FOR RENT: part two in the "search for a dwelling place" series

I was standing outside the office door at the Lakewood Hills Apartments with my roommate when i heard the disheartening news.

With the door closed and no eyepatched senior citizen there to answer the door, i had to call the phone number scrawled on the chalkboard attached to the door. That's when I learned of the crushing figures.
After I got off the phone with the manager, I pouted, on the verge of a temper tantrum, and gave my roomie the pricey news.
$1875. A month. For a 2 bedroom apartment.
AKA. no college students allowed.

Resisting the urge to kick the building or draw a pirate saying "come back on monday" on the chalkboard, we sulked back to my car. The pit-stop at Lakewood Hills was our 3rd stop of the day... the first being at Perkins (where my roomie's car had spent the night due to a busted clutch). we went in and ate some delicious pumpking pie as we waited for the tow truck.
The next stop was the dealership, and then we were on our way to Lakewood Hills--however, we took a scenic route. We took Reeds Lake Drive all the way around the lake... the trees (and houses) were absolutely amazing. To label these leaves just green, orange, yellow, and red would be like calling Half Dome just a big rock--that is quite the understatement.

Fall is clearly here. The leaves have begun their gravity-induced adventure from tree branch to the ground, joining the other leaves that have already completed their pilgrimage. This is definitely my favorite time of the year.

Just the other day I was walking back from class when i saw a little girl, about four years old, playing in the leaves. She'd grab an armful of leaves and then run around, leaving a trail of leaves falling behind her. She finally resolved to do what is practically instinctive in a child at this time of the year: she scooped up as many leaves as her little arms could hold and then threw them in the air. This joyous act had required so much effort and enthusiasm that, as the leaves went up, she fell down on her butt. The airborn leaves made their trip to the ground for a second time, this time covering the girl.
I love it.

Ok, back to the main story.
With the numbers $1875 still haunting us, we ended up on a neighborhood tour, scanning lawns for the very signs our mission called for: "FOR RENT." The going was slow at first... we saw a lot of lawns decorated with "for sale" signs and the politically charged "McCain Palin" and "Obama" signs.
For the record, when I have a front lawn, it will have a pink flamingo and a gnome on it. And around election time, I will stick a sign that says... well, i don't know what it will say, but i've got four years to think of something clever.

After a bit of meandering, we finally found one... actually, three, all on the same street. This was exciting. We took down all three phone numbers so that we could call for some more information. My roommate made the first call. Oddly enough, the owner happened to be at the house working on it and said that we could stop by and check it out.
This cute little house (with a porch on the front of it) was empty but smelled of fresh paint. The wooden floors sent the echoes of hour steps throughout the room, but i did take note that these floors were perfect for sock-skating.

My favorite part was the kitchen... black and white checkered floors and red walls. So much fun.
Since our need for a place to rent isn't until May, there wasn't much we could do, but the owner was very nice and encouraged us to keep checking in with him.
Since then, more ideas have come up and we are starting to go back more in the direction of apartments again.
But those details will come in part 3.
Soon. I promise.