Breathing easier

Well, I feel better on a few fronts.

First off, I can actually breathe without coughing up a lung..most of the time. Bronchitis is subsiding. I guess I got the good meds.

Next, the house is officially in escrow. Things do not move very swiftly up here sometimes. We call those moments Pacific Northwest time. The papers were supposed to get to the escrow company on Monday. We had no confirmation on that on Monday. On Tuesday, I ran down to the company to bring our check for the earnest money. The contract said that it had to be deposited within two working days from the signing of the contract. I went in and …. they had no idea what I was talking about! UGH! I had already contacted our agents and they said that there was some sort of hold up on signatures. Why the weekend was not enough time to get that straightened, I don’t know. Our agent had said that I could bring the check in yesterday afternoon and that it should be fine. Well, life was busy and I didn’t get a chance until this afternoon. When I went, the lady took the check and said, “Oh I know this one. I just put it in the computer five minutes ago.” PNW TIME! Glad I didn’t go any earlier.

Lastly, I haven’t mentioned it because it was just a HUGE source of frustration for me. I lost some very important keys in the move. When packing, I set the keys aside and put them in a bag that was going in the car on the drive. Once here, I prepared for the movers to come. Not wanting to tempt anyone into taking and using the keys, I put them in a “safe place”. Well for about two months now I have been racking my brain as to where that safe place was! I have agonized, which only made it impossible to remember. What do these keys go to? Well, two of them are to two of our safes. The safes contain…oh, I don’t know…the pink slips for our cars, so we haven’t been able to register them. Tax information that we need to complete the paperwork for our loan. Our passports! Birth certificates!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! It was too much pressure and I just could not visualize what I did with the darn keys. The only thing I could come up with was that it was somewhere near the master closet or possibly the laundry closet. I searched both areas at least twice, but I was still feeling like it was a place near the master closet. Today, I was doing a little cleaning and was a little bored. I found my mind wandering back to the plaguing question of where the keys were. This time I was trying to visualize what was in the closet when the movers came. In a moment of inspiration, it came to me. I had put my purse on the top shelf of the closet to keep it out of sight. OMG! Could that be it???? With soapy hands I ran to my purse and started dumping everything out. Nothing….but then I felt a series of lumps in the lining. Apparently, I had put them in a small pocket that I never use. TAH-DAH! (Doing the happy dance!) I found the keys! Whoo-hoo!

Now I am hoping that the good vibes flow on and into Friday. We have our first inspection. It would be very nice if nothing unexpected comes up.

New experiences

Today K started her homesteading class. She was pretty excited. They were going to walk to the nature preserve to do some activities. It is lightly raining, but that didn’t seem to be stopping anyone.

Later this afternoon, K is starting another class as well. It is a fuse glass class. Fuse glass is taking pieces of glass, arranging them (sometimes in a mold), and melting them in a kiln. I am hoping to be able to sit in on that class to learn how it all works.

Later this week, K is starting yet a third class that will be going for a couple months. I am thinking that this one will be very interesting for her. It is a jewelry and metalsmithing class. I don’t know what the projects will exactly be, but the point is to learn how jewelry is made and practice making some.

I kind of figure that she may not become a homesteader, an artist, or jewelry maker, but she will learn some skills and have some experiences that most people don’t usually get an opportunity to have. Who knows, maybe she will learn something that she will become passionate about and lead to a life long career, or at least a hobby that will give her pleasure.

This weekend

This weekend was spent happily NOT house hunting. Besides visiting the doctor, we also went to Home Depot to pick out paint colors and look for other items. We also went looking for some furniture, mainly a bed frame for Mark and I. After visiting all sorts of stores, I think we have decided to go with an unfinished wood headboard. It was a lot of driving to come to the conclusion, but live and learn.

