Almost Christmas!

MOVED!

We moved three weeks ago yesterday - still surrounded by boxes, and under construction.  Gary is working on H.'s bedroom - tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and since it is primed (most of the room) we'll put the first coat of paint on tomorrow, and do a 2nd once the rest is finished.  She won't be in the room tomorrow - Thanksgiving - but certainly should be by this coming weekend.  The new couch etc should be arriving in the next few days - hope they can keep it til H. is in her room - the living room is awfully full of 'stuff' right now.

MOVING this Saturday!

Down to the last couple of days at the 'old house' - I am the one who is having the most emotional qualms with the move - because I've been connected to this place since Mom and Dad built it - with my help - in '73.  I think Grant also realizes that the 'new place' may be a stopping place for a few years, but not much more. 

Sitting here in the Den, looking out the window towards the back fields and trees, with a morning mist lit up by a bright sunny sky - we won't have a view like this at the new place.  Here we have views from every window, and hardly need curtains. 

We do need to look on the positives with the move:

• we are eliminating the 'mortgage'
• we are downsizing - including with utilities etc
• we are downsizing 'stuff'
• the new house should sell a lot faster and more 'definitely', being in town
• the new house should sell for more money after we've done the planned renos
• we've definitely learned a lot more about selling & buying houses from this move!

Gary - our contractor - is set to start work on Heather's new bedroom on Saturday.  With luck she will be in her new room before she and Ian go down to Victoria for her 'birthday present' - Ian bought tickets to a Music Fest.  Her birthday is the Wednesday, so she just might get in to her room as a birthday present.

We have a new Helper - Linda is from the Netherlands by way of Australia and NZ - very interesting accent!  Great worker and good company.

Ian is still away, but due back hopefully tomorrow.  He left a week and a half ago - 3 days after I brought him back from Camp Thunderbird - and has been visiting Drew, hiking, and visiting his Uncle Lo/Aunt Darlie in Lethbridge/Calgary area.  I asked him to phone before he starts heading back home - but knowing him we probably won't hear from him until he gets on the ferry and calls for a ride.

Today I'm going to town - will stop in at the office and check phone calls, call our client who calls in to the office, and just 'check on things'.  Will also stop at a Budget place and reserve a truck etc for Thursday evening - or Friday morning at the latest.  At home I plan to 'finish off' some rooms, move the computer to the folding plastic table and then pack up most everything else in the den.  Tomorrow with luck I won't have to go out anywhere and Linda and I can go thru and get more rooms finished off.

Definitely glad we are not doing this move with kids in school - it is complicated enough moving from large rural to normal city, with pets, extra vehicles, etc.

Guiding Registration is Thursday night at the Moose, then after that I can pack my uniform in the 'last packed' wardrobe box.  Friday morning is the United Way Kickoff Breakfast - after that I can carefully pack most of the rest of our closet, being careful to get that container unpacked quickly.

Must run - I have some toast all ready to eat which is getting cold.

My WORK is moving too!

As if moving house is not busy enough, now my work is moving!  I no longer work for Nanaimo Telephone Visiting Society - we have changed our name to Nanaimo Seniors Visiting Society.  And we will be moving to the same building as United Way (and several other non-profits) at the end of October.  We will be saving money, and having the plus of being with other similar agencies.  Having United Way just down the hall will be great for increased visibility!

With me being away for two weeks for moving house, we don't have a lot of time to get ready for our move.  Today we started going thru boxes and deciding what goes to Value Village, what is garbage, what is paper recycling/shredding - and what we want to keep.  I know that we will need to have a volunteer or practicum student help us with re-sorting and organizing all the papers into useable resources.  We did junk old day-books, hundreds of thank-you letters going back to the early 80's, etc.  But I kept a variety of really interesting in/out letters.  Some of the most interesting were letters to and from government officials and politicians - including Premier van der Zalm! We even have a personal letter from the Premier!

