WE HAVE HOUSE!

Well all the effort we put into house hunting (I swear we looked at almost 100 houses) and the stress (putting in 2 unsuccesful offers) was so totally worth it. We found OUR HOUSE! I mean seriously... it has EVERYTHING that we wanted in a house. It is perfect! It has an open concept with the kitchen looking onto the familyroom (which is really BIG). It has hardwood floors and tile in the kitchen. It has a gorgeous kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops and a big island, with a little overhang so you can pull up some bar stools. 4 bedrooms. Decent (Toronto standards) sized backyard. It is at the end of a cul se sac. With a path 20 yards from the front door going to a great playground and then a bit further onto the kids' elementary school - they can walk to school without setting foot on a street. It is three blocks from a lake and it is a 15 minute commute for me during rush hour.

We close on August 31st! I am over the moon.

CJ will be going to the inspection on Wednesday and he'll be taking pictures. I will post some for you all then.

So... in 5 weeks we'll be open for visitors! :) We'll have to have a house warming party some time in September. You are all invited. A prize goes to the person/people who travel the farthest to attend. There is plenty of room for anyone to stay with us!

Here are some pics I took the other night. I love them. I need to load some photo editting software onto my computer though so I can get rid of the red eye.

To DW1

that was in fact a blue bottle you saw in the picture of CJ bbq'ing. I believe the going rate for a "two-four" of Imported Miller Light is about $29 Canadian.

There are no words to desrcibe how I feel about that.

I am glad you guys had fun camping. We were thinking about you guys and wishing we were there too.

pictures from the park

in an effort to get out of the house (and out of Omi's hair), CJ and I took the kids on a tour of various parks this morning. It was fun.

Let me just say this.... I CAN NOT WAIT TO BE IN OUR OWN HOUSE!!!

stressed out

Maybe I'm PMSing, but I'm having a hard time today. I am getting tired of living at my mum’s house. We are getting on top of each other and in each others space a lot. Also, the commute for me every day is quite a bit. If it’s clear sailing I can get to work in 45 minutes but ifr there is any traffic problems it’s usually more. One day this week it was raining and it took me an hour and a half to get home. Ugh.

On a better note though, my first week at the new job was good. I love the new people and I think the work there is really cool. After being without work for the first 3 days I was getting pretty stressed but then I had a good chat with one of the principals and we decided to go after a big job. I am putting the proposal together and I will be going in as PM. If we win the job it will be a big win for the company and a GREAT start for me. It would be great to win it since it’d be the largest project I’ve ever managed. I’d be doing exactly what I have always wanted to do. I can’t believe that it took as long as it did for me to make this change.

Living in Canada is good and CJ and I are enjoying some of the benefits to being here. But I think we both miss our friends a lot. I am aching to have a ladies night out just to shoot the shit and relax a bit.

The house hunt is going well. We found a few houses that we like. Right now it has come down to two and CJ and I don’t know which one we want to put an offer in on. We will make a decision within the next couple days and will hopefully have an accepted offer by the end of the week.

So that’s my news. As always, I’ll leave you with some new pictures.

Seb in the library.


CJ and Kenz at the park.


The kids with their new friends.


TV faces


This is one dedicated bbq'er.

quick update

at the librbary again.. this time with both kids, so this might be short. A few things have happened since my last post. We found a house we loved, put in an offer and heard verbally that it was accepted. Two hours later we found out the sellers had a problem with one of our clauses (contingency on the sale of our house). To make a long story short, the deal fell through so we don't ahve a house yet. Oh well, we will find one.

I start work tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous but surprisingly calm. I am actually looking forward to going back to work. Today I went shopping and spent a TON of money on new work clothes... you know business suits and all that. It's been a while since I had to wear suits every day.

It is SO HOT here! The kids are doing great. They both have slight tans and are loving the outdoor life here. :)

Our stuff should be arriving tomorrow. We are putting it in a storage unit until we have a house. I think CJ will be taking a few things to bring back to Omi's though... Kenzie's bike, the lawnmower etc.

Anywho.... Here are a few recent pics.







This is Seb's newest face... he makes it every time I ask him to smile.


This is teh current state of Mum's previously spotless abode.


Omi's in heaven

we're here

posting from the library again. Mum's computer is in the room where Sebby sleeps and it's dial-up. That situation is not very conducive to me getting on-line much.

First of all.. Dawn and Darwin, thanks for hosting such an incredible going away party for us. It was wonderful and I feel so blessed to have you in our lives. Needless to say, I was a little hung over on the plane ride to Toronto. :) I have pictures on teh camera that I don't remember being taken... more specifically, picxtures of me chugging Jim Beam out of the bottle. Niiiiiice.

So, CJ and I are both here now. It has been a bit of a whirlwind the last few days. We've been spending lots of time with my mum and Andrea, going to the park, playing in the backyard, going to the library and doing fun kids stuff. Today we went to the park and met up with Kenzie's first friend - Leah, 3-1/2. Isn't it amazing how easily kids make friends. They have met in the park a couple times before but today it was like they had known each other for years! Leah has a little brother Ethan - Ethan is one month older than Sebastian - how perfect is that.

CJ and I have also been very busy getting our new life here started. It's amazing how many things there are to do... first and foremost buying a house. We looked at some yesterday. We found a couple we liked but we'd like to see some more before we make any major decision.

We've also rented a car, gotten new cell phones, opened bank accounts etc etc.

anyhow... right now life is busy and it's exciting and scary.

i'm drunk

okay so here's a synopsis of this eveing.....

CJ and I went out for dinner with D&D, our closest friends.

we ordered a bunch of food for dinner along with a bunch of drinks. An hour and a half later we had received and consumed a bunch of drinks but no food had arrived. after a few polite discussions with our wait staff we left, still having consumed NO FOOD, but several drinks,,,, all for FREE!

next we headed over to the Third Floor where we consumed MORE drinks but this time they were accompanied by food.

Thereafter we headed over to our local watering hole - the Central - where we met up with our good friends Steve and Rachel. They make such an adorable couple.

Anyhow... another glass of wine, & bottle of beer later, CJ and I piled into a cab, which... thank goodness.... got us home safely!

So... now I am off to bed. with about 30 hours left in this country. I am excited and apprehensive about our going away party tomorrow night.

p.s. We sold our house tonight. Signing the papers tomorrow. WOOT!!!!!!!!!

I'm off to pass out now.

Dawn and Darwin... I love you. I hate that you made me cry tonight. But I love you anyways.