Test Trials

Today marks the beginning of an interesting, scary and difficult test for Amanda and I in what I am now calling our “Journey towards freedom.”

For the past 6 weeks we have been adjusting and becoming used to living with her parents, which I will admit is not nearly as bad as I thought it could’ve been. They are very generous, easy people to get along with, and so long as we follow their rules, things are great.

There’s also that little thing where we are separated by a lot of square footage that makes it especially tolerable.

This is of course bound to change today as Amanda’s grandparents come to visit for the week, thus kicking us out of our bedroom and into the spare bedroom that is also known as Roberta’s office, located directly NEXT to Amanda’s parents room.

Needless to say we are psyched. First we had to clean out the room of any semblance of our existence in there, thus adding to that wonderful feeling of displacement. We were able to keep some things in the closet, but this means that we have to come in the night before and take out our clothing and have the foresight to know what you might want to wear the next day. This also means getting home early enough for the grandparents to still be awake so you even have access to the room.

Not that I’m complaining, or meaning to sound ungrateful. Amanda has tried to posit this to me as “an opportunity to spend time with my grandparents in an environment that is unique and intimate.” That’s a euphemism for: “Look it’s not ideal, but let’s make the best of if.” And it’s just for a week.

Besides the obvious awkwardness of sleeping so close to her parents, there’s the other issue that the bed we will now inhabit for the next week is what is referred to as a “day bed.” It’s not quite a bed, in the sense that it’s an odd size, but it does have the semblance of something that you can lie on. It also has a second bed that you can pull out from underneath it, but the bed below is more of a cot. Raised up and placed together, they do not form a double mattress.

Seeing how I am the larger and bigger of the two of us, it will only undoubtedly make sense that I will be sleeping on the Cot. Or…Amanda will find a way to take up both the bed and the cot, and I will be sleeping on the floor.

On a second note, we are not exactly 3 weeks away from closing on our apartment. It almost seems like it’s never going to happen, but the wheels are in motion. We are currently in the process of finding out from our board what the rules are for renovations, and what things we need to provide ahead of time.

This does bring up an interesting thing to take note of which is to find out as soon as possible what the rules for renovations are within your building or co-op. Some buildings have tight restrictions for what you can and can’t do and also have rules for times you can do construction, noise, etc. It’s a slippery slope since it’s not something you want to bring up during the interview but you want to know how it all works as soon as possible. The only concern we currently have is that we might need to get any ‘structural changes’ approved by the board, and we are not 100% sure what structural actually means.

We will see after we go with our contractor on Saturday and get our estimate and proposal.

Long entry…stay tuned.