Parade of Homes, Part Five

And then, to Boise.

Charlie running on the sidewalk leading to our first home in Boise

Some Facts:
2238 Stephen Street, #202, Boise, ID
2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (both with bathtubs!)
Square footage: approximately 1000
Second floor
Rent: $625
Length of stay: September 2006 - August 2007
Landlords: the non-phone-answering folks at First Rate Property Management
Washer/dryer provided
Dishwasher and garbage disposal--the first we've had
Walk-in closets

Washer and dryer are not located between the kitchen sink and stove but in a utility closet.

Yes, friends, this was utter luxury to us post-Section A-ers. And for $75 LESS per month. Unbelievable.

Other highlights (besides modern appliances)

• vaulted ceilings and many windows
• large open floor plan

Living room and dining room

• quiet next-door neighbor
• did I mention the dishwasher?

Charlie and the dishwasher

• a kitchen with actual counters and cabinets
  

Move-in day

• we bought the last month of another family's lease so we got to go month-to-month with our lease right away and when we moved out, we got to keep their deposit.
• just a few minutes from my mom's house and my sister's house.

Going to Grandma's house

Lowlights:

• carpet in the dining room. With a one-year-old? Not a great idea.
• Property management folks were difficult to reach--hard to get someone live on the phone, and hard to get them to listen to you when you did.
• apartment building shared a fence with Gold's Gym. Let's just say they weren't good neighbors (ask me about the night they piped their music out into the parking lot all night).

After our charming basement of a first apartment and our most recent ingenuity-requiring barracks, this apartment looks a little bland. Boring. Call us sell-outs, but we didn't mind. We had a lot of other things to worry about during this time.

It wasn't a great year for us, the year we spent on Stephen Street. It was a great apartment, and we often felt it was too nice for us. So don't get me wrong, our home was nice, but life was giving us some other pretty sour lemons. I won't name any names, but one or more of us may have been depressed during that time. The highlight of that year came near the end of our stay in that apartment when I gave birth to our Johnny. And that's the kind of highlight that makes up for nearly everything else.

John, about a week old