Moving Right Along

We almost have a new house.  Despite some last minute struggles to get the mortgage company to get their act together, we'll have keys on Tuesday - only a day after planned.  We started packing today and are relieved that we don't have to pack it too well since most of it will just go over in the car.  Right now the plan is to take a load or two over each day and then move the furniture next Saturday and officially be moved in.  We have the townhouse until the end of the month so we're not in any rush to get it all cleared out and cleaned up.  I'm glad this is my last week of work before the holidays so I'll have plenty of time to get things unpacked and organized. 

Return to the Homeland

Last weekend we went back to Iowa for Andy's sister's fabulous wedding.  We flew in late Thursday and spent the night in Cedar Rapids with my mom and dad.  On Friday, we had lunch in Cedar Falls with my sister, Jackie, and then went up to Rochester to meet some of Andy's friends from IBM for dinner and drinks.  We were lucky to spend Friday and Saturday night at Jim and Val's house.  

Amanda and Cody's wedding was wonderful but before we knew it, it was time to head home again.  We drove back to Cedar Rapids and met our great friend, Alana, for brunch and then spent the rest of Sunday with my mom and dad before taking off early Monday morning.  It was a great trip but way too fast.  It went by so quickly, I kept forgetting to take pictures but here are two...

Here's one that illustrates what happens when my husband gets bored in a church:

 That's right.  He finds the word "beer" in the bible.  

On Sunday in Cedar Rapids, we went to Barnes and Noble so I could pick up another book for the trip back and realized we were just going to miss one of my favorite politicians (PLEASE note sarcasm).

I was lucky enough to have the entire week off from work.  Andy worked a short day on Tuesday and then a full day Wednesday.  I checked in with the loan officer at the bank and it looks like things are right on track so we're still hoping to close by December 12th.  

We had a mini-giving here yesterday and have been eating leftovers ever since.  Andy went over to Corvallis tonight for "gaming" with some co-workers.  I was told it might be an all-nighter so we'll see what time he gets home.  

Is My Husband Dream Barking!?!

The house passed inspection with flying colors.  There are a few fix-it projects and cosmetic issues which we already knew about.  The loan application is completed and in the mail so we're playing the waiting game right now.  Nothing else to do!  I suppose I could start packing...

Other than that, we're just plugging along.  The weather is turning a little colder and a little rainier but not as much as I expected.  There are still leaves on some of the trees and dandelions in the yard so winter has not arrived. 

We're heading back to Iowa this weekend for Andy's sister's wedding!  It's going to be a crazy fast trip since Andy doesn't have any  real vacation time so we're flying out Thursday afternoon and back on Monday.  Even though it will be a quick trip for us, we've never left Shadow for that many days with the dog sitter so we'll see how she does. 

This morning, I was woken up by what I call "dream barking"...that little puppy barking, paw twitching thing that sleeping dogs tend to do.  In my just-woke-up-haze, I wondered what Andy was dreaming about but then I woke up enough to look over and see Shadow laying on Andy's side of the bed, her head on his pillow, snoring and dreaming.   

Home Sweet Home (Hopefully)

We are officially one step closer to home ownership!  We just received word that our offer was accepted and we're now waiting for a home inspection...and of course, a loan from the bank.

A sneak peek at our new digs (fingers crossed!)

Entry/Living Room -- archway leads into the dining room/kitchen

Dining Room

So excited to have a kitchen that is bigger than a closet. 

Laundry room, 1/2 bath and office are off of the kitchen. 

The 3 bedrooms are upstairs...here is the master bedroom.  

 At the end of the hallway upstairs, there is this "bonus room" above the garage.  Andy is excited about having a place to put his speakers. I am excited that he's already thinking about how to hide all the wires and cords (I HATE those things).  The room has a funny shape but leads out to a second story deck which currently offers a nice mountain view...we're thinking this might go away as the neighborhood builds up, but for now, it's lovely.   

