Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House, Eugene Oregon

       Today we decided to take a ride up to Eugene and look around.  Roland checked the net before we left so that we would have a specific destination. 

came out extremely small because it was taken with my cell phone

       The historical landmark sits upon a hill.  Many stairs lead to the house.  It reminded Jenna and I of a veggie tale's Sock Drawer in which one feature is a reinactment of the three stooges moving a piano

The initial look on their faces as they look up to see all those stairs

 

I couldn't find a picture that showed ALL the many stairs

watching larry do all of the work

       The history of the house and owners was interesting.  I took a lot of pictures - though the majority of artifacts were actually just condusive to the time period and not the house itself.  It was still very quite interesting. 

        The pictures are not in order of how I took them.  Different rooms, different floors - but as most all of the artifacts were donated to give a visualization to history, I don't suppose it matters

taken in the girls room

taken in the office - all three owners had dr. breadwinners.
 all three doctors died in this room.  I thought that was interesting.

the McMurphy family

was obviously not taken from the best angel

this came out darker than I expected.  Our guide said this room
would be equivalent to what we call a family room

not the original fireplace. But it looks authentic

part of the girls room

miniature in the attic part of the house.  Our guide said
 that it took eight years to create and ended up
costing more than the actual house that we toured

kitchen stove

parlor

Jenna nearing the top

may find a better picture off the internet. 

time period kitchen ware

       You can read more about its history here 

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful

Jenna does NOT deal with change well.  She is horrible at it.  Horrible.  I don’t even remember what it was she was complaining about last night.  I told her that whatever we do, wherever we live, no matter what, there are going to be some things that we like about our current situation and some things that we don’t. 

I told her to write a list of pros and cons with living in West Valley and with living in Myrtle Creek.  I didn’t suggest for her to include Kearns – after all she was only five when we had moved. There was probably more drama about that move than there was with this last one.

After reviewing her lists, I decided to make some lists of my own.  Thus for this post, I have decided to share each list that was created (or started at least)

Jenna’s pro list for living in West Valley

1)           school friends

2)           church friends

3)           good principal (Mrs. Randolf is truly amazing)

4)           FAMILY

5)           More time with dad (they had actually eaten breakfast together)

Jenna’s con list for living in West Valley

1)           a certain individual from school

2)           church friends live in apartments

Jenna’s pro list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)           same answer as number one on last list

2)           swim lessons (pool in general)

3)           friends made

4)           a library

5)           a bike

6)           good people

7)           Netflix

 Jenna’s Con list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)              mom forced me to be in band before school even started

2)             have to practice the clarinet

3)             missing friends from West Valley

4)             Barely anything to do (EVERYTHING IS IN ROSEBURG)

5)             Missing family

6)             Less time with dad [who’s still working according to mountain time and eats breakfast at his desk or long before Jenna gets out of bed]

My pro list for living in West Valley

1)           public transportation

2)           conveniences (driving locations)

3)           playing games with family members

4)           dual immersion

My con list for living in West Valley

1)           dry air

2)           traffic

3)           construction

4)           small house

5)           no sidewalks

My pro list for living in Myrtle Creek

1)           I can more easily breathe

2)           Low crime

3)           Best house

4)           Strong ward

5)           Opportunities that Jenna will have in this school as opposed to Salt Lake (such as low income rental on instrument and swim lessons that didn’t get cancelled due to a lack of numbers)

6)           Overall friendliness of people

7)           Low key traffic

8)           New Friendships

            9)         that Roland was able to bring his job with us

My con list for Myrtle Creek

1)           windy roads without guard rails

2)           family members live so far away

3)           outrageous water bills

4)           lack of public transportation

5)           library hours

6)           variety

Love the House I Live in

         Though Roland seemed anxious to purchase a house right away, I still don’t know what city I would like to make my permanent resident.  I love Myrtle Creek. Everyone’s been so friendly and it really did not take long to warm up to things.

         Roland has always looked at the house itself.  My primary concern is with the neighborhood, the ward, the area itself.  The house is only secondary.  But I do love this house we’re in right now – though we are just renting and haven’t even bothered looking at a house to buy – though Roland still seems anxious to do that very thing. 

        School is so expensive, and if we can find a home now, Jenna will have a better chance of going to school in Oregon for a much lower cost than her brothers.  MUCH LOWER – but we have to be homeowners.  But I also believe we need to be making more money than our budget allows at this time.  As renters, we do not have to pay property taxes.  I find that to be a plus right now.  

         I do know we’ll need to move eventually.  But let’s let Jenna do a year or two of middle school at least.  I thought I’d want to move her to a bigger high school, but I’m finding that I really like those that graduated from So. Umpqua High.  But I don’t know that I could last six or seven years more in this county.  Eventually I’m going to need to go back to public transportation. 

         I don’t remember yellow flowering plants with thorns even existing when I lived on the east side of state street growing up in Salt Lake City.  But after I got married and moved to the west side, thorns were an everyday part of our life.  Both houses we were in.  We couldn’t help but step of them. 

      They were constantly being dragged into the house and it seemed to house needed to be swept and vacuumed more often, but somehow thorns were always left behind.  I could never go barefoot in the house, let alone outside.  In Myrtle Creek, I’ve been able to do both.  And it’s been wonderful.

       When we lived in West Valley, there was no garbage disposal hook-up.  I am so used to scraping garbage out of the sink and throwing it away that I forget we have access to a disposal in the house where we currently live.

         We also have a place to put our table and call a dining room

         We have a lot more closet and cupboard space and just a lot more space.  It is so awesome to be able to walk from room to room without bumping into walls or furniture because everything is narrow and small.

         We have water pressure!  Something else I have truly missed the last 5 ½ years.  I love being able to do dishes in more than just a trickle of water.  I can even do dishes when the washing machine is running – something I couldn’t even fathom in West Valley. Taking showers is also a lot nicer.

         I had a laundry room when we lived in Kearns, but not in West Valley.  My desire was to move the appliances outside, wall up that area and have more elbowroom.  The washer and dryer are now in the garage where one might think I have more elbow room, but with a refrigerator on one side and a car on the other, the space might actually be tighter than in West Valley. 

         In West Valley my washer opened to the left and my dryer to the left opened down.  It was kind of a bother to attempt to push clothes over one door and hope they would land in the dryer or at least of the door – though I wasn’t happy with having too much weight.  Now my doors open opposite directions.

         I found a system that lessens the inconvenience of having two doors in between the washer and dryer.  I take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the basket.  I put the basket on top of the dryer and clothes the washer drawer.  I move my body over to the tiny space in front of the dryer and take the clothes down and put them inside.  Wish I would have thought to do the same when we lived in West Valley. I’m not complaining because there are so many other features about the house that I love.

         I love having shelves to put things.  I love having a coat closet (not that we’ve had a need for it as of yet) None of the houses I have lived in have offered coat closets.

         I love having access to electronic communication, for I still miss those that we left behind in Utah.  I am grateful that Roland was able to bring his electronic position with him and still has a job regardless of where we live.  

         I love being able to breathe.