Home, Sweet Home

We had a wonderful trip, with great friends, lots of laid back time with family, and a great deal of fun. But OH, is it great to be home! In no particular order(ha!), I am ecstatic to be reunited with:

• Our well-functioning central A/C (for the geeks out there, it's actually geothermal heating and cooling).
• Our filtered water (another way I discovered I am spoiled: I can't stand tap water anymore).
• Our speedy, if not reliable, DSL connection and two (TWO!) laptops. No more fighting over computer access! :)
• OUR very own bed... ahhhh.
• Our shower - on the trip, we bathed in 4 different showers, at least three of which had weird knobs and/or were hooked up backwards. One was so strange I resigned myself to brief daily cold showers despite long, studious attempts to analyze and comprehend the setup. Cait's mom's shower, which is indeed hooked up backwards, has always heretofore been the nirvana of showers, as it has water pressure akin to Niagara Falls. This trip, however, the water pressure advantage was utterly erased by the heat and humidity, which rendered the bathroom a complete fetid rainforest as nothing (not towels, nor rugs, nor bathmats) could ever dry out and it all had a miasma of funk. The shower here at home has somewhat lame water pressure, but I know how it works, and it pours (er, dribbles) forth at whatever temperature I specify. Bliss.

I know I am a completely spoiled yuppie weenie, but I am a very, very happy completely spoiled yuppie weenie tonight!

COHOUSING, SWEET COHOUSING

Many folks expressed interest in hearing more about cohousing and our experiences with it. For your benefit, I will add that it was particularly wonderful to return home to cohousing.* In the first half hour that we were home, we said hi to at least 6 neighbors, dropped Natalie off with one of them to watch her while we unloaded the car, had our houseplants returned (healthier than when we'd left them) by the neighbor who'd cared for them in our absence, and been visited by one neighbor who "really missed us" (us=Natalie). We were also able to start three loads of laundry simultaneously by using the common washers as well as the one in our unit. It was really a nice way to come home.

*We'll have more in-depth posts on cohousing someday soon.