Closing Day/ Moving Weekend=Fun, Excitement, Happy

Here's the good stuff about our move!:

1. We got the house (obviously)! It was soooo friggin' exciting. There's no feeling like it. We went in before anyone else got there and just walked around (testing lights, fixtures etc.) and were in total shock that it was OUR house. We love it.

2. Friday was hell, except because the U-HAUL screwed up and we had to make alternate arrangements, our bed came to the house on Friday instead of Saturday, so we didn't have to sleep on the floor.

3. My mum left, champagne, glasses, chocolates and a candle in the bedroom for us for the first night. We sat on the floor after everyone left and I opened the bottle. I hit DH when the cork flew off and champagne spilled all over our new carpet, but we both laughed hysterically. It was fun.

4. The actual moving got done in just over 2 hours on Saturday morning. This gave me a lot more time on Saturday than I thought I would have to start unpacking etc. The essentials were all unpacked by the time we had dinner on Saturday night.

5. Everyone loved the house and said what a deal we got on it.

6. Saturday and Sunday went really well. Friday was really the only bad day. We had a ton of friends and family there to help us clean and move and it was great.

7. They left us a trampoline! I didn't want it at first (and was pissed because I would then be responsible for getting rid of it), but my mum and I cleaned it up yesterday and it's actually a lot of fun and looks a lot better. Our yard is definately big enough for it (it's way in the back corner and totally out of the way) and it's a blast so we may keep it for a little while.

8. We got soooo much done this weekend. We're almost completely unpacked, the light fixtures got changed, the dishwasher was installed properly, the lawn got cut and "weed whacked", we raked, seeded and watered the bare spots, the gate got fixed so when my mum's dog is over, he can't get out under it (our dog won't go anywhere), the stove was switched, the back garden was weeded (which was no small undertaking)
So, we're in and loving it. I can't wait to go home today.

Closing Day/ Moving Weekend= Frustration, Anger and Stress

Here's the negative things about our move:

1. I left work Friday at noon to go home and wait for the call to go pick-up the keys for the house. We were expecting to get them somewhere between 2 and 4 that afternoon. At 2:30, my cell rings and it's our lawyer. However, she's not calling to tells us that the deal is closed, but that she's been to the bank twice and the $$ is not there. She says that the bank has left it so late that we'll be out of time for her to get the closing done that day and it will have to be pushed to Monday (you can't close a sale on the weekend). I asked her what I could do and she said that unless I could figure out what happened very very shortly and get the bank to send the $$, that I couldn't really do anything.
So, I frantically call our broker who says she'll call me back in 10 minutes as she needed to call the lender directly. That was the longest 10 minutes of my life because I knew we were on the clock and running out of time, and I was desperate to get the house on Friday. Everything was packed, the truck was rented, people had booked time off to help us move, the Bell guy was coming on Saturday to hook-up the cable, the phone, hydro and gas were being connected that afternoon etc. When she calls me back she tells me that the $$ has been in our lawyers trust account since 12:17 (meaning it's been there for over 2 hours) that afternoon and that she doesn't know why our lawyer said it wasn't there.
I call the lawyer back and tell her that it's in her trust account and has been since 12:17 and she responds to me "ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy bank account!". I wanted to scream!!!! WHAT BANK ACCOUNT WERE YOU LOOKING IN!?!?!?!? She tells me that she thought they were sending a draft to BMO. However, we don't bank with BMO, she doesn't bank with BMO, we didn't get the mortgage through BMO, so why she thought that I don't know. And what else kills me is that she would have had to give them her bank details for the lender to do a wire transfer to her account, so how did she not know that's where the money would be????? I was so frustrated and pissed of I could have screamed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, she gets the deal done and we pick up our keys and are in the house by just after 4ish.

2. DH calls U-HAUL to see where we pick up our truck on the Saturday morning. I had reserved it for 9am. The girl, who was INCREDIBLY RUDE on the phone, tells us we can't pick it up until 5pm which is totally not enough time and not when all the people who were going to help us were available. It made me furious how she spoke to me and DH on the phone. I couldn't stop thinking about it until the following day. For whatever reason it stayed with me and made me soooooooo mad. So, we had to scramble around and find another way to move our stuff, which we did, and it only took the guys 2 hours to get it done on Saturday morning.

3. In moving our new stove in, we had to remove the handle to get it through the door (which DH has done thousands of times at work) but with this particular stove, you have to remove the whole front. While trying to put it back together the trim breaks so you can't get the door back on. DH was soooo pissed and frustrated, I was mad, but trying not to show it and my FIL, who was the one trying to put it back together was freaking out and thinking we were mad at him. We weren't mad at him, we were just pissed off because it was one more thing to add to the pile of negative for that day.
Those are the main, negative things that happened on Friday. I'll post seperately for the good stuff!

Sorting it Out

Posted Friday, September 26, 2008 8:38 AM
Meeting went great with the lawyer last night. We only ended up owing $516.99 in closing costs (WOW) so she will take a regular cheque from us. It was nice to scratch that worry off my list.
I'm so excited because we had all this money saved for closing costs and now we have a bunch left over! DH wants to buy a new plasma TV. We have a great 51" right now, but its rear projection and apparently that's sooooooo 2 years ago (DH works at a major electronics company so we have to stay up to date with all this stuff). I actually wanted a new TV anyways because the liviing room is small and the TV will take up WAY too much space, but there are other things I wanted to do to the house. Like I was thinking we should save this money to put new shingles on in the spring, my friends Dad is going to fix the body of our car for $350 (really cheap) so we could pay him and get it done with enough time to go have it oiled afterwards before the winter, we need a lawnmower, I want to get the furnace serviced before the cold weather. I don't know... none of that stuff is very fun, but it's necessary. We'll have to talk it out this weekend.
Everything is signed and ready to go, so now I just wait for the call to go get the keys. I'm soooo excited I can't stand it! I'll have pics on Monday hopefully.
Have a great weekend everyone!

All I can say is...

Posted Wednesday, September 24, 2008 1:20 PM
Two more "sleeps" ..... I'm so friggin' excited. Feel free to point, laugh and mock!

Where did all the excitement go???

Posted Thursday, September 25, 2008 3:08 PM
So, tomorrow's closing day, and all the excitement that I've felt over the last couple of weeks (and especially days) is dwindling to basically non-existent.
WTF?
Here's why I'm freaking out....
1. We go to sign all the paperwork tonight w/ the lawyer and I'm freaking out about paying her. Not because we don't have the $$, we do (and we assume it's enough), but thinking about actually HOW I am going to pay her. I read today that lawyers generally request certified cheques, which I can't get because I have one of those no fee bank accounts with a bank that doesn't have actual branches, so to get a money order I have to order it and it takes 5-7 business days. I talked to my lawyer today and she said "you can pay however you want" but I don't think she was fully listening to me. Why didn't I think of this before?
2. I don't know when I first mortgage payment comes out. I'm pretty sure I remember from grade 10 math that it comes out a month after you move in, but I'm not sure AND I don't know when the MPP payment will come out or if it's built into the payment now (I'm pretty sure it is, but I'm not 100%). Why didn't I think to ask this question BEFORE????
Being "pretty sure" was good enough for a while, until today, when I started thinking that when it comes to this stuff of this caliber.... be DAMN SURE! I don't know what my problem is... I'm so particular about details usually (to the point where it annoys people), but for whatever reason this stuff slipped my mind.
Oh well... one way or another it will all be over in just over 24 hours. If I don't get a chance to blog tomorrow, have a great weekend everyone!

Runaway Baby Girl

Posted Monday, September 22, 2008 11:41 AM
I was having a good weekend until......
Friday Night: quiet night waiting for my Dad to call. We got Taco Bell at 10pm for dinner, which left me feeling not so good.
Saturday: DH's ball hockey game (the lost 8-0) and then we spent the afternoon getting everything that's ours into one room at MIL's for moving on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night I made my favorite meal and we watched Braveheart.
Sunday: We got up and DH and I went to Home Depot to get some more stuff for the house. We left Lola (our 3 year old Boxer Pug) at home with BIL. *Necessary tid-bit of information, Lola is terrified of strange or unfamiliar men. We don't know why, but it's a fear that has developed over the last year and a half. She also hates the road. If we try to walk anywhere on the road she gets really antsy and trys to go up every drive-way we pass* Anyways, long story short, my FIL showed up to pick up BIL and inadvertantly scared her and she took off. You have to understand that Lola doesn't take off. She doesn't need a leash and is always out in the (unfenced) yard with me or DH and is right on our heels. She's too much of a suck to run away. So I knew that she must have been really, really scared to take off like that because she's never done it before. BIL called us at Home Depot to tell us that they were "chasing her". This was BAD because I knew she'd be so scared by this point that she'd never come to the two men chasing her, it would just scare her even more. But, they had to keep going to try to stay with her so we could get her once we got back to the area. She just kept running. I immediately started to panic because she's my baby. I called my Mum (who Lola lives with through the week and has known since she was a baby- it's like her other mommy) who immediately headed out to look for her too because we were still 15 minutes away. I knew at this point she would only come to me, DH or my Mum because she's be so scared.
BIL said that everyone in the area was super helpful telling them where they had seen her etc. They finally caught up to her at a cat-walk where she was cowering behind some "bushes" but as soon as she saw them running towards her, she took off again. In the process of all of this she crossed countless side streets, she crossed a really busy main street TWICE and an extremely busy 4 lane street where it intersects with the really busy street once. She ran through a really busy parking lot with several stores and a drive through fast food place and just kept going. We kept getting calls from BIL saying "okay someone saw her over on ____ street" etc. Everytime we got a call that she had been seen on a busy street I would cry even harder because I knew a) how totally terrified she must be and probably totally panicing b) I had visions of her getting hit by a car. It was so stressful to try to "stay on her trail" but we had to do it. I knew it was only a matter of time before she ran out on another road and got hit.
DH had got out of the car to run down the really busy street because someone said they had seen her there, and I kept driving trying to catchup with BIL and FIL who were closest to her and had seen her several times. It was like a friggin' high speed chase because I was driving so fast and pulling so many U turns etc. I finally saw them, BIL was on foot chasing after her (she was quite a ways ahead of him because I still couldn't see her). She turned into a field (thank god she was atleast off the road at this point) and I went back out to a main street to try to get ahead of her. Finally I saw BIL running through the field a bit behind so I made my next left and he came up an intersecting road. He's yelling "she's right ahead of you". I finally see her and yell out the windown "LOLA". She's so scared by this point that she drops to the ground, cowering right down with her tail tucked underneath. I slowly drive up beside her, make sure theirs no cars coming, open the door and yell, in my "puppy-talk voice" "hi baby-girl, common'!" She turns, realizes it's me and runs full out and launches herself into the car onto my lap and collpases against my chest. She's panting so hard she's making herself choke and is drooling everywhere (she doesn't drool at all unless she's very ill) and she's pressing herself as close to me as she can get. She had been running, full out, for almost an hour. We went home, she had a HUGE drink of cold water and then she crawled up on the couch with me, curled up in the crook of my legs and went immediately to sleep.
I couldn't be mad at her, because I knew she didn't run away to be "bad". She ran because she was terrified and kept running because it just got worse and worse. She came right to me without hesitation amd the look of relief on her face was so sad. She was being chased by scary men, she was on the road, in a strange area with lots moving, loud cars etc. It breaks my heart to even think about how terrified she must have been. Especially when I think about the roads, the parking lots and how big eveything must of seemed to her because she's so tiny and when she stopped in the cat-walk to hide. I would hate to know what was going through her head at that point "I don't know where I am, I'm on strange roads, what do I do now and where's my mum?". It was the scariest moments of my life and I never want to feel like that again. Luckily, we move into our house on Friday and she doesn't have to live with strange men anymore. My poor baby girl... what an awful day for her.

3 More "Sleeps"

Posted Tuesday, September 23, 2008 9:21 AM
Has anyone every seen the commercial for Disney World where the little boy and his sister are talking in their bedrooms about what each of them thinks it will be like and the mom yells something about that they need to go to sleep... and then the little boy,in the absolute cutest voice, with the absolute cutest grin on his face says "we're too excited to sleep" and falls back onto his pillow?
That's totally me right now. We get the house sometime on Friday (hence the "3 more sleeps") and I'm too excited to think about anything else! My work day yesterday dragged out for what felt like days and I'm sure that today, tomorrow and Thursday will feel the same. Then, I pulled a really stupid move and didn't take all of Friday off. I've either booked or used all of my vacation and personal days for the year and only had 4.75 hours banked, so I only took a half day. That's probably going to be the longest morning of my life, although sitting around at home waiting for the call would suck too. Such a long week!!!!!!!!!!
I'm trying to keep busy after work with house related projects. Last night, I sanded down the main part of our dresser (will do the drawers tonight) so that it can be painted. I'm painted the bedside tables to match as well since they are currently two different colors of wood. Hopefully this keeps me occupied.
I think it was MrsS that said last week that this would be the longest 9 days of my life and god was she right. The wait is friggin' killing me!

Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 11:30 AM
It's official!!! Our lawyer has everything she needs for the closing of our home. That means at some point next Friday, Sept. 26 we will get the keys for our first house! It just hit me that it's really happening (after 3 years) and I'm soooooo excited.

*for pics, click the date link above for original post*

Specs:
3 bedrooms
1.5 bathrooms
Walk-in in master bedroom
1100 square feet of finished space
Unfinished basement (will become rec room w/ a bar)
170 deep lot (huge back yard)
Wood deck and unistone patio in back
Private porch on the front
Plans:
-Lots of landscaping (they let the lawn go this summer, it's not horrible, but needs some work)-prep this fall and complete next spring/summer
-Reface kitchen cabinets-ASAP
-Paint one of the spare rooms (it's currently pink w/ disney princess stickers)-ASAP
-Scrape and paint window frames (exterior)- this year
-Finish basement- when we get around to it/ have the money
-Energy audit in the next couple of years and then get grants to: replace furnace with a high-efficiency model (pray that the current one works for a while), replace windows, do shingles prob. next spring/ summer
-Several tiny little jobs that inspector pointed out (all which are simple and DIY)- ASAP
I CANNOT WAIT TO SPEND OUR FIRST NIGHT (SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR) IN OUR NEW HOUSE!

Still sick, but surviving!

Posted Wednesday, September 17, 2008 12:44 PM
So this cold is really hanging on and my voice is coming and going, but I'm at work today and feeling alright about it.
We had a staff party last night at the horse races. The food was great, the company was not so great but... I won an 8GB iPod Touch! I never win anything so I was soooo excited. Our computer is in storage until we move into the house next Friday, but I'm playing around with it seeing what all it does until then.
Speaking of moving into the house, I still haven't received confirmation from my lawyer that she's received instructions from our lender. I talked to her late last week and she said it was still early, but my broker said on Monday that the lawyer should receive something in 24hours. Well, it's been 48 and NADDA! I haven't heard a thing. I'm starting to freak out a little, getting really really nervous about it. What if something went wrong and our financing fell through for some reason? I'd rather know about it now then a couple of days before we're supposed to move into the house! I'm definately going to start panicking soon!
I guess I don't have any choice but to wait. God it's going to be a long 9 days!

I feel very blah!!!!

Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 11:56 AM
SICK SICK SICK.... I hate colds. Don't get my wrong, I'd prefer a good cold to a stomach bug any day, but seriously... this is very unpleasant. I have no sick leave and therefore am at work, plugging away, sounding like a little kid because my sniffles are getting worse and worse.
We were supposed to have a great weekend, but here's how it really turned out:
1. Friday night: we were supposed to go to the Oro Fair- well it rained all evening so we scratched that. Disappointing.
2. Later Friday night: we got together with some friends before heading down to a local club for a CD release party of a friends band. I was super excited for this but about 30 minutes before the band was scheduled to go on I started feeling really sick and achy and had to go home. Then I had to drive back downtown to get DH after they played because I didn't want him to have to miss it and come home with me earlier or pay 20 bucks for a cab.
3. Saturday: Write-off. I felt pretty crappy all day and just hung out around the house with my puppy all day (which is not a lot of fun when staying with MIL and BIL). DH and I did go shopping briefly and each bought a new outfit, but then I had to return to my jammies.
4. Sunday: We were going to shop for stuff for the house. We had a list but the main focus was a stove, a lawn mower, a patio set and a weed whacker. After 4 hours of shopping we found NONE of this stuff (out of season or out of stock) and in the process DH lost his cell phone. We still had fun hanging out together, but it was discouraging. Plus... I was still sick.
Now today is the worst sick day and, of course, I don't have the option of being at home in bed today. So, I watch the clock and await 4:30 when I can go get my waxing done and then go home. I want nothing more than a hot bath and my book. Oh well.... 4.25 hours to go! :(

Who Needs a Baby? I have a husband instead!

Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 8:54 AM
DH called me at work yesterday to tell me that he ear was really sore. He's always had bad ears, ever since he was a kid, so I said call you doctor and get an appointment or go to the walk-in clinic. It turns out that he has "swimmers ear" and had to be on ear drops for the next 5 days. I sympathize with him because I know this is kind of a chronic problem, but honestly, what a baby he is when he's "sick"! I know he hates ear drops, he always has, but your a big boy now, suck it up and take them to get better, or don't complain that your hurting.
I get "home" (my MIL"s) last night and he's lying on the couch. I ask him if he needs anything and he says no. He's lying in a little ball hugging a blanket to his chest like his 6 or something. I find this hysterical. Then, his mom arrives home and oh my does the baby in my husband come out. She immediately starts saying "oh baby... do you need anything, can I get you anything" and rubbing his head and his back. He ate it right up "I'm sore, I'm hungry" blah blah blah *WRETCH*
I finally said "he's not SICK!! He just has a sore ear!!!!!!!!!!!!" God. He;s such s sucky baby! My sports loving, 240lb husband is a big fat baby when he's sick, ESPECIALLY when his mother is around!

Meet Lola... Our Fur Baby
Posted Friday, September 12, 2008 9:06 AM
All this talk about dogs made me want to show off our baby. Her name is Lola (and I swear I named her that BEFORE I heard everyone and their brother calling their kids and dogs that). She's a "Bugger" which is a Boxer-Pug X (yes... it was a very planned pregnancy for the Mama who was the boxer) and she will be three years on Sept. 23. We've had her since she was 8 weeks and she was the cutest baby, but unfortunately, the memory card with all puppy pics malfunctioned and I lost them all! She was 3.5lbs when we brought her home and is now about 25-30lbs and holding steady. She's such a lover, always needs to be held with her face buried in the crook of your arm. She sleeps directly between us, either spooning her Dad or along my chest with her face buried somewhere.

And below is what we're looking at getting once we're settled into our house...
DH, who I have totally converted into a dog person (he was scared of dogs when we met, which wasn't gonna fly because I will never have a home without a dog), has his heart set on a Cane Corso. We have more research to do since I don't know much about them but, look at that face!!!!!!!

Today is a good day

Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 4:35 PM
Here's why:
1. I'm buying a great house. We move in, in three weeks and I'm a lot less stressed about it now. I'm mostly just excited!
2. I have a fantastic husband and I realized after recent events with my best friend and her husband that I am very very lucky to have someone who loves me and who I love so much!
3. I have a good job, and today was one of those days that went by very quickly because I was busy with lots of things that I actually enjoy doing. It's nice when you have days where your not watching the clock.
4. I have a fantastic family who is willing to do a lot of crazy things to help me get what I want and reach my goals. I don't think there is a more supportive mother in the world than mine.
I'm guess having one of those days that I just feel good. I hope it lasts! :)

Lazy Weekend

Posted Monday, September 08, 2008 8:46 AM
Breakdown of my/ our weekend:
Friday- We had an impromptu dinner @ my FIL's. He's the best cook (super creative) and we have a good time with him and his fiance. He created a new recipe and we got to test it out for the first time. It was delicious!
Saturday- Got up early to go garage saling to look for a couple things for the house (lawn mower, tree style clothes line etc.). This was completely unsuccessful as we purchased NOTHING. DH went to Canadian Tire to buy gas and garbage cans and then he had a golf tournament with a girl friend of his (that's a whole other post) and I stayed home. I feel really guilty saying it, but I slept most of the day. I think I needed to catch up after the couple of weeks we've had. BIL made a great dinner and when DH came home we just had a lazy night watching the first season of Prison Break (which I LOVE, but is sooo stressful and intense).
Sunday- DH had his first ball hockey game, so we went to that. The supporting/loving wife in me told me that he needed my support, so standing in the rain for an hour was worth it (yuck). They lost.... by a lot... to a team who only had 5 guys present... but they had fun. They'll get better as the season goes on. Then I went shopping because I went through my clothes yesterday and I ended up being able to keep only 2 pairs of pants! Everything else is way too big. I kept some sweaters too that boarder on too big, but will work for now. This pissed me off because I had to buy these clothes on my credit cards. I don't have any money to be buying new clothes right now and I hate using my credit cards. I spent $115 on two pairs of jeans and 1 shirt which pisses me off. Then we went to our friends for a bbq. It was a lot of fun, but after the sun went down it was freaking cold! Fall is definately coming.
That's it. BORING! I'm gonna post later today about the golf tournament thing and get some opinions.

I'm freaking out, but in an ok way this time!

Posted Tuesday, September 02, 2008 11:30 AM
So, our home inspection went well. There are no major problems that need to be fixed right away. What was really nice to hear is that what does need to be fixed can all be done by our friends and family who have experience in construction/renovating. This includes our roof (which the inspector told us does not have to be done before winter and that we would probably get another couple of years out of it). DH's uncle said "oh no, don't hire any one. We'll do it next spring or summer". I was so relieved and he's not just a DIY nobody. He knows what he's talking about and built his house from the ground up.
I have major questions about the mortgage paperwork that we received on Friday before we sign anything. It looks ok, but I want to make sure I understand it 100% and that we can give them everything that they are requesting before we waive our financing condition and sign any financial docs. I emailed my questions to our broker on Friday, but she hasn't got back to me yet. I better hear from her soon.
Our insurance company is giving us problems. They wanted a crap load of seemingly irrelevant information before they would quote us. One of our conditions is that we find acceptable home insurance. This is the 3rd of the three conditions that we only have until tomorrow night (Wed) to waive. They told us on Friday to call them back today (Tues) with the info and that they could probably have a quote by EOB tomorrow (Wed)! I said "no, no... we have to waive our conditions by Wednesday at the latest. We can't wait that long. So they said ok... we'll get it to you Wednesday through the day. So DH is going to give them a call today and tell them that we have another quote coming through and that we have to go with whoever gets back to us first with a good rate.
So, we're down to the wire waiting to hear back from two different people and it's stressing me out!!!!!! I hope we can get everything firmed up tonight so I'm not freaking out all day tomorrow that we'll get it done on time. I am feeling better about the purchase. I do still have moments of "what the hell are we doing... we can't afford this" but in general I'm feeling good about it. I'll just feel so much better when the mortgage broker gets back to me and answers my questions and when the insurance company gets their butts in gear and gets a quote together. I'll be able to relax a bit more then. Grrrr.... I can't wait to get these next two days over with.

A Sigh of Relief

Posted Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:15 AM
Update:
1.I talked with our mortgage broker and got my questions about the mortgage answered. It's going to be a good mortgage for us and I'm happy we went with this company.
2. I talked with our insurance broker and got a great quote. It's going to save us $35 per month from what we budgeted!!
3. With the above taken care of and a successful home inspection on Friday we were able to go and waive our conditions of sale last night and the house is officially sold to us! We take possession on Sept. 26th!!!
I'm feeling much better about all of this now. I know we still have a lot of things left to do that can be really stressful (like paying closing costs.. which is totally freaking me out) but we can do it. It will all work out and I'm excited!
After getting a good deal on our insurance last night I am determined to find other deals for us. Example: we used to have our home phone with one company and our cable/internet with another. I looked online today and we can bundle those three things together with one company and save more the $50/month for the same or better service. I may get a new cell phone and add it to the same bundle as I've been thinking about going on a plan anyway and this would make it cheaper than if I did it seperately.
Any other cost cutting suggestions? Anything would be appreciated! :)

I'm going to be a homeowner

Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:39 AM
They officially accepted our offer yesterday. We went in last night to sign-off and give the deposit ($1000 gone already). We now have 5 days to get our financing and insurance solidified as well as have an acceptable home inspection. This is proving to be a frustrating process, so I will be happy one way or the other when these 5 days are over. If any of that doesn't work out to our benefit, we can walk away... the cool part is, they can't! I'm still freaking out but it's getting a little bit better. What I can tell you 100% for sure that I am ready to be done dealing with our real-estate agent. I really liked her in the beginning but there's just something about her now that drives me crazy. I shouldn't be that way because she kicked in $1000 towards our house (off of her commission) because we wouldn't go any higher and the seller wouldn't come any lower. She didn't have to do this so it was really nice of her to do just because she "really wanted us to get this great house" (right- I know the real-estate game) but I still have a sour taste in my mouth about her for some reason. DH thinks I'm nuts and likes her, but my intuition says there is just something. I won't be recommending her to anyone... but I wouldn't say not to use her either. I'll just keep quiet about her.
After we signed the paperwork, we went for our anniversary dinner at The Keg. We were going to go somewhere fancy pants, but we love The Keg so that's where we ened up. I thought I wasn't hungry (still feeling nauseous over this house decision) but man did I eat once we got there!! I had 2 pieces of bread, half a ceasar salad (we shared), the insides of a baked potatoe with butter and salt (I couldn't eat the skin) and steak with Chipotle sauce, herbed cream cheese and onions!! DH said "hmmmm... you did ok for someone who wasn't hungry when we got here". I wanted dessert too, but knew that I shouldn't. Dinner made me feel better because we talked about what we were most excited about with the house. DH is excited about the garage (why I'm not sure because he's not one of THOSE guys) and the yard. I'm excited about having a library/office, the yard, the fireplace/mantle and about having a dishwasher!!!!! We're both most excited to get out of his mom's house. 2 months have been more than enough. It will be 3 by the time closing comes. We miss our little apartment desperately.
So.... I'm feeling ok today, just trying to get appointments made for mortgage, inspection etc. It's frustrating, but it's keeping me busy. If all goes through we close on our first house on Sept. 26. Fingers crossed that everything works out!

1 down, 2 to go!

Posted Friday, August 29, 2008 10:30 AM
I just got a call from our mortgage broker.... our financing is approved and we got a great rate! I was scared because the type of mortgage we were applying for usually adds a couple of points to make up for the 0% down. Well, that didn't happen!!! Yay! I hope we can lock in for a while at this rate because it's really good.
She said she was sending me the paperwork while we were on the phone, but I still haven't received it. I just called her and left a voicemail with my work email so that I'll know right away when the email arrives, but I'm still waiting. Grrrr. I just want to look at the fine print, the term, the payment details etc.
So that's 1 of our 3 conditions met. We have the home inspection tonight (condition # 2) and then I have to call the insurance broker to make sure we can get good home insurance (condition # 3). Once those things are done, we can firm up our sale and then we just have to wait until closing. I hope that the home inspection goes well and that he doesn't find a lot of big problems.
I'm feeling better about the whole thing now. I'm still really nervous, but not in such a negative way as before. It's now starting to become an excited nervous. However, I will be happy when all of this is OVER! It's the most stressful thing I have ever been through.

I have the greatest husband ever!

Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:42 PM
I just got a dozen beautiful antique roses delivered to me at work. The card is for an anniversary (which we are celebrating our 2nd today) but DH added "everything WILL work out fine. I love you baby."
He knows how stressed I am about the house and I know he hates it when I'm feeling like this because he never knows what to say or how to fix it.
This is perfect. I feel better already.

Rollercoaster Baby Baby!

Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 8:43 AM
No, I'm not having a baby :) I see how the title could be misleading.
Last night we got a verbal acceptance on our offer for the house. Their lowest was 2k more than the absolute highest we wanted to spend. Our agent and their agent made up the difference. I am on such a rollercoaster of emotions right now. I'm super excited one minute and totally panicking the next minute. I also go back and forth between thinking what a great deal it is for the lot, house condition, area etc. and then thinking we should have held out longer because eventually the would have had to come down more (but we were afraid to lose it and they were really sticking to their guns). However, we still have to get their signed acceptance and then we have 5 days to get a home inspection and firm up our financing. If either of those things are unacceptable to us, we can walk away from the deal. I think that is the only thing keeping me totally sane now is that we're not necessarily stuck in this if we find something we don't like. It's just really hard to deal with being literally at the very tip top of your price range.
We went over our budget again and again last night. Paying the bills shouldn't be an issue, it will just means there won't be a whole lot left over for a while. We just know that this house is a really good buy and will get better resale than any of the others we looked at but I'm still freaking out.
We've wanted to buy since a year before the wedding and now that it's actually happening I'm unsure about it. I called my mom this morning (who has been super excited for us over this whole process) and told her they had verbally accepted and all she said was "oh... interesting. Well, good!". This did not instill a lot of confidence in me and our decision. Especially since this was coming from my mom who is alway super supportive.
All this and it's our 2nd Anniversary today. I wish I could just be 100% happy about it, because it's a pretty awesome anniversary gift to give eachother. But, I'm just too nervous to be happy.
DH left me a card on the bed side table this morning... it said something to the effect of "Someday we'll look back on this crazy time in our life and wonder how we did it. But we'll know that if we had to do it over again, we wouldn't change a thing because we can do it together". It's so appropiate for what's going on right now and it made me smile. I just wish I didn't feel so nauseous.
I guess I better go and get ready for a crazy few weeks.

Yay! The Ball is Rolling!

Posted Friday, August 22, 2008 9:34 AM
We met with a broker yesterday and got our questions answered and got a preapproval done. We we preapproved for 50k more than we thought we would be, but we won't be spending that much. We're going to stick with our original budget unless we find a property that has a basement apartment (or similar) and therefore is an income property. Then we can spend a little bit more.
It was such a relieft to have a solid preapproval so we know for sure what we can spend. It's also a relieft to have our questions answered, but of course, as soon as we left, I thought of about 20 more questions. I think I am still going to talk with one more broker and see what the differences are, but I was happy with the guy we talked to yesterday. My mum and uncle both have mortgage with him and are confident about him and his company, so that makes me feel good about it.
We're going to go to lots of open houses this weekend and try to get in to two different properties that we have our eyes on. I'm so excited now and feeling much more confident about the whole process. Still... I can't wait until it's over and we're getting the keys for our first house! :)

Holy Crap! I this what it's supposed to feel like?

Posted Monday, August 25, 2008 9:47 AM
On Saturday we found the perfect house. Good size, huge yard for being in town, all the specs we wanted, awesome area, decorated nicely etc. However, it's about 10k above the max we are willing (and able) to spend and it's going to need a new roof in the next couple of years. But, we instantly fell in love with this house. It's the only one I have walked into and said "yes... this is it." It's also the only one that I don't really have any complaints about or that I see us living in long-term. All the other properties are either not in a great location or there is something rather major I don't like about them so I find myself saying "it's ok... we can make it work for a few years". With this one, we were saying "I want to live there and it could be long-term".
Here's what we considered when talking price for our first offer
-The house is 18 years old and therefore, although they look like they are in great condition now, windows are going to have to start being replaced and the furnace is original so we have to think about that too.
-These people didn't landscape. It's not totally horrible, but the yard needs to be cut, weeded, trimmed, edged, seeded and the back yard will probably need a couple of loads of earth to make it level.
-It will need shingle, probably within the next year
-Pricing of similar housing sold in the last 3 months
We put an offer in yesterday at about 12k below asking. We knew the wouldn't accept it, but we wanted to get the ball rolling to negotiate. They responding with an counter-offer later last night of 1K below asking! Our agent said there is a lot of interest in the house and therefore they aren't budging much on their asking price yet because they want to see what other offers they get.
I was so excited to get the offer in yesterday, but once we were in the process of drafting it etc. I started to panic. I kept thinking that it was out of our price range and we were really going to struggle, that we probably can't buy any house, never mind this one and that I am nuts to be doing this. I kept thinking of ways to get out of it and was relieved when we added the conditional on inspection clause thinking "that's it, that's our out". Everyone keeps saying, its worth the extra money if you love it and see yourself there long-term. "You don't want to lose it for the sake of a couple grand". But what if we can't afford the extra money? PANIC PANIC PANIC We also had to sign a bunch of other paperwork with our agent that I am now thinking we were stupid to sign without asking more questions... but that's a whole other story.
I immediately got a headache and felt extremely nauseous and instead of going to the bbq for my BIL's b-day, I went home and tried to sleep. On the way, I ran over a snake on a back country road and in the rear-view mirror I saw it coil up and then flail into the air in pain and it totally gave me the creeps. I literally shivered. P.S. I'm absolutely 100% terrified of snakes. When I got home I cried and panicked some more and I didn't know what to do. When the seller responded to our offer, I was disappointed (by the low amount they were willling to drop) and relieved at the same time. Everyone says this is a normal way of feeling once you've put in a offer on a house, but I don't like it. I never want to feel like this again. I called Brad and he wanted to respond right away with our own counter-offer, but I told him I needed to sleep on it. He agreed that was ok since they hadn't received any other offers yet. I fought a headache all night and had to force myself to eat. I fell asleep surprisingly easily. I woke up this morning at 5am and took Brad to work. Then I came back home and tried to go back to sleep for a couple hours but my mind was running overtime. I don't know what to do. We have to respond soon and all Brad can say is "what are we going to do?" or "have you decided if/how we're going to respond yet?". I'm gonna punch him pretty soon. Does he have any idea the kind of pressure that puts me under? He's half of this too and I need his input. It pisses me off more than I can explain and it's only getting worse.
Oh, on that note, tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary. Hopefully it's a happy one but with the way I feel right now, I don't know how I'll be able to pull off a romantic dinner when I feel like I could vomit at any second and am furious with the person sitting across from me. I'll guess we'll see how the rest of today day plays out.

Now We're Getting Somewhere

Posted Thursday, August 21, 2008 8:48 AM
We FINALLY have an appointment to actually go and see a human being about a mortgage this afternoon. I have to leave work early, but my boss is cool with it. She knows we've been having trouble with this so when I said I could come back when I was done if necessary to make-up the time she just told me not to worry about it and to do what I need to. I'm excited that the ball is finally rolling, but I'm nervous too. What if they won't give us a mortgage? Then what? I've only be at MIL's for two months and I'm going nuts... I need privacy and space and I need DH to myself! I can't stay there long-term. I shouldn't borrow trouble. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
It's time to start looking for a second job too. I told myself I would pick up a part time gig (which is easy to do because my full-time gig is monday-friday 8-430 and doesn't change) this fall for the winter. Just to get ahead of some credit card debt and help out for the first couple of months we're in a house. It's not fun, but I've done it before and the extra cash is really nice. I'm actually kind-of looking forward to it. I hope I find something cool... like at a book store or something! hmmm... maybe I better not, because I might spend everything I make before I make it home! :)
I'm so excited... I have a good feeling about this afternoon. I hope I can go in and ask intelligent questions so we can make an informed decision about the biggest purchase we'll ever make! Wish me luck!

Frustrated beyong belief.... I give up!

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:17 PM
I'm gonna cry. I feel so overwhelmed and so frustrated right now.DH and I are trying to get some information about mortgages so that we know exactly what we can afford and can get a pre-approval to start hardcore house shopping. However, we can't get any one who is willing to help us more than to say... fill out this form online and then we'll take it from there. I don't even know what these forms are. The pre-approval forms have mandatory fields for the value of the property you want to purchase and the mortgage amount. I DON'T KNOW THESE THINGS... THAT"S WHAT I WANT TO FIGURE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That and, I'm not necessarily going to want to go with the first person who says "yes, we'll give you a loan" because it may not be the best rate. I just need someone to sit me down and say, ok, your first step is "ba dum" and then if the outcome is "x" your next step is "such and so", if the outcome of step one is "y" then the next step is "yadda yadda". I don't want 1000 hits on my credit score and blah blah. I feel lost. I feel like I'm walking around bling.
DH is NO help at all. He's not a decision maker and knows that I am so he leaves all this stuff to me knowing that I will just do it. I finally broke down a couple of weeks ago and told him that I needed his help with all of this and he said "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say when I call these people". I freaked and said "neither do I!!!!! I'm trying to figure that out just as much as you are! So why should it fall on me." He then tells me that he'll help me. So he starts pulling real-estate listing etc. Well that's great but I already know how to do that. It's the mortgage thing that's the issue. There's no point in house shopping if we can't get a mortgage. So yesterday he calls me at work and says that a mortgage consultant had left a voicemail and that we should set up an appointment with her, but that we should wait until he gets to work because he needs to know his schedule for the week. I agreed, but he just calls me to tell me his schedule instead of just calling her back and setting up an appointment. I just called him and said "did you call Kimberly back or can you?" and he says no because he had to get ready for work. It pisses me off so bad that I either have to do it myself, or MAKE him do it. He doesn't ever have the initiative to do it himself. The man makes me crazy. I'm seriously really pissed off at him right now... more so than I have ever been. This is the largest purchase we'll ever make and he's willing to let it fall on my shoulders.
update: he just called me and said "I can call her if you want". He only did it because he knew I was pissed at the end of our last conversation so I said "I thought you didn't have time" and he says "well I guess I do" in his tiny little I know I'm in s**t voice. So I said yes, to please call her and he then has the balls to say "okay... what do I say to her". My blood immediately started boiling and I said "you know what, I can't do this right now" and hung up. I refuse to fight over the phone while I'm at work and everyone can hear. I just want to shake him and say "are you expecting me to be your mommy and take care of you forever?" Your an adult for god sakes! Think about it for a second and you'll know what you need to ask this woman. Like "hi, I want to buy a house, can you help me with that?" GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S**t is going to hit the fan tonight. I'm not answering his calls for the rest of the day because I can't handle itl.

Kicking it up a notch

Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:25 AM
I think I have blogged a million times about Brad and I trying to lose weight and get healthy. We've been successfull so far (especially Brad), but I've decided after almost a year of the same program it's time to kick it up a notch, at least for myself.
I'm going to start the C25K (Couch to 5K Program). I've always wanted to be a runner and this program seems like a good way to ease myself into it in a healthy way. I was running a little this winter at an indoor track at the gym, but I didn' t have a plan, I was just running until I couldn't run anymore and eventually I fell away from it and didn't want to do it anymore. So, thanks to the H&F board I found this program to help me out. It seems totally doable. It's only 3 days a week, so we can still do our walks on the odd days and it's 20-30 minutes (depending where in the program you are) so it's not adding any time to my existing exercise routine.
It's really crappy weather here today, so I'm going to go to the pool and do an hour of laps tonight. I haven't been to the pool since the winter because I hate to pay to exercise inside when I can excercise for free outside in the summer months. I'm actually really looking forward to it. I LOVE to swim and I'm good at it, so it's easy to stay motivated.
I've also decided to crack down even more on our "diets". And I don't mean that we're on diets, I mean our day-to-day eating. We've done well over the last 11 months on making better choices and it's working for weight loss, but I want to concentrate on healthy choices for more than weight loss now. Example: making sure we get all the necessary servings of fruits/veggies in a day. Making sure we're eating the most benefical veggies or protiens etc. I'm not saying we'll be perfect (because this girl needs her pasta, bread and chocolate) but just making better informed decisions and eating smart with variety.
Tonight for example, I'm super excited because DH is at work so I can have FISH! He hates fish, so this is a rare occassion for me. I'm having lemon salmon, wild rice, steamed asparagus and/or snow peas and a green sald with low fat cheese cubes Can't wait, my mouth is watering thinking about it!

What a waste!

Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:17 AM
So last night didn't go quite as planned. I went home and both MIL and BIL were there. I talked with them for a little while and then grabbed a bowl of cereal and 100 calorie bag of crackers and went to our bedroom to read. I didn't want anything to heavy in my stomach when I went to swim and my BIL was using the kitchen to cook a steak dinner so my fish meal was out of the question. I laid down to read and next thing I knew I was waking up and it was 8:10. The swim started at 8:15 and I still didn't know where bathing suit, googles or cap were. I figured, by the time I got everything together, got over there, paid, got changed etc. the swim would be mostly over. I resigned myself to another night of just walking. I cheered myself up by deciding that I would walk and meet DH has he walked home from work (when he works evenings he walks to and from work because he doesn't have time for an actual walk other than that). So I dove back in to my book deciding I would leave at between 9 and 910. Well... I am so in love with the book I am reading right now that I got caught right up and all of a sudden DH was walking into our bedroom and it was 10:25.
Of course by this point I'm not the least bit tired because I'd been napping since 6ish so I kept on reading. When I still couldn't sleep an hour later DH and I got busy, but even that was interuppted by a nasty foot cramp! So, that was the closest thing to exercise I got all day yesterday. :)
What a waste of an evening! Although, any night that I can curl up with a book that I love as much as my current one is a night well spent. Still.... I was really looking forward to my swim. Oh well!!!!

Location, location, location

Posted Monday, August 11, 2008 4:12 PM
I went to an open house yesterday. I really liked the house... it's the right # of bedrooms and baths, fenced yard, new windows, renovated kitchen, new a/c, new roof etc. It's two stories with a finished basement. It "looks like a detached" because it's linked with the neighbour only by the basement (which is completely seperate, we just share the foundation hole). Although I would like to be in the country (my little dream house that I posted about before is still for sale and has dropped 8k) this makes more sense as a starter because it's in town, we would not have to purchase a second vehicle right away and would not have the increased expense of gas for two commuters. The best part is it's an AWESOME price. The agent told me yesterday the sellers are really motivated because they have already bought something else and want to be out before the school year starts for their kids.
However, I'm not sure about the area. It's in a part of town that carrys a stigma of... we'll say "lower income people". I would not want my kids to go to school in the area, but at the same time, we're not looking for a house to be in that long-term (since we aren't even TTC yet). There's a really interesting mix in this area of gorgeous high income homes and tiny, not so nice homes one or two streets over. This house that we are looking at sits in no-mans land between two areas. I don't know what to think. I worry about resale value and getting stuck. It's just such a great little home I don't want to pass it up and then regret it. That and I NEED TO GET OUT OF MY MIL's!!!! It's only been 1.5 months and I'm going crazy!!!!!!
I'm torn and really don't know what to do.

What Would You Do?

Posted Wednesday, August 06, 2008 1:25 PM
I've been working at my current job since January 2007. I was temporarily covering a 12 month maternity leave, but was kept on permanently when the contract was over.
My original employment contract started me at salary of X amount of dollars, with a $5000 raise after successful completion of 6 months. My boss decided to give me that raise after just barely 3 months because she was impressed with my work. That was April 2007.
It is now August 2008 and I have not had a performance review/raise, or even a cost of living raise since. Since we a looking for a house (and therefore a mortgage) Brad has been suggesting that I approach my boss about a raise. I have been wondering what my prospects are for advancement in the company. I am hesitatnt to approach her because she gave me my initial raise 3 months early and I know that things are changing a lot within the company so I doubt the advancement option is in the near future. But, I don't want to hold myself back just because I am too nervous to ask.
Any raise, even a small one, would make a huge difference right now. Buying a house and then maintaining a house (with all the additional monthly bills) is daunting and expensive and I would like to have a little better piece of mind. But, I don't want to burn bridges and piss people off.
What would you do?

MIA- catch-up

Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 2:16 PM
So we've been on another mini vacation and therefore I have missed out on the blogs for the past little while. Apparently I picked a really bad time to go because I seem to have missed a lot! Instead of commenting on all the blogs individually, which would take forever, I wanted to comment on what I thought was the happiest piece of info.... MandyE's twin news! That's amazing! I was shocked to read back and see your announcement. CONGRATULATIONS! That's sooo great! I'm glad your both so excited about it.
Our vacay was excellent. Our friends got married, and we partied at their beautiful wedding on Saturday night and then off to Muskoka on Sunday with DH to meet my family (sister, newphew, mom, step-dad) at a cottage that my mom rents form her friends once a year. We had great weather except for the last day, but it was OK because we were all so tired we slept most of the day. I did a lot of reading, had a long nap every day and did tons of swimming and lounging in the sun. My nephew and his buddy found a cool spot on an island across from the cottage to jump off into the water. I thought this was a great idea until I didn't push off hard enough to clear the rocks directly below and smashed my left knee and right heel on my second jump. I'm just glad I hadn't gone head first. I had to swim back across the lake using only my arms. Not a great way to spend the afternoon. All in all though, it was really nice.
Now I'm back at work for two days, busy, busy, busy playing catch-up. Tomorrow right after work we are heading up to our cottage for the long-weekend, for only the third time this season. I hope that the weather is nice because the last two times it has friggin' poured rain. I haven't even been in the water up there yet. This summer has been so weird weather wise. So... for all you Canadians, enjoy the upcoming long-weekend and keep your fingers crossed for good weather. ENJOY!

What is the world coming to?

Posted Tuesday, August 05, 2008 1:59 PM
WARNING: this is not a story for the faint hearted. Please follow this link with caution.
This link is to a newspaper story about a brutal murder that happened in Manitoba last week: http://www.thestar.com/article/470913. It made me so angry that I had to post about it.
When I first heard this story I was at work and my boss called me in to her office to show me the news feed. When I got back to my desk I had to fight off tears and a lump in my throat. This poor kid was brutally attacked (and I think you will agree the brutal puts it mildely... this was a SICK) for absolutely no reason. It seems to be a horrible case of "the wrong place at the wrong time". And now, his life is over and his family has to bury this boy, who had so much ahead of him. For what? The psychotic actions of one man. It makes me sick. NO.... beyond sick! I hope to god that there were no children on the bus to witness this whole ordeal. It would be hard enough as one of the adults to deal with it. They have to live with that memory for the rest of their lives. It makes me furious that one man can so severely alter the lives of 30 some other people (+) in the matter of seconds. His decisions will haunt all of those people forever.
It makes me sad that stories like these seem to become more and more common. I hope to god that my family/friends are never affected directly by something like this and I hope that those affected in this case can move on and lead good and happy lives. I'm thinking about them.

Baby Fever

Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:25 AM
Oh my god I want a baby. Reading the blogs from Julia and Mandy makes that need even stronger. The excitement of the whole thing is just something that I can't wait to experience.
We constantly talk about how many we want, we throw names back and forth (and have two full boys names and one full girls name picked out), we plan how we'll tell each of our parents (trying to come up with cool/unique ways), anytime we're in a store that sells baby furniture etc., we look and pick out what we like and I'm obsessed with watching Baby Story and Bring Home Baby on TLC. I also love reading the pregnancy/birth stories on TheNestBaby (aka thebump). I dream ALL THE TIME about having babies, being pregnant and being a mom. Every time I drive by the local hospital I think "I can't wait until it's our turn to be in there having our first baby" and I play out going in to labour in my head, all the "it's time" phone calls that Bub will have to make, and wonder if I will have a short labour, a long labour, a complicated labour etc. I even think about it in terms of seemingly unrelated planning like when we buy a new car this fall, it will have to be a four door so we can easily get a car seat in and out. It literally consumes me most of the day. I'm so excited and I can't wait.
But....we're not ready yet. We need to buy a house first (which we plan to do ASAP this fall). I want to be at my goal weight so that I can be as healthy as possible going in to my pregnancy (for my sake as well as for the baby) and so that I can watch the pregnancy progress right away. I HAVE to quit smoking. I plan to do just that ASAP. We need to have some $$ in the bank because we will not be able to live on 55% of my salary for a year considering I am the major bread-winner. I want to go on a tropical vacation first since we've never been on one (although, I doubt it will happen with everything else we need to do in the next little while).
I don't know how much longer I can wait. I've told DH that once we're in a house with two empty bedrooms, it will be really hard for me not to want to fill them with babies! :) He agrees. But, we'll be smart about it. We're young, we got married young and we have time. Still... I can't change how I feel, and I definately have baby fever.
I'm so excited for those of you who are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or have children all ready. It's so amazing!!

Crap... I'm Caught

Posted Friday, July 18, 2008 11:20 AM
I started a new birth control pill at the end of May. It's the type with a cycle reduces periods to four times per year.
Now, normally I don't like this type of thing for 2 reasons:
1. Your supposed to have your period. It's nature. So what's this pill doing to my body to stop it from happening? Can it be as safe as they say? I worry about stuff like that.
2. As much of a joy as it would be to be to only have 4 periods a year instead of 12, how do I know if I'm pregnant? I could be three months along and not even have an inkling. This would be bad for several reasons including the fact that I smoke currently (although I do have plans to quit) and would continue to smoke/ drink etc. not realizing I was pregnant and I would continue to take the pill. Not so safe for baby.
But, I had a lot of plans this summer and the all seemed to be right when I should have had my period so a friend suggested the pill she was taking so that I could enjoy my vacations etc. period free. So I decided, just for this summer (I know, not so good) and went to my doc for a perscription.
Well, for the last month my boobs have been so tender and sore, I'm crampy, I sooooo tired, I get waves of nausea, I'm eating like a man and I'm a little nervous that all these things point to pregnancy. I didn't get my last period, but I didn't expect to because of this pill. So I talked to DH last night and said "look, it's probably the new pill that's doing all of this to my body, but I want to be sure. If there is the smallest chance I could be pregnant I want to know so that I can stop taking the pill, stop smoking and start taking care of myself/the baby". We figured out possible conception times and decided it would be best to be safe and go buy a pregancy test.
So, I popped out of work this morning for 15 minutes to go to the drug store and purchase one. I have it in my hand as I'm walking towards the cash registers and I hear "oh... your Lori's daughter Ashley right?" I turn, totally forgetting tha tI have a HPT in my hand and say "that's me". It's one of my mum's clients, who's she's had for YEARS and it turns out that she is going to see my mum today! She's asks me if I have lost weight and she looks me up and down and in the process spies the test. Her eyes lock on it just for a second, but enough for me to know that she has seen it. It gets all tense and akward and then I say "okay...well have a good day, I have to get back to work". My face is BRIGHT red as I slink away.
Now I'm totally freaked she is going to tell my mom. She seems like one of those woman who will be salivating to spread the news. I can just hear it "I ran in to Ashley today at Shoppers. So.... have you heard the results? Is she pregnant?" or something like that. Not that I don't want my mom to know if I am pregnant, but I WANT TO TELL HER. And if I am not pregnant, then nobody but me and DH (and you ladies) need to know that there was a question abou it. Why talk about something that turned out to be nothing right?
Anyways, I guess only time will tell. I'm sure I will be hearing from my mom tonight

Real-Estate Agents are Sucky!

Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 4:38 PM
Ok, ok... most of them aren't, but the one I am trying to deal with right now DEFINATELY is. I've been trying to get a hold of her for over 2 weeks about a house that I want to take a look at (she's the listing agent, as we do not have our own agent yet). Finally yesterday, she leaves a voicemail on my cell and it's as follows:
"Ashley.......(long pause).... it's Jane Doe. I'm returning your call AGAIN. Call me at 000-0000. Good bye". It's very, very snarky and short and her tone makes me want to grind my teeth together.
Returning my call "AGAIN"? This is the first time I have heard back from her. She's has 3 phone numbers to call me at (home, work and cell) and two email addresses (work and private). I've had no other messages and went through my inbound calls and don't see anything from her. Grrrrrrr! I was shocked when I heard it and played it for my boss who was totally shocked as well and basically said "EFF that!!!! She's working for you, not the other way around". So, needless to say, I won't be using her directly and will be contacting the office that holds the listing for my own agent instead. I wonder if the seller knows that their agent doesn't return multiple calls and emails for two weeks and then is completely NASTY with potential buyers? If I wasn't so in love with this perfect little house (pics in an earlier blog), I would say "screw it" and move on to something else.

I don't wanna work... I need more vacay

Posted Monday, July 07, 2008 9:47 AM
So DH and I were on vacation last week. We flew up to see my Dad in Thunder Bay and spent most of the week at their cottage up there. The area surrounding T-Bay is so gorgeous. We had a great time. The weather ended up being really nice which surprised me because the weather report had been grim. I love spending time with my Dad. It's always fun and I'm sad that we're back and it's over. I think we need to go on a cleanse though. We ate like CRAP and consumed copious amounts of alcohol. Maybe I should do the cabbage soup diet or something this week to clean my system out.
To put a nice spin on the end of our vacation, we were told on our return that our car has bit the dust. It had overheated the day we were leaving on vacay so I asked my step-dad to take a peek at it while we were gone. Well, it turns out that the coolant is leaking (although we don't know where because it's not on the ground which is why we hadn't noticed it) and our transmission fluid is leaking into our engine oil and into our radiator. I don't know anything about cars except that's NOT good. We paid $2000 (which is A LOT of $$ for us) last spring to have almost the same problem fixed. DH was so pissed off yesterday, but surprisingly I stayed calm. I knew that brooding about it and ruining the last day of our vacation wouldn't solve anything. I told him to get over it because there was nothing we could do about it until today and we spent the day at the beach.
On a positive note, we also found our dream house in our dream location, and the kicker is that it's IN OUR PRICE RANGE! It's out in the country on an acre of land, bush and trees on one side, field on the other, really private, with my WRAP AROUND PORCH and a natural pond etc. It's like someone got in my head and created the exact house I had in mind. We drove to see it yesterday (just the outside) and I fell in love. I think it may be sold (although there was no sold sign on it) because the listing has been taken off of MLS. I will be so disappointed if it is. I'm going to call the listing agent today. I have to go see this house. It's PERFECT and absolutely adorable. My mum drove out too take a look at it for us while we were on vacation and said that if we weren't interested she would have put an offer in on it for herself.
I;m swaped at work today trying to catch up since it's year end and I have been gone for a week, but I have no motivation to do anything. I wish I was still at the cottage or on the beach with my book.... or any were but here. I definately have a case of the post vacation blues! Hopefully I will be able to go look at the house tonight.... that will make me feel better! :)

My husband's got a hidden sensitive streak!

Posted Monday, June 23, 2008 8:33 AM
We moved out of our apartment this weekend. Surprisingly we got most of it done on Friday night with the exception of our bedroom. I think we kind of did that on purpose so that we could spend one more night there. Saturday we finished everything up moving wise and spent our first night at my MIL's. It was OK, but weird. I don't quite feel at home there, even though I basically lived their when we were younger and just dating.... but it still feels strange. I noticed little things bothering me like the bedroom door squeeks (which sounds SUPER loud when you get up to go pee in the middle of the night) and the light is in a weird place so it's hard for me to read in bed. My husband was bothered on by how much blue there is in her kitchen. He reached up to get a glass (which are all blue) and looked at me and said "there's so much friggin' blue in here" with a disgusted look on his face. It was at that point that I started laughing and said "ok honey, we're already super bitter about being here and it hasn't even been 12 hours. We need to relax and keep telling ourselves its a means to and end instead of having these mini temper tantrums. They'll only make us feel worse". We both laughed then because we knew we were being childish and moved on to other things.
Yesterday we went back the our apartment in the morning to clean and get the last bit of garbage etc. out. We at breakfast on the floor together and then got to work. I was fighting tears all morning and DH kept trying to say sweet things to comfort me. It only took about an hour to get it done (it's amazing how much faster you clean when there's no obstacles). Brad took the last garbage down and came up as I was closing up the bedroom window. I turned around as he walked in the room and he had the most heart-breaking look on his face.... like a guy trying desperately not to cry. He was fighting a pout and his chin was quivering and his eyes were all big and watery! He came across the room and grabbed me up into a bear hug and I could feel him sobbing against me. This of course made me cry so we just stood in our bedroom and cried together for a little while. Neither of us wanted to leave. We walked around the apartment together one more time. It was really, really hard to walk out the door that last time. He went to the office to give the keys back to our super, but I had to go right to the car. I didn't want to cry like a baby in front of him. Then we drove away. It felt really really sad. But finally I said to him that I still didn't regret the decision and that in the end we were doing the right thing by speeding up the house process. He agreed that he had no regrets either. So, we went a got drunk! :) We only meant to meet his Dad and step-mom for 1 beer. We even had frozen food in the trunk to prove we hadn't meant to be long, but one beer led to another and another and before you knew it we were both a little tipsey. We laughed about it, went "home" and made a good dinner and had a nap while it was cooking. We went to bed early because we were both exhausted.
Now we'll just have to see how the next little while plays out. DH is working nights today, tomorrow and Wednesday. This means that I am alone at his mothers all three nights. It will be an interesting test.
However, once we get through this first week... we're FINALLY going on vacation! We're leaving on a jet plane on Friday night and the timing couldn't be better..... I CAN'T WAIT! The true test will be once we get back, but if we stay positive, I think we'll be fine! :)

Dreaming of the Country

Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:52 AM
So we're a couple days in to our 3-5 months of staying with my MIL. So far it's been OK. DH has been working evenings so I have been shopping after work, (for our vacation) with $$ that I don't have, and therefore putting charges on my credit card that I have worked so hard to pay down. However, it's necessary. We've both lost weight and have no clothes. So, it's either rack up the credit cards or go naked! I took my dog for a long walk out in the country yesterday and then went to my nephews baseball game. I'm OK as long as I keep busy.
Last night, when I was walking my dog out on the old rail trail I realized how desperately I want to buy a house in the country. A little background on me: growing up, I lived with my parents in town in a regular suburban sub-division. But, my grand-parents had a 220 acre farm about 15 minutes outside of town where we spent most of our time. DH and I have lived in the city since since we got married (my grand-parents have since sold their farm) but I'm itching to get back out to the country. I don't need a lot of property, I just need a farmer who has a lot of acerage to sever me like 0.5 of an acre on the corner of his property. I like having a back porch where you walk out in the afternoon and see green fields for miles and mature forest. I love the CALM of the country. The feeling of sitting in your back yard and feeling like your on your own little corner of the world. I LOVE IT and I can't wait to have it! I have this dream of a wrap around porch with a hammock chair for reading... spending my afternoons outside engrossed in a great book (I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I love to read). No traffic noise, just country quiet. I CAN'T WAIT!I have the typical "big city office job" and really enjoy the hussle of every day, but I need the quiet and calm at home.

Moving Stress and Nostalgia

Posted Thursday, June 19, 2008 8:56 AM
Brad and I have been working every evening this week getting our apartment packed up and taking loads over to the storage unit we rented (since we'll be staying with my MIL temporarily). Last night we got a ton packed so he decided to do a load without me since he could fit more in the car. The goal is to have all the boxes and little stuff in the storage unit by Friday so that by Saturday it's just the big furniture left to move (bed, couch, tables). Brad asked his brother a LONG time ago to help us move the big stuff this weekend. We have to be out Sunday morning. Well, last night, Brad saw his brother who promptly informed him that he had to go to a car auction on Saturday and won't be able to help us. Now we have NO ONE! We didn't plan on having any one else because we really only need that one extra body (we've got a ton done just the two of us in our mulitple loads). But, now no one is available. Don't get me wrong, I'm no weakling, but I SUCK at moving furniture. I take too long, I'm ackward and Brad just gets frustrated with me. I knew we shouldn't have relied on his brother. I should have seen it coming back to bite me in the ass.
The only thing keeping me sane at this point is knowing that we go on vacation next Friday! I HATE moving... especially when your not moving somewhere new and exciting but your moving "home". Even if it's temporary, it makes the moving feel that much more awful.
On a funny note, it's interesting what you can come up with for dinner when you are trying not to shop and don't want to move any food. Therefore, your trying to create meals out of what you already have so that you can get rid of stuff. We've done OK so far (last night we managed bbq'd chicken breasts, wild rice, steamed broccoli and greek pasta salad) but tonight we are having low-fat whole-wheat frozen pizza and fish steaks. :) My husband called dibs on the pizza so I'm having the fish, which is fine except we have nothing else to go with it. I'll have to stop by the grocery store and grab a salad or something. This will be our last time cooking in the apartment because we agreed that tomorrow we would just get take-out so that we can pack the kitchen after dinner tonight. That makes me sad.
I LOVE our apartment for a lot of reasons, but especially because it was the first place we lived after we got married. We moved in the day after we got home from our honeymoon which was 5 days after the wedding. We both desperately want a house, but this is still really hard. It's hard in a good way though (if that makes any sense) because we know the next step is really exciting. Before we started packing I took pictures of the whole apartment, ever little nook. I even took a video of me walking around the apartment, to remember exactly what it was like. I now regret not taking more pics of just every day life, but I can't change that now.
I'm especially going to miss my huge balcony. I read A LOT (and we don't smoke inside so we used the balcony) so I spent a TON of time out there. Last summer was the best. I had so many flowers and plants... it was my own little private garden. There have been times that I have spent an ENTIRE day and/or night out there on my lounger submersed in a great book. It was my favorite thing to do. It's sad to know that I will never do that again.
Okay... now I'm getting teary so I'm to stop and get back to work. ;)

So Much Better!

Posted Thursday, June 12, 2008 8:37 AM
Yesterday was a good day.
Work was lonnnnng but because I was so bored, not because it was a bad day. I left here and went down to the old rail trail that goes around the lake and went for my walk. It was funny because I didn't want to stop walking. It was so gorgeous outside and I had good music on my iPOD... I could have walked for the rest of the day.
I went home, made myself an awesome dinner, which is a big deal because I was home alone, and watched some old re-runs of Gilmore Girls... which always gets me laughing. I talked to my Dad on the phone for a bit, did some laundry and then after I picked DH up from work I had a bath, finished one book and started a new one, and then went to bed.
No panic attacks, no anxiety.... just a normal, relaxing night!!!! I feel like I'm "back in the land of the living" so to speak because I was so out of it and living selfishly in my own little unhappy world for a week and now I've snapped out of it.
I think what really helped is that my Dad and I were talking about the trip that DH and I are taking up there in a couple of weeks (2 weeks tomorrow to be exact) to spend some time at their house and cottage. It made me look forward to it even more and gave me some peace of mind knowing that I will fianlly be on vacation soon.
No more pity parties for me!! :)

C'est Le Weekend

Posted Friday, June 13, 2008 10:20 AM
All I can say is TGIF! I didn't really get much of a break last weekend because I was in the office babysitting the workers who were installing the new workstations. It was voluntary and I get additional time off in lieu, but it was still working on the weekend (which I haven't done in 1.5 years).
This weekend may not be much better rest wise, but it will be much more fun. The annual Townsend Games are tomorrow in which my husbands Dad's side of the family (6 brothers and all their children and grandchildren) get together for a round of golf, a card tournament and a 3rd event which changes every year (frisbee golf, horseshoes, wash toss). The women eat and get drunk, so it's usually a good time. Theres prizes and great food. So that will be my fun day tomorrow as long as my mother-in-law (DH's step-mother) behaves. I think she's angry with us for some reason, but I don't know why. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Sunday is going to be dedicated to packing and moving. We agreed to be out of our apartment by next weekend so we can get settled at my MIL's before our vacation. I wanted to have a storage unit by the start of June so we could move stuff out slowly, but I haven't had the motivation to do it yet. So, Sunday is the day because we only have a week.
I'm trying to stay positive about the move... so I decided to make a list of the pros of staying with my MIL for the summer:
We get to easily save the $$ we need to buy a house and get some credit cards paid down.
It's the summer, and we're rarely home anyways in the nice weather so we won't be cooped up with her.
CENTRAL AIR! Our apartment only had air in the bedroom... it will be awesome to have it in the whole house.
A yard for my dog so that I don't have to physically go outside with her every time she has to pee and she can run and play much more.
It's only 3-5 months and it will be good to give my MIL some help keeping her house up for that time.
My list of CONS is a little bit larger, but in keeping with the theme of being positive about it I'm not going to list them.
I have to think positive to make it positive. The end with justify the means! :)

Tough Decision

Posted Tuesday, June 03, 2008 8:50 AM
So after my yucky day yesterday (in which I ate nothing but a buttered bagel at 8am) my husband arrives home last night to tell me that he has been offered another, better, job. Now.... 3 months ago this news would have made my head-spin and caused my body to unconciously do a "happy dance". However, we made the decision a month ago to move out of our apartment and stay with my MIL for 3-5ish months while we looked for a house. It's too late to go back on that now because we move out in 2.5 weeks. But.... if DH takes the new job we may have a problem getting a mortgage because of his new employment status. He's new (prospective) boss is aware of our problem, but has offered to right a letter of permanent employment for us, but I believe that with the mortgage option that we are looking at, each signer is required to have 12 months steady employment. Until now that wasn't an issue. He has been at his current job fo 5.5 years, and I at mine for 1.5 years.
He seemed really excited about the offer and I told him it was his call. He was concerned, just as I was.
I honestly don't know what I want. Well, not true... I really want him to take the job, but I REALLY want a house. I can't ask him to give up a great career move though just so that we can be in a house faster. He wouldn't ever ask me to do that. Plus, it would be better if he has this new job when we got into a house. It's more $$!
I think I'll have to call a few mortgage people and ask what effect this will have on our chances of getting a mortgage at a decent rate. I'm so scared to hear the answer!
I hope we can work something out so that we can have both! Why can't it ever be simple?

The Strangest Week

Posted Wednesday, June 11, 2008 9:03 AM
I've had the strangest week. I blogged last Tuesday about being upset over nothing and feeling depressed and unfortunately, that feeling didn't go away. I was up and down all week crying, not eating, having a really hard time getting to sleep. I even considered leaving for a little while, going to stay with a friend or something. I buried myself in books because I couldn't face the real world and the only time I did was Saturday night when I got completely hammered at our friends Buck and Doe and made a complete fool of myself. Something for which I am totally mortified about, because I'm not that girl. I'm not the girl who gets so drunk she makes a fool of herself in front of my friends and DH's colleagues. I had to take the afternoon off work last Wednesday because I knew I was going to end-up crying everywhere. I wanted to be alone but when I got home DH was there because he had called in sick due to his chronic back pain. So that backfired on me too. But, luckily, because he was sore, he stayed in the bedroom so I got the living room etc. to myself.
Sunday night was the worst. DH had to work one of his very rare weekend nights and I was home alone for the evening (which I was thankful for because I wanted to be alone). I was having total panic attacks, getting short of breath, my heart would start pounding and I'd start sweating. It got so bad that I filled the bath tub up with cold water and sat in it to shock my system into calming down. I was on the verge of tears all night. I was a total mess. Monday morning was much the same, but by Monday night I had started to calm down a bit. Yesterday was probably my best day, although I have a feeling that today is going to be even better.
I don't know what was wrong with me. I was freaking out, but I couldn't totally figure out why. We are moving out of our apartment in 2 weeks to stay with my MIL for the summer until we buy a house, and DH and my parents said that was probably what was bothering me, but I truly don't think that's what it was. I was thinking about a lot of things. I probably shouldn't get into them now because I'll start feeling crappy again and I don't want to do that.
Thank god I'm feeling better.... what an awful week for me and everyone around me. My poor DH is so good to put up with me when I get like that, although I've never been that bad for that long before. WHAT'S THE DEAL!?!

It's a down day, hopefully not a down week

Posted Monday, June 02, 2008 9:54 AM
I'm feeling really low today. It's one of those things where I feel like if one person says the wrong thing I am liable to start crying. The tears are right there... on the verge, ready to spring at any moment.
I know what it is all stemming from and it's SOOOOO stupid. It's so stupid that I won't even say it because no one would believe that something like that could actually make me sad or they would think I am crazy. I'm mad at myself for feeling this way, but, as it usually goes for me because I'm such a baby, I get sad about one thing and it just starts snow balling and I get sad about all the not so perfect aspects of my life. Depression runs rampent on my Dad's side of the family, but I don't want to think about my feelings that way. I'm hoping I'm just having a bad day, but something tells me this is much more than that.
I really wish I could take the rest of the day off and just go for a long drive to be by myself for alittle while, but I doubt that today is the best day for that. My boss just returned from mat. leave today and I don't think it would look good if I took off. Maybe I'll take that long drive after work... it's gonna be a long day. Hopefully I can hold off the tears.

Getting Burnt Out

Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:30 PM
DH and I are flying up to see my Dad in Thunder Bay and spend a week at his cottage at the end of June (over Canada Day weekend). Because I was on a one year contract until Feb. I didn't get any vacation last year so this will be my first block of time off since our wedding (which, as most of you know, does not count as much of a vacation no matter how perfect it all is). I am MORE than ready to get away and have more than 2 days off work in a row! I'm at the point where it's hard to care about work and all I can think about is getting on the plane and flying away!
I'm just feeling burnt out, and I think that's the stem of my frustation at work. I am just tired of dealing with the same stuff day and and day out and I need a break. Something different to refresh myself. CAN'T WAIT!

Great birthday weekend!

Posted Monday, May 26, 2008 10:09 AM
So Dirty Dancing Live is AWESOME! I highly recommend going to see it if it's playing somewhere near you. I have been obsessed with the movie since I was a little girl and can say it word for word! :) But, even if your not framiliar with the story line, go see it live anyway... it's amazing.
We went down and had dinner and drinks in Toronto @ Moxies (my fav. restuarant). We shopped a little and I fell in love with these adorable heels that I am now kicking myself for not buying because I LOVE them! I can't stop thinking about them and how great they would look with the dress that I am planning to wear to my girlfriends wedding this summer. Then we took the subway downtown for the show.
Saturday morning I slept in (which I never do because I love weekend mornings). I woke up to the smell of breakfast, and my husband was hard at work in the kitchen making country friend steak and eggs for me. It was fantastic. It was a gorgeous day! Sunny and warm, FINALLY! We went shopping, stocked up on books for the summer and DH bought me a new tennis raquet (the particular one I have wanted for 2 years). We went out for lunch and then we went and played tennis. We had to stop because I hadn't put sunscreen on and I could feel myself burning so we went home, showered, had dinner and then ended up going back out to play more tennis that night under the lights to be followed by icecream at the lake which looks so gorgeous in the dark with the city lights. We had so much fun.
Sunday morning I did the Friends for Like Walk-a-thon with my dog (Lola) to raise money for the SPCA. It was another GORGEOUS day, but I got really burnt because, yet again, I neglected to put sunscreen on. Then I went home and had an afternoon nap with DH and then had dinner at my Mum's for my birthday. Oh! And we watched 27 dresses last night and it's super cute!
All in all it was a great weekend. I'm totally bummed to be back at work and am trying to come up with an excuse to leave early today. :) It's rainy and crappy but I love those days to be at home with a good book on my balcony. Hopefully I can come up with something! I'm such a slacker today.
Have a good week all!