Christmas was a blast this year with Violet. She was at the perfect age to just start understanding how to open presents. She wouldn't really do it before, but this year she was really interested to see what was all wrapped up!
Unfortunately it didn't really feel like Christmas for us this year because of the house being in the shape that it's in. If the floor was in, that would have been much better, but it's not, so we did the best we could with it.
This year was a little more special because Marn's Grandmother from Winnipeg came down to spend it with the family. She recently lost her husband of 26 years, so I'm sure it was a nice get away for her. This was the first time that she met Violet as well. Violet went right to her when they met, which was nice and surprising. Vi usually plays pretty shy with new people, but she sat on her lap and was happy to be there.
We spent the morning at home opening presents and then got ready to head to Marn's Mom's where we had brunch, opened a few more gifts and then had dinner. It was a fun, but long day, especially because it was a late night the day before as well. Marn's parent's also put on a Christmas Eve open house, so we went to that and stayed late. What we didn't do this year was open anything on Christmas Eve when we got home, which had become a bit of a tradition -- the last 2 years it was Guitar Hero 3 and Sing Star. Both of which had us playing until the wee hours of the morning. This year, we opted for bed.
Boxing Day was spent at Mom's house again for Christmas. It was also a great day with lots of food. The kids put on a fashion show, which is also turning into a bit of a tradition. They balk at first, but participate pretty well every year. Violet was exempt this time, but I'm sure will have to participate next year!
It was a lower-key Christmas this year for us, but nice!
Photos to come...
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Electrical
Well, the electrical updates are finished (for now) and look good. 1 Project down and 199 to go! As far as the flooring, we decided on getting Walnut. I'm not sure I mentioned that before? Anyway, here's a sample picture of what it looks like (we hope!). This looks like the sample that we had -- and fell in love with.
We didn't go with the Hickory we originally thought because they couldn't guarantee that we would get the same look that the samples had, and in fact he convinced us that the sample they had was very unique and has never had it since. So that was enough for us. We wanted the hickory because of the hardness (as well as the look in that picture I posted). We decided on the flooring that we loved instead, even though it's fairly soft compared to hickory. So Echo will scratch and dent the heck out of it, but we're ok with that (until it happens the first time!)
We should hopefully get this in January some time, but have procrastinated on ordering it. Normally they have lots in stock, but they're missing some since we want the slightly cheaper option of the "designer" series which is random 3 1/4", 4 1/4" and 5 1/4" widths. They're sold out of the 5 1/4". You get a price break if you order the different sizes instead of all the same because they are able utilize more of the tree trunk with the multiple widths. It's still expensive, though! We'll need about 800 square feet which includes the kitchen and about 10% waste. We have decided to not do the kitchen this coming year and instead, concentrate on the mortgage for a while. We may do some small updates, like some appliances, counter top and paint, but nothing major for now. We still are ordering the flooring for it, depending on what the installer says and to also take advantage of the reno rebates.
We didn't go with the Hickory we originally thought because they couldn't guarantee that we would get the same look that the samples had, and in fact he convinced us that the sample they had was very unique and has never had it since. So that was enough for us. We wanted the hickory because of the hardness (as well as the look in that picture I posted). We decided on the flooring that we loved instead, even though it's fairly soft compared to hickory. So Echo will scratch and dent the heck out of it, but we're ok with that (until it happens the first time!)
We should hopefully get this in January some time, but have procrastinated on ordering it. Normally they have lots in stock, but they're missing some since we want the slightly cheaper option of the "designer" series which is random 3 1/4", 4 1/4" and 5 1/4" widths. They're sold out of the 5 1/4". You get a price break if you order the different sizes instead of all the same because they are able utilize more of the tree trunk with the multiple widths. It's still expensive, though! We'll need about 800 square feet which includes the kitchen and about 10% waste. We have decided to not do the kitchen this coming year and instead, concentrate on the mortgage for a while. We may do some small updates, like some appliances, counter top and paint, but nothing major for now. We still are ordering the flooring for it, depending on what the installer says and to also take advantage of the reno rebates.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Climbing Monkey!
Vi has recently taken to trying to climb everything. Especially chairs. I don't blame her since there are no stairs to go climbing up anymore, she needs practice! Little did I know that she was now capable of climbing right out of her crib!
It happened last night, MUCH to my great surprise! She was over tired and really fighting going down to sleep. Fighting it like I haven't seen in a long time. Usually she'll lay in her crib and cry and when she gets up we tell her to lay back down and she does, but continues to cry and scream. Last night she was standing up constantly and reaching out at me while I was sitting down on her floor. Screaming so hard that it was nearly puke inducing....
Anyway, after about 45 minutes of this, I gave up and walked out of the room to give myself a break. I had a tool I was using earlier to mount the TV in our bedroom, so I went to the garage to put it back then into the living room to turn on some Christmas music. The plan was to turn it up to drown out her screaming! lol
As I was tuning in the Christmas music station, Violet's screaming got louder and clearer. This puzzled me as I thought, "sheesh, it sounds like it's coming closer?" I continued to find the radio station and sure enough Violet's crying got even "closer". I look over across the room and listen to see if I'm just imagining this, and who should appear stumbling along the wall looking for me? Yes, Miss Violet rubbing her eyes and stumbling because of the lights, reaching out for me when she saw me. I was floored! I actually yelled out, "WHAT?" Marn was out with a friend, so missed all of this.
I picked her up and checked her out for bumps and bruises and she checked out fine. That little bugger! I'm still floored that she managed to get out of the crib on her own. Braeden didn't do this until close to 2 years old and Sadie never did.... Violet is only 15 months old!
5 minutes later after a quick 2 minute cuddle, she was out for the night.
After thinking about this for a while, I think there is a top railing missing from the crib that will add another 2 or 3 inches to the height or so. We'll have to get that installed soon.
It happened last night, MUCH to my great surprise! She was over tired and really fighting going down to sleep. Fighting it like I haven't seen in a long time. Usually she'll lay in her crib and cry and when she gets up we tell her to lay back down and she does, but continues to cry and scream. Last night she was standing up constantly and reaching out at me while I was sitting down on her floor. Screaming so hard that it was nearly puke inducing....
Anyway, after about 45 minutes of this, I gave up and walked out of the room to give myself a break. I had a tool I was using earlier to mount the TV in our bedroom, so I went to the garage to put it back then into the living room to turn on some Christmas music. The plan was to turn it up to drown out her screaming! lol
As I was tuning in the Christmas music station, Violet's screaming got louder and clearer. This puzzled me as I thought, "sheesh, it sounds like it's coming closer?" I continued to find the radio station and sure enough Violet's crying got even "closer". I look over across the room and listen to see if I'm just imagining this, and who should appear stumbling along the wall looking for me? Yes, Miss Violet rubbing her eyes and stumbling because of the lights, reaching out for me when she saw me. I was floored! I actually yelled out, "WHAT?" Marn was out with a friend, so missed all of this.
I picked her up and checked her out for bumps and bruises and she checked out fine. That little bugger! I'm still floored that she managed to get out of the crib on her own. Braeden didn't do this until close to 2 years old and Sadie never did.... Violet is only 15 months old!
5 minutes later after a quick 2 minute cuddle, she was out for the night.
After thinking about this for a while, I think there is a top railing missing from the crib that will add another 2 or 3 inches to the height or so. We'll have to get that installed soon.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The Last Few Months in Pics....
We've been really bad with picture (of Violet) updates... so here's hoping this makes it up a little! I still have some pics to unload from the other camera, but we just haven't been taking many photos lately.
Are you going to share, Daddy?
(first time wanting to eat from my plate)
(first time wanting to eat from my plate)
cutie photo shoot
Sept. BBQ in Baden
Early October
The Pumpkin Patch - Snyder's Family Farm (KimGlo)
Oct. 25
Halloween '09
New House! Can you tell Marn's excited? That half-wall is no longer there, neither is the carpet, nor any flooring!
Nov. 1
Nov. 1
2nd Santa Visit... didn't go well either!
First Great Grandma visit!
