Saturday morning I awoke with trees outside my big bay window. The air was moist and you could feel it on your skin, and you could smell the forest...it felt like we'd been camping. But it was just our new house.
I can not properly express how much in love I am with this new home. Windows on both ends...a through draft and more natural light. Antonio doesn't have the cars out his window anymore, but he does have a playground...and it's not quite the drop it was at the last place. You can see the path, the field, the forest at the edge of Gatineau Park...and all night long at a surprisingly loud volume...crickets. Lots and lots and lots of crickets. They've been singing each night since we first slept here.
We have a real kitchen. We have our table in there. We have a dishwasher and a food pantry!
We have a woodburning fireplace and a mantle.
We have trees outside the front and back windows.
We have big closets. And a linen closet...in the bathroom!
We have a blue tiled shower and taps that work well.
We have our own laundry room with a handwashing sink!
And a playground. A place for Tones to ride his bike.
A Dairy Queen just down the street.
Shopping and a movie theatre a 3 minute drive away!
A parking space you can walk to in under a minute...no extra keys required.
And it's nice and cool inside...even when the oven is on...because the kitchen is separate!
We shopped at the Loblaws on Sunday morning, and found a printer almost exactly like the one we have, only it was on sale for $57!!! Had to pick that up, being as we'd allotted some of my parents' housewarming money for that purpose anyway...now we'll just have more to spend on other things like a ceiling fan and new curtains...which I can't wait to start making!!!
This place really feels like home. I love it here. This is probably normal for a new homeowner, they probably call it the honeymoon phase or something like that, whatever. I just feel more at peace than I have in a long time. This isn't just some concrete shoebox to keep furniture in, this is OUR home. And no concrete walls either!
And it's so easy on frazzled nerves to fall asleep to a chorus of crickets and wake up with nothing but green leaves out your window.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
I like to move it move it....
Friday is The Day. Looks like our crazy weekend of faxing back and forth with my parents actually paid off...Monday night we made our down payment, and were handed The Key!!! So for 2 days, I've been using the window of time between when work finishes and when Tones needs to be picked up, to start moving things. You know, stuff like coats and lamps, and those inevitable odd-shaped decorations that don't fit into any normal sized box. Today I lucked out...brought up a shopping cart to my apartment, and someone had left one on the 15th floor too, so I filled BOTH of them and transported a good haul today.
Then I got a call on my cell...looks like I landed another relief job!!! All right!!!!!
I started to make poutine for dinner only to realize I packed all my baking sheets. Arrrrrg. So I had to cook my fries in 2 casserole dishes instead. No biggie. It was still delicious.
I gotta say, last week and *most* of the weekend were VERY stressful. There's a reason I couldn't sleep and wasn't hungry. Monday I was even having shortness of breath, which I never have gotten before. Getting the keys on Monday night certainly was a big relief.
However, Saturday was a break from it all when I met a new friend Lynne from Kindred Creations and also her friend Carr, for an all-day cropping event! I also found out on Sunday that THIS LAYOUT of mine:
...won the very first Scrapper Of The Week contest at Scrapbooking Cafe's new website! Which entitled me to 10% off everything I buy this week. Lynne was kind enough to e-mail me and tell me they were having a 50% off sale, so Monday I headed on down only to find out it was 50% off EVERYTHING in the store...and therefore 60% for me!!! I took the opportunity to reload on rub-on alphas and 3 cans of KI Alphabet Soup...that stuff is so cool and I could never afford to do this any other time!!! Needless to say I'm in major need of letters for my layouts as I have often depended on my computer to help me in that department...and our printer has gone on us.
What else is cool...Lynne mentioned to me about another new and awesome scrapbooking website called Scrapbook Star and it's based in Montreal. So I go over to check it out...and not only are there a lot of familiar KC faces, but one of the new DT members is my friend Kris from Alberta...my son's godmom, actually! How cool is that?! And to top it off, it's my very first week there and my contest-winning layout has also been chosen as the featured page of the week on the Scrapbook Star homepage!
I'm feeling a lot more relaxed this week. So much good has happened, and I regret that I was feeling so stressed out when itall began that it's taken this much to pull me out of it. I can't wait to get settled in our new place and start scrapping again!!!
Then I got a call on my cell...looks like I landed another relief job!!! All right!!!!!
I started to make poutine for dinner only to realize I packed all my baking sheets. Arrrrrg. So I had to cook my fries in 2 casserole dishes instead. No biggie. It was still delicious.
I gotta say, last week and *most* of the weekend were VERY stressful. There's a reason I couldn't sleep and wasn't hungry. Monday I was even having shortness of breath, which I never have gotten before. Getting the keys on Monday night certainly was a big relief.
