Sunday Lulu and I went out for our sushi lunch together. It was a rough second quarter in school with her choir teacher (I know...choir, don't get me started!). I promised Lulu that if she could keep it together and get an A in class, without giving the teacher a piece of her mind, I'd give her TWO sushi dates with me. One would be a lunch and the other a late dinner at her favorite spot that offers puddings for dessert.


We ventured downtown to our usual sushi haunt only to find the rice machine was down and they were waiting for a repair person. So we drove back over the river and stopped at the same chain in Lloyd Center. After parking, we discovered they were closed for the day! So, back in the car and off to where we'll return again in a month and a half for our late dinner. Lulu wants to go the Friday night after her play performance, which is also right after her birthday. She definitely earned both, so they're set on the calendar.

Here she is, enjoying her spoils. I got her on to California rolls a few sushi dates back. Score!

I did the research and knew what kind of stove we would replace Agatha with when the time came. It was ordered and delivered with extra days to spare (intentionally purchased that way) so we could prepare the area it would inhabit. Agatha was much larger than a traditional range (39 inches wide compared to 30 inches wide) so I knew there would be a decent gap to have to accommodate visually.

The easy fix was to replace the Agatha mosaic I had created in front of the stove and the sides, with the same mosaic tile we had used on the kitchen back splash. Except, as I learned, Home Depot now only sells it online instead of in stores. And I needed more, NOW. Their new offering, Treasure Trail, featured the same "rootbeer" tile as our back splash, but had opal tiles intermixed with it. It would have to do, the clock was ticking!

I bought 12 of those 12 x 12 mosaic tiles so I'd have enough to work with and didn't have to run back to Home Depot (using up more valuable time) and wouldn't you know, I end up using nearly every last one of them with one to spare! In the picture below, it doesn't look like they match-up well, color-wise, but trust me, they do.

But then when it came time to grout, my grout was a little too thin than it needed to be. UGH! In my defense, it had been 10 years or so since I'd last tiled and grouted anything. But, I made it work. It just took a bit longer to do so.

Or so I thought.

My grout, already softer after drying because it was unsanded, wasn't strong enough to even be grout and because of it's soupy consistency, crumbled out of my grout lines. (Sad face!)

But I found an article on fixing grouting errors and followed the instructions which included using a bamboo skewer to remove the crumbly grout. I vacuumed that up well, then sprayed the area I planned to re-fill with a mist of water, then re-grouted with a new batch of grout I had successfully mixed up. It was the consistency of thick but spreadable peanut butter, not really thinner cream soup as it had before!

My grout lines filled, smoothed and wiped, the grout looks A LOT BETTER than it did. Hurrah!

The next day, I mixed another couple batches of correct grout again and finally, after eight years, grouted the kitchen backsplash across from the stove and sink. I had loved the way the light reflected off the tiles without grout for years, but when you going to sell your house, you have to grout! It turned out pretty swell. The grout gods were definitely on my side that day...

But I now still had a 1/8 inch gap from where the mosaic tile joined the laminate flooring. We had put wooden transition molding around the new mosaic tile, but I even screwed that up by getting transition molding that was equal on each side. I needed one side sloped. Rats! But my fix was to get sanded silicone caulk that matched our grout color (Nutmeg).

Well that turned into an unforseen problem, too! Home Depot doesn't carry the Nutmeg color grout in their stores any longer, just like they don't carry my rootbeer mosaic tiles. But Amazon does and I was able to order a tube and have it delivered the next day.

Thanks, Amazon Prime!

I spent Friday morning taping out my floor and the kitchen backsplash with blue painters tape, and then wielding a caulking gun to apply a bead to all my edges, smooth it out with a wet finger, pull off the tape, clean it up, clean it up again. It's not for the faint of heart nor a week morning warrior. But, while I'm not quitting my day job (HA!) I think I did a pretty decent job knocking all this off the check list. We just need the house in attractive, sellable condition.

Next week, I pick up the custom hardwood transition to fill the gap between the new stove and the kitchen breakfast far. 

Stay tuned!

