I haven't blogged for a long time.  In that time Bob and I bought a new house and moved into it.  The house is much smaller than the old one.  The living space is pretty nice, but there is much less storage.  So, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff - and so I did.  The good news is that a friend was having a yard sale for charity so I donated all the good stuff to her.  Then the big stuff was picked up by Salvation Army.  Then after we moved I realized that I still had too much stuff so we made a few trips to Goodwill.  When we tried to move the garage and the shop there was so much stuff.  We took two trips to the dump.  It does feel good to have less stuff - but there was a lot that we had to do before we could move in.  We bought a Tuff Shed and had it built in the back for Bob to use as a shop.  We built a pantry in the basement.  We extended the deck so that it is large enough for our outdoor furniture.  We bought an IKEA island for the middle of the kitchen and put it together - that was a real challenge.  We had to put on a shower door.  We had to put together and install cupboards for the bathroom.  Then we had to put together a lot of IKEA bookcases and a couple of IKEA chairs, and an IKEA cupboard for over the washer.  We are becoming IKEA experts.

We now have enough stuff in and unpacked so that we are starting doing things like putting up the curtains.  Putting up pictures will be a real challenge because I don't know where they should go.  One thing at a time.

Our new neighborhood is much more city.  The area that we lived in before had been part of the county until 1986.  There are no sidewalks and things are pretty far away.  This area has sidewalks that are stamped 1914.  There is lots of stuff that is walkable and lots of stuff that is very close.  There is a very busy street two blocks away, but I don't notice it most of the time.  I was worried about crime, but it does feel pretty safe.

We have very nice neighbors who have already been a help in getting stuff done around here. 

The big surprise for me this morning was that I was sitting eating breakfast and saw the streetwashers come by.  I have lived in Portland for over 30 years and have never seen the streetwashers in my neighborhood.  Nice.

The best part about our new house is that it is only 3 miles from my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson.  They can drive here in 10-15 minutes.  On the fourth they biked here.  (It took less time to bike than to drive to our old house.)  More Nice. 

Getting tired and settling in.  Looking forward to being comfortable in the neighborhood and the house.  (Also looking forward to selling the old house.)