by jcastles | May 7, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
So this past weekend was a fantastic HOT weekend. Mid 80’s and no AC made for some grumpy people again. But we were also driving around in the car with AC (yay!) looking at houses. We also took a break and went on a tour of Seattle.
We’ve been looking at rent houses and such….they want so much money upfront it’s ridiculous!! But they also come with all appliances, which is totally weird for us. And kinda sucks since we just paid off our brand new washer and dryer and have a brand new fridge! We’d save them but they’ll just rot in storage and because every rent house has them (pretty much required here in Washington) it’s not like we’ll need them anytime soon.
So I’m freaking out about where we’re going to live because the extension was NOT approved to the end of the month. So we have to be out on the 20th…and the hubbs doesn’t get paid from his first check until after that date. See….reason i’m silently freaking out!!
We found 1 house that we really really like but it’s so tiny that it’ll have a hard time fitting beds in the bedrooms. And my 9yr old accidentally broke a spindel on the stair case in this house….and they left the hubbs a real shitty message yesterday so now we’re kinda like do we go forward or pass cause is this how they’ll be if something breaks in the house. We know it was an accident, the agent saw it happen and knows it was an accident, and my kiddo was so upset about it you could see it was an accident. We’re still going to pay for it…but it’s not like he was going crazy!
We did like another house but the owner is the one that cares for the property and he’s totally weird. He kept giving us directions instead of an address to put in our gps….he’s just weird. So we’re like….do we proceed with him or will he just be weird the entire time. I mean you get vibes from people and the vibe wasn’t good.
So yah, we’re still looking. But there just aren’t that many houses available.
So after being in the car all day Saturday and Sunday we decided to go to a Food Truck Fest in downtown Seattle. Well……we get there and found it was closed that day. UGH! Seriously!! We wound up going into a McDonalds and sitting by some strung out druggies. After that we decided to go on a tour of Seattle. We heard the best way to do it is with Ride the Ducks of Seattle. It’s a 90 minute land and water tour. Our captain was fantastic and we participated in all the craziness that the Cross Chartering Yacht Transport had to offer and we were on the best boat EVER!!! We had people from all over the world and they just didn’t get the humor in it and were quiet most of the time. But we had fun and that’s what matters. So much fun that we actually didn’t take but these 2 pics before the tour! Guess we’ll have to go again to get some pics!
.
by jcastles | Apr 30, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
So I’ve been cooking for many many years. I’ve accumulated so many things that aren’t necessarily necessary but when you’ve used them for YEARS you can’t imagine life with out them. Well that’s where I’m at right this very minute!! Along with many other things you don’t think about needing until you do.
As you know I recently moved to Washington state for my husbands job (Amazon!!). We are currently staying in corporate housing which is really a furnished apartment. Sounds cool but yah…it’s just a place to live until you find your house in oh about 30-40 days so it just has the necessary things you’ll need to survive…well basically.
So let’s start with the kitchen. I have 1 of each of these- serving spoon, slotted spoon, ladle, & a spatula. Seems fine unless you know how many of those I have and use on a day to day basis. I have at least 3-4 of each of those!! So I’m washing dishes at least 2 times a day. Which isn’t a big deal except our hot water literally trickles out of the faucet! And I can’t bring myself to run the dishwasher with 3 cups and serving spoons in it. We do have 8 place settings of dishes and silverware…but yet again we go through so many forks in a day it’s ridiculous! I miss the prep bowls too…I use them for sauces etc not really to prep what i’m cooking but it’s the little things you don’t think about. Muffin tins….yah, those too. Measuring spoons….had to pick a set of those up as well…ugh!
The bathrooms….oh the bathrooms! Forget my luxurious soft plush microfiber bath mats….we have towels for rugs right now. The ONLY nice thing about them is if the little kiddo pee’s on them it’s easy to toss in the wash (I’ve had to do that a few times already!). The other thing is storage for the bathroom. The counter around the sink is literally 2 inches bigger than the sink! Totally weird for us. But it’s not long term and I hit the Dollar Tree for some storage solutions and voila we’ll be ok! Because of the hot water trickle issue it takes about 15 minutes to fill up the bath tub for the little kiddo….it’s annoying!
The laundry room. Well I’m definitely not use to older machines anymore, lol! They’re fine but when you open the dryer lint literally flys out at you! The lint trap sucks big time. And because of the hot water trickling issue it’s nearly impossible to wash anything on hot. And since everything is packed I didn’t think about laundry baskets or hampers. So off to Big Lots we went, problem solved…now i’ll have double, lol!
Can you tell I’m really irritated about the hot water trickle?!! You can’t do more than 1 water related thing at the same time in this apartment so that’s really really irritating! But I just gotta keep thinking…..1 month….1 month!!