2nd Christmas on the 20th at Dad's
Monday, December 07, 2009
Flooring
Well, I think we finally decided on a type of wood for the floor and will be ordering it this week, probably. We decided on a Walnut. It's "softer" than other species we were considering, but in the end we chose the floor that we loved instead of picking something around the dog that we were initially doing. We've come to terms with him scratching it (or dent it actually)... We're buying it from that local manufacturer and feel good about that. The operation is 100% Canadian (Ontario), and because you purchase direct from them, there's no middleman, so you save a little bit as well.
I also took out the half-wall in the living room this weekend. We now need to move the cold air return that was hidden in that wall (if possible) and patch the subfloor, tile a small area in front of the fireplace, patch the drywall and plaster and screw down the squeaks in the subfloor, then we'll be ready for the floor! lol The "good news" is, it could take a few weeks for the flooring to come in.... so there's some time. Ideally all the dry wall stuff will be done and we'll have time to paint the walls and seal the subfloor before it comes in.
Our electrician didn't come this weekend, and now has another job in Ottawa this week, so he's promising this weekend or next week, so we'll see about that. I may go and start doing some outlets or switches myself and then when he comes in he can double-check them. But it's not like I have a lot of other things going on...!
I also took out the half-wall in the living room this weekend. We now need to move the cold air return that was hidden in that wall (if possible) and patch the subfloor, tile a small area in front of the fireplace, patch the drywall and plaster and screw down the squeaks in the subfloor, then we'll be ready for the floor! lol The "good news" is, it could take a few weeks for the flooring to come in.... so there's some time. Ideally all the dry wall stuff will be done and we'll have time to paint the walls and seal the subfloor before it comes in.
Our electrician didn't come this weekend, and now has another job in Ottawa this week, so he's promising this weekend or next week, so we'll see about that. I may go and start doing some outlets or switches myself and then when he comes in he can double-check them. But it's not like I have a lot of other things going on...!
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
This weekend we had "Meyerfest" which we arrived late to because of some other happenings... Mom was singing in their annual Christmas tea and Teresa and Branko came over to help me close in the opening between the living room and 3rd bedroom. They came a little later than planned, so I missed the tea because we weren't done the wall. The tea started at the same time as the Meyer Christmas so we went when Marn came back from it.
Anyway, the wall is now closed in. I now need to finish the closet -- we're closing that in as well because it's a "joined closet" with the front entrance hallway closet. Retarded design whoever thought of that, but it's there so we're "fixing" it. That room will not have a closet, for now anyway. Some day we may add one in that bumps out from the wall (like the closets from the other house), but for now it's not being used other than to store crap until the rest of the house is more finished. We need to tape and mud it and I'm thinking I'll just hire someone to do that for us. I don't have the time to, and someone with skill could finish it in 1/4 of the time I could ever do it in. It's a small space too, so won't be too much.
The electrician is coming on Friday (hopefully? He's away in Montreal but coming home Friday) to switch out all the light switches, convert the remaining 2-pronge outlets to 3-prong grounded and add some light fixtures to the bedrooms and pot lights in the living room. Again, something that I could probably do, but it's just easier (and I feel safer) doing it this way. He's newly graduated from school too, so he's cheap!
As far as flooring goes, we're still trying to find something that we both like and that won't limit our kitchen design (which we don't have, and haven't started). We are still drawn to the darker brown floors and have really fallen for the "hand scraped" look. We think that this will minimize seeing the scratches that Echo will put into it. The problem with that type is it can look "country". But done right it looks really cool too. We're also really loving the look of a Hickory wood that's manufactured locally. It's not dark, but it's very cool and might not be the best choice for us (www.woodfloorsdirect.ca). This look was sanded and finished with Deft oil on site. So I don't know how durable it is or what the maintenance is like. But it looks gorgeous! (I like the matte look).
We're hoping to make some final decisions on this in the next week. The goal is to have the walls done (mudded and sanded, the electrical stuff done, and the floors decided on (or started??) in the next week or 2. We were hoping that the flooring could be finished by Christmas, but that doesn't look like it will happen knowing how things progress this time of year.
I'll have to charge up the camera's and take some pics of the progress, or lack thereof. All of them are dead and haven't been used in weeks....
Anyway, the wall is now closed in. I now need to finish the closet -- we're closing that in as well because it's a "joined closet" with the front entrance hallway closet. Retarded design whoever thought of that, but it's there so we're "fixing" it. That room will not have a closet, for now anyway. Some day we may add one in that bumps out from the wall (like the closets from the other house), but for now it's not being used other than to store crap until the rest of the house is more finished. We need to tape and mud it and I'm thinking I'll just hire someone to do that for us. I don't have the time to, and someone with skill could finish it in 1/4 of the time I could ever do it in. It's a small space too, so won't be too much.
The electrician is coming on Friday (hopefully? He's away in Montreal but coming home Friday) to switch out all the light switches, convert the remaining 2-pronge outlets to 3-prong grounded and add some light fixtures to the bedrooms and pot lights in the living room. Again, something that I could probably do, but it's just easier (and I feel safer) doing it this way. He's newly graduated from school too, so he's cheap!
As far as flooring goes, we're still trying to find something that we both like and that won't limit our kitchen design (which we don't have, and haven't started). We are still drawn to the darker brown floors and have really fallen for the "hand scraped" look. We think that this will minimize seeing the scratches that Echo will put into it. The problem with that type is it can look "country". But done right it looks really cool too. We're also really loving the look of a Hickory wood that's manufactured locally. It's not dark, but it's very cool and might not be the best choice for us (www.woodfloorsdirect.ca). This look was sanded and finished with Deft oil on site. So I don't know how durable it is or what the maintenance is like. But it looks gorgeous! (I like the matte look).
We're hoping to make some final decisions on this in the next week. The goal is to have the walls done (mudded and sanded, the electrical stuff done, and the floors decided on (or started??) in the next week or 2. We were hoping that the flooring could be finished by Christmas, but that doesn't look like it will happen knowing how things progress this time of year.
I'll have to charge up the camera's and take some pics of the progress, or lack thereof. All of them are dead and haven't been used in weeks....
Friday, November 27, 2009
Car & House update
An update on the car: the damage (as in the wallet) wasn't too bad, and could have been much worse... $1400 later! They had to replace the master cylinder because the "bad" oil got in there, but the rest was ok after replacing the brake and fuel lines then flushing the system. I also had them re-mount my tires because they were constantly loosing air and it needed an oil change. So, lets hope I'm good for the winter now as far as unexpected car repairs!
House Update:
I Googled "Cat pee on sub floor" and "smelly sub floor", and there is a plethora of information and "experts" on how to handle it. Everything from "nothing will help, you need to replace the subflooring", to "sand the smelly area", to "50/50 water/vinegar solution with some baking soda." The most common "fix" is to seal the subfloor with a priming shellac and then some people even go the extra mile and do a coat of polyurethane on top of the primer to really seal in the smell. I may go that route as it's pretty nasty. 2 coats of shellac and then 2 coats of polyurethane ought to do it. Did I mention she was a 90+ year old lady with fat bastard cats? (and I mean that in the most literal way -- one was the size of a small Yellow Lab). I want to do that before it gets too cold because apparently shellac and polyurethane are REALLY smelly while applying it, so I'll need the windows open to air it out. We'll probably have to leave the house for a day or two while this dries as well. I wish I would have been able to do this before we moved everything in....
House Update:
I Googled "Cat pee on sub floor" and "smelly sub floor", and there is a plethora of information and "experts" on how to handle it. Everything from "nothing will help, you need to replace the subflooring", to "sand the smelly area", to "50/50 water/vinegar solution with some baking soda." The most common "fix" is to seal the subfloor with a priming shellac and then some people even go the extra mile and do a coat of polyurethane on top of the primer to really seal in the smell. I may go that route as it's pretty nasty. 2 coats of shellac and then 2 coats of polyurethane ought to do it. Did I mention she was a 90+ year old lady with fat bastard cats? (and I mean that in the most literal way -- one was the size of a small Yellow Lab). I want to do that before it gets too cold because apparently shellac and polyurethane are REALLY smelly while applying it, so I'll need the windows open to air it out. We'll probably have to leave the house for a day or two while this dries as well. I wish I would have been able to do this before we moved everything in....
