It's a Sunshine Day!

Have I mentioned it's been hot? REAL HOT. The temps here have been over 90 for about two weeks straight. Of course, the weather on the east side of the state is more stable than it is over in Seattle, where they had temperature spikes of up to 103 this past week (yikes!) The problem is, for most folks in Washington state, it doesn't make sense to install central A/C in their homes. We just don't get a LOT of hot weather this far north - and thankfully we don't deal with the humidity of the midwest and south U.S. Believe me, after six years living in Iowa, and "enjoying" summer temps of 95 degrees with 95% humidity... I am GRATEFUL to live somewhere that cools off at night!

Unfortunately, our 1939 brick house with no A/C is very slow to cool down, especially the 2nd floor (where the bedrooms are - of course). We had hoped the huge pine trees that surround the house would keep it shady and cool and it does - up to about 80 degrees. I guess we can be thankful for the shade they DO provide, but I can tell you - it is still toasty inside the house - our thermostat reads 79 degrees most nights when I go to bed (and that's on the main floor).

The other issue is that our landlord decided to put the house back on the market in June. She is a retired lady who is trying to pay two mortgages every month (our rent only covers about half the mortgage on this house). Although it is priced pretty high, and less likely to sell in the current market (not to mention the current weather), we've had to show it half a dozen times, and of course keep it in "show" condition at all times. Showing it requires me leaving the house with the dogs (so they don't have barking fits at strangers coming in the house)...so it's quite an ordeal. The bottom line is, even if she doesn't sell the house by October, she plans to put it back on the market again next spring. So it makes sense for us to be considering other options at this point.

So we saw a house this past weekend that we REALLY like! It has been up for sale, but the owners are also open to renting it. They recently relocated to California and are using a property management company here in Spokane to handle the rental. So we submitted the rental paperwork on Wednesday and have our fingers crossed. It is about ten minutes further south of downtown, but a much larger, newer (1979) home with A/C. It is perched on the side of a hill and looks west out over the city to the surrounding mountains. I can't imagine how beautiful the sunsets will be!

Yes - this will be my FIFTH move since I started this blog (in November 2006)...crazy, huh? The negative part is that moving always sucks - things get broken, and it's a lot of work. But in this case, the postives FAR outweigh the negatives! Hope to be able to share more details (and photos) very soon. Looks like August is going to be even busier than I had first thought!