Landlord?

No, we aren't becoming landlords.

I was wondering last night if life was easier when I had one, though. Easier perhaps, but not better. The last time I had a landlord was 8 years ago. I was living in South County in a 1 bedroom, 800 ft sq apt with a million similar apartments within a mile. I was an anonymous face. I didn't know my neighbors, and didn't really care to know my neighbors. I worked 2 jobs, nights and evenings. I was *quite* proud of myself - to be on my own, out of the city I grew up in, too independent to be within 100 miles of my parents, paying my own bills.

Last night, the drain pipe was clogged, and the washer bubbling into the shower in the nicely carpeted basement. The plumber could come, but it would cost $350 after hours. Last week, the same plumber gave us a bid of $1200 to dig up the front yard and put a valve in so that when it rains, we don't get other folks toilet paper and assorted s#$t into that same shower. But the city is plumbed correctly, and the storm and sanitary sewers don't mix, says the city. The plans for our income tax $$? An egress window for the basement ~ $2000.

I gripe about our house. It's the house Tom lived in long before me, or plans of children. It was not a place I planned on staying for any length of time, but it's now ours. There is not an original piece of furniture from either of our single days, there is at least 2 new coats of paint on every wall, there are boys dirty handprints everywhere.

Eight years ago, I came home to a flooded apt, 2 terrified cats, and a fiance dealing with my landlord already. He had come by to tuck me in for the "night" at 8 am as I was in the middle of a stretch of night shifts, and found the carpet more than soggy. He blamed the cats. It was really a pipe in the bathroom, but it was wall-to-wall water, 2 inches deep near the bathroom and bedroom. We packed his car, my car, later his parents truck and his sister's Suburban, and I moved to the cornfield.

Last night, it was nice to call the in-laws and announce our imminent arrival for the night. They provide a nice bed and breakfast. The plumber came and snaked the drain, and it wasn't $350. I do like our moneypit, and one of these days, it'll be paid for - before the kids are in college! Maybe then we'll become landlords and buy ourselves a newer house.