Happy New Year!

Holy man, how did it get to be December 31st already?

Today is a busy day of work (boooo!), last minute errands, and two New Year's gatherings.

It has been tough to plan what to do tonight, but I think I've figured it out. I will be having dinner at our favorite pub with one group of friends, then heading to a small house party to ring in the New Year with another group.

I won't get to see everyone I would like, but I just can't be in ten places at once (somehow I think that wouldn't be as cool as it sounds anyway!).

I'll be heading out shortly to pick up the mandatory bottle of champagne (or two!) and some sort of snack to contribute to the party. I might even try to find some New Years headbands and such to get into the festive mood....

DBF is on the road from Winnipeg to Toronto today. He's pushing to get as much distance in as he can tonight, so will likely be somewhere on the snowy northern Ontario highway when we ring in the New Year. Thank God for cell phones! I just hope he has reception at the time...

Happy New Year to you all....and see you in 2008!!!

And the homesickness begins...

Well, not homesick yet, but definitely sad to be leaving.

Yes Mom, I cried in the car when I left.

I'll probably dehydrate myself with all of the crying this week. Time is ticking by so rapidly now that I am overwhelmed with all of the visiting I still want to do. I'm slowly realizing that I just can't fit everyone in. And when I do see someone for the last time, it's hard to wrap my brain around that. Close friends I know I will hopefully see when I visit, but who knows when that will be....

Plans for New Years have been tough too. I want to do something with EVERYONE, but not everyone is friends with each other or can agree on what to do. In the end, I am choosing a quiet home party with a few friends and for those that I don't see tomorrow night I hope to see them during the remaining days and evenings I have left.

I am also not looking forward to the inevitable homesickness when I actually get to Halifax. The dog and the cat are not going to be thrilled with the extra cuddling I'm going to need. Did I mention that DBF and I only get 2 days together before he has to set off on his first sail on his new ship? Yup, that's right. New city, living in a hotel, and he has to leave right away. Booooo!

It's an exciting adventure for sure, but the lead up is not too terribly wonderful. I do not recommend embarking on a life-changing move at this time of the year. If we have the choice next time, we will certainly try to do it during a less emotional time of year!

Family Fun...over.... :(

Well, my time here at Mom's is coming to an end today. I'm heading back to Victoria today to stay with a friend for the remainder of my time on the West Coast. I fly out to Halifax on Friday night.

Today I have to repack my suitcases (trying to fit in my Christmas loot!), sort out all the extra crap in my car that I dragged up here from Victoria, clean the litter box for transport back to Vic, convince the cat to get back in his little carrying case for a while, and drive back to Victoria.

I am staying with a girlfriend who is returning from Edmonton tonight. So I will stop by her place to unload and get the cat settled, then I'm heading out for dinner without another friend and then meeting up with the first friend for drinks after that.

Who knew last minute socializing could be so stressful?!

DBF's time in Winnipeg is dwindling down and he is getting sad to leave his little boy. He has to leave in the next couple of days to drive to Toronto to visit his Mom on his way to Halifax. It's gonna be a tough drive with shitty weather conditions, but I have faith in him!

We will both be so happy when all this rigmarole is over!

I'm dreaming of a white....

...Thursday...?

Well I guess Mother Nature was trying to teach me a little about what Halifax weather will be like. Very little...haha.

Here in Nanaimo we awoke to a dusting of snow yesterday. Around noon it picked up and by the time we went out there were a few inches on the ground. Of course, it was typical south island snow and it was all wet, heavy and mushy. Not at all what I'm expecting out East.

It was pretty for a little while, but then just mainly gross to be out in. At least with the freezing cold temps in Nova Scotia, the snow might actually be pretty and dry enough to walk in and play in on occassion.

Who am I kidding? I am soooooo NOT prepared for what Mother Nature will be throwing at me out there!

Boxing Day

While others go crazy for Boxing Day shopping, my Mom and I turned Boxing Day into the family dinner day. For years, we scrambled to do presents in the morning and dinner in the evening. The family would barely have left for the afternoon when they would just have to turn around and come back for dinner. Mom never got to see anyone open anything because she was constantly in the kitchen stirring something, mashing something or basting something.

A long time ago we decided to start doing presents on Christmas Eve. It was the best idea the family ever had....until a few years ago.

Every Christmas the uncles would have to try to decide between our house or the inlaws'. They would always be letting someone down. Once my cousins got older, they preferred to go to the maternal grandmother's house....so our dinner table got smaller and smaller. Then one year we realized that it doesn't matter what day we do dinner, as long as we do it. So we do it on Boxing Day now. This way the uncles can do the inlaw thing and then they can do the family thing. Mom and I get a day off to relax and do nothing and then a whole day to prepare the meal without all the added stress of family yapping, yelling and ripping presents open.

This year, it was great. I got to sleep in, help stuff the turkey and then head out for coffee with a friend that I really wanted to see before I move. Then still had time to come home and help get the appies ready, make the salad, get the table set and get all the other assistant duties out of the way.

Just immediate family this year which was fun because that doesn't happen often. Turkey dinner was delicious and we have enough leftovers for turkey & stuffing sammiches with all the trimmings!

Five hours of prep and cooking for five minutes of eating. But somehow it's always worth it. :)

So, see that thing over there on the table...

...it's my camera!

That's right. Christmas has now pretty much passed by, and I haven't taken even one single picture. Whooops!

Every Christmas, and especially this year, I say I want to take more pictures. You've seen my blog...I document stuff. But for some reason, it never works out at Christmas!

Argh!

Christmas Loot!

In our family, we do our presents on Christmas Eve....well, aside from anything Santa might bring down the chimney of course!

I don't have any siblings, but my extended family of uncles, aunt, cousins and Grandpa always come over to Mom's house. It's been like that for as long as I can remember.

It used to be a slow process opening gifts when Grandma was alive, because she insisted on seeing EVERY present opened individually....it would literally take HOURS. Now, it's more of a whirlwind gong show...where everyone shows up and talks a lot and doesn't really pay much attention and all the gifts are open without much fanfair.

