Blog Entry 82 of 93
Charmaine in the city
I've called the Denver area home for more than two
decades now. But this urban/mountain city is still full of surprises. I'll be posting my adventures here, as I explore local eateries, shops and sharing birthday and vacation photos. And once in a while, I'll throw in a music, movie or food review. I hope to keep this blog interactive, so don't be shy to suggest places I should visit. And check it out: I'm on
Brendan's List. Rock on!
On the move again
Contributed by:
Charmaine Robledo/YourHub.com
on 1/16/2008
For the past few weeks I had been wrecked with worry about finding a new place to live for
Damon and myself. I just knew things would get busy after Christmas and we'd be down to the last minute in sealing the deal. I was essentially right. We just made our decision about four days before our move. I had been perusing different rental Web sites, mainly
Craig's List, and we had spent our Sunday afternoons driving around neighborhoods, looking out for "For Rent" signs.
The top two factors for us with finding apartments or houses were location and price. In this market season, that was much more difficult than I imagined. Prices on rentals have gone way up. A two bedroom, one bath, 700 square foot house could for upwards of $1,100 a month. That's as much as a mortgage! Throw in a garage or carport, that price goes even higher. And since we have
Chester, our cat, the pickins' were slim.
Thankfully, we just signed off last night on a two bedroom, one bath duplex in basically the same area we are now living in. It's much closer to the light rail (really a three-minute walk) and pretty reasonable in rent. A couple downsides to it were no dishwasher and minimal closet space. But I have a dish rack and it's not like Damon and I eat five-course meals every night. As for storage, well, I'll just be creative like I was in our old apartment.
We'll be closer to stores and restaurants and Damon will still be able to access major highways to get to school and work. The neighborhood itself is a bit more "colorful" than our apartment complex. OK, shady, if you will. We still worry whether someone out there is going to attempt another car robbery, but at least with our first floor duplex, we can keep a closer eye out.
I'm hoping to get everything moved out this weekend so I can be free to clean our old apartment throughout next week. Our lease officially ends Jan. 26, but since Damon works Saturdays, I needed a little more time to get organized.
The biggest thing I'm going to miss about not living at The Marks apartments will be pizza from Armando's. If you recall my
earlier blog about my favorite places to eat around Englewood, Armando's probably takes the cake. (Or calzone?) I didn't write about this place in that blog, but the food is divine! This is a family-owned establishment located right by The Marks apartments. I've ordered pizza and sandwiches from them pretty regularly. And the service is quick, polite and prices are cheap. It's not like I'm moving to another state, but I'm going to miss being literally a stone's throw away from them.
OK, I've rambled on long enough. I suspect this is going to be a harrowing two weeks, and I hope this new place will be good to us. Stay tuned.
SUBMIT COMMENT
Talk Back : submit comments to the blog
*Note: you need to
log-in to add a comment or rating.
*A comment must be between 1 and 1000 characters.
*Please refrain from using explicit language.