We had a microwave already installed above the stove in our old apartment, but our current apartment doesn't have one. We asked if we could install our own above the stove, but the manager said it would be a lot of work and we realized how expensive they are. Then they said they would let us borrow a microwave, so we said sure.

The one they lent to us was old, dirty, and pretty small. We used it a few times and made a few bags on popcorn in it. It left several more kernels un-popped than the microwave at our old apartment, which was annoying. So, I decided to buy our own and we went looking a few weeks ago.

We found one at Best Buy that we really liked and got good reviews, but they only had a black version in the store. I wanted white so it would match the rest of our appliances. So we had to order it special delivery online. I ordered it Feb 26th and it arrived this last Wednesday. I had to meet the delivery guy at the apartment, which was a little annoying, but I'm glad we have a new microwave now. We popped our first bag of popcorn in it the night we got it and it turned out great.

The camera we bought shortly after we moved here has had some photo quality issues lately. It looked like there was something on the lens, even after we had carefully cleaned it.

We decided to buy a new point-and-shoot camera that would take higher quality photos. So far, I like it. My favorite thing about it is that it has a wider-angle lens, meaning essentially that it can zoom out farther than other cameras and capture more of a scene. This is especially helpful for indoor shots and self-portraits. It also has image stabilization and is smaller than our previous camera. It came in multiple colors and Lesley chose a greenish color.

As we look forward to moving into our new place, we're trying to think of where we want to put all of our furniture and how we want to decorate. The place we're moving into has white paint over the walls and kitchen cabinets, so we want to add a little touch of color by painting a wall in a different color. We've never had anything painted before, so we're picking up color swatches and trying to figure out what color we want to use.

We're thinking of a shade of green, as everything else is very neutral - the walls are white, the carpet is brown-ish, and the closet doors are grey. There are so many different shades of green, though. Our current color scheme has some green in it, so we want the wall to match. I don't want the wall to be too grey-colored, because we get plenty of that from the sky. I think a green with some yellow in it would be nice, but we don't want it to be an olive color. So, we're going to go back to the unit and see what shades of green would look best.

We're also thinking of painting parts of other rooms like the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom, but I don't know if we'll do that. At our current apartment, the bathroom is already painted in a neutral tan color, which I think helps the feel of the room. So, anyway, hopefully we pick a good color for the living room and any other rooms - there are a lot of options.

After weeks of searching and visiting 14 different buildings, we finally applied for a new apartment. We thought we found "the one" last week in a building on First Hill, but it was gone before we could apply. Then Thursday night, we thought we'd found "the one" in a building on 8th Ave. But yesterday, we ended up applying for another unit in that first building on First Hill. While this unit isn't as big as we had hoped for, it's still bigger than what we have now and costs less than what we're paying now.

This wasn't in the plan - as of Thursday night we expected to apply to a building on 8th Avenue that we saw that day. It had the best floor plan of any that we'd seen, including plenty of storage space, and the building had a super amazing rooftop deck with a view of downtown, Mount Rainier, and the Cascades to the east. However, we found out later that the unit we'd be getting would be smaller than the unit we'd seen on Thursday. We also found out that the first apartment building on First Hill we had tried to apply to last week still had a unit available, though it was smaller than the one we'd tried to apply to, it was about the same size of the unit we'd be getting on 8th Ave and much cheaper.

After some analysis and discussion throughout the day on Friday, we decided to take a look at the less expensive unit on First Hill. It's not the ideal floor plan, as there is not as much bathroom counter space and storage as we wanted, but the living room is much bigger than what we have now. We also have a better view from this unit than we would have had at any other place we'd looked at (though not nearly as good as what we have now). I also like the location better, as we're close to downtown, close to the grocery store, and in a rather quiet residential area.

We applied for that unit and then returned home to find a note under our door that our current rent would increase 7% if we wanted to sign a new lease where we are now. So, that helped to reaffirm our decision. We're excited to be done with the searching and looking forward to moving into our new home.

Our lease ends next month and we are looking for a larger apartment. We really like our current apartment building, but we have decided that we want more room in the bedroom and living room. Ideally, we'd like a little more space but without paying a lot more.