When we moved into our house we had been cooking on traditional ranges for our entire lives. And for one more year, before Agatha was installed. It's been 11 years of "alternative" cooking with her, and we're back to the traditional gas range and I have to relearn how to cook on one all over again. Agatha was always on and ready to go, so I never had to worry about "preheating" an oven. Cooking now involves lots of extra steps to create the same meals we used to eat before. Ugh! I have no patience for any of this, but I will find some.

If a stove had actual feelings, this one would be in serious therapy. None of us like it and vocalize that sentiment on a regular basis in front of it. Or, we talk about how much we miss Agatha and how we can't wait to get her up and running again once we get to Arizona, while in the kitchen. When I bang a spoon on the side of a pan, the whole stove gives me hollow echos. We never had that with Agatha. She was 900lbs of cast iron and stuffed with vermiculite and rock wool. I also have had pans be unwieldy atop of the burners and Eddie had a minor disaster trying to make popcorn last weekend.

To make matters worse, Lulu keeps forgetting to turn off the burner when she makes hot chocolate for herself before we leave for me to take her to school. I've come back home, after doing a couple errands, mind you, and there is the front left burner with a low blue flame going strong. Both times were within days of each other.

I've taken to making a sign for the back splash above the stove...We can all use the reminder!

Bean sewed up this lovely outfit for her favorite chicken, Beatrix! She's a regular chip off the old block. :)

I love her little ankle decorations!

Yesterday, January 23rd, marked the anniversary our first date.

It's been seventeen years since that first date. Eddie and I both had a "Whoa..." moment in the kitchen this morning.

Seventeen years is a long time.

"Wow, seventeen years and we haven't killed each other yet!" Eddie quipped with a mischievous grin on his face. "I know!" I wholeheartedly agreed.

And then we high-fived each other.

We are taking Agatha with us and it is a big deal taking her apart and putting her together. No worries, though, I took copious notes and lots of pictures!

Our last meal was on Thursday and we all settled in for a family selfie before we turned her off.

It takes her about 24 hours to cool down, so by Saturday morning, we were ready to get busy with the dismantle process.

How things looked when we began...

And here's what it looked like when we were finished.

Yes, we removed the mosaic tile of her name, too. Once I've repaired it, we'll frame it and I'll put it on a shelf above her this time once we're settled in our new home. It was funny, when Eddie was trying to pry it out of the floor without damaging it, he realized that he had screwed it into the floor ten years ago. "Why did I do that?" he asked rhetorically..."Oh yeah, because we never planned to move, we were going to die here!" he answered. That has become our joke now when we come across something in the house we hadn't anticipated or we realize we have to fix up or make better since we're going to sell.

BIG NEWS: we are moving to Arizona!

A few years back, Eddie and I realized that Portland was steadily and rapidly changing and not for the better. We agreed, that even though we both really dislike moving and had planned to die in our house (we always joked we would be composted in the back yard...) if the time came to make a change, we were both on the same page about it.

Well, Portland didn't disappoint and we decided had to move last summer in July. We agreed we'd list our house in spring 2020 and let the girls finish out the school year before be moved to where we were going.

But where were we going? Last summer, that was a good question. Our top main priorities were lower property taxes, good public schools, and lower crime. We didn't want a sanctuary city and I wanted someplace with minimal threat of natural disasters. We hoped that wherever we ended up, the architecture of the homes was not cookie-cutter and soul-crushingly mediocre.

I'd been keen on New Mexico, specifically Santa Fe, but that became a bust. Expensive, limited job opportunities, high crime, terrible public high schools, and not very good health care. Plus, it was a sanctuary city. The architecture was just magnificent, however. I looked into the surrounding areas (Los Alamos, Cerrillios, even parts of Albuquerque) but at the end of the day, the top drivers of our move couldn't be met (good public schools, lower crime, good health care, job opportunities).

I did due diligence on other places: Kansas City, Nebraska (Tornado Alley, no thank you!), Maine (very liberal, crazy winters we would never be equipped to handle, even with Agatha; mud season after), and Maryland.

New Mexico kept distracting me...

