Ode to the rental

Oh dear rental house,

It's been about a month since we parted ways, and I have to be honest, I haven't really missed you much.  Catholic Mutt was right when she called that one.  I'm a little surprised at how quickly I got over you, but then again, I didn't realize how bad you were until we had left.  In fact, probably the only things that I really miss are the front drive in garage and the short drive to church along with being able to walk to the grocery store, pharmacy, and fast food restaurants.  Other than that, I really wasn't sad to see you go.

Yes, we do have many memories of you during our 7 months together, but most of them are comical.

-the awful blue-green kitchen cabinets

-the matching blue-green colored carpet in the bedrooms and bathrooms.  Yes, the kitchen cabinets were the same color.  And who carpets their bathrooms anyways?  Do you know how weird it is to vacuum around a toilet?

-the toilet room, as I affectionately called it, in our bathroom

-the self-made tanning bed in the basement

I'm not joking!  They really used this before they moved out.  Obviously, they didn't want it anymore since they left it.  I didn't go near that thing, but man, we sure got a good laugh whenever friends came over and wanted a tour of the house.  We had to show off our tanning bed then!

-all the other junk that was there when we moved in

Like this lovely outdoorsy room!  Another highlight of the house tour:-)

-not having a refrigerator included and not realizing this until I went to pick up the keys to the house

-the resident raccoon in the attic and then the rooftop visits at 3am when DH would have to go outside and chase him off the roof, so we could continue sleeping

-the weird, velcro-on doorbell that would randomly go off until we just unplugged the interior part

-the outside light that needed to be turned on from the inside with a remote

-the carpenter ant colony in the kitchen that ate a whole bottle of Terro in one night!

-the front door that would scratch the hardwood floor every time you opened it

-the noisy plumbing that would wake R up whenever running water

-the cockroaches galore found in every room we lived in (and some of which may have decided to move with us because they were ready to leave you)

-the moss growing on the driveway that would make us slip when walking on it

-the squirrels chewing on the plastic trim of the deck thinking it was a tasty treat

-the guest bath toilet that would randomly run until we plugged it up with an aerosol can

-the Jenn-air cooktop in the moveable island.  We hated that thing with the downdraft

-the electrical current.  We went through so many light bulbs in that house.  More in 7 months than our entire 8 years in our previous house!  Some fixtures we put 3 new bulbs in. 

-And then there was the fact there weren't any light fixtures in any of the bedrooms.  We had to plug lamps into certain outlets, so that when we flipped the light switch on, those lamps would come on.  But it still wasn't as effective as overhead lighting.

OK.  I think you probably get the idea that we weren't too fond of you and all your quirky ways.  And you did have a lot of quirks!  You were only 34 years old with 2 homeowners.  We had higher expectations for you.

But I do have to thank you, dear rental house.  For you see, living in you has really made me appreciate our "new to us" 27 year old home.  I can better deal with some of the issues here because we lived through you.  So for that, I am thankful.

So long, rental house.  Farewell.  Auf Wiedersehen!!