Last night was no different. I actually ended up waiting to open up the stuff from my Mom after most of the rest of the family had gone...so I could enjoy the opening and Mom could see me do it. :)

My Mom loved the luggage I got her...haha, so she can visit me in Halifax!! And she did a great job reading my Wish List and got me Gilmore Girls Season 6 (apparently not the final season, so I still need one more!), the new Jamie Oliver book, the car adaptor for my iPod, and a Starbucks gift card (woooooo!).

DBF is having a great time with his son in Winnipeg. They had a great Christmas morning and now there are tons of toys for them to both play with. I wish he could be here or I could be there, but it's pretty cool to hear the excitement in his voice about spending time with his boy. We'll have our Christmas together in Halifax.

Today, Mom and I are just hanging out watching festive movies and eating leftover snacks from last night. Tomorrow we will have some of the family back for the big turkey feast...mmmmmm.....mashed potatoes..... *drool. haha. It's good to relax with Mom and the cats and it is truly a great new holiday tradition for us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL (again)!!

A Christmas Story

It wouldn't be Christmas without it!

Santa's on his way...

Home Sweet Home

Ahhhh....nothing like a full night's sleep....except maybe a full night's sleep with no alarm clock!

After loading my piles of stuff from the hotel into the car, a lovely lunch with a girlfriend, picking up my new favorite Christmas drink (grande Christmas Blend egg nog misto!), and dropping the last bag of garbage into my friend's dumpster, the kitty and I hit the road for Mom's house.

Because we left later than planned, it actually worked in our favour....traffic was only mildly busy leaving town and once on the highway it wasn't abnormally busy at all. Driving Jen's car was a little different, but still good on the highway and comfy for both me and kitty.

Mr. Stoopy was none to impressed with being stuck in his little case, so I opened the top up so he could stick his head out. He seemed so forlorne that I decided to just let him step out of the case....he was sooooo happy! He sat on my lap for a little while...such a good boy! Then when he got sick of my knees moving from shifting gears he stepped back to the passenger seat...so I moved his case over and he curled right up on the seat just like it was the bed at home.

Once here at Mom's I let him out to meet her two kitties. They aren't too impressed, and he didn't seem thrilled either....but mainly they just do a lot of staring at each other and posturing.

All is well. Stoopy and I have our own room upstairs and once I went to bed he was happy to curl up and make himself at home. All is well in kitty land!

I slept for like 12 hours last night. Guess I needed it!! Of course, it made me late for the errands I had to run today, but I got em done. Whew! I'm pretty proud that I managed to pull off Christmas even through all the other crap I had to do this year. :)

Now I have tonight to just relax with Mom and the cats, then tomorrow is the big family gift exchange so I'll be up doing the snack trays, dips and treats... then we spend the evening with the family opening gifts and visiting.

Hope you all enjoy your holidays, wherever you may be!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

I'm homeless!

So I dragged my sorry ass out of bed about half an hour later than planned yesterday morning, but I was still at the mall before 9:00am so I figure I was doing good. I stopped for a huge coffee and breakfast sandwich, went to Zellers for Windex and I was on my way.

Starting at 9:30 gave me 4 1/2 hours to get the house cleaned and I used every last minute.

I'll give you the short play by play...

1) Living Room: cleaned all windows (5 floor to ceiling ones on the back wall, and three panes to make up the oversized picture window on the front wall) including all of the ledges, took out all hooks for the blinds, scraped candle wax off floor, mopped like a crazy woman.

2) Bedrooms (of which there are three): windows, general dusting of corners, mopping.

3) Bathroom: scrubbed from top to bottom, including removing fan cover and cleaning, wiping out medicine cabinet, wiped down gross toilet and floor by hand (it's actually easier than mopping it)

4) Hallway: dusted out closets, swept, wiped down all baseboards (for some reason the dog drools more in the hallway), mopping.

5) Kitchen: I had already wiped out half of the cupboards, so wiped remaining cupboards, cleaned counter tops, swept three times (it's was wicked dirty in there!), wiped a lot of dirt off walls from behind appliances, mopped like a mad woman, scrubbed sink when I was done mopping.

6) Basement: Picked up remaining debris and swept. That is all I could bring myself to do down there.

I never did get that baseboard back on....I just sorta pushed it up against the wall and left it there.

Housing guy showed up 20 minutes early, so I was still scrubbing the sink and organizing garbage/recycling when he came in. He was thorough but seemed to be in a hurry to get me outta there, so I basically just signed off and then shuffled out the back door.

Our buddy never showed up to pick up Arron's Firebird engine, so that was annoying, but because it's the weekend the housing guy said we can have til Monday before they'll haul it away. We don't want that so we've been harrassing our buddy non-stop. I wound up with another massive bag of garbage and three small boxes of recycling.....so the neighbors took the recycling (because they can put out an unlimited amount on the next pick up day) but I've brought the garbage into town and hopefully a friend can sneak it into her dumpster.....

Anyway, it's done!!!! I can finally relax and enjoy Christmas!

I even snuck in one final Chiropractor appointment on my way into town, and it was heavenly and I can still feel my tension releasing.

Funny enough, I even managed to grab a couple more prezzies yesterday in my travels so I'm doing OK on that front. I just need a few little things when I get to Nanaimo and I'm done. I am pretty proud that I was able to get that done throughout this gong show.

Last night I had dinner and drinks with some great friends, and although I was seriously tired, I was so happy to actually be dressed up and enjoying good food and company. It was nice to exhale and enjoy the night.

Today, kitty and I will pack up into the car and head up island to stay with my Mom for a while. Poor kitty just made himself at home here, and now I have to shove him back in his carrier and make him ride for two hours in a car to a house with two other kitties. Poor guy!

Someone wanted marshmallows apparently!

This is what all the lights and ruckus were about the other night:

Homeless set blaze in abandoned tunnel under Douglas Street

Holy F'ing Tired Batman

OK, so the light show last night was cool...until...the firetruck turned on it's pumper and continued to pump into the wee hours of the night. So much for my early night to bed and long, good night's sleep.

