places we have lived...

since our marriage September 28 1983, Kevin & I have moved a lot...sometimes due to looking for a better place, sometimes for jobs...
we started out in an upstairs apt. in Chillicothe. We had a sunporch, a fireplace, a guest room....swanky! Kevin went to school, worked for a farmer, & picked up odd jobs off the bulletin board at school. Deb worked at Taco Nita & The Carriage House. Then she just sat home on her lazy butt.
we moved that summer to his dad's farm to save rent $ for Kevin's next year of school. we adopted a cat, Gray. Kevin worked for the State Highway Dept. & helped his dad on the farm haying, etc. Deb worked with her mother in law Dixie at Ma & Pa's.
end of summer we moved to a different apt. in Chillicothe, just a few blocks from the first one, downstairs. we had pets...roaches. we also had Gray & Little Bit. this is where I got pregnant with Koren! Kevin went to school, worked for farmers, & did odd jobs. I babysat Chelsea Cox & Amanda (can't remember her last name...)
after Kevin graduated from vo-tech school, we moved back to his old room at the farm while Kevin looked for a job. Kevin worked on the farm, Deb just got more & more pregnant. We gave the cats back to my mom, my dr. told us all about complications a pg. woman could get from cats. Kevin found a job at Lamoni Products in Lamoni, IA. we rented a house at Eagleville, MO. Deb just knew their soon to be born baby would learn to ride a bike & roller skate on the concrete driveway. This was Koren Marie Dailey's first home. She was born Oct. 8 1985 & came home after 2 very long weeks at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines. Deb babysat Jackie Thomas here. My best friend from high school Shirley Slaughter Thomas helped us find the house & we hung out a lot.
our next move was to a drafty but very cool apartment in an old building a couple of blocks from the square that the landlord told us was the first drs. office in Bethany. There were transom windows, leaded glass windows, beautiful woodwork...Deb ran a daycare there & worked briefly at Kentucky Fried Chicken, then started her daycare back up again. Kevin left Lamoni Products for Fordyce Equipment in Bethany.
we bought our first new bed: a waterbed from B&W Furniture.
When Kevin got hired as a Place's Discount Store asst. manager, his first store was in Indianola, Ia. I loved it there, we had an apt. with a balconey & a playground at Robin Manor. I babysat a neighbor girl Mandy Jo Nelson. Koren always had someone to play with. She loved going to the Mickey Mouse pool & having a grape DQ Starkist afterwards. we recycled pop cans to go to the movies. We went to the Balloon Classic, paddleboated at Lake Aquabi...Koren took ballet class & went to Park & Rec classes. We journeyed into Des Moines. Kevin got afternoons off after working the weekend, he'd plan fun outings for us. We bought our first new car there...a 1989 Chevy Cavalier from Lentz Chevrolet. We also bought our first new tv. and vcr. and entertainment center. and a mushroom chair for Koren. Up to this point, 99% of our furniture was hand-me-downs. Koren & I went to the Grand Opening of the Indianola Wal-Mart. Koren had her tonsils taken out while we lived here.
He was transferred to help open the new store in Montgomery City, MO. We rented a house, Koren went to preschool, Deb babysat for awhile, then had to get a 'real' job at the nursing home. We decided that when Kevin became a manager, we'd try to have another baby. We lived close to my sister Lisa, she came to visit. There was a fountain, a bakery, a dime store, a pet store...Koren finally got her fish!
Kevin got the Rock Port store, we rented a house on a hill, it had an upstairs! Deb got a nursing home job & promptly got sick....I was pregnant with Karl Joseph Dailey. Kevin joined the Park board & became a volunteer firefighter. Koren went to Kindergarten. KJ was born March 3, 1992.
Kevin was transferred to the Albany Places store. We found the upstairs of a duplex that was decorated in the 70s to rent...all shades of shag carpet. Lots of stairs to climb up & down. Koren went to first grade, second grade, & half of 3rd grade there. Deb worked at the nursing home, we did opposite shifts. I started out nights, Kevin was days. When Place's let him go, he got an evening shift at T-3 & Deb went to days. He had a lot less stress & we were all happier. We bought new furniture from F.C.Grace in Denver. We took our first 'real' vacations here...a long weekend at Lake of the Ozarks, a week wandering around Missouri on the way to my sister Lisa's wedding...
Then Kevin decided he wanted to move back to Mercer & work for PSF. He went to a job fair, was hired at the Lucerne Feedmill, & gave me 2 weeks to get ready to move. I didn't want to move back home. I think everyone in a two block radius knew exactly how I felt. But we moved anyway. Kevin's Grandma rented us one of her houses on a small farm. I got a job at Princeton Care Center evenings. After a couple of months, I went to a PSF job fair & ended up working part-time at the Wade units in May. In Jan. I went full time at Wade 3. We decided to have our last baby....Katie Scarlett Dailey was born Nov. 2 1998. After several hernia surgeries, I transferred to DD Polebarn parttime, then to GIF fulltime, then back to Wade 3. when our barn de-popped spring 2009, I had to work at Wolf 9 for several months.
Kevin had sinus surgery which was caused by dusty feedmill conditions, plus he was losing his hearing. He got a part time job at the Hy Vee Warehouse in Chariton IA & worked 2 jobs for about a year and a half without a day off, then started taking off one day every other week. When Hy Vee offered him full time, he quit the feedmill.
Our kids have been in scouts here, played soccer, Katie takes dance class, KJ has played BB & ran track & been in pep band, on the academic team, in school plays. Koren got her first cats & dogs here. and a hamster & a rabbit. KJ had Templeton the gerbil. Katie got the first inside cat...Miss Cuddles. We have had so many cats & dogs here...
Koren was Prom Queen & Valedictorian. 25 years later...here we are. We've been in Mercer 15 years. I love our house on the edge of town. I love the backyard. I just wish there were more jobs.
I am a Girl Scout Leader, a Band Booster, an Athletic Booster. I buy raffle tickets for everything. I love to go to school activities. The kids have lots of trees to climb, a cool BB court at the park next door, a pool in Princeton...