Apartment Living

We walked through Ace Hardware at Princeton Shopping Center on Saturday and I thought of all the items we no longer need.   Weed killer, fertilizer, paint, tools, and even the deer-rabbit pellets I saw one man purchasing at the cash register.  We are not sorry to have given up home ownership.

On the other hand, today we made a major shopping trip to Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's and Pier 1.  We bought cheap pillows for the shams that go with the comforters that came yesterday.  We bought rugs and hand towels for the bathroom and kitchen.   We bought pot holders even though I am sure I packed some which we cannot find.  Amazon Prime sent us an alarm clock-I think I left ours at the Airbnb in South Bend.

So far it has been very quiet here at Barclay Square except for the constant whir of air conditioners.  Ours goes non-stop during the day set at 76 but registering 79 right now at 7 pm.  We are not sure if we have neighbors below us and next to us.  If so, we don't hear them.

There are 220 units here at Barclay Square.  There are many young families and non-English speakers.  We hear a variety of languages in the swimming pool or  on cell phone conversations.

Our daily routine is a walk to the 1900 Building, the club house, where we get our mail sometime after 4 pm.  I have been doing some exercising in the pool late in the day.  And I have used the club house's beautiful grand piano playing a little Bach and Scarlatti.  I try not to be shy about realizing that the sounds do carry through the building.

Another part of our routine is a walk to the recyclng bins and trash compactor. After spending thousands of dollars to move, we drew the line at another $125 for debris removal of all the paper, bubble wrap, and boxes that we have been emptying.  So we break down the boxes and put a few in the bins each day.  Happily, a family responded to a notice I put in the club house and took several large dish boxes and all our bubble wrap.


 Using a truck-size trash compactor is a new experience.  You put in the code, the door opens, you throw in your trash, close the door, and that's it.  I am glad our apartment is not next to the noise as it eats up our trash.

We may be able to park in the garage very soon as we empty more and more boxes.  For now many of Jim's books are still boxed up or sitting on the floor until we can get the Sauder bookcases we have ordered from Skillman's Furniture--Old and New.   Making decisions about where to hang paintings is not easy but will be done one of these days as well.  We don't want to get too accustomed to paintings stacked against the walls and books lined up against the walls.

We have made progress--some each day.   And we are satisfied with that for now.