We are renters again

Monday, April 21, 2008

Am I really back? Indeed, I am! Much has happened over the past few months and I just didn't have the time to keep up my blogging. But I'm back in the saddle again and itching to get writing about what has happened since I posted last.

The biggest bit of news is our relocation back to Washington. Both J and I grew up in the small coastal town of Port Angeles and after a Christmas trip here in December, it was decided that I would return here for 6 months or so and work at the Spoon Fudge and Glutenada businesses. Washington is a bit more friendly to small businesses and are not as uptight about food businesses as Tucson and Pima county are. Where I'm required to have a FULL commercial kitchen there just to blend and package dry mixes, here I can work from an apartment kitchen, so long as it's not an apartment we live in. But I'll post more about this in a bit....

Anyway, at the last minute, J and our son decided that they wanted to come up here with me so in the course of 3 weeks, we packed up our entire home and moved. Lock, stock and barrel. I don't recommend moving like that - it was utter chaos and insanity. It didn't help that I broke a toe in the midst of this (more on that later as well) and by the time we finally left Tucson, both J and I were at the melting point.

But here we are now... in rainy, green Port Angeles. I'm loving it - J, not so much. Poor boy is freezing at all times as I dance about the house in shorts and a tank-top, reveling in the frigid temperatures and icy cold bedroom. We are in a temporary rental and need to be out in July so we've been looking for a more permanent solution lately as we'd like to get settled sooner rather than later.

And finally, the reason for this post - renting a house. We've been homeowners for nearly 10 years now and it's quite discouraging to go back to being in a rental. We discussed it and decided that purchasing a home here just didn't make sense as neither of us has any intention of staying in this town more than a year or 2. Tops. So a rental is our only option. But it's quite hard to traipse into the leasing agent's office and fill out an application and then wait through the approval process.

Neither of us is used to being judged on our "rental worthiness" and honestly, it's a bit unsettling to know that there are people crawling through the files of our private life and laying it open to determine if we are eligible to rent. Gone are the days of our early 20's where we barely made enough to make ends meet. We're now an established family with multiple years of home ownership under our belts, a son who will be 16 in just a few weeks, and an income to support a rental home. It's odd then to feel like we've both been cast backwards into the life we had prior to purchasing our first home. Weird to think that I cannot just wake up on day and decide to paint the house. That we cannot upgrade features in the home that we find lacking. That I cannot get a dog and bring it home without first "checking" and getting permission. I'm not so sure I like this....

In any case, we are looking at a home that is quite a bit older - J thinks it was built somewhere in the 30's - 50's, so there are some oddities about it that we find both endearing and bizarre. But it has a fabulous view of the Strait and the bedrooms in the basement will keep us cool during the summer months since no one in this area has AC in their homes. The kitchen is tiny but has an eat in area that I'll line with several cabinet/countertop combos from Ikea. The bathrooms are definitely showing their age, but that's ok. We're not buying the home though it will be hard not to make upgrades like mentioned above.

For now though, we wait. And I fret. What if this doesn't work. What if the property management doesn't deem us worthy. Where will we live? What will we do?

Oh, the joys of renting...