Or the floor of the subway?

Or the floor of the subway?

I...may have done that. Although I generally remember to put the other thing on the floor. Of course, today I had a whole pile of crap on my lap by the time I was on my way home.

Why is the song "Hips Don't Lie" in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights? It's so obviously not a song from the sixties.

Why is the song "Hips Don't Lie" in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights?

To keep in line with the timeliness from the original?

To keep in line with the timeliness from the original?

OK, point.

Also, I think that kids watching this who didn't already know about the Revolution would come away very confused about it. There were several mentions of Batista (including one of my new favorite lines ever, announced over the PA at the hotel: "President Batista has fled the country. There is no immediate danger."), one mention of Castro (he's gonna kick the non-Cubans out of the country, thus separating Katie and Javier), and as far as I could tell, the word "communist" was never mentioned.

I would trade "Hips Don't Lie" for "She's Like The Wind" any day. OK, maybe not any day. But for "Hungry Eyes" absolutely!

A member of my family got scabies from a public restroom. We know it was from that because it was on the shape of a toilet seat. We were traveling at the time. Everyone was very itchy that whole trip, long after my uncle gave that person some pig pesticide to bathe in (same as what a dr would prescribe) at the advice of my aunt who is a public health nurse.

Unless you want your skin to crawl (if it isn't already) do not google scabies.

I thought the Mythbusters guys disproved the idea that toilet germs infect toothbrushes on the sink.

Sort of, though it wasn't comforting. They proved that you get fecal bacteria on your toothbrush no matter where you store it in the house.

Truth be told, I'm not nearly as squeamish about germs that have already come from inside me as I am of those left behind by other people - as long as I keep stuff clean to the resolving power of my own senses, I figure it won't make me sick if it hasn't already.

So it's coming down to crunch time on me having to find/choose an apartment to live in for my new job in New Jersey.

I figure I can spend $1500/mo on rent including all utilities.

Which wouldn't be too much of a problem except that I have two cats that are indoor/outdoor.

There's one 1BR apartment that has most everything including laundry facilities and is only 45 dollars over my monthly budget, except that it's a bunch of buildings on a very steeply terraced hill, and I'd have to keep all the blinds closed and never venture outside if I wanted to pretend I was someplace nice. But it's set far enough back from the rural but speedy road so it'd be safe for my cats.

There's a pretty 1BR apartment on a second floor that would run me 1280, large rooms, great kitchen, walking distance to a gym and grocery store and a bit of woods for the kitties to play in out back but no laundry and it's two lots away from a very busy intersection. And no way for the cats to get in and out without me physically doing it, and for those that know indoor/outdoor cats, this is an every-fifteen-minutes task (am I wrapped around their pretty little paws? Yes. I bottle fed them, we bonded, shut up.)

Then there's a very affordable little studio on a second floor and tiny backyard and it's set about five lots away from the busy street in a quietish neighborhood. Same problem with having to let the cats out manually and there's a seven year old downstairs with parents that buy her too much crap and it's strewn all over that tiny lawn, and the entrance is shared with their kitchen door and I don't see how I'd get a bed up their, let alone a fridge or any other furniture, and even though there's the yard, it wouldn't be *my* yard and (sorry to parents around the world) I don't particularly care for kids.

And lastly I found (seriously, this was the last one I found and looked at) a small cottage with A PORCH! and fully furnished (stinky 40's/50's gramma style, but, hey.) in a very very very quiet neighborhood with a little yard all my own and a gorgeous commute to work. Safe for kitties, nutritious for my soul, very near to the Watchung Preserve and also very near the country road that would get me to work, with a view of Manhattan along the way, and 20 minutes max. The only downside is no laundry at all and I really would want to purge a lot of that furniture since it's cluttering up what space there is, and apparently the attached garage is for the landlords use and otherwise I have no storage for my camping gear and seasonal clothes/whatnot. And unless the realtor can knock down the price another couple hundred bucks, it is bit outside my budget.

I'm biting my nails and banging my head and wondering if I should keep looking and see what else pops up. Realtors suck and people who don't take cats suck.

Do I take the teeny tiny little studio that will make having visiting friends and family a cramped and unpleasant affair but otherwise be kind to my budget, or take the little cottage that may be a tad outside my budget but having the three season porch and an actual living room will make being a host more pleasant, and a yard that I can call my own.

Basically, one I see as a one-year-lease landing pad until I find something better, and the other is basically a ready-made home that I can forsee staying in and actually calling "home" and being happy in. One is under my budget, one is over (by eighty bucks, but still, that's 80 a month I have to squeeze out of an already squeezed budget).

Also, who knew shopping for an apartment would be so tiring? 4:30 rolled around the past three days and my brain stopped functioning and I actually had to take naps. Heading back today I had a hard time driving because my eyes wouldn't stop watering.

edited because I wasn't so upset about "no laundry" that it needed to be mentioned twice and because I make no sense.

I say take the little cottage! It sounds like a place you'll be truly happy, and you'll recoup the extra costs by not having to move again in a year.

(And man oh man am I jealous of those rent prices. I need to repeat "I love living in Southern California" again a few times, now...)