The house isn't perfect...there is some sloppy painting in a few rooms (it looks like Andy and I painted!), there isn't any hardware on any of the kitchen or bathroom cupboards, the yard isn't fenced, etc. but we like the layout and a lot of other things about it...and what we don't like, we know we can fix.  The yard is pretty bare which we're actually happy about (a lot of people have A LOT of landscaping) and there is a large side yard that is perfect for a garden.  We also have an RV pad...for the RV we don't have and don't plan on owning but it's a big plus around here.

So, even though we didn't even unpack all of our boxes, I'm regretting all the ones we did unpack. 

At least we still have the boxes.

Birthday Weekend

We used Andy's birthday as an excuse to finally go up to Portland to explore.  We had a great weekend and loved Portland.  Here are some highlights...

We started the weekend off with a birthday dinner at Deschutes Brewery.  The food was good, and I hear the beer was too.  Andy's favorite part, however, was the discovery of Sweet Aardvark's Aardvark Habanero Sauce.

After dinner we walked just a few blocks to hit Powell's City of Books.  This place is 68,000 square feet and has 9 rooms full of new and used books.  We spent a couple hours in there and could have spent much longer.  We'll definitely be going back!



On Saturday we got up and went to the Portland Japanese Gardens.  They are GORGEOUS.  They claim to be the most beautiful Japanese gardens outside of Japan and I can see why they get the bragging rights.

After the gardens, we headed to the Portland Saturday Market.  There are all kinds of local artists (including a lady who makes animal shaped whistles) selling just about anything you can imagine (see previous comment about the whistles).  Andy was impressed with the diverse selection of food and my adventurous eater tried the Himalayan food stand. 

 I'm not sure what all of that is, but according to Andy, it was "not too shabby" but noted that it would have been even tastier with the Aardvark sauce.

Fabulous Visitors and Dualing GPSs

We were so happy to have our dear friends Nana and Alana (aka Tunie and Rio) visit us fora  few days last week.  It was so nice to have familiar faces around here again.  Sadly, after a few nights of wine and Banagrams, they had to leave us.  Can't wait until they come back to visit (hint, hint).

Andy was in Plano, Texas from Sunday to Thursday to visit a customer site.  He worked 6pm - midnight or later while he was there because that's when the printer was running.  In case you don't know Andy, these are not his peak hours.  He's more of a 7am to 4pm kind of guy.  He's glad to be back in Oregon where there aren't any rent-to-own tire and rim stores around. And I'm very happy to have him back.

Work is a little stressful for me right now.  Not to sound old, but, kids these days are NAUGHTY.   Thursday was particularly challenging and we actually ran out of places for misbehaving children to sit in time-outs at the at lowest point.  THEN while driving to Eugene to pick up Andy at the airport, I got lost because the GPS on my phone was showing one thing on the screen but the voice (so I thought) was telling me something completely different.  I managed to drive all the way to Eugene (in a very roundabout way) before realizing that the GPS in the CAR was talking to me the whole time and a completely different location was entered in it so while I thought it was my phone telling me what to do, it was a different robotic voice  trying to take me somewhere completely different.  I was not a happy camper. 

We're continuing Operation: Home Sweet Home and are pondering one we saw tonight.  It's a beautiful house but doesn't have the lot size we were hoping for...trying to weigh the pros and cons is almost as exhausting as trying to get six 5 year olds to stay in time-out simultaneously. 

Coastal Anniversary

Hoping the phrase "better late than never" applies here.  

We celebrated our first anniversary at a little cottage near the coast.

We enjoyed another trip the the lighthouse (no fog this time!) and some impromptu whale and seal watching on the beach followed by massages.  It was fabulous.

This photo makes it look like the leaning tower of lighthouse  but it was the photographer (it was me....shhh, don't tell) that was leaning. 

 

Andy enjoyed the fish and chips from Gracie's.

And I enjoyed this sign at the nearby convenience store. 

 When we returned home on Sunday, Shadow seemed to be very upset with her raccoon.  And proceeded to behead it. (note the headless body in front of her paws).