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Cars
Marn takes my car to work on Monday and Wednesday while I take hers in order to drop Violet off at Mom's. on Monday morning she called me to say that as she was parking the car, the brakes just gave out. That it just went to the floor. Thank god she was pretty much stopped and in her parking spot when this happened! It turns out that there was a busted brake line (fluid was all over the ground). She we went at night to try and drive it to the garage for repairs. I happened to have brake fluid in the trunk along with some power steering fluid, so I topped it up as much as I could and off we went, slowly, to the garage. But stupid me, I grabbed the wrong fluid and ended up putting power steering fluid in instead. The garage called to question me on this, to which I said, "Crap. Yeah, I guess I did... I grabbed the wrong bottle". He goes on to explain that this is really, really NOT good for the entire braking system because that fluid can swell the seals making them fail completely. If the seals have swelled, I'll have to completely replace ALL of the brakes (rotors and pads would be ok, but the expensive parts like the master cylinder and calipers would need to be replaced). He says I could be looking at 1000's of dollars. I told him to repair the broken line, then flush the system, refill it and hope for the best, then call me when that's done.
30 minutes later he calls back and says that while repairing the broken brake line, a fuel line beside it also broke and that ALL of the lines should be done since they're all rusted out. Brakes and Fuel, and I'm looking at a minimum of $1000 just to do that because of labour. I tell him to do it, flush the system and call me.
So I'm waiting on that call now.... "Hello, Andrew? Yeah, we repaired your fuel and brake lines, flushed and refilled them, and you have no brake pressure. They're screwed and need to be replaced. $3500 minimum".
Now, there are 2 reasons that I'm really pissed about this. First one, obviously, is because of my stupidity in putting in the wrong fluid. But the second is, we just recently (after buying this house) decided to keep my car for another 2 years. I know it's getting old and things like this happen, but, GAH!! I also know that it needs other expensive work done on it to stay around for 2 years. We're now thinking on back-tracking keeping it for 2 years, getting the brakes fixed and cutting our losses.... You never know the right decision until it's too late. Hindsight sucks! It's the old dilemma; We just spent how much on repairs? We should keep the car to get our money out of it! or; We just spent how much on repairs? We should sell it now before it happens again!
So, anyone know anyone who wants a 2000 Honda Accord EX-L, 2-Door, leather, 5 speed, sun roof and power everything? I don't want to sell it to someone I know... but friends of friends are ok! ;)
30 minutes later he calls back and says that while repairing the broken brake line, a fuel line beside it also broke and that ALL of the lines should be done since they're all rusted out. Brakes and Fuel, and I'm looking at a minimum of $1000 just to do that because of labour. I tell him to do it, flush the system and call me.
So I'm waiting on that call now.... "Hello, Andrew? Yeah, we repaired your fuel and brake lines, flushed and refilled them, and you have no brake pressure. They're screwed and need to be replaced. $3500 minimum".
Now, there are 2 reasons that I'm really pissed about this. First one, obviously, is because of my stupidity in putting in the wrong fluid. But the second is, we just recently (after buying this house) decided to keep my car for another 2 years. I know it's getting old and things like this happen, but, GAH!! I also know that it needs other expensive work done on it to stay around for 2 years. We're now thinking on back-tracking keeping it for 2 years, getting the brakes fixed and cutting our losses.... You never know the right decision until it's too late. Hindsight sucks! It's the old dilemma; We just spent how much on repairs? We should keep the car to get our money out of it! or; We just spent how much on repairs? We should sell it now before it happens again!
So, anyone know anyone who wants a 2000 Honda Accord EX-L, 2-Door, leather, 5 speed, sun roof and power everything? I don't want to sell it to someone I know... but friends of friends are ok! ;)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
toothy update
I had another follow up for my implant on Monday, and it's still looking good. I won't see him for another 3 months where he expects to fully "release" me back to my dentist to be fitted for the new crown. Yippee! That's 10+ months total from start (April '09) to finish (Feb '10)...
Violet has been cranky lately and having a hard time sleeping which we attribute to her cutting some new teeth at the back of her mouth (not because of the new house). Her cheeks have been red and she's constantly sucking on her fingers. When we ask to look in her mouth, she opens up and lets us feel around. She never used to let us do that, so I think it probably feels good to her right now.
Violet has been cranky lately and having a hard time sleeping which we attribute to her cutting some new teeth at the back of her mouth (not because of the new house). Her cheeks have been red and she's constantly sucking on her fingers. When we ask to look in her mouth, she opens up and lets us feel around. She never used to let us do that, so I think it probably feels good to her right now.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Waterloo Rolt's??
I suppose now that we're not in Baden anymore, we should change the name of this blog... We'll think about it.
The move went OK, but we grossly underestimated how much stuff we had. The majority of the help came on Saturday, but on Sunday looking at what was left, we should have either kept the rental truck for longer, or had more people back on Sunday to help. A lot of the problem was, we weren't quite ready for the move either. We hadn't completely packed some rooms and spaces, so that made it difficult. We didn't have any more boxes to do it anyway.
On Sunday, I had the help of a friend to try and finish the bigger/heavier stuff which was great because without his help, we wouldn't have completed it! I took the Monday off to finish the rest which took me all day with the pickup truck from work. I probably made about 4 FULL trips with that just to finish up to junk.
Anyway, we're done and moved in. And now the "fun" begins. I ripped out the carpets on the Friday before we moved, and spent this past Saturday taking out the laminate hard wood, on top of plywood and vinyl, on top of vinyl glued on the subfloor in the front entrance and hall way. Yes, that's 3 types of flooring layered on top of one another. We're down to the subfloor now which is good, and we've decided to skip the tile/slate for the entrance and use hardwood throughout. Some of that decision was based on looks, some on effort and time. When we finish the tedious task of pulling staples and nails, and screwing down the squeaks, we can start the hardwood. There's also a smell that we can't pin-point the source. I think the previous owner's cat peed so many times on the carpets that the subfloor stinks. We may seal the wood before doing the hardwood on it. A co-worker said that she did that on her old house and it helped huge with the granny/cat smells (and the carpet installer told her to do it).
So aside from the flooring, we have some electrical to update as well. We have a guy coming on Wednesday to update/change/move the remaining outlets that weren't done, and to also add a few overhead lights since some rooms don't have lights. We're getting him to change the light switches too. He's a newly graduated electrician, so he's cheap! I'm sure I could do some of the work myself, but I just don't feel 100% comfortable in doing that type of stuff, especially in an old home like this. We may end up having him put in some pot lights in the living room as well.
Both Violet and Echo have taken the move pretty well. I don't notice any changes in their behaviour. Echo's stopped sniffing around and takes to his beds just like before. It will be nice to get some things "put away", though. We have resisted unpacking everything because of the floors being done and other work going on, or about to go on. But it's starting to feel like a home! I'll try and upload some pics when I get the computer going (no network cable to the computer/sun room, and wireless isn't behaving like it should).
The move went OK, but we grossly underestimated how much stuff we had. The majority of the help came on Saturday, but on Sunday looking at what was left, we should have either kept the rental truck for longer, or had more people back on Sunday to help. A lot of the problem was, we weren't quite ready for the move either. We hadn't completely packed some rooms and spaces, so that made it difficult. We didn't have any more boxes to do it anyway.
On Sunday, I had the help of a friend to try and finish the bigger/heavier stuff which was great because without his help, we wouldn't have completed it! I took the Monday off to finish the rest which took me all day with the pickup truck from work. I probably made about 4 FULL trips with that just to finish up to junk.
Anyway, we're done and moved in. And now the "fun" begins. I ripped out the carpets on the Friday before we moved, and spent this past Saturday taking out the laminate hard wood, on top of plywood and vinyl, on top of vinyl glued on the subfloor in the front entrance and hall way. Yes, that's 3 types of flooring layered on top of one another. We're down to the subfloor now which is good, and we've decided to skip the tile/slate for the entrance and use hardwood throughout. Some of that decision was based on looks, some on effort and time. When we finish the tedious task of pulling staples and nails, and screwing down the squeaks, we can start the hardwood. There's also a smell that we can't pin-point the source. I think the previous owner's cat peed so many times on the carpets that the subfloor stinks. We may seal the wood before doing the hardwood on it. A co-worker said that she did that on her old house and it helped huge with the granny/cat smells (and the carpet installer told her to do it).
So aside from the flooring, we have some electrical to update as well. We have a guy coming on Wednesday to update/change/move the remaining outlets that weren't done, and to also add a few overhead lights since some rooms don't have lights. We're getting him to change the light switches too. He's a newly graduated electrician, so he's cheap! I'm sure I could do some of the work myself, but I just don't feel 100% comfortable in doing that type of stuff, especially in an old home like this. We may end up having him put in some pot lights in the living room as well.
Both Violet and Echo have taken the move pretty well. I don't notice any changes in their behaviour. Echo's stopped sniffing around and takes to his beds just like before. It will be nice to get some things "put away", though. We have resisted unpacking everything because of the floors being done and other work going on, or about to go on. But it's starting to feel like a home! I'll try and upload some pics when I get the computer going (no network cable to the computer/sun room, and wireless isn't behaving like it should).
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Good Bye George Schmitt Court! :-(
Today is the last day that we'll be able to call George Schmitt home. We've been living in the new house since Saturday (which is in total chaos), but going back and forth for the last few days just getting little things that were left behind. The new owners get the house today at some point. Probably later this afternoon.
The move went OK, but we grossly under-estimated how much stuff we had, and after Saturday with all the help moving, we still had many, many truck loads left. A friend came for half the day Sunday thankfully because we wouldn't have been able to do it without him! Even after he left, I was going back and forth the rest of the day, and all day on Monday. I was able to finish on Monday for the most part minus a few fragile things that we wanted to take in the car. So thank god for friends! Thank god for friends with mini vans and suv's! Thank god for bosses who let them use company vehicles to move their personal stuff!
I don't ever want to move again -- especially into a SMALLER house. Not unless we win the lottery, in which case we'll hire lackeys to move for us.
More updates later as they happen...
The move went OK, but we grossly under-estimated how much stuff we had, and after Saturday with all the help moving, we still had many, many truck loads left. A friend came for half the day Sunday thankfully because we wouldn't have been able to do it without him! Even after he left, I was going back and forth the rest of the day, and all day on Monday. I was able to finish on Monday for the most part minus a few fragile things that we wanted to take in the car. So thank god for friends! Thank god for friends with mini vans and suv's! Thank god for bosses who let them use company vehicles to move their personal stuff!
I don't ever want to move again -- especially into a SMALLER house. Not unless we win the lottery, in which case we'll hire lackeys to move for us.
More updates later as they happen...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Getting Ready
While our Blogging has been pretty anaemic lately, our lives have not! It's been a busy past couple of days with house visits, lawyer visits and house packing among our regular routine with sports, etc.
We signed all the paperwork at the lawyer's last night for both the purchase and sale of our home, so that's done. Tomorrow Marnie has the day off to get a cheque from the bank to bring to them and do any other little things that come up. We also met up at the new house to do the final walk-through, but only Marn went. I went home because Violet fell asleep and Echo needed to be let out.
Violet also received her H1N1 flu shot yesterday morning and was really good. She just looked at the doctor, didn't cry or fuss or anything. She was more concerned that a strange man was grabbing at her, than the shot itself. He also did a quick check up and said she has a bit of a cold, but nothing too bad (she always seems to have a cold -- stuffed up often). On the way to Marn's Mom's house, she fell asleep. Really traumatic experience, apparently! lol
As far as being "ready" for the move..... what does "ready" really mean, anyway? LOL
We have the kitchen packed up for the most part. That's where MOST of the packing takes place so we're ok there. The other stuff is pretty easy, I think. I don't see the point in boxing clothing and blankets as we can just carry it into the van - on hangers - and transfer that way. The other stuff will stay in the drawers and transported that way. So the plan is to get all of the "big and heavy stuff" moved this weekend while we have the help of friends and family. We then have the rest of the week until Thursday to move anything else lagging behind and clean up. So I'm not too worried about it, yet.
Yes, I need to unload some pictures from the camera to post. I have some cute ones from Thanksgiving and our visit to the pumpkin patch. Here's a recent one from my phone of Violet playing in a leaf pile sporting her new winter jacket from Mex -- Thanks Barb! Soon, we'll have our own leaves to do this in!
We signed all the paperwork at the lawyer's last night for both the purchase and sale of our home, so that's done. Tomorrow Marnie has the day off to get a cheque from the bank to bring to them and do any other little things that come up. We also met up at the new house to do the final walk-through, but only Marn went. I went home because Violet fell asleep and Echo needed to be let out.
Violet also received her H1N1 flu shot yesterday morning and was really good. She just looked at the doctor, didn't cry or fuss or anything. She was more concerned that a strange man was grabbing at her, than the shot itself. He also did a quick check up and said she has a bit of a cold, but nothing too bad (she always seems to have a cold -- stuffed up often). On the way to Marn's Mom's house, she fell asleep. Really traumatic experience, apparently! lol
As far as being "ready" for the move..... what does "ready" really mean, anyway? LOL
We have the kitchen packed up for the most part. That's where MOST of the packing takes place so we're ok there. The other stuff is pretty easy, I think. I don't see the point in boxing clothing and blankets as we can just carry it into the van - on hangers - and transfer that way. The other stuff will stay in the drawers and transported that way. So the plan is to get all of the "big and heavy stuff" moved this weekend while we have the help of friends and family. We then have the rest of the week until Thursday to move anything else lagging behind and clean up. So I'm not too worried about it, yet.
Yes, I need to unload some pictures from the camera to post. I have some cute ones from Thanksgiving and our visit to the pumpkin patch. Here's a recent one from my phone of Violet playing in a leaf pile sporting her new winter jacket from Mex -- Thanks Barb! Soon, we'll have our own leaves to do this in!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Implant Followup
On Friday I went for a 10-day check up on the implant, and everything looks good. Some area's of my gum line aren't healing as much as the other side, so I need to go back again in 2 weeks just to make sure there's no infection, etc. After that, it'll be 3 month or so for a final check up with him, and then back to my regular dentist for the new crown. yay!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Implant Success
so far...
The implant procedure went well, and they didn't have to undertake the painful and ugly bone bridge-graft from my lower jaw. Thank God!
I have a follow-up on Tuesday Nov. 3 to see how it's taking and healing, so hopefully everything looks good and we can move on. If it does look good, there will be one more follow-up in a few months, and if that checks out, then I'll be getting the crown and finished with this PITA! So, possibly 4-5 more months until the end.
Here's a fun little animation that I stole from the web to show you what's been going on, and what will continue to happen. The only difference is, my healing cap is not covered up like this animation shows. It's through the gums.
I thought it was funny that this animation comes from a dental website from the UK...
The implant procedure went well, and they didn't have to undertake the painful and ugly bone bridge-graft from my lower jaw. Thank God!
I have a follow-up on Tuesday Nov. 3 to see how it's taking and healing, so hopefully everything looks good and we can move on. If it does look good, there will be one more follow-up in a few months, and if that checks out, then I'll be getting the crown and finished with this PITA! So, possibly 4-5 more months until the end.
Here's a fun little animation that I stole from the web to show you what's been going on, and what will continue to happen. The only difference is, my healing cap is not covered up like this animation shows. It's through the gums.
I thought it was funny that this animation comes from a dental website from the UK...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
movin' time
Anyone want to help move us in a few weeks? We sure don't want to.... we've been putting off packing up so far, but can't procrastinate any more. This weekend we HAVE to start or else it'll be here in no time and we'll be scrambling around. The good thing is we have a week to get out, but the bad thing is we have a week to get out - we have a week to do it, why rush now?!
As this move gets closer I find myself getting more nostalgic about our house, street and neighbours, and going through a range of emotions regarding the new place. Is it the right decision? Are we going to like it as much once we're in and figure out it's quirks (I'm sure there will be a few)? Are we buying a money pit? How long am I going to feel "home sick" in the new place, or how long until the new place feels like home? Only time will tell.
It's just a house, I shouldn't be so attached.... but it's our first place. We brought Echo and Violet home to it. Poured sweat into the backyard building the deck that I love, and shed that's been barely put to use, and gardens along most of the perimeter. Watched trees grow from basically saplings to doubling or more in height (for some strange reason, I really enjoyed watching the trees and other plants getting bigger every year?).
Our court and surrounding area felt like it's own little neighbourhood and everybody knows everyone. This year we became closer friends with a number of them, so that's making it harder to leave as well.
