Summer

It's only July (wait, ONLY July 1st....) and my last post was just a month ago. But it's already been a busy summer. I was afraid if I didn't take a moment and catch up, I would get too far behind.

So let's see, after our camping trip, May was pretty quiet. And then came June.......... the first weekend in June, we helped (our youngest) Darci moved into her very own apartment .... ummm room. She found a 130 sq foot apartment (yes, I did actually type 130 sq feet) down in a very trendy area of North Portland. She lives in a very old (historic registry old) hotel that has been converted into apartments...ummm rooms.

She bought a loft bed (yes, very smart) from where else -- IKEA --- so she still has all that room underneath (that's Jaime standing up after he put it together for her) for......stuff.

Just not alot of headroom.......... But if you look closely, that bar that's kinda in the center of the pic, to the left of the window, right beneath the bedframe? That's her closet..... Seriously.

But wait til you see the kitchen...

So there's room up top for a microwave (which she now has, courtesy of her very awesome parents), she has a 2 burner hot plate on the left, mini-fridge in the middle, and a small bar sink on the right. Not long after she moved in, she posted an instagram pic of her colander in her sink, and the colander was bigger than the sink!!! Seriously.

Oh, and did I mention mini-fridge???

 

Need I say more? I need not.....

And to make the apartment (room) complete, her shower (closet) is down the hall. Yep, down.the.hall. I think it was literally a closet.

She's still working full time, and attending P.S.U. She doesn't have a car (and if she did, she would probably have to park it 2 blocks away), but she lives just a few short blocks from the street car. She gets to ride the street car everyday. 

But seriously, it's all hers. She's living on her own, and paying her way.  The ultimate in being grown up & independent. Truth be told, we're a little jealous of her adventure!!

So June was also spent working on our bedroom. Ok, to back up a little. We moved out of our bedroom and into our family room so that we could begin "updating" it. Updating = new window, paint closet doors, remove popcorn ceiling (grrr), re-texture entire room, remove carpet-replace with laminate flooring, replace trim. whew.......

Truth be told, I had actually been working on it for a few months. Finally found my motivation, and the room was finally finished the 2nd weekend of June.

I think this was what I was most excited about. We pulled off the tracks, doors & all, and I spray painted those ugly gold mirrored closet doors. yipee!!!

And these are the pics that Kayleigh took once the room was finished.

 

And this was once we got our bed moved back in (thank you Pinterest).

 

Kayleigh took the pics because we were headed down to Roseburg for the weekend. Our youngest Oregon niece graduated high school (woo hoo). We made it down Saturday evening in time for her graduation party. Got to spend a nice evening with nieces and a nephew that we don't get to see very often. Then Sunday was church and graduation. And then we were back on the road home.

Then on the 12th, my mom arrived for a brief visit. Part of that visit included a trip to eastern Oregon the very next weekend to see (our oldest) Kayleigh graduate with her bachelors in Education. Not only does she have a diploma -- she already has a job !!!! I know, right??? She interviewed at a school district on the Oregon coast, and they offered her a position as a 5th grade teacher. She's super excited!! She & Chris have wanted to move to the coast for several years now. 

It should be an interesting adventure! They are going to sell their townhouse in Sandy and rent a place on the coast. Chris works a 3 day continuous shift as a deputy medical examiner for Clackamas County. So, he'll spend 3 days here (staying in a bachelor pad with a friend) and 4 days on the coast with Kayleigh. They'll try this out for a couple of years and then decide if they want to try to move to the coast permanently (meaning Chris will have to relocate and find a new job -- maybe a transfer) or if they want to move back to this area (and Kayleigh would look for a job here).

Totally random photo ---- I took this on the way home from eastern Oregon. The horses kept poking their heads out of the trailer. At any moment I expected to see their lips flapping --- like in that commercial !!!!

So, Mom would up her trip (literally) by putting an offer in on a house here in Gresham. It's part of her retirement plan. The real estate market is such that we thought it would be a really good time for her to buy a house. Wait any longer, and the prices will just increase. Until she's able / ready to move here (about 1.5 to 2 years), we'll play landlords and rent it out for her.

We finished up June with all things related to purchasing a house......

And now we're into July, which will prove to be even busier. The plan - "update" 2 remaining bedrooms (see definition above), paint kitchen, replace flooring in family room, paint exterior, replace roof and garage door. Oh, and I think there's some yard work to be done too....... You see, we are trying to get our house on the market by the 1st of August. Call me crazy, but instead of downsizing (like so many empty nesters in similar situations) we've decided to up-size!! Actually, we're really concerned about staying in our neighborhood for even another 5 years.

The first stop in our journey / adventure -- once Mom closes on her house, we're moving in!!! We hope it will help us get our "updating" completed much quicker if we don't have to keep moving our stuff from one room to the other.

So you can see, there's sure to be another update before the end of summer :-) and before we know it..... christmas !!!!