That virtue Patience? Yeah, I don’t haz it. April 1, 2012

There are boxes everywhere in this house right now. Mostly because Tiny has been playing in them all, but you know… I’m aiming to fill two boxes per day for the next week and a half, and hopefully by then everything will be packed. (And if it’s not, I’m tempted to just leave it here…) I’m sure there will be a crunch, but right now Mr. and I are making ourselves feel like we’re doing okay on the packing front. Even though we’re not really doing okay on the packing front.

We’ve started getting short with each other in our tiny little kitchen, bumping into each other over morning toast and coffee, muttering about the stupid dishwasher, the f*cking noisy washer, the only one bathroom. (First world problems all, I know.) Both of us are getting anxious to move, