Big end to a great year

We found a table!!!!

This means that we are now set. We are hoping that everything will go together when all is said and done.

I couldn't completely find a picture of just the table, so have a look at a similar table here.

We figure the table is dark enough that it will work with the black chairs that James' parents got us for Christmas. And it meets his requirements of being wood and dark. It's pretty much the same colour as our bar stools that are pictured in the blog post below. This table might not be the best representation. The table has a leaf attached to the it that hides underneath. The leaf makes the table square and without it, the table still would seat six people. Looking at the scale of the room, I really want to have it open. James thinks the opposite. We'll see who wins this war!

James is still really gung ho for appliances! Every day after work he wants to make it his mission to find a good deal on a big scale. I'm looking forward to having the next two days off!

Heading into 2009 I feel very good and confident that our house will look awesome!

Ticker parade

Ta dat da da!

I've been PACKING!

We move in two and a half months. Here let me add a fun ticker so you can help us countdown too...




This way you can follow the journey with me!

The past few days James and I have been running around looking for furniture and appliances to see how the deals are shaking down for Boxing Day. It's amazing what kind of deals we can find when we go to 10 different stores in a night. Found a table at Bad Boy, a fridge at Leons and a stove at Future Shop. I told James that we can find some really good deals - and even better if we get them all at one spot. Make them fight for our money!

I think we've decided that there is no shame in a little scratch and dent sale. What's an awesome idea - someone else gets a fridge and it has a small little scratch - it's on the back and you can get it for a few hundred dollars off. The score is ours! Tonight we even found a clearance section in a smallish furniture store that doesn't carry any appliances and we found a bunch of tables at fabulous prices. Only problem is - black. We received some black chairs for Christmas and they are nice, but not completely our style. Well the tables at this clearance section were black. My husband has decided he doesn't want black. BLACK! Who would've thought. When we first moved in together he wanted lots of black and had black things. Boys! Can never make up their minds!

And so the journey begins. To spend the money now or wait until we are in... hmmm... things to think about.

Nothing like a good Boxing Day deal to make you feel schnazzy

Happy Boxing Day everyone!

Hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone and that we are now on Boxing Day 2008. This year has flown by, but it truly has been the best year of my life. The good continues too - with finding the best parking spaces today as we ventured out for potential sales. Yes folks, we were those lucky bastards that got the first parking space in front of the door at not one- but three different locations! I mean who does that? Well we did!

Every year on Boxing Day for the past several years, we have somehow ended up shopping in the afternoon. Not that we have any thing in particular in mind when we head out... but we seem to always find something. This year was no exception.

Let me start by explaining - my 30th birthday was last Saturday - yes, I am a Christmas baby. On my birthday James threw a surprise party for me at a hall here in Cambridge. Okay maybe it wasn't a huge surprise as he had told me before turning 29 that he was going to really get me for my 30th and that I wouldn't get away with nothing. And the questions for weeks about if I was excited to get my hair done on my birthday - which I was!

Anyhow - for my birthday I got several gift cards to a variety of places, mostly at places where we could get things for our new house. Yay!!!

James and I both talked on Christmas Eve about how we really weren't as jazzed for Christmas as we were more interested in just moving into our house already! Of course we wanted Christmas, but were looking beyond Christmas. So we figured, lets see if we can find any good deals on anything for the house today.

We waited until after lunch was over (yummm... left over homemade chinese food from Christmas Eve...) and headed out. Linens in Things has decided to close up and we figured the sales will have to have gotten more than the lackluster 30-60% off they had before. That sale was barely worth it as the items were just finally at the prices you could find in other stores. But today we took our chance and found that EVERYTHING was on for 70% off. The store was really picked through, many sections were down to the bare walls and were blocked off. The fixtures in the store were for sale and everything truly had to go. James beelined for the spot where appliances and kitchen gadgets used to be. He was sad to find that nearly everything was gone. I started poking around and fell for this bar stool. No price, and didn't see any more so I kept on walking. We mosied through the bed sheets and ended up in bathrooms where we found some awesome stuff for our main floor bathroom in brown and green. Very cool - very us.

We wandered to the front to get a cart, as we didn't have one when we came in. I ran and got the very last one! Came back in and James was admiring a satellite radio. I distracted myself with something a kid was sitting on. He jumped down and it was the same stool as earlier only with a price! It was $129.99. I got all depressed but then went and looked at the sign - with 70% off that meant the stool was $30! They had another one in a box, so we snatched up both and put them in the cart. James nixxed the satellite radio and we headed out. I was grinning from ear to ear and couldn't stop giggling about the deal we got!

Left there and stupidly went to Staples. Word to the wise - NO GOOD DEALS AT STAPLES. Left there and headed out the only way we could get - which meant driving through Hespeler. Went to two furniture stores looking for tables for our dining room, and discovered some scratch and dent wonderlands. We also checked out an even better scratch and dent wonderland at the Maytag store. I felt really good about our chances of getting a good deal on a fridge for the house!

At this point - thirst took over and we got some McDonald's milkshakes. I went strawberry, and James made them create a mix of chocolate and strawberry. He was quite giddy with his choice as it seemed to have the perfect mix of flavour. What do you know, I like stools, and he likes milkshakes!

We headed to circuit city - again nothing we wanted and popped into Zehrs. I needed milk - but we also wanted to look at some things for our house. My work gave us two $25 gift certificates at the Christmas party and it's been burning a hole in my pocket ever since! We looked at floor mats and more stuff for the bathroom - but there wasn't really a deal to be had - and somehow - no brown. What kind of place has no brown bathmats in this day and age? Either way we kept looking and found some awesome magnetic spice racks that were on sale for $10 off. Not one to miss a good deal, we decided to finally clean up the look of our spices. James was really happy with it as he now gets to play with his spices and I'm happy because they don't look so chaotic! They'll go really well in our new kitchen!

After leaving the store having spent only $0.08 - we drove to Canadian Tire across the street. I had dreams of dishes - and James had other bigger dreams. His dreams won - and he finally obtained a food processor. He's been dreaming of one for months, put it on his Christmas list but didn't get one. He was grinning ear to ear with the deal he got. He saved $55!!!! A hundred dollar food processor for only $45.

All in all - we spent some money and ended up with a LOT of stuff and good quality stuff. Our new house is going to be so schnazzy!!!

101, 50, 30, 29

I must say how sad it is that I missed the 100th blog on the site since I relaunched it from back in the day. So today I celebrate BLOG POST 101!!!!!!!! Wahoo!!! Let's go smartie and go to a party!

Here in Southern Ontario we are going through what they call Snowmaggedon - with certain areas around here getting up to 30 centimetres of snow. By Sunday they suspect we'll have 50 cm (20 inches) of new snow on the ground. Insane, but they started predicting on Tuesday. We had plenty of warning for this mother of a storm! Due to the weather, our offices closed early and it took two hours to get home! Thank god my mom was home as she had to come with her four wheel drive to get me.

Today is my last day of being in my 20's. Being 29 has felt great and I hope that 30 is even better! I've done a lot in my 20's and as sad as I am to see them go, I'm also feeling a bit of good riddance! I'm ready for the next phase. All my dreams are coming true and I can't even tell you how good that makes me feel. I'm getting my hair cut and styled and recoloured tomorrow and it's going to start a whole new chapter in my life. Can't wait!

2008 a Year in Review

So my little sister and her Meanderings, decided it was time to write a year recap letter. I don't even really know where to start completely because this has been one of the best years of my life.

2008 was the last year where I was in my 20's. I turned 29 on December 20, 2007. 29 years old folks.

I realized that for several years in my 20's I didn't do much. I looked back over past few years and couldn't remember a heck of a lot that was interesting. (Other than meeting my crazy husband, falling in love and getting married). I wanted this year to be about me and pretty much anything I set my mind to - I did it.

I tried connecting with some old friends. I connected my new friends with old friends and by bringing different groups together I was able to make for some really interesting moments. I planned two really awesome parties and went on trips. It was a great time. So here I go - recapping as best I can life since the start of 2008.

January started and I was living with my husband and my parents. Not the most ideal situation, but my parents are great. They give us our space and if we need some comfort, or a snack, they are more than willing to have us come for a visit. It's good. As we were shooting a wedding for our friends Phil and Vanessa, we went to the Butterfly Conservatory to take their engagement pictures. We had fun - but the pictures revealed a severe camera malfunction. This made me run out with some money I had saved to buy a new camera that would suit my needs. Came as a shock to James, but I really loved my new Lumix.

In February, I sat worried at home while my husband went ice fishing with the boys. Somehow the thought of them walking across a frozen lake didn't scream "safe" to me. But they survived and were bonded together for it. Us girls went to see We Will Rock You in Toronto. The play was great - and a really interesting fun time was had by all.

This leap year we went to a wedding for good friends of ours, Adam and Laura. Their wedding was touching and had a very whimsical snow filled wedding. They had a horse drawn sleigh ride and it was gorgeous. They looked very dapper in their black and white wedding.

March brought one of the largest snow falls in a 24 hour period. Of course it just happened to be the day that Vanessa and Phil were to have their buck and doe! I tried driving but only got into town and decided to turn back home. I ended up stuck at the end of the driveway and didn't leave for a day and a half until the roads were plowed enough. March also meant Easter time and we tried to make the most of it. We had dinner with James' family in Paris, drinks after with some friends and dinner with my family. My nephew Zak came over the weekend before to help dye some special eggs - proving yet again that he's one of the cutest kids ever! In March I started scheming for a big party to be held on Summer Solstice - the first ever Mount Clyde Beer Olympics. The event took over my brain for quite some time in the upcoming months.

April was all about the wedding. Having never shot a wedding start to finish, I wasn't completely prepared. Luckily, we took a ton of pictures and James was a great second shooter. I hope that we got a lot of great shots for Phil and Vanessa - as they truly are a wonderful couple. It was great meeting the family and friends from England too. April also saw us going to a hockey game at the ACC for the Leafs versus the Senators through James' work. We also got a hotel in Niagara Falls through Priceline. Normally this works out for us, but this time we had possibly the crappiest hotel. It was an interior room with a window that led to a hallway - and a heater that was so hot it made you think you'd melt. We had a great time together and enjoyed checking out the different museums and attractions on Clifton Hill.

In May, I had a lot of meetings and planning with the BOC - or the Beer Olympic Committee. I started gathering teams together, making a rule booklet and hammering out all the details. Devon and I got a trophy together and we just had a blast. By the time the games came around in June we were ready. May is a big time for family birthdays so much of the month was spent with family.

In June we participated in the Trifecta Birthday Bus of Doom. A crazy birthday bus that went through Hamilton to a variety of locations including Laser Tag, Zellers, Hooters, and after we left - the strip club. Someone bought some sexy shoes from a teenage girl walking across a parking lot. I would sell them too for $100! The night was crazy, but didn't even compare to the Beer Olympics. It was a huge success! We had so many games and activities and plenty of socializing. All in all I felt it was the best executed event I had. I just wish that more people were willing to be excited earlier, and more willing to help out with some of the cost. The party put me in the hole financially, but it was worth it to see the smiles on everyone's faces! James and I also started doing photo projects - hoping to build up our personal portfolio.

July means Canada Day - my favourite holiday. I had a group of friends come over for a barbecue, a swim and a ride on the wagon. The kiddies were there and we had a good time. We also got a new fish tank off Kijiji in July. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find a balance and to keep fish alive. We went with a bit of a stone theme - with a stone henge and some easter island heads. The fish have really grown to like it too! I also got a tattoo - which was one of the things do before turning 30. Huge thanks to Ally for going with me and being my support! We also welcomed a new "neice" Tailor to the family. Tailor is Lindsey and Richard's new puppy. She's a German Short Hair Pointer and a real sweetie. She's set to be a hunting dog so lots of training for her! Also, an honourary neice Aubrey was born to Devon and Steve. She's a super soft babe of the human kind and I love her to pieces! The end of July took us off to the bustling town of Cleveland. I'm sure many are wondering about why we would go - but it was a good trip. They have fantastic architecture and we got some great pictures. It truly is a town for young urban professionals - with a bustling night life and really unique places to go and spend an evening. We wished we had friends and wouldn't go back without them. But we had a fantastic hotel - it was gorgeous. It is the first indoor shopping mall in America that has been converted. Definitely an architectural gem.

August was all about enjoying the sun, camping and being outside. I wanted to go camping and with the help of a few friends, we were able to meet Rob halfway. He lives in Ottawa, and we are in Southern Ontario, so we picked the beautiful Presqu'ile Park. It was gorgeous to see and I wish in a way we had more time to explore everything. One extra day would've been fantastic! We did recieve a noise complaint - and therefore that goes to show that we had a good time! We also went to a kegger or two in August and generally tried to make the most of time with our friends. Also this month, we were told of some townhouses that were being built in the area we wanted to eventually end up. They seemed to be in our price range, and so we went and had a look. This started my complete obsession with looking at houses and visiting www.realtor.ca but we realized that we weren't quite ready to buy yet - let alone build. It did force us to sit down and start to buckle down on saving money so that we could get a place of our own.

Labour Day in September always signals my family horseshoe tournament/reunion. I ended up taking over in the planning and got a lot of thanks for it. Unfortunately, I was clocked in the big toe. It's still black to this day. I've been told that it will be eventually grow out - and I must say that I really hope so. We spent a lot of Sunday afternoons out looking a houses. We saw some gems and some real duds - including one that smelled like death. I went to a really awesome car club reunion for my dad's old car club the tyrods. I loved shooting all the unique fenders and interiors. They really don't make cars like they used to!

In October we continued our work at looking at open houses, and I started to think about different ideas for getting money to pay for the house. I even toyed with the idea of a part time job with a party supply store. Halloween night I had the pleasure of helping Heather's kids get ready for the big trick or treating. Zak was awesome as a pirate, and although Victoria originally wanted to be a clown princess, she ended up as a frog. Either way they were both really cute! October allowed me a lot of time to work with my Halloween Party project. As we were hoping it would be our last out in Mount Clyde, I wanted to add an outdoor element. With help from a smoke machine, a strobe light and some wonderful creative handiness with a jig saw - I was able to create a little outdoor haunted area. Everyone was scheming ideas for costumes and many people were keeping things very tight lipped. The party was a huge success and we were glad to have the party back on familiar ground.

November was an interesting month and a very busy one. I found out that I was getting hired on permenantly with my job. Something that made me incredibly happy. I enjoy where I work and staying there really means that I can plan my future. After getting hired on, we met with a real estate agent that my sister recommended and she proved to be an awesome individual. As a baby present for Noel and Tiff, I had offered to take some pictures of their daughter Grace. I went over one Saturday and took some shots to surprise Noel after he got back from a trip. Grace was a true sweetie and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I was a bit distracted in that I had just found out that my cousin had a stroke the day before. He is 30 years old, only a few months older than me, and due to two brain aneurism's he had a stroke. We spent a lot of time praying for him and although it doesn't look like he'll ever talk again, he can write now and has been able to sit up and move part of his body. It's a blessing, but was really scary for a while. Our house hunting got a little off track in that we were looking at big old houses in Galt needing a lot of work. We went to my work Christmas party in Guelph on the first snowy night of the season. We ended the month by going on a trip to Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY. I finished Christmas shopping and James got to see his beloved San Francisco 49ers. His team won, we got everything done before December even started - and all in all it was a good time.

With all the presents bought, we made our party mix in December. We've had a holiday dinner party in Cambridge, an impromptu computer game night in Burlington, I've baby sat my neice and nephew, baked cookies and went to a cookie exchange, we reevaluated what we wanted in a house, went to go see some, picked one, put in an offer, countered, and finally agreed. We had to secure financing and do a home inspection and now we've bought a house. I also volunteered with the Humane Society taking pictures of pets with Santa. And this is only the 15th! My plans from here on out - James' work holiday party, two potluck lunches at work - which means work the night before, a company paid luncheon on Wednesday, Christmas, New Years, Boxing Day and my birthday - which is this Saturday. All in all - going to be a busy month - as it's been a busy year. Why end the year any different?

