the laanba blog

H2Ot

When I was in Panama this summer the hotel I was in had a little problem with hot water.  There basically really wasn't any when I needed it.  It was frustrating, but I took it in stride since it was only a couple of days.  I remember the one time the hot water worked it was such a luxury.

Well that doesn't just happen in developing countries, but also here in the good old USA.  My apartment complex has been having hot water problems for weeks now.  There are boilers for the hot water for the complex, not individual tanks in each apartment.  Until a few weeks ago this was an awesome thing because this was the hottest hot water I have ever had anywhere and there was always plenty of it.  Scalding it was so hot.  

When the boiler dies your hot water goes with it and then you have to wait for the apartment to sort things out.  The apartment tried to repair it and I think they were even told by the repair guy that the unit was working it was just taking a long time to recover.  But no, it was in its last moments of life because it really gave it up last Friday.  This has been an ongoing problem and I can count on one hand the number of hot showers I've been able to take the last couple of weeks.

Today the unit was finally replaced.  I haven't taken a shower yet, but I am looking forward to it.  I've heard that it cost a gigantic boat load of money (the number $27,000 is being mentioned) but it is done and now we are hopefully back on track.  Appreciate your hot water people.  I will definitely be appreciating every hot shower I get to take for a long time to come.

On the list

I called the apartment complex today and got on "the list" for the downstairs apartment.  I gathered that it is a short list consisting of me, but I'll have to wait until the person moves out.  The guy told me that new renters only sign 12 month leases so it will be at least a year before I can move in and of course if they renew it will be longer.  The good news is that even if I am in the middle of a lease he said they just transfer it to the new apartment so there will be no issue there.  

So another year of dealing with the AC sound.  It seems to have been bothering me more the last few weeks and especially few days, but I'll survive.  I know it probably doesn't help that my TV gets used less and less and a lot of times my apartment is completely quiet except for the clacking of my fingers on my computer keyboard.

I'll try not to complain too much this year.  I truly love my apartment, my complex and the area I live in.  It's just this one thing that is a problem.  I found this article and while it doesn't describe me exactly I feel a lot less alone with this problem than I did before (the site has an auto start video that you'll have to mute... stupid web designers).

I'm plagued by a hum that no one else hears

One Year

One year ago today I got the keys to my new apartment.  It has been an interesting year to say the least.  Mostly I had to let go of my silly dreams and naiveté.  I truly thought moving here was going completely change my life.  It has had an impact on my life and my life is definitely better, but I was unrealistic about the changes the move would bring and I think that was part of the problem I had moving in.

I joke with people that I thought once I moved in I would drop 100 lbs, suddenly gain a circle of fabulous friends and a wealthy doctor would walk by one day and sweep me up in his arms and I'd live happily ever after.  I joke about it.  And it is mostly jokes, but there was a part of me that believed that my life would change that much.  That my life would be like the part of a Hollywood movie that is the music montage.  Life would be different.  In fact last year I thought ahead to this very blog post.  The one where I would write about the fact that I had been here a year.  I was already pre-writing it.  The words fabulous, happy, amazing, best thing ever, etc. were floating through my head. The idea of the move was warped in my head.

When people ask me if I like the new location or if I like my new apartment I hesitate.  Not because I don't but because I have to let go of the feelings I thought I would have.  Life still goes on and life is still lonely and hard and the location doesn't really change that.  

But there is no doubt that life is better here.  The location is amazing.  I don't think there is a better location in Houston.  I am central to everything.  10 minutes from downtown, 15 minutes from the Heights and from the Galleria, 10 minutes from the museums.  I actually talk to my neighbors.  I never did that in all the years of apartment living previously.  I feel safer here.  Scary stories have been popping up over the last year of my previous neighborhood and I am grateful every time I read them that I am no longer there.  And I am changing, slowly, to that vision I had.  But instead of one year it may take five.

So I look forward to year 2 in my new place.  I guess it loses its "new" moniker today.  Now I just have to learn how to say River Oaks when people ask me where I live.  

P.S. The air conditioner is still too loud.

The password is cozy

In all the years I have lived on my own I have rarely had anything on the walls.  I haven't even had curtains for that matter.  No one would ever confuse me for Suzy Homemaker or Martha Stewart. My aunt has always had magazine beautiful homes.  Part of it is because she just has a natural talent for it, but she also shops a lot, studies magazines and has the resources to get nice stuff. I would love to live like her but I have no interest in doing any of those things.

For years it never bothered me.  I would occasionally think about getting curtains, but then it would pass and I would go back to spending my money on electronics or books or going out.  When I moved to my previous apartment I put up a photo display center but my interest petered out after that.  

When I moved here I vowed that things would be different.  I am now living in a nice part of town and I needed an apartment to go with it.  This feeling was especially true after I got some glimpses into my neighbors apartments.  The word I would use to describe them is cozy.  Lived in.  Each one was different, but each one looked like someone's home.  It really made my space feel even more like a blank box.

