Ikea won't keep me warm.

When searching for my first apartment all I could think about was "How much closet space is there?" "is the pool indoor or outdoor?" "What Ikea furniture would look best here?". Seriously.

And the wiser people ask questions like "what is the parking situation?" "How close is it to work?" "Is heating included in your rent?".

Now that I have actually lived in my apartment for 7 months I see the importance of all of the above (still including mine haha). Especially now, that it is in the dead of winter here in the cities. Thank goodness for my heated parking garage! No snow to scrape off in the morning. No worries if my car is going to start. And I can leave it there when I leave town for 2 weeks. Amazing!

The drive to work is 12 min long. So quick and easy. I am so grateful for my easy commute after a night of snow fall and working before the snowplows come out.

Lastly and most importantly, my heat is included in my rent. I lived in Wisconsin my whole life. That is one the "the states" people think about when they think cold. I never would have guessed there would be much difference from WI to MN. Well, boy was I wrong! It got colder faster than WI and sounds like MN is going to stay colder longer. Everyday I look at my hometowns temp and my current cities temp and it is easily always 20 degrees colder here. And I feel that difference! Brrrrrr.

I returned from my visit home on Sunday. My apartment was cold, but I expected that because I had turned it down before I left. As soon as I returned home I turned it all the way expecting my apartment to get warm well I was at work the next day. After a long stressful day at work I walked into a freezing apartment! It seems they are doing some water maintenance in my apartment building today. I am hoping that if there is a problem with my heat it will be fixed today. In addition to my slacking heat the patio doors I thought were so wonderful when I moved in are now my biggest problem. They have a terrible draft! I am stopping at the hardware store after work in hopes of finding double sided tape and plastic for my windows. Have to solve one problem at a time.

I just hope I don't have to keep layering my clothes before I go to bed. My laundry is building up. Good thing I have the closet space to keep it all in.

Water, water, everywhere!

Even though the rain was outside it was pretty damp in my apartment.

I had an extreme flooding issue. I was sitting in my living room and I suddenly hear water spilling, I looked in my kitchen and water was flooding my kitchen floor. I was in shock! I wasn't sure what I should do...or should I say do first.

I immediately ran to my closet and grabbed towels and threw them in the puddles trying to prevent the water from spreading and since I will still in my bathrobe I changed into some clothes in a rush and called my landlord. There was no answer so I left a panicked/confused/ helpless voicemail. Next I wasn't sure if I should run to my landlords door or upstairs to tell the people to stop running water, I just knew I couldn't stand there and do nothing. Luckily as I was leaving my apartment to get help I ran into my landlord who was rushing to my aid. We spent the next hour cleaning up with mass amounts of towels and then it was a waiting game for the plumber. Turns out the people above me had just finished doing their dishes and I got their dirty dishwater in my kitchen...ew.

The plumber showed up a couple hours later. He was a little old man with tools. I really do not enjoy having people in my apartment because it is a studio apartment, meaning you can see everything with one look around. I like privacy, and I wasn't expecting guests so my bed wasn't made! haha I am sure my fish enjoyed seeing new people.

The plumber was quite a character. You could see him struggle as he got to his knees to look under my sink, I wonder how long he will be able to remain in the plumbing business. He sure did have a lot to see and a lot of "advice" to give me. To begin, he said I was sheltered because I didn't know there was a reset button on the in-sink-irater and that mom "mom should have taught me this stuff". He then said I should have a man to do this stuff for me and it is time to find mister right because I "aint gettin' any younger". Then told me to go to all those young people places and have fun and meet men. Really?? Like I need another person to tell me to get married...I am only 22!

It is my first apartment, I guess it is only appropriate that I have one disaster, let's just hope that this is the last of it! It was just another day of me learning one day at a time. Life after college, who would have thought?!