And the move began........... on February 6th
I said goodbye to my house of 8+ years..... was kind of hard to believe I was saying goodbye.
My husband and I had thought it would be our "forever" home. I thought it would be either of our forever homes, once the other one passed. But with time, I realized it was not a safe home for an older person, and just too big to handle. It had a super steep driveway, uneven rock steps with no railing, and weird angled steps up to the front door. Not safe, as I can attest to when I fell in November of 2022! (on the steep driveway on black ice). Although the yard was a small lot (5,000 sq feet), it seemed huge to me!
I was in such a dither on the day of the move, I forgot to take pictures of loading up the moving van! I hired a moving company, and they had to hire the UHaul themselves. It worked fine and they were fast and efficient! I had planned to just pay a few guys who were friends of friends, etc., and rent the Uhaul myself, but it was HARD finding anyone who wanted to do it. That's why I ended up using a company.
Here are photos of the 840 sq foot mobile home on the day I first looked at it back in November. It was a dark rainy day, and the pictures look a little dreary, but I really liked the layout, the bay windows in the kitchen, the large new shower, and the new wood floors and wood blinds. It actually had a decent sized 2nd bedroom which I liked alot, and a nice large covered deck. I also liked that it was in a 55+ mobile home park out in the country.
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| COLOR ALERT! I did NOT like the color of the kitchen cupboards! Painting those is one of the first things on my "to do" list, once I get boxes unpacked! |
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| Shiny new stainless fridge - love that! |
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| View out of my bedroom window which I loved! |
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| Looking from living room towards the kitchen. Along that right wall will be my crafting area. |
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| From realtor website - it is gray now! |
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| My arrival! There is my Van.. it made the trip with me! |
I think I was more excited to see this neat big shed built onto the home, with lots of cubbies to store things! Not having a garage or even a carport, I knew I'd need every bit of this space. There is also a 10x10 shed out in the back. Notice that the yard is all gravel! Not sure I like that, but it can be changed.
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| I remembered to take pictures, once the truck was almost unloaded! |
We got to Astoria in the dark.. it was a good 5 hour drive. I drove my Van... my son and fiance had come to help, so she drove my car back, and he drove his truck back, which was full of most of my outdoor furniture and misc. things (forgot to take a picture!). We were so blessed to have a nice day for the move, with sunshine and no rain or snow! It had been weeks since we'd had a nice day like that and I had been praying for moving day to NOT be full of snowy and icy roads.
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| Move in night - kitchen was FULL of boxes! |
Even though I had all the boxes labeled in detail, it was still a nightmare to try to find things!
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| My dining table was buried for weeks! |
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| I made a spot for the kitties to lay on my coffee table. |
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| My bedroom closet. |
I had given up my king bed in Madras, as I knew it would be too big for my bedroom here. I slept there on the floor for a good week, then slept here on the floor for at least 3 weeks, until I bought myself a new double bed.
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| My bed at the Madras house! |
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| My bed here..... finally got my new bed after about 3 weeks. I was READY to get up off the floor! |
Views from my kitchen windows, these are all huge cedar trees!
I did downsize, that's for sure. Going from a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home, with a nice big yard and a single car garage, to a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, single wide mobile home, in a park, is quite a change!
But.. this is what I wanted, and I've realized my dream of living closer to my son (16 miles apart), in a climate that is green and lush, with the mighty Columbia River 1 mile away, and creeks and rivers close by, deep woods all around me, the sounds of rain pattering on my roof, and the ocean only 20 miles away!
Here is the Bible scripture that helped me make the decision to move:
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
I count my Blessings.
Until next time......
Marilyn
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