We also looked at Arizona. I compared Phoenix and Tucson (we would have wanted Oro Valley outside of Tucson: very quiet, very low crime, great public schools) but Tucson was closer to the Mexican border and is on the verge of Sanctuary City status. Tucson in general is becoming Portland 2.0.). Phoenix became a contender with great health care & job opportunities, public school options, low property taxes, many low crime neighborhoods and varied architecture. Plus, I loved the Saguaro cactus!

But yet again, New Mexico kept drawing me back...

I was just too beholden by the architecture and landscape to remember it was not and could not be on the list! Eddie actually had a couple job opportunities at one point that he could have pursued in Los Alamos and also in Santa Fe, but further research on my end discovered the dangers of living in a high altitude for those who suffer from depression as well as the terrible disposal practices of radioactive furniture and equipment from the Manhattan Project that still affect both Los Alamos and Santa Fe and for years to come. Those discoveries along with poor job opportunities, bad health care, high crime, generational poverty, and poor public high schools, I finally had to create a tab in my massive spreadsheet as to why New Mexico was a non-starter. And that reminder has worked well going forward.

My two targets became Sykesville, Maryland (or one of the surrounding hamlets) and Phoenix, AZ. We have a dear friend who is raising her family in Sykesville and chose it because of it's more rural atmosphere (aka quiet/low crime) and excellent public schools. It would give us someone we already knew and seasonal weather which would be perfect for Agatha. Phoenix also made the list as it gave several surrounding cities that offered what we were looking for on our wish list. It was also closer to Portland and California for family, as well as being close to New Mexico, Texas and Florida. (We have dear friends in the last two states.)

Again, I did my extensive due diligence. I looked at everything from school rankings, property taxes, liquor laws (priorities, you know), even weather each month of the year. I was pretty extensive. Finally, we decided to go with Arizona. In looking towards the future, Maryland was not a good place for future retirement and we didn't want to have to make a major move, again. Also, we knew we would not be good with the swampy summers that are Maryland.

And we are excited about our next adventures in Arizona! The girls were initially upset by the news we planned to move, but they have come around and rallied in the recent months. We promised they would each have their own bedroom, which helped make our impending move not such a bitter pill to swallow in the early days of the news. I did my due diligence again in the Phoenix area when it came to the top rated public high schools and then considering homes in those neighborhoods. One city that keeps coming to the top of our list is Fountain Hills. It is about 30 minutes from Phoenix going east and a higher elevation. Fountain Hills is about 15-20 minutes from Scottsdale, it's next door neighbor, theoretically. What drew us to Fountain Hills is the small, middle/upper class quiet community and its very low crime. The public high school is very good and a smaller school compared to the other two neighborhoods we are considering (Ahwatukee Foothills for Desert Vista H.S. and outer Chandler for Basha H.S.). For an example, Basha H.S. is actually grades 6-12 and has nearly 2800 students. Fountain Hills H.S. is grades 9-12 and about 500 students. FHHS also has clubs that Lulu is interested in: Car Club and Chess Club! 

When we've told people where we are moving, especially that we are very interested in Fountain Hills, they are always surprised. We tell them that the heat isn't a problem, we've done desert living before in Las Vegas, and when they tell us there isn't much to do in Fountain Hills we share that we are all "indoor cats by choice" as a family. It won't be a problem! We're really good cooks and rarely eat out, we do regular family movies at home, we love to read, play video games, crafts, and Fountain Hills has a public library, which public libraries are the girls second home anyways (mine is Rite Aid). We will be fine!

And what about Agatha? People have asked us and she is definitely coming with us. It may be hot in Arizona, but we will adapt. At the very worst, we'll turn her down to the lowest setting without having to turn her off and then turn her back up again when it gets cooler starting in November. People forget that it can get cold in the desert during the winter time!

So, that's what's been happening these last few months over here. I have been busy with re-painting rooms and getting the odds & ends projects that need to be done in and on the house so we can get it listed in March. I also started getting things packed up late last summer because these things take much longer than one realizes. I've also gotten rid of a lot of things, too, during that time, but you never fully appreciate how much stuff you've accumulated until you are getting ready to move.

More to come!