It's official: we're moving to the Seattle area! This morning Mc accepted a job offer up there and we'll be selling this house and moving within about 6-8 weeks.
We've been planning for this for almost 2 months now, and so things are already in the works. We've met with a realtor and they've set us up with a landscaper and a handyman and we're getting a free staging consultation for our house as well (the chainsaw work from my last blog post was part of our preliminary yard work to get ready to sell the house). We don't have to be living here for any of the selling process, so pretty much as soon as Mc secures an apartment for us up there around the middle of April, we can move.
I'm excited about the move. I'm a San Francisco Bay Area gal, so this hot dry climate of Arizona has been really different, and it's been hard on my skin. ;) The Seattle area will be much more moist and cool, which is what I'm used to. And our kids will actually be able to play outside in the summer!
I'm excited for other things, too. From what I hear, Seattle is an extremely racially diverse area; here in AZ it's pretty much white with some Mexican as well. I miss diversity and I'm looking forward to being around it again. I've also heard that the culture up there is very casual, and that'll be fun. ;) And they actually have culture; here, not so much.
We'll know only a small handful of people at first. Two friends of ours have recently relocated up there and we haven't seen them in years, and we're excited to hang out with them again. One of Mc's former managers from KPMG works at the same company (she's the one who recommended he apply for the job in the first place), and we have a brother-in-law-by-marriage in the area as well. I'm very shy when it comes to meeting new people and making friends, but I'll try to adjust.
That's another thing I'm looking forward to, believe it or not: moving back into an apartment (or townhouse, we'll see which soon). I love our house but I have felt isolated in it, especially since leaving the LDS church which was my main source of meeting people and socializing. We have nice neighbors but no one hangs out outside-- people in Arizona tend to stay in their houses a lot because of the heat, so I really haven't had much of a chance to chat with them. With an apartment you have no choice but to interact with your neighbors because they're right there, so that'll help me get back out of my shell.
Our plan is to stay in an apartment for 1 year and then evaluate whether we like apartment living better or worse than a house. There have been lots of pros and cons to renting apartments over the years and owning a house, so going back to an apartment will help us see which pros/cons list we prefer.
I can't say I'll miss much about AZ. We have some friends down here who we've known for years and I'll be sad to leave them. Both Mc and I have made a few friends from church and I'll miss them, too. But that's about it. Nothing else has me tied down to this state and I'm up for a new adventure!
Friday, March 28, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Chainsaws are Awesome!
The perimeter of our backyard is lined with oleander bushes. They were here when we moved in, and it wasn't until later that we learned that oleander bushes are poisonous. They're actually considered one of the most poisonous plants in the world; ingesting one leaf can kill a child. I've linked an article about it here: Oleanders
So ever since we moved here I've wanted them gone. The previous owners might not have had kids or pets to worry about, but we do. Too many of the branches were too thick for the hedge clippers, so we needed something more powerful. We talked about hiring a landscaping company to come out here and take care of them for us, but that would cost at least $600, and that wasn't even removing the whole bush, that's just lopping them off at the fence line. Taking them down to the root would have cost even more money. I said to Mc, "I could do that for a whole lot less money!" so I went to Home Depot and bought a chainsaw for $100.
I will admit, that was about 8 months ago... I've never used one before and I know they're dangerous and I was nervous about it. But two weeks ago I finally channeled my inner motorcycle chick and got up the courage to just get out there and work that machine! I got the safety gear and the proper clothing and I went at it.
And it was fun! :)
The oleanders in the far left corner over there were about 12 feet high, it was crazy! The one left standing on the left is actually a citrus tree. Now that the oleanders surrounding it are cut way back, it'll finally get some sun.
Chainsaws = Awesome! They're so much faster than using the hedge clippers, and the whole job was done in a few hours (and for about a tenth of the cost that a landscaper would have charged). Plus, all that power in my hands!... I can see why guys love power tools. ;)
So ever since we moved here I've wanted them gone. The previous owners might not have had kids or pets to worry about, but we do. Too many of the branches were too thick for the hedge clippers, so we needed something more powerful. We talked about hiring a landscaping company to come out here and take care of them for us, but that would cost at least $600, and that wasn't even removing the whole bush, that's just lopping them off at the fence line. Taking them down to the root would have cost even more money. I said to Mc, "I could do that for a whole lot less money!" so I went to Home Depot and bought a chainsaw for $100.
I will admit, that was about 8 months ago... I've never used one before and I know they're dangerous and I was nervous about it. But two weeks ago I finally channeled my inner motorcycle chick and got up the courage to just get out there and work that machine! I got the safety gear and the proper clothing and I went at it.
And it was fun! :)
Here's what they used to look like:
And here's what they look like now! CHOP!
Chainsaws = Awesome! They're so much faster than using the hedge clippers, and the whole job was done in a few hours (and for about a tenth of the cost that a landscaper would have charged). Plus, all that power in my hands!... I can see why guys love power tools. ;)
Friday, March 14, 2014
What the Hell Was I Wearing??
Today I went through my two oldest photo albums to count the approximate number of photos in there so I can know how many new photo albums to buy. These two albums are a couple of decades old-- they're the acid kind with sticky pages and I don't want these photos to get ruined.
