No Shortage of Places to Live

We're currently under contract for three different rental properties.

I'm sitting here in Reno in our perfect-fit rental with all the upgrades we want, just enough space and the ideal price point that makes you feel less uncomfortable about throwing away the equity. The kicker is that Elliot isn't working in the state of NV anymore, so we're merely here to finish up school and get things packed and moved.

During weekday evenings and during our family spring break trip to Tempe, Arizona last week, our one-bedroom rental there is occupied, but typically it's only Elliot as he travels each week for work. It's mostly empty, but during spring training, we needed to procure a rental because the hotel rates skyrocketed to multiple hundreds of dollars per night. It's really just for sleeping and for securing spots for school for the fall because they required an AZ address that we didn't previously possess. It's served us well for the 3-month lease we wanted, but we're looking forward to a bigger place outside the university center life soon.

And then there's the house we just signed the lease for in Scottsdale, AZ. It's about as big as the two aforementioned combined and has a pool-- something we swore we'd never have (unless we moved to FL or AZ). I've never seen it, but Elliot gives it a thumbs up, so we're in.

In case you didn't gather, we're making another move, but this time to the border state of Arizona. It's an 11+ hour drive (to match our total of 11 months in NV) and we made it once already, so one of our cars remains in Tempe while the other is here with myself and the kids. On Memorial Day weekend, we will bid farewell to Reno as we look ahead to full time school for both kids starting in August... in a new state again.

The story is simple and in short, we never wanted to leave Reno, but we're adventurers and a cool, unexpected job opportunity grabbed us away from the beloved mountains once again and here we are back on our journey, this time to the Sonoran Desert.

I'm not quite sure what's possessing us to move during the extreme temperatures of the desert at their peak, but that pool is about to come in handy BIG time. Expect instagram pictures to be on overload with backyard pool pictures starting approximately June 1. #becausearizona #abouttobuystockinsunscreen

Any AZ natives out there and want to give us tips on how to A. Not melt, B. Keep our energy bills low(er) and C. Recommendations in general about your favorite local hangouts, we're up for hearing all about it!

Algae Pools + Tough Month Ahead

We were so spoiled in IL with the posh pool life. We paid a hefty tax bill for great schools and a killer water park just 3 miles from home, but dang, was it nice.

Our closest pool (outside of condominium complexes or gyms) is 12 miles away. That's a 24-mile round trip to let Benjamin work his mad skillz in the water! And... they don't have memberships. It's pay-per-use. I'm considering making very good friends with someone in that HOA facility I run by at night. Because I never see anyone in that pool and it's so stinking close to home.

We went to one public pool and Benjamin killed it with the double flume slides. The kid is a maniac. So much, that the second pool we went to, the lifeguard yelled at us (among other reasons), for Benjamin being "too wild" in the pool. She said he needed to be in the shallow end if he was going to act crazy. And then we got yelled at for like 3 other things at different times and I about asked for my money back.

So we went back to pool #1. The double flume. It's in a totally sketch area of Reno, attached to this questionable middle school and behind one of the county libraries that is the size of a modular classroom (low taxes affect everything, it turns out). The first time we pulled up, the school alarm was blaring because God knows why, and no one seemed to be alarmed (see what I did there? Hardy Har Har). It's only open from 1-4pm, so the kids were warned that we would be spending a lot of time there because we were paying and skipped Claire's nap for this.

We stayed an hour. The kids got their fill apparently, but I obliged because I noticed this slimy green algae lining the entire pool interior. And of course, Claire pooped in her swim diaper. Thank God for these reusables for the environment and my pocketbook, dude, but tossing those Little Swimmers is way the heck easier to clean when the kid has el accidente. I told her she could have a Starburst today if she just told me before she pooped so I didn't have to clean her butt today. She pooped three times. None of which earned her a Starburst. Don't sign us up for the potty training bus yet. I'll pass.

sludge pool. be warned.

