The Craigslist House

There's a running joke that if my friend Vicki (name changed to protect the innocent blogger) ever comes to visit me in Boise, the two of us will probably get arrested together.  We've been best friends for most of our lives and went through everything together in high school.  She's one of three friends I still keep up with after graduation and her newest journey has left me completely shocked.

When I caught up with Vicki during my Christmas trip home to Boardman, OH she told me that she'd be working in the state for a few months now that she'd earned her doctorate in Physical Therapy in Tulsa, OK.   That job was basically in BFE, Ohio.  I won't bore you with Ohio geography, but it really is the middle of nowhere and that's the last I heard about the job or where she was living. Until she sent me her new blog last week.

Vicki needed to find a furnished place to live (since all of her stuff is still in Tulsa) so she went on Craigslist to find a house with rooms for rent for about $100 a week.  Now she's living with a group of seven total strangers including a 63-year-old man who takes advantage of BFE's unspoken rule that "if a guy buys you a beer, you're obligated to sleep with him," a young mother who hasn't managed to maintain custody of any of her five children, and a paranoid heroine addict who's stealing his own milk from the house's fridge.  There's also a few teens stuck in that awkward age between being a legal adult and actually being able to legally purchase their own alcohol.

Within the first seven days in the house she's already experienced a run in with the cops, a dramatic reading of her bank statement and the death of the illegal house pet mouse. It's real life, Real World/Jersey Shore with no cameramen or producers to protect her if things get a little too weird.

I don't think I could EVER go through with an adventure like this.  If you want to follow Vicki's gutsy living situation check out her My Craigslist House Blog!