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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