Condo Hatred and Snow

Greetings!  We are firmly ensconced in our March abode.  I think we hate it less than the first condo, but the level of hatred is fairly close. 

Why did we hate the first condo?

I failed to comprehend how much I would hate hauling my bike up and down the stairs, as well as the groceries and every other thing we bought.  There are 15 stairs there.  Having a garage that lets you walk straight in to the house spoils a person for anything else.

The furniture was cripplingly uncomfortable.  The love seat bottomed out between the two seat cushions, the chair was butt sprung with hard wood arms, the chairs at the kitchen table were extremely painful. I posted about the furniture here.  Every single piece of cookware is ruined.  All knives didn't have an edge, they were completely dull.  There was not one microwave safe container of any sort.

Why do we hate the second condo?

Again, cripplingly uncomfortable furniture, much like the first condo.  Every single piece of cookware is ruined.  There's more of it here, it's difficult to get anything out of the cabinets because there is so much stuff piled up in there.  There is not one pot holder on site.  By and large the kitchen cabinets are full of too much stuff; coffee cups, glasses, bowls, out of date spices and etc.  There is really no space for us to put staples.  There are no measuring cups, fortunately I brought measuring spoons.

The photography done at the second condo is pretty good.  This is the entry way, it looks so inviting.

This is it in real life.  It's covered in dead leaves which are immediately tracked in to the house.  There are thousands of Mesquite leaves which are narrow and tiny.

The living room.  Notice what you do not see.  There are no side tables, or a coffee table.  There's nowhere to set a drink down.  That couch is hideously uncomfortable, as are the chairs at that table.  The table is too low and it wobbles.

The lovely seating area out back.

The reality.  The patio is covered in dead leaves (more Mesquite), the furniture was snowed upon and is very wet.  The side yard is full off mysterious pieces of metal.  The promised gas grill does not work, the piezo igniter is dead.  It's a grave disappointment.

So, this has been the glamorous world of AirBnBing.  Neither of these were cheap properties, we were hoping to avoid these issues by paying more.  At least condo two has a garage that the car will (barely) fit in and there are no stairs.

These were taken this morning - it actually did snow.  There was fog early on.

Then the sun came out, and the snow was gone by about noon.

So, our key learning from all of this has been to bring the following:  a sharp chef's knife, paring knife, pot holders, and five spices that haven't aged out (including salt and pepper in grinders).  If you have space for it, bring a three quart pan that's deep enough to saute in or boil in.

Since cooking was difficult we ate more processed food than normal.  The Del Real Chile Verde is good with rice and beans.

Del Real chicken legs are also good. 

Chicken fried rice was good, the pork not so much.

When you've reached your limit on broccoli, these are good. 

So, that's the last two months at condo one, and the first couple of days at condo two.

Allegedly the weather will improve starting tomorrow, and will be in the 70's starting Sunday.  Spokane is currently performing a city-wide plowing of snow because winter returned.  It takes three days of 7 by 24 plowing to get it done.  Interestingly enough, had we left for Spokane on March 1, we would have run in to the last winter storm that was really bad in northern Arizona. 

So, that's what's shaking in Ye Olde Pueblo.

OK, one more thing.  Are these collectibles, or just really old stuff?  My guess is that the thing on the right squeezes stuff.