Under the Wire

The most nail biting day of my life.

Our deadline to firm up our mortgage was 5:59pm. Our mortgage broker did not have an answer as of 4:19pm today. Or at least not a firm answer. At 4:20 we got the call - and that allowed us to sign waivers and officially buy a house!

This house is everything we wanted, other than four outside walls that are ours. It has a great kitchen including a fantastic breakfast bar. My father always says that you need 18 feet from the fridge, stove and sink. We definitely have that. The kitchen is laid out well but due to a dishwasher, we might not have as much cupboard space as we would like. The main concern is about canned goods and such that we currently keep in our back pantry room. This kitchen doesn't have that space so we are talking of making some minor adjustments.

In the front entry we have this arched in area with a pillar. The pillar really is a good feature to so many, but we aren't really huge fans. We would rather take one half of the arched area and put in shelves and cupboard doors so that we can hide our kitchen goodies away. The current owners use an ikea shelf in the living room to hide their food. That doesn't really seem like an option for us so we'll try to find other solutions. In the meantime, we are going to be storing our appliances that we don't use that often in the cold storage room. Yes folks - we have a cold storage room.

There are little facets of this house that we never even imagined we'd be able to have in our first house. Like the cold storage room. Like open concept without being really small. Like a finished rec room and one of my other favourites - a gas fireplace.

I've always wanted a fireplace, but knowing what my parents go through with their wood burning fireplace, I thought it might be too much work. Now that James has played with it and said that all it takes is a push of a button - I feel that I can finally handle it! There is nothing cozier than being around a fire - who cares if you don't get the smoke and the ash in the air while you do it? It's going to make those cold winter nights seem all that more special!

Another interesting feature of the house from the inspection is that we have not only the rough in already in the master, but we have a rough-in for another bathroom in the basement. Putting a bathroom downt here might be a good idea. We've talked of future renovations where we expand the laundry room, move the location of the door and building a two piece bathroom. The rec room really truly is huge - but I think another bathroom on that level would be worth a lot more. After all, we really do want to build equity and get a good return on our investment. They always say - people will pay for good bathrooms and kitchens! Why should we be any different?

Now that we have officially bought the house, my brain is racing with thoughts of what I'd like to do and how I'd like to decorate. Which furniture is going to go where and then to all the things that we still need! With extra rooms as we have, we really need to think about how we are going to fill them. A new dining room suite would be perfect - but then we also need outdoor furniture, a lawn mower, snow shovel, gardening tools and all the other fun things that come along with having a house of your own. It's going to be a really fun journey and I'm really glad we went through all the headaches to get such a wonderful place of our own!

Favourite People

After a great night last night talking to some of my favourite people, I got to thinking of all of my favourite people. I started to wonder what it was that I liked about all of them and what it was that made them "favourites" of mine.

I realized what it was and it made perfect sense.

I really like genuine people.

I strive to be as honest and open with people. I tend to like everyone until they give me a reason not to - and many of my favourite people are like that. They are honest, and open with me and really tend to look me in the eye when talking to me. I find that incredibly important and if you can't look me in the eye, it's hard to find the trust and honesty in you.

I must say, that in the spirit of this season, it was really great to talk to some of those genuine type people. It wasn't about gifts, it was about friendship and laughter. I had a great time and I was glad to have been given the opportunity. Now if I could just somehow see ALL of my favourite people this holiday season it would be wonderful.

Either way I send my love out to all of you, no matter where in the world you are, my favourite people.

Boys and their Toys

Sorry for the lack of blogs since Tuesday. I've barely been sleeping, except for Wednesday night where I fell asleep at 8pm and didn't wake up until after 7 the next morning. It's absolutely amazing the thoughts and worries and everything that comes along with the purchase of a house!

Our first step was to get the financing in place. We were preapproved, but our broker is working at getting us a better rate. Initially, she was going for 5.4% - which that day was a good rate. Now she's working on 4.99% - which is even better! I love that the rates have gone down!

My biggest complaint is the lack of communication from our mortgage broker! It's amazing how frustrating it is working with her. I know she's doing things for us, but I'm dying to find out what's going on. If she didn't have all our info - and we didn't have a deadline of Monday at 6:59, we would be dealing with someone else. I'm certain that when we get to renegotiating our mortgage we will not be dealing with her.

Agent M however is being fantastic! She found us a great Home Inspector - and the price was awesome and the book is outstanding. Through our finalizing of the agreement, the homeowners gave us a copy of their inspection from two years ago. The binder is so small compared to ours. And their inspector mentioned things that weren't even a real issue - according to our Inspector and our agent. (Ie. deck needing a railing, even though it's less than 24 inches - which means that legally you don't need it.)

Our home inspection went really well. There are some minor things, but they all seem like things we can do ourselves or very easily get fixed for minimal cost. James had the pleasure of being there start to finish. Unfortunately, I can't take much time off, so I just took an extra half hour at lunch and popped into town. I was incredibly happy to see that it was 24km round trip. I was there in no time it seemed and smiled the whole way!

Pulling up to the house I was so excited - but walking in is when you get the biggest impact. It's so spacious and roomy. James met me at the door, and we headed immediately into the basement. I kept looking around at everything and it was great to have our inspector point out things we didn't even know - like the fact that the basement has a rough in for a bathroom! That means the house could potentially have four bathrooms!

