Wow. A new bed. And wow. Our apartment shrank.

We officially outgrew our apartment yesterday.

Okay, this has been going on for some time now. What was once a spacious one-bedroom apartment with wood floors and a lovely view of the mountains has been shrinking.

Yes, fine, the kitchen started out small and has stayed that way. wildernessguru and I both love to cook and cook together, but the narrow (if colorful and appealing) kitchen is an elbow hazard. The dining area (I can't call it a room with a straight face) has always been tragically tiny.

But the living room began its existence comfortably large with high ceilings and wide windows. Once upon a time it had an open expanse wide enough to land a small glider. Then it sprouted a couch and a couple of chairs, which didn't seem to take much room. But of course, couches seem to acquire coffee tables after the third or fourth spilled drink. Then one of the chairs grew an ottoman and a magazine holder. Two lamps became three, and of course the halogen needed a home. Surely the curtains didn't take up much space?

One bookshelf multiplied and became four, and yet there are still books on the floor, piled in a two foot stack by the ottoman.

( A TV appeared in our formerly TV-free household. I blame the weather. )

The cat has been playing, leaping from the bed to race across the open living room and back again. He's delighted. Every time I walk by the bedroom I smile, That looks nice.

But now the laundry basket won't fit. A queen-sized bed seems to be slightly wider than a queen-sized futon frame and the manufacturer was never able to give me exact measurements. The laundry looked terrible there anyway. The ficus has been kicked out and I knew my wicker basket would have to go. The ficus is parked by the computer, the mirror doesn't work on that wall any more and --

-- my god this apartment is small.

wildernessguru started circling apartment ads last night.