I dragged myself out of bed after barely 5 hours sleep, splashed cold water on my face, brushed my teeth and sleep-walked down to the car. Woke up enough to make it to Starbucks and the 40 min drive back out to the house to meet the movers for 9am.

Turns out that they'd been waiting for me since 8am. Nice. No one actually called and told me a time....I just asked the packer the day before and he said it's usually 9:00. I think an email to the moving company is in order, because that's just poor business.

Anyway, movers were super nice and all was good.

I hung out for a bit, cleaning out the fridge and packing up the things the packer said I couldn't take with me. (sidebar: you would not believe how many aerosol things we had...it's insane! cleaners, air fresheners, hairspray, WD-40, sunscreen, starch....you name it.) Because it's winter and things will freeze on the trip we aren't allowed anything liquid, or canned goods, or anything like that. So the food bank is going to get a fairly hefty donation from us.

At lunch I buggered off and went shopping for a sparkly shirt to make me feel more festive at a dinner I'm going to tomorrow night.

When I returned the truck looked pretty friggin full to me, but they ensured me that it would all fit. It's truly a science what these people do....like a massive, real life game of Jenga or Tetris or something.

I decided to go hang out with my neighbor while they finished up (I turned the heat off at home because they had the door open all day and I wanted to conserve my freshly filled oil tank, so it was bloody cold). When it neared the end, he and I stood in his driveway and watched them work out the puzzle of the last tiny bit of space with still a fairly hefty pile of our stuff to load.

Long story short, I ended up not being able to take my big plant. Not the end of the world because it would probably freeze and die anyway, but I have had it for 14 years (it was the first plant I got when I moved out) and it is super hearty so I thought I would try to take it. They said they could have squished it in, but it likely would have been tipped over or really squashed....so I decided it would live a better life with Jen and her fabulous green thumb.

I also gave up a wicker chaise lounge because it was just such an awkward shape they couldn't fit it in. Again, not the end of the world, but I couldn't help but wonder what they would have done if I had demanded that it go. They were super nice though, and she even offered to pay me for it, but I said to take it as a baby present (the driver's wife is very pregnant). It's only from Ikea and I want skookum new Adorondak chairs for the new place anyway.

Besides, the entertainment of watching them try to fit it in without wanting to let on that they just couldn't do it was totally worth it. :)

They had five different clients' stuff on that truck. Good thing we didn't have even one more box....or they really would have been screwed.

They finished up around 3:30, so I took a bit of time to get started on the sweeping, etc in the house while I waited for the next guy to show up to get my car. He came around 4:30, and I watched him check over my silver girl and load her up on his flatbed truck and take her away. It was sort of sad because I love her!!

I intended to keep cleaning until Jen came to pick me up, but I was just too tired and the neighbor offered me a drink. I happily accepted!

Then Jen came and got me, I helped her do some stuff at home while she packed for her trip, then I drove her in her car to the airport. I am using her car while she is away....how handy is that?!!

By the time I drove all the way back from the airport, got dinner and got back to the hotel it was after 8:30. Then I had to work for two hours. Lovely.

Now I'm off to bed where hopefully I'll be out within two seconds. So I can get up and go out there and clean the damn place tomorrow. Yippee. Not.

I forgot what it's like to live in the city!

Ooooooh, Mikey you'd be so jealous! I just got quite the show of flashing lights and sirens out my window.

Cop cars and fire trucks and rescue vehicles...oh my!

Blocking off at least a whole block of Douglas Street that I could see. Not sure what was up as it didn't seem like a dire emergency, but there was a fire truck stopped outside the National Rental Car place and a bunch of firefighters doing something at the back corner of the building. They were a bit too far around the corner for me to see, but there was banging and flashlights and such....I'm thinking maybe someone got stuck under the building or something. Stupid junkies!!

Anyway, it was a fun little show right before bed.

He's a travellin man!

Well, I was wrong. Didn't take long for the kitty to come out and make himself at home. He has already claimed one of the chairs as his own, and came over to headbutt me in the leg and let me know that he demanded to be pet.

"...here Mr. Stoopy...I have some treaties for you!"

...inspecting the room...

...making himself at home...

I can breathe!!

OMG! What a relief it is to finally be out of the house for a bit and in the comfort of my stylin' hotel room.

Not that I'm anywhere near done with the move-out, but for today I am.

I was up before the sun (thank God I remembered to set the coffee maker last night!) to be ready and at least dressed when the packer dude arrived. He was about 10 mins early so I'm glad I was up 20 mins before. 8am is not normally a reality in my world. Blech.

He was a packing machine!!! Dude packed my entire kitchen in under an hour and a half. Seriously impressive....that's a lot of full cupboards to deal with. He told me he'd be done by 1:00...I didn't think it was possible....but amazingly enough he was out that door by about 12:45.

He needed to pack up the office around 11:30 so I shut down my computer and moved everything I needed out to my car, along with my two suitcases, Xmas presents, and random other crap I didn't want packed. I took this extra time to take down the blinds (thankfully they just hang on hooks) and curtains and rods. I even scored a few extra minutes to vacuum out the window ledges.

After he finished up, I packed my poor kitty into his snazzy new carrier. It's a snug space, but he curled right up and fits just fine. He wasn't impressed, but he's more of a scaredy-cat than a fighter so I think he'll be OK for the flight. Poor Stoopy!

Our hotel room is pretty nice. Nothing fancy, but it ends up it has a kitchen which is cool. Not that I plan on cooking in the two days I'm here but at least I can grab yogurt or cottage cheese for breakies. I am looking forward to a solid sleep tonight, so hopefully the street noise isn't too bad. It's sorta loud right now because there is major condo construction across the street, but that will end by dinner time. Not sure what Stoopy thinks of the room....he went straight under the bed and I'll be surprised if he ever comes out.

Tomorrow I have to be back at the house for 9am to let the movers in. Not sure if I have to hang around all day or if I can leave. Hope I can leave. It probably depends on when the guy shows up to pick up my car.....I requested late afternoon, but it all depends on what is convenient for his schedule. If it's too early, I'm stranded out there until neighbor Jen can pick me up after she gets off work.