As this move gets closer I find myself getting more nostalgic about our house, street and neighbours, and going through a range of emotions regarding the new place. Is it the right decision? Are we going to like it as much once we're in and figure out it's quirks (I'm sure there will be a few)? Are we buying a money pit? How long am I going to feel "home sick" in the new place, or how long until the new place feels like home? Only time will tell.
It's just a house, I shouldn't be so attached.... but it's our first place. We brought Echo and Violet home to it. Poured sweat into the backyard building the deck that I love, and shed that's been barely put to use, and gardens along most of the perimeter. Watched trees grow from basically saplings to doubling or more in height (for some strange reason, I really enjoyed watching the trees and other plants getting bigger every year?).
Our court and surrounding area felt like it's own little neighbourhood and everybody knows everyone. This year we became closer friends with a number of them, so that's making it harder to leave as well.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Violet
Violet is pretty much walking around at will now, mostly choosing to walk than crawl and is communicating things much more. We very loosely started doing signs with her for a few things and she knows them all now, but sometimes gets confused as to which one to use.
Here's a small run-down on signs/words she knows and uses regularly;
- Milk (making a fist)
- Water (she puts her open hand on her cheek, or ofter ear)
- More (index finger points to an open plam on other hand)
- Food or Hungry (hand to her mouth)
- Please (rubs tummy -- or crotch, or chest... she rubs)
- She's been doing lot of pointing if she wants something now, saying "ah!".
- If you ask her where the birds are, she flutters her hand in the air.
- If you ask her what an elephant does, she puts her arm out like a trunk.
She's also saying a lot of words verbally, or trying to say words that she hasn't yet;
- hi, bye, bye-bye, mum, dad, grandma, pop
- Echo ("ech")
- blueberry (mumbled "booberry")
- apple
(I'm sure lots of others, that I can't think of right now)
She also loves to Kiss people. If you ask her for a kiss, or hug, she kisses with an emphatic mmmwwahh! sometimes, over and over and over again. It's too cute. When hugging, she hugs with her head on your shoulder and pats your back. She pretty much done this since day one the first time she started hugging. It still makes us laugh (and love her more because of it). She does it to adults, kids, dolls...
During Thanksgiving at Moms she was going around making everyone laugh because she was going from couch to couch wanting hugs and kisses from everyone, and while doing that giving the more sign for pieces of peach that we had out. She'd eat a piece, give a hug, give the more sign for more peach and get that, then turn around and give another hug to someone... you could just eat her up!
Implant Next Friday
I had another tooth follow-up yesterday, and so far, possibly some good news. He thinks my mouth is "ready" for the implant, but of course he can't guarantee anything until he opens it up and looks inside. I'm scheduled for Oct. 23 and really, really, really hoping that it's a "go", because the alternative doesn't sound pretty at all. Not physically, and definitely not in the wallet.
That" alternative" is, if it's not sufficient to place the implant, then I get to have more bone marrow stuffed in, but this time from my own lower jaw, as well as a "bone bridge" to reinforce it even more, also donated from my own jaw. Lovely. Lets hope that I don't need this, please! That will add another $1600 to the procedure as well.... goodbye Christmas!
And after all of that pain and suffering and major hit to the wallet, "there's risk of infection at the donor site as well as the recipient site and chance that the implant will be rejected, or fail." What a deal!
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Google Maps - Street View
I read an article today that the Street View of Google Maps is now available in Canada for select cities, so I thought I'd check it out. It's been around in US cities for 2 years or so, but just recently they started in Canada.
Here's our new house as seen from Google Street View: Linky
Baden didn't make it.
I was going to post some other addresses, but you can check your own out yourself... Just drag the little yellow peg man above the zoom bar to the street you want to view.
Sorry, Cambridge, you're not cool enough to get Street View either.
PS: we were able to push our move-in date out by a week so we'll be bridging for just a week! Nov. 12 is the new IN date, Nov. 19 is still the OUT date.
Here's our new house as seen from Google Street View: Linky
Baden didn't make it.
I was going to post some other addresses, but you can check your own out yourself... Just drag the little yellow peg man above the zoom bar to the street you want to view.
Sorry, Cambridge, you're not cool enough to get Street View either.
PS: we were able to push our move-in date out by a week so we'll be bridging for just a week! Nov. 12 is the new IN date, Nov. 19 is still the OUT date.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Done Deal
As of 10 PM last night, we have officially sold our house! They finally signed off on their waivers after a few arguments on what is actually included in the deal. It turns out that we had to give up our central vac, and all accessories along with the less than 2 year old washer and dryer. The central Vac was not written in the original deal, but during their walk-through they saw it and wanted it. They claimed that it's theirs due to the "screw and nail" clause. It's funny because the whole time they thought it was just roughed-in until the walk through. For something so minor, it's REALLY getting under our skin. We felt like they were bullying us because we were desperate for a quick close or risk losing the other house. We had until Oct. 10 to sell and close ours to keep the deal on the other house.
Anyway, it's done now.... sold for real. No backing out now. WOW!!
We have asked the seller of the new house to push back the close date by one week so that we only have 1 week of bridging the mortgage. As it is now, we have 2 weeks and we don't really need that much (or want to pay for it).
Anyway, it's done now.... sold for real. No backing out now. WOW!!
We have asked the seller of the new house to push back the close date by one week so that we only have 1 week of bridging the mortgage. As it is now, we have 2 weeks and we don't really need that much (or want to pay for it).
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Violet
Some pics of Violet at her birthday party (and some from before and after).
discovering the icing
Yum!
opening pressies
Isn't paper the best part?
whoa! A card!
Here are some other just generally cute pics!
"I like to climb over Echo whenever I can"
discovering the icing
Yum!
opening pressies
Isn't paper the best part?
whoa! A card!
Here are some other just generally cute pics!
"I like to climb over Echo whenever I can"
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Inspection minor issues
Well, the home inspection went well. There were 2 "issues" that they wanted addressed. The first, they said that the sump pump was not working. So after being told that, I went down to check it out and it seemed to be working fine after giving the float a little shake. I messed with it for 5 minutes, and every time it worked. So I don't know what they were doing, but cross that off the list.
The other issue was in the electrical panel. We had another outdoor outlet put in for the backyard, and when the guy who installed it ran it in the panel, he didn't have the correct breaker, so he just tapped into the existing outdoor GFI circuit. Apparently, you're not allowed to "double-tap" that kind of circuit, so we need to get a breaker and move that line to it. About a $30 fix, hopefully.
Thankfully, they didn't notice the window sill I was talking about yesterday! It makes me think that the inspector they hired didn't do a very thorough job. The bricks are visibly deteriorated and easy to spot as a potential problem, and the sump pump took me 5 seconds to "get working".
Anyway, I was under the impression that they had financing worked out already, but apparently not. They still need to confirm that and have the lawyer look over the deal, then we go firm with it. They need to do that by October 10; the time that our new house needs to go firm.
The other issue was in the electrical panel. We had another outdoor outlet put in for the backyard, and when the guy who installed it ran it in the panel, he didn't have the correct breaker, so he just tapped into the existing outdoor GFI circuit. Apparently, you're not allowed to "double-tap" that kind of circuit, so we need to get a breaker and move that line to it. About a $30 fix, hopefully.
Thankfully, they didn't notice the window sill I was talking about yesterday! It makes me think that the inspector they hired didn't do a very thorough job. The bricks are visibly deteriorated and easy to spot as a potential problem, and the sump pump took me 5 seconds to "get working".
Anyway, I was under the impression that they had financing worked out already, but apparently not. They still need to confirm that and have the lawyer look over the deal, then we go firm with it. They need to do that by October 10; the time that our new house needs to go firm.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Home Inspection
The people who bought our house are doing the home inspection today at 1pm. They want to "rush" it because they want to firm everything up before they hand in their notice to the apartment they're currently in. It should be fine, except for one small "issue" with one window sill. It's been an issue since the first year we moved in. Instead of using one solid piece of concrete for the sills, they laid bricks down horizontally. Not a problem, except that the mortar keeps on cracking and falling out, leaving the bricks very loose. It's never caused a problem as far as water leaks or anything that we know of, but if the home inspector sees and notes it, they might want us to fix that before going firm. It all depends on what the inspector says. We had the builder fix it once already, but I don't believe it's covered anymore (it fell under the 2-year warranty. The 7-year is for Major Structural Defects, which this is not).