I love the gas fireplace in the basement too - and James likes it even more when he and the inspector got to play with the remote. James was smiling as he told me about how you can adjust the flame simply by touching a button. Of course that smile was nothing compared to the ear to ear grin as he told me about the basement being wired for surround sound. It's got him dreaming of speakers and how he's going to put everything together. He's also dreaming of a bigger tv thanks to Curtis' new purchase. Kristina and Curtis moved into their new house and the deal was that he'd get a new tv for the deal. James thinks it's a great idea, and thanks to the current home owners having a HUGE entertainment centre - James thinks we needs to have a bigger tv to go with the surround sound. Boys and their toys!

Before I went back to work I walked the house by myself. I tested the taps in all the facets, and loved the view from the kitchen over the dining and living room. Open concept living is going to be great for us, as we love to entertain. Also once we have kids it will be so much easier to watch the little kiddies so they don't get in trouble. I love how bright the house was too!

Upstairs the bedrooms seemed different, but not in a bad way. The main bedrooms seemed a little smaller - but still big - and the small bedroom seemed even bigger. I took a spin in the walk-in-closet to checked it out. In my head I was scheming where we'd put our clothes - and just which racks I let James have. (He's going to kill me for saying that!) I realized that we'd probably want to hide our clothes we don't wear that often behind the door.

My favourite room I think is the kitchen, even though it has some limitations. We'd like to put in a pantry beside the kitchen. I hadn't really thought of it before having not ever had one - but dishwashers remove one whole cupboard! This makes your cupboards just that tiny bit less. I still can't believe the house has a dishwasher too - as I can see standing at the sink, looking out and talking with guests, or talking to James - or even just looking out the window across the room at the backyard with it's deck and two gorgeous bushes. James really wants some stainless steel and he's working out a scheme with Norm and Penny for a trade - we get them a new white set, and they give us some stainless steel that they are getting from friends. I just laugh and shake my head - this is our first house - we don't need to have our dream appliances right off the bat do we?

The strangest thing about the whole house buying process was that we ended up falling in love and offering on a newer house, when we started out with older homes. It's no secret that we wanted some charm and personality in our first house. This house, being a row house, isn't that much of an individual when you first look at it. But when you walk inside it truly feels different and special. It will hopefully soon be our unique house - that is ours. It's all down to CMHC -and I'm trying to not get too attached in case they decide to completely dash our hopes and dreams.

This is why - if you say "Congratulations" I won't really be over the moon yet. Until the final papers are signed, I'm going to be sitting and worrying and fretting - and yes, not sleeping very well! But this house, really is a dream and I hope and pray that we can finalize everything on Monday and sign on the dotted line!

The good the bad and the ugly

I know many of you loyal readers are anxiously awaiting the gory details of today so let me fill you in on the lovely day we've had.

Everything happens in threes right - well it happened today.

First, our real estate agent heard nothing last night with regards to our offer. She was calling and paging the sellers agent all night and got no word. She had said for us to have some sleep and think happy thoughts. We did, and slept very well. Strange for me, as I'm normally a nervous sleeper and would be up a million times. But something kept me sleeping - so I'll take it!

Woke up and by 9:30 heard NOTHING and was starting to get a little worried. I emailed Agent M, she said that she had just gotten paged from the sellers agent and would get in touch via email. Guess they couldn't get ahold of the sellers last night, so they were meeting in the afternoon to go over the offer. Agent M asked if we could meet her at her office after work again so that we could go over their response.

I decided to talk to our mortgage chick and confirm everything and let her know what was going on. She came back and told me that we couldn't get the house for what we wanted. I freaked - hit the roof, blew a gasket and threatened to go to another lender if she wasn't able to help us. Within five minutes she was apologizing to me for reading the numbers incorrectly (James is paid in US funds and that effected the rates and stuff.) So anyhow, she said that we'd be good to go.

With that horrible thing out of the way, I get an email that James' car got hit in the driveway by my brother in law and that he just feels awful about it. Both James and I know that his car isn't the best of the best, so we were more concerned about my brother-in-law, who is a sensitive sort. My sister told me that they'd pay for the damages, and when we asked what they were, neither of us were that concerned. Some scratches on the door and the mirror. No big deal right? It didn't matter really, as it just seemed to be another thing that was bad today.

The next thing that happened to me was that my pen at work exploded all over my hands - and without noticing it, I went and put my fingers on the keyboard. I now have several letters that are all blue, and I had to go to the bathroom to clean my hands off before going to meet with Agent M.

James didn't fare much better as he has a really bad canker sore in his mouth that has irritated his world. All in all - things didn't look that great.

We meet with Agent M, and sure enough they didn't accept our lowball offer. We bantered back and forth before going and settling on an option. We knew our top - and we knew they didn't want to barter back and forth. We decided give them our best offer, which was still lower than their counter, agree to whatever terms they wanted and say "If they turn it down, then they turn it down and we walk away." They had until 11pm to give us an answer.

We didn't feel that positive about the situation when we left - even though we were now only $3000 apart. We went to eat as neither of us wanted to cook, and spent the $30 we had in our pockets. Dinner was pretty quiet and the only thing we really talked about was what we'd do if the deal fell through. Knowing how much house we could get if we went the townhouse route, we decided we'd probably keep looking at newer homes. We were hopeful, but not, especially after our bad day.

We came home and were met with wishful eyes of my parents and my Uncle Bob who were sitting down to dinner. They wanted to talk about the house and what was going on and so I pulled up the trusty computer to show the photos and the MLS listing. (I'd share with all of you, but until all is said and done, I don't want to get my hopes up too much.)

