So... I said I was going to utilize this blog more and promptly disappeared for months. Well, what can I say? With the gorgeous NW weather that comes during the late spring and lasts through much of the Summer came a million little and not-so-little adventures, and a general lack of wanting to be glued to this glowing box. And with the seasons first real rain comes the inspiration to go inward and reflect a little on the season's changes and blessings. Most things seem a little far out of reach to touch today, but with the addition of some photo blogs soon, should be easy to recant later. BUT... the most recent, and most exciting of changes in our world, is finding our dream rental in Alpine! I've been wanting a place of my own out in the country forEVER, and have been casually looking since our move from Fall Creek into Eugene, nearly 2 years ago. We'd been spending a good amount of time out in Alpine this Summer, since we have good friends out there and Justin and I have been helping our friend process his honey for the past several weeks, so we decided to take a look around that area. It's such a quaint, little farming town, with an actual feel of community, and it's lovely, lazy lolling hills are pretty easy on the eyes, so we were pretty determined to find some place in that area, though we did look around the Cottage Grove, and Fall Creek areas, with little to no success, when the almost-perfect house came along. It was pre-turn of the century, two stories, on 4-5 acres surrounded by a tree farm, off a dirt road. It had a ton of gardening potential, as well as room for goats and chickens, all of which was very important. I thought for sure it would be way out of our budget, but it was surprisingly cheap for what it had to offer, so we were seriously considering going for it. Something didn't feel completely right about it though. I mean, depending on the farmers, tree farms can be pretty toxic areas. And the landlords folks lived right behind us, not completely out of site, and aside from the HUGE oak trees in the front, the house had absolutely no native plant-life in the immediate vicinity. But it was a heck of a lot closer to the dream than our current in-townhouse, so we were willing to settle, feeling like it might be the best we could find. Then we saw it! The red house! It was just an ad on craigslist, but something about it spoke to me. It was red, my favorite, it had a huge deck, surrounded by trees, on an acre, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, for the same amount as the white house. Thing was, we had to wait almost a week to see it, and even though we tried and tried to find it on google earth, it became apparent we'd have to suffer and wait. Finally, the day before the day we were scheduled to go see it came, and the lady gave up the address! We all (Joey, Angela, Justin, and I) piled into the car to go see it, and I fell in LOVE! The yard was HUGE, and a perfect balance of open and wooded, with fruit trees, a bamboo forest, oak, birch and pine. I knew immediately this was my home! I just knew in my bones it would be mine. Joey said she had a really good feeling I would get it also, so i just knew it must be! The next day, we go to meet with the lady, and she's perfect! She and her ex-husband had built the place 27 years ago, and two of her 3 children had been born there. The place had been a barren open field and they had planted all the lush and gorgeous trees and plant-life there. When she and her husband, who still lived on the land behind us (she moved to Seattle) had separated, she had taken to renting it out. She was extremely heart-broken that the last tenants that had been there for 5 years, had just mowed over her many garden beds, had torn down her rabbit hutches, and basically destroyed her yard in her eyes, so we thought it was perfect that we basically wanted to turn it into food and medicine, with some chickens, and possibly goats. Plus, she'd homeschooled, and I was going to be homeschooling. She had been a housekeeper as well, and had a good friend who was a stained glass artist. There were all these amazing similarities, and we/I felt a great connection. She said there were more people coming that day to see the place, but I just knew the place would be ours. She wanted to rent the place as soon as possible, as she had to get back up to Seattle and work, so she was planning on making the decision that night and calling the next day. Yay! We wouldn't have to wait very long to find out we'd got it!
She didn't call that night... I am terrified...
She didn't call the next day either! So we decided to give her a call.... She hadn't made a decision yet, she would call when she did.
Days pass and she doesn't call! My heart is BROKEN!!! I loved that house so much! I just knew it was going to be mine! We had such a great repoir! What was wrong??? Maybe she decided to take a few more days to decide... maybe she decided to check our references. We waited...
She NEVER called!
We almost gave up. But we didn't...
Justin called back the next week to ask what she had finally decided, and she told him she had decided to go through a property management company, and that they were coming that day to decide if they were going to manage it. She told him that she had just had a really, really bad experience with the last renters, and since she was so far, she just wanted to know it was being taken care of. Justin said, okay, but if it would sweeten the pot, we would sign a 2, 3, or 5 year lease, and she said, thanks, she would take that into consideration.
Next thing we know, she's calling our references! Then she wanted more references! Then, she wanted other reassurances... that we would be able to make rent, etc. We gladly gave her everything she wanted, plus some, and NOW...
THE HOUSE IS OURS!!! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so excited!!! It's beautiful and perfect and it's OURS!!! :):) We'll start moving around the 15th! Pictures soon to follow!!!
In other news, I'm making herb stuffs! I wildcrafted some things, tinctured some other things, made poison oak tea, nettles/oat straw nourishing infusions, and am salving and tincturing more later this week! Yay for me!!! I wanted to start this journey earlier than this, but with said Summer hecticness, had not begun my herbal learnings as soon as I'd wanted. I was feeling a bit bummed at myself for this, so decided to just get over it and do something about it, and it was great! Empowering! Uplifting! Inspiring! And surprisingly easy! Plus, it just feels good! Like, physically! :) Yay for plants!!! I love, love, LOVE them!!!
Now off to play some D&D! :D That's another newness in our lives, thanks to Isabelle. My now 10 year old daughter is turning into a real geek. And, I love it! ;) Good night all, and thanks for visiting! Come back soon, as I promise I won't wait as long to post again, this time.
