Portland to Las Vegas - An Update

 When I last updated, we had a plan. A busy, busy plan.  We executed the plan.... I'll review our week as it unfolded. 

Monday 15, Tuesday 16 (my birthday), and Wednesday..... Bob and I packed, painted, and prepped. The boys went to school and helped when they could.  Fia was working and going to school. 

Wednesday evening, Coulter and I flew to Las Vegas, rented a car, and made it to the hotel in Summerlin.

Thursday, Coulter went to school. I picked up keys to the house and immediately had to check it out.  I picked up keys to the PO Box. And then, Coulter had lunch and then went to check out a house we had seen on line. 

The rental house isn't anything special but the location could not be better for our family.  Bob and I have been worried that our kids would feel stuck at home in Las Vegas.  Here in Portland, it is easy for them to get around on the MAX. When that isn't convenient, an Uber is about $12 anywhere in town, that will not be the case in Las Vegas.  There is a Smith's (Kroger) about two blocks from our house. In that same complex are many little shops; sushi, boba, hairdressers, a dance studio, pizza, a couple other restaurants and so on.  Then, three blocks away is a Goodwill and a Home Depot. Additionally, freeway access is just beyond that.  I couldn't have picked a better location if I tried. 

Coulter and I had lunch on the Strip and then checked out a house.  It was awesome, old, and it needed a ton of work, but it had great bones.  Lastly, we had a great dinner with friends on a patio. It was so nice to connect there with friends. FIRST CONTACT! 

Bob and Kees started out at about 7am from Portland and made it about half of the way. 

Thursday's Trip

Friday's Trip

Friday, I addressed a few minor issues at the house while Coulter was in school. We picked up lunch, a couple groceries, a garbage can, keys for everyone, and novelty Las Vegas key chains for all.

At about 2:30, Kees and Bob rolled into town. Hugs all around, now start unpacking you lazy bums! We got the truck unloaded in about 3 hours, I unpacked a bunch of the kitchen, directed traffic, and determined where the shelves would go in the garage for the things that will not be unpacked.  I found a great Cubano place for dinner.  Everyone was tired and ready for bed. Kees and Coulter stayed at the house, Bob and I stayed at the hotel. 

Saturday we returned the truck, had lunch, and went to the airport. Coulter and I had a 3:30 flight.... that was delayed.... for four hours. Gah.... Plus side, I won $70 and then quit.  I'm a winner.  And, I arrived to a lovely dinner dropped off by a friend. I am blessed. 

Sunday, the Portland crew got the house ready for Monday because carpets were going in and the kitchen cabinet were being painted. Oh, and I bought a car for Bob. His died last week.  Great timing. 

Bob's new ride

TODAY'S CRAZY! Monday, today, it was total pandemonium. Fia had work at 8:30 so Coulter and I took her and picked up a caffeinated beverage. When we arrived at home, the cabinet painters were at the house. We quickly cleared the remainder of the counter and they got to work.  As soon as that was done, the carpet guys showed up.  They were pretty impressed at how clear the space was. The bathrooms and our closet were packed full of all our stuff.

Master Bath

Kid's bath

Kitchen Crew

Coulter dismantling

Carpet crew

Hall

Midstream

Carpet in Kees' old room

Waiting for the paint to dry.

Stairs

New Carpet!

I went to run an errand but got called back, there was a problem.  They told me all the 1/4 round needed to be removed.  They wanted to leave and come back another time.  Ah, no, I can take it off.  I spent the next hour and a half crawling all around the upstairs. Good times.  

Because of all the chaos, Hácee was being totally neurotic. He even nipped at one of the workers! He has had a really hard time with everything. Me being gone for three days really made him nervous. I took him to Mud Bay and got him a Thunder Shirt.  It helped a LOT! 

He could not get closer

How I found him this morning

While painting and carpet were happening, Coulter and I worked on installing a closet door in Sophia's room. Of course I didn't have all the pieces so I had to run an errand to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, I got a call from the car place, they needed some paperwork signed and they kept my license! AND, Fia texted and needed a ride home from work and needed a new cast. Yes, because it's convenient, she has a broken finger right now. 