There's not a lot available in our current building and what is available seems to cost a lot more. We've spent the last few weeks looking up available apartments on HotPads and PadMapper. Things are a little difficult because we have very strict criteria. We'd like to stay within reasonable walking distance to downtown and Lesley's work. That rules out a few neighborhoods we like, like Ballard and the U District, but I think we would quickly tire of a longer commute. Specifically, we're looking at apartments in upper Belltown, Capitol Hill, and First Hill. We want a one bedroom apartment in good condition without being too pricey.

We had found a place that we liked and almost applied for it, but it was leased right before we got there to submit the application. So, we are still looking for a place we would like. We have to give notice by early February to our current apartments if we are planning to move out by the end of the month. If we can't find anything, we may sign another 6 month lease here or go month-to-month until we find something.

I was asked last year to join the finance committee at the church we attend. I declined because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be that involved. But then I was asked again this year to serve on it and I accepted. The term generally lasts for three years, but isn't set in stone. They meet for a couple of hours on the third Wednesday of every month, which I've been going to since July. Meetings start at 7 and normally end around 9.

Most of the time is spent reviewing the budget and or working on the annual stewardship campaign. Since I studied accounting and finance in college, I can easily understand what they're talking about when reviewing reports or budgets, which I think is pretty valuable. I'm more interested in investing, but unfortunately the church doesn't really have much in the way of stored up reserves. It's been an interesting experience and I'm glad that I'm able to lend a hand.

It's time for another election and that means more initiatives to vote on. Unlike Texas, any initiative can make the ballot if it receives enough signatures before the election.

So, in addition to the hotly-contested, high-profile race for state Senator and the low-profile and mostly uncontested races for various judge positions, there are several interesting initiatives that we can vote on.

One initiative would establish a state income tax for high-income individuals. Another two initiatives would both privatize liquor sales and remove some regulations (liquor is currently only sold in state-run stores). We can also vote to repeal taxes that were recently placed on sales of candy and soda.

Many of these initiatives are heavily supported by various industries, so we're seeing commercials in favor and opposed to many of these initiatives. It's nice to have the opportunity to vote on fairly significant potential changes to state laws, though it can be challenging to make the right decision.

Our lease for our current 550 square foot studio apartment is up at the end of February. We're not as satisfied with it as we used to be because of several things. For one thing, it's small and we technically don't even have a bedroom. We have a small area for the bed, which sits against two walls and the dresser is right at the foot of it. We're also running out of storage space because we have gotten a fake Christmas tree, some floor fans, and more drinking glasses and other kitchen stuff since moving here.

Secondly, we're tired of being directly above the community grill area a few floors down. When someone uses the grill the smoke always rises up and inevitably gets into our apartment because we usually have the windows open for ventilation. This always causes us to have to close the windows, which sometimes makes it pretty hot in here during the summer.

Thirdly, people make a lot of noise near the grill area and in the alley between our complex and the recording studio, especially if they've had a few drinks. The noise from the studio itself is also obnoxious.

We'll definitely be moving to at least a one bedroom apartment instead of a studio. We still like this complex overall. It's a nice building and the unit is nice with pretty new appliances and nice wooden cabinets and a big window facing the sunset to the West. The neighborhood is growing on us, especially with the addition of South Lake Union Park and more businesses opening nearby because of Amazon. It's very convenient to get to downtown and walking to work is really nice. We won't rule out looking at other buildings or in other neighborhoods though, such as Capitol Hill or Lower Queen Anne.

We're also considering the possibility of getting a two bedroom and using one of the rooms as a guest room for visitors. Having an extra room would make it a lot cheaper for friends and family to visit more often or for longer because they wouldn't have to pay for hotels. However, it would cost about $250-$300 more per month for an extra room and we're not sure it would result in more frequent visitors in the next year. We would also have the large extra costs of purchasing a second set of bedroom furniture, a mattress, etc. And we don't really have a use for a second room for the rest of the year. Perhaps in 2012 we might get a two bedroom apartment.

I'm also interested in buying a house or townhouse in the next few years. After a down payment, monthly house payments can be almost the same as apartment rent, depending on how big the house is and how close to downtown it is. I guess we'll just have to see what prices are and what would be affordable at that time.