So much more to do (don't even mention the cleaning!) but for now I shall relax and enjoy this bit of time to myself. I have some work to do, but at least I know that nothing house related has to be done after that......

I can see the light.....

*Sigh....I'm getting tired! Thought I would sit down and organize my thoughts before finishing the rest of today's to-do...

The living room is now done, except for taking down the curtains (I'm sorta hoping the packer guy will do that)...and I'm just going to wait until everything is out of there to do the baseboard.

The kitchen is done, except for putting away the clean dishes when they are dry and cleaning the last few things out of the fridge.

The office is basically done, except for actually packing up my computer, router, camera, etc....but I need to work for at least an hour in the morning so packer dude will just have to wait.

Spare room was already pretty much done, so all I have to do is pull down the curtain (it's just a sheet on a couple of nails anyway).

For the rest of tonight I'm going to try to pack as much as I can of my clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc. Then I can just finish that up in the morning and drag the suitcases out to my car. I'll have a few other things to load up to, like Xmas presents, food I can take to the hotel, and a few odds and ends I have for my Mom or friends. Oh, and a stack of filing I want to get done so I can courier it to my boss before I leave (ugh).

I'm still waiting on some laundry, so hopefully I can get that all done and dry so I can go to bed at a decent time. The packer dude is supposed to be here at 8am....I honestly wanted to cry when I heard that....it's sooo early!!! Ah well, it's probably for the best because I'll have lots of stuff to do tomorrow.

Are you guys getting bored reading about all of this yet? I promise it's almost over and I'll try to get back to blogging about something more exciting!

Gingerbread Party

On Sunday night I had the pleasure of attending a Gingerbread House building party. A girlfriend of mine does this every year as her gifts to her friends. She bakes and cuts all of the pieces to build the houses and sets out a table full of candy and royal icing for us to work with.

She and her boyfriend put out treats, decadent cheeses and meats, homemade hoursdevours, and yummy wine.

It's a new tradition that I have grown to love!

I had never made a Gingerbread House before Ingmarie's first party three Christmases ago.

So, this was my third Gingerbread House EVER. And although I felt much more confident that I knew what I was doing, and we all thought we'd figured out some tricks since last year, this is not my best work. Generally I like to go for FULL candy coverage but this year I left some house showing....and my chocolate roof just wouldn't cooperate. I was being stubborn and determined to make it work, but in the end I wound up with a lopsided, cracked roof. Next time I'll try to remember not to be stubborn (ya right). Haha!

Thanks again to my good friend Ingmarie for a fun, festive time building houses. I hope that we can still continue to do this each and every year!! (Even if I'm not home in time for the party, save me a kit!)

Warming up for the to-do list

Whew! The furnace is now pumping it's little heart out and the temperature is heading back up to my toasty 20 degrees. Thank God!! Not sure exactly what the problem was, but the guy figures that probably air in the line or a blockage from running low on oil. Plus, pressing the reset button more than three times actually disengages it so that you can't flood the system...so that was the main problem.

So now my body is thawing out I can get a faster move on my day. It doesn't help that I have a full day of work today, in addition to all this moving stuff I have to do.

I still need to vacuum the damn sofa and loveseat...and get the baseboard on. I'm going to go do that as soon as I finish writing this. Oh, and I have to get the laundry done because the packers and appliance people are coming tomorrow and they want to pack the washer/dryer up first thing.

I think I'm going to have my shower after the vacuuming, then I can wash all of the towels, shower curtain and bathmat. I won't shower here tomorrow, I'll just wait until I get to my hotel in the afternoon. I wanted to wash all of the bedding too, so hopefully I can get that done tonight and I guess I'll just sleep on it for the one night and then fold it all up for the packers. That way it's basically fresh bedding for our first night in the new house.

Then some basic stuff like dishes and generally tidying to make sure I've taken care of everything for the packer. If I still have time, I'll make sure I have everything I'm going to need out of the office. If not, I can probably do that tomorrow...he can just start in a different room.

I will be so happy when this is over. Only a couple more days....I think I can, I think I can.

Furnace Rant

Two rants in two days...uh-oh!!

Today was not my best day. I'm quite cranky now. Not really because of the move, but because for some reason our furnace picked today to stop working!!

I thought it was just out of oil...which was a big enough pain in the ass because I had already arranged for a delivery on Thursday, so I had to call and get an extra one for today (I had to keep the Thursday one too because we have to fill the tank within the three days before inspection...and today is still five days....lame!). Anyway, they came with the oil to get me going...and after the truck drove away I ran downstairs to push the start up button...and....NOTHING!! Stupid thing didn't fire up. I checked the breaker, it's fine. So I have no idea what's wrong, but it was already after hours to call housing to arrange for assistance. So now the temp has already dropped to 16 degrees in here and it'll probably go down to like 10 overnight....guaranteed I'll be able to see my breath when I wake up.

Not cool!!! (yes I see the irony in that choice of words)

Plus I have to work from here tomorrow. I did this once last Winter when our power went out....I couldn't work because of no power, but I was stuck here in the freezing cold. During the day we went to Walmart or restaurants just to keep warm, but at night we still had to sleep here. Not fun.

I'll call in the morning, but I'll probably already be a human popsicle by the time they can do anything for me.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

It's sure quiet around here...

I am used to DBF being away (not that I like it!!) but usually the good old fur-machine doggy, Mojo is here to keep me company. I keep finding myself getting up from the office to wander into the kitchen or bathroom and waiting for the clickety-clack of his claws on the hallway floor.

Last night when I came home I expected him to be barking his fool head off and greet me at the door....it took me at least 10 full seconds to remember he's not here.

It's wierd.

Although it is especially liberating to have swept on Friday and not have to have done it since. :)

Here's a shot I had DBF take of me and the pooch on the night before they left. I thought it would be nice to have a "mother/son" shot but he was all wierded out and kept laying down instead of sitting! Poor guy. (At least I look cute in my new jacket!)

We got elfed!

Haha, DBF is so not going to be impressed! But this is cute and it took my mind off the move for a little while....

