Friday, February 25, 2011

That Stranger Upstairs

Before you worry that this is going to be some creepy post about the latest Lifetime movie I watched (yes, I do torture myself that way), don't fear.
Right before our wedding, B and I chose a modest one-bedroom apartment for us to call our first "home" for the next year. We decided to rent for one more year so we could work on the savings and the finding a place we actually like well enough to buy part. Well, despite the perks of a gym, tennis courts, community socials, walking paths and tons of dogs in this complex, we have found a few less than high class normal parts as well.
High Roller Apartment-Dwellers Problem 1: I would say that the thing I like the least about living in an apartment building is having neighbors on every side. Lucky for me us, we are on the ground level, and only have a neighbor directly above us. I have had the pleasure of running into this middle-aged man on one or two occasions, both times with his adorably over-sized golden retriever. I can't say that our encounters have been all that neighborly though. He normally looks flustered and gruff and makes a b-line for his front door.
It only took about a month of living here (14 days of which were spent away for our wedding and honeymoon) to realize that this guy has some really weird sleeping/living habits? 4AM is now known as the "witching hour" in our place because I always find myself awake enough to hear him rattling around upstairs for 30 minutes or so. I assume that he has odd work hours, or perhaps he's an insomniac, but I don't really have the need to share in whatever it is at that time of morning!
More recently, I have been able to hear some sort of groaning sound in the evenings (which I keep telling myself must be his TV. Right? RIGHT.) It would likely be easier to tune both of these things out if these buildings were better insulated, or maybe I just need to start sleeping with my fan on, every night.
Which leads me to ...
High Roller Apartment-Dwellers Problem 2: Mice. You read that right. And no, we're not living in some beat up old building, either. This is a nice place in a nice part of town that was (semi) recently renovated. Well? Our mice friends decided that by November, they had had enough of the cold winter months, and took up hibernation in the ceiling of our apartment. Not just above our apartment, but most of the time, in the ceiling space right above our bed. So, picture me lying awake at night, hanging with "grumpy" upstairs, and listening to the marathon sprints that the mice have decided to partake in after dark?
It took me over two weeks, and one late night with hubs to show convince him that I wasn't making this up. Why would  make up such a thing?
In the weeks that followed, B decided that he was going to set mousetraps and catch these little suckers himself! Well, my hero of a husband was right! He was able to rig some traps up in our ceiling and caught one within hours of placing it there! Maybe he should be the next Man vs. Wild, err, Man vs. Small Creatures?!
So, doesn't this make you want to move right in? No?
How many more days weeks months until August?!

3 comments:

Neely said...

Oh my...

Pamela M said...

Haha, I know, right? We are so classy around here!

Channa, Life as a Coaches Wife said...

Ok, I am so behind on commenting since I didn't really get on the computer this weekend but we have the same issues! We live in a "nice" apartment, pay high rent and don't get much. Anyway the people who live above us, oh lordy bee, we have had several issues with them since moving in last March. They have two little girls who are up until well past midnight, you can hear everything they do and say, the girls run around the house as if it were a race track and some days I would swear the circus was holding a private show just for them in their apartment! We have two fans going at night in our bedroom just so that I can get some sleep and a fan in our living room to drown out the noise! It is rediculous!
I so feel your pain!