Echo is heading to doggy day care again for the day...
PS, it's also Marn's LAST DAY at home with Violet!!! :(
This is her new face (while waiting for our Chinese food)... we're not really sure what it is, but she does it a lot lately. Marn thinks she's trying to imitate her when Marn tries to act surprised or happy about something. She's also saying "Happy" now. She started saying in after her Birthday party. It kind of comes out as "ha-pee". We thought she was just imitating again, but she says it all the time, if you ask her to.
Echo is heading to doggy day care again for the day...
PS, it's also Marn's LAST DAY at home with Violet!!! :(
This is her new face (while waiting for our Chinese food)... we're not really sure what it is, but she does it a lot lately. Marn thinks she's trying to imitate her when Marn tries to act surprised or happy about something. She's also saying "Happy" now. She started saying in after her Birthday party. It kind of comes out as "ha-pee". We thought she was just imitating again, but she says it all the time, if you ask her to.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Accepted!
They accepted the deal this morning! Wow... it feels very surreal right now. They still have the home inspection and lawyers "approval" before it's official, but as of right now, we've just sold our home!
The Sign Back
The potential buyers didn't accept our return offer, and signed back again. Again a little lower than we were hoping for, but closer. So after some hard decisions and some finagling from our agent, we came up with a solution that we think they will accept. We had to come down a bit and include the washer and dryer, they had to come up a bit, and both agents agreed to take a slight commission cut to make the deal happen. They have until 10 PM tonight to accept it, or not. We think we'll know by noon today. If they accept this, we'll have done a little better than we were hoping for in the end (our absolute minimum number) and we'll have "made" almost exactly $100k on this house in 5 years. Unbelievable!!
Fingers crossed. Potential move-OUT date will be November 19. We're going to see if the lady in the home we're buying can bump out the date we closed on by a week so that we only have to bridge for a week instead of two.
The other couple who were potentially in the running for our house had decided against it, and opted to try for a larger house with smaller property that backed onto the Baden school grounds (yuck). The girl apparently loved our house, but couldn't win over the guy, or something. Anyway, they probably wouldn't have been the best choice for us given the time frame and if this deal is accepted, I think it will be nearly the best possible outcome (other than paying full price!) :-)
Fingers crossed. Potential move-OUT date will be November 19. We're going to see if the lady in the home we're buying can bump out the date we closed on by a week so that we only have to bridge for a week instead of two.
The other couple who were potentially in the running for our house had decided against it, and opted to try for a larger house with smaller property that backed onto the Baden school grounds (yuck). The girl apparently loved our house, but couldn't win over the guy, or something. Anyway, they probably wouldn't have been the best choice for us given the time frame and if this deal is accepted, I think it will be nearly the best possible outcome (other than paying full price!) :-)
Monday, September 28, 2009
House!
We received an offer to buy our house last night. It is on the verge of being low-ball and insulting, but our agent prepared us for it to be low. The buyers did a market analysis of some other houses in Baden, but neglected to include homes that were comparable to the lot size and location with ours. So their comparison come out to look like ours was way overpriced. Anyway, it's funny that this offer even came in because earlier in the day we received an email from our agent that said they were going to continue their looking around. They sent the email on Friday morning.
Their exact words were;
"We have decided to continue our search. Certain things about the house we wouldn't be comfortable with include the location of laundry, the size of the en suite, and most importantly basement size (little small).”
So, there must have been something that they really liked about the house, or location. Marn thinks the lot is what made them change their mind and decide to put an offer in. What made us extra mad is not only the low-ball offer, but that they wanted all of the appliances including the washer and dryer. That's about $6000 worth of extras. When you include the Deck and Shed, that's more like 12,000 of "extras" that they are not getting with any other house on their analysis. Not to mention the court location and large lot that the others also don't offer!
Regardless of the price that this may end up at, this becomes more interesting because our agent also had a couple through (twice) who really like the place and were going to decide about an offer this weekend. They were away for the weekend, so won't know about the other offer until this morning. So hopefully they'll decide to put an offer in as well. The PROBLEM with this scenario is, we need a quick closing date and the people with the offer
We should know by tonight what's happening!
Their exact words were;
"We have decided to continue our search. Certain things about the house we wouldn't be comfortable with include the location of laundry, the size of the en suite, and most importantly basement size (little small).”
So, there must have been something that they really liked about the house, or location. Marn thinks the lot is what made them change their mind and decide to put an offer in. What made us extra mad is not only the low-ball offer, but that they wanted all of the appliances including the washer and dryer. That's about $6000 worth of extras. When you include the Deck and Shed, that's more like 12,000 of "extras" that they are not getting with any other house on their analysis. Not to mention the court location and large lot that the others also don't offer!
Regardless of the price that this may end up at, this becomes more interesting because our agent also had a couple through (twice) who really like the place and were going to decide about an offer this weekend. They were away for the weekend, so won't know about the other offer until this morning. So hopefully they'll decide to put an offer in as well. The PROBLEM with this scenario is, we need a quick closing date and the people with the offer
We should know by tonight what's happening!
Birthday Party
We had a "small" birthday party for Violet on Saturday. Both families, minus the Asbury's, which still managed to pack the house -- 18 people (including us)! We had burgers, potato salad, pasta salad, greek salad and chocolate cake and I'm sure other things.
It was a lot of fun and Violet didn't play shy at all to anyone. Not even Dad or Tony, who historically have caused some tears with her! lol I mean at first, she just sort of looked around at everyone in a stare, but no tears which was surprising. She was very good all day long and crashed hard at around 3:30pm. As far as cake eating, she wasn't too crazy with it. She definitely liked it, but didn't inhale like some of her cousins! She didn't even eat it all or get that messy. It was a really fun day, I just wish the Asbury's could have been there!! Maybe Marn can attach some pictures at home?
It was a lot of fun and Violet didn't play shy at all to anyone. Not even Dad or Tony, who historically have caused some tears with her! lol I mean at first, she just sort of looked around at everyone in a stare, but no tears which was surprising. She was very good all day long and crashed hard at around 3:30pm. As far as cake eating, she wasn't too crazy with it. She definitely liked it, but didn't inhale like some of her cousins! She didn't even eat it all or get that messy. It was a really fun day, I just wish the Asbury's could have been there!! Maybe Marn can attach some pictures at home?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Happy 1st Birthday Violet!
Violet is on the verge of walking on her first birthday! Marn told me that she stood up by herself and took about 4 steps without help tonight. Up until now, she's been "walking", but with lots of help, and while falling forward. She's on the brink of getting up and around and we can't wait!
Some good news regarding the house; the first couple who came through the house on Friday last week is coming back for a 2nd look today (Wednesday). They are clients of our agent, so fingers crossed! (It means that his commission goes down if they end up buying it).
I just feel bad that I've been away all week so can't help get/keep the house cleaned up. I was supposed to fly out Wednesday at 6pm Central, but there's one other flight leaving at 10am, so I'm about to call Air Canada to change to that flight. It will cost $75 to do it, but I think it's worth it to get home 8 hours earlier. I'll miss the last little bit of the conference here, but most people leave in the morning, so there's not much going on anyway.
Some good news regarding the house; the first couple who came through the house on Friday last week is coming back for a 2nd look today (Wednesday). They are clients of our agent, so fingers crossed! (It means that his commission goes down if they end up buying it).
I just feel bad that I've been away all week so can't help get/keep the house cleaned up. I was supposed to fly out Wednesday at 6pm Central, but there's one other flight leaving at 10am, so I'm about to call Air Canada to change to that flight. It will cost $75 to do it, but I think it's worth it to get home 8 hours earlier. I'll miss the last little bit of the conference here, but most people leave in the morning, so there's not much going on anyway.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Conditions Waived
Except for selling our house, of course! We removed the Financing and Home Inspection conditions last night. We also added on the agreement to remove the old oil drum in the basement at their cost, which they already said they had to do before selling, but just so that we have it in writing.
