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.

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!

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!

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!!