I picked up the pieces we needed to finish the closet job, picked up Fia, dropped the pieces, and took Fia to the cast room at Kaiser.  As I waiting and hiring a someone to clean the roof, Fia texted that she needed me.  Her finger healed a bit sideways and they were talking about surgery. Great.  We went back and forth and decided, no surgery because it can cause stiffness.  

We then went to the car place to finish the paper work. While Fia waited, she ordered dinner. Our kitchen is out of order! We picked up dinner, soup, and then realized we don't have spoons. We borrowed some from our neighbor. 

After dinner, Coulter and I reassembled our rooms. I am tired but I will not sleep on the floor. I watched the Britney Spears doc with Fia after that..... and here I am. 

So that's it. Not much going on with the Leeks. I'll post pictures of the kitchen as soon as the cabinets are done!  More to come and I am exhausted. 

Portland for 22 years, PANDEMIC, *poof* GONE....

 Last January started with a lot of excitement for the future.  In my work I had a partner starting that would be able to help me a great deal.  Bob was settled in to his gig at the County as the CIO and we had some fun travel planned, some for work, some for fun. 

At the end of January, I flew to San Diego to visit a friend that I had worked with via Zoom for five months. Connection is very important for me so I wanted to meet her in person.  It was lovely. Next I traveled with Bob to Phoenix. He had a business meeting and I went to meet my new working partner.  When we got home we had a big dinner with about 16 friends and my dad. We even spent the evening dancing in a big funky crowd. The next weekend we celebrated my 55th birthday party.  It was a lovely gathering at a local watering hole, and my mom got to attend. The weekend after that I headed to the beach for a long girls weekend with my high school pals.  When I got home, Bob and I went to dinner at a steak house with friends to celebrate on the day of Bob's 50th birthday.  We were getting ready to host Bob's 50th birthday party on March 14th when...... COVID. Being more responsible than some, we cancelled his party.  I was exhausted after all that but hard to believe how different things are.  And we haven't done much since.  

Then social unrest came to Portland.  I protested 3-4 times per week.  I took each of my kids.  I wore protective gear and I never once was aggressive toward another person.  99% of what I witnessed was peaceful and unifying.  I did get gassed and shot but that is beside the point. 

Bob was at the county and working to create equitable outcomes for his employees. When he asked for assistance, he did not get the support he was looking for.  It seemed like it was time to allow space for someone who might garner more attention and he resigned.  A few months later, I left my job to pursue something that would be impactful closer to home. 

September, October, November... The kids were going to school online. Fia moved home from college and has been taking classes online at the community college and working at Starbucks. Bob was gigging but feeling impatient about funds and timing. Because of that, he broadened his scope while looking for work.  I was looking locally but when he started looking out of Portland, I paused.  Well as we know now, he found work in Las Vegas as one of the Clark County Deputy CIOs and so now.... everything is moving in that direction.  

The interview process started in October and completed in December. We decided we would take it if a trip to LV felt right.

In early January, Bob and I flew to Las Vegas to look at neighborhoods, for him to drug test, and for us to decide if it was real. It was. We had to start the process of moving. 

Luckily, I had started to get rid of things when I left my job. It was not NEARLY enough. I was doing it to organize. Moving is way different.  

In early January we informed everyone and started getting the house ready to sell. The kids were and still are totally on board. Good Lord what a process! Basically, I mentally moved in and out of every room getting rid of everything I could. Well, that wasn't good enough.  We had to get rid of more.  When we started looking at houses in Las Vegas online, we realized we had to stage and got serious.  I hired two painters, Bob has been clearing space, moving furniture, getting things ready, and painting at every moment he can. He's been a beast.  I have been picking out and picking up paint, and getting everything we need to complete the work. We had to paint the walls, ceilings, and trim. This is a 1927 home, so lots of trim. If you had more than 15 minutes, you got a paint brush, and got to work. Of course then the carpet looks terrible; two dogs, three kids, countless parties, barf, poop, food, dirt x 16 years = new carpet. Yay. Those old kitchen cabinets? I refinished them 14 years ago but they are (were) grubby. They are currently at the shop being stripped, sanded, and painted. 

We started packing anything that didn't need to be used.  At this point we have packed about 65% of our things or gotten rid of them.  I will have to get rid of more on the other end because this is happening too fast to make all the decisions. The guest house is FULL! Bob has taken six thousand pounds of junk to the dump and there is still more. Bob and the boys re-seeded the back yard. Coney pressure washed, I pressure washed. 