We do need to find a place to store some of the things which we won't need til Christmas, etc - then I hope we can be finished with a huge lot of seasonal decorations.  We use the Nanaimo Ecumenical Centre every year, and therefore take advantage of their decorations.  We just won't have the space to store all this stuff.  And we did not use it this past Christmas.

At the top is our current logo - NTVS standing for Nanaimo Telephone Visiting Society.  We don't know what our new logo will be - for NSVS - but hope to know soon as the local web company who is working on our new website is also working on our new logo.

MOVING next weekend!

Moving day is getting VERY close now = we take possession of the new house at 9am NEXT Saturday!  We have a lot packed, with still a fair bit to do.  I am so very glad now that we arranged it so that we can get into the new place a week before we have to be out of our current place.  We are still not certain how we are going to convert to city folks - 8 years here have truly countrified us. 

We hve been trying to sell our motorhome but so far no luck - one couple has come to look at it 3 times - last time yesterday after it was completely emptied and cleaned out, and they emailed this morning saying it is not what they want after all.  And our stove is not sold yet - one lady enquired, but she ended up buying a new stove on the weekend.  I'd love to keep the stove - but there is gas at the new place.  If we don't sell it by next week I guess we are taking it with us and storing it for a bit - ugh - we really don't have the space there to be storing appliances.  I wish there was a place to take appliances to sell on consignment.  Maybe I will check into auctions - I know there is an auction on Shenton Rd not far from the new house - and maybe have an electrician see if we can put in the right wiring for the electric stove so we can get rid of the gas stove...

I just realized that I've not yet put in a photo of the new house - so:
This photo shows where the two major renovations are going to be to start - the single attached garage will be renovated immediately to be Heather's new bedroom, and the front porch/overhang will be renovated to be a large front foyer, with the den opening off of it.  This will add about 350sq ft to the house, and make it much more useable for us.  I have to do a fair bit of landscaping next spring, as there is nothing but a few trees/shrubs now.  I NEED at least one cedar tree - kind of hard to have a website etc called 'CedarHill' with no Cedar trees!

We have a great Helper, Sofia, from Mexico with us now.  She is heading back to Ontario on Friday.  I think we will be having another Helper arrive in the next week - great to get more help with the move etc.  I've also enquired with Brenda, the SD Homestay Coordinator about students for 2nd Semester - we will definitely be finished major renovations by that time - especially the master bathroom.

The move will be a LOT of work, but I am looking forward to organizing and transforming the inside to look more like our home.

Almost September!

Yesterday we had our final Yard Sale before the MOVE - Ian, Grant and Sofia (our new Mexican Helper) helped set everything up, and at the end Ian, Heather, Sofia and I cleared everything up.  What did not sell we either put out on the 'free pile' or loaded in the van - Ian then drove stuff to Ryan's to donate to 1st Cedar Scouting, then to Value Village for the rest.  Some things they did not take - not sure why - so Ian added those to the free pile when he got back.  Luckily the weather cooperated and other than a bit of wind it was quite a nice day for a Yard Sale.  We netted $145, with no expenses as all I did for advertising was put a posting on Kijiji and a neon pink sign over the For Sale sign - good use for it now!

Back up a day - 5pm Saturday Grant and I were supposed to drive down to Victoria to pick up Ian after his summer working at Camp Thunderbird - but mid-morning Saturday Grant found out he had to go in to work for the afternoon - so I went down 'just me' to get Ian.  I got there a few minutes before 5 - actually surprised him I think with that - then after he loaded everything in we drove first to Sooke to see if there was an interesting place to go for dinner.  No luck - always has struck me as odd that Sooke does not have any nice restaurants etc with the wonderful views.  So we headed home, after deciding we'd detour thru' Cowichan Bay for dinner.  I parked in the town parking lot, then we wandered down the road looking for a place we'd not been to before that had seafood.  We ended up in a pub - on a balcony over the water.  Perfect evening, and good food.  Got back home around 9ish.

