...brought to you by the builders of CHELM...

Ok, so I've told you how much we love our home, right? Let me tell you more.....we're in the new section of Mevasseret Zion, a town just outside of Jerusalem. From my windows and mirpesot (patios--yes, we have 3!), we can see the skyline of the city of Jerusalem. [not the old city skyline that you see in postcards, but the 'new' part of the city, all that is outside of the WALLS. ]

Anyway, this particular view is incredible......and as the sunsets over the mountains, wow, THIS is why we live here and not in Tel Aviv. So back to our place...........it is an apartment, but it truly does not feel like it. The kitchen is huge, and I have all new white appliances! fun. The cabinets are a beautiful light brown with silver handles, and the sink is white to match.

The living room is spacious and has a dining room space attached, all one room. The beauty of it is that we can move furniture if we have guests and need more space either in the living or dining room. There are 3 bedrooms downstairs, and a loft space and another open room upstairs that we will use for an office. It is spectacular in it's description, and once we get our stuff, it will feel even more perfect.

So why the CHELM title??? Let me tell you............there are a few things in the building of this house that just baffle us. Here's my list so far, and I'm sure there are more:

• The 'corner' cabinet in the kitchen that has a lazy susan thing built in was not placed on a full corner; instead it is next to drawers and the cabinet door does not open all of the way because of the door handles, and of course, the lazy suzan thing that is supposed to spin all the way around, only comes out half way.
  
• The refridgerator space is placed next to a wall so that the fridge/freezer doors bang into said wall if we're not careful.
• One of the bathroom doors did not close when we got here, the door jam was put up and completely not leveled or anything.
  
• There are 2 lights in this tiny bathroom, one over the sink, and one over the tub---they put a double switch in and put each of these lights on their own switch. (not such a big deal, but read on...)
• The bathroom in the master bedroom (which is so small it's hard to call it that. Plus, when you think about it, when there are small children in the house, let's be honest, it's really the slaves quarters!) Anyway, this bathroom is right next to the 3rd mirpeset. We were trying to figure out which switch was supposed to control the mirpeset light, since there is only one switch on that wall. We figured out that BOTH the bathroom light and the mirpeset light were on the SAME switch, on opposite ends. What does this mean? This means that if the mirpeset light is on, the bathroom light is off; if the bathroom light is turned on, the mirpeset light goes off. There is always one light on.
  
• The incredible UPSTAIRS that we have is essentially 2 huge open rooms in an L shape. If they were not cutting so many corners and building this place so cheaply, they would have put in at least a simple bathroom (toilet/sink) up there so that one of those room areas could be closed off and used as a room. but no, so it will be neutral space, no biggie.
• The height that the plugs are placed around the house varies. In some areas, there are plugs 2 feet from the floor like in most american homes, then smack in the middle of the dining room, there is a plug waist high/ bizarre.
  

So you see this is what we're dealing with.........the builders of chelm. Hope you had a good laugh! That's the only way we're able to deal with it all.....it's amazing how far a sense of humor can take you!

Have a great day!