The Grand Tour

We got to go through the house we're buying last night, to show my family and take some measurements. Here's the tour!
(Unfortunately, I neglected to get a picture of the outside, but probably for the best)

Come in the front door, there's a little wall in front of you. To the rightis the kitchen. We'll go there first...

This is what you'll see on the right of the kitchen. It's sort of a long, hallway, galley-like kitchen

Gonna replace that counter and the cupboard, hopefully soon after we move in--maybe even before since we get possession a week before we have to be out of this house.

Look to your left...

We'll be bringing our own fridge and stove. Have to arrange for a gas line 'cause they've got electric, as you can see. Bit more counter in between. Not a huge amount of counter in the kitchen...have to see what we can do about that.

We're walking, we're walking, we're stopping...

And notice on your right the door that leads out to the side yard...oops, forgot to get a picture of that...ok, on our left is the eat-in kitchen, modeled by my lovely brother Ben and half of Megan.

Go on up...

Now I'll get to say "Down zee hall, firs doah on zee left" (ala Veggietales Jonah) when people ask where the bathroom is...

Across from the bathroom will be Jairus' room...picture less pink.

As as we reach the back of the house, my girls will be sharing this room...picture more pink...

And lastly, the Master bedroom, larger than it's pictured and I don't know yet what colour it will be.

If, upon entering, you had turned to the left instead, you would have ventured into the living room. Hmm, wish that furniture was staying...

And beyond that, the dining room, minus the packing boxes (although, I'm sure we'll have some of those around too, for a while)

If you then went downstairs instead of up, you would reach the family room, complete with woodburning fireplace (although, I've been spoiled with a gas and am going to try and talk my hubby into getting a gas line installed there as well)...

And patio doors (a "walk-out" to the back yard where my kiddies will enjoy hours of rolicking fun on the play equipment that I'm bidding for on ebay.ca. Hope I get it.

Not pictured is the fourth bedroom off this family room and a 2nd 3 piece bathroom, nor the lower basement--laundry, storage and a large area that will make a great playroom. We hope to finish that off in the future. Lots of plans!!

So there she is!! SO EXCITED!! Two months seems SO long away...

Mommyship

Received recently:

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents feel things, too (but love you anyway).

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times! You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

Cute.

Somedays I wonder why I ever thought I could be a mom. Listening to Focus this morning added to that feeling. Two women on, who I'm familiar with--both wrote books I used a few years ago when I helped lead a retreat for teen girls about sexual purity. Really awesome books, one--"And the Bride Wore White" was actually the curriculum for the retreat. The other was an inspiring bio about this couple and their relationship--Eric and Leslie Ludy. On Focus this morning, Leslie was talking about what it was like in highschool from a kids/sex point of view.

FREAKIN' SCARY.

And I know that Leslie is somewhere around my age, maybe a little younger, so that means what she was talking about this morning was the climate 10-15 years ago.

You can hear the broadcast by going to the link on my sidebar. I just kept thinking, I have two beautiful little girls. How in the world will they ever reach adulthood unscathed?

I'm going to go listen to that again.

Loss

There's something horribly tragic about reading a guys myspace...after he's been killed.

Take a look.

My sister's friend

I'm so sorry for the sadness you guys are going through. I remember...when this happened to us in highschool...not quite the same but heartwrenching still. Evan, my heart and prayers go out to you, as to Mikes family, and Bob and Steph too. I'm praying that the faith Mike's family has expressed will hold them fast now. I could not imagine the horror...

Hamilton Spectator Article


It reminds me of a song I heard a few years ago. Mark Martel from the band Downhere
(they've also got a blog--downhere.blogspot.com and myspace.com/downhere) wrote a song in his earlier years. My brother went to Briercrest with him and nabbed this homemade CD.

Here's the words while you listen.

Barely 20 he was young

My friend

But his course already run

By his life I'm still inspired

An inextinguishable fire

If I ever understand

It will only be in part

Cause all the reasons are down here

Barely 20 he was young

Oh, my friend

But his race already won

And by his life I'm still inspired

Inextinguishable fire

If we ever understand

It will only be in part

Cause all the reasons are Down Here

Down Here

Down Here

Down Here

Whoa

Down Here...

Say

Goodbye

For now

You try

To say

Goodbye...

A New Definition for GULLIBLE

This guy's story is unreal, but no more than the women who fell for it!

Fake Doctor

Did I mention that I had 16 people for Easter? Two parents, two grandparents, 8 siblings, two spouses, one significant other and a nephew (can we put a tune to all that?)

I kinda like doing the big dinner thing--a little sad that I likely won't in the new house. It doesn't have nearly the size of dining room. How strange is our society, that we would 'upgrade' to a new house and end up with less room? How can two cities 15 minutes apart list virtually the same house with thousands of dollars different in price?

I won't complain however, because there's too many good things going on. Our new house might be smaller in footage, but the bedrooms are laid out more suitably for our family, we'll be in Hamilton- closer to family, my job, medical resources for Jairus and hopefully my husbands' business.

Of course I'm talking like all of this is for sure--I suppose there's a slight chance that something will go awry. We did our house inspection the other night and it was really, very good. The inspector--(oh yes, Sherlock Holmes, I kid you not) was impressed with the solid construction. Only a few things to take care of, one we were aware of from the start (an ancient, rusting AC unit sitting on a 45% angle cannot be healthy).