Anyway, there is another showing of our house tonight at 6pm. This will be only the 2nd one so far and hopefully many more this weekend! Depending on how it goes this week, we may have an open house next weekend.
I'm heading to Nashville bright and early on Sunday morning for a work conference which will cause Marn to be extremely busy if there are more showings while I'm gone. She'll have to clean up, watch the baby, and get Echo out of the house all on her own. Taking Echo out of the equation would make it so much easier... he makes such a mess sometimes!
Anyway, there is another showing of our house tonight at 6pm. This will be only the 2nd one so far and hopefully many more this weekend! Depending on how it goes this week, we may have an open house next weekend.
I'm heading to Nashville bright and early on Sunday morning for a work conference which will cause Marn to be extremely busy if there are more showings while I'm gone. She'll have to clean up, watch the baby, and get Echo out of the house all on her own. Taking Echo out of the equation would make it so much easier... he makes such a mess sometimes!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
MLS
Here's the MLS listing, which is basically the same as the daveshomes.ca listing;
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8704052
The "emergency" walk-through yesterday didn't result in anything. Bottom line was the buyers were looking for a bigger place. They didn't like how the island wasn't built in, and the en-suite was a little small compared to other places they were looking at. But, at least it's drawing people in. No word on whether we'll have an open house or not. Our agent thinks that they're more beneficial to the selling agent that his client (us), so he tends not to do them, but will if we ask.
We had the Home Inspection yesterday afternoon, and all in all, the house is in great shape considering the age. The biggest concern is the roofing -- the front of the shingles look less than 5 years old, but the back and side look like hell. Almost like they re-shingled only half the roof at one point. The seller said they look like that because she had trees scraping along there which caused the wear and have since been cut back, but the home inspector didn't buy it. He said the wear type and pattern weren't consistent with the explanation. There are also no signs of leaks in the attic, so it's something that we'll have to keep an eye on. I also had some concerns in the basement which were somewhat alleviated. We were concerned that we wouldn't be able to take the wall down between an unexcavated part of the basement and the "finished" side, but it looks like we can with the help of only two jack posts (there are two I-beams holding up the floor joists in that section). I say "finished" because whoever did it, didn't put any electrical outlets in the walls! When the time comes, it shouldn't be a problem (the only problem is money to excavate and to pour a floor at this point). Anyone know an excavator on the cheap???
All in all the inspector was impressed with the condition of the home, minus a few "cosmetic and layout quirks that we'll have to figure out". He meant the bathrooms and decor inside...
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8704052
The "emergency" walk-through yesterday didn't result in anything. Bottom line was the buyers were looking for a bigger place. They didn't like how the island wasn't built in, and the en-suite was a little small compared to other places they were looking at. But, at least it's drawing people in. No word on whether we'll have an open house or not. Our agent thinks that they're more beneficial to the selling agent that his client (us), so he tends not to do them, but will if we ask.
We had the Home Inspection yesterday afternoon, and all in all, the house is in great shape considering the age. The biggest concern is the roofing -- the front of the shingles look less than 5 years old, but the back and side look like hell. Almost like they re-shingled only half the roof at one point. The seller said they look like that because she had trees scraping along there which caused the wear and have since been cut back, but the home inspector didn't buy it. He said the wear type and pattern weren't consistent with the explanation. There are also no signs of leaks in the attic, so it's something that we'll have to keep an eye on. I also had some concerns in the basement which were somewhat alleviated. We were concerned that we wouldn't be able to take the wall down between an unexcavated part of the basement and the "finished" side, but it looks like we can with the help of only two jack posts (there are two I-beams holding up the floor joists in that section). I say "finished" because whoever did it, didn't put any electrical outlets in the walls! When the time comes, it shouldn't be a problem (the only problem is money to excavate and to pour a floor at this point). Anyone know an excavator on the cheap???
All in all the inspector was impressed with the condition of the home, minus a few "cosmetic and layout quirks that we'll have to figure out". He meant the bathrooms and decor inside...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Our listings
I haven't seen it on MLS.ca yet, but it should be there today at some point!
You will notice (maybe?) we painted the garage to try and match the siding, the front door is dark green. It looks really sharp, but doesn't come through in the pictures that well.
UPDATE!
Marn just called and someone is going through the house right now! Our agent called and appologized for the 45 minute notice, but someone was ready to put an offer in on another house in Baden, then saw this one list today and wanted to see it. Yikes, that was FAST! Marn had a friend over with her baby and was just about to sit down for lunch, so they scrambled to tidy up and get out of the house!
Monday, September 14, 2009
so much time, so little blogging
I thought I would blog a lot while being off, but the obvious truth is I didn't really want to be on the computer much. While at work it's easy, because it's right in front of me all day. At home, not so much. Sure, I checked email and the regular news/tech sites daily, but that's about it.
And then 6 weeks fly by and I wonder where it went and what happened? Wow, summer is over (pretty much). We only went to the beach twice in all of that time. Didn't make it to the zoo. Didn't make it south for a vacation. Didn't make it to BC for a much wanted visit, didn't do a lot of "house stuff". There are a lot of didn't's in there. What I did do is a lot of playing and hanging out with Vi and Mom, ripped out the den and kitchen at my sister and brother in law's place, spent too much during a US shopping trip, yard work when it was nice, and in this last week in particular.... buying a house!
Yeah, we have a conditional offer in to buy a little open concept bungalow in old westmount, Waterloo. Is it an absolutely ideal house? No. But it's pretty close and has a lot of potential. You can't "fix" lot and location, and this house has those both.
The lot is large - 80 across the front and 106 feet across the back while the sides are 128 and 156 feet deep. So it's big, and has privacy and mature trees surrounding it. As far as inside, it's old. Built in 1955, and last updated in 1955. Original "sea foam green" kitchen included as well.
It has a cool 12x12 foot sun room off the back, southern facing yard. The neighbour behind us probably has a 4500+ sq. ft. home (guessing?) along with his million dollar neighbours that are along the private only Westmount Golf Club. The backyard property line is the divider between the have's and have not so much's... :)
So, the deal was confirmed on Thursday night after a little back and forth with the seller. She didn't come down as much as we would have liked, but cest la vie. So on Friday morning, we went into a little panic and realized just how much work needed to be done to get our house ready to sell. We spent most of the weekend madly decluttering. The basement looked like a bomb had went off - it was seriously embarrassing as it was a dumping ground for whatever we didn't want, or have room for in the house. We ended up renting a storage unit that is now packed to the gills with crap and toys after 3 trips. The house looks good now, but so barren looking -- a good thing, I guess. Sunday was mostly spent cleaning. One trip to the dump should clear out a lot of the garage "crap" as well and we'll be ready.
The mad scramble was on because we needed to list quickly - Today to be exact! Three days to thoroughly clean and declutter is quit hectic, but can be done with late nights!! It's a November closing on that house which is why we needed to list as soon as possible. You should see our house on MLS tonight. The photographer is coming this afternoon at 4:30 and the sign should be up right now. Everything now is a "go", and it's been such a blur! We're not as ready as we'd like to be, but we're pretty darn close. If only I had another week or so off! ;) (seriously could have spent a whole week just cleaning...)
The home inspection is this week where a lot of questions will hopefully be answered as well. If things look grim after the inspection, we'll have to decide to move forward, or back out. We'd really hate to have major problems in structure and things, since the house is already at the top end of our budget and it needs a lot of work off the hop. So we'd either back out, or go back to her to drop the price. Finger's crossed! After the inspection, the only thing left is to sell our place! Yikes!!
We're so sad about leaving this place and the neighbours, but also excited about our possible future in the new place (envisioning the changes and updates that need to be done).
Maybe I'll blog a little more about my time off at a later date. Right now all I can think about is the house!
The little red roof, could be ours! (notice the "mansions" behind it...)
And then 6 weeks fly by and I wonder where it went and what happened? Wow, summer is over (pretty much). We only went to the beach twice in all of that time. Didn't make it to the zoo. Didn't make it south for a vacation. Didn't make it to BC for a much wanted visit, didn't do a lot of "house stuff". There are a lot of didn't's in there. What I did do is a lot of playing and hanging out with Vi and Mom, ripped out the den and kitchen at my sister and brother in law's place, spent too much during a US shopping trip, yard work when it was nice, and in this last week in particular.... buying a house!
