the unpacking may begin.... for real

Huge accomplishment for the day: I almost finished unpacking and cleaning the kitchen!

We can now walk in a straight line diagonally across the kitchen from the front door to the dining room door, instead of an arc around the boxes cluttering the exact middle of the room. It's a beautiful thing.

Huge reminder as to why I chose to marry the man I married: Gabe gave me the dining room to expand my art space!

You see, our apartment was advertised as a two-bedroom with a double parlor and eat-in kitchen. Thing is, because of the doorways in the parlors and the position of the radiators, fireplace and mirrored shelving (sounds ugly, kinda is, I kinda like it) you'd have to own very little furniture to make these rooms work as living rooms. You'd have to own very modern, simple, IKEA-like furniture, and only armchairs.

We have a huge, soft, comfy couch and we like it that way.

We use one of the "bedrooms" as a living room because it's really big and has no windows. Who wants a bedroom with no windows? In a living room with no windows, there's never a glare on your television and the upholstery on your couch will never fade.

So we I deemed the room with the fireplace and mirrored shelving the dining room. The second "parlor" became my art room so I'd FINALLY [insert angels singing here] have my own space to make arts and crafts. But seriously, it's really small and wouldn't work, even if I ever finish unpacking it.

And Gabe's been bugging me to put the table in the kitchen. "But what will we do with the dining room?" I'd ask. There was never an answer, and I kept my big, open kitchen.

Today, after the kitchen was finished, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to put the table in here?"

"Well, there's room... but I don't know what to do with the dining room."

"Make it another art room for yourself," he told me, with a mild undertone of "Duh, Nora," but a little helpfully at the same time.

"What? No. I can't do that," I argued.

"Why not?" Gabe wanted to know. He walked into the dining room. "You can put your easel in here."

"I shouldn't use that much room in our apartment."

"Nora, just take advantage of this space while we have it. Next year, we can't afford a place this big in Portland."

I looked at him. There may have been a halo hovering over his head, but that may have been a trick of the light. My eyes get blurry when I'm tired. Thanks, LASIK. "I guess that's a good idea."

"I know. Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"

"I didn't think it would be fair to use that much space for myself in here."

He snorted. "Hey, I don't care. I have my living room; I have my TV, my Playstation, my internet. That's all I need."

Amen.