Netty's August fun

Well, I have spent August doing one of two things...packing or going places. 

HAH and I spent the weekend of 8/17 doing some local Seattle attractions.   For example, I have lived here my whole life and had never done the Seattle Underground Tour!  That was a lot of fun, and it helped that we had a great guide. 

Next up was a ride up to the observation deck of the Smith Tower.  That was a great view...to see a 360 degree view of the SoDo district and such.  We had lunch appetizers at Pacific Place and roamed around there and Pike Place Market for a bit before we checked into our hotel.  We had an outfit change and headed back to the market for dinner at Matt's at The Market.  That was a tasty experience - so glad we tried something new.  Bonus was having a window seat to look out over the sound and the market sign. 

Sunday we were up and adam to head to Freak-mont for a view of the Troll, a little breakfast and a walk through the Sunday Market there.  While there HAH made my day and helped me find the JP Patches statue!

Besides the fantastic weather for our weekend, that was a major hi-light for me! 

Next escape found JAZ and I taking a road trip to the Okanogan Valley's Lake Osoyoos to stay a couple days with one of her co-workers and his wife at their lake house.  It was such a great time from beginning to end.  Mr. & Mrs. Mendy are the hostesses with the mostesses! We arrived Wednesday evening.  That night we checked the weather report and decided to use Thursday as our chillaxing day.  After a breakfast first for me, scrambled eggs with shrimp from dinner (so glad I tried it), we didn't leave the house the whole day.  The four of us laid out in the sun, read books/magazines, floated out on the water and took a trip in the boat to take in the sights around the lake.  Dinner was grilled-smoked salmon and grilled vegetables.  Another first for me - grilled broccoli!  I generally prefer the stems of the broccoli, not the trees...but it was yummy!  Friday we crossed the Canadian boarder and spent the day wine tasting up and down the valley. 

Lake Osoyoos

JRR, JAZ, Mrs. & Mr. Mendy

Hidden Church grape cluster

I ended up bringing home seven bottles of wine - and I am not even a big wine drinker!  JAZ and I reluctantly left the Mendy's Relaxation Station on Saturday morning with an invitation to return next summer.  Can't wait!

M comes home this Monday!  Then it's balls to the walls with him packing up his garage and me finishing up in my closet and the rest of the little things, i.e emptying  couple junk drawers, the linens etc.  Still waiting on the contractor to complete the to-do list - the back-up guy will be here tomorrow to get started on the mudding and taping.  Hopefully we can make some serious progress so we can get the Valley of Maples house on the market ASAP. 

Movin' and Groovin' our way to the 406

Big news from the Valley of Maples!  If you haven't heard thru the grapevine or been of Eff-book yet....M and I are going to be moving to the 406!  Hopefully before the end of the year.  All depends on the selling of the Valley of Maples house.

 

Believe me when I say this, buying a house was NOT on the to-do list when we went back there for a little week of vacation last month.  With that being said, we had been driving around the Bitterroot for the last couple years looking at For Sale signs and checking things out for a house that would meet our list of must-have's: ranch style, acreage and a shop.  To make a complicated story short, we found our agent via a happy accident on the web and she steered us to THE house by way of a fellow co-worker's listing.  Needless to say, we fell in love! Even more in love when we crunched the numbers and talked to the bank and found that this could be a reality.  We looked at the house on a Wednesday, made an offer Thursday morning and signed the counter offer Thursday afternoon and started the ball rolling.

We came home to the Valley of Maples and had some decisions to make...do we rent or sell.  Let's sell.  Selling kinda scared us since we knew we had the bar as our LAST room we needed to do something with.  It was the last room in the house in the original condition from when M bought it 18 yrs ago. Picture wood paneling, nasty carpet, and a bar with a countertop that was reminiscent of the old Wendy's restaurant i.e. old newspaper ads.  Not to mention the bar had become our catch-all room...if company was coming that's where stuff was put and forgotten.  =)  So Galvin (realtor) and Phat Carl (contractor) came over and gave it a once over.  All in all - each gave some great feedback for our to-do list before it's listed.  In fact, Galvin was the smart one that told us to change the bar into a family room.  M and I had been killing ourselves thinking we had to keep it as a bar and if so, then what type of  cupboards and top were we going to use etc, etc.  Insert forehead slap here - why didn't we think of that oh-so-many years ago?

We made good use of M's last two weeks at home by demo-ing the bar and taking down and packing up the office, then packing up his closet and having him take down anything that required the use of a power tool, since he does not trust me with them.  When he left on Monday, all I had left was to pack up this kitchen, my closet, and the master bathroom.  Not bad for having a little over a month until our expected closing date of mid-September. 

We are very excited to start this next chapter in our journey!  We'll have an extra bedroom in the new house, so if your find yourselves rolling thru Missoula, give us a shout-out!  We would love to have you come by and visit.