One place that was quite interesting was City Liquidators. It is in an old building in downtown. They have 3 stories. The first story is basically odds and ends of household goods. The second and third floors were filled to the brim with antiques, new, and odds and ends of furniture. It was potentially a treasure trove of unique furniture finds. Every corner was stuffed. Some things were what you would expect in a traditional store, but some things were strange like ancient dentist chairs or a contraption that looked like it was to curl hair. The contraption had metal clips strung up from a large metal cap with springs and I (fearfully) assume that it gets plugged into an electrical outlet. AHHHH!!! Anyone coming to visit that wants to find some interesting piece of furniture, should visit this place!

Well, we are all pretty giddy around here (especially those not on cough meds w/codine). Escrow officially starts tomorrow, but all sorts of plans are in the works….at least in dream form. We don’t want to get too far ahead because we still have inspections to get through. We also have additional research to do on the tax deferral, septic, etc with the county. In starting our research, Mark and I confirmed that the house was in an unincorporated part of Oregon City. Then we found out that it is “Oregon City” only from the standpoint of the post office and that it is part of the Hamlet of Beavercreek. So mail would have to be addressed to us with the label of Oregon City, but really we will be living in Beavercreek. OMG! I get to live in a Hamlet!!! How cool is that??? In a forest…that I own….with a view of Mount Hood!! PINCH ME!!!!! This cannot be real. It will be interesting over the next few weeks. Crossing everything I have that it all goes smoothly.

Catching up

I went to the doctor yesterday and got all the good meds, so I am on the mend. Final diagnosis was bronchitis.

Backing up a bit, Friday, K and I went on a tour of Franz Bakery. This is another one of those places that you smell before you get there…and it smells GOOOOD! Inside it was even better. We started out by getting a history of the company which starts with immigrants coming from Austria and learning baking from bakers in Portland. Eventually, in 1906 Franz Bakery was opened. They currently make the breads for most every fast food chain in the Pacific Northwest – Arby’s, Wendy’s, Quiznos, and a bunch more than I can think of right now. They also make their own line of breads, rolls, and cookies. One nice thing to hear is that Franz donates fresh bread to any food bank that requests them to.

The tour went deep into the factory. One of the most impressive stations was the dough mixer. Prior to the dough being formed, from a building across the street, air is blown to send hundeds of pounds of flour though pipes going under the street and into the mixing room. We watched as a HUGE vat of dough was being kneaded. When I say vat I mean a container that was size of the back of a big pick up truck. As it mixed, it thumped with a deafening thudding. Each batch starts with the same “sponge” and then the recipe is changed for all the various restaurants.

Then we moved to the proofing room. In this stage, the dough is cut, shaped, and then it rises. Thousands of buns moved through a mile of stacked trays moving slowly towards the ovens. Nearly everything in the process is automated.

The ovens were long and have a slow train of containers being pulled through holding the buns. It only takes eight minutes for each bun to be baked. From the ovens the buns travel on the “bun highway” to the packaging area. Again, it is all automated.

At the end of the tour we ate bread w/butter and juice. Then they sent us home with loaves of bread, cookies, and all sorts of goodies. From there we went to the bakery outlet. K was given more cookies and we got some rolls and english muffins for pennies. On the way out the door there, they gave us more free bread…. NEEDLESS to say, we have more bread than we can probably eat. Okay, truth is that we are nearly halfway though the bread. K and Mark had bread buffets at breakfast both days this weekend. We love our bread.

Not to be cruel, but…

[Mark Speaking] I hate to do this to you, but this is my future view while sitting on my living room couch and looking out the window:

View from Living Room.

And a closer picture of the same view:

Closeup of View.

View from the front yard.

Are you ready to come and visit for a while?  We will actually have two guest bedrooms available.  Better book early, dates are filling up fast.  Bookings available after approximately May 1st (depending on escrow closing date).

We just discovered that the property is technically in the “Hamlet of Beavercreek”, population about 6,500.  Soon to be 6,503.

M

And the verdict is….

