Amanda visited us the weekend before our lease expired. On Sunday (April 24th), when we took her back to Spokane we were without any idea of where we would be staying after the expiration of our lease the following Saturday (April 30th). We figured we'd be putting things in storage for a few weeks and so we had movers arranged to help us out Monday night (April 25th) to do just that.
While we were driving home from Spokane Dan's phone rang and our friend (and Home Teacher) called and said his sister and brother-in-law had a home they'd purchased and planned to remodel before moving in. The remodeling was caught up in red tape and so it was not going to be started until May 10th. There was a chance we might be able to stay in this family member's home until the permits were obtained and remodeling began but he wasn't sure, we'd have to ask his brother-in-law.
Dan quickly called Britt, the brother-in-law, to see about this option. Britt contacted those hired to do the work and confirmed that everything was set for a couple weeks and we were welcome to stay in their new house. What a relief!!!!! This was the answer we'd been praying for for weeks and just in the nick of time.
So later the evening of the 24th, we met with Britt to go see the house. He said it was 3500 sq ft and we were welcome to use any of it we needed to. We were thrilled. He gave us a key and said they signed the papers the next day and to go ahead and move things in the next night, and no, don't get a storage unit, just store everything in the garage or house, whichever we want.
Monday we quickly made adjusted our arrangements. The truck we'd cancelled we rescheduled and when everyone showed up to help us move, we took everything, especially the big stuff. See...
Our bedroom on the left and the living room & kitchen on the right.
The empty spare room.
We spent a couple more nights in our apartment on the floor with sleeping bags as our mattress and our comforter as our sheets to get the final things out and the place cleaned. Then it was onto our "new" home.
Our new place was in North Richland and further from our jobs and church but that was ok. It was much better than being under a bridge somewhere!
The night we moved our things in a friend's wife came along with their children to help out but also to sneak a peek at the new house of their neighbors. Their 11 year old said the house reminded her of her grandma's house (how nice), old, smelly, and scary (ok, not so nice). Now this temporary home was probably quite stylish when it was built around 1962 or so. However, tastes and decor have changed quite a bit since then and the house never caught up to any newer styles. I kept thinking Jan would come stomping down the stairs complaining, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!" at any moment. Let me just let the pictures be the 1000 words here...(Of course I might have some commentary to add here or there...)
Welcome! Come on in and take a look around at the museum we get to call home for now.
The Oh So Lovely kitchen wallpaper.
Cool, huh?!
Yep, the controls for the stove were on the range hood.
I know these are retro and cool again but with 40+ year old rust too???!!!
The head at the bottom of the picture is a horse head hook on the back of the bathroom door. (Never knew those existed.) The bathroom had the wallpaper border all over plus the matching shower curtain; guess you really have to love horses to use this room
I loved the light fixtures. All of them on the main floor matched this design. One of the few things I had absolutely NO complaints about.
A Talk-A-Radio...an intercom system that was throughout the house, including the work room in the basement. (Don't you think the Brady's would have benefited from something like this?)
I think these are late 60s early 70s, what do you think? Didn't Greg Brady have pants out of this fabric? If he didn't I'm pretty sure my Aunt Jane did.
Lovely brick wall, right? It's brick paneling. When I touched it it felt nothing like brick and was somewhat bouncy.
The basement bath. The fish swimming on the pipes crack me up. (I didn't notice those until I looked at the picture. Ha ha ha...)
What's that? A pencil sharpener. This was in the workroom.
I never found the light switch in this room, thank goodness for flash photography.
Now for the 2nd floor....
Can you believe the new owners were getting rid of the blue carpeting???!!!!
So the main floor was the entryway, living room with connected dining room, kitchen, family room, 1/2 bath, and master bedroom and bath. (The horse bathroom was the master.) The basement had a workroom, rec room (complete with a Nautilus home gym left by the previous owners; nice but the new owners have one too), a bedroom and bath, plus a 2nd family room, without a light switch. The second floor was a bathroom and three bedrooms.
Very lovely, isn't it all? Any wonder why the new owners wanted to remodel BEFORE moving in? As they informed us, the remodel required making the kitchen completely inaccessible and knocking out an outside wall. Guess no kitchen or wall would be difficult to deal with when you have a family from 11 years old to 9 months.
You should feel lucky, you saw the basement and upstairs with quicker timing than we did. We'd been at the house for a couple days before we ventured to other parts besides the main floor.
So here's how things looked while we resided here:
This is pretty much how we lived. With only two of us in 3500 sq ft there wasn't a need to unpack any more than absolutely necessary.
Yep, dressers, ironing board & our couch all in the living room.
I think Britt and Dan thought I was joking when I suggested putting our bed in the dining room. No point in trying to maneuver our bed around corners for only a couple weeks so it was put straight in making it easier to move it straight back out.
So now you've seen residence #3 of our marriage. Though only a couple weeks here, it's not the shortest residence we've had.
As predicted, we had to be out of this place by May 17th, and we were. You probably noticed I said I didn't leave until May 20th for Boise...right you are. Still a little time unaccounted for...again.
The truck was all packed up on Monday night (May 16th and yes, another one very close after the one into the house) and Dan mentioned to one of our volunteers that he was concerned about where I would stay for the remainder of the week. That helper offered a spare room in their home. Monday night Dan and I stayed with them and then Dan left for Boise on Tuesday. I stayed at their home while I finished out the last few days of my two weeks notice before leaving on Friday.
The Mohlmans were great to let me stay. I felt a part of their family. One night their 7, almost 8, year old daughter came on into my room, climbed up on the bed next to me, and just told me about her day at school and anything else that came to mind. Then after a bit she announced she had to go take her bath. After her bath she returned with wet hair and visited some more until it was time for bed.
From my interactions at church with the Mohlman's I thought they were an amazing family. After staying with them for almost a week, I KNOW they are an amazing family. What a blessing for me to stay where I felt so at home at a time of such upheaval.
A, R, J, L, D, A, and E, your kindness will not soon be forgotten.
1 comment:
I would LOVE to have those cool blue kitchen appliances! So cute!
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