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1498074168

Extreme To-do List - Part Three - Monday

Again, I didn't quite get everything done yesterday that I wanted to, but all-in-all it was a good day. I was sooooo tired I didn't get a very early start, but I felt pretty accomplished at the end.

Today I have to for sure finish cleaning the oven, vacuum the furniture and get that baseboard back on!! Should be interesting since today is a work day, plus I really want to go to kickboxing tonight (I only have the opportunity for two more classes before I move...).

In addition to that stuff, I also have to:

1) cancel utilities - Shaw done, Hydro tomorrow
2) email the movers and tell them about the furniture we got rid of - done
3) call the movers to arrange pick up time for my car - done
4) clean out the fridge - done - ugh that's a whole lotta food given away or thrown out!
5) get all garbage together and out to the curb tonight - done

Not too bad, but it'll be interesting to see if I can fit it all in today.

Salvation Scrooge

Ýou know...I've actually been in a really good mood while having to deal with all of this stuff the last few days. Yesterday I was even proud of myself for keeping my cool while dealing with overzealous drivers in crazy parking lots. I just laughed to myself at their stupidity and bided my time waiting for my parking spots. All good!

But today I'm sorta pissed. How friggin hard do they have to make it to drop off donations somewhere in this city? I went to three different Salvation Army locations today and not one of them would take my stuff. One was closed and didn't have a drop box (not that my stuff would fit through the lame little opening in one of those boxes anyway) and had signs about fines for dumping. One was closed and actually went so far as to have a girl in her vehicle blocking the driveway and telling people that no donations could be dropped off today. The other was open, but only had those stupid drop boxes....and a HUGE sign saying DO NOT ENTER on the door and about 100 little "no dumping" signs.

I fully understand that a lot of senseless people dump garbage and useless crap off at these places....and that's why they've had to tighten up....but seriously....

Where the hell am I supposed to drop off my stuff??

I have some old dishes, crafting supplies, blankets, a fan and some other odds and ends. All of it either useful for sale or to keep someone warm....yet, because it doesn't fit into the tiny opening on the bin I can't drop it off. So it is all still sitting in my car....and I haven't a clue what I'm supposed to do with it. Had I known, I would have just had it all hauled away with the junk the other day....I thought I was doing a good thing by donating it.

The girl at the one place suggested I come back tomorrow. Well honey, I have a friggin job and toting my stuff to Sally Ann in the middle of a work day isn't an option.

I now understand why people "dump" after hours. It seems to be the only way.

Argh. Rant over.

Extreme To-do List - Part Two - Sunday

We are having a bit of a windstorm today...booooo. Should make the loading of stuff into the car for the Salvation Army a bit interesting. And I think mother nature likes my car all dirty and dog-hairy!

Here's today's list:

1) Clean oven (oh the joy!) - sprayed but not cleaned
2) vacuum sofa & loveseat (don't wanna move all that doghair to the new house)
3) reattach missing baseboard in dining room (hope that's as easy as banging the nails in...)
4) take all donations to Salvation Army - you all read how that turned out...grrr...but done
5) attempt #2 at washing and cleaning car (come on weather, please cooperate!) - 2/3 done...good enough if I don't get it totally done
6) attempt #2 at finding appropriate kitty kennel (if I don't find one today, I could be in trouble) - done!
7) burlap for house plants
8) drop of gift for neighbor girl that kitty-sitted (I should have paid her two weeks ago when she did the job!!) - done!
9) MAKE GINGERBREAD HOUSE AND ENJOY FESTIVE NIGHT WITH FRIENDS!! - yippeeeee....done!
10) remember to put out recycling for tomorrow morning - done

A few things have been bumped until later in the week when I'll be staying in town. ie: honey's shoes. There are a few other things I had wanted to put on today's list, but I'm learning my limits. Time is not on my side!!

To-do List taken to a new extreme!

Well, I made out OK, but not quite as well as I had hoped. Some stuff just takes toooooo long!

It took forever to load all of the empties into the car, and triple forever to sort them at the depot. I really have to make sure we don't pile them up for 7 months at a time in the future. I did make $24 though!!

The cleaning of my car didn't happen. Mainly because it was raining all day and by the time it let up I just didn't have the time or the inclination anymore. I'll try again tomorrow.

I did really good with the Christmas shopping! All of the major stuff is done....just a few secondary gifts left to get and a couple of GCs that can be picked up whenever. I even managed to find a gift for a friend who's bday falls 2 days before Christmas. Now I just have to make sure I have the stuff to wrap everything!

I scored at Lulu! I was disappointed because I really wanted a Remix Hoodie, but when I got there they only had white and these awful orange ones. (sorry if you like orange, but I don't and I look terrible in it...) So I grabbed a white one just in case and then wandered around. I found FANTASTIC pants....they look like pinstripe dress pants, but made from stretchy material and then have cute pockets and stuff (I think they are called "carry-less"). Then, as I wandered back to the front of the store they were putting out new hoodies. Yaaaieeee! They had new ones with a funky pattern all over so I grabbed one. But when I went to try it on, my girlfriend came and told me that they had put out purple ones too....so she grabbed one for me. It is AWESOME! And the best part is that I used to wear a size 10 there, so I'd been trying an 8, but I actually needed a 6! So I got the pants and the hoodie and I'm stoked! If I have any money left after Xmas I'm going back for some original Lulu pants too. :)

I went to American Eagle, but was sorely disappointed in the toque. It was way too big for me and the pom-pom stuck out and looked ridiculous....and not cute-ridiculous...just ridiculous. So I shopped around a bit for something else, but ended up leaving empty handed. Ah well! If I still feel the urge for a new toque or scarf or something, I might get that at Lulu too!

I didn't get DBF's shoes because I forgot to take his GC. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow.

I couldn't find a cat carrier, so I definitely have to keep looking tomorrow. It has to be a soft-sided one of a certain size to be allowed on the plane. Petcetera didn't have any, and the ones that PetSmart had were too big by about 3 stupid inches. I'll try the smaller pet shops tomorrow...Bosley's and such.

