Desperate Housewife

Can someone tell me where all the laundry comes from? I am so thankful that we have new machines. They've been getting a good workout since they arrived.
My day consisted of housework for the most part. Gave Rianne a bath and while she was playing in the tub I cleaned her room (it's right outside the bathroom door, no worries ;)
Then I started the laundry this morning and just finished not that terribly long ago. For real! Almost ALL DAY doing laundry and the same yesterday and we are only a family of THREE!!
Then I tidied up the main floor. I took down Rianne's IKEA Igloo tent. I just put it up last week thinking she'd love it and play in it but she didn't so it's gone again. I'm glad it was an easy set up and take down.
Then I mopped the floors and wiped down the stairs (by hand) and got in between the spindles.

I've been keeping my food intake in check as well as the water. I have a deep dish chicken pie in the oven at the moment for supper so there's 500 calories just in 1/4 size serving. I'm glad I refrained from snacking today! I won't have very many calories left over this evening for my snack while watching Ghost Hunters.

Adios January

It's hard to believe that it's the 27th of January and Rianne and I were at the park this afternoon and we weren't bundled up like an Eskimo. It is +2 Celsius here today and all the rain we had yesterday really ate away at the snow.
She had an absolute blast going through the puddles with her rain boots on. It was fabulous to get out for some fresh air and exercise. I wasn't about to let a beautiful day go to waste. The housework will still be here to tackle later ... get out and burn off some energy!! We walked the trails in the park and then Rianne went to the playground. She was on the slide and I sat on the swing and watched her ... then she noticed a big mud puddle and that was the end of the slide.
As soon as we got home I stripped her down and threw her clothes right into the washing machine. Not sure now white her socks are going to be anymore.

I started dieting last week. Well working out on the Wii Fit and eating better (portion control) and keeping a food diary.
Here's my progress so far:

MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

It's a work in progress but so far so good. I hope I can keep it up this time and not fall off the wagon like I did a couple of years ago.

Ahhhh the house is starting to become a home. We're still adding our personal touches to the place. We have a long way to go but that takes time and money. We have the time, just not the latter.

One week until Christmas!

Wowzers ... time is flying!!
Our house is perfect for us and after the small renovations (kitchen, bathroom and sun porch) it will be 110% fabulous!!
I can't believe it's Christmas next week. Where did the time go? I'm looking forward to seeing Rianne's face on Christmas morning. Living through the eyes of a child is so special.


Rianne got her very first letter from Santa yesterday and she was so excited. Here she is "reading" it.

Sooooo sweet!!!!!

Anyway, all she is asking Santa for is a friend for Amanda. Amanda is the name of one of her stuffed horses. She LOVES horses and has a lot of them.
If we wake up Christmas morning to a real horse in the back yard, Santa and I are going to have a little chin wag :)

*******

As for the home renovations. We are hoping to have the kitchen and bathroom done before the Spring. They are minor things. Bathroom, taking out the big pedestal sink and putting in a smaller vanity, putting down new flooring and painting the space. The kitchen we are adding an island for more counter space and storage .. not to mention eating space since we don't have a table and chairs.
We'll get to the renovation of the sun porch in the Fall when Jon comes home from Alberta. It needs a new roof (the current one leaks like crazy. New flooring and new windows. The structure needs to be reinforced as well. We will be moving the washer and dryer to the sun porch as well because they are way too nice to be hiding out in the dungeon!
I will update here when we get things rolling.

Adios September

Today is the last day of September. October is going to be a very busy month for me. I have the Wiggles concert, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Halloween (which still consists of finding Rianne a costume) and then moving on the 31st as well. In between October 1st and 31st I have to start and finish packing. I'm presently looking for bubble wrap so I can pack up my breakables that won't be getting used. We have to go to Value Village and buy old blankets to wrap our furniture in so nothing gets scratched up. Rianne's crib took a beating on the move here last year because it wasn't protected in the U-HAUL trailer.

I still have some Real Estate stress because Canada Post can't seem to deliver our deposit cheque to the proper address this time .. when it MATTERS!! One already got sent back to us. So much for Xpress Post. Spending over $14 to mail it out and then they want another $14 and change to return it to sender. Take it and shred it because you aren't getting another penny from me! We're still waiting to see if the replacement cheque gets to them. We had to amend the conditions date once already as a result of Canada Post's incompetence.
I guess one good sign is the house is no longer listed on the web site. That's promising.

