Ten reasons why living in an apartment rocks

Since March 17, we have been living in a three-bedroom, two bathroom apartment. The living room is big enough for our couch and a tv. We have a place for our table and chairs. It's been a little bit of an adjustment - the kids miss having a place to play bball or to even be able to bounce the ball in the house - something they can't do living on the third floor.
After the four of us returned from seeing the Hunger Games on a recent Saturday night, Kate, 17, said, "Apartment living isn't that bad."

Still they are counting the days until we sell our house in Silverton and can purchase one here - Blake, 14, has even mentioned getting a puppy.

Here are 10 good things about apartment living:

1. It's so small that I always can find my phone when it rings and there are less places to look for my car keys.
2. Cleaning time reduced from about five hours for a top to bottom clean once a week - to an hour.
3. Don't have to worry about rolling the garbage or recycling cans to the curbside.
4. No yard work so more time to do other things on the weekend.
5. Don't have to yell "Dinner time" to get the kids down to the table. Instead, they can hear the vegetables sizzling in the pan.
6. Laundry gets done right away rather than piling up higher than Mount Hood. Since there is no room for it to sit, it gets thrown in the washer, then dryer immediately.
7. Going up and down three flights a stairs at least four times a day should help me get in better shape.
8. We have access to gym equipment.
9. Great opportunities to meet the other apartment dwellers such as last night when I came home from Target with some storage bins and a few items. Since it was raining, I tried to take a shortcut from the parking lot to the apartment, climbed three flights of stairs and knocked on the door while trying not to drop the heavy bins. Knocked again. Was searching for my keys when a man opened the door. My first thought was who the hell are you and why are you in my apartment? He politely asked, Can I help you? No, I wanted to say, unless you can install a GPS system in my brain. Politely apologized for knocking on the wrong door in the wrong building and scurried home hoping I will never be seen again by that man.
10. Mostly importantly - every day lessons on what's important in life - my family, my friends, our health, happiness and when life hands you some lemons, you can choose to be bitter or to just laugh.
Laughter really is the best medicine.