And - to back up even further - shortly after 8:30am on the same day, the phone rang, and it was Sofia, our new Helper from Mexico, saying she was on the ferry.  I met her as she came thru the arrival doors.  She is very nice, and her English is quite good - even tho she wants to improve it.

As it is now 8am, I'd better stop here and add more later - have exciting news about work.

MOVING time getting closer!

Less than a month now till MOVING TIME!  I've just posted ads for the MOVING/YARD SALE we are having this coming Sunday.  We've now also sold our ride-on lawnmower and three beds which we will not need.Last weekend we bought a bunch of used-once boxes from a couple who had recently moved from Alberta - wardrobe, china and 2+ cube moving boxes.  Hope we now have enough!  We plan on doing a lot of packing etc this weekend, along with having the yard sale.

I'm still having a lot of ups and downs emotionally about the move - I think it is a combination of not knowing how we will cope with living 'in town' after being on an acreage for 8 years, and also selling the house that my parents, and then us, built over the past 37 years.  It is probably a bit of the grieving process from Mom's death this spring still mixed in!  This is a very, very busy year - with no sign of letting up.  And to increase the activity it looks fairly certain that we may be moving at work also - I'm hoping for the end of October for that!

Ian should be coming home fairly soon - he will be helping with the move, but off a lot for some more trips and a few short courses, before he heads to UNBC to start his second year in January. 

And - we will be having a new helper, Sofia from Mexico, who is due to arrive on Saturday - probably in the morning.  I'm hoping to be able to have her do a lot of helping with cleaning before, during and after the move.  Along with helping with everything else to do with the move.

more later - the clock says I should be getting ready for work!

Home Business?

With everything I've learned with selling and buying houses this year, and my interest in Home Staging, I'm percolating an idea about starting a new small business. Not sure how it would work - but....



My idea is to look at the photos and listings for houses, and work with realtors and home owners to better present the home. Maybe to connect with several realtors and have the service included.

HOUSE SOLD - HOUSE BOUGHT!

Well, the crunch is definitely on!  Last Wednesday our buyers took all conditions off of their purchase of our house, which means the sale of our house is definitely going thru.  Then, after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing Grant and I sent an email to our Realtor removing the conditions on the purchase of the new house.  So - that means we are definitely buying the house on Hillside Avenue in Nanaimo.  We know there are going to be a lot of adjustments necessary for us moving from a country acreage with a house that we've basically designed and built ourselves, to a city lot with an already built house.  Luckily we are doing some renos right away, which will help to make it feel more like ours.  It will be interesting to see how we adapt - whether we like it or feel way too cramped and feel the need to move on in a year or two or three.

Today is August 16th - we have possession of the new house on September 18th - just over a month.  Having the week overlap will really help, as we can get moved in and come back here to get final things and clean up.  Sometime this week I'm going to get an estimate for a small moving company to give an estimate - I'm interested mostly in furniture and appliances, as I think most everything else should fit in the Big Metal Box.  Which reminds me - I need to make arrangements to have the Box moved on the 18th!  Shouldn't be a problem as they move it with a tow truck. Hopefully the weather for our move will be dry - as I know we may have to have some boxes outside until we get things organized.

And more things to organize for the move - which I didn't really have to do for the move here from Lethbridge 8 years ago.  Not just cancelling utilities, but starting things up at the new place, and also new.  May also look at changing telephone over to Shaw if that is a savings

Kasia will be confused but she will be easier to move than the cats.  We are rather concerned about the cats, especially George - who is away a lot.  Might be a bit better in a few weeks when the weather cools down. 

New HOUSE!

