Q&A on THIH, Part 2

I still haven’t found my camera wire, and the ominous crunching sounds coming from my camera after spending three hours in a whirling sandstorm (more on that later) suggest I may have a problem with my future photography. No matter. Cell phone pictures can be high-quality, can they not?

Like this one.
Like this one.

What? You can’t tell that’s Maddie snoozing underneath my homemade standing desk? Abstract art, dear reader.

It’s time for a another post-move Q&A session. I’d like to say I won’t take the identities of both Q and A this time, but then I wouldn’t be part of the same family that counts a wall of obscure board games (yes, a wall) and a 45-pound chocolate tempering machine among its most prized possessions.

Q: You live in Oregon now, huh?
A: Yup.

Q: Can you maybe … expand … just a little?
A: Only if you stop taking lessons from the William Shatner School of Elocution. To answer your yes-or-no question, we moved from Illinois to Oregon at the end of June amidst a flurry of packing boxes and 95 degree F weather in both locations. To those of you who’ve been reading THIH for a while: yes, Peter and I have lived on the East AND West coasts AND the Midwest, all in the space of less than two years. If you’d asked me five years ago whether I thought we’d ever live in Oregon or Illinois, I would have laughed in your face. Sometimes we joke about how our next move will be to Alaska or Hawai’i. Check back in two years and we’ll be shipwrecked somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Q: Why did you move?
A: For the same reason as last time: Peter’s job.

Q: What are your plans, oh, Jessie, RD?
I am incredibly excited about what the next few years will bring. I plan to continue consulting work, but I’ll also add another descriptor to my name: Jessie, student. That’s right! Over the next few years, I’ll be studying for my MBA. I can’t wait to share my journey with you.

Q: You must be the world’s oldest student.
A: Not by a long shot.

Q: How is Maddies adjusting to the move?
As long as she has her tower of pillows, she’s good.

mabbuhz

photo 2

Q: What was the drive from Illinois to Oregon like?
A: As soon as we crossed the border into Utah, we entered a 60-mile stretch of barren highway with no towns or water or anything that might support more than a few cells of life. Though a combination of unlikely circumstances found only in low-rated sitcoms, we ended up 25 miles from the nearest gas station with only 15 miles worth of gas in the car. We slowed to 50 miles per hour and turned off all non-essential systems in the car (and yes, I was tempted to shout “life support systems only!”). Systems such as the air-conditioning.

Did I mention it was 105 degrees F that day?

We coasted into the gas station 25 miles away, dripping with sweat and unsure how we got there. That was what the drive was like.

Q: Whatever. How’s the food in Oregon?
I swear the raspberries are sweeter out here. Have you ever tasted a marionberry? Wait, of course you have. You’re me.

Q: You set up your last place in five days. Did you beat the record this time?
Considering I’m sitting on a pile of old cushions, no. We didn’t have to deal with a hacking cold this time (win!), but we did experience a frustrating amount of time standing around an empty house while the moving company gave us vague answers about where our worldly possessions languished (“Yeah, your stuff is probably in Illinois, and it might make it out to Oregon in the next, oh, month. Or so.”) When the moving van arrived last week, we were dismayed to discover many items broken or missing. Also, we have someone else’s trashcans. Anyone out there missing a couple of 10 gallon-ers?

"Can you move the sharp edge of that heavy jar closer to that delicate glass sand art circle? Perfect."
“Can you move the edge of that heavy jar closer to the delicate glass sand art? Perfect.”

Q: That’s a bummer.
A: That’s not a question.

Q: Clearly you’re still steamed over your non-record-breaking unpacking, so I’ll move on. What have you been doing in Oregon for fun?
A: I scoured through my cell phone pictures and came up with the following:

photo 4

photo 1

And that pretty much sums it up.

Q: Oh … kay. How about your mini-hiatus? What did you do during those two months?
A: We took an unusual opportunity to travel around the world — literally. But, that’s a story for another post.

Until then,
Your most grateful RD,
Jessie

sunset OR

14 Comments

  1. Well I would be pretty pissed at the moving company for breaking/stealing/selling on a black market your things. But other than that YAY oregon!!

  2. Oh my goodness, I hope most of your stuff is okay! The important thing is you still have Peter, Maddie, and the chocolate tempering machine, right? 😉 Looking forward to your traveling around the world story! Happy almost August,Jessie! 🙂

  3. Glad to see you back! Oregon is one of those places I’d like to live (the other, surprisingly, is Connecticut, so your blog is a good guide for me) so I’m glad to see you’re living there now! And it’s exciting to hear you’re getting another degree. Learning is certainly a life-long process. Just ask my dad, who just turned 50: he graduated with a master’s degree from Northwestern this year.

    1. Congratulations to your dad!!

  4. Best of luck with your new adventure Jessie. Great photo by the way. Abstract art redefined.

    Bravo!

    1. Haha, thanks Laz 🙂

  5. Wow – your drive through Utah sounds epic! So sorry to hear about all the breaking. 🙁 Good luck with your new adventures!

  6. Congratulations with the move to Oregon, you’ve got to try hazelnuts here and handcrafted liquer from Bend Distillery. Where in Oregon are you at? I’m in a small city, about two hours away from PDX. I’m happy that Maddie is adjusting well to the move, she looks comfortable!

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