I am on a roller coaster that I don't want to be on.
House hunting takes a lot of energy out of a person. It might be easier if we were there in person for viewings and to get the feel of a house but we are strictly going on pictures and home inspections.
We had an offer on a beautiful old Victorian house. It was new on the market and it was an Estate (meaning the owner(s) died and the trustee(s) of the Estate were selling it). We jumped through all the necessary hoops and got a mortgage, showed all the necessary documentation that we were serious and everything. Then came the home inspection the DAY BEFORE our conditional date approached.
The place was a disaster. Looked great but there were little hidden things like Asbestos, needing half a roof, back deck needed to be repaired, it only had 1 outlet per room, damp basement, broken windows, needed a chimney repair .. just to list a few of the issues. Don't get me started about the tacky wallpaper and paneling.
WHEW!! We really dodged a bullet by getting out of that deal without a shadow of a doubt. To top it off one of the sellers (children of the deceased owner) had the nerve to phone the inspector and give him a blast for losing their buyers. Seriously!! Who does that? It wasn't the inspectors fault that the house was a money pit.

A few days later we made an offer on another house. It's one we were interested in a while ago but heard through a REALTOR that it had a very wet basement so we put it on the back burner.
Well we decided to make an offer on the place and it was accepted the same day. We paid for yet another home inspection and a few minor things popped up but nothing too serious. No Asbestos .. yay!! The wet basement can be rectified by installing better rain spouts. Simple and inexpensive to repair to we proceeded with the deal and got a mortgage on that house which ended up to be less expensive than the previous house to all around it was a better deal.
Here are some pictures of the new Keachie residence:



We take possession on November 9th and I'm already anxious to get our Christmas decorations up. They've never been up because I bought them last year on clearance :)

The long weekend is fast approaching. Jon will finally have at least one day off (probably Saturday). We have passes to get into the Telus World of Science here in Edmonton so we'll use them up this weekend. Rianne loved it there the first time we were there. This time I'll have a better camera to capture more memories though and we won't have a Christmas Party to attend.

Rianne has been looking through the Sears Wish Book all morning pointing out her extensive list of things she loves. I hope Santa is prepared :)

We have tickets to see The Wiggles on October 11th at Rexall Place. Rianne doesn't know anything about it yet and she won't know anything until we get there. As soon as she sees the stage she'll know right away who we are there to see. It's going to be fun!!

Since Jon is working a lot we haven't been about to get out and about to do much of anything. We still haven't found a house to move to in November/December in the New Glasgow area so I'm stressing out big time over that. Jon is going to the bank again on Saturday morning to crunch some numbers so we'll have a better idea and another 90 days to find something and make an offer on a place. We found a few places and there's always something major wrong with it. One was a complete dump and totally misrepresented in the picture that was posted and another one has a wet basement and another one was sold.

Pretty soon it will be Halloween again. Rianne wants to be a pirate. Not sure how a costume is going to work out for that one. She wants a feather in her hat and everything. Thank you Captain Feathersword!
The stores should have their costumes out soon, if not already. It's been a while since we've been to the mall and we only go to Walmart for groceries so we don't tour through the entire store to check out the Seasonal section.

I want to get through September first :)

House Hunting

So .. We have been looking into buying a house in Nova Scotia. Not an easy task since we are currently in Alberta let me tell you.
We've been seeing some nice ones on various Real Estate web sites and there have been some horribly rundown properties as well.
It's hard finding a suitable home that's close to schools as well. Specifically an elementary school. We are seeing some beautiful homes and unless I have a car to get Rianne to and from school it won't be possible because I'd hate to see her having to take a bus at the tender age of five. I know I did it when I was five but the World is more scary now than it was in the early 1980's and I'm a bit over protective :)

We're mainly focusing on the Pictou County area on the Mainland. More opportunity there for work. Hopefully Jon won't have to come back to Alberta next year but that's his plan in the event he can't find a decent job in Nova Scotia. Not sure what's going to be happening. I've been emailing some Real Estate Agents in the area and some are fabulous while others make you feel like you are wasting their time.

I am really leaning toward this house in Trenton because it's very close to an elementary school:
I noticed Jon had it saved in his client page with the Royal LePage Agent he's been dealing w ith for the last month. I'll have to point it out to him when he gets home this evening. I'd rather settle on a home that's close to a school for Rianne than have to drive her to and from a school in another town.
I just found another home in Trenton that has potential. It's a new listing on the market too.
I'm looking forward to seeing where this adventure brings us in the next few months. I think I'm liking Trenton so far though.