So this the final phase of my work as a decorating consult.
I thought perhaps if we were serious about moving back to Eugene that I should secure a job first.
I knew there were two high end furniture stores in Eugene and with my credentials at this point I should be shoe in if there were any positions open.
I first called Edmond's Furniture. This store carried all the fine furniture that I had been selling in Portland except for Thomasville furniture. They had no openings. It was primarily a family run company. The only other furniture store that I felt I would care to work in was Ethan Allen.
Now I knew that you had to train for being a Ethan Allen designer but this did not bother me. I had all my skills as far as designing rooms, color concepts, working from blue prints, and making house calls and all of the different types of paper work involved. Also Ethan Allen sold window treatments and that was a skill I had learned at Wall St. Interiors. So I gave a call to Ethan Allen and yes they wanted to talk to me. I talked to the owner when I called from Portland and he said anyone who had worked for Parker's in Portland at the their huge design center he would certainly want on his staff.
So I set up a time for a interview. I still had my job with Parker's and at this point did not say anything to anyone as to what I was doing. I thought it prudent to get the job first with EA before saying anything.
So on my days off hubby and I drove to Eugene and I met with the manager for a interview. She hired me on the spot after that initial hour meeting. I could start anytime within the next thirty days and I would have training on the Ethan Allen products and procedures before going on the floor.
So all that remained now was to give notice to the Parker's and find a rental in Eugene and move again.
I gave notice and everyone was so wonderful. Some of them cried, some were so sad I was going, they gave me a huge party. I really felt I was leaving my family. But everyone understood. And I got a call from Craig Parker the owner and was told if I ever wanted a job with them again just let him know and he would make one available. How sweet.
So we found a suitable rental in the south hills of Eugene and moved. I started work and my husband went about the business of getting his new enterprise underway. Advertising and business cards and making contacts kept him busy.
My work at Ethan Allen after my training was boring. The store did not hustle like the places I had worked before. Seemed the days went by so slowly. I made decent money when I did have big projects but it certainly was a let down from the stores in Portland or even Bend for that matter.
I told myself I would give it two years and by that time hubby should be up and running with the hardwood business. And that is exactly what I did.
I gave notice almost two years to the day I started. My husband was doing amazing installing and refinishing hardwood flooring. He also installed laminate and bamboo flooring and did repairs. He needed me at home to be his right hand woman. So I became a go-for for supplies, a office manager and a help mate when needed. Still those are my titles.
We became so busy over the first few years we had my son come and work for us. He had been wanting to move from Washington state. So for almost three years my son worked for us. He then went to Portland to use his own skill which is a heavy equipment operator which paid considerably more than we were paying him. But it was grand having him live in Eugene and I missed him so when he left.
So there it is. My working life.
Now after writing all of this it seems to me it would have been more prudent to have stayed in Eugene in the first place. We spent five years between Bend and Portland before settling in Eugene once more. And what is more astounding after we rented for a year we found a home to buy and that we are still in. And it is right down the street from the one that my husband had built that we were living in before we left for Bend.
Life is strange........if we had stayed here we would not have had the experiences we had, I would not have met all those amazing folks in Portland. Maybe Bend would have still seemed like a place in our mind we would want to go back to. But after going back we knew our love affair with central Oregon was over.
So you learn and you grow and you experience life.
We are very content here in this little city. Location is everything. Two beautiful passes the McKenzie and the Willamette both at our door step that offer so much. The beach a fifty minute drive away. Eugene is small enough and the saying is you can be anywhere in twenty minutes. That seems to be true with freeways running both north and south as well as east and west. There is much to do, good eateries and shopping, river trails for biking and a huge cultural agenda.
This the longest period of time we have been in a home. It will be ten years this coming summer. We have slowly been remodeling the house and this winter we will be redoing the laundry room which is the last room left. However there will always be something that we will want to do.
So yes contentment now. Feels good.
Now the blogs will be back to my normal chatter with food and recipes.
Bye for now.
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