Oh Rats!

I just watched a rat flop it's last flops on the concrete patio a few feet from my bedroom door. Guaranteed nightmares for at least 5 years and conversion to a vegetarian lifestyle for 2 weeks. Yesterday at church a couple of people talked about the mice and bedbug problems in this part of Manhattan. It got me thinking (a little too much):

Pros of our new place as opposed to our old place:
1. 4 short blocks to Elijah’s new school
2. Good public school district for next year (although I hear it’s extremely competitive even for public schools)
3. 2 floors, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, semi-private outside cement area where apparently rats like to die (and really, how private can you get in this population density—several buildings look down on our shared patch of cement)
4. Much better running paths. I prefer Riverside Park along the Hudson. David often goes to Central Park.
5. Much closer to church. We shaved 40 minutes off the commute.
6. A lot closer to the people in our ward; so now I don’t feel guilty about asking them over.

Cons or our new place:
1. Commute for David=30 minutes in train instead of 20 minutes walking
2. No A/C upstairs...until we bought one
3. No microwave (gave away our old one since our last place had one built in). How long is it possible to survive without the modern convenience of a microwave? So far, about 2 weeks and counting.
4. No dishwasher
5. Had to pay a $2450 broker fee. The monthly rent is $500 than our last place, but the broker fee helps make up that difference.
6. Noisy: we are right by the entrance door, meaning we hear the comings and goings of everyone, and everyone can hear me yelling...er...speaking softly to my children.
7. It’s very difficult to see the sky; I have to either crane my head or stand close to the window, therefore it’s usually dark and dreary, which makes me always feel like I should be sleeping.
8. Our last place was better maintained. It was spotless with beautiful parks and plants everywhere. I had a friend who didn’t like it though because it was so big and she felt like one in a million there. I was fine with being one in a million as long as they came the same day to fix my clogged toilet. Now I feel like I’m nagging every time I ask for something to be fixed, or removed, e.g. a dying rat…
9. the top of the list is RATS!

Oh dear, there are a lot more cons than pros, but obviously the pros outweigh the cons, or else we wouldn’t have moved.

If you're still reading, congratulations, your prize is a lesson in night terrors. Elijah has had night terrors for quite some time. He didn't get it from me. I learned about David's problem a few months into our marriage when he hit me in the middle of the night. He claimed he saw a threatening Arabian man standing over me; apparently the threat vanished just as David was going to protect me. Fishy. Various other weird ninja-like moves have come from a semi-conscious David over the years. A few mornings ago I found David picking wall paint out of a sizable wound on his knee. Another threatening Arabian man? We shall never know, but at least I wasn't the casualty this time.