However, Saturday was a break from it all when I met a new friend Lynne from Kindred Creations and also her friend Carr, for an all-day cropping event! I also found out on Sunday that THIS LAYOUT of mine:
...won the very first Scrapper Of The Week contest at Scrapbooking Cafe's new website! Which entitled me to 10% off everything I buy this week. Lynne was kind enough to e-mail me and tell me they were having a 50% off sale, so Monday I headed on down only to find out it was 50% off EVERYTHING in the store...and therefore 60% for me!!! I took the opportunity to reload on rub-on alphas and 3 cans of KI Alphabet Soup...that stuff is so cool and I could never afford to do this any other time!!! Needless to say I'm in major need of letters for my layouts as I have often depended on my computer to help me in that department...and our printer has gone on us.
What else is cool...Lynne mentioned to me about another new and awesome scrapbooking website called Scrapbook Star and it's based in Montreal. So I go over to check it out...and not only are there a lot of familiar KC faces, but one of the new DT members is my friend Kris from Alberta...my son's godmom, actually! How cool is that?! And to top it off, it's my very first week there and my contest-winning layout has also been chosen as the featured page of the week on the Scrapbook Star homepage!
I'm feeling a lot more relaxed this week. So much good has happened, and I regret that I was feeling so stressed out when itall began that it's taken this much to pull me out of it. I can't wait to get settled in our new place and start scrapping again!!!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Insomnia and insanity
This is the second night in a row I've woken up at 2 a.m. and can't get back to sleep. I tried my hardest not to fall asleep at 9 lastnight but I was falling asleep on the couch before my son was even asleep in his room. I knew this was going to happen. Well, tomorrow's my day off so maybe if I have an afternoon nap I'll stay up till midnight and all will be well again.
Oh, and by the way, all of a sudden we're moving.
We've been through it all before...found the perfect condo last March, were all ready to make the offer but found out our building doesn't allow you to leave your lease early unless you find another tenant to replace you. We decided that was too much of a gamble so we just let it go. Then Don got the idea that we'd try to find a condo again, only this time make our offer "pending a lease assignment" for our current place.Found another place we fell in love with, made the offer, and the guy gave us 45 days and we figured if it happens it happens, if not we'll just try again in December when our lease is up. No more than a day after I informed the office that we were looking, someone decides they wanna come in the following afternoon to look at our place. Nothing like an evening of speed-cleaning in a very much lived-in apartment!!! But it was all worth it...for the very next day, the lady from the office told us they were going to take it!!! Only catch...they needed to move in the last weekend of July!!!!!!!!!
I don't even wanna get into how crazy this week has been. Legal documents, endless phonecalls, faxing stuff back and forth with my parents, confusion over the actual weekend the new tenants are moving in...I have had it. I suppose it's better to get all the stress over with at once, but mannnn it's no small feat to still be in the middle of it all. I haven't slept right or eaten a decent meal in 2 days.
Thank goodness our parents are so generous. If it wasn't for them we'd never have the money to do this. The timing actually worked out pretty well, because my Gran's house in Toronto just sold a couple weeks ago. Which is an emotional upheaval of its own...having just lost her last year and all...but I suppose this is about as appropriate a cause as any for the money to go towards.
And it is a really nice place. I knew it was meant for us when I noticed the bathroom tiles matched our towels. Now if only I can talk Don out of keeping that flaming red shower curtain!!!
Oh, and by the way, all of a sudden we're moving.
We've been through it all before...found the perfect condo last March, were all ready to make the offer but found out our building doesn't allow you to leave your lease early unless you find another tenant to replace you. We decided that was too much of a gamble so we just let it go. Then Don got the idea that we'd try to find a condo again, only this time make our offer "pending a lease assignment" for our current place.Found another place we fell in love with, made the offer, and the guy gave us 45 days and we figured if it happens it happens, if not we'll just try again in December when our lease is up. No more than a day after I informed the office that we were looking, someone decides they wanna come in the following afternoon to look at our place. Nothing like an evening of speed-cleaning in a very much lived-in apartment!!! But it was all worth it...for the very next day, the lady from the office told us they were going to take it!!! Only catch...they needed to move in the last weekend of July!!!!!!!!!
I don't even wanna get into how crazy this week has been. Legal documents, endless phonecalls, faxing stuff back and forth with my parents, confusion over the actual weekend the new tenants are moving in...I have had it. I suppose it's better to get all the stress over with at once, but mannnn it's no small feat to still be in the middle of it all. I haven't slept right or eaten a decent meal in 2 days.
Thank goodness our parents are so generous. If it wasn't for them we'd never have the money to do this. The timing actually worked out pretty well, because my Gran's house in Toronto just sold a couple weeks ago. Which is an emotional upheaval of its own...having just lost her last year and all...but I suppose this is about as appropriate a cause as any for the money to go towards.
And it is a really nice place. I knew it was meant for us when I noticed the bathroom tiles matched our towels. Now if only I can talk Don out of keeping that flaming red shower curtain!!!