So now we're just waiting to hear from the bank. I'm not worried, just...impatient. There's so many things I'd like to start working on--paint colours and new furniture, maybe some new flooring.

Ring phone...ring.

So close...yet conditionally far away

It was, I would say, a winner.

Liked it very much, few things to fix up, but no big deal. Four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fenced yard, dining room, living room and family room. Eat in kitchen. All good. Nice neighbourhood! Close to highway for hubby to get back to work. So we put in an offer--had to move fast, the way this market is going, and a couple arriving to see it as we were leaving...

We offered a wee bit less then they listed for, with our conditions of financing and inspection and they accepted! Little glich that they're buying conditional upon selling and their seller has a 24 hour clause so that they could accept a better offer, giving our sellers 24 hours to firm up or back out. If all that was to happen (unlikely I think) and we hadn't or were unable to take care of our conditions, it COULD fall through. But I feel good about it all. I think it'll happen just fine.
Now we just have to take care of those conditions and the house is ours. SO EXCITED!

And my little girl is walking!! Sorry no pics, too cheap for a digital.

Later!

High Hopes House Hunting

So yesterday, I thought I'd do my one liner post, and then search around and see how many people had done the same thing. Thought I'd post a few "He is risen indeed" responses on some blogs I completely don't know. Kinda fun, right?
Except that I was only one of more than TEN THOUSAND people who thought to do that yesterday. Yeah. So I'm not as original as I thought.

Anyways... still looking for a house. The market is so hot right now that last week, our realtor sent 15 properties on Tuesday, we chose 10 to view...and by Thursday 7 of them were conditionally sold. Aw, meeyan!!
The other three were, not so good. No to them, as my SIL would so cutely say. One very small, one very abandoned and one being flipped by someone who doesn't know what they're doing. Eeek!
But TODAY, I got an update. New one on the market. Good location, good price, 4 bedrooms, good, good, good.

We'll see...

HE IS RISEN!

Sometimes, you can believe TV

So as I was saying, these shows, these 'stage your home' shows tell you how you should slap some new paint on the walls, take out all the clutter, the excess furniture, fix the cracks in the walls and WOW, people will walk through and make offers on the spot.


IT'S TOTALLY TRUE!!!


We sold our house last night. It was on the market for 3 business days, 5 counting the weekend. We had 5 showings and three offers. ALL the offers were for MORE than our asking price. We went with the one who didn't have any conditions (though man, you feel bad for the others...hate that).
I think I'm still a little in shock. You know how you want and wait and want and wait and finally you get it and...then you're suddenly not sure if you still want it? I'm not saying I don't want to move and I'm glad the house sold (I didn't know how long I could keep up this spotless house routine), it just hit me, as I was typing it in an email to our realtor helping us with finding the new place--as I saw the words I thought--omygosh, we've sold our house. My beautiful house that I love so much--but wish it was in another city.

No, it's all good. Like my SIL said when I phoned her this morning--there's no doubt now that it's supposed to happen. I do believe that. And I can make another house look just as beautiful.

Hamilton here we come!!

I would be remiss...

If I didn't advertise my own house! Here's the link:

The Amazing Kent House

Sorry no picture yet, coming soon I'm sure!

Those stupid shows...

That's why I'm such an exhausted wreck. It's those shows, the ones that tell you how to 'stage' your house to sell. What you don't see is the crew that comes in and does it, while the pretty host trips around and...looks pretty. I would not be so fortunate.
It was lookin' pretty fine yesterday though--and good thing because a couple came through and, well, we wowed'em. They want to make an offer, but they'll just have to wait til tomorrow says our agent. Tonight we have two more showings. I just have to figure out where to stash my kids...they don't hide as easily as my basket of unmatched socks.

Going to start looking for our new house for real now--not just browsing about the mls listings. I'll just take this time to sing the praises of our guy in Hamilton--Craig Bush. He helped us buy our first house in Stoney Creek and then sell it to move here. Great guy. Totally recommend him. And our Lady of the Listings here in town is awesome too--call Isabel Marques if you want to move to Brantford!

Hum ho, I think I've really faux pas'd. We kinda kept our move quiet for a while--I guess I just wanted to be sure that this was where the Lord was leading. So then I mentioned it in passing last week to a good friend who I thought I had mentioned it to...and I hadn't. She was surprised and I think a little hurt. She's really been one of my best friends in Gretzkyland here and I feel real bad.

Sorry Launa.

Aha!! The Plunge---------->

We did it!

(A phrase I can never use again without hearing the Dora song in my head)

Signed all the papers. Listing the house tomorrow. Still cleaning like a madwoman. Well, ok, now I'm blogging, but this'll be short. Past midnight, gotta get to bed.

My house is looking soooo nice, though. I hope...I told my hubby this the other night...I hope the Lord blesses our efforts and gives us a new house where someone worked on it as hard as we have on this one.

Now to keep it looking like this...oh man, this'll be impossible. Blessings on mom and dad, who took our beast--at least I won't have to swiffer 3 times a day. It's true though: cleaning a house with kids around is like shoveling during a snowstorm. (credit to Robin for that one :-)

Here's hoping we sell real soon!!