WHAT Happened to Spring?

Today marks the date when the rest of the country–except for us here in Arizona (and Hawaii)–moved their clocks forward for Daylight Saving Time (DST). In many ways, I am glad we don’t have to change time. It’s something I’ve always hated and never got used to when we lived back in Jersey (and we lived there for 15+ years!) I did not like having to adjust the time one hour ahead in the spring time (done on the second Sunday of March) only to revert to Standard Time, or “Fall Back” on the first Sunday of November.

The twice-a-year changing of the time, for me, disrupted the things I’ve grown accustomed to on a daily basis: my no-matter-how-abnormal sleep cycle, mine and my hubby’s crazy morning and evening (non-)routines, the untouched clocks on our walls. DST just threw us off. Every. Single. Time. It’s the expected unexpected curveball…you know it will happen, but it messes you up anyway…(kind of like the MANY things that you encounter during Motherhood.)

Which brings me to this blog post’s title, WHAT happened to Spring? The changing of the time in our previous home state’s timezone–no matter how disrupting–gave us something to be expected. DST signaled not just more daylight, but the promise of a new season. In March, that meant warmer weather was just in the horizon. In November, snow (or more snow to come).

Here in Arizona, I am expecting gorgeous 70-degree days right about now, to coincide with a lighter and fresher wardrobe. I am not one to be a fashionista or a trend-follower, but spring always brings something I welcome, which is girly-girl comfort in all the right mix of not-too-winter-heavy, and not-too-summer-showy outfits.

The Arizona weather, it seems however, has decided to throw us a curveball, and bring us straight right into summer.

Here is our town’s forecast for the next five days:

I am still hoping for spring-like weather. I’m not quite ready to welcome the scorching heat yet, even though I know it is to be expected.

Taking Care of Business

After a month and a half of being in Arizona…this week we registered our car and got our Arizona license plate and drivers’ licenses. We’re not really required to do this immediately (by definition, Arizona Residency means seven months of being in the state), but we decided to go ahead and get it over with. Plus, insurance rates in AZ is sooo much cheaper than the NJ insurance we carry now, so it was better of that we switched up sooner than later.

Below is a breakdown of what we’ve spent:

$27.75 – Vehicle Inspection and Emissions Test (valid for two years)

$122.21 – Vehicle License Tax (Arizona charges this fee in lieu of property taxes charged by other states. This fee is based on our car’s value, which is now five years old. If it were a new car, this would have been a LOT more.)

$8.25 – Registration Fee

$4.00 – Title Fee (we had to give up our NJ title for the car and they changed it to an AZ title)

$1.50 – Air Quality Fee (not sure what this is for…but they charge everybody it)

$25.00 – Driver License Fee (for me, expires in 2046, when I turn 65 years old)

$25.00 – Driver License Fee (for Te, expires in 2040. At first I wasn’t sure why the difference in expiration dates, but I’ve figured that this is the year when Te turns 65 years old)

So there. It goes to show how different our state is from NJ. I am curious when the time comes when we purchase our home, if they really won’t charge any property tax. I’ll think about it when we’re there 😉

UPDATE – February 2012:

After living in Arizona for a year-and-a-half now–and getting my AZ Real Estate license–I was clearly mistaken to think that Arizona did not charge property taxes. The state DOES charge property tax, and currently it is 10% of the assessed value of your (residential) property. Not bad…that is still significantly lower than what most states charge (it’s definitely much lower than NJ taxes!!)