The computer died just as the slide show was done and we talked about all the possibilities with the house. My mother was very positive that this was the right house for us and James and Uncle Bob got in a very serious discussion about the appliances and the merits of putting a laundry room on the top floor.

Dad went out to plow and then the phone rings. Whoever it was started talking to my mom like it was me and she was all flustered when she realized it wasn't. Mom said "It's Heath, it's... it's her mother. Hold on." Sure enough it was Agent M.

"There's one condition and then you've bought yourself a house."
Tentatively I say "Okay - what is that?"
"They want to know if you'll change the move in date to March 13th instead of the 6th and they've accepted your price and everything else."

Of course!!!!!

So now we have to start on the financing and arrange the inspector and get everything moving at a very rapid fire pace. We have a very short window to get everything said and done. This is crazy and insane and I'm so incredibly happy and excited at the same time. But I know how much we have to go through and it's a lot - namely the mortgage. I think we'll be fine, but I want to be extra sure and until we have final CMHC approval, there's no point in getting my hopes up too much.

So stay tuned to all the fast and furious changes that are sure to come in the next week.

I must say, this truly is a great birthday present!

Reservations

So my hubby woke up with reservations. Well one reservation. "It's a townhouse. What's it like living in a townhouse? I thought we wanted to get a full house and I keep thinking we'll find the perfect house that is a stand alone house."

Like any computer nut, he put it on his facebook and his twitter and asked for opinions. People talked to him and helped him see that it isn't a bad thing at all. The only complaint is neighbours and after talking to the homeowner yesterday, I know that they really are nice people and very helpful.

So we ended up putting in an offer. Now we play the waiting game. Trying not to get my hopes up as the sellers agent hasn't been returning my agents calls.

Fingers crossed that all goes well, they counter, we counter back and get it all sorted by their self imposed deadline of tomorrow night. It'll be a long night possibly. Wish us luck!

A fresh start - a new beginning?

Amazing things happen when you least expect it.

We went out with Agent M this afternoon to look at some town/row houses in Preston. Again, as mentioned, we wanted to stay in Preston or Hespeler, so we thought we'd give it a try.

Sure enough we went through two gems today - oddly enough on the same street right across from each other.

House one had a great flow to it. But the main floor felt a little small in the family and living room. The house was pretty much all builders white. The rooms were all a good size and everything was really good. It was an end unit with the only attachment being the garage. You could enter the backyard from the house or through a really nice wooden gate at the side of the house. The only issue was that the basement wasn't finished, and that it was slightly oddly laid out so that you only had a small area for a rec room. But we could finish it and make the house be so much more.

House two was across the street and a centre town unit. One side was connected by a house, the other by the garage. The layout was somewhat similar but the house was so much bigger. Higher ceilings in the fully finished basement. The kitchen also had a really great breakfast bar that looked out on the great room which is a living room and a dining area. It had really big windows and let in lots of light. The people who built the home definitely got some extras. A book shelf built in at the top of the stairs, the basement finished and a gas fireplace. Walk in closet in the master bedroom and a rough in for an en suite. The closets are all big too and there's a deck out the back.

Realistically great houses, $10,000 different. When looking at the houses there are many differences, but one just seemed to stand heads over the other. House two is great. After thinking about it and talking about it, we decided that we are going to put in an offer. Hard to believe that we finally have found a place we could see our selves settling down and spending time together and growing a family together. If all goes well and a few negotiations later, we will only have to worry about furniture!

Housing Types

I've realized that the more I talk about houses with people that the more they get confused. What do you mean "Side-Split" and what is the difference between town and row house?

I thought I'd clean up some of the confusion for everyone.
Detached - this house will stand alone and have at least four walls that are not attached to any other house
Attached Dwellings - Separate residences that are attached side by side

For single family you can have a multitude of ways they built - here are some popular ways a house could be built.

Bungalow - single storey house
Two storey - straight forward, house has two storey's stacked on top of each other
Side split - house is built lengthwise, with one half of the house appearing to be a bungalow and the other half split into two stories.
Back split - house is split front and back and the back appears to be a two storey front a bungalow
Front split - the front of the house appears to be two storeys and the back a bungalow

Attached dwellings can be built many ways and here are some that we find in our area:

Semi-Detached/Duplex - two houses are connected together
Rowhouse - three or more houses are connected by the garage walls only - with space between the houses to access the back yard
Townhouse - three or more houses that are connected by the inside walls

Many times when you are looking into attached dwellings, they may or may not be a condominium. Condominiums are broken into two groups - your typical condo means that they are maintained all at the same time in both your front and back yards and all common areas such as parking lots, etc. In the case of Freehold Condominiums, you own the property and are responsible for your back yard maintenance, but your condo fees will cover the front yard and common areas. You own your building much more and must take care of your own unit's maintenance.

With so many options, you really need to look at what works for you - but it doesn't hurt to do a little bit more research before deciding to buy.

Revelations of a House Hunter

My husband and I had a bit of an epiphany since we went to see those houses this week. We've come to realize that we have lost focus of our initial goal.

We work in Guelph - we want a house that is in Cambridge but closer to Guelph. This will make it faster for us to get to work and make life easier for us as we'll be in the city. In Cambridge, this means that we would prefer to live in Hespeler or Preston.
But where have we been looking lately? Galt - which is even further from where we want to be. And why have we been looking there? Houses are bigger; you can get a single family home for the price of a semi or town house in Hespeler or Preston; yards are bigger; houses are older and therefore have more charm. The area in Galt we are looking in is close to amenities and is a complete comfort to us in that it's an area we know and have lived before. This area is between my parents and James' parents - which makes it easily accessible.

