Summer/Fall Update

It has been a pretty hectic two months! First off, we bought a house and closed on September 9 and moved in September 24. It's a 4 bedroom in Beaverton and it was built in 1992. It is in pretty good shape, but needs a few things done to it:

1) There are two skylights that need replacing because the previous owners did not repair them right per our home inspection report.

2) One toilet that is running (but that isn't majorly complicated to fix, if it is indeed just running).

3) There is a sump pump in our crawlspace that apparently needs to be there because water gets in there during hard rains. We suspect that the house is situated lower than the houses around us and gravity pulls the rain towards us, thus the need for a sump pump. The last time it rained hard, the pump was doing its thing, but we heard it working almost constantly for about 2 days. So Craig went down there, however it was dry as can be (the previous owners replaced it after out home inspector found it was not working; it's pretty loud after a hard rain, but broken pump somehow escaped their notice).

4) The kitchen and bathrooms need updating, but everything works fine. Except for the kitchen faucet, which leaks (our home warranty is putting in a new one when the part comes in) and the fridge is OLD and probably on its last leg, but the warranty will also take of that if it kicks the bucket.

5) The outlet for the clothes dryer was 3-prong, but our dryer plug is 4-prong, so we had to buy a 3-prong outlet to put on the dryer. Changing the outlet is very expensive, but that is something that we need to do at some point in the future.

6) There are a few other things I don't have the patience to get into. The former owners, who shall remain nameless, just didn't really take care of the place very well. They did a few things before they put the house on the market and several items outlined after the inspection. But there were a lot of things they dropped the ball on (like mickey mousing electrical outlets) and not because they were broke. They had the money to buy a boat, which sat in the driveway. That's why I don't feel sorry for them. And the husband is supposed to be an electrical engineer for Intel; he must have graduated at the bottom of his class.

Anyway, other than all that (and more) generally the house is in good shape. We want to buy a dining room table for the dining room, since the table we already have was placed in the eat-in kitchen. And we have a separate living room and family room, so our living room furniture and television we have is in the family room (which is situated off to the side of the kitchen), so we have to buy furniture for the living room. So currently, the living room is empty and the dining room is Gabe's play area for the moment.


Living Room


Dining area. Gabe standing there like
he can move objects with his mind, lol.


Family Room


Family Room


Kitchen


Eat-in Kitchen area

The backyard is nice and roomy, but not too big. We have arborvitae (a type of evergreen) trees, two plum trees (one is Japanese, I think), an apple tree, four blueberry bushes, and about 5 or 6 rose bushes. I saw the blueberry bushes giving fruit at the end of the summer, so I know they are cool and apparently don't need much care at this point. The fruit trees need pruning once a year and the evergreens don't really need any pruning, just watering at the proper times. So I am looking forward to getting some fruit for jams, pies/tarts, and just eating. The only thing I am concerned about as far as the plum trees is the mess they will create, when the fruit drops if not picked in time. But that is not real problem; I am hoping that they actually produce fruit and hopefully those previous owners didn't screw up the trees (I am very resentful towards them, in case you haven't noticed).


Plum tree


Other plum tree


Blueberry bushes



Rose bushes (I pruned the first one, have to
get to the others).



Backyard, getting rid of these flowers and will
change this to a vegetable garden soon.



Backyard, apple tree in the corner, arborvitae
on the right.

Craig says, "Homeowning is for people that don't like money."

Anyway, that is our update for now! Hope all y'all are doing well!