Thursday, March 19, 2009

Oh, and....


When we first moved to Tucson, I'm talking, when we drove in with all our stuff to our new apartment, we got off the freeway at Ruthrauff and when passing La Cholla Rd, we spotted this beauty of a sign.


You're going to have to click on the picture to appreciate the full beauty of what it says. If you don't have time for that, I'll sum it up:

LIQUOR
FAMILY FOODS
COFFEE - SNACKS
BEER - CIGARETTES
SODA - LIQUOR

That's right. Liquor's on there twice. Ah... Tucson. But I digress. We no longer live in Tucson. We live here:



far away from the FAMILY FOODS of Ruthrauff and La Cholla. Purchasing this house has been an interesting (and frustrating and expensive) process. I say expensive and you probably think, "you bought a house, what did you expect?" I get that. No, what I mean is all the stinking set-up fees. It's $12 a month for garbage service with a $30 set-up fee. Thirty a month for internet with a $20 establishment fee. And so on and so forth with the gas, electricity, and water as well. Thirty dollars for you to put my name into the computer? Twenty for you to click a button? Good grief! And, I just got a notice in the mail that informed me that my property taxes do not cover a fire department, so we have a private company to which I must pay $600 per year if I wish to avail myself of their services. Does that mean if I don't pay, and my house is on fire, they won't come put it out? I'm not sure.



At least I have this cool mailbox with a little flag on top. I've never lived in a house with a be-flagged box before. Actually, I haven't lived in a place where I didn't need a key to get the mail in almost 9 years (if you count when I lived on Ferinni Rd where the lock was broken and you could just lift the door). I was so excited to teach Lillian how to put the flag up when you put mail in the box, but she was way more interested in a lizard on the sidewalk. She's got to get her priorities straight.


Our house really is a mess at the moment, so I haven't really taken any pictures of it yet.


Well, I took these two. Mostly to show off the view from my bedroom window. I put a little corner of my bed in the shot to prove that this is what I see when I wake up. Notice, I don't have any curtains. I loathe interior decorating in any form (mostly because, in my experience, 'cute' and it's sister 'fabulous' cost money and I have absolutely no talent for it whatsoever) so I have put off purchasing window treatments, and probably will put it off for as long as possible. I can imagine a future where Tyler gets fed up and finally strings a blanket over the window and it stays there for three years because I'm too lazy to change it. No, lazy is the wrong word. How about, 'repulsed by the idea of shopping for window dressings'? Yeah, that's more like it.


This is the spot where there is always someone fishing... except for the moment when I took the picture. It's a pretty big lake and for whatever reason, if there's anyone fishing, there's someone here. Which can make for an awkward morning, what with the lack of blinds. We moved in on a Saturday and I thought all the people fishing were just there because it was a Saturday morning and were looking to relax. But, no. They fish all day, every day.

8 comments:

Myriah Cohen said...

Hey, that is cool that you have fish in your lake and you can fish it! Wait... you don't like to eat fish, so you probably don't like to catch them?

Well, anyway, I'm excited for your mailbox. Did you know that I had no idea there were other forms of mailboxes other than the flagged kind until I moved out of the house? And when I found out my mail was under lock and key I freaked out a bit. I always wanted to be in possession of the key, but that doesn't really work out with a lot of roommates.

Also, window "dressing"? What are you going to do, stuff them like a bird? Squirt Ranch dressing all over the windows? I guess it's apparent that you can cook. I guess you don't need to know how to cover a window...but...the way I see it, you have two options.

One: Have all your windows measured, and then order fancy blinds like the ones we have that keep the warmth from the sun from permeating your living space.

Two: No blinds, let the heat come in, pay a lot more on your air conditioning bill and go to the store and buy some fabric to make some curtains. This option is more of a project, so if you are bored, this might be the one for you.

Emily said...

Congrats on your new house!! I'm so very jealous.

Anonymous said...

CONGRATS!!! So happy for you!!

Natchel said...

I could not stop laughing the whole way back from your house about Lillian and the dandelions. Probably the greatest freak-out I've seen in a while.

Caitlin said...

I love your new house, the view is fantastic! I can't wait to see the rest of it.

As for the fees you have been encountering, wait until the HOA says you owe them $780 plus late fees because you thought that those fees were included in your monthly payment. Or when you get a bill from escrow saying that you owe them $1500. Hmmmm- now what is escrow again?

Congrats for reals though. Cue the "Movin' On Up!" song...

Bridget said...

I really think I saw that Family Foods sign on Fail Blog a few months back. I hope you feel better knowing that you have now participated in White Flight, and left us behind in the (relative) ghetto.

Awesome house, though!

Cheryl said...

fees are so annoying! Butm, really cute house!

Carrie G said...

I'm a serially late commenter, sorry.
Lucy has a tablecloth slung up over her curtain rod which will likely stay there for the 2 years we live here. So I hear ya sister.

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