Category Archives: Moving

Looking Back Seventy Two Years…

Some thoughts and collages looking back on my Seventy Second Birthday.

Lived in proximity to the Pacific Ocean for 72 years anywhere from a couple miles away to now over 400 miles away. I’m a West Coast Girl.

A city girl for 67 years.

A born again believer in Jesus Christ for 60 years.

Sadie Sadie married lady for 48 years.

A most thankful mom for 44 years.

A grateful grandmother for 6 years.

A country gal for 4-1/2 years.

Thanking the LORD for His steadfast love to me and my family. The best eternal gift I have received is my redemption with so many added blessings through the years some in the form of trials. Many sweet earthly gifts, too. Pressing on and looking to my future hope.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever, Amen.” Jude 1:24

We had a lot of rain on Monday and today we might get some sunshine breaking through. That will be nice for our day in Spokane for shopping and eating at a new spot to us.

Moving Up Hodgepodge

My parents, sister and nieces were some of the first visitors we had in Washington State after our move in 1988.

Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for coming up with the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions each week.

1. Something you’ve seen recently that’s ‘cuter than a June bug’?

Our little grands wrapped up like burritos.

2. Tell us something about where you were and what you were doing in June of 1988? If you weren’t born yet, June of 1998. Or if that doesn’t work, June of 2008. 

In June of 1988 we were getting ready for a major move from Ventura, California to Bothell, Washington. A huge life change for all of us. We were packing up our stuff and all of my mother-in-law’s stuff as she was moving up with us. Dear was accepted to the University of Washington to study and pursue a new career as a Pharmacist. Our kids were 9, 7 and 2-1/2. Dear had been working as a Frontend Loader operator in a quarry before he was encouraged to pursue this new career. We are thankful to God for all this decision afforded our family. It was a wonderful choice all around and we never regretted it. Our kids got a whole new education in moving from Southern California to a state with 4 distinct seasons! Experiencing snow right in our front yard was such a treat for these three!

3. A place in your home or outdoor space where you feel ‘snug as a bug in a rug’? 

Inside it has to be my bed and especially when there are no big plans for the following day. Outside my snug as a bug in a rug spot is on my riding lawnmower with my headphones listening to my favorite preacher.

4. June is National Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Month. 

Do you normally get your 4-5 servings each day?

To get 4-5 servings per day we’d need to buy those green and red bottles of processed vegetables and fruits.

What’s a favorite summer dish you make/serve/like to be served-ha! made with one of your favorite summer fruits.

My favorite summer fruit are nectarines and I like them just as they are. I’d like to be served a fresh peach pie with flaky crust please.

A favorite summer dish made with a favorite summer veg?

Corn on the Cob!

How do you feel about cooking in the summer months? 

I feel Dear should do the majority of cooking outside on his Traeger in the summer months.

5. Do you have a summer reading list? If so share a title or two we can add to our own. 

I do not have a summer reading list. I read the Bible everyday and some of Spurgeon’s writings, too. If I was going to have a summer reading list I’d re-read some books by Elizabeth Goudge like The Dean’s Watch.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had my initial appointment with the surgeon for my cataract surgery and I’ll know some dates as soon as the surgery scheduling people call me. The decision I need to make is whether I want the monofocal fix, that Medicare covers, or the multiple corrective zones. We’d have to put up some big bucks for the full meal deal but we are leaning that way after talking with people who didn’t make that choice and regret it.

She’s Baaack~ Wednesday Hodgepodge

Thank you Joyce for bringing Hodgepodge back!

1. Howdy Hodgepodgers. It’s kind of fun to be back, isn’t it?  Last time we met was September, 2018. Tell me something big-important-happy-or sad that’s happened in your life since that date. Just one thing. We don’t know how long this current isolation situation is going to last and we might need to dole out our news bit by bit.

Has it really been that long!? Well I will start with September of 2018. The major thing that happened on September 11, 2018 was becoming owners of our country bungalow and moving from the big city to the wide open country. We used a container company to move most of our stuff (3 containers full) and we hauled other things across the mountains in our vehicles and a trailer. 

So thankful for our helpers! We couldn’t have done it without them!

2. Might as well get this out of the way early on…COVID-19. On a scale of 1-5 how serious are you about keeping your distance? Explain. fyi-I didn’t create the scale but have seen it several places online. Also fyi-we won’t only have virus related questions each week, but for this first one it feels right.

1-Not at all, living normally
2-Cautious but still going out
3-Going out as needed, mostly home or working from home, still seeing friends/family
4-Extremely limited, only going out when unavoidable, minimal contact with people
5-Full lockdown, no one in or out
This has changed just in the last week. Two weeks ago we were at #3. Today we are at #4. 
Granddaughter’s 3rd birthday party was cancelled this past weekend and our Coast kids were supposed to be on this side of the mountains for the party, etc. but they stayed home so the guest rooms are still clean and ready for them for whenever we are all free to be around each other again. Dear and I are in the “at risk” age group so our kids are feeling the responsibility of keeping us as safe as possible. Missing my hugs with our three year old granddaughter and almost one year old grandson! That’s the hardest thing.

