Saturday, September 1, 2012

Washington State and delicious peaches

 
Peaches
8/31/12
 
Traveling through Washington we stopped at a road side stand and ate some peaches and a nectarine.  It has been 30 years since I tasted a peach like the one we had and to see the juice just drip down the side when we cut into it was delightful.  One peach we bought was $2.42 - if you can believe it.  At Dave and Paula's we were lucky and they have a peach tree and we can eat all we can hold for free.
 
We have driven through Idaho, Oregon and Washington and are now at our friends' house in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.  We have a nice room downstairs and slept in this morning until 10:30 a.m.  Lazed around, ate, watched the movie Money Ball.  Going to have a nice T-bone steak dinner and relax some more. 
 
Tomorrow we'll go for a drive in Dave and Paula's "new to them" motorhome and see whatever the day brings in the way of new adventures.
 


Washington State and delicious peaches

 
Peaches
8/31/12
 
Traveling through Washington we stopped at a road side stand and ate some peaches and a nectarine.  It has been 30 years since I tasted a peach like the one we had and to see the juice just drip down the side when we cut into it was delightful.  One peach we bought was $2.42 - if you can believe it.  At Dave and Paula's we were lucky and they have a peach tree and we can eat all we can hold for free.
 
We have driven through Idaho, Oregon and Washington and are now at our friends' house in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.  We have a nice room downstairs and slept in this morning until 10:30 a.m.  Lazed around, ate, watched the movie Money Ball.  Going to have a nice T-bone steak dinner and relax some more. 
 
Tomorrow we'll go for a drive in Dave and Paula's "new to them" motorhome and see whatever the day brings in the way of new adventures.
 


Thursday, August 30, 2012

Day One - A very late start

Our Bon Voyage Party - 8/25/12
 

Today we signed our 7th addendum for our house.  For a closing that was supposed to happen on 8/27 -- we are now moved out to Sept. 7th.  Guess we'll see.  We just locked up and left on our trip.

Anyway, we packed the last of our stuff, cleaned house left our truck and trailer at storage, and headed out at 4:30 p.m.  The work involved in this move was unreal and we sure would not have made it without all the help we received.  We are exhausted.

We're sitting in our hotel room tonight at Wildhorse Resort & Casino, right by Pendelton, OR.  Had a little dinner, I played $10 in slot machine and John just came to the room.  We're just too tired to do anything except go to bed.  A good night's sleep and we should be good as new tomorrow to head up to Canada.

Day One - A very late start

Our Bon Voyage Party - 8/25/12
 

Today we signed our 7th addendum for our house.  For a closing that was supposed to happen on 8/27 -- we are now moved out to Sept. 7th.  Guess we'll see.  We just locked up and left on our trip.

Anyway, we packed the last of our stuff, cleaned house left our truck and trailer at storage, and headed out at 4:30 p.m.  The work involved in this move was unreal and we sure would not have made it without all the help we received.  We are exhausted.

We're sitting in our hotel room tonight at Wildhorse Resort & Casino, right by Pendelton, OR.  Had a little dinner, I played $10 in slot machine and John just came to the room.  We're just too tired to do anything except go to bed.  A good night's sleep and we should be good as new tomorrow to head up to Canada.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Learning something new

I can't believe I just wrote a huge, and I mean huge, thank you blog ..........then I hit the back arrow and my writing was gone.  I'm taking this as a learning experience.  I will remember not to hit the back arrow, I will remember not to hit the back arrow..............

Friends

John and I could never have made this move without the help of dear friends.  How truly blessed we are and huge thank yous to:

Cathy - the wonderful luau Bon Voyage party that was so lovely, giving us plenty of pre-move food to have so we did not starve, bringing boxes, cleaning, packing, moral support and even a little lecture that I needed when I got tired and a little mean.  And Cath took our little dog Cori, who she loves -- and Cori feels the same about Cath.  I do think he will probably gain weight from treats, but he will be so happy there.  He even has 3 kitty cats to play with.