Monday, July 03, 2006
tall dreams and hobbit legs
Ever notice how some days seem better as a memory than they actually were at the time? Today was that. I decided to take Tones on a walk to McDonalds for lunch--play in the Parc Ronald, pick up a Cars Happy Meal and use up those GC's I had. But instead of just going to the one that actually WAS walking distance...hey, why not go all the way to Gatineau?! It's only a 6 minute drive, and that one has the big playground inside it...sure, it's a longer walk, but we just hiked a trail in the Gatineau hills yesterday, surely we could hike to the Gatineau McDonalds. It's not too far from the bridge anyway, right?
When you're DRIVING.
How conveniently I forget to factor in that the road to Gatineau is typically driven at 90 km/h, and that much of the park path is in broad, shadeless sunlight. I don't really remember how we did it, though it must have been a combination of multiple "oh it's just around that corner"s combined with numerous "oh we can't turn back we're halfway there"s. We were a mass of sunscreen and sweat when we finally walked in, slightly over 2 hours later, only to discover the a/c was not working in the Parc Ronald, they were out of ice cream, and they weren't doing the Cars. That is not to say we didn't have a nice lunch, we just didn't eat dessert and I had to sit at a table just outside the Parc Ronald while Antonio played, though he was not as hyper as he normally is for obvious reasons.
The worst part of a longer-than-expected walking trip is knowing you have to do it all over again to get home. I felt so guilty making Antonio do that walk twice...we must have walked 5 miles total. That's a lot when you're not even 4.
However the trip back was a little less stressful. We stuck more to the park path rather than following the highway, and at Antonio's request we stopped to sit in the grass a few times. Then as we approached the most exposed stretch of the journey, God in His mercy shaded us with a raincloud. And though it was thundering by the time we reached the roads again, we didn't get rained on. Though in many ways I kind of wish we had been.
Don even got home before us. We had left before noon and returned by 5:30. Point taken. But in hindsight I'm glad I have the breezy walk down the forest path to keep me from remembering only the sweaty march down the gravel shoulder when I think of today. There's something very dreamy about being surrounded by trees. I still promised Antonio we'd take the car next time.
When you're DRIVING.
How conveniently I forget to factor in that the road to Gatineau is typically driven at 90 km/h, and that much of the park path is in broad, shadeless sunlight. I don't really remember how we did it, though it must have been a combination of multiple "oh it's just around that corner"s combined with numerous "oh we can't turn back we're halfway there"s. We were a mass of sunscreen and sweat when we finally walked in, slightly over 2 hours later, only to discover the a/c was not working in the Parc Ronald, they were out of ice cream, and they weren't doing the Cars. That is not to say we didn't have a nice lunch, we just didn't eat dessert and I had to sit at a table just outside the Parc Ronald while Antonio played, though he was not as hyper as he normally is for obvious reasons.
The worst part of a longer-than-expected walking trip is knowing you have to do it all over again to get home. I felt so guilty making Antonio do that walk twice...we must have walked 5 miles total. That's a lot when you're not even 4.
However the trip back was a little less stressful. We stuck more to the park path rather than following the highway, and at Antonio's request we stopped to sit in the grass a few times. Then as we approached the most exposed stretch of the journey, God in His mercy shaded us with a raincloud. And though it was thundering by the time we reached the roads again, we didn't get rained on. Though in many ways I kind of wish we had been.
Don even got home before us. We had left before noon and returned by 5:30. Point taken. But in hindsight I'm glad I have the breezy walk down the forest path to keep me from remembering only the sweaty march down the gravel shoulder when I think of today. There's something very dreamy about being surrounded by trees. I still promised Antonio we'd take the car next time.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
It's still Canada Day for the next 27 minutes
Today was, in hindsight, an awesome day. We babysat Don's friend's boy this morning, and he & Tones always have a blast since they see each other every day at daycare too. Then the 5 of us walked to the Canada Day thingy in downtown Ottawa. I've already made it clear what I think about crowds, but for some reason it didn't get me down today. I think they're more tolerable when you go in expecting them. Also when you have people to talk to it eases the tension. I don't get nearly enough social activity in my life.
Anyway we sat on the grass for a bit, walked through that park the Tulip Festival is always held in, Antonio painted the hubcap of a Volkswagen van, then we came home and went for a swim out back. Then Don made a delicious dinner of what I assume was taco poutine, and I even had time to scrapbook before the fireworks started. That page is not quite ready for posting here, but here's one I made yesterday for an Effer dare:
To top it all off, we were half expecting it to rain all day, but it held off till about an hour after the fireworks ended. Very sweet. I gotta say, this five-day weekend has been so relaxing on my nerves. Don and I actually had 2 dates this week!!! We both had Friday off but Antonio still had daycare, so we went to a yummy Chinese buffet and saw Superman Returns. I miss having this kind of time with him always, because the less time you have the more of it has to be spent talking about stuff you hafta instead of stuff you wanna. But now with 2 people at work...I'm hoping we'll have more of these kind of opportunities!
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