Offer from us…offer from a 2nd party (oh no!)…..counter offer to us….and acceptance! As soon as we deliver the signed agreement, we are in escrow! Celebration! We still have to get through inspections, but we’re on the right track.

Unfortuntately, I’m not feeling too well. Cold – bleh! I have more to say on our day today, but it will have to wait until I can get a little rest.

Candy for breakfast

This morning, K and I went on a field trip to the Candy Basket candy factory. Upon entering, we were greeted by a giant chocolate waterfall – not quite Willy Wonka size, but good enough. We walked around the shop – K making purchasing plans throughout. If she had had her way, everyone we know would have had a lifetime supply of candy. Then we started the tour out by sanitizing our hands and wearing the most fashionable (NOT!) hair nets. Heading back to the factory floor, everyone was hit by the strongest smells of chocolate, sugar, and huckleberries (they were making some huckleberry truffles).

The first station we visited had chocolate Easter bunnies being made. Each mold was hand filled by a chocolatier. What is unique about the Candy Basket, they do not make hollow bunnies and they make some HUGE bunnies. I think the largest was 10 to 20 pounds of chocolate. Even the smallest ones felt hefty. Each and everyone is hand filled and vibrated on a table to get out any air bubbles. The process was incredibly slower than I pictured because they are a big mail order business as well as a supplier to different stores.

Next we moved onto the foil wrapping section. Every one of their molded chocolates is wrapped by hand by one little woman. She patiently sits all day making sure that all the details of each mold appears though the shiny foil. Some of the chocolates are highly detailed and 3 dimensional. She really works her patootie off. While we were standing there, she was working on a special order from Mercedes. They were 4 inch medalions with their emblem. Each one was round making it hard enough to wrap neatly and then she had to rub them down to get the details to show through. She also showed the kids regular chocolate bars.

The next room was the kitchen room where they were making taffy and fudge. We watched as over a hundred and thirty pounds of taffy was put on a pulling machine and color and flavor was mixed in. There were about 20 tables of taffy around the room in various stages. Some were getting stripes and details, some were waiting to be pulled, and others were being mixed. After the load was pulled, we followed it to the cutting and wrapping machine.

The machines that finished off the taffy are from the 1800’s and the mechanic that works on them, keeping them in working order, is third generation. His father and grandfather kept these exact machines running for their entire professional careers! All the machines are vintage because they are considered to be the best for this company and allows them to be highly involved in the process rather than complete automation.

The taffy was loaded into the huge machine and was quickly formed into a large log. Then, while it was rolling, the technician pulled the end making it into a rope that was fed into the cutter. It both cut and wrapped each piece. We watched the pieces tumble into a tub and then our guide brought over the fresh pieces for us to sample, not the first of the tour, not the last. It was cooled, but so soft it practically melted in your mouth – no dental fears in eating these pieces! We tried cotton candy and buttered rum flavors and then moved on.

Next, we came to the enrobing machine where they cover candies in chocolate. They were making chocolate truffles. I normally don’t like chocolate chocolate truffles, but these were more like Three Musketeer bites and were not sickeningly sweet. We watched as they made the candies like the I Love Lucy episode, though no one was rushing nor stuffing their mouths…well, except those of us on the tour! We ended the tour by eating more chocolates and getting more taffy pieces. K enjoyed some chocolate covered gummy bears, but I drrew the line there…yuck!

Finally, we raided the store and left on a sugar high… yum!

Perhaps…..

House is big enough to have guests comfortably – 2 stories with a daylight, walkout basement, and 6.58 Acres of forest and meadows.

Sits back about 500 feet from the road and property extends about 500 feet from the back of the house.

Front of the House.

Private road to the house.

Front yard.

Downstairs rec room.

View out of Kid's Bedroom

View from Master Bedroom Deck.

Treehouse

In the backyard looking up at the house.

Could be a really good day

Take my “Good Day” post and add in about six deer at sunset. That was yesterday. Today… the negotiations begin. More pictures to come.

Good day

😀

Need I say more?