Running The Gauntlet?

So we've lived for the last 3 years planning to move to Texas, as soon as we possibly could.
The original plan was hatched by way of several visits to Texas and many in depth discussions that left my husband and I feeling as if we had finally found a place that felt like home.  That place also being a good fit for our desires to see the sun more often and spend a lot less money to merely experience life was clearly also a bonus.

 Sunflower With Sunglasses by jiggoja

found at freedigitalphotos.net

 
For various and sundry reasons that plan has not worked out- yet.

That's not to say that my husband and I have not had many interesting adventures in these past few years while pursuing our goal of moving to Texas.  We have been to places that we once thought of as 'other possibilities' to help us reach our goal of finding a home that is mostly sunny and not so expensive.  Some of this has been rather comical and some of it has been a bit sad.  However, it has all been a learning experience.  And that is often what life is all about.

We have learned that my husband's chosen actuarial profession is prolific in jobs along the two coasts.  We have learned that it is not impossible to find a job in the middle if you are patient and if you are pretty much done getting to the highest level of said chosen career, as there are very few people who are capable of doing this (about 5,400 in the country).  In other words in 2-3 more years we will have a pretty good chance of securing a job for whatever my husband would like to do within his chosen career path, in just about whatever place we really want to be.

In the meantime, my husband and I have purchased a condo in Palm Springs, CA and we seek sun there whenever possible- which means we get to have something that resembles the life we are really looking for about 6 weeks a year.

And that's certainly a big improvement.  However, it still seems like there should be another way to improve the overall picture of what we are seeking without having to wait around for another 2-3 years.

Although we can't actually live at our place in Palm Springs, CA because there are not any actuarial jobs out there in the desert, it seems that we may have found a way to avoid that 2-3 year wait to attain at least part of our goal.

In our many and varied trips down the coast with my nephew and the dogs in tow, we have discovered that although we don't see any financial benefit to being in California we sure do feel a lot better overall when we are there.  We get out from under our sweatshirts and flannel hoods and meet people who seem much more varied from the brooding types who reside here in the Seattle area.  We are just happier overall.

So now the question is:  Would living in California full time be a nice Disney, sandy beach, sunshine-filled diversion for a couple of years or would I end up feeling as if I had to run the gauntlet of more liberal politics than I can even imagine handling to simply get to what I really want which of course is living in Texas?

image found at Wikimedia Commons

Surprise- A Road Trip Adventure!

My husband and I have been planning all along to go down to Palm Springs to look at condos during the week of the 4th of July.  We have saved and saved and are finally ready to at least physically look at some properties.  It has been quite educational and frustrating to find out what all this entails. 

Here in a nutshell is more than anyone who is not shopping for a Palm Springs condo could ever want to know: 

1) As I mentioned in a previous post, Palm Springs is unique in that every other mile of the city has been designated as native Indian land.  This means that half of all properties have a small lease that is paid to the native people over a long term contract that is renewable indefinitely.  Basically both the natives and the city want to keep this as a simple peaceful arrangement so as to be profitable to all parties.  However, this also makes fairly unpopular lending on condos in general even a bit more sticky in Palm Springs. 

2) So many condo properties in this area of California have been foreclosed on that many of the communities have more units being owned by investors than actual residents.  And, guess what?  The banks don't like to loan on condos that are majority owned by investors.

3) Even with perfect credit and a good sized down payment, anything that is deemed 'wrong' with the community that we might eventually select a unit in could completely nullify any agreement we might actually have with a seller.

So have I mentioned that we're up against a big challenge here?! 

No worries, we are NOT giving up that easily.

We're up for a look with a realtor and it's happening next week.  Yes, you might have noticed that is one week PRIOR to the week of the 4th of July. 

We have moved the trip up BECAUSE.... drum roll please.....

My husband has an in person interview with a company in Arizona!  ...And he can't fly yet or even pick up more than 15 lbs., which would put luggage out of the question.  BUT, he is feeling great and ready to do an interview so here we go- We'll be driving down and taking our two dogs along with us.  Yes, we're a little bit crazy!!!

And we'll top off the trip by stopping by and picking up my nephew, Nathan, on the way back so he can have one of his week-long summer visits with us over the 4th of July.

It is going to be one big whirlwind adventure!

Wreath Adventures

Last summer when a local nursery had a Groupon deal going, I knew exactly what I was going to do with my pay $20 and get $40 worth of goods coupon.  I even got it for $5 off.  So I was feeling really good about my plans to get a special wreath this year.  You know, not just the 'there's a red ribbon on it so it's festive, right?' kind of wreath.  Not just the one I usually pick up at the local Fred Meyer store.

My plans were finally put into motion last week when I went and picked out my most fancy ever wreath.  It has pretty decorations and a really nice bow that hasn't been smashed.  It even has a light dusting of flocking on it- just the kind of snow I could love.  I was pretty excited about this wreath.

I brought it home and put it up on the door with the usual hook that I always use.

The wreath promptly fell off the door.

OK, so my super duper wreath was way too heavy for my old hook.

Off to the store to find a better way to hang it.

I bought one of these.  I knew it would be able to hold my very heavy wreath.

Photo credit: farmersmarketonline.com

Except that my door doesn't allow for enough space for the wreath holder...  So I could have the wreath, but I wouldn't be able to actually close the door.  Definitely didn't work.

Next try:  find the biggest hook I could.  Put that on the door.  Add the wreath, and PRAY.

Meanwhile I'm discovering that the beautiful dusting of snow on the wreath ends up all over me every time I handle it.  Oh, and I'm clearly very allergic to whatever that snowy stuff is- I've heard it has fiber glass or something in it- because I have nice welts on my hands and lower arms from it.

So anyway, I do manage to get the wreath to stay up on the door.  Halleluiah!

Time for a final dusting off of that 'snowy' stuff that is all over the door from all of my trials and tribulations since the wreath is going to be sticking around this time. 

Oh crap, my door is cedar and now I have a nice deep splinter.  Yeah, I dug at it for a while with a needle and it's still in there.

So now I have a band aid with some bag balm on my finger.

And way more of a story than I ever needed.

Oh, and a really pretty wreath...