I finally fixed some of that this weekend.  I was actually shopping for a new patio table and that is the one thing I didn't find.  But I did get new bedding (I got rid of my old cat scratched stuff when I moved), a frame for some of my photos, a piece of artwork for the living room and a piece of artwork to go over my desk and a stencil for my bedroom.  It has only been up less than 24 hours, but what a difference it has already made.  The space just feels different.

I still have a list of things to purchase to get the apartment on its feet.  I need a piece to go over my bed, new lamps for my desk and for my bedroom and a new lamp shade for my living room.  I also want to put up one or two things in the kitchen.  I have a photograph of Greece that I bought at the Bayou City Arts Festival that I need to get framed and I still need to get my mola from Panama framed and up.  I also need to buy some new pillows to fit the shams that came with my bedding set.  And the biggie is I need a new sofa.  That will hopefully happen with my tax refund.  All the rest of that stuff will probably happen this month because once I start a task I want it finished immediately.  It has just taken me 16 years of being an adult with a job to finally start the decorating task.

Spice is good

The great grocery store debate is over.  I give up.  Last night I went to Rice Epicurean, the time before Central Market and the time before that Kroger.  I just go to the one that feels right for what I need and is convenient.  Last night I wanted quiet and no people.  Rice.  The time before that I wanted good ingredients.  Central Market.  You get the idea.

I'm not good at this concept.  I am very brand loyal.  I pick one and stay with it by golly.  This even extends to the realm of dating (or in my case non-dating).  If I exchange an email with someone and then exchange another email with someone else I feel guilty even if nothing is happening with the first person.  It's ridiculous.  I don't know why I act this way, but I know it hampers things.  I mean how long have you had to listen to me go on and on about grocery stores.  Well your nightmare is over.  

Variety is the spice of life right? Maybe that should be my new motto.

Find a grocery store

Well first I guess I should say that I'm still not adjusting to the new place especially the air conditioner, but I will just have to deal with it.  I am sure that it is a sound that wouldn't bother most people, so I know it isn't an emergency.  The plan right now is to start talking to management in the spring about moving to a downstairs when one becomes available.  I like the complex, the location and the apartment itself.  Just not the vibrations and the hum from living underneath the air conditioner and living on the second floor.  But I do finally have internet and cable back so that's a good thing!

I think I have a plan for grocery shopping.  I have talked about grocery stores here before.  I love a nice, well stocked, fancy grocery store something I did not have in my old neighborhood.  Having a good produce section is especially important because I am NOT a fruit or vegetable person but can be swayed by beautiful displays.  The selection at my previous store, even though it was a "signature" store was just sad.  In the past year I have frequently made trips into town to go to Central Market.  That's a 25 minute trip one way, but I told myself it was my reward for making recipe lists and actually cooking.  

Well now I live in ground central of grocery stores.  Within 10 minutes of my new apartment are six, SIX grocery stores and they are the cream of their particular crop.  We have Randall's, Whole Foods, Central Market, Rice Epicurean, Kroger and HEB.  All of them catering to the wealthy class so all of them quite upscale and very nice.  How in the world to decide?

Well Whole Foods isn't really my thing so that one is out.  I can see myself dropping in there every once in a while, but I'm not a Whole Foods girl.  Central Market is my love so that one is a given.  But Central Market doesn't carry things like cleaners, trash bags, etc. and I need a regular old grocery store that I can run in and out of real fast and get all the stuff I need.  Rice Epicurean is very schmancy, but their produce isn't actually that good.  Their bakery is out of this world (cookies and croissants especially) so again I can drop in every once in a while, but they were out of the running as the regular location.  But as a quick aside Rice delivers!  I think of those times when I am sick as a dog and no food in the house.  Yep, I'm totally getting stuff delivered.  

So that leaves Kroger, HEB and Randall's.  I've been using Kroger forever, I'm not wild about them and there wasn't anything particular different than any other store so that one is out.  As far as Randall's it seems like they have fallen off the radar as HEB and Kroger race to win grocery dollars.  It seems like I heard so much about them growing up and when I first moved here and not so much recently.  I'm not sure if that is true or my imagination. So I decided that HEB was going to be it.  The newest "big" HEB is about 10 minutes from me (across the street from Kroger) and is full of bells and whistles.  That has been my grocery destination the last two times.  And you know what?  It didn't feel right.  Halfway through my second trip I realized that this store just didn't vibe with me.  I'm not sure what it is but I believe businesses have personalities and this one just didn't fit.

So today I popped into the Randall's which is the second closest store to me (Whole Foods is blocks away).  I walked in looking for a spice and to pick up a loyalty card and it just felt right.  It is just like my old Kroger in the sense that it is just a regular grocery store, but everything about it is much nicer than my old store.  The produce section is well stocked, the meat section is fine for basic needs and it just felt better to me than any of the other stores.  I am now a believer even more in personalities of stores and buildings.  So Randall's and Central Market it is.  And another thing is checked off the moving checklist.