CHILLIN' AT THE LAKE: BEEN TOO LONG

GOOD GRIEF!! I can't believe it's been over 2 years since I published anything on this blog! Time sure DOES fly! My last blog was about what I fixed for Father's Day 2012.

Well, a lot has happened since then! Where do I begin?

September of 2012 saw us putting our beautiful log home up for sale. It was time to start planning for retirement and it just did not meet our needs. Plus the lot was not large enough to fit the shops on that we wanted. If you've ever sold a home, you know you have to keep it halfway clean all the time! This meant I had to come up with some less messy solutions for Christmas ornaments. I don't think I have any pictures, but I had a dozen clear glass balls which I painted each family member's name on and the year and tied bows on to finish them off. I think they turned out okay.

Selling also meant no more working on stained glass projects - too messy and smelly. So all of my glass work tools, accessories, glass, etc got put on a shelf.

Well, by September 2013, we had not had even one prospective buyer look at the house! The market is still soft and there aren't a lot of calls for a 2-bedroom log house in a golf/lake community near Shelton. So, we took it off the market with plans to wait a year or so. We still had a few years before retirement, so weren't in any hurry.

Christmas 2013 saw my beautiful Aunt Kay and sweet Uncle Alan spending the day with us. We also had my younger daughter, Kellie, and her daughter, Kensi, with us as well as my quirky 2nd cousin Carl.

The gals and

The guys! Carl, Uncle and Tom

This turned out to be our last Christmas in the log house. So glad we were able to spend it with all these loved ones.

New Years Eve found us celebrating with Tom's son, Bryan and his family including his fiancé's Mom! Fun!!

Kyle, Dillon, Trina and Bryan

The next day, Tom decided to try Craig's list to sell the house. This is the picture he put on.

A gal emailed him the same day for more pictures. Her 70+ year old father came by on the 2nd to see the place and she, her adult daughter, 11 year old son, father and step-mother came the next day for a 2-hour tour! Well, after a bit of discussion, a good inspection report and a few minor repairs, she bought it!! The sale closed on Feb. 28. She couldn't move in until the end of June, so we made arrangements to rent the place from her until we either found another home or she had to move in.

We were on the hunt!! First for a rental and then for a house with some property to do what we wanted.

Wish list: shop, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, between 1/2 and 1 acre, not far from Hwy 101. Preferably move-in ready and less than $175k. Not easy in this area. But we ended up getting something that had almost everything on the wish list!