Last night was the second night in a row of cat-cry-free sleep. Love it.

A couple folks asked in comments yesterday why I don’t just let the kitties in the bedroom at night. There are actually several reasons. First and foremost, I am allergic to animal dander. I love my kitties, but I am definitely allergic to them. I tried sleeping out on the couch one night with them (I decided to take a turn shutting them up) and woke up barely able to breathe or open my eyes. Not good. Second, neither cat would actually sleep at night - they’d much rather play on your head or chase each other in circles on the bed. Not too conducive to sleep. Finally, both cats shed pretty well (the tubby Semper cat especially), and I really would like a cat-hair-free zone. The bedroom is said zone.

Our apartment lease is up on February 28 so Jenn and I are investigating our housing options. She’ll be finished with pharmacy school in May (if I remember right) but I don’t remember whether that counted her potentially non-paying externship or not. (Sorry, baby, I can’t keep my own schedule straight; I’m not going to remember yours.) That means that after May our options for housing change from what we’ve currently got because she’ll have actual income. At that point, our Accounts Receivable will hopefully exceed our Accounts Payable and enable us to expand our living quarters.

We have the option right now to renew our lease for six months, nine months, or a year. If we go with nine months or a year, the rent stays the same. If we go six months (or the dreaded month-to-month), rent skyrockets. Since I work on the west side of town and most of the externships and jobs for Jenn seem to be available on the west side, we’re thinking of maybe moving after a short stay at our current place. Ideally we’d be able to get a house with 2000 square feet of livable space and a two-car garage. A decent second choice would be a three-bedroom apartment with more than 1100 square feet and a rent comparable to what we pay now.

Some readers out there know how I despise the west side. I hate it. It reminds me of suburban Los Angeles - you can drive and drive and drive and never get anywhere. It’s a hundred square miles of apartment complex surrounded by a strip mall - a recipe for slum. (Actually, it’s clean and “nice,” but it’s not very fun.) The west side is for people trying to raise a family in the suburbs. If you don’t drive a minivan or an SUV, don’t move there. The problem is, the east side (where I grew up and would love to continue living) has two problems: First, the commute is horrible from the east to the west; second, the cost of living (rent, utilities, etc.) is way higher on the more established east side.

So, west side it is. Now I’m looking at the different apartment for rent sites to find out which complexes offer apartments with our qualifications. I’m also looking at the various “house for sale” sites that list new developments under construction (because a brand new house is way cheaper, it seems, than any existing home we can find) to see what’s out there and for how much. Hopefully we’ll come up with something soon. Either way, we need to figure out what to do about our lease renewal so we can get that squared away.

I probably shouldn’t stress about it. There’s no pressure to move, really; we could stay here for another year and nobody’d be the worse for it. I’m just sick of apartment living - neighbors with stinky cooking and having to watch the volume on my movies and not really being able to redecorate or anything… and above all that, the distinct lack of space we’ve got. I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t wish for a bigger place. Even a bigger apartment would be better than what we’ve got now.

So I’m stressing, trying to figure out just the right amount of time to renew the lease for and still be able to move and afford it. Jenn tells me not to worry about it, but honestly, if I don’t worry about it, who’s going to? These things don’t just solve themselves.

I should get back to work. My queue is so long right now I don’t know what to do.