If you have ever experienced the joy of apartment hunting for married housing in Provo, you know just how elegant and trendy the complexes are. Who needs plantation shutters and crown molding when you have cinder block walls and church carpeting? Not me my friend.
The harsh reality I have had to realize is that the odds of having your own laundry facility in your apartment are almost zero. I am having horrible flashbacks from the glory days of Skylark, Ed knocking on our door to inform us our laundry has been on the counter far too long (I am convinced he kept surveillance cameras everywhere and he and Pam sat and watched them day in and day out). One time when I was about fourteen I finished my laundry and hurried home from the laundry room. Then I noticed I hadn't initialed my basket, which was weird because I distinctly remembered doing it the week before, but none the less I took out a huge black Sharpe and stamped it with HS. Then Ed knocked on my door and told me I'd been accused of basket swapping, he snatched the basket from my hands to inspect it for my initials and of course he found found them so he apologized and returned the orphaned basket to me. Ed, if you are reading this, I apologize for not telling you, I didn't know how to explain myself. I had no intention of becoming a basket thief, I'm just absent minded...
Anyway back to apartment hunting. I went to the first prospect without Sam. I was prompt, and I knocked but no one answered. My friend Rochelle came with me and as we waited for the owners to answer the door, Rochelle was nice enough to point out the row of patios, not separated by walls (why would you want walls anyway? privacy? pasha, that would be ridiculous) that were covered in dirt, dust, and trash. Mattresses as far as the eye could see, bikes that had one wheel, baby seats that looked far beyond usability (in case you don't know car seats are only good for like four years). The owners never answered so we waited for twenty minutes and they were a no show. Sam and I tried again the next day, and the couple was there. The place had a great amount of storage, and two bedrooms; but it was so dark and dreary, I couldn't picture living there. It smelled of doom and destruction, the floor was concrete, and the walls were, of course, cinder block. The owners boasted that should you need to hang paintings and such the landlord would happily come drill a hole in the "wall" for you, they literally used that as a selling point, but we weren't buying.
The next viewing was awkward to say the least. This couple was hosting game night, and yet they found it an appropriate time to show their apartment. They went on and on about how much interest there was in their apartment and how she would select people in her own personal lottery to be the lucky ones that could come to view their magical apartment. Well Brent and Jennifer, thank but no thanks. I am not super interested in living in an apartment where the bathroom smells like it's never been cleaned, the oven is barely large enough for an 8x8 dish, and the bedroom share the exact dimensions of your queen size.
I was losing hope fast but I knew we'd find something that wasn't entirely depressing. We then went to look at Nelsen's apartment located in
Wymount, which is also lovingly referred to as "Bunny Hill". The funny thing about that is out of nowhere the week before my mother called me and accused me of telling her I'd be moving to
Wymount, and I'd done no such thing. I refuted it to the point where she could have been offended because, in fact I didn't even know this place existed. Anyway back to Nelsen. He has a cute family of four, he is a native Argentinian, as is his cute wife, and they are leaving for Texas to work as an intern until August. Upon walking into Nelsen's apartment I felt instantly welcome. It was kept relatively well, the furniture was new and the carpets look freshly cleaned. There are two bedrooms, a good sized kitchen and a race car bed that would give Ben (my 24 year old
BFF) a familiar place to stay, should he need it. Following a brief discussion we called Nelsen and informed him we'd like to officially become renters for Spring and Summer term. And like I said it is a two bedroom so if you need a place to stay in Provo... Well we are really close to the Motel 8. The only down side, they do not have a laundry facility but maybe Sam will let me get a service, or maybe Natalie will move to town and need a job. She dances, sings, and does my laundry... I miss her.