The Monday after our mini-vacay, I started my job.  I won't lie...the first week was rough.  I felt like each and every one of the 21 kindergartners beat me up.  I was (and still am) exhausted.  There are a couple of kiddos that are trouble makers and there is a lot of general unruliness so we're working on that.  I weighed my options and decided that bribery was the way to go.  So, we started the "Button Game" on Friday....the rules are simple.  Good deeds get a button.  The button goes in the jar (not in our mouth).  When the jar is full, we get to have a "celebration."  I'm thinking I should have gone with a smaller jar...or bigger buttons.

First Visitors!

We were thrilled to have Andy's dad, Jim and step mom, Val come and visit us over the holiday weekend!  We started off by visiting HP on Friday so Andy could show us the printers he works on.  We walked through several hallways before entering the test/lab area.  Lots of drums of printer ink, lab coats, goggles, etc.  We made our way over to see what I'm now referring to as Andy's printers.  They are HUGE.  Really impressive - especially when you see the giant rolls of paper feed through as people were printing test pages.  I wish I could have taken pictures.  We also got to see a 3D printer which creates prototypes, models, etc.  The man working with that printer looked like Christopher Lloyd's character in Back to the Future (long white hair and all) and was very happy to talk with us about his printers. 

On Saturday, we headed to Corvallis for the farmer's market and lunch.  Here is a photo of one of the blackberries we got.  The pint only had about 7 berries because they were so big. 

On Sunday, we ventured over to the coast.  When we arrived, fog had set in.  We still went to visit the lighthouse but as you can see from this father-son picture, we couldn't see much.

Andy and Jim went to Silver Falls on Monday for a hike and Andy was sad that the falls weren't flowing nearly as impressively as they were back in June when we went. 

We had a great time and were so happy they could come and visit us!  Shadow also really enjoyed the extra love and attention and decided to invite herself into their room so she could greet Jim and Val most mornings.  Labor Day marked our 1st anniversary...hard to believe!  We're heading to the coast this weekend to relax and celebrate -- using it as a good excuse to get away from the heat!   

Here's a picture of one of Shadow's favorite places to perch these days - sitting on the treadmill, right in front of the fan.

Retirement

So, the time has come where I need to retire from my full time job as a domestic goddess.  It's been a great three months but my only conversations between the hours of 8 and 5 are with the dog and despite all of her talents, she is not a conversationalist...excellent listener, though.  I start my part time job at the Boys and Girls Club in Corvallis on September 12th.  I'll be heading up after school program for the AM kindergarteners.  The hours are pretty much ideal (10am-2:30pm) and do not include any evenings or weekends (WAAAAAHOOOOOOOO!) so it's pretty much perfect.  It will still leave me time be a part time (domestic) diva.  And I'll get to talk to people during the day which will be nice...even if they are mostly 5 year olds.

Andy had to work late a few nights this week because of some problems that came up...and then his hard drive crashed.  If you've ever had that happen, you know it's the worst, and if your job is 100% computer based, it's even worse.  He was told that he will be working on the next generation of the printer so that's good, although he's not sure exactly what it will entail.

Since we don't have much to report, here are a few photos for the grandparents:

And in case you want to start shopping Christmas early, Rite Aid has some ideas for you...

Quick Update

On Saturday, we headed over to the coast for the day and visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium, complete with a sighting of one of my favorite animals, sea otters.

After the aquarium, we headed to Local Ocean Seafoods in Newport for a late lunch.  It's right across from the dock where they unload the fresh seafood.  Andy really liked the fish tacos and tuna kebobs.

 He also enjoyed his Blonde Bombshell beer.  I reminded him it would be the only kind of blonde bombshell he would ever have the chance to enjoy.  He responded with the obligatory "Yes, dear" and slight eye roll (I can't *really* blame him.)

 This sign caught us off guard.  I guess we're still not used to living on the coast.  

It's dry here and there are fire warnings throughout the state.  We're required to water the front lawn but neither one of us think it's a good use of clean water so we don't bother watering the back fenced in area.  The only down fall is that Shadow regularly comes in looking like this.

Dry grass anyone?  She proceeds to shake it all off ALL over the carpet 

(usually right after I've vacuumed).  It's a good thing she's so cute.

One last curiosity -- I was out exploring last week and came across this sign in front of an old diner. 