3. Raise your hand if you think you might run out of steam in the cooking department before it’s all said and done? What’s something delcious you’ve cooked or eaten in your own kitchen in the past week?

We are really missing our regular visits to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Mexican food is my comfort food.

The most delicious thing was the corned beef and cabbage we had a week ago on St. Patrick’s day. Dear made the whole meal on the Traeger. The next night we used the leftover corned beef to make a grilled Reuben. Corned beef with sauerkraut, thousand Island dressing, Swiss cheese on rye bread grilled on the stove top…perfection! I should have taken a photo. 

4. What’s a television show or movie you’ve seen recently (it could be an oldie) that you really liked?

We so enjoy British Murder Mysteries. We have access to Brit Box, Amazon Prime, and Acorn besides Netflix. The only problem is that we live in the country and all of our services come via satellite so streaming is sketchy a lot of the time. There are some days that we cannot stream any of these shows because of broadband issues. But here’s what we like.

Vera, Endeavour, Father Brown, Midsomer Murders, Shetland, Morse, Detective Lewis, Call the Midwife, Silent Witness, The Crown, Great British Baking Show, to name a few. We are waiting for our Broadband to get better so we can watch The English Game on Netflix.

5. Share something funny you’ve seen or heard this week.

There are so many creative memes/Gifs showing up on Facebook that have been hilarious and have made me laugh.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This is one of my prayers for this time we are in:

 Lord, make us strong and courageous like Joshua and obedient and faithful like Daniel. Help us not to fear and keep us from being paralyzed by anxiety. Help us to always look to the rock of our faith, Jesus, who suffered the cross on our behalf and lives to intercede for us. Continue to draw and save people for your kingdom. May they know they are lost and need you today. Help them not to wait but to respond to your call to be saved. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Thank you again Joyce for reviving the Hodgepodge. Click on Hodgepodge to see more posts! I’ll add the direct link on Wednesday.

Welcome

The welcome sign is something I purchased that found it’s place on our detached garage/shop. The rest of these photos are scenes we see driving into Colville or Kettle Falls. Welcome to my country life. We are slowly but surely settling in and soon I’ll be able to share indoor photos since we are finally finding the time to hang our art work. On Sunday evening we were together with our family and our DIL’s family for the grandbaby gender reveal. As soon as our kids announce the gender of our new grandbaby on social media, I’ll share that news on my blog.

We have some good family times planned for this week so I’ll be scarce again.

Crowned

Addy received some princess dress up items from her Auntie Laura and I was with her when the items were opened for the first time. She chose this crown for me to put on my head and since that first wearing of the crown she’s deemed it Baba’s crown. We put our crowns on and then I am directed by her to take her to the bathroom mirror to have a look. She has two others that she will wear. Soon her throne will be disturbed with the addition of a brother or sister. We will find out on Sunday evening if we are adding another granddaughter or a grandson to our family. The whole family will be together since Josh, Laura, Katie and Andrew are driving over the mountains for our 2nd annual family hunting time and Jamie’s family are invited over for the reveal, also.

I’m still considering a name for our new space…maybe our country bungalow although we don’t have a broad porch but some of the other requirements are met to call it a bungalow.

17 more cardboard boxes left to empty and 2 large bins with photo albums. We finally caved and ordered the parts to put together our three bookcases since we still have not found the original hardware that we put in a logical spot that has turned out to be not so very logical at all. In the future when we finally come across those parts we will have a good laugh.

Here I am with another crown with those bookcases in the background. This time around those bookcases will be in the office here at the bungalow so they will be filled from top to bottom with books and no tchotchkes.

Happy Friday y’all.

Hello October…

The Fall colors are showing nicely all around us.

Slowly but surely the boxes are getting emptied. We’ve made a trip to Habitat for Humanity with a load of stuff. We are replacing a lot of the indoor lighting with more efficient lighting options. Today Dear coiled and stored many of the outdoor hoses. There are probably 16 different hoses to reach the vegetation on our property. Spring and Summer of 2019 will be a learning experience for us. Fall and Winter should take care of itself as far as vegetation goes. We’ll need to figure out our snow plowing/clearing options.

Did I mention we have a greenhouse and a pond? We enjoyed some tomatoes and cucumbers that were ready to harvest when we moved in. We also enjoyed some sweet and delicious corn on the cob right from our back acreage. We have just under 5 acres here. I was happy that Dear found my muck boots in one of the bins. They are a necessary item to muck about in. Now as far as the pond goes, that’s another learning curve. We’ll need to come up with some algae and mosquito abatement options come Spring.

But for now…I’ll concentrate on the boxes.

In October I’m turning to Colossians for my daily reading. So rich with so much to mull over. Hope October is full of good things for you.