Last week I went to the podiatrist for the first time for my plantar fasciitis. I went back today so he could show me the x-rays of my feet and help me figure out which type of orthotics to get. He continued to explain how my feet have gotten this way. He said a lot of it has to do with genetics, but also the fact that I'm very flexible, which is a good and bad thing. The good part is that I could have been a ballerina or contortionist. The bad part is that my ligaments in my feet aren't as rigid and strong as they should be in order to keep my feet from pronating.

Looking at my x-rays was really fascinating and weird at the same time. When you're looking at feet x-rays, you're looking at 1/4th of the bones in your entire body, which I thought was crazy. Apparently my right toe bone is pointing toward the other toes by 13° more than it should. It's pointing toward my other toes to the right and my bone is sticking out too far on the left side of my right foot, if that makes sense. If I don't get this fixed now, it could obviously get much worse and eventually my toe joints would deform and fuse together, eliminating the tissue between my bones and causing arthritis and other ailments. My left big toe is worse than normal also, but not nearly as bad as my right big toe. Interestingly, I read online that 9 females to only 1 male have bunions. Also, I'm showing signs of a heel bone spur in my left foot, which is developing because of my pronation and plantar fasciitis.

So, the doctor looked at my hiking shoes and walking shoes and actually said they were pretty good. The key is for them to be pretty rigid and offer enough support. Three things are important to look for: 1) they shouldn't bend in the middle 2) I shouldn't be able to twist it too much when I'm holding it by the heel and the toe and 3) the cushioning around the heel should be stiff to where my heel doesn't lean too much one way or the other.

He showed me tons of different types of shoe inserts and we finally decided to make custom ones for my athletic and hiking shoes. So, they did the casting of my feet for the custom ones and they'll be ready to pick up in about 3 weeks. In the meantime, I also bought a pair of generic inserts for my athletic/hiking shoes to wear instead of my crappy insert I got from Foot Solutions. He showed me the difference between the Foot Solutions insert and the ones he had that I could order through him. The Foot Solutions ones weren't nearly as strong and supportive as his orthotics, so I can see why mine didn't help much. Once I get my permanent orthotics for my athletic/hiking shoes, he'll modify the generic inserts I got and make them fit my dress shoes, I think. Everything happened so fast and I felt rushed because I was late getting back to work (I went during my lunch hour).

Hopefully the permanent orthotics fix everything. Stopping the pronation sounds like the key to fixing my plantar fasciitis and my developing bunions. I'll keep everyone posted and give an update in early September.

Earlier this year I mentioned that I have plantar fasciitis and that I went to Foot Solutions to get some shoe inserts to help. Unfortunately the inserts didn’t help and I still have plantar fasciitis, which I’ve had since February. I’ve tried all the following remedies, none of which have solved the problem:

• Icing my heel
  
• Stretching a few times a day
  
• Wearing a night splint
  
• Shoe inserts to help support my arch (which I was told was collapsing)
  
• Stayed off it for a week
  
• Reduced the amount of hiking we do
  
• Massaging my heel with a massage ball
  

So, I finally decided to go to the podiatrist to see if he could help me. I walked there after work yesterday since his office was only a 5 minute walk away from my building. It's so nice to work and live downtown and be able to walk places. Anyway, he diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis, bunions, and over-pronation. He said usually this problem happens over time and there probably wasn’t a single instance that occurred. I do believe that it happened in February because we walked around Vancouver so much and I wasn’t used to all that walking since we hadn’t done much hiking/walking during the winter.

He said I do not have high arches, just that I over-pronate and my feet become flat when I walk. The bunions have been caused by the over-pronation as well, although they haven’t gotten bad enough to bother me yet. They took x-rays of my feet while I was there and also taped my feet with some padding on the bottom. It felt tight, but the support seemed to instantly help my heel. The tape is only meant to last a few days and it’s best to keep them dry.

He recommended doing more rigorous stretching, continuing to ice my heel after activities, continuing to wear my night splint, and getting custom orthotics (shoe inserts). He said the generic ones I got from Foot Solutions are better than nothing, but that they won’t completely fix the problem. They aren’t cheap though and I haven’t met my insurance deductible this year, so I doubt insurance will cover any of the cost. The only other options are to have cortisone shots or surgery. I suppose it would be worth it to get custom ones made. I just wish I hadn’t wasted the money on the ones from Foot Solutions.

