Bless our nest

Ryan and I finally tied the knot on July 31, 2009. We had a beautiful small wedding in my Mom's backyard. lucky for us most of our friends and family from Oregon were able to join us. It was a wonderful day and we even got a few drops of rain after the ceremony. Very poetic for all of the Oregonians.  We kind of honeymooned on our way back home to Oregon with our first night together at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. We spent the next day playing at Raging Waters water park in Salt Lake and then we drove to Boise Idaho were we spent the next night. We stopped in La Grande and visited Ryan's Aunt and Grandma DeClerck.  Then on to our new Home in Forest Grove. 

Ryan and his dad have been working like crazy to make our little white farm house livable again. This house has been in Ryan's family for a very long time. His mom grew up here with her sisters. The house was built in 1907 as a one bed farm home. The washer and dryer were outside on the porch until about 15 years ago.  We (i say that like I have been doing all the work as well) have been making great progress on the fix up.

It all started when we found out the kitchen and main dinning room didn't have a foundation. The house had to be excavated and a 36'' tall wall of cement had to be poured as a foundation.

The boys after the day of digging.

Ross, Grant, Ry and his dad

Sadly after all this work curiosity got to the men and they crawled under the "newer" part of the house added on in the early 60's. the beams for the floor to our bedroom were completly rotted out. Dry rott has taken over.  It only took a few days and the beams were all replaced with brand new ones! i can once again walk on the floor in my bedroom without feeling like the floor will give way any second.

So, the next step was the paint on the outside of the house. There were huge sections of paint that after nearly 60 years has started to bubble and peal off. the scrapping began. all the bubbles had to be popped and scrapped clean and then sanded smooth.  after that step all the windows doors, trim and new cement had to be covered in plastic and taped off. you never realize how big your house is until you start doing things like this.  after about a week of hard work and learning how to climb the ladder and not fall off the roof we got things figured out and the house is ready for painting. Thankfully we are having this part done professionally. We owe a huge THANK YOU to our friends and especially my Father in Law for all the hard work and man hours at our house. the outside is just about finished.  Painting starts today. I'll post more pictures of the project and the progress we are making. Soon the inside gets a face lift!

Backbone Jobs

Today is the first day. its not really a new start, more of a return to a old friend. Things almost always seem easier to deal with and easier to make sense of when they are written, and more often than not i feel better when i am the one doing the writing. Its an expresion of hope, fear, love, concern, anger and a million more emotions that need an out-let.

I have recently grown a back bone. I know for most people that know me well, this seems an impossible feet, but i assure you it happened one day, very breifly and then it passed. Almost like a 24 hour flu....courage, self confidence, and a purpose hit me like a brick wall and a back bone was granted to me. I was tired of being thrown around my office like a grag doll. Taught to do everything, given all the odd jobs that could be found, a new boss every other day, and a job discription that seems to re-write itself weekly to fit what "new and improved" things they had found for me to do. After being offered a Full-time position with a raise and a gaurented job duty i was exstatic and thinking to myself that i was finally being noticed for all the good i was doing. Silly me. The following day i was informed that the job i had previously been offered was being re-voked and given to someone from outside. I was to go back to my "old odd job".

I consider myself to be good at what i do. dependable and well liked. I was doing more than i was being paid for, and picking up co-workers slack for things i knew they would be fired without doing. I was not being appreciated and after being publicly humiliated and turned down for a job i deserved...the back bone came up from the dust of tears i tried desperatly to hide at work. Within the week i had myself an interview with a new job and i was given a higher position with a very nice raise. I was exstatic once again. i did it all on my own and i did it for myself. Nothing feels better than to be offered a job you know you deserve after working for it all on your own.

I have been working in a Beautiful office with wonderful doctors eager to teach, an office manager that knows how to manages, and support staff that does just that. Supports each other. I come home from work with a smile on my face. I sleep better, i feel better and im appreciated.