Decisions, decisions

Oh the decisions!

We need to find a place to live by next weekend. We are trying to work out what we want most. We know where we would like to live, but most of the places there are not available until August. Dang! We only have a week left in the Residence Inn.

So should we go for a place that is more than we want to pay but is nice, has a basement, has a two car garage, has enough space and has a nice yard that the land lady would love me to play in and create a garden?

Or should we go for a place that is a mile further south than we want to be (ie further from the shops I want to have and the established suburbs that we both like) and go for a nice apartment in a nice area that has just a little verandah but is well within what we want to pay? (but does it have a garage?)

Or an apartment in a managed block that is where we would like to be, is the same price as the place above but is not as nice? Plus it is on a street that shares its name with the maiden name of my old boss. (She was younger than me, actually, not old at all!)

Or maybe keep looking to find another place? Only problem is we need something that is available now. Very little is available now.

Oh, only one of these places has potential for fleece washing (ie a place where I could throw the yucky water away not down the drain). Cathy, I might end up coming your way! LOL

We have looked at several other places but one was too big, one was too small (honestly if you opened the bathroom door and someone was on the loo you would half kill them), one was too far away, one is not available for another month (and was dark and warm but spacious and in the area we want)....

oh decisions, decisions! What would you choose? We would really like to save as much as possible to get as much paid off the mortgage at home and/or buy a place here. We have no furniture and very little in the way of household goods (someone forgot to put them into our air cargo - we will have crockery and cutlery but that is pretty much it). The next month's pay will go on getting a place and getting some basic furniture and kitchen wares. At least I have a toaster for me and an electric kettle.

Locals, do you have any suggestions for good stuff at good (bargain) prices?

Anyone, what would you do? Go for a larger, more expensive place with more space? A smaller place on a nice open space? A smaller place in the area we would like?

Help! We are overwhelmed!

woo hoo!

Happy dances!

Nathan got paid! His first pay at HP - a week's worth. Makes a difference to us, though it has to last two weeks plus we will need more to rent a place but it is a start! We even got cash out. Hooray!

Plus we have bikes on lay-away (we call it lay-by) cos we currently have a rental car and we got the car before the bikes and can't afford to pay for both at once.

Plus a cheque itself won't cost us $180 but the fee for the work permit application certainly will! We have a cheque account now but no cheques yet. We only applied on ?Tuesday? so I am surprised the money landed in the savings account and that we could do a withdrawal without a card but we could!

We are starting to get a bit more acclimated to Fort Collins now. I can mostly navigate around and rarely hit the wipers instead of the blinkers/indicators now (except when I am flustered cos the indicator didn't self-cancel after a corner and I accidentally hit it to indicate the other way then hit the wipers instead....LOL). I still sometimes look the wrong way down a road.

This weekend? The mountains! That is what you want to see and maybe I'll have pics downloaded :-)

back 'ome

Ah the joy of saying, "Back 'ome" in a pommy accent. Y'see we keep finding ourselves saying, "Back 'ome" and then worrying that we sound like we are complaining like people who are new to an area and who don't like what they are finding.

So if I say "back 'ome" I am not complaining, usually, I am simply surprised by the differences between America and Australia. Yes, we are different places, and I expected that, it is just the little things that catch you out.

Like not finding the light switch cos it is colocated on the same plate as a power point. Back 'ome we have switches on our power points. So a switch by a power point is for the power point, until I remember I am not back 'ome any more.

Also what is with putting light switches on the middle of a wall? Back 'ome we have them either on the door jamb or within a hand's reach of the edge of the door. Here I fumble around in the usual place and eventually remember to go searching a bit further away. (or is that just this place we are staying at?) They can expect to find grotty pawprints across the walls as I search to find a light....

This afternoon we start looking at places to live. We are renting - we don't have $$$$$$$ to buy! Even renting currently will stretch us cos we have to pay two months' rent upfront for the bond and the rent in advance. We have lined up half a dozen places and will see how we go. I can also checkout if this place is the only place that has light switches neatly placed in the centre of a wall...

Fun, what?

In which we veer a LOT sideways

As I wandered around some department stores (Kohl's and Tarzhay to be precise) I became aware of something very important.

Men's underpants are VERY different here. Yes, we have boxers and trunks in Australia, but we also have something known as jocks. (no, they are not gridiron/football players, they are very popular men's underpants in Australia.)

Jocks are brief. You can see some almost jocks (the white ones on the left) in this product page. Jocks have sides that are about 3" long. Some have a little "escape hatch," most don't cos really, they don't need them. They are about as brief as "budgie smugglers" (Speedos).

The closest I've found to jocks here are some Haynes things that quite frankly, when we bought them in dire need on our last trip, were more the saggy baggy granny underpants of the jock world. *Very* disappointing.

I can see that sooner or later we will have to put out a distress call. "Send jocks urgently!" to Nathan's parents. "American jocks are not!"

Anyone know wher we can get jocks at a normal store? I am sure there are some very *special* stores we can get them at online, but those are not the places I wanna go!

On US light switches

Be surprised. Be very surprised.

They are BIG!

And they are UPSIDE DOWN!

We have these little things in Australia. The switch is a rocker type switch (at least modern ones are) that is about the size of a thumbnail and is pretty flat. It has a curve that is about the same curve as a finger pad (oddly, since fingers are used to turn them on and off). Down is ON and up is OFF.

US switches are sorta pointy and stick out a lot further than Aussie ones. UP is ON and down is OFF. That will take some getting used to when I am frantically slapping at the switch in the middle of the night, cursing it for not turning on cos I am turning it off!

Plus there are no switches on the power points. We have switches in Australia. You can turn something off at the power point and it is off. Here you have to unplug stuff. And we have 240V not 110V.

Now all I need to do is move to England or Europe, to a place where they have European style light switches, which are a pair of big square pads on the wall. I won't know whether to push up, down or slap the wall then!

8-)

Colorado Dreaming

Four months ago, in February 2007, DH was invited to apply for a job in the USA at HP. A month later both of us were flown across from Melbourne, Australia, for his interview - him to interview, me to see the place.

The place was Fort Collins in Colorado.

We liked what we saw, so here we are!

Welcome to Colorado(an) Dreaming, tales of an Aussie-come-temporary-Coloradoan.