I’m going back to see him again next Tuesday so we can make the final decision on what to do. He told me to bring in all the pairs of shoes I normally wear so he can look at them and see how they’ve worn and how supportive they are and which type of orthotics would fit the best for all of them. If we decide to go with the custom orthotics, he will do a casting of my foot and send it off to be made, which takes 3 weeks. Hopefully this will allow my heel to heal and keep me from over-pronating.

The more time we spent with family in Texas last week, the more it felt like we had never left. Indeed, it's hard to believe that we've now lived in Seattle for more than two years. And, at times during our trip, it was hard to believe that we had lived in TX for the 24 years that we did.

Interestingly, I still knew things in TX really well. I keep up with the news for the most part and still know my way around the Metroplex really well. Texas is still my home, even if it just my home away from home.

Of course our families would love for us to move back to Fort Worth, or at least to somewhere within a few hours drive of them, and we're regularly peppered with questions about when or whether we'll return. I've given that a lot of thought, but still don't know how things will turn out.

We had our reasons for moving away in the first place, but of course when discussing important family issues like raising a family and things like that, there may be some reasons why we would consider moving back. But, while we do miss our families now, we are very happy with our lifestyle and have no plans to move back to TX. The bottom line is that we just don't know what will happen in the coming years as circumstances change. However, there are some significant reasons why it would be very difficult for us to ever move back to Texas, which I'll cover in a separate post.

When we signed up for cable with Comcast a little more than a year ago, we were offered an introductory rate of about $30/month for basic cable. We thought it was only a 6 month introductory rate, but it lasted for about a year.

Then, last month, our introductory rate ended and our cable bill more than doubled to $67. I called Comcast to see if we could continue our old rate, but supposedly they didn't have any deals available. I asked to reduce my level of service and they told me that I'd have to return my cable box to the service center.

So, Lesley and I decided to cut our level of service to limited basic cable, which gives us channels 1 through 29 and costs $13/month. Our TV antenna doesn't take an analog signal and we watch enough local TV to make it worthwhile to pay for it.

When I got home, I prepared to return our cable box. On the box, there was a sticker that said to call a certain number to return it, so I did, but I figured that I'd just have to take it to the service center anyway, so we left for the service center while I stayed on hold. I was on hold for about 30 minutes and almost made it to the service center before they picked up the phone and told me that I didn't need to call them and just needed to drop it off. Anyway, we got to the service center and there were more than 10 people in line in front of us, but it didn't take too long. We dropped off our box and will basically save more than $600 this year over what we would've paid if we kept our service at the inflated rate.

So, we no longer have ESPN or other cable channels, but fortunately there's nothing major on cable that we'll want to watch in the next few months. We will miss watching Mariners games on TV this summer, as well as the occasional soccer game. But you never know, maybe they'll offer good rates again.

We bought a new desk a few months ago and our old monitor didn't look that nice with it. We had been wanting a new monitor anyway for a while, but were waiting for a good deal. Finally, last week, NewEgg had a 24" widescreen LCD monitor on sale with free shipping. Up until now, we'd been using the monitor my Uncle gave me as a high school graduation present along with my old computer. It was a good old monitor and worked perfectly for 8 years. We put it on Craig's list for free and eventually gave it to a college student. Hopefully he gives it a good home.

It's really nice now though, having this gigantic monitor. The screen is huge, but there's no more bulk to it like the old one. And the desk looks really nice with it now. It's much easier to have multiple programs open at the same time. The colors also seem to be even brighter than before. It can display HD, but we don't have anything HD currently. This monitor should last us for several years.

We booked our flights with Qantas to travel to Australia this fall to see our friends in Melbourne! We're leaving Friday night, September 25th and will arrive in Melbourne Sunday morning the 27th. We'll stay there until Monday October 5th, when we travel to Sydney for a few days. Then we leave Sydney on Saturday, October 10th and arrive back in Seattle the afternoon of the 10th, due to the time zone difference. We will connect in Los Angeles both times.

I've never been on a plane for longer than about 5 hours straight, so we'll see how I do on a plane for 15 hours! Each seat on a Qantas flight has a TV in it so you can watch movies and stuff, so that should make it a little less boring.

I've been getting really excited just from looking at stuff to do there! It'll be a really long, awesome trip. I can't wait!