And mind you, all this painting, cleaning, tossing, packing was happening while the kids were in school, Bob was gigging, and Fia was going to school online.  I was orchestrating on this end, but also in Las Vegas.  I have rented a house, a PO Box (5325 S Fort Apache Rd, Suite D-19, Las Vegas NV 89148), set up our utilities, still house hunting, and generally communicating with all the people who help with those things.

Then there is the actual moving. Since it's a government gig, we get to do everything and pay for it. Again, YAY! Know this, finding a large truck to take out of Portland is next to impossible. My theory: rich people are moving here and squeezing the market. They have moving companies do the move.  Poorer people (or government ppl) are moving out of Portland because it's expensive and they are taking the trucks with them.  After weeks of looking, we found a truck with Penske and they have been great about communication. I hope it goes as planned.  

The original plan - Coulter and I were to drive Bob's car to Las Vegas and depart on Saturday, Feb 13th. On the 11th, Bob's car threw a code. He took it in. The fix is $9,000. He needs a new car and it is cheaper to get one here.  We went on Friday to Carmax because it was about to start snowing and we knew what car we wanted. We got there, hopped in the new car, and headed for home to get the title and THAT car threw a code. AND, as we were headed home the snow and ice were coming hard.  We had to get back safely.  The code was a major deal, there were no other cars we were interested in, no car before we go. 

I came home and booked tickets for Coulter and I to fly to Las Vegas and rent a car on Wednesday. This snow and ice was not letting up and we need to help Bob and Kees, so now we can. Additionally, we had to rent a hotel because we won't have what we need to stay at our house because we can't drive with our car full of stuff. OK, fine. 

There are lots of things that have had to be on hold because ICE STORM! We couldn't have left Saturday anyway. 

Today, Saturday, I crawled around on the floor and cleaned up paint spots. Yesterday I went through thousands of pictures and threw away more than half. (OMG When are we supposed to adequately organize those during our life?) Bob painted ceilings, replaced wall switches, and packed. I packed. How do we sill have things to pack?  

This afternoon we took a walk with the dog. I wore spikes on my shoes... thank goodness.  Hácee slipped all over, Bob did too.  No one fell; success.

When we got home we sat down to plan. We have lots to consider; When the kitchen cabinets come back and when to make sure the kitchen is ready.  We have to be ready for the carpet guys on the 22nd and that means no furniture that is heavy, tall, has glass, has a computer, or is hard to move.  Who is here when and who can load? And the dog... he needs a temporary home because he is a neurotic. 

PORTLAND - We pick up the truck on 2/16, Tuesday morning (my birthday), and drop the dog with friends. Coulter and I will help load the truck and then we fly. Bob and Kees need to depart on Wednesday late, Thursday early at the latest. 

LAS VEGAS - Thursday, Coulter and I will pick up keys to our house, keys to the PO Box, figure out if there is anything critical we need (Beer, wine, Gatorade, snacks) and then we meet with friends for dinner outside.  Our first LV contact since accepting the job! We are very excited.  

LAS VEGAS - Kees and Bob will probably arrive on Friday. We'll unload as soon as we can at the rental house, we have a three car garage.  We'll stay at the hotel when they get there on Friday. Then, Coulter and I fly back on Saturday afternoon. Kees and Bob will do some set up in the house. The truck needs to be back by Sunday.  Bob starts work on Monday. Kees will go to school in LV at PPS on Monday as well.

PORTLAND - Monday, all the carpets get swapped out upstairs, in the hall upstairs, and the stairs. The kitchen cabinets get put in ????  sometime. 

Eventually, Bob and Kees will come home, we don't know when yet.  We will have to do some set up in the guest house once it is empty and can be staged.  It is full to the top until we load it into the truck on Tuesday! 

..... And that is the end of the plan for now.  My biggest concern today is the giant, old, tree in front of our current house that is being attacked all night by ice.  If we survive that, I will feel better and consider that perhaps we are past the mishap part of the move.  Tomorrow we pick up a few last minute things, continue to fix little things, pack (seriously!?!), and mentally prepare.  

Wish us luck. This is all so strange.... and did I mention, we're doing this all in the middle of a pandemic?  That brings a whole different set of issues but let's focus on what we can.