When I stopped the post last I had just gotten a position at the Thomasville store in Eugene owned by the Parker family.
So I went into training for two weeks. Learning product and company polices, work formats, office structure etc. There was much to learn as I had not sold Thomasville furniture before.
Soon the doors opened and we were in business as they say.
I loved my work but most of all I became very close to several of the gals I worked with. All were lovely women from different backgrounds with different histories. We just meshed. So a new set of friends for me. Work mates as well as play mates.
The work paid well, hubby built two houses during that time and we moved permanently in to one of them while he continued to build spec houses. It was a good time for us, we traded our 19 ft boat and bought a 23 ft cabin cruiser a dream of a boat and I was in heaven when I was in that boat. Well that is another story.
I continued on with Thomasville until the store was bought out by Basset furniture co. I did not want to sell Basset or work for new management. So I quit my job and at the same time property was becoming harder and harder to come by. The prices were escalating and the big builders in the city had the sub-divsions bought up for their own enterprises.
So we considered moving back to Bend. We went over the pro's and con's several times and agreed we would go back as in the beginning the move really was only temporary to help my hubbies father.
So we sold our cute home and moved back to Bend. We rented and bought a large lot to build our own home on.
So for about eight months my hubby constructed our new home. This house was my dream home perfect in every way, just the way I had always envisioned it.
When finished with our own home we started a house for speculation. Bend had not quite started into the building frenzy that happened about three years later but still again finding property to build on was an issue. The same old problem was plaguing us.
Now I have to say gorgeous home or not we were not happy in Bend. In the few years we had been gone a lot had changed. Traffic was deplorable, people were moving in, everything was so busy and we had forgotten how many months were so cold and windy. Seemed I just counted days waiting for warmer weather. I guess I had become a valley girl living in Eugene. We had been in our new home almost two years and I received a call from one of my friends that I had worked with in the Eugene Thomasville store and she was now one of the managers at the big Parker design center in Beaverton Or. She asked me if I would be interested in a position as a design consultant in that amazing store. We looked at all options not many. Stay or leave. So we put the house on the market the spec house was already on the market and hubby could not start another project until that spec sold.
I told the Parker's I would take the position and would start the end of June. It was now May. So we packed up our motor home and found a RV park that was suitable to live in until we could find a rental home. And off to Portland we went and started yet another new adventure.
There again I loved working for the Parker's. I of course being in the field had heard of this amazing furniture store. The biggest and finest in all of the Portland area. Now I was a part of this group of talented designers and working with very high end product. I had my nose in vendor books for months studying and learning as much as my brain could take in.
It was very hard for my husband to get a foot hold in the Portland area as far as building was concerned He did however find a job working with a builder and the two worked on many projects together both residential and commercial.
After a year I decided I wanted to transfer to Parker's other store in the Lake Owsego area. Reason being it was just a Thomasville store though we had access to all the merchandise at the Beaverton store. It was smaller store and located much closer to where we were renting a home in Sherwood Or. If any of you have lived in the Portland area, you know the closer you are to your work the better as the traffic at rush hour is a nightmare.
So moving the story along. I was very happy with my job doing very well making bigger money than I had ever dreamed possible. For my husband it was a struggle as he so much missed working for himself and that did not look like even a small possibility in Portland.
So after over two years in Portland we had another decision to make. Stay or leave. Now I know you think we are probably nuts! However our daily happiness is everything to us and to not have that sense of contentment meant everything. We were wanting to buy a home but with what was going on with my husband we did not want to commit to that obligation.
Hubby started thinking that he had to reinvent himself. Get entirely out of the building trade. So he started to learn the craft of laying and refinishing hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring had become very popular during this time. So with a change in career for him we thought about where would be a good place to live. We had always liked Eugene when we were here, we loved the location being close to mountain passes offering hiking, boating, camping all the things we loved. Also less than a hours drive to the ocean. So perhaps.............
To be continued.
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