Now what sounds wrong with that? Well basically it's taking us from all that we wanted. When we first started looking and evaluating what we wanted, we had a certain list of things that needed in our first house.

1. Three bedrooms or more to a) allow us office space, b) allow us a room for one or more children that we may have in this house c) allow us a bedroom too!
2. Garage doesn't matter but we need some sort of shed for outside things, ie. lawnmower and tools, shovels, etc.
3. House must be one or two streets off of at least a tertiary street. Meaning - just off a well enough and easily recognizable route for family and friends to find us fairly easily.
4. Be in Preston or Hespeler
5. Two bathrooms are preferred but not neccessary (although our mothers both think we need a bathroom on the main floor.
6. Be able to have parking enough for at least two cars
7. Outdoor space that we'd be able to have a barbecue and some entertaining space - but not too big where we'd have to maintain it constantly
8. Have a certain amount of charm
9. Be priced well enough that we can still live our lives - we do not want to be house poor

That was where we started and this is how it changed:
1. Bedroom amounts didn't change, but the thought of having a big master with potential for en suite or walk in closet became a dream we thought might come true.
2. This did not change
3 and 4. We started looking in an area that we were more comfortable in - and our family felt more comfortable visiting
5. Nicer looking bathrooms became a huge priority - and we started looking into houses that had two bathrooms but could be renovated into nicer bathrooms.
6. We wanted to find parking for three or more in the off chance that someone would want to come and visit us
7. We looked for bigger property to have huge parties, such as the beer olympics - even though this means that we have more upkeep and more challenges. And realistically we could have the olympics, and just make the events tighter right? Besides, more property generally means that you lose out on things in the house.
8. Charm became the deciding factor - and we were only looking at houses that were close to 100 years old - where each house would be different and draw us in by the looks outside alone. Older houses mean a lot more work though!
9. Prices for the houses may be the same as something slightly newer, but the amount of money and time that would go into an older house with charm and in older established neighbourhoods means that we'd be putting all our extra money and energy into fixing problems. How would we end up ahead by doing that?

So what does this all mean? That we are going to see some newer houses, in Preston, that are row houses, but in great shape tomorrow. Somehow there are three on one street - and all around the same price and all with certain charms. They are newer and won't involve a lot of work until we are ready to do it. They are all in the right neighbourhood for us to get to and from work and they are close to all amenities. Not maybe in walking distance, but really close nonetheless. There are good schools in the neighbourhoods and the sizes of the houses are great. The property size isn't that huge, but it would be ours and will serve our main purpose. I think they might be good viable options for us.

And I must say that it feels really good to not feel so overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs to be done in a house in order to make it work!

Twenty-Five

25 years ago I was four turning five. I was pretty excited about this big birthday, as it was my first birthday while I was in school. I tended to wear my long hair in two pig tails as I liked how they bounced and how my curls would make them form two big fat ringlets. I was in kindergarten at Manchester Public School in Ms. Mackenzie’s class. I was also enrolled in learn to skate with the Cambridge Ringette Association with other kiddies. I caught on quickly and was a true tomboy. I loved building things and climbing things. I didn’t have very many fears and thought my brother Joe was the coolest guy on the planet, my sister Lisa was the coolest girl and my sister Heather was mean. We lived on Norfolk Avenue back then, in a three bedroom house for 6 people. I shared a room with my sisters that was painted pink. My favourite toys were dinky cars, Light Brite and Strawberry Shortcake. I desperately wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid but would have to wait until I woke up Christmas morning to find Jenna under the tree. Back when I was four turning five I loved one piece pyjamas and riding my bike – even though it had training wheels. My best friends were two of my cousins: Graham and Danny. Danny and his family lived in the same city as us and he and I would play dinky cars for hours and hours. Graham and his family lived on a farm and we spent a lot of time there. I loved running around on the rafters and jumping into the hay. We would explore and build castles out of sand or blocks. When I was four turning five, I became friends with Devon – and she remains my friend to this day. We used to play house with Steve Roblin as our husband. At this age, I believed that me and my neighbour down the street looked the same with our round faces and long brown hair and I thought because of that we would be friends forever. When I was four turning five I dreamed a lot, played outside a lot and always tried to fit in. I loved animals and loved to laugh. I used to sing to my sister’s high school friends and never minded wearing pink and red together (hey Strawberry shortcake did it all the time, why couldn’t I?) When I was four turning five, I would catch snakes with my sister, build snow forts in any snowbank that I could find and try to have fun whenever possible.