As we exited, I brought the POOL SLUDGE to the manager's attention who explained to me that while they chlorinate everyday and "regularly" clean, the "dead algae" just returns because they never have a chance to drain the pool, even in winter. I threw up some big eyes right then, because all places that experience winter weather, drain their pools. The reason they don't? Vandalism. So I left, vowing that pool was forever off the list and made sure to scrub the kiddies down well with soap after that incident (and well, Claire needed it anyway, because, code brown). One lady I met there with her kids (who randomly approached me to show me a HUGE splinter under her nail) told me about some of the casino pools and how it's possible I can just walk in and that she's never had a problem. So that's how things are done in Reno! Hah. I guess people just keep their swimming to the Truckee River, which is spectacular in every way, honestly. And free.

Hello Truckee River. Fresh Tahoe water... ahhhh.

Switching gears, the house update. It's exhausting, honestly. We have an offer we've accepted and it's a good one. And we're happy for the most part. About as happy as two people can be who are paying basically two mortgages, two times utilities, a lawn service and still without any of their actual furniture in their empty rental (paying top dollar for) in Reno. We knew this was the option we'd choose in order to stay together, but moving and selling a house, in particular, is pricey. And so is the list of inspection not-so-related expensive garage doors they want us to provide. But that's neither here nor there. It's just, we're feeling stretched thin and also in the process of buying a new car because moving requires new tags and our almost 15 year old car is on its last leg and very well will fail their emissions test anyway. And that cursed premium gas is going to do us in with this 40+ mile commute and my 24-mile round trip adventures to find another, hopefully algae-free pool.

It's a car we're really excited about and one that is very popular in Northern Nevada (seriously, ever other car), Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Northern California, Maine and some of the upper Eastern states. Any guesses? But new cars also come with a heavy price tag and of course the costs are feeling extra heavy these days.

We'll get through it, but as super sensible people who really thrive on saving money, it pains us to see the money we're spending and will continue to spend until our house closes at the end of next month.

Tomorrow though, you'll find us back hiking trails and engaging in a nature program along with lunch out in the Galena Creek Regional Park, because if there is one thing Reno has that totally trumps anything our high-tax state of Illinois didn't, it's free and plentiful nature escapes in real woods with real trails and real elevation gain into the {real, not trash hill} mountains. Benjamin has placed his request for a hike with a stream. It's the real deal so, challenge accepted.

Wild Horses

I just had the most majestic run probably of my life. I honestly never thought sweating could be such a beautiful experience. It was 4 miles of blissful happiness.

I've ran in a lot of places in my life. I grew up at the beach. Running along with crashing waves was my life for many years. Chicago had some beautiful runs with the most recent being a deer spotting about a week before we moved West.

But tonight. You guys.

When we flew back to Chicago after finding a rental here in Reno, I sat next to this guy who grew up in Chicago but moved to Reno on a whim just because he wanted to be among the mountains. He and his wife went all up and down the west coast and settled here because of the proximity to the mountains. He told me about these wild horses that roam in our general area near the mountains in South Reno.

Never did I think I'd see them. But today, we did.

We had dinner and prepared some ice cream cones (Umpqua, Oregon based... #hearteyes) and headed on a walk to the local elementary school. It's just under a mile away and about .2 mile away from our house, we pass a little free library right in our neighborhood. There are trails that run behind houses just like in our Green Trails neighborhood in Illinois. As we approached the school (and park behind), I saw the wild horses! They were walking in the street near the school, all 11 of them. There are 10 grown and one baby horse. And they're beautiful. A local stopped to chat and explain the horse situation and how there used to be 5 groups of them, but this is the last remaining group.

We played at the park and then it was back home for bedtime. I strapped up my shoes and went for a run after the kids went down. I'm not a morning runner, but I love running at sunset. I ran the same route we walked with the kids earlier and then took a left for a run along the mountains. It's a road that dead-ends and the only ones driving it would be utility workers or homeowners up in the mountains. I passed no cars. I passed no people. I ran by the same group of horses in the fields as the sun was setting. The mountains were shadows of beauty and jackrabbits were scurrying along the road every 1/4 mile. Butterflies were crossing the path and I was perched high enough along the mountain ridge to see the city (and casino) lights and snow capped mountains in the distance.

It was downright gorgeous.

We've already taken our first day trip to California to see Donner Lake and the ski resort towns along part of Lake Tahoe. I had Thrifty ice cream and ate legit Mexican food and thrift shopped (scoring these cute Born brand shoes for Claire for $2!) and hiked and rode a canoe with my loves.