 

I wasn't sure I was reading it correctly when I drove by the first time but pulled off on the way back through and sure enough, Grandma's name was clear on the sign.  I imagined her giggling at the sight of it.  I love these little out of the blue reminders of loved ones.  

They remind you to stop and enjoy the day.  :)

Bonkers for Blueberries

Yesterday after Andy got off work, went went blueberry picking at this place.  They have 20 some varieties of blueberries.  We did some taste testing and then selected two varieties that we liked best and picked a few pounds.  Andy practically rubbed his belly the whole way home since he did a little binge eating while we were picking.  He pointed out to me that "they said it was ok to taste them."

The berries were gorgeous and plentiful and grow in bunches (like grapes) which I didn't learn until we moved here. 

 

Andy texted me from work today to tell me that while he was telling his co-workers about our berry picking, he realized that we are amateurs.  One of the guys mentioned he had also gone picking and came home with 27 pounds of blueberries.  We came home with 3 pounds.  Andy said we're going to have to go again so he gets some street cred back. 

Today, I went to pick up our free baking dish that we scored back in June when we bought our fancy new sauce pot.  I decided that it was the perfect blueberry cobbler pan.

 

 

 Big, beautiful blueberries.

 Right before going in the oven.

Not the prettiest finished product but DELICIOUS!

We are looking forward to the weekend!  We haven't had a free weekend together in over a month so we're ready! 

Crazy Done Right

The last few weeks have kept me crazy busy.  I headed out on a red eye to NYC on July 12th and just got back on Sunday.  It's good to be home.

I was running late on the night I flew out to New York so Andy went to pick up Chinese take out for us while I finished packing.  I opened my fortune cookie and found this:

Seemed fitting enough, given I was flying out in a few hours.

Andy opened his and found this:

Apparently, me leaving for 3 weeks was his refreshing change!?!  I wasn't sure if I should be upset with the fortune cookie gods or laugh so hard I could hardly breathe.  I went with the latter.



I arrived in NYC and had a few days to relax before Jenny's bachelorette party.  On Friday, we headed over to Fire Island for a great beach weekend!  Jen's pups went with us.

Roxie and Tony love the beach...almost as much as their Auntie A.

We had a great weekend on the island and enjoyed how different it is from the city...no cars, houses are left unlocked and almost everything closes at dark.  It was also really fun to meet Jen's friends and have a relaxing weekend.  I spent a few more days in NYC doing touristy things before heading to Iowa to visit my parents. I also got to see my dear friend Rio (Alana) twice!  During my time in Iowa, I went to Camp Tahigwa to help out for a few days.  I can't believe I used to do that all summer, every summer.  It was totally exhausting but so fun to see some of my camp friends.  They're the girls that you can be away from for months or years and pick up right where you left off. 

One of my camper's sidewalk chalk art

 After camp, it was back to NYC for the big wedding!  Jackie and I arrived late on Wednesday night.  My parents rented a gorgeous condo for the week and Andy and I were lucky enough to stay there with them.  On Thursday, went to the legendary Junior's with Mom and Dad for lunch.  We'd never been and it was so cute...and tasty!  Think diner with the most delicious cheesecake ever.

The raspberry swirl cheesecake was everything I hoped it would be

Mom tried the chocolate swirl cheesecake.

 On Friday, my mom, Jackie and I went to Kleinfeld's with Jenny to pick up her dress. 

We didn't see any camera crews but the place was hopping and a well oiled machine.

Getting the dress home was one hot adventure but luckily, we had a guy from Kleinfeld help us hail a cab.

The dress laid across our laps in the back and Jen sat in the front. 

The great dress.

Sadly, this is one of the only wedding day photos I took.  I was way too busy having fun, I guess!  The ceremony was beautiful and perfect.  The reception was also gorgeous, perfect and a hell of a lot of fun.  I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun at a wedding.  The reception was complete with a photo booth and while I didn't get any copies of my mom wearing the pirate props (Jenny, I need copies!), here are some of me and Andy.  

 Don't be shocked if you see these on our Christmas card.  :)