Thursday Thirteen

Before you start reading this, I want you to realize that I am thankful to have a place to live, a roof over my head, and all that. One of my favorite Gospel songs is "Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me". I've been to Mexico and seen people living in houses made from pallets with not enough to eat. I've read about the homeless living in our own country.

But today I feel like being negative. So here goes:

Thirteen things I don't like about living here

1. Hard water that gunks up coffeepots and leaves ugly blue stains on the floor.
2. Only two closets in the house: one downstairs, one upstairs.
3. Our basement has only a gravel floor and when it rains a lot, water pools there. So it isn't much use for anything.
4. The living room is too small. There's only room for five people to sit comfortably and visit.
5. My house is two-story.
6. We might as well be in town, except for our acres out back. In fact, I think we'd have more privacy in town. Every tiny detail of our lives is noticed by one neighbor or another, and gossiped about .
7. When I look out my kitchen window to the west while washing dishes, I seem to be looking at a junk yard.
8. When I go out my back door, my view to the east is of a rickety old mobile home with a junk-filled porch. (Yes, we own it.)
9. Dust. It doesn't matter whether it's winter or summer, the dust accumulates in this house like nothing you've ever seen. Dust the furniture and in two days, it's just as dusty again.
10. We don't have a coat closet. So in wintertime all coats, jackets, hats, rain gear, boots and shoes are hung, tossed, or lined up along the entryway and hall.
11. The ceilings upstairs that need to be repaired due to water damage. But I don't go up there anyhow. See #5.
12. The wiring is so old and bad that if you make coffee and use the microwave at the same time, a breaker is thrown.
13. I can never have a dishwasher for two reasons: hard water, and there's absolutely no place to put one. But the wiring probably couldn't handle it anyhow.

I promise that if I do a Thursday 13 next week, it'll be more positive.