The only other thing that’s irritating is the no a/c but I covered that in another post….so I guess what I’m saying is I won’t bore you there..
by jcastles | Apr 29, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
We’ve been here a week and 2 days now and I’m realizing a few things I miss. #1- Air conditioning!! #2- Mrs. Baird’s bread! #3- Big Walmart’s
I know some of you are like it’s in the 50’s why on earth do you need A/C?!! Well when you get moving around in an apartment it gets hot and muggy quick! I’ve opened the windows/doors and since the wind doesn’t really blow into our apartment it takes forever to cool off! The heat pretty much runs once a day in the house….cause it heats it up for an entire day! Luckily we’re only here for a month and I hope I can deal with it that long….it’s only getting warmer outside so I dunno.
Oh the bread! The soft Mrs. Baird’s bread back home…oh how I miss the! Being near Fort Worth where the softest bread around was made and delivered daily to your local supermarkets is something you don’t think about missing.
Big Walmarts are not really around here. We saw 2 super Walmart’s this past week when we were out exploring but they’re so far away it’s crazy….like hours!! We do have a Neighborhood Walmart about a mile from the house and they have a little more stuff than a Neighborhood Walmart in Texas. Fred Meyer (Kroger) is big here as well as Safeway….so we’ll see how they all compare eventually.
For the most part things are as normal as normal gets for us. I’m not buying many spices because all mine are in storage and I don’t want to buy them only to have double in our house here in a month. So for dinners I’m having to make easy stuff that doesn’t require spices to add. It’s weird and surprisingly hard to come up with dinner ideas (so if you have any ideas PLEASE let me know!)!
A lot of people keep asking about my allergies. In Texas I suffer from allergies year round. I don’t expect that to be the case here. I’m having a few issues but nothing like what I’m use to. So i’m very grateful for that! I’ve been out in flower fields, forests, the city, etc and even though i’m on my medicine I’m not really having many issues. What a nice change that is!!
.
by jcastles | Apr 27, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
After we got the kiddo from school we decided to drive into the mountains to see the snow. It was only an hour drive and man was it worth it! I can not wait until winter….The Castles will be learning to ski that’s for sure! The Snoqualmie Falls were very pretty too!
.
by jcastles | Apr 25, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
Well Jayson’s school needed all kinds of information and can’t start until we have a meeting….UGH! He’s driving us crazy wanting to go to school. I’ve given them everything they’ve asked for so I really hope they get this done asap.
Kennyth on the other hand was easy peasy! The schools are so laid back that it seems totally wrong! There is no paper to put in your window to pick up your kiddo…they just find you and get in the car! Like it was when I was little. They have an awesome schedule and they act like it’s a really long day for the kids…..they get out at 2:30…that’s the extended time so they can get out at 12:10 on Wednesday’s!! Totally bizarre!
When I was getting paperwork to register Jayson I was trying to go in the wrong door (cause the hubbs said it was the front–no, it wasn’t)…well there was a custodian outside and asked me if I needed inside!!! I was like um, no I just need to find the front of the school. So it’s kinda nice that it’s that laid back but yet WTH?!! Kinda scary!! Luckily that’s NOT the school he’ll go to it was just where the paperwork was, but still.
Kennyth’s first day of school was pretty good. As I left him in his classroom this morning I saw the fear and tears in his eyes and wondered if we’d made a mistake by moving here. I’m so glad that when we picked him up he was in good spirits and seemed totally normal. And since it’s a Wednesday he had a short day so it was a quick meet and go kind of day. Thursday they have their test that’s equivalent to the STAAR’s testing in Texas. He’s been preparing in Texas so we’re all pretty confident that he’ll do just fine.
.
by jcastles | Apr 24, 2013 | Family, Moving, Uncategorized
So our 2nd day here we ventured out to the big city of Seattle. Wow was I wowed!! I know that pot is legal here but to see people just smoking it on the lawn and walking around with bongs was quite surprising! Homeless people on corners asking for money or weed was also a site to see.
As we walked through the Public Market we saw many flower shops all selling my favorite flowers (Tulips!!) for cheap cheap!! As we continued we saw something we’d ONLY seen in the movies a fish toss at a fish market! They said something, tossed a giant fish to a person behind the counter, then yelled something else. It all sounded so fun!
We also got to witness a bicyclist crash….real hard! I don’t know what the deal was but he was coming down a hill so fast he yelled out “Oh Shit”, ran the light, nearly got hit by a car, then crashed at the bottom of the hill. So many people ran to him we couldn’t even get there to help so we just went on about our way but wow! The hubbs thinks the guys breaks went out but who knows. All I know is it sounded like his timing was off. He did get up btw and seemed somewhat ok.
.
Recent Comments