys at the museum this weekend. He's also getting one of his top front teeth which could have something to do with it. Poor baby, I hate to see him suffering while a giant tooth slowly makes its way out.

In case you didn't know, I have a bit of an Etsy obsession and although I usually just browse, occasionally I'll find something I really like. Recently I bought a necklace with two small hammered disks, one with a B and one with a Z. I also just bought today this vintage crewel embroidery wall hanging. I've been looking for something just like this but had something specific in mind, and this pretty much covers everything I was looking for. It's just my taste, and I know it will brighten up white walls of our somewhat charmless apartment.

Speaking of apartments, I feel a bit stuck where we're at right now. Our place is decent but there are a lot of things about it I don't like. It seems that it just keeps getting smaller and smaller. There's not a good spot for the cat litter. The apartment complex itself has it's own list of issues. I certainly don't hate it here, but I'm getting that itch again that's telling me it's getting time to move on. The problem is that we've agreed that we don't want to move unless it's to a place that's significantly better than where we're at. Eventually we'd like to buy a house but since the market is terrible right now for buyers we would at least like to rent a house. It sounds so simple - we'll just find a nice house to rent in a nice neighborhood and that will be that. Unfortunately there's hardly anything available in the areas we like, and when one does pop up it's either prohibitively expensive (like the one I found today that would be perfect but was $4000 a month) or it's snapped up immediately (like the one we were interested in this weekend that was rented within an hour of the ad being posted).

I just want Ben to have a somewhat normal growing up experience and for me, the place you live is a big part of that. Neighbors. A yard to play in. Sidewalks to ride your bike. I know it will happen eventually but for the time being I feel like we've hit a wall and are stuck in rental purgatory.