utility

 After years of apartment living, two of the few things I miss about being a homeowner are the utility sink and the outdoor hose. In this apartment, I have a large shower stall that doesn't fully close, a two-bottom kitchen sink, a mop bucket, and a plastic basin the size of an infant bathtub. 

For most purposes, these suffice. None of my pots and pans are too big to fit in the sink, the plastic basin is perfect for soaking handknits that I don't want to put in the washer, and I've mostly learned how to keep the water inside the shower area. I don't have a garden or a garage for truly messy projects, so I don't usually need extra messy cleanup space. 

Every once in a while, though, I come up against a use case for which all of my tools are less than ideal.

My balcony and the furniture that lives there continually collect the fine dry dust that is ubiquitous to this city. After a season of disuse during the winter chill, the dust was well on its way to the sort of depth appropriate to smiley faces and snarky comments written with a finger. 

But spring is in the air, and I wish to return to my habit of eating breakfast on the balcony. So today, after Sweepnir and I had done the usual weekly cleaning, I brought the balcony furniture in for a shower. 

Thankfully, the fine dry dust is easily dispatched by a half-strength stream of water, thought it might have been wiser to shower the balcony furniture *before* I mopped the shower area.....

I'll leave the furniture to dry inside overnight so it doesn't drip all over my clean floors as I carry it out. In the meanwhile, I have swept and mopped the balcony, sending the dusty water through the tiny drain hole at the base of the far wall. 

And my balcony flip flops are ready and waiting for tomorrow morning. 

A utility sink and an outdoor spigot are useful things to have, but their absence just means turning other tools to multiple purposes. 

In the first years after I sold Rambling Farmhouse and Rustic Lakehouse and moved into an apartment, people expressed shock that I was moving "backwards" from homeownership to renting, from house-and-property to an apartment. Occasionally, I still get asked about when and where I plan to buy a house again. But honestly, I don't know that I ever will. Long-term homeownership was not a net gain in wealth for me, and I don't mind paying a landlord to be responsible for risk and upkeep.  

As long as the balcony furniture fits in the shower, it's all good.