Things that have changed in the past 25 years

• I have discovered that I like most vegetables – yams, asparagus, brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, spinach are all things I would’ve never ate when I was 5
• I no longer like the taste of cooked carrots
• I no longer run away screaming from mushrooms in items and instead pick through and do not comment
• I really like broccoli, spinach and sundried tomatoes on a pizza
• I can tolerate small amounts of black pepper on certain things – but not all things
• The thought of losing control on a toboggan doesn’t hold as much appeal as it did when I was a kid.
• I really enjoy spending time with my family now
• If cooked right, I really like meatloaf
• I no longer want to be a nurse although I do like to help people
• Spending time with seniors is precious and I wish I learned that sooner in life
• Having a puppy is a lot of work and a lot of training time – I’d rather have a full grown dog
• Swimming pools are not the be all end all
• I spend more time on the internet talking with friends than seeing them face to face
• Thanks to the internet I’ve been able to keep in contact with friends across Canada – and great friends they are!
• Having designer clothing doesn’t matter, but having clothes that fit does
• Having to share my birthday with Jesus isn’t nearly as bad as it used to be
• Steve Roblin married someone else and has spent the past few years traveling the world – but I still think he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met
• I don’t play outside that much but still like to get out into the sunshine every once in awhile
• I can ride a two wheeler bike, but still prefer to ride a Florida trike if given the chance
• I can now skate forward, backwards, stop quickly without falling down, do cross cuts and circles and would rather be skating than running
• I still sing in the car but will not sing in front of other people unless in a large group where I can be part of the crowd

Things that haven’t changed

• I still hate onions
• Pizza is still my favourite food
• I still have sudden urges to make snow angels in the snow
• My family still drives me nuts every once in awhile
• Playing with Lego’s and colouring are still great ways to pass the time
• Devon and I are still really close – and can pick up where we left off without skipping a beat
• Long Point, Ontario is still one of the most peaceful places on earth
• I still get excited about my birthday
• I love stickers
• I love wearing knee high socks
  
• I still dream a lot and I still try to fit in as much as I can
• Seeing animals of all shapes and sizes still gets me giddy
• I am still silly, still trying to have fun and still trying to make people smile

I am still me.

Evening with Agent M

After an awesome weekend away where we actually finished our Christmas shopping, James and I met with our awesome real estate agent to go through some houses. We had hoped on going through a house that we liked a few months ago. It's been on the market for awhile and I was hoping we could go back through one more time. As we were away, I had to log on in our hotel and send a list of houses to our agent on the weekend. Narrowed it down to five.

Hespeler - 3 houses - one of which ended up sold
Galt - 2 houses - and the one we liked has an offer pending

Ultimately it was the worst news I could hear. It almost made me want to turn back and just not go look at all. I had high hopes that this would be the house as it was the only one we really went into and saw ourselves living there and being happy for a really long time. I could see us completely raising kids there and being very happy. Even with a slightly low ceiling in part of the basement.

So with the two houses out - it left us with three.

House number one, on a slightly busy street, but managable. In the neighbourhood we initially thought was our ideal. Big two storey older home but with two bathrooms. Oddly enough - it had two kitchens too and both were old and needed replaced. The layout was a little strange but it had original hard wood floors. The yard was absolutely huge and had two great old trees and an old fashioned lamp post in the middle of it. Strangely though - within about four minutes we were out of the house and done. We didn't want to be there and didn't want to live there. It's a great house for someone, just not us.

House number two was in another area of Hespeler, just around the corner from another house that I fell in love with during the summer when we weren't really looking to buy. The house was new, which meant less problems for a few years. It had a finished basement and really good sized rooms - but there were two major problems. #1 - the back yard was very tiny and irregularily shaped - came to almost a point. Pretty much could have a patio table and a small piece of grass and the backyard is full. Never could host the Beer Olympics out there! Issue #2 - the kitchen/dining area was very tiny. It was compact and functional, but only could stand one person in the kitchen and probably not even that if the oven door or fridge door were open. It was too bad because the house was in really good shape. Oh well - we moved on.

The third house was back in Galt - the same house that my mother thought we should be more seriously considering over the other house we liked but had foundation issues. A tall two storey brick house with a private drive and garage and a good sized yard. From the outside it checked all the boxes. Inside the rooms are all a really good size, and there is a room in the basement that is mostly finished - which leads me to think playroom for the kids. The kitchen is really big too - but there are problems. Bathrooms all will need work done - including a pink bathtub upstairs. (What is with the pink bathroom furniture lately???) And the kitchen cabinets seem to be the original with coat upon coat of paint on them. We could live with that, but when you go up the stairs and through all the bedrooms you see the same recurring theme - painted wood panneling. And one room even has writing under the paint that you could clearly make out. "Sklyer I love your one wheeled house" and "Green is great" and a big "exit" sign painted on the top of the door but now covered with a very thin coat of paint. All the doors upstairs need replaced, all of the upstairs hardwood needs some serious work too.

If we'd be willing to put in the work, and the money to do it, we could really make that house shine. Problem is - it's a the very top of our budget. You get a good return on the kitchen and bathroom, but the rest of it would involve ripping out walls and making some changes.

I think we are starting to see that we don't want a fixer upper, at least not a major one. We knew that, but now it's pretty much been cemented. Our realtor now knows that we need to have a good sized kitchen and we need lots of outlets for us to be able to have all of our crazy technology.

And still - my mind goes back to the other house we liked - the one with an offer. Our awesome agent has already marked on her calendar to follow up the day before the deal is to be cemented. She's going to stay on top of it to let us know. Brought up the "if it was meant to be it will be." This is something my mother has used many times to describe relationships. It's so true. Our agent said that it happens many times where an offer will come in and people will say "well I guess it wasn't meant to be" and she says "just wait and see" and sure enough the deal falls through and the couple that she's dealing with ends up with the house. Not that we are thinking that would happen, but it is a possibility.

One thing we've learned from all this - if we like something we need to go see it and act on it right away or the house will slip through our fingers.

And with that - we will take a break for awhile and only go see if something really interests us (or that other house comes up.) We should pick back up come January when it is expected that more houses end up on the market than are on it now. It's time to enjoy the holidays and so we shall!