Tryin' to leave Chi

Today has been one of the more challenging for a standby passenger. It is 7:35 pm and we are in the midst of plan B.2. We are now planning to fly to Moline tonight and get to Portland tomorrow via Denver instead to Chicago. There are 3 seats open on the flight tomorrow morning at 6:00 am to Denver. Denver to Portland looks a little more dicey but much better than Chicago. Here's the scene in Chicago. This is much calmer than the flights to Portland. An hour ago a folksinger like guy was pounding on the door to the jetway demanding a seat on the plane. They had assigned two people to the same seat and he didn't get to it in time. We went off to have a slice of Pizza at Wolfgang Puck. By the way, Wolfgang Puck has the best pizza and best breakfast in O'Hare. We know because we had breakfast there this morning and had pizza there for dinner. They are starting to call us by our first names there now.

We Found a House in Eau Claire

Yesterday we had our offer accepted for a great house in Eau Claire. It only took us two days to make the deal. The house is in great shape and includes all the appliances. That's pretty good since we are leaving ours in Corvallis. The house is located in the 3rd Ward area of Eau Claire which is right next to the University. I will be able to walk to work. We are already planning where to put our furniture.

Today Cely and I are stuck in O'Hare trying to catch a flight to Portland. Everyone in Chicago wants to go there it seems. So far we have missed two flights and have 3 more chances. The last flight leaves about 10pm. If we don't get one of those we will have to go through the same thing again tomorrow. The nice thing was that we were able to visit Nancy and Jim and our niece and nephews. I will have some pictures when I can upload them at home. I haven't seen them for quite awhile. We got to see little Richie and the newest, Nicholas. All were very cute. Pictures to follow.

House Hunting in Eau Claire

Today we spent the day looking at houses in Eau Claire's 3rd Ward area. This is going to be a difficult decision for us. We have 4 houses plus the one we look at tomorrow that all have their own negatives and positives. We are committed to living in the 3rd Ward as all the houses are unique and it is an area where walking to campus will be easy. We are leaning to a house that has a studio above the garage. I guess Cely and I will have to take up painting or something. Tomorrow we look at a bungalow that looks great on the Web. That has been the interesting thing about looking for a house in Eau Claire. Everything actually is better in person than it appears to be on the Web. I haven't taken any pictures of the house.

We were going to take in a movie tonight but the whole choosing a home thing drained us.

More to follow.

We Sold the House

It only took three days to sell our house! We listed it on Tuesday afternoon and by Friday evening we had accepted the first offer. It was for exactly what we asked. Cely and I had worked really hard last weekend to get it looking good. We painted the walls. This is what the girls' room and the living room looked like after painting.











We have to wait for the house inspection before it is a sure thing but everything should be cool and it sounds like the woman who bought our house has already been approved for a loan to buy it. She will be teaching at OSU in the Fall so it should work out just great. Now we have to look for a place to buy in Eau Claire. I don't think the sale has really sunk in yet. I guess it will soon. Here are some more pictures of the house. We took some while the house was "staged" it looked so nice and clutter free.

The house doesn't look like much from the outside but I think the backyard and the high ceilinged living room make it a very cozy place.

To celebrate the sale of the house we drove up to Portland to see a movie. It was one of the best movies we have seen this year. Once is a new form of musical. It was a true delight. The story is about a Dublin street musician trying to record the songs he has written and a Czech woman who helps him do it. It is sort of a love story but more a story about love and relationships. The ending is surprising and very romantic. The music fills the plot and tells the story of the Guy (Glen Hansard) and the Girl (Markéta Irglová). (They don't get names in the movie.) Hansard had a part in The Commitments and is lead singer for the Frames. The reviews have been stellar so don't take my word for it. If you get a chance go and see this very special movie.

Leaving Oregon

Things are moving rather quickly now. Tuesday afternoon we placed our house on the market with Sara Cyrus from Town and Country Realtors. By that evening we had two realtors show our house. Then yesterday someone else brought people through. I sure hope this is a good sign. We still have to find a house in Eau Claire. There are some great houses there. We are hoping to find something in the 3rd Ward area. It is just south of campus with a great selection of houses where none really look the same. I could walk to the library every day.

We spent this weekend painting the "girls" bedroom white; it had been pink, and the salmon colored wall in the living room a pumpkin brown. Both look a lot better. We are trying to stage our house by getting all the clutter out. Its amazing how nice the place looks without magazines and photocopies of half-read articles all over the place. We ended up taking 4 PT Cruiser loads of boxes and junk to a storage shed.

Here's a before picture of our living room wall. I'll have to take an after picture.

Our Next Move

Cely and I are getting ready to pull up roots again. Actually we are going back to where are roots are deeper, I guess. I think I'm stretching the metaphor pretty thin here.

We are getting ready to move to Eau Claire Wisconsin. I have accepted the position of Library Director at McIntyre Library at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Both Cely and I are really excited about moving there. The job seems as close to perfect as one could hope for and the community is wonderful. Cely and I went to visit over Memorial Day. We felt a little foolish making a visit there when I still didn't know if they would offer me the position but we couldn't help ourselves. We figured if I didn't get the job we would at least have had a nice little trip over the Memorial Day weekend. This is another reason that we are so happy that Adrienne works for United.

I wanted Cely to see what everything looked like in case they did offer me the job. She gave it a big thumbs up. It is in a beautiful confluence of the Chippewa and the Eau Claire rivers. The University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire is in a beautiful location in the city and on the banks of the Chippawa. Everyone I met there was very nice and welcoming.

So now it looks like we are going to have to build a new blog or rename this one to John and Cely in Wisconsin. More to come.