Steve has got to be second because he was so kind to take all our extra (probably 50) extension cords........bless his heart and he even had to hide then.  I'm afraid he has turned into a hoarder.  He helped us haul trash, motivate, dig into a seemingly impossible garage, helped in shop, BBQ'd, offered bourbon when we really needed it.

Tracie.  Our real estate professional.  Bless her heart she worked so hard to get our house sold and worried about us so much.  Helped pack, clean, carried boxes, cooked us cheesy potatoes that were just too good.  Always there to support us through the ups and downs (those were the hard times for sure).  But we survived and appreciate all you did to help us.

Melody, Jim, Josh and Jay - helped us at the last minute and came swooping in to move our bigger furniture.  They made it look so easy.  When we're back to Boise I will make a dinner with a big, yummy cake for Jim.  You guys were awesome and we appreciate your last minute assistance.

We had lots of help from our young hired helper.  Jake has been with us for awhile - taking over for his brother Josh, who helped us for a year.  Jake/Josh helped us paint, sand, weeded, carried, and just did all kinds of chores for us.  We think the world of these two great young men.

Now Cameron.  Just thinking about what this young guy has done for us makes me tear up.  Cameron is, in our opinion, a one in a million kid.   He has painted, carried wood, helped us for hours and hours with our garage sale, made us laugh, gone to the dump several times with John, along with the auction, Goodwill.  Packed our truck, packed our trailer, unpacked same;  packed his own (Dad's) truck and unpacked it.  Been a happy and wonderful spirit and he will not take a penny for all this work.  He said he will use it for volunteer credit for Honor Student.  Well we will think of something grand to do to reward him -- but we love and appreciate all he did to help us.

All these people have given so much to help us live our dream.  John and I may be only children, but everyone mentioned above to us is family and we hope we can return the favor in some way in the future.  Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Friends

John and I could never have made this move without the help of dear friends.  How truly blessed we are and huge thank yous to:

Cathy - the wonderful luau Bon Voyage party that was so lovely, giving us plenty of pre-move food to have so we did not starve, bringing boxes, cleaning, packing, moral support and even a little lecture that I needed when I got tired and a little mean.  And Cath took our little dog Cori, who she loves -- and Cori feels the same about Cath.  I do think he will probably gain weight from treats, but he will be so happy there.  He even has 3 kitty cats to play with.

Steve has got to be second because he was so kind to take all our extra (probably 50) extension cords........bless his heart and he even had to hide then.  I'm afraid he has turned into a hoarder.  He helped us haul trash, motivate, dig into a seemingly impossible garage, helped in shop, BBQ'd, offered bourbon when we really needed it.

Tracie.  Our real estate professional.  Bless her heart she worked so hard to get our house sold and worried about us so much.  Helped pack, clean, carried boxes, cooked us cheesy potatoes that were just too good.  Always there to support us through the ups and downs (those were the hard times for sure).  But we survived and appreciate all you did to help us.

Melody, Jim, Josh and Jay - helped us at the last minute and came swooping in to move our bigger furniture.  They made it look so easy.  When we're back to Boise I will make a dinner with a big, yummy cake for Jim.  You guys were awesome and we appreciate your last minute assistance.

We had lots of help from our young hired helper.  Jake has been with us for awhile - taking over for his brother Josh, who helped us for a year.  Jake/Josh helped us paint, sand, weeded, carried, and just did all kinds of chores for us.  We think the world of these two great young men.

Now Cameron.  Just thinking about what this young guy has done for us makes me tear up.  Cameron is, in our opinion, a one in a million kid.   He has painted, carried wood, helped us for hours and hours with our garage sale, made us laugh, gone to the dump several times with John, along with the auction, Goodwill.  Packed our truck, packed our trailer, unpacked same;  packed his own (Dad's) truck and unpacked it.  Been a happy and wonderful spirit and he will not take a penny for all this work.  He said he will use it for volunteer credit for Honor Student.  Well we will think of something grand to do to reward him -- but we love and appreciate all he did to help us.