Well, things are moving quickly now!  Thursday I found a house on mls.ca that I showed to Heather & Grant - both liked it.  Also found another in Cinnabar that seemed good.  Friday morning when I called Carol I found out the Cinnabar one had sold already - wow, that was fast! So yesterday Grant took some time from work and met me at McDonald's at Rutherford and we drove together to the house, which is just off of Uplands on Hillview Avenue.  First time in for both of us - generally Grant was more impressed than I was, but overall I was pleased with it.  Once we got home I started rethinking everything - like where is everything going to go?  Anyhow, we scheduled another viewing of the house for 9:30 this morning so Heather could be with us.  We also had our Japanese student with us.  We looked at everything very, very carefully, inside and out, then looked AGAIN to make sure we didn't miss anything.  We know what we want to change immediately, and what we want to work on gradually.  The plan is to have Heather in the single attached garage, which we will turn into her bedroom while she is still with us - then when she moves out we will open it up to the living room and make a large living/sitting room.  We know it needs colour, and I want the cupboards changed from grey to dark brown until we can redo the kitchen - to hickory.  And we also - mostly Heather - just came up with the idea of opening up the den to the bottom of the stairs.

Anyhow - we offered on the house this afternoon while we were still in the house, Carol emailed us the offer, we signed it and faxed it back to her.  A few minutes ago she phoned with the sellers verbal counter offer - which we just countered.  We will see where we end up, but it looks pretty obvious that we will be moving in there on September 17th, and officially out of here on the following Saturday, September 24th.

Will keep 'posted'!

HOUSE SOLD!

Well - we are no longer in 'House for Sale LIMBO'!  Last Monday, July 19th, we sold our house - relatively quickly, actually. Our realtor came over about 6:30pm or so, presented the offer, we countered, they countered - we accepted!  It was over by about 9pm!  It is conditional til August 5th for them to get House Inspection, Septic check, water check, and a 1st Mortgage (which they are already approved for) - I'm not expecting any problems, but we know it is not 99% until all the conditions are off.  This coming week I will need to make sure I am home when the Home Inspector comes...

House for sale - posting from early July:

HOME FOR SALE - Cedar/Yellowpoint area 2+ acres and large family home!


We've been for sale on MLS since late April - sure hope it sells soon! Check out our online listing at http://www.mls.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=9459027



I'm wondering what more we can do to get our great house noticed? Should we contemplate putting up 'Vancouver Island HOUSE FOR SALE' signs someplace?



It is really not much fun being 'in limbo' which is what being FOR SALE definitely feels like!

Camping

As Grant said just before we left the campsite last night, at least we got away for two nights camping in the motorhome. But that is getting a bit ahead of myself, so I will go back to the beginning:

• Thursday (July 1st) Grant got home a bit earlier than usual as he closed up shortly after 4:15. I was mostly ready when he got home, and we were set up in our site at Englishman River Falls Prov Park before 8pm. I was glad I had picked up a (good) frozen 'skillet-type' dinner which was relatively quick to have cooked and on the table while we both read. Early to bed - relaxing with reading first. Last trip to the 'loo' for both of us and we both walked a long ways but to different outhouses.
• Friday morning it was very nice to wake up without the alarm clock, and being able to go back to sleep til we really felt like getting up. 'lo and behold when I walked out of the site and turned right to look for the nearest outhouse - the night before when I'd walked through most of the campsite I'd thought the nearest outhouse was near Site 86 - I found outhouses across the road, in between our site and the next site! Guess we could have read the map! I made French Toast for breakfast, and after cleaning up we went for a walk on some of the trails. I wasn't able to go across the bridge over the falls, but we walked some other trails.
• It was about this time when we realized that we weren't getting any water using the water pump, even though the tank was full. We tried everything we could think of, and finally gave up - though half hoping that when we came back later in the afternoon that it might be working - though it never did 'fix itself'. I hadn't brought a bucket or the big kettle, so we had to bring water from the pump in smaller quantities. At least the pump was close by!
• After tidying up we headed out - on the way out we turned down Ernglishman River Road 'just to explore' and ended up coming back to Errington Road via Dobson Road. We next stopped in at DEMXX because it seemed like a good idea to pick up some 'garbage wood' to use for firewood. Next we stopped for a late lunch at Coombs - and enjoyed looking at the 'antique Chinese furniture' first. From there - with Grant driving and me giving directions - we checked out the Whiskey Creek Campground - which is for sale for $424K, then headed through the village of Qualicum Beach, onto the Old Island highway, and north to the bridge over the Little Qualicum Reiver. Turned there to check out a house which has just been listed on Centre Road Crescent (very odd road name!). I'd been very impressed with the online photos, and we both really liked it 'in person'. It has a river view that does not appear to ever be in danger of being obstructed or cluttered up with a building. And it has a 2br suite. And beautiful sunrooms and decks. It seems like a really great possibility - and I'm looking forward to seeing it! After that we checked out a couple of places in French Creek - one place is vacant so we walked around. Grant is more intereted than me, as I think it would take too much money to get it 'liveable' along with no place for a garage etc without losing too much yard. Several others we looked at and either kept 'on the list' or removed.
• Back to camp, and Grant got a good fire going so we could put a nice juicy steak on the grill, along with baked potatoes We relaxed reading and talking til the steak/potatoes were ready, then played two games of crib. It was really nice to have the fire and be able to be outside for eating and relaxing. I left the dishes till Saturday morning!
• Saturday morning we were expecting Amanda and Kasia to come up as the plan was to all going hiking up Mt Arrowsmith. I cleaned up the dishes, while Grant got a morning fire going. I then did the prep work for scrambled eggs & 'turkey bacon' and Grant cooked it on the griddle on the fire along with toast. We were almost finished breakfast (well after 10!) when Amanda phoned saying she was lost. Turns out she took a road several before Errington Road, and dead-ended in some regional park. We finally got her to camp - and needless to say Kasia was extremely excited to see us - actually mostly to see Grant! We relaxed for a bit, then after Grant got the wood stacked in the van and Kasia's kennel in the back, we hit the road heading to Cameron Lake, which is where the 'trailhead' is for Mt Arrowsmith Trail. Kasia barked and whined all the way - too bad we've never gotten her properly trained to be in the kennel in the van! Anyhow, she behaved pretty well once Grant got her out on the leash, and up the trail a bit until it was safe enough to take her off. I knew from what the family has said before that the trail would be hard for me - and it really was. Not too far up I had to hold Grant's hand both for leverage while walking uphill, and also once we got to the steeper sections I needed him for mental support as there was a dropoff on one side. When we got to where we could hear the falls there was a spot where I knew I absolutely could NOT go any further - even thou' they both assured me that it 'got normal' just afterwards. Amanda walked on a bit further, but because Kasia left her and came back to us not long after we separated she turned around and headed back down to us. On the way back I was able to let go of Grant's hand once the trail got less steep. But I know we walked at least 2km (I think!), and the uphil was definitely a workout for me. By the time we got the the trailhead on the way back down - even tho it was easier then - I was really out in a sweat and my legs were shaking.
• We fully intended on staying the 3rd night, and leaving at checkout this morning, but as we were just this side of Hilliers Grant got a call from work saying someone who was schedule for today was going home sick and would not be in today. Grant knew it would leave the office etc vastly understaffed, along with Monday if the employee is also sick tomorrow. So we stopped at work while he 'checked things out' then headed back to camp. We got Kasia switched from the van to the car, and Amanda headed out. Grant and I both agreed that it was the fastest time we've ever 'pulled camp' Luckily both the site and the motorhome were relatively tidy, so not long after Grant got the firewood tidied, the chairs etc back in the van, I had the motorhome all ready to go. We were back home before 8:30 - correction, I was - Grant stopped at 49th for two boxes of chips, since I'd said we were having hot dogs for supper (the same thing I'd planned on having at camp!

Even though our 'holiday weekend' was shorter than planned, we both enjoyed it and it felt good to get away. Learned a few things tho - if we'd been thinking properly when the attendant came around on Thursday evening we would have said the van wasn't staying and parked it outside the gates like everyone else did - oh well - next time! Could not have helped coming back early last night, since we had no water Gront could not have had a shower in the motorhome!