Yeah, we have a conditional offer in to buy a little open concept bungalow in old westmount, Waterloo. Is it an absolutely ideal house? No. But it's pretty close and has a lot of potential. You can't "fix" lot and location, and this house has those both.
The lot is large - 80 across the front and 106 feet across the back while the sides are 128 and 156 feet deep. So it's big, and has privacy and mature trees surrounding it. As far as inside, it's old. Built in 1955, and last updated in 1955. Original "sea foam green" kitchen included as well.
It has a cool 12x12 foot sun room off the back, southern facing yard. The neighbour behind us probably has a 4500+ sq. ft. home (guessing?) along with his million dollar neighbours that are along the private only Westmount Golf Club. The backyard property line is the divider between the have's and have not so much's... :)
So, the deal was confirmed on Thursday night after a little back and forth with the seller. She didn't come down as much as we would have liked, but cest la vie. So on Friday morning, we went into a little panic and realized just how much work needed to be done to get our house ready to sell. We spent most of the weekend madly decluttering. The basement looked like a bomb had went off - it was seriously embarrassing as it was a dumping ground for whatever we didn't want, or have room for in the house. We ended up renting a storage unit that is now packed to the gills with crap and toys after 3 trips. The house looks good now, but so barren looking -- a good thing, I guess. Sunday was mostly spent cleaning. One trip to the dump should clear out a lot of the garage "crap" as well and we'll be ready.
The mad scramble was on because we needed to list quickly - Today to be exact! Three days to thoroughly clean and declutter is quit hectic, but can be done with late nights!! It's a November closing on that house which is why we needed to list as soon as possible. You should see our house on MLS tonight. The photographer is coming this afternoon at 4:30 and the sign should be up right now. Everything now is a "go", and it's been such a blur! We're not as ready as we'd like to be, but we're pretty darn close. If only I had another week or so off! ;) (seriously could have spent a whole week just cleaning...)
The home inspection is this week where a lot of questions will hopefully be answered as well. If things look grim after the inspection, we'll have to decide to move forward, or back out. We'd really hate to have major problems in structure and things, since the house is already at the top end of our budget and it needs a lot of work off the hop. So we'd either back out, or go back to her to drop the price. Finger's crossed! After the inspection, the only thing left is to sell our place! Yikes!!
We're so sad about leaving this place and the neighbours, but also excited about our possible future in the new place (envisioning the changes and updates that need to be done).
Maybe I'll blog a little more about my time off at a later date. Right now all I can think about is the house!
The little red roof, could be ours! (notice the "mansions" behind it...)
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Walking?
For a while now, Vi has had NO interest in walking if you let go of her hands. She plops right down and starts to crawl...until yesterday. Daily, Andrew and I try to convince her to walk to us using various objects (as mentioned in the previous post). Yesterday morning, we had a few steps but really they were just leg movements while she was falling towards us. Jump to driving to pick Vi up from my mom's place (we had dropped her off while we went to test drive new cars - woohoo!). My mom called us as we were pulling in the drive to say 'why didn't you tell me she started stepping out yet?'...well, mom, that is because she really had not started to yet. Loveley. First steps for my mom and dad. Granny and Pop. Boo.
But later she walked towards me and today we got a few on tape. The are not 'walking' so much as a fun balancing act, but I LOVE IT!
Maybe Andrew can post the video!
But later she walked towards me and today we got a few on tape. The are not 'walking' so much as a fun balancing act, but I LOVE IT!
Maybe Andrew can post the video!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Loving life as a family...
We have been having such a great time off as a family that too long has passed without an update (thanks Aunt A).
A few updates:
-Vi has 8 teeth now! She will walk holding your hand but will NOT try to take a step on her own. No matter what we are holding to entice her (even the remote doesn't work, that and the phone are her current favorites)
-We know she is ours but she is SOOOOO CUTE right now. She is babbling all the time, saying 'Hi' and 'Bye', using signs for 'milk' and 'more' but the biggest change is her love of dollies. Seriously, isn't she too young for this? I noticed it when I was taking Vi over to watch Sadie. Vi would b-line for Sadie's dolls. Literally, she would hold on to them (when Sadie didn't take them away) and cuddle them all the time. So last week, I thought, I guess we need to get her a doll (her frugal father said, 'not until her birthday', but I just couldn't resist). We were at the mall and I went in to look at dolls. I pulled one down from the shelf and showed it to Vi, she would not let me have it back. Cried if I tried to take it away, as a result, we have our first doll. Vi takes her everywhere, when she gets up in the morning, she smiles at Dollie and then it is dollie all day long. Hugs for dollie, kisses for dollie, dollie at the table, dollie in the stroller... (wish I gave her a cuter doll at the store-LOL- truth be told this one is kind of ugly!)
Need to get some pics of dollie to post.
Friday, August 07, 2009
6 Weeks!
Did I mention that I'm off for 6 weeks? 5 now.... It's going to go by really fast. We have some things planned, but not too much. Still trying to decide if we should go away somewhere for a week.
We are heading to the US on Sunday for a little shopping trip to pick up stuff for Violet mostly. I bought a sub for our stereo. It was an amazing deal online that I couldn't pass up. Luckily I bought from a store in PA so no sales tax and free shipping to the US! We have a friend who's sister lives near Birch Run in Michigan, and she agreed to accept the package for us, so we're picking it up on the way by. Sweet deal!
I'm hoping to spend the next week or 2 getting all the little things done around the house here that have been nagging to get done. Then just relax and enjoy the time off.... as much as time "off" means with my job. I've been called once on the first day and emailed a few times that needed responses. I'm banking that time, and will be paid out in "bonus" when I come back.
We've luckily had some nice weather since I've been off too, so hopefully that trend continues!! (still very cold at night, though!)
We are heading to the US on Sunday for a little shopping trip to pick up stuff for Violet mostly. I bought a sub for our stereo. It was an amazing deal online that I couldn't pass up. Luckily I bought from a store in PA so no sales tax and free shipping to the US! We have a friend who's sister lives near Birch Run in Michigan, and she agreed to accept the package for us, so we're picking it up on the way by. Sweet deal!
I'm hoping to spend the next week or 2 getting all the little things done around the house here that have been nagging to get done. Then just relax and enjoy the time off.... as much as time "off" means with my job. I've been called once on the first day and emailed a few times that needed responses. I'm banking that time, and will be paid out in "bonus" when I come back.
We've luckily had some nice weather since I've been off too, so hopefully that trend continues!! (still very cold at night, though!)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Re: Camping
Generally, it was fun. Did we get rained on? Yep. Did we get sun? Enough to make it to the lake and have some fun. Did we get to have camp fires and all the rest? Yep. Did we get rained on? yep... err, I said that already, but it's worth mentioning again. It rained. A lot. As far as camping goes, the rain really sucked and limited us from a lot of things. Knowing that it was supposed to rain all weekend and going anyway, it didn't turn out too badly.... Lets just say that the rain didn't deter us from ever wanting to go again and there were enough nice breaks in the weather to squeak the scales to the positive side. Violet was fine, but had trouble falling asleep at times, but she was getting antsy because it was so mucky and wet that she hardly ever got to move and crawl around. And when babies are first starting to get around, restricting them is about the worst thing you can possibly do!
Pics later (Marn, nudge, nudge) - wink wink, say no more.
-----------------------------------
In other news, I talked my work into giving me 6 weeks off starting in August. I'll be collecting unemployment during that time, but instead of paternity time, I'll file it as a temporary lay-off so that Marnie can still collect the full amount and keep the full year off. Either way I was taking time off, paternity or not, so this works out really well for both of us. I'm REALLY looking forward to it even though it will go by really fast. I'll be heading back to work on Sept. 14. When I get back, I'll be there for 1 week, then I'm off to Nashville, TN, for a conference for 4 days.
We're hoping to go somewhere and do something while I'm off. We keep tossing around driving out east, or going to Florida for a week, or maybe vacation with Teresa and Branko who need to use up time share points or fly to BC for another visit? Who knows. We want to and need to keep it cheap so options are limited. We do have one week already booked at a cottage (or at least I think we do, or are planning to?) We also have day trips to the beach planned (no dates, just that we definitely want to go a lot!), and trips to the T.O. Zoo, etc.
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