signs signs everywhere signs.

Oh. My. God. I was folding laundry just now and as I shook Ps pants to fold them a cockroach flew out. a HUGE one. Like the size of my thumb. I grabbed N and ran out. Then I went back in armed with a bottle of Bam! and sprayed the sucker. It then burrowed into the clean clothes.

What to do?

I need to rewash everything on hot hot water to kill any eggs (oh I am shuddering) but I dont want to go in there . . . .I cringe and I squirm. yuk! As I type a roach is crawling through our clothes. I just put a load in so it will be about 2 hours before I can start another (yeah it takes that long to wash). The pile of clean clothes waiting to be folded is about 3 loads (ok, so I am a little behind). I dont even want to touch the clothes.

It is a sign.

Not the first.

the other night water poured from the ceiling down the bathroom wall, a lot of water. Not the bathroom water was leaking from before - the "good" bathroom. At the same time (I kid you not) water poured from the AC in the kitchen. About 2 gallons of water.

we have had ongoing issues with water leaking from the ceiling and light fixture in or other bathroom. The plumber figured out that it leaks when the upstairs toilet is flushed. nice. did he fix it? no! he told the upstairs neighbor to not use that toilet. hell, they are moving out anyway - why waste time fixing it?

a totally different plumber shows up the other day to check if we have hot water (apparently one of the apartments above us doesnt). He tells Leo (over the phone, they show up and I think they are here to repair one of the many ceiling leaks and when they go into the kitchen I call Leo to see what they are up to) that they will remont the whole plumbing system in the building. thank god I think at first. Now I wonder what it will mean for us? Will people be working at night? will they shut off our water? tear out walls? what exactly does this remont entail.

The plumbers note that we dont have hot water in the kitchen. Of course not. We have never had hot water in the kitchen! This is nothing new. while I am at it, my stove doesnt work (well, it half works, heat comes from the bottom, but not the top, so the bottom burns and top is raw).

all signs I tell you.

telling us to move.

Now, dont get me wrong, there are certain things I like about our apartment. the size - it is big. The layout works for us (believe me, there are some funky layouts here - like ones where you have to go through a bedroom to get to the living room or another bedroom, or kitchens on the opposite side of anywhere you could possible fit a table). Our layout works. and the biggest plus is we have a nice, gated yard with a playground. Something happened a while back where our commandant (the one who hated kids) left and suddenly a playground appeared in her place. I can send the big kids outside to play by themselves. they are gated in and I can see them through the window.

It just to happens our lease is up and Leo went to negotiate with landlords lady for next year and that is when the trouble started. He wanted to increase the rent. Leo said no. After a few days landlord agreed to not increasing (I mean come on, so many expats have left, so many empty apartments, not exactly a market for increasing rent). So he agreed, but we havent seen the agreement yet. (another sign?)

So Leo has me looking at apartments online. There are quite a lot in out price range meeting our size/location needs. But in order to see any of them, the agents want us to sign an agreement that we will use their agency exclusively, and will pay them one months rent at the time of signing. Yeah, I dont think so. A months rent for showing me an apartment I found doing a simple search? on top of the commission they are getting from the landlord? If push comes to shove and we end up needing to find a new place, I guess gotta do what you gotta do, but sheesh. I have a lead on a independent agent that charges a flat fee, so we may end up calling her.

So that is where we are. I am finding more and more wrong with this place (ie cockroaches roaming through my laundry) and at the same time, not wanting the hassle or expense of moving. The grass is always greener, right.

So that is that. Hopefully we will get it resolved. Maybe leo can get exterminator negotiated into the new lease. I know we have them because of all the plumbing problems. It is all related. They are drawn to water and we have water dripping from the ceiling. there you go.

Otherwise all is well here :-)

Trying to figure out more transportation issues with the kids. They really want to do scouts and of course they meet different days of the week. Per our agreement with the school bus, they can take the late bus home, but only together - the bus wont make 2 trips to our house - so they will each have to sit around while the other is in their scout meeting. P can do it. He can read or do his homework. And he wont have to wait that long because Ms school days ends 30 min before Ps so he will only have to wait 45 min. M on the other hand will have to sit around 2 hours and I just dont see her being able to. I hate to let one do an activity and not the other.

To every problem there is a solution, right? I just need to find it.

Ok. now it is time to arm myself with a flip flop and head into the laundry. I gotta track down that roach- cant stand the thought of it crawling around in there. blek. oh part of me hopes I dont find it, the other part worries what if I dont find it - where is it?