Our little piece of Chicago

Dennis and I are close with our landlord, in the sense that we call him regularly for repairs in our apartment. Last week it was the mysterious smell behind our fridge; this week, thus far, it is the malfunctioning dishwasher (which we hugely depend on). Paired with a dripping faucet and electrical fuses which exacerbate regularly, there are times when I hit my breaking point. My breaking point (generally speaking) does not involve stomping or yelling; rather, it involves hours of searching for apartments on Craig's List. Yesterday I hit a breaking point around 2pm, after I had run the dishwasher twice and there was still a puddle of detergent at the bottom. I proceeded to scour the classified section for two hours, call on five different apartments and schedule two viewings...all before 5pm:)

It was EXACTLY what I needed. Neither of the apartments I saw came close to ours. The first apartment was alright, but it was located in the rear half of the building on the first floor which got little natural light. The second was a dungeon...literally. Not to mention both were notably more expensive than what we pay. When I got home from viewing #2, I walked through our front door, looked around, and knew I was home. I noticed the colors on the walls that Dennis and I had painted together, the pot rack that we had hung, the blinds we had custom measured for every window, and the kitchen island we had assembled and fit so perfectly in our cozy kitchen. In that moment, I didn't want to change a thing, and the faint drip from the faucet didn't catch my attention. Instead, I lit a candle, turned on our space heater, and started making dinner.

I'll probably hit another breaking point (or two) in the months to come, but I'm pretty sure it will lead me back to the comfort and warmth of our little piece of Chicago. Before I close, I want to make a list of all the unique quirks that make our place special....

1. The broom rod that is propped in our kitchen window to lessen the noise from the wind:)
2. The wood floorboard by our bedroom that sinks down when you step on it.
3. The door to our sun porch that requires full body force to open/close (there's a crack in the glass to show it).
4. Dennis' makeshift closet that we created with a shower rod and curtain.
5. Our cupboard knob that flies off every time we open it...every time.
6. The "magical foam" that our landlord believes is the answer for 99% of all repairs; it can be seen in most nooks of our apartment (his poor wife).
7. The fire escape outside our kitchen window that Dennis steps onto when he wants to look at the skyline (or smoke a cigar).
8. The fact that we can communicate from any two points in the apartment at any given time.
9. The windows that surround the entire north side of our apartment which allow endless sunlight to pour in, even on a cloudy day.
10. The two incredibly quirky people that reside there:)