Moving Notes…

One of the challenges of our move was this Chickering Baby Grand Piano that we have had in an airtight coffin in our old garage/shop structure for 20 years. We moved it with us because of our daughter’s memories associated with it of her and her “Gommy” (paternal grandmother). Dear’s mother was musically inclined and she taught our Katie on the piano in her early years. We loaded it into the container in Kenmore with 5+ and it was a struggle. It was the last thing left in the container here in Colville and our Colville son recruited 3 of his co-workers to help unload it on Tuesday evening. Dear researched the best way to deal with a Baby Grand and we were so happy to see it in it’s place with little struggle. So thankful for our son’s willing helpers and their strength to move this beast into our living room. We are also very thankful that our new living room has adequate space for this heirloom piece. Now all we need to do is to find a piano tuner in our little community.

We continue to unload boxes and find the best places for our many possessions. We take our cardboard to the community recycling center and we will be taking our garbage and other waste to the dump. It’s a whole new way of life for us here in the country and in a smaller community that we’ve ever lived in. Dear has changed out many lights in our new place and that has brought so much more efficient light into our home. I am so thankful for my Dear and all his handy man skills. Today I did some watering in our greenhouse and picked some tomatoes and in another garden bed picked some corn. I am not a gardener in any sense but hopefully I’ll learn some new skills or entice our daughter in law to use her amazing gardening skills here at our new spot. I need to come up with a name for this new home. Time will tell. Soon with all the boxes unloaded and broken down and hauled away I’ll be able to sit and enjoy the views and enjoy your posts. Although uploading and creating posts with satellite connections are slower I will be able to persevere and continue on. Thank you for bearing with me.

So Grateful…

…for our helpers.

We got to Colville on Sunday September 16th with a loaded truck, trailer and RAV. We unloaded some things at our new place and then headed to our son and dil’s to stay until our containers arrived and our internet was hooked up. Dear worked remotely from our kids’ home each morning of this first week.

Monday thru Thursday we cleaned and got things ready for our stuff. Dear has lots of painting to do but we will hold off on that for later.

The containers arrived on Wednesday September 19th. Laura, our dil, flew in on Wednesday and we enjoyed her company and Addy enjoyed some extra attention. Addy’s “dadin” (she calls her daddy dadin) was bow hunting in Colorado and she enjoyed the added family attention while he was away.

Our Satelite TV and Internet service was installed on Thursday September 20th. Because of sketchy cell phone service we ordered a booster which we will install soon.

We started unloading the first container in earnest on Friday September 21st. Our 18 month old grand loves to help and she lifted this light bin and moved it around. Our son Josh arrived on Friday and we enjoyed an extra pair of hands. Friday night was the first night we slept in our new home.

Katie and Andrew arrived late on Friday evening to Dan and Jamie’s and the whole crew came over early on Saturday to empty more of the containers.

Addy was still in her jammies and enjoyed her first breakfast at Baba and Gramps’ house.

Addy loves getting rides on the dolly.

We all laughed as Jamie did the boom box shuffle!

Dan arrived home from Colorado early on the morning of September 23 and after a couple hours of sleep came over to help, too.

Our DIL, Laura took these panoramic photos of the front and back of our property and the rest of these photos in her collage. Always a good feeling to have all the containers emptied, except for the baby grand piano. We are waiting for our son to recruit many more young men to unload it.

Our Sunday crew in our front yard. So grateful to God for each of them and their willingness to help us and grateful to God for his watch care over all of us!

Our internet is working with some cut outs and slow uploading but I’m so relieved that we can get a connection. We still have many boxes to unload and lots of organizing to do so my time remains scarce in blogdom. Hope to be back to more regular viewing soon.

Happy Fall y’all!

 

Flag is Up…

We had to buy a mailbox and attach it to an existing post so our mail could start being delivered. Our neighbor let us use part of a new board he attached to the existing cross piece. It was nice to meet him. All three of our Simple Box containers are being delivered today. Our kids are arriving this weekend to help us unload them. Soon I’ll be saying things like: “Why didn’t I get rid of that?”, “I can’t believe I bothered packing that”, “I was wondering where I packed that”, “Hello old friend”, “I don’t even fit in that anymore, why did I pack it?”, “Where in the world will we put that?” and last but not least, “I’m happy to have my stuff all in one place again”.

Thursday is internet hookup day. I will still be scarce for a while.

Rain…

…from the clouds and from my eyes.

30 years in Bothell/Kenmore. So many memories as we say our goodbye. This iconic sign used to be in another location and our family took a photo by it years ago before marriages and grandchildren. I’m going to track down that photo once we are unpacked to show the before and after. This week has been an emotional week for me. Tears come unexpectedly. We left early Sunday morning for good to Colville. More of our journey and new adventures coming soon. Thank you, thank you to all of my praying bloggy friends for upholding us in this new journey. I thank God for you!