I've been wanting a new desk for a long time because we've been dealing with an old, crappy, fake wood desk that's been falling apart for years. The corner was completely chipped off, the cabinet door wouldn't stay shut, and the thin piece of cardboard on the back side of the desk had been beaten up significantly. The keyboard tray was damaged during the move. The desk also had several warped spots on the main surface because of liquids, and it just looked cheap to begin with. I wasn't thrilled about taking it with us when we moved here, but we didn't want to be without a desk and didn't think we'd purchase one that soon.

Over the last few months, we've kept our eyes open for small desks we liked, but didn't find anything for a while. Then we decided to try looking at Crate & Barrel and found a desk that we really liked. So we listed the old desk on Craig's list to give away for free and had a response within 30 minutes. Two guys came and took it off our hands, so we didn't have to take it and dump it somewhere ourselves, which was nice. They seemed really appreciative that we gave it to them for free. I guess one person's trash really is another's treasure.

After that we went to get our new desk from Crate & Barrel, and it barely fit in the car. It was almost 100 pounds and was very hard for me to help carry, but we finally made it up to the apartment. Troy put it all together in about an hour and now the desk and the whole corner area looks a lot more open and nice. And it matches the rest of the furniture we've bought. It's pretty cool having a new desk.

When we were in Fort Worth for Christmas, several people asked us when we'd be back to visit again. Well, we probably won't be back during the summer or any time soon, possibly more than a year from now. We've gone back twice in the last 5 months for one thing. For another, we have several other rather expensive trips planned over the next year, which will use up a lot of money and vacation time. Anyway, just thought I would mention that since people were wondering.

Before we moved here, we thought we might move to Portland instead. We liked both cities and sometimes I wonder what things would be like if we had moved to Portland instead.

We ended up in Seattle because Lesley got a job offer here. I don't know how long it would have taken for each of us to find employment in Portland, but Portland's economy is not as strong as Seattle's.

We've been fortunate here to have met a lot of people at our church and we'd probably miss out on that in Portland.

Lesley loves the view from her office of the Olympic and Cascade Mountain Ranges, including Mount Baker, Elliot Bay, the city skyline, and Lake Union and there just aren't as many landmarks to see in Portland.

Since Portland is a smaller city than Seattle, we'd probably run out of new things to see and do sooner if we lived in Portland. There would definitely be a lot fewer sporting events for us to attend in Portland. Portland has its share of thriving neighborhoods, but I'm not sure if they compare with the vibrancy and character of Seattle's neighborhoods.

On a day-to-day basis, though, I think we would enjoy living in Portland. For one thing, it's easier and more enjoyable to walk in Portland. Portland is flatter than Seattle and has a great public transportation system, with light rail, streetcars, and buses. As I've mentioned, there are a lot of obstacles that make it harder to walk here. Even if we lived elsewhere in Seattle, there are steep hills, busy streets, a freeway, bodies of water, and other stuff that discourages walking.

Another benefit if we lived in Portland is that we would get to see more Cowboys games on local TV instead of only getting to see the Seahawks.

Overall, though, I'm happy living in Seattle. I look forward to visiting Portland more but don't regret not moving there.

We've recently been spending a lot of time planning our schedule for our Christmas trip to Texas. It's been really difficult figuring out how to fit in time for everyone. But we've tried to make it as fair as possible and fit in as much time with everyone as we can. We'll start to share specific details over the next week.

Troy and I have never actually been members of a church. We considered joining the church where we got married, but we figured we wouldn't be there long enough to warrant doing that. But now that we're in Seattle and we've been going to the same church since we got here, we figure we should become members. So, this Sunday at the end of the service we'll join the church.

Our current lease is up at the end of next month, so we were wondering how much our apartment complex would raise our rate. We were a little worried that they would raise it so much that it would force us to move somewhere a little cheaper. Then, sometime last week, we received a flyer that said if we renewed our lease before October 31st, that they would honor our current rental rate!

So, today we renewed our lease for 11 months. We were planning on doing a 12 month lease and pointed out the error to the lady completing our paperwork, but I don't think she knew what the heck she was doing and tried to just gloss over the error saying it was "confusing." So, whatever, we got an 11 month lease that will be up at the end of next October. I'd be pretty surprised if they let us renew at our current rate next year too, so we may have to look elsewhere next year. But for now, I'm really excited that we get to stay in our apartment at our current rate.