Stolen

Ever since J and I moved in together, all I wanted for our shared living space was a little room with a chaise lounge, lots of books, and a little writing desk. This dream was quickly squashed when it immediately became apparent that both of us had a lot of stuff, and our computer was big, and we had no storage space. So in both the apartments we lived in while in New York, the "extra" rooms in the 2 bedroom apartments became the junky computer room/guest room/storage area. But now! Now we have a true extra room and I am determined that it will be my charming library with a comfortable reading area.

The problem is that we got stuck financially while in the middle of settling in. We're waiting for J to land a full-time position (he's on his fourth interview in what's been a month-long interviewing process for one job, and the place he's temping might offer him a permanent place, too) and until then, we've been very budget-conscious. Which sucks when you're trying to buy lots of new furniture for a new place. This also sucks if you are married to someone who studied furniture design and has big problems with cheap furniture. (Fake jointing can seriously give him a heart attack.) But after living for several months with a perfectly nice room that is unusably filled with crap, and after getting lots of Target gift cards for Christmas, we decided to bite the bullet and buy cheap furniture so we can at least use the room.

If you think we've ever owned any nice furniture ever you are mistaken. I don't know where we got it in our heads that we're suddenly above cheap, $30 bookcases, but we've arrived at that point. Except not quite, because we bought a couple cheap, $30 bookcases an $80 writing desk and spent the evening very happily assembling a room. We've come into a lot of nice things lately. The holidays were good to us, my mom loads us up with cookies and treats every time we visit, and we're the lucky recipients of my technophilic brother's latest throwaways (like a newish computer with a flat screen).

Which is why I shouldn't have been too surprised when karma slapped us across the face and took our bikes.

J went to the garage to get some tools for assembling the cheap bookcases, and when he came back he simply announced that the bikes were gone. We don't use the garage for our car (remember, giant Buick), and with the storms pounding us, we just hadn't been inside the garage for awhile. We share the garage with two girls who live next door and who have been there for years, so I can't imagine they had anything to do with it. But there are no signs of forced entry, so my only conclusion is that they left the main door unlocked at some point.

It's frustrating to me, but my bike was only a hand-me-down that didn't have much emotional attachment for me. J's bike, however, was new and lovely and expensive, something he really loved and spent his hard-earned money on. It breaks my heart to see him so upset. We have renter's insurance, but it might turn out better in the end to not file a claim (higher premiums, etc.).

We're supposed to get even more snow at the end of the week, so at least this didn't happen at the height of biking season, but now there's one more thing to add to the growing list of Things We Will Have to Purchase in the Future (also on that list: clothes).