Getting closer

It's a good thing our social calendar is filled up with lots of goodbye events this week. The movers arrived with our stuff in Greenville last week, so we're living a fairly spartan lifestyle at the Portland house right now. We've got our trusty air mattress (which has seen several nights in Portland, flew to Greenville for a week, and came back with us for these last few days). We've got 2 lawn chairs (which also serve as our dining and sitting chairs inside). And we've got a moving box for a makeshift table.
Fancy, huh?

This is our last full week of work. Rhonda has to work the weekend, and my last day is Monday. We'll be hitting the road sometime next week. We got some of the unpacking done Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, but have plenty to keep us busy for a while once we're settled in for good. I'm scheduled to start work in SC on 9/9.

Dad came up for a few days to help with a few odd projects and, most importantly, getting the house painted. His power roller really came in handy. Below are a few before/after pics. The only room we didn't paint was the middle bedroom (AKA "Catheren's room")- Catheren wants to help paint that one, and you'll hear no complaints from me!

The whole house was this beige color before.We livened up the living/dining room with a warmer brown.

Master bedroom.

Front bedroom (AKA 'the Mancave', because that's where the TV is going).

Even after unpacking, some of the house will look a bit empty for a while. We don't have enough furniture to fill it yet, but we want to live in it for a while before deciding on specific pieces of furniture we need.

Packing is done!

No thanks to George, who's always thought boxes make sweet playhouses. We have quite a bit of stuff to load up for the roadtrip the first week of September, but everything is ready for the movers. They're due to arrive early Tuesday morning, and the auto transport guys should be coming by sometime Monday. These boxes may not look like much, but they represent a healthy amount of labor invested over the past couple of weeks (you don't realize how much crap you have until you try to pack it all!).

It is HOT out here

Check out the high temps in Portland over the last few days:
103
106 (just missed the all-time record by 1 degree)
106 again
98 (forecast for today)

But it's a dry heat (kind of like an oven). Should be 'cooling down' to the low 90s for the weekend and then into the low 80s next week. That's good news for our buyer, as we're doing our best to keep the backyard plants alive for her.

Quick update on our move status

Once we get settled in our new home, we should be able to provide more frequent updates (and hopefully about more interesting stuff than moving).

Last week was challenging at times, but we did close on the Portland house Thursday and the Greenville house Friday as planned. "Highlights" of the week included:
* Our funding from the sale of the Portland house arriving 3 hours later than we planned. It ended up not being a big deal, but caused a little last-minute squirming.
* Cleaning the house with no AC. The thermostat in the front room read as high as 88- perfect temp for scrubbing on your hands and knees! (The seller included a home warranty, so our realtor is getting it fixed with no cost to us between now and the time we get back.)
* Not being able to get our stackable washer/dryer installation finished because the dryer outlet's at floor level and the power cord won't reach. (Silver lining- The contractor who worked on the house stopped by to drop off keys and offered to move the outlet for free when we get back.)

On a more positive note:
* We can walk to the heart of downtown in ~25 minutes.
* We found a few pretty good restaurants, and it sounds like there are a lot more (I will definitely post some restaurant reviews in the future).
* We seem to have a very friendly neighborhood.

Next steps:
* Pack, pack pack!
* Vehicles and stuff will be picked up by the movers 8/10 or 8/11 and should arrive in Greenville the week of 8/17. We'll be flying down there again to babysit the movers and do some painting before heading back to Portland for the last week of August and the first few days of September.

OK, this is a little better

Still kinda messy, but everything left is hitting the road with us. Finished up in time to avoid a heat stroke, too! Already been to Goodwill, off to the dump now...

How are we celebrating Independence Day?

Well, Rhonda's working until 6:00 p.m., but I think she got the better end of the deal. My mission is to channel the spirit of the day into cleaning out the garage (Freedom From Clutter!). We plan on using the garage to stage some of our packed boxes, so my goal is to have nothing in the garage that isn't going to Greenville by the end of the day. A tall order, to be sure. Take a look at what I'm dealing with:

Oh, and it's supposed to 94 degrees today! Don't worry, though, I have lots of frosty American-made beverages onhand to keep me cool.

Repairs on Greenville house next week

The inspection revealed a few contractually obligated repairs (modified joist under bathroom remodel, support post under dining room in contact with soil, one outlet not working) plus a couple of additional fixes we requested (modern wiring spliced to old 'knob and tube', a plumbing supply pipe under house not secured to framing). The seller agreed to fix everything and contractors will begin repairs Monday or Tuesday.

We're running out of things to worry about housewise. Now we're concentrating on getting quotes from moving companies.