I took a few photos while Grant and I were on the trails in the park, but no others.


This afternoon I hooked up the hose to the water intake and then turned on both taps - then after running the taps for a bit, I shut the water off and removed the hose. Then put the water pump back on, and we now have good water. Not sure if this has really fixed the problem, but I hope so! Next things we need to do is to change the fuses and get spares also. Then I can plug the radio/cd player in and a couple of other ac items as we did last year until I overdid it and a fuse blew! Really would like to be able to use the coffee maker - maybe I can figure a way to plug it in to the van and have the van running...??

Camping!

July 1st - Canada Day and Grant is working today! 1st time ever DEMXX is open on a Stat, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

We were going to head off for the long weekend yesterday, but (a) I just didn't get everything ready in time, and (b) I had a splitting headache and there was no way I could have managed it! Anyhow, Grant 'got' a campsite at Englishman River Prov. Park yesterday morning, for 4 nights, so we've agreed that he will come home from work as usual and then he will drive the motorhome and I will drive the van. Had planned on taking my car, but Amanda's red car seems to be sick so I've let her use mine for work etc. We'll get her car in either on Monday or Sunday to see what the problem is and hopefully fix it.

On Tuesday night our realtor came over and we lowered the price of the house - a huge price reduction - from $487k down to $450k. We definitely should get some action at this price. If we hadn't gone away this weekend we would still have plenty to do, so we will need to work hard during the week next week.

Weather - well, definitely not very summery! Last I looked at the thermometer it was just barely 10deg! The whole weekend is forecast to be like this, BUT next week we are supposed to get HOT weather - what a change.

I've got a lot of what needs to go into the motorhome sorted out, and after my bath I'll start 'loading it'. Luckily we didn't take everything out last summer when we rented it out, but there is still a fair bit of what I consider 'basic camping stuff' that needs to go in. And some of it I need to find! Since there are just the two of us we will need less than we did last summer when we camped with students. Even tho' I'd prefer to take my car, I guess an advantage to the van is that we can throw in some wood to use for campfires. I really don't want to have to buy wood - and we do have some wood stacked on the fire, and 'leftovers' we can use. Even tho we are not supposed to a scavenge for wood too near the park, I'm sure we can find someplace that is far enough away from the park to get some firewood. Since we've done a lot of moving-things in the house I think there may be some things I will have difficulty finding for this camping trip, but I should manage the most important things.

It is a bit sad that this is July 1st and our first camping weekend - but the weather has really not been very nice - and once Grant started having both Saturday and Sunday off we also were doing a lot on the house. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can do some more camping - with or without guests!

I'll update this with some pictures after we come back.

HOME - Work - etc

Not a very inspired posting title! Oh well, may think up a better one.

I don't usually work on Fridays but will be stopping in to the office for a bit early this afternoon - B. phoned around noon yesterday (My hours were topped out on Wednesday) and said someone from Service Canada called, saying we had been approved for a Canada Summer Job student position and she needed to speak to me asap. I had her phone me, got all the details, then spent the next few hours posting the job on Craigslist, Kijiji, JobBank, and several local websites. I'm rather surprised that I've only received 3 applictions so far! Two meet the basic qualifications (I think) and one appears too old.

I faxed the signed cancellation forms for our offer on the house in Nanaimo, since there appears to be no deal happening imminently for this house. I've emailed our Realtor with a number of possible houses - different prices- and hopefully I'll be able to see some with her next week.

The last several evenings - around dusk - a small herd of deer have wandered through the property. The night before last H. grabbed my camera and took a few pictures, but I think it was too dark by then. Last night they got closer...right around the firepit...so I took a few more. When I get a chance to upload the pictures I'll choose at least one 'good' one to put here. Which reminds me - over the past month or so I've realized how much time I (and I think the rest of the family also) spend looking out the window, and observing nature around us. Right now I have the window open in the den and am enjoying the birds - definitely something we want for the next place.