My mind has been in a million places this week as I sleep on the floor still in anticipation that our house sale is swift. There is some activity, but nothing we're willing to celebrate until the moving truck is being loaded with comforts of home and headed West. We bought a couch and some bar stools here, but that sums up the amount of furniture that's in our 1700 square foot rental at this time. Soon things will change and soon this will feel like home, too.

Tomorrow we're headed to Downtown Reno for Artown, which is a month-long festival of free art activities and festivals for all ages. Tomorrow morning's kid-friendly activity is a Discovering Acrobatics show. On Thursday, they are holding a free tap dance class for kids.

Summer is all kinds of fabulous.

Sell, Baby, Sell

For years now, I've honestly felt like I was swimming in space. It was sometimes nice and totally the American dream to own all the crap and have the big fat house to store it all in. But it was always way more than we needed. And when Andrew died, it was way more than I ever wanted. I felt like the space was mocking me.

I truly don't know what people do with larger houses. The basement has remained mostly empty for our 6+ years in this 2,640 square feet + 1,320 square feet house. Basements are a funny thing. People literally buy houses with basements here with the sole priority being to store crap they never use in it. It's incredibly perplexing to someone like me who grew up in small houses in Los Angeles (because that's what people do there). Our 1,320 square foot basement is literally bigger than most houses I grew up in. And yes, houses. Because renting in Los Angeles is totally normal. Almost none of my friends have Christmas at their childhood home they lived in from birth. It's a transient lifestyle, all made well by the incredible weather and killer outdoor scene.

Quaint, they say. Cute, they say. Reality is more like it. In Los Angeles, two to three bedrooms is standard and alllllll the peoples share a single bathroom. With a single sink. GASP. I know. I know. Share. a. sink. I seriously remember invading my brother's space while he was showering so I could pee. Because that one bathroom? Also housed the only toilet in the whole house.

This house we own currently? There are FOUR. There is nothing quaint about this living space. It's large.

When we left the kiddos with my mom for 2 days to hop on a plane (and then another because, connections and expensive flights!), we expected to find ourselves a decent-sized house that will hold all of our crap in Reno. I was thinking 2,000 square feet. And we found it over and over again, but I wasn't feeling the vibe in any of those entirely.

Well, the house that we found to be the best fit for us that felt like home was an 1,800 square foot ranch house. Crazy. It's only a rental and if we don't like it, fine. We can just move. But that's unrealistic unless we're moving states again, because moving is expensive and timely and we would have to pay for it ourselves. (GASP again.) So we kind of wanted to like the place for a hot second.

Which meant for me, a fenced-in backyard that is nice. Reno is 300 sunshine days a year, and so I want to spend those lovely days outside. We have a massive deck at our Chicago house and we spend most of our time outside when the weather is nice.

I'm kind of excited to live in a ranch house again. No pile of crap at the bottom of the stairs to transport back on your next trip to the upper level. No schlepping the (better) vacuum up and down stairs. And NO cleaning stairs! Can I get an amen to that?

With the downsize in space means a downsize in crap. Because us Wilsons, we actually do like parking in the 2-car garage (though a 3-car would've solved all of our space issues...). The closets in this joint will be packed to the gills, but at least we love the layout, school district (though one year left to use it), neighborhood, proximity to skiing (14.8 miles!!!) and overall feel. And the backyard is KILLER. It's hard to beat our current backyard, so we're pretty excited to have one that just might.

The left is the sliding glass door (from the living room/kitchen area) and this covered lanai thing is a great shade without blocking all of the sunshine. And that cute patch of grass over there (high end astroturf, brilliant, selling our mower!) is perfect for a playhouse. Which I am totally buying. I refused to buy one for our current house because we have trails that run through our neighborhood and almost no one has a fence. I didn't like the "trail appeal" it had and we really had nowhere to put it since our deck spans the majority of our backyard useable space. Anyone have a playhouse for their kiddos?

I was thinking this one from Amazon. They have red and tan. I want something affordable but also cute and I love the little flag holder. My kids are kind of obsessed with flags. And ever-so-fitting, we are moving in July 4! Kinda feels like that's the winner.

We will transport our current patio chaise loungers and leave the awesome picnic table that works so well for our current deck behind. It's going to be hard though, because I love that table.

