Oh Joy

Let me first just say that looking for a new place to live up in Minnesota has been OH such a joy.

Did you catch the "well-hidden" sarcasm, people?? You should have, because the sentence was laced with it. Heavy heavy sarcasm.

We woke our asses up early Saturday morning at 3 am. Why? Well, we were supposed to drive up Friday night and then wake up at a decent hour on Saturday and go to our appointments.

But Mother Nature had other plans. You see, she must have thought it would be funny to throw a huge snow, sleet, and ice storm blanket over southeastern Wisconsin Friday afternoon. Which rendered all of our area completely inoperable in a motor vehicle. So after driving for 45 minutes and only getting to a distance that's really only 15 minutes away (not to mention slipping and sliding badly, even in a four wheel drive vehicle), we turned around and went home.

And like I said, woke up before man should see the light (or dark) of day and proceeded on our way.

So we get there, and saw about 10 different places in the span of 6 hours. A few were townhouses, most were apartments. Out of those 10, we only liked 3.

I'll start with the 7 that were total jokes. Oh no, I'm not kidding. Hubby and I were biting our cheeks while looking at these to try not to laugh.

I can't tell you how many leasing agents tried to convince us that:

- small rooms were really "large"
- a very small enclosed box with a couple of poles was actually a "walk-in closet"
- a staircase that was only 16" wide really WAS wide enough to get bedroom furniture up
- a wall air conditioner will actually cool the entire apartment without the use of additional fans (No it will NOT. In our current apartment we have a wall AC unit and we ALWAYS have to use tons of additional fans to even get some semblance of a cooler room.)
- four cupboards and about two square feet of counter space was a "big" kitchen

And the worst one of ALL!

We were walking through this apartment that seemed ok: It had 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, nice large living room and spacious kitchen. Everything was going pretty well. Until.

The woman that was showing us around opened her mouth and said the most ridiculous thing ever:

"Children under the age of 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult AT ALL TIMES on the premises."

Hubby and I almost choked.

WHAT?!?! Our oldest just turned 8. He's been going outside on his own around our neighborhood with his friends since he was 5. We send him outside with a walkie-talkie two-way radio and he checks in with us every half hour or so. He's not allowed to go in any of his friends' houses without asking me first.

Granted, we live out in the country. REALLY out in the country. So we felt safe in letting him outside by himself for short periods of time here. But still. He's 8 now. And VERY responsible. He follows our rules and the other parents all say he sets a good example for their kids.

And this woman was telling us that he couldn't go outside on the complex grounds without having either my hubby or me with him? He'd HATE that!

We almost walked out right then and there. But hubby and I aren't typically rude people, so we stayed. But we agreed that place is one we will DEFINITELY not be giving a second glance to.

Anyway, about the 3 we liked. They're really nice. But. I don't know... there's just something that I guess I'm looking for that they haven't got. And I'm not sure what it is. But I'd hate to contract a lease, move, and then find something better.

So we're now looking at renting a house instead. I've got an appointment Wednesday night at 5:30 to see one that looks FANTASTIC. I'll make a few more appointments that day - might as well make that long ass drive worth it.