Jobs and Houses

I've been a bad blogger lately. I realize this, and I'm sorry. I generally try to post a couple of times a week (some food and some non-food posts for a good variety) and I haven't been keeping up on that. In fact, I missed a Food Friday a couple of weeks ago and I just quietly let it pass. And while I appreciate that no one threw me under the bus and called me out on it, your silence has been killing me. Adding to that, I just sort of feel like I've lost my sense of humor lately. I've never considered myself a "funny" person at all, but I have been feeling especially boring the last few weeks. As a result, I think I have some approach avoidance with writing posts, fearing they won't be any good.

But I have excuses! My excuses lead me to another apology, though... from the beginning I have tried to be open and honest with you about my life's dilemmas (i.e. no job, apartment living, missing friends, etc.) but not so forthcoming with updates on those dilemmas. So here goes... I'm ready to fill you in on what's been happening the last couple of months.

First and foremost, I got a job!! I've been there almost a month. I know, I know... I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I made such a big deal about not having a job, that I at least owed you that much. I actually had been volunteering there since September, so when they realized they needed to hire someone, I already had a foot in the door. The bad news is that it's only part time, but the good news is that I absolutely love it, and it could easily grow into a full time position. It's just exactly the kind of fulfilling work I was looking for. I get to work with kids, teachers and community leaders, and really make a difference in peoples' lives. It's amazing what a difference a new career path can make, and I truly think that this is the kind of work I was meant to do. I'm sure I still have a lot of growing pains to go through, since this is my first time working for a non-profit, but I am really looking forward to it. Plus, I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten a job in this shitty economy. (P.S. - Thank you, New York Times, for making an already horribly depressed city feel even worse.)

Okay, next up: Justyn and I bought a house! We started "casually" looking at houses (if there is such a thing) in early January. I'm pretty sure we saw close to 30 houses before we decided it just wasn't quite time yet. We literally told our realtor one evening, "Well, we think we've seen most of what's out there so far, so let's take a little break and just let us know if anything interesting comes on the market." No kidding, the next day she sent us a new listing in a fabulous neighborhood that had just been repossessed by the bank. (By the way, buying a house from a bank is a whole new ballgame... maybe I"ll tell you about it sometime.) We went to see it the next day, and it was completely trashed. I guess the people who had been there before left in a hurry, so there was still a bunch of stuff all over the house - mattresses, kid's toys, trash, food, you name it. I guess they were sorta mad, too, when they left because the front door was kicked in, and a couple of windows were broken. But, it was really inexpensive for the area and Justyn and I are good at looking past the surface and seeing the potential of a place. It has a ton of potential and even while we were there, people were sort of flocking to it to check it out.

We knew there would be a lot of interest, so we rushed to get a home inspection and put an offer in the very next day (2 days after it went on the market - the sign wasn't even in the yard yet!) Ours was the first offer in (yay!) and they tell us there are about 15 other people waiting in line just in case our deal falls through. Yikes... talk about pressure. Anyway, I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing. Underneath all the trash it looks a lot better, but some things must be done before we move in. Justyn's step-dad is a builder and their house was always under construction when he was growing up. Me? Not so much. For example, when our linoleum kitchen floor started looking too rough, my dad brought home a bunch of carpet tiles from his office to cover it up. So, the whole remodeling/renovating thing is pretty new to me, aside from the disastrous bathroom remodel at our other house (yes, the one we still own). One day I'll tell you about that, but not now. I have to been in the mood to get pissed off all over again, and now is not that time.

Anyway, while I am nervous about it, and dreading packing and moving all over again, I am excited too. It is such a great house, and a place I can see us living for a really really long time. It's big enough for us to grow into, and the neighbors we have met so far are totally awesome. They appear to be mostly young, successful couples and there is a really great neighborhood atmosphere. They already told us they all have drinks together once a week, each time at a different house. Isn't that cute??

I have been saying for months that if I could just find a job, I could honestly say that I liked it here in Portland. Then, when that happened, I still didn't feel quite settled. I don't think you can feel settled when you're renting a place... at least not when you know what it feels like to own, you know? So, the house comes at a good time. Hopefully we'll be able to get most of the work done quickly so we can actually relax a bit when we get there. We don't have our closing date yet, but I think it will be within another week or so. After that, we have to sand and refinish all the hardwood floors, paint, and be out of our apartment all within 2 weeks. So I'll do my best to keep up on the posts while all this is going on! I'm sure I'll be talking more about our remodeling adventures as things progress, but first we have to pack and move.

And, trust me... we're doing it ourselves this time.