All these people have given so much to help us live our dream.  John and I may be only children, but everyone mentioned above to us is family and we hope we can return the favor in some way in the future.  Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Learning something new

I can't believe I just wrote a huge, and I mean huge, thank you blog ..........then I hit the back arrow and my writing was gone.  I'm taking this as a learning experience.  I will remember not to hit the back arrow, I will remember not to hit the back arrow..............

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Moving junk around the house and hopefully moving forward

A Saturday, hired a kiddo to help us carry stuff downstairs.  This is accumulated stuff from around the house -- a portion.  Now I still have to go through it, but it is downstairs.  We're having a Valentine's Day party, so time to clean up.

We've been working in our "computer room."  Taking down wallpaper, sanding seams and hopefully we can paint without any problems - doubtful.  John has painted all the hall walls, and he is also cutting and painting floor moulding.  This is pure joy to even think about having floor moulding.  John partially put in our floor in 1999, and in the middle had his first heart attack.  We had to hire someone to finish the floor, but we opted to do our own moulding.  Little did I know it would take about 12 years!!! 

I just must remember - we are making progress.

Last weekend we went down to our local auction to just check it out.  It was our first time there and we were thinking about putting some "stuff" in in.  After having 2 garage sales last summer, giving away free stuff, selling tons of stuff on Craig's list (a great help to us and free) -- we are now to the point of auction.  We have about 10 boxes of stuff down there today.  Nothing really valuable, but I guess we will make a few bucks.  This morning - first thing, John took a truck load of more stuff to Idaho Youth Ranch as donations.  We're still not done yet.  How in the world did we get all this?  We must have worked very hard because it is hard getting it gone and downsizing.

So the plan is:  finish hall.  Go into living room and get new fireplace insert, paint and that is done.  Then hire someone to put in new shower for our master bathroom; vanity, toilet and John can do his great tile work.  Then main bathroom, new bath/shower, vanity, toilet and John can do his magic (beautiful) tile.  Get horrid wallpaper off our bedroom walls, paint.  Then a full house carpet and the upstairs is done.

Then there is the downstairs.......................so we do have some work ahead of us, but we are getting there.

Moving junk around the house and hopefully moving forward

A Saturday, hired a kiddo to help us carry stuff downstairs.  This is accumulated stuff from around the house -- a portion.  Now I still have to go through it, but it is downstairs.  We're having a Valentine's Day party, so time to clean up.

We've been working in our "computer room."  Taking down wallpaper, sanding seams and hopefully we can paint without any problems - doubtful.  John has painted all the hall walls, and he is also cutting and painting floor moulding.  This is pure joy to even think about having floor moulding.  John partially put in our floor in 1999, and in the middle had his first heart attack.  We had to hire someone to finish the floor, but we opted to do our own moulding.  Little did I know it would take about 12 years!!! 

I just must remember - we are making progress.

Last weekend we went down to our local auction to just check it out.  It was our first time there and we were thinking about putting some "stuff" in in.  After having 2 garage sales last summer, giving away free stuff, selling tons of stuff on Craig's list (a great help to us and free) -- we are now to the point of auction.  We have about 10 boxes of stuff down there today.  Nothing really valuable, but I guess we will make a few bucks.  This morning - first thing, John took a truck load of more stuff to Idaho Youth Ranch as donations.  We're still not done yet.  How in the world did we get all this?  We must have worked very hard because it is hard getting it gone and downsizing.

So the plan is:  finish hall.  Go into living room and get new fireplace insert, paint and that is done.  Then hire someone to put in new shower for our master bathroom; vanity, toilet and John can do his great tile work.  Then main bathroom, new bath/shower, vanity, toilet and John can do his magic (beautiful) tile.  Get horrid wallpaper off our bedroom walls, paint.  Then a full house carpet and the upstairs is done.

Then there is the downstairs.......................so we do have some work ahead of us, but we are getting there.