After an uneventful drive 10 hours northeast into Central Oregon, we arrived in Bend shortly before dinnertime on July 1st. Chris and a local college kid unloaded the entire U-Haul truck in less than an hour (thanks Chris!), while Sharmaine, Grammie and the boys arrived and got the Pilot cleared out from our trip.
We arrived home from our zombie shopping trip to find the entire kitchen unpacked by one amazingly tireless Grammie and two very tired, but excited boys. Piece of advice: always bring along an excited, hard-working grandparent (if you have one available to you) on these great life adventures and transitions. The extra set of hands and the encouragement goes a long way. Thanks Mom! We couldn't have accomplished all of this without you!
On day 2, we hooked up with a local contractor who showed up at 9:00 a.m. in the morning to begin repainting some of the rooms in the house. The last owners had a particular fondness for very dramatic, intense colors. Can you say midnight blue, crushed grape and Halloween pumpkin orange? The intrepid contractor painted around boxes, suitcases and two very antsy nine year olds who at times wanted to paint or at least to remove his prep tape and drop cloths. The familiar refrain of "Are we there yet?" morphed into the "Is it dry yet?" Hey Spencer, I think the answer is "No" when you can drag your thumb down the wall and come up with a thumbprint full of green paint (boys' choice for "their" room).
In typical Sharmaine and Chris frenzy fashion, we weren't satisfied just to arrive on a beautiful, balmy Oregon evening and walk over the footbridge across the Deschutes River to visit the local Bend Farmers Market. After a quick dinner dinner, we sprinted out the door, climbed into the big U-Haul truck and headed out to a local bed store, Costco and Target to buy as many things we needed in a 90 minute period.
Let's just say that shopping after a 10 hour drive and very little sleep is not the best idea. We ended up with an electric dryer for our laundry room which needs a gas model and other things that looked good in the stores but didn't really fit the bill when we got home. At one point during the shopping trip, Chris and I were in a near trance in the bedding aisle at Target looking for bed linens. Like a seasoned game show hostess, Chris showed me numerous duvets while I nearly fell asleep on the dust ruffle shelf unable to decide which I liked. As he reminded me and the boys later, he didn't even know about duvets until he met me. My, how far he has come!
We arrived home from our zombie shopping trip to find the entire kitchen unpacked by one amazingly tireless Grammie and two very tired, but excited boys. Piece of advice: always bring along an excited, hard-working grandparent (if you have one available to you) on these great life adventures and transitions. The extra set of hands and the encouragement goes a long way. Thanks Mom! We couldn't have accomplished all of this without you!
On day 2, we hooked up with a local contractor who showed up at 9:00 a.m. in the morning to begin repainting some of the rooms in the house. The last owners had a particular fondness for very dramatic, intense colors. Can you say midnight blue, crushed grape and Halloween pumpkin orange? The intrepid contractor painted around boxes, suitcases and two very antsy nine year olds who at times wanted to paint or at least to remove his prep tape and drop cloths. The familiar refrain of "Are we there yet?" morphed into the "Is it dry yet?" Hey Spencer, I think the answer is "No" when you can drag your thumb down the wall and come up with a thumbprint full of green paint (boys' choice for "their" room).This is the beginning of Day 3 and already at 11:11 a.m. Chris is off to the dump with tons of trash and the many "gifts" left behind by the last tenants including a huge 50 lb snow tire for a monster truck. The painter is painting away happily, the boys are reading (a bit under protest), Grammie is sleeping and Sharmaine is typing away on the laptop, a familiar activity no matter which state or country she finds herself in each day.
Check back soon for another update, more of our "after" pictures of the house (check out the boys lounging on the sectional in the freshly painted main room) and the story of our first July 4th celebration in Bend. We're waiting to see if the local firefighters set the Pilot Butte on fire during the annual fireworks show. Locals tell us that the annual "accidental" fire ends the celebration each year. We're looking forward to the burning mountain and much more excitement in the next few days!
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