What One Girl Knows

Pittsburgh so far is a big thumbs down. Filthy apartment -- the WD40 drenched carpet the management company promised would be replaced (for an additional $25 tacked onto our rent each month) is still with us. The day we moved in it hadn't even been cleaned -- after calling and complaining, the carpet cleaners arrived mid-afternoon and "did the best they could" by sucking what looked and smelled like raw sewage from the apartment. There are still ugly, dirty dark stains down the hallway steps, which the cleaners were unable to remedy. We went to Walmart and bought a vacuum cleaner, which sucked up all the dead bugs and glass shards and miscellaneous pills in the corners of the room, and hopefully made it cleaner. But how much cleaner? I'll be obsessively vacuuming every day. Got it in writing from the management company that rent will be $25 less each month, at least.

Anxious about the pets, who are currently vacationing in Kentucky with my mother. I don't want them catching some kind of disease from the neverending grime, or getting bit by an exotic bug. Piper will stick mostly to the furniture, so I'm not so worried about her. But Rue gets herself into every little nook and cranny. And now we have another addition to our family -- her name is Sophie (named by my mother, not but us -- but at least it fits with the whole old-fashioned girls' names theme) and she's a tiny ten week old tabby with a rusty meow. We were supposed to get the three and a half month old Siamese, but Mom decided to keep her instead. Anyway, I shudder to imagine which grimy corners of the apartment she can squeeze herself into.

We're in Kentucky right now, having dropped Reg off from helping us move. I never appreciated how clean my mother's house was until now. Plush carpeting! Spotless bathrooms! I want Mom to come to Pittsburgh and help me clean!

Well, okay. There are a few nice things about the new apartment. The built in glass shelves in the kitchen, for example. And all the extra space. So as long as no one broke into the apartment while we've been gone, everything will be okay. Probably.