Didn't get the burlap for the plants either....hmmmm, what did I do today?? I guess that's on tomorrow's list too!

And I decided to just phone Silk Road to book my massage since stopping there was out of my way and parking is impossible.

Now I have to sort through everything and check my list and budget. Then tomorrow I do it all over again.... at least I get to build a Gingerbread House tomorrow night!!

Extreme To-do List - Part Two - Saturday

Let's use this Saturday to it's full potential!

1) return all empties (77 trips up and down stairs to load them into car) - done - OMG $24!
2) wash, vacuum, and ArmorAll my car (finally, no more doggie....plus I want it clean for shipping)
3) Christmas shopping (attempting to break some sort of record and get all the major stuff done in one day) - mostly done
4) LuluLemon to spend my GC (oh please let there be a hoodie in a good colour!) - done - awesome purple!
5) pick up DBF's shoes (forgot to spend his bday GC before he left today)
6) buy a kitty kennel (for Stoopy to travel in style and comfort)
7) buy some burlap to wrap house plants (gonna see if a few of the hearty ones maybe survive the trip in the truck)
8) buy oven cleaner, rubber gloves & kitty litter (hello, Zellers!) - done!
9) American Eagle for new toque, mitts, and maybe a sweater (hehe, I love the excuse that Halifax actually has Winter so I can buy this stuff) - done, but didn't buy anything - booooo!
10) book massage at Silk Road (I'm soooo gonna need it...what a great bday gift!)

OK, there's other stuff, but I think this is really all I can do in one day. I am Bi0nicwoman, not Superwoman!

Edit: 8 long hours of running around...... see new post for details.

To-do List - Extreme Edition - Part One

Instead of one big to-do list, I think I'll just start with this small one and lead on to other small ones. Then it won't seem so overwhelming.

Who am I kidding? It's all bloody overwhelming!!

First things first.... Right now I am going to....

1) Tidy house - done!
2) Do dishes - done!
3) Prep laundry - done & started
4) Clean up workstation - done
5) Write weekend to-do lists - doing right now!

Edit - 5 hours later..... all of the above done, plus I cleaned out all of the cupboards of any food we can't/don't want to take, and dusted everything, and washed the dog's bed and blankets.....

Elvis Presley - Aloha From Hawaii

So last night after our festive Christmas outing to see lights and eat copious amounts of food, DBF and I came home to enjoy a lovely bottle of wine, the Shaw TV Christmas fire, and some Christmas music. Then we decided to watch this!

Happy Winter

Do this!!

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm

(yaya, I stole it from The Zone email...)

He's Gone!

At 5:30 this morning, I kissed DBF goodbye for the last time at this house, in this area code, on this coast, in this city, island, and province. That was our Christmas and New Years kisses all rolled into one.

He and the dog set off for their road trip adventure to Winnipeg for the holidays. This is his last chance to see his son before our big move to Halifax, and possibly his last chance until late Spring (because of his work schedule) so he had to go while he has the time.

The cat and I have been left to man the homestead and take care of the move-out. I will stay here until the official march-out (well, those last three nights we'll be in the hotel), then will head up island to stay with my Mom through Christmas. After that, I'm homeless, but will stay with friends through New Years.

DBF is making the drive to Winnipeg in one 24 hour stint. He's nuts!! Once there, he'll have two full weeks with his boy and hopefully New Years with his friends or family. Then he'll drive to Toronto to visit his Mom, then one more day through to Halifax.

I am flying out with the cat on the red-eye on the night of Jan-4th in order to meet up with him in Halifax for the 5th. We will have "our" Christmas that weekend, then he starts work on the Monday.

Until then, kitty and I are a team! We are used to DBF being away, but usually have the dog for company. It's only been a few hours, and the house already seems so empty. *sniff sniff

Another Hotel? - Check!

Yup, that's right, hotel living before we even leave town!

While the movers are here packing up the house, I obviously would have a little trouble living here....so good old DND puts us up in a hotel for three nights.

Took a while to get the list, but WOW there were tons to chose from. I went through and found the best ones that offered pet friendly rooms, then settled on the one that didn't charge excessive amounts for the pets or parking.

I used to live two blocks from the Executive House and always wanted to check it out, and now I will!

Got Junk? - Check!

We sorted through the basement and a few closets and came up with a pretty decent sized heap of junk to be hauled away. Amazing what can be accumulated without even knowing it. We just slogged it all out to the driveway so the 1-800-GotJunk people can come haul it away.

They charge based on how much room your shit takes up in their truck, so I'm hoping they are good at cramming everything into nooks and crannies....cuz right now it looks like a lot. If they can squish it all together I think it won't be tooooo bad, then I can get them to take away the spare bed too.

No sense hauling stuff to Halifax if we're just gonna get rid of it in the next few months anyway.

Edit: Got Junk came and quoted an UNBELIEVABLE $470! They say that they'd just call it a full truck. Get real. If there was half a truck there we'd be surprised. DBF sent them away! Conveniently, however, there is a guy working on the house next door that overheard this and said he'd take it all away for $150 cash. Good timing!

DBF promised me a nice guest room and I'm gonna get it!! New bed and all. Gotta entice my West Coast friends to come for lots and lots and lots of visits. :)

There's always a catch!

Remember I mentioned that we stopped by DBF's new ship while we were in Halifax? They were awesome enough to tell him to report on Jan-7th instead of Jan-3rd....which is great. It gives him extra time to relax after New Years and such. The drive there was going to run right over New Years Eve, but now it doesn't have to!

The catch?

He sails on Jan-8th!! haha, Welcome to Halifax!

So, that first week I'll be living in style all alone at the hotel with the pets. At least I'll be able to work and such, but evenings are gonna be boring. I think the dog and I will be piling into the car and checking out the area. I also forsee a hotel room party with the 4 people I actually know in Halifax! :)

The good part is that the ship also offered to bring him back for a few days in the middle of the sail so we can close on the house and get our furniture, etc in. Nice!

Hotel? - Check!

