Its Time to Move on, Its Time to Get Goin

For a very long time now Ive wanted to move to the greater Denver area. When I turned 10 my parents told me I was adopted and was born there. Ever since Ive been curious about the city. Ive been there on a couple occasions and like any family vacation destination found it enjoyable. Ive followed the Broncos and the Rockies and the Avalanche depending on what sports I was into at the time. Its been a childhood dream.

As an adult, I simply wanted to move away from Grand Rapids. For a long time it didnt matter where I moved. Jaime was reluctant, due to her close ties with her family, but after finishing school she realized that there was nothing for her in GR as far as jobs were concerned and started looking elsewhere. As you know, we wound up in Phoenix.

Phoenix is a great city. You can do anything you want, you just have to have the money to pay for it. The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains. Vegas and the Grand Canyon are only a half days drive away. My mother is a safe 2000 miles away. We can live here with only one car. Theres just one problem. Its hot. Stupid hot. I walked to the grocery store today in a t shirt. I hate it. Both of us do. Its very difficult to enjoy anything outside for 4 months out of the year. The sun beats down every day. EVERY DAY. Theres no diversity in the weather.

Our lease ends in June. In a couple months Jaime is going to start looking for a job in Colorado. If she gets one we are moving for sure. Theres a very good chance that we will be moving regardless of weather she has a job or not.

So are we moving to Colorado because I have some childhood fantasy about living there? No. Its the place thats the closest to having everything we want. It has diverse weather. It has diverse terrain. While not the best, as a state Colorado is above average regarding crime rates and quality of education. Cost of living is decent. The only thing it doesnt have is our friends. But no place has all of our friends and Colorado is pretty frickin close to the center of Michigan, Arizona, Florida and Washington.

Im very excited to move again. I feel like were finally going to be adults. Im ready to be where Im going to be for the next big part of my life. Im not saying that were going to stay in Colorado forever. But when we moved to Phoenix, we knew it wasnt going to be for long.

Red Hot

Ive been making chili for several years now. It started out about average and over the years has gotten really good. Its to the point where Im thinking about entering a Chili Cookoff. Im not quite to the point of entering (I still use ground beef for my meat after all) but its getting close.

In preperation I decided to find out what associations and groups there are for the cookoff and what the rules are and basically how it all goes down. One thing that I found interesting is that beans are not allowed. Now Im just a white kid from the midwest and have only been to Texas once and that was for less then 5 hours along the highway but Ive only ever known chili with beans. Personally I dont have a problem excluding the beans. They certianly arent my favorite part and with the last incarnation of my recipe I only put half as many in anyway. It just doesnt seem right.

Anyway, Im going to take the beans out of my chili and figure out what form of meat Im giong to use. Perhaps Ill visit a cookoff once before I enter. At any rate, I have much work to do. This is one of the things Id like to achieve in life. Id like to win a chili cookoff.

Nobody Ever Mentions the Weather To Make or Break Your Day

Were in the middle of a cold spell right now. We had a high of 93 today. I almost turned the heat on when I got home from work.

Weve got a 2 year plan right now. 2 years in Phoenix and then its back to the world of real weather, Colorado.
We just paid off 1 of our credit cards and could be able to pay another one off by the end of summer. At this time next year we should have a 3rd credit card nearly paid off and then in August the Man Scorpion will be owned in full. Hopefully, by this time in 2 years well have the 4th credit card paid off and only have 1 left. (The last card s about 64% of our debt right now.)

With all this debt paid off and the low housing costs in Colorado, we should be set up well to buy a house right when we move. Well probably have to buy a second car due to the bike hostile weather but that shouldnt be much trouble.