The Move and Initial Projects

Following Simon's completion of the Clinical Lab Science major and
graduation from Brigham Young University, he accepted a job in
Chewelah and Colville, Washington where we moved quickly after he
finished his tests. It was bitter sweet because it's exciting to
finally be done with the school stage of our lives, however, as this
is Natalie's freshman year at BYU, we'd gotten used to seeing her and
will be sad to not get to spend time with her.

Simon began applying for jobs in October and by early November he'd
traveled to Washington for several interviews and had been extended
three different positions: Colfax, Chewelah/Colville, and one in
Ellensburg. It was a very difficult decision for many reasons. He
turned down two of the offers and we accepted the job in Chewelah. We
began our search for housing. We were trying to have it settled by
Thanksgiving. However, people are move relaxed in this neck of the
woods. When we'd call to enquire about places people told us to call
back when it was closer. Even the week before we were moving one
person told us to call when it was closer. Talk about stressful! We're
moving in a week and would like someplace to put our stuff when we get
there... That was not the only stressful aspect of moving on... In
addition to our worries about housing, Simon's job had been extended
by the lab manager, but the hospital system HR was moving very slowly.
We were moving, we had a date, the job wasn't official, and we had
nowhere to live.

We loaded my dad's full-sized Dodge Ram van and my car December 5-8
and left Provo between storms on the 9th. It was really sad to leave
our friends. I'll really miss the Gordons, the Marianas, and the
Staples. They have been wonderful neighbors and friends and hopefully
we'll stay in contact over the years!
We stayed for a night on the 9th with my cousin Janese and caught up
with my dad in Oregon the following day; he'd left on the 7th but due
to weather, and the fact that he was driving Simon's Miata, not a snow
vehicle, he didn't make it ahead of the first storm. We caravanned the
remainder of the way to East Wenatchee where we stayed with my family
for a night. The following day we set out to house-hunt. The most
promising place we'd had in mind turned out to be pretty dirty and
smelled like sewage and trash....and there was garbage around the
premises... So now the hunt gained a level of desperation. After
viewing 8-10 places to live I really didn't like any of them...

Although further out from town than we would have preferred, we
decided to move into an LDS couples' home in Valley, WA. They are in
the process of selling their home here moved out just before we were
moving to Washington. It is much larger than we need at present: 3
bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a spacious kitchen and living room area. It
is part of a ranch on 700 acres. The entire ranch is for sale and the
other brother's family is still living in their house until it sells.

Our rent is very reasonable, given the extra distance to travel and
additional expenses of living out in the country. Because we are
living here at a lower rate, we are trying to help out around this
house however we can. Additional expenses we justify as additional
rent or in lieu of a deposit. Our first week we did quite a few
projects all at once. The kitchen sink's faucet was pretty bad and
spraying out at odd angles and not running in an even stream. So we
spent $35 to buy a new faucet. Simon is quite the plummer!

 

I forgot to take a picture of it while still mounted. I didn't care for the two separate knobs for hot and cold. And Simon used a razor blade on the sink mounting to scrape away the deposits before we put in the new faucet.

 

So much nicer!


The master bedroom was in the worst shape. Per the Meyer's request, we pulled out plenty of nails and screws: 20+, filled the holes. We pulled out and filled quite a few holes in the main room and kitchen as well. In addition to the nail holes, Simon used silicone/grout to fill in a crack in the wall and go around the window.  He then repainted a number of places on the wall that looked discolored because the walls had been behind shelves and dressers for years with little circulation. With the touch up paint on those few places, it looked like new!
 

 

And there was a lovely hole in the wall in the master bathroom where there was no longer a door stopper. I put in a $0.97 door stop and Simon used a repair patch kit they had on hand.

 

He did a pretty nice job!

They'd told us they couldn't get a cupboard door to stay on for some reason...so they just took it off and had the cupboard without a door. It didn't stay on because one of two hinges was broken. For about $12.50 we replaced the hinges.

 

 

There haven't been any other major projects to do since these initial ones. Simon is ambitious and it was fun to do together.