Mom and Pam Visited Oregon
I can't describe how happy I was to have these two wonderful women here for a week. They visited the first week in October and did a little of everything Eugene/Springfield has to offer: eating out, shopping, bowling, exploring the mountains, visiting the coast, packing, hanging out, and the list goes on and on. We celebrated Pam's birthday at the Timber Bowl then Falling Sky Brew Pub and four days later celebrated Cliff's birthday at the Falling Sky Deli. I sadly wasn't able to take more than one day off from work but that ended up ok. Mom and Pam explored during the day and we hung out at night. On the weekend, we went to Saturday Market, drove up 126, had a picnic lunch after wine tasting at Sweet Cheeks Winery, thrift shopped, ate, and generally tried to do it all. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown the whole time due to the next event to be outlined and they helped to keep me sane, laughing, and well fed. I love them and can't wait for them to come back.
We Bought A House!
That's right, we not only moved but moved into something we now own. AH! We had been looking at houses for a few months and had just about given up (seriously, we had to come to terms with throwing in the towel for another year when we found the one). After seeing 50+ homes, we walked into an old homestead house in the Washburn and fell in love. It honestly felt like our house the moment we stepped in the door. The next day we put in an offer, two days later accepted a counter offer, three days later visited a mortgage broker, had an inspection, appraisal, and finally signed papers. The whole time we were holding our breath and trying not to get excited as we know things go wrong with buying houses all the time. We tried to keep a level, non-emotional head. The whole whirlwind process took less than a month. I discovered something about myself through this process. Apparently my body shuts down and sleeps when I am that overwhelmed. Seriously. We would meet with our real estate agent or mortgage broker and afterwards I would go home, stuff my face with something in our cabinets and then fall asleep to be dead to the world until the next day. I did this several times a week! I was not a good partner to Cliff in late September/early October as I was asleep for most of it. Thankfully we are past that now. We signed the papers on Cliff's birthday and moved in four days later with the help of amazing friends.
The date on the house says 1905 but the paperwork at the City actually dates it to 1890. The home was once used as as a residence for mill workers and then a barber. We are only the fourth owners of the home. The lovely woman we bought the house from had lived here for over 35 years and did an amazing job keeping this old house in wonderful shape. We are so incredibly lucky.
This is all you get photo and description wise as there will be more to come in the upcoming weeks. We are 100% unpacked but only about 70% moved in. When you go from a tiny cottage to a three bedroom house there are lots of opportunities for more furniture. We are heading to Ikea next week to hopefully acquire a few last items that will complete the picture (rug, chair, bookshelf, etc.) Then we will post more photos and stories.
Events at Work
Between October 12th and October 25th at work we had a first time community event, two park grand openings, a day long service project for staff and volunteers, and a major three day event. Did I mention this was as we were moving into the house and trying to get out of the cottage? Did I mention that my boss went into labor the morning of the major three day event making me the new interim Special Events Supervisor until March? Did I mention that I love these events and that I was having a really hard time balancing my time between work, moving into a new house, and actually being a person? To top it all off, the weekend of the 25th I had a multi-day Board retreat for an organization that I am a part of up the coast. Crazy. I'm so thankful to be on the backend of the stress filled two weeks.
Cliff and I Celebrated 5 Years and I Paddled In A Pumpkin
On October 19th, Cliff and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Time flies by! To celebrate, Cliff was amazing as we left our new house filled with boxes to drive up to Tualatin, Oregon so that I could participate in the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta. I lucked out back in March as I met the organizer and they let me take one of the spots for the event and since then I have been telling everyone I could about it. I love pumpkins. I love fall. I love events. I love my supportive husband. This is everything I love wrapped up into one. You had to be dressed in costume so I bought a sexy bumble bee outfit from Value Village and like a sane person added black leggings and wool top to it. The sexy bumble bee costume turned into a rational, normal person bumble bee costume. I picked the outfit as it would allow me to be warm and swim with ease should I tip out of a 1,000 pound pumpkin in public.
We arrived in Tualatin, ate hotdogs and hamburgers, drank fresh cider, and ate apple cider donuts (you can't find those often out here in the PNW!). The event consisted of four heats: two were speed races and two were challenges. I was in the last challenge heat and was so nervous. By the time that I paddled to the starting line, the other paddlers told me that I needed a ball and a flag. What? So I paddled back and minutes later was given the items but not a description of what they were for. As I paddled back to the starting line my mind was so focused on not tipping out or throwing up because of excitement that I missed the instructions on what we were supposed to do. Whoops. No worries as I kinda watched what others were doing and tried to follow. I understood the rules to be take the ball and keep it in front of you as you paddle around a bouy in the middle of the lake. To do this I would throw the ball for a bit, pick it up, throw it a little further, move it forward with my paddle a bit, throw it again, repeat. I didn't come in first and I didn't come in last. Just what I wanted. It was amazing. I was like smiley, dopey idiot happily paddling around in the middle of a lake. When I got out, Cliff met me at the finish line and laughingly said "I like how you decided to cheat the whole way." "What?!? I didn't cheat!" is that my brain was yelling. Cliff informed me that the rules were announced that once we did the initial throw we were not allowed to pick up the ball again until after we passed the finish line. We were to juggle it with out paddle the whole way. Get out?!? I was mortified and felt really bad. I don't like to be a cheater. It took a little of the victory out of my step. I felt so bad that I hunted down the event organizer (who so kindly gave me the opportunity) to apologize for my rude interpretation of the game. He laughed and said it was totally good. He in fact had not even noticed. Whew. Kathy and Jill, the wonderful friends that they are, drove down to cheer me on. We hung out for a bit then we all went our separate ways. Cliff and I topped off the evening with dinner at the Urban Hopworks pub in Portland for their happy hour and then returned home. We ended the day with a 44oz Sonic chocolate banana milkshake. It was an amazing Saturday and a pretty fun way to spend an anniversary. For the next one, I need to support Cliff as he geeks out and gets to do something fun. I'm a lucky gal.
October was crazy but really wonderful. In addition to the events listed above we also got to spend a morning with the amazing Katie (Schumm) McFaddin as she was in from Boston. It was only an hour or so but it was so great to catch up! We also celebrated our first Halloween in the house. We have never had trick or treaters at our previous places but this year we had about 70. It was interesting. All in all, I'm thankful that I kept my sanity.