One thing off my stress-out list. We found a great hotel in Halifax to stay in while we wait for our house to close. Pet friendly and everything....and not a dive! It's almost exactly half way between our new place and downtown, so it will be easy to get around....and to drive past and stalk our new house whenever we want!

We saw it while we were there and it has recently undergone a hefty renovation so hopefully the rooms are as nice as they look online. They offer FREE internet in the rooms, so I won't have to pay anything extra to be able to work. There's a new fitness room and an indoor saltwater pool, as well as a hot tub. Normally I don't bother with hotel pools, but since we'll be "living" there I might just have to check it out. I don't think I've ever been in a saltwater pool before. What's up with that?

The room doesn't have a microwave unfortunately, but it does have a fridge....so at least I can make salads & sandwiches and have somewhere to keep yogurt and milk. We get money for food each day, but I'd rather have some groceries on hand then eat out for EVERY meal. There is a restaurant in the the hotel though, so if we really feel like some toast or soup or something we can get it.

It is close to a lake with walking trails apparently, but we'll have to see how the weather is. Our doggy has been missing his daily walks since I've been so busy (and lazy) so maybe we can get a few winter walks in while we are there.

All in all, it's a load off my mind. A homey place for us, the dog, and the cat to hang out until our real home is ready for us!

The hotel's resident dog, Cocoa.

DBF's Work Party

At least we started out looking pretty hot.....

Let's just say I shouldn't do Fireball shooters with Navy guys after eating next to nothing all day. I didn't go home as pretty as I went in. LOL. It was fun until then though!!

Xmas Cards? - Check!

Yaaaieeeee! Saturday DBF was out most of the day, so I sat down and got all of my Christmas cards done. I had thought those might end up being sacrificed this year because I just wouldn't find the time, but nope! I got em done and all mailed out on time.

Corporate Whore Review

Starbucks Christmas Blend is sooooo yummy this year! Smooooooth. Hardly needs sweetening. Love it!!

Who wants to clean our house?

It will be empty. Not even appliances. Just floors, windows, cupboards, and the bathroom really. Piece of cake right?!

Apparently a move-out date of Dec-21st is not convenient for finding a last minute cleaning service. It's the last Friday before Christmas. Everyone is booked....and has been booked since like September!

Yes, I could do it myself, but I will be alone and have about a zillion other things to do....so not interested in cleaning the house by myself. DND gives us $100 just for this purpose. Of course, if I can't find anyone to do it, it's a moot point.

If you know anyone that will come to Metchosin on the morning of Dec-21st and clean our house (they have to provide a receipt) PLEASE let me know!!

Discontinued!

Booooooo! I heard back from the realtors and the sellers are not interested in parting with any of their furniture. They did say that the sofa was purchased at Sears and gave us the model, but alas it looks as though it has been discontinued. *sniff sniff

It's definitely not on their website, so we'll check with the actual store to see if it's something that can be ordered in, but it looks as though the hunt will have to continue.

Isn't that always the way!

House Photos

The MLS listing for our house came down today (sort of cool....seems so official now!) so I put together a small album on Facebook of the few shots I took during our second viewing. I don't have a picture of the yard or deck unfortunately, and the shots I do have were taken quite hastily, but they are still good enough to get the idea.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32375&l=de573&id=545200099

This is the public link, so any of you should be able to view it. If not, let me know.

Oh how sweet!!

Look what DBF just brought me...just because!!!!

We can't really do any Christmas decorating this year because of the moving and such (which disappoints both of us!) so he thought I'd enjoy some flowers with a Christmas theme.

Boys can sure surprise ya!

I love spontaneous flowers for no reason. It's just the best!!! and being festive flowers is even better!!

Winter Weather Gear

DBF would say I have a closet full of coats, jackets, gloves and hats. I would say he's right but that most of the stuff is only mildly useful for actual cold weather. And I am going to donate a fair portion of it before we move. I plan to be more careful with my outerwear purchases and make sure to get things that are actually practical.

First and foremost I need a toque. The ones I have aren't lined and don't really keep the wind out of my ears. And after the wind hurt my ears last week while visiting Halifax, I realized that a good toque is my main priority.

I think this one from American Eagle will do perfectly. Functional and cute!! Now, what color??

1st runner up

In our search for the perfect sofa and loveseat, we thought we'd check out The Brick here in Victoria to see if they offered anything different than the Halifax store. While they all carry the same stuff, the store here had different things on the showroom floor.

We found this Cindy Crawford leather set. It's not the same as the one we love, but so far it's the front runner in the search. The seats aren't quite as deep, and the bicast leather is a bit too shiny for my liking, but we can make it work and wear it in.

We will continue to look though!

New Look

I figured since this blog is no longer about DBF being away, but more about our new adventures together, that the page needed an update. New stuff, new look, new fun!!

Furniture Frustrations

See the couch that's in our new house?? The one that the previous owners have....

We've looked in all of the big stores we can find here in Halifax and we can't find it. We LOVE it. We want THIS one. All similar ones don't compare. It's very hard to like anything else when this one caught our eye.

Halifax readers: Any ideas where we will find this??

(We already tried The Brick, Ashley, Sears Home, Lane, and tried to find Leon's but took a wrong turn and never actually went there....)

How long does it take...

....to get the SOLD sign on our house?!

We've driven by it every day, hoping the sign would go up before we leave... but NOOOOOOO, it's still not up.

Bugger!

It's Official!!

Taaadaaaa!

The financing is confirmed, the inspection is complete, the insurance is set up. Everything is signed and happy, happy, happy!

It's all ours!!! "Casa del Wilson-Butler" (or as DBF would likely prefer "Casa del Butler-Wilson").

MLS #40827891. Click here to see it while it's still on MLS.

It's in a Halifax suburb, Beechville Estates...or as we like to call it "Little San Francisco" because of the style of houses and way they are in a row up the hill on the street. Only 15 minutes from downtown...less than 5 minutes to Bayers Lake Shopping, etc.

