How to Be a Condo Owner, Part Three: They're Both Mine

When I first started the whole process of finding a home to buy, I was pretty adamant that a one-bedroom home would be a deal-breaker. Though we gamely looked at a couple of one-bedroom condos, Kristen and I agreed that a second bedroom was necessary. Most places have small-ish bedrooms and living areas, and I've got my craft table, a lot of books, and a piano.

The piano is non-negotiable. I've had that thing since high school.

For bathrooms, I pretty much figured I'd be stuck with one, or if I was lucky, I'd also get a little half bath for guests to use. As it happens, I ended up with two full bathrooms, and within a few weeks of living here, started laughing at myself as I realized that even when I was literally sitting closer to the second bathroom, I'd still take a few extra steps to use "my" bathroom.

Newsflash, dear brain: They're both mine.

Still, we do develop our little habits, and when you roll out of bed first thing in the morning needing the loo, the one that is three feet from your bed is obviously most convenient. Still, I started intentionally using the other toilet from time to time, just because I can.

Then I noticed that the toilet in the mistress bathroom was constantly running, and--long story short--I am waiting to have a plumber come to fix it because he's also going to fix the leaky bathtub faucet, but before he can, I had to figure out how to turn my water off, which required calling the association's maintenance guys. This, in turn, required them coming out to look for my water shut-off (which I saw in July during the inspection but asking me to remember anything from July is ridiculous because July was escrow and I took in way too much information) so they could show me the where and how of it.

Back to the toilet.

I decided that for now, to avoid wasting water in a drought, and also to avoid having another ridiculous water bill (holy water waste, Batman, why did the previous owner never realize this place's utilities were sky-high because of the dripping?! Oh, yeah, he was a dumbass.), I turned the water off on the mistress bathroom toilet, and am exclusively using the 2nd bathroom toilet only. I still shower in "my" bathroom, though.

It's all very weird and slightly hilarious. This week I can finally call my plumber back and set up a time to fix the bathtub faucet and the toilet (he assures me both are easy fixes), and then get on with my life of having two fully-functioning bathrooms...and not having to stumble across a dark condo at 5:30 every morning just so I can use the loo.