So that's the backyard. The rest is super nice, adorable and totally our style. And the shower? It has a pebble rock floor. I'm kinda stoked about it. And did I mention only 2 toilets to clean instead of my current four?

I've been selling like a mad woman on all the apps and used garage sale sites you can imagine. So. much. stuff. And we have way less than most people. But still, it's stuff. If we buy again in a few years (or 10), we will buy all those home project items again, but at least we won't have to schlep them from house to house in the interim. Every sale I do makes me feel lighter and lighter.

Totally ready to have the rest of those boxes stacked to the ceiling and minimal storage in favor of a killer outdoor living space and weekend trips to the mountains instead of house work. Moving out this week. Reno or bust.

Westward Movement

Currently, I'm sitting on a flight to Reno, our new home state. We both have middle seats, but I can't complain, because this is my first flight without a kid on my lap in 4.5 years and it. is. magical.

Life is so thrilling right now and I'm feeling so crazy grateful that we are all healthy and able to see and live in parts of the country we haven't been before. 

As most of my readers know, Chicago was never my first choice in places to live, but when we made the decision to move there, we were elated. We had been married just a year before taking off on our month-long road trip that took us to countless national parks, many states, up through Canada and ultimately to our new state where we would create a beautiful life together, buy our first home, populate it with adorably pasty white babies and live happily ever after. Nothing could stop us. Not even those terrible winters.

And some of that happened. We made fantastic friends. We did. We bought the beautiful house and populated it with babies and also went through the worst heartbreak of our lives in that home. The ups and downs of home ownership were weathered together and the husband successfully became president of his company before choosing to leave for another opportunity at the start of 2016. 

There has been some soul searching and lots of family togetherness and building some new dreams and even newer dreams now that are leading us west. 

Before ultimately accepting the position in Reno as the west coast director of distribution for a Fortune 500 company (LinkedIn stalking might be necessary for some of you, though title won't be officially changed until start date of July 5). There were decisions to be made for our family which led to the final decision which wasn't the sexiest company (compared to others he interviewed with and turned down) but a solidly great one. Many interviews with the coolest and most well known companies on the planet (of which YOU use everyday) occurred and offers were extended (in Silicon Valley, which happens to be the most expensive place to live in the entire west). You guys, I married a really, really smart guy. Decisions were both hard and easy, but we knew that no matter where we were headed, we were up for new scenery and a new adventure. And so, Reno is our new stomping ground. For now.

And selling our house for easy (rental) living in favor of weekends in Lake Tahoe instead is basically fireworks status exciting. The home sale process and all that jazz is coming at you soon. I am ever-so-elated to take back family time and forego home projects for the easy life. 

Reno is almost definitely not going to be our final stop of adventure living. Oddly, leaving his position late last year in Chicago made us both feel like we have a new lease on life and we are pretty excited to see which way the wind blows and takes us (which is also the metaphor I shall assume when keeping the blog domain the same... but changing the header to one that includes our new backyard view.) Spoiler: mountains. YOU GUYS. Mountains!!!!

Until then, we left the kids in our mostly barren and meticulously clean going-on-the-market-very-soon home with their Gawbee to seek out a landing place for when we head west at the end of this month with the two munchkins (and Andrew in the cup holder. Too dark? Honest.) on our westward movement road trip. Wish us luck. The requests have been solidly made for a pink and orange bedroom for each of them. #stylishkids #whatcanisay

The Difference Between Men & Women (in the Wilson house)

Naturally, Ray is organized and begins packing boxes the moment he arrives home from work. I have contributed a bit. I am the cook and dishwasher while he packs, and I even patched and painted over the holes in the walls. That was a task. For some reason though... I'm finding it daunting to pack this time. I just don't want to pack things I think I'll need in the next 8 months, since we won't be opening them until we return from Germany... probably around April 2010.

If you know Ray, though, you know how much of an engineer mind he has. Here he is fitting the chair legs into the base of the table in an effort to prevent them from falling out. Notice the technique.In my first attempt to pack a box, I chose to start in the bathroom. Naturally, I ran into my 80's crimper and figured that if you "run into" a crimper... crimping you must perform. The results:

Here's the old-school tool. He's had some good use over the years and still works-- but takes forever to warm up!

...off to the boxes... again...