Please tell us if we're being doormats

It's Day 16 of the washer/dryer saga and no word as to when we'll receive them. Our assumption is that the installation will occur this weekend. (Please let it happen soon!)

By the way, when they installed the broken down washing machine that leaked all over, apparently the slumlords decided to use our towels to mop up the water. But they didn't tell us they had done so. Instead they chose to take our towel and, presumably, hope we wouldn't notice. We noticed.

It's a harsh accusation, I know. We looked for the towel, just to be sure. But we did not misplace the towel. The towel is gone. The towel went missing while we were away. Therefore, it's a reasonable assumption that one of our towels was stolen by our slumlords.

I know...it's just a towel. But it's the principle, you know? Don't use something that's not yours without asking, and certainly don't take it without telling!

In reaction, I put together my Seven Commandments for Landlords:
1) When performing repairs in your tenants' apartment, always be prepared in case there's a leak. Bring rags/towels from home.
2) If there is a leak and you didn't follow Commandment #1, run downstairs to get your own rags/towels from which to sop up the water. It's not like you live miles and miles away. You're above your own garage, for God's sake.
3) Don't use your tenants' stuff without asking.
4) Don't use your tenants' stuff without telling.
5) Don't take your tenants' stuff without asking.
6) Don't take your tenants' stuff without telling.
7) In fact, just don't take your tenants' stuff. Period.

In other broken-down news, the touch-up paint we were given is the wrong color. (At this point, we're feeling a bit like the unwanted stepchildren who've been locked in the castle's turret, never to be seen or heard, kinda like the kids from the "Flowers in the Attic" book series. "Here's your damn paint, now quit your bitchin'!") We should have paid attention to the signs indicating this, too, would prove to be another difficult and long process. After all, when we were given the quart of touch-up paint, the slumlord jokingly commented, "If this isn't the right color, it will be the new wall color." Since we assumed the slumlords kept accurate records of paint colors, we laughed it off. (Remember, this place is a baby at mere two years of age!) Surely they kept track of which white and beige they used on the ceiling and walls.

Well, they didn't.

Wrong shade of beige, wrong finish. (The paint on the walls is flat, not egg shell.) So now we have little splotches of too-light, too-shiny paint on our walls. What do we do now, dear readers?

As I see it, we have three options:
1) Leave the walls as they are: Scuffed up, dingy, grungy and splotchy.
2) Ask for another quart of flat, beige paint and hope it's the right color.
3) Have them repaint the entire apartment. (It should have been repainted before we moved in anyway.)

Option 1 is the most realistic since it takes the least amount of effort on their part. Plus, no expectations on our part. No expectations = no disappointments.
Option 2 is the most uncertain since they really don't know what color is currently on the walls. How many quarts would it take to get it right?
Option 3 is the most work since we'd have to take everything off the walls and move our furniture to the middle of the room, etc. Plus, at the rate they're moving on the washer/dryer, who knows when it would happen anyway?!

Oy vey! No washer/dryer. Wrong touch-up paint. No sink aerator. No storm door. No window screens. No super-deluxe cable. Stolen towel. (Am I missing anything?)

However, in the interest of optimism, here's what we DO have:
1) A roof over our heads.
2) A (relatively) warm tree-top dwelling. (Did we mention the baseboard heat in our apartment is terribly inadequate, even during the (relatively warm) Georgia winter, so we've been using two space heaters instead? We're not freezing, no. After all, we only need to heat whichever room we happen to be using - 250 square feet at a time. If the apartment were bigger, this would definitely be an issue. But, thankfully, it's not too big of an issue. It's only a slight issue when the temperatures drop to 20 degrees - like last night, for instance. Brrrr!!!)
3) A comfy bed with lots of blankets in which to lay our weary heads at night.
4) Hot water.
5) Working toilet.
6) Laughter and our senses of humor.
7) Love. Lots of love.

We're keeping some of that love to give to each other and sending the rest to you, dear friends and family. More updates to follow...the girlz