Looking through the photos, I remember good times I had as a kid and I'm really glad I kept these photos all these years. But as I was looking through them, for picture after picture I thought to myself, "What the hell was I wearing??"
Some of those pictures were from the 80's and early 90's, so I've got a pass there. ;) But really, as I got into my teen years I think I used to just put on any old thing. I knew I certainly wasn't "stylish" but I didn't realize how often I settled for clothes that flat-out didn't fit me!
I guess I used to be self-conscious about my curves or something because most of the shirts I wore did absolutely nothing for my figure; in fact, many of them hid my figure all together and I looked like I was wearing a bedsheet. Whether it was junior high and high school when I was going through puberty and I was curvy, or whether it was in college when I was really thin-- all of my shirts were baggy and most of them were completely shapeless.
You know what? I just realized what it was. The LDS church teaches that boys and girls shouldn't wear immodest clothes, which they define as, "any clothing that is tight, sheer, or revealing in any other manner," ("For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet, p.6), because immodest clothing says you're using your body to get attention, and girls who wear tight or revealing clothing are distracting boys who are trying to keep their thoughts "pure". I wanted to be a good Mormon who followed the church's standards and I didn't want to be a cause for boys to think "impure" thoughts, so I purposely wore baggy t-shirts and big jeans and things that weren't form-fitting or curve-revealing in the slightest. I actually remember one time in my junior year of high school I got rid of a couple of shirts for the specific reason that they were now tight and that went against church standards.
Well, the result was that I looked awful. I wore makeup and I did my hair every day, so I didn't look ragged, but I definitely looked dumpy. I do remember I used to be self-conscious about my body and I used to think I was fat, but looking back at those pictures I realize I wasn't fat at all; on the contrary: I had a cute figure but I looked fat and shapeless in those clothes.
Now that I'm older and I'm not worried about the Mormon standard for dress, I feel more free to experiment with clothing to figure out what styles suit me better, given my body's proportions, and I've made some nice discoveries:
My wardrobe still has a long way to go before I look awesome in all of my clothes, but I'm getting braver at using my sewing machine, so my clothes can get the perfect fit for my body. I never again want to see current photos of myself where I look dumpy and shapeless! I've got curves, baby; I've learned to accept them, and I want my clothing to reflect that healthier mindset.
Looking through the photos, I remember good times I had as a kid and I'm really glad I kept these photos all these years. But as I was looking through them, for picture after picture I thought to myself, "What the hell was I wearing??"
Some of those pictures were from the 80's and early 90's, so I've got a pass there. ;) But really, as I got into my teen years I think I used to just put on any old thing. I knew I certainly wasn't "stylish" but I didn't realize how often I settled for clothes that flat-out didn't fit me!
I guess I used to be self-conscious about my curves or something because most of the shirts I wore did absolutely nothing for my figure; in fact, many of them hid my figure all together and I looked like I was wearing a bedsheet. Whether it was junior high and high school when I was going through puberty and I was curvy, or whether it was in college when I was really thin-- all of my shirts were baggy and most of them were completely shapeless.
You know what? I just realized what it was. The LDS church teaches that boys and girls shouldn't wear immodest clothes, which they define as, "any clothing that is tight, sheer, or revealing in any other manner," ("For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet, p.6), because immodest clothing says you're using your body to get attention, and girls who wear tight or revealing clothing are distracting boys who are trying to keep their thoughts "pure". I wanted to be a good Mormon who followed the church's standards and I didn't want to be a cause for boys to think "impure" thoughts, so I purposely wore baggy t-shirts and big jeans and things that weren't form-fitting or curve-revealing in the slightest. I actually remember one time in my junior year of high school I got rid of a couple of shirts for the specific reason that they were now tight and that went against church standards.
Well, the result was that I looked awful. I wore makeup and I did my hair every day, so I didn't look ragged, but I definitely looked dumpy. I do remember I used to be self-conscious about my body and I used to think I was fat, but looking back at those pictures I realize I wasn't fat at all; on the contrary: I had a cute figure but I looked fat and shapeless in those clothes.
Now that I'm older and I'm not worried about the Mormon standard for dress, I feel more free to experiment with clothing to figure out what styles suit me better, given my body's proportions, and I've made some nice discoveries:
- I look best in skirts and dresses that are at mid-thigh length. My previous limit of at-the-knee-or-lower made my calves look short and stumpy and I looked out of proportion.
- I look best in shirts that are tight and with the neckline extending out almost to the edge of my shoulders and showing a little bit of cleavage. Anything loose makes me look 30 lbs. heavier. Narrow necklines make my neck look wide and my torso look compact, like I'm constantly shrugging. Necklines too high make my breasts look like they're hanging down a foot, and necklines too low make me look like I have no waist.
My wardrobe still has a long way to go before I look awesome in all of my clothes, but I'm getting braver at using my sewing machine, so my clothes can get the perfect fit for my body. I never again want to see current photos of myself where I look dumpy and shapeless! I've got curves, baby; I've learned to accept them, and I want my clothing to reflect that healthier mindset.
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