Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Update...Or What We Are Doing Now



Here's what we are up to now...


  • We will be in Atlanta for another couple of weeks and are really enjoying our time here. Last weekend we drove through the Smoky Mountains which were beautiful and I tried boiled peanuts for the first time which were yummy!

  • Our next stop--for sure since we already have our tickets--will be Las Vegas for the last week of June. Hubby and the brother-in-law will be doing the World Series of Poker tournament. Depending on how well they do we could leave when our tickets say or we could end up staying for three or four weeks until the end of the tournament (if we need up staying until the end of the tournament that's a good thing--it means he will place in the money. First place is around $8 MILLION dollars!)

  • We are scheduled to be back in Seattle for the 4th of July! I will be happy to catch up with my friends. We talk on the phone and keep in touch via FaceBook but I feel so "out of the loop" so I am really looking forward to seeing them!

  • Our future plans (subject to change...usually about every other day) include: going to Japan in August instead of September as planned. House sitting for a cousin in Seattle for the month of September. Going to Connecticut for the month of October (for another poker tournament, the World Poker Tour). And going to the Philippines in November. Of course our plans keep changing so who knows. We were going to spend the rest of the summer in Seattle (the most beautiful time of year there) but a cousin wanted us to house sit so we decided to move up our Japan travel plans which may or may not work out (we get free flights to Asia via the military but as retirees, we are in the very lowest category which means we get on the plane if and when all of the active duty, active duty dependants, baggage, and military gear gets on and there is still enough room to squeeze us in...it's kind of a hit or miss thing but it is FREE which is great).

  • I'm really feeling like I want a home again. I have been looking at home prices and now seems like a great time to buy...we just don't know where. Seattle is nice but prices are a bit higher and the gloomy weather for six months of the year is a bummer. Atlanta is nice (I love the hot, humid weather) but they have had so many tornado watches while we have been here I'm not sure if I want to live in tornado alley (but home prices are super low here). We are going to look at houses in Las Vegas while we are there because prices are so low and with hubby being a poker player, he will be right in the middle of the action. I am not, however, a fan of hot, dry, deserty places. Finally, family keeps telling us to move to Connecticut where most of the family lives but there are quite a few downsides including higher home prices, cold, snowy winters (two days of snow like Seattle gets on occasion is OK, two weeks or two months of snow is not OK), and higher taxes.

  • On the business side, I am bored silly. After six months of not working, all I can think about is starting a business and making some money. Again, where we settle will have an impact on this as well. In Seattle, I have a lot of business contacts which could really help with new projects. In Las Vegas I have heard the business climate is not so good (rumor only so I will need to check this out), Atlanta seems to have a pretty good business climate but I will have to literally start from the ground up since I know exactly two people in this entire city, and Connecticut would be a happy medium between Seattle and Atlanta because many of our family members are business owners so at least I would know some people there to help me get started.

  • Finally, the siren call of materialism has been trying to catch my attention lately. Or maybe I am tired of wearing the same four pairs of pants and same four pairs of shoes that I brought with me when we started traveling in February. I want some beautiful clothes, some beautiful shoes, and a couple of nice designer handbags (I just don't have room to carry all of this stuff around the country with us!). Then I was in TJ Maxx a few days ago and all of their home and kitchen decor looked so beautiful, but then I have a flashback to selling everything in our home for pennies on the dollar and decide that I need to find a happy--and inexpensive--medium between having nice things and the money that it costs to buy these things.

That's about it for now. Limbo.

7 comments:

  1. That all sounds so exciting!! I've always wanted to travel the world,but seems like it's not in the cards for me. I'll just live vicariously through you! :)

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  2. Your life sounds really exciting right now! You have some good "problems" to figure out. Although I understand the out-of-work boredom.

    Oh, and I'm a Southern girl born and bred, so, of course, my vote for relocation would be Georgia. There's nothing like Southern hospitality; which is why I would never consider a move to Seattle.

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  3. Good luck to your husband with the poker tournament! Your travel plans sound like a fun adventure.

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  4. I think about you a lot as my family continues to downsize for a move in 2 years to Florida. We have sold, given away or thrown out so much stuff, we can hardly believe it, yet there is still so much more to do. Just yesterday we donated 30 shirts to the Salvation Army and I thought of you wearing the same few outfits over and over. It's like you've been on a starvation diet and now you're craving fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy! I don't know how you're doing it. I was wondering if you saw this video on a family that lives in a 320 sq ft house: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/06/01/video-family-lives-in-320-square-foot-shotgun-shack/?ncid=webmail

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  5. Thanks Jan!
    Lorraine--I did see the video. I like what they did but their new place seems pretty tight. I think about 800 feet would be an optimal size house, somewhere between teeny tiny and a 2500 square foot house that would be way too big. Good luck on your downsizing! And I think what you said about craving more is a normal reaction to having a lot less (but I like the part specifically about fried chicken because I'm in the south and these people sure know how to cook fried chicken!!).
    Carla--I always read blogs about traveling the world and really wanted to do that but now that we are actually traveling, I read your blog and others and I really want something like the community and stability that you have...I think it is the grass is greener syndrome!
    Myra--Today we were seriously talking about moving south. I love the vibe of Seattle but (like almost always) it is grey and rainy there today and I don't miss that part AT ALL! I love the weather, shopping, and the food in the south!

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  6. Your plans sound wonderful. I always look forward to reading and seeing where you are or where you are going.

    Judy

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