The pictures don't do it justice....the colors are better in person.... especially the kitchen which we just love. We didn't get our rec room, but there's a den that's big enough for DBF to have his guitar room so we are happy with that. Of all the houses in the neighborhood, ours actually has a decent yard....not huge, but at least useable, unlike the others we saw. Plus a deck big enough for a BBQ and full size table and chairs for entertaining....we'll add stairs for convenience into the yard. The floors on the main level are lovely wood and ceramic, and although there is carpet upstairs and in the rec room, it is bearable colors and easily replaceable if we really want to. The previous owners had great taste and took the time to update all of the light fixtures throughout the house, and put in nice mirrors in the bathrooms, and really cool 16x16 "Santa Fe" ceramic tiles in the kitchen. They even included the matching stand alone pantry for the kitchen...which we hadn't expected so that was very cool.

The best part is the bedroom window. That big three pane window with the huge, arched window above it. We have the only one like that in the whole neighborhood. It's beautiful!!! and the custom fit blinds came with it!

We are stoked!! Now we're on the hunt for new furniture. :) Can't have a new place with our stuff that's looking worn and boring. We want the couch that's in the house now....it's getting to the point where we just want to get our realtor to find out where they bought it.

We already picked out the new TV and home theatre system.....to be delivered 2 days after we close.

Jan-15th and we're in!!

For those of you in Victoria....this place cost us only $214K...bwaaahaaahaha. :)

We is homeowners!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Pending the inspection tomorrow and the final approval of the mortgage folks, we own our own home!!

How fast are we? Looked at 10+ houses yesterday, and number 3 won the race. Went back and took a second look, made an offer, and sat back waiting for the sellers' answer. Their counter offer was exactly what we expected, so we agreed with one condition. Instead of accepting the condition they knocked an extra $1000 off the price and the deal was done.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Today we have made our calls to the lawyer, inspector and mortgage broker. Off to the bank for insurance and the money order for our deposit. Barring anything unforeseen we are officially homeowners.

Did I mention yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!!!

I'll keep you in suspense as to the actual details until it's all said and done, but I don't think you'll be waiting too long. I will tell you that it's only 3 years old so we're positive the inspection will go perfectly. And the people have excellent taste so aside from a couple of rooms that need painting we won't have anything to do to the house.

Yahooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

How excited are we?!!!

Working it out...

How do you do that strikethrough thing on here?? I was going to go back and cross things off my to-do list, only to realize that I don't know how!!

Well, I got through some of the main stuff...

Desk is cleaned.

Banking is mostly done. Bills are paid (except MasterCard because my own math doesn't make sense to me and I think I overpaid my share....shhhh....don't tell anyone I'm a bookkeeper!). Xmas funds have been put aside.

GST is all sorted out and filed online (however it's not paid because even though CRA says you can pay online, Royal Bank doesn't seem to support that option....but that's a rant I'm just not into ranting right now!).

DBF and I sent our list of MLS houses we want to see to our Halifax realtor (he already poo-poo'd two of them, but did offer up a few other options).

Thank you cards have been bought and I'm about to write them out when I'm done here. Hopefully I can find their addresses through information online.

I also bought new Xmas cards today, so maybe I'll work on my mailing list while watching TV tonight.

I didn't get the empties into the car yet, but I think I'll do that tomorrow. My official car-cleaning plan may get waylaid until we return because DBF still needs a new tire for his car, so it looks like doggy goes to daycare in my car. Boooo!

The househunting to-do list is a moot point now. We're ready to go. Mortgage sorted out. Realtor worked out. Inspector on call. Lawyer didn't call back, so nothing we can do until Monday now anyway. We just need to book our rental car tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will definitely put together those spreadsheets for the "wants" and "don't wants" for househunting. At least I was smart enough to print out the MLS listings of all of the houses we plan to look at....that's a start.

I did manage to add two more important things in too.... 1) remembered to ask the girl next door to look after my cat while we're away 2) gave myself a manicure.

DBF was very, very sick today so hopefully he kicks the bug overnight. Tomorrow we do these last minute things and pack for the trip. We're outta here on a 6:30am flight on Sunday morning!!

Wishlist

While doing item number one on my list...cleaning up my desk...I found several little sticky notes with "wishlist" items. Since Mom and DBF often ask me for gift ideas, I thought I'd just add them to my blog.

So, look over there -----> and scroll down!

Now you all know what to buy me for Xmas!!

Operation Organization

I'm going to start right now!!

My desk has been neglected for a while now. Time to sort, organize, and file again.

I need to do my banking. There are bills sitting here needing to be paid. There is GST that needs to be calculated and paid (past due...I NEVER do that!). There are funds that need transferring. Xmas money to be put aside. Credit cards to be consolidated into my line of credit.

I need to make my official list of MLS houses for DBF to add to his list for the real estate agent TODAY!

Thank you cards need to be written. Those girls threw a fantastic party for little old me and they deserve at least thank you cards!! (hmmmm....probably should go shopping for said cards....and get their mailing addresses....)

A house hunting to-do list needs to be made (even if DBF likes to keep his list in his head).

Checklist spreadsheet for house buying. As has been pointed out several times now, by the time we've seen more than 5 houses we aren't going to remember everything. Best to have a note-list to go with the digital pics we'll take.

I need to start the multiple humongous to-do lists for this move.

An Xmas shopping list (with budget!) needs to be written.

Oh god, my Xmas card list needs to be written. And while I'm at it, I might as well start writing the cards. (I guess I'll go dig that box of leftover cards out from last year while I'm thinking of it.)

I need to load the empties into my trunk (when DBF comes home from work).

Time to clean out the closet for "donations" again. Better get DBF to his too. No sense packing useless stuff to Halifax with us.

Sort through the pile of stuff in the basement and decide what's "sell", what's "keep", what's "toss", what's "donate". Like our very own episode of Clean Sweep!

Saturday has been designated "Clean BionicWoman's car because the dog won't be going in there again for a long, long time" day. (My beautiful shiny leather interior needs some serious TLC.)

Oh geeze, you know it's bad when your to-do list is actually a list of other to-do lists. Thank God it's a slow work day (Thank you American Thanksgiving...gobble, gobble). I'm on it now. My stress level just increased 10-fold.