We have busy times coming up:

• a 16yr old boy from Austria will be with us for 3 weeks late July/early August for Homestay/tutoring/relaxing
• we hope to have some HelpExchange guests soon, hopefully early July
• Grant and I are planning to get away someplace for the July 1st long weekend with the motorhome - which means I must register/insure it, and we should have it serviced
• we will be meeting with our Realtor (for this house) next week and reducing our price
• our contractor Gary will be coming over in the next week or so to remove our defective master bathtub, in preparation for putting in the new one - which Home Depot phoned me this morning to say it is in BC on its way.

Well - plenty to do! And since I need to head out for some groceries etc, along with dropping into the office, I'd better get moving!!

Selling - Moving

Well, I just gave someone the link to this Blog for pictures etc and when I looked at it I realized I hadn't posted anything since December! Definitely time to catch up.

• Ian came home after his last exam at Memorial in December - relaxed and 'caught up' til early January, then started job-hunting. He did several temp-type jobs, then once he was offered a summer camp job he really wanted he concentrated on getting his Bronze Cross Swimming certification and his Class 4 Driver's License. The Class 4 was quite the thing as he still had his N. And he worked really, really hard getting his Bronze Cross. While he was doing that he and I started going to the pool in LS with me doing the Aquafit and him taking private lessons after.
• On Easter Sunday my mom passed away - peacefully in her sleep. She would have been 87 this June. Grant and I visited her the evening before, as the Dr felt she didn't have long left - he thought she had pneumonia. She was well taken care of and we are glad she was not in pain at the end.
• We realized this is definitely the year to finish the house off and move to something smaller. Ian helped a lot, and we found a really great contractor. I advertised in Kijiji for a drywaller after not really liking the estimate we got from a regular business. One fellow was 'ok' but his estimate was still more than what Gary's was, along with wanting us to buy the materials. Gary did not only what we wanted, but a lot more. We are extremely pleased with the work he did. We now have an accepted offer on a house (surprisingly) in central Nanaimo! We had been looking north of town, for something on a small acreage, until I came across this house/property that backs on a small park. We had to have our house listed the Tuesday after we got the accepted offer - which was about April 24th. We now have to have this place unconditionally sold by June 25th to make the deal go thru. Time will tell. This is the link to our house listing: http://www.mls.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=9459027
• Other 'event' was my/our car disaster! The station wagon had been 'acting up' back in April, and when I took it to Cdn Tire was told there might be transmission problems, but it shold last for a bit before it needed to be serviced. The following Monday we were in Victoria before taking Ian to Camp when it DIED in the intersection - downtown - in rush hour traffic. Called BCAA - and they towed it all the way up to Steve Marshall Ford that night! We rented a car - took Ian to Camp, then came home. Steve Marshal said it needed a new transmission - anywhere between 3500 and 5000, which didn't make any sense financially. So - a week of car-shopping (ugh!) and ended up buying a car privately from a friend/classmate of Heather's. Bought it for $3800 down from the $4200 she was asking for it. Definitely got took - tho we think it was unintentional on her part. She told me it was a 99 - turns out to be a 97 - VW Golf. And it was not exactly up to what we wanted. I kept it for a couple of weeks, then after a few 'family discussions' and more checking out cars at dealerships found a 2009 Nissan Versa lease at Newcastle Nissan. I dragged Grant there on a Saturday - we took it for a test drive, and ended up buying it on their payment plan. The deal is that we will pay the car off when we sell the house. It is a dream to drive - only has the 'creature comforts' I want/need and nothing more. Really easy on gas, and parks well. Very pleased with it. No more car shopping for a long time I hope!

The weather has been positively awful this past month or two - really hard to believe it is actually June! I turned the heat on this morning - and I'm still wearing layers!

Well I guess I've said enough to catch up for now - will try to be a bit more regular from now on!