Starry-eyed me thought moving to an apartment would lessen the weight of responsibility that adulthood brings, but it is still a heavy burden when you are a single parent with two dogs and two kids.
Well, it’s been three kids for the past week, as the eldest’s friend has been staying over.
There is nothing simple about dinnertime, for example, because the youngest doesn’t eat sugar, the eldest doesn’t eat rice, pasta or red meat and the eldest’s friend is vegetarian.
Joy.
The kids are also struggling with moving from an expansive house – where they could make lots of noise – to an apartment where every sound is amplified.
Well, it’s not amplified for me as my ear infections seem to have impacted my hearing. I simply lie on my left side with my deaf ear in the air and barely hear a thing.
The youngest, on the other hand, is irate because she likes to go to sleep early, while the eldest keeps vampire hours and rattles around throughout the night.
The noise levels are not helped by all the tiles in the hallway and a rickety bifold bathroom door.
So I’ve been investigating a new bathroom door, plus one to close off the living room from the bedrooms. I suspect that won’t be cheap as it will require framework and new cornices.
In the meantime I am fielding constant complaints from the youngest about her sibling having no respect for anyone.
It’s slightly ironic, as the youngest lacks respect for my kitchen. She made raspberry jam yesterday and what a pink nightmare that was to clean up last night.
I may have raised my voice when I got home from work to an array of open cupboard doors, pink spatter everywhere, a sink piled high with dirty dishes, dog wee in the corner and a sunbaking towel still lying on the balcony.
In other frustrations, I am having trouble raising La Maison to organise replacement furniture and it is driving me a bit bats that the apartment is still piled up with boxes with nothing to unpack them into.
I sent a request for a two-door buffet and a bookcase on Monday, but there has been no response. I will hassle them again today.
I might also need to pay for the assembly and positioning of the goods, as look what happened to my arm when I was shuffling around the kitchen cupboard I bought …
When I showed the youngest she said: “Well, old people do bruise easily.”
The cheek!
Song of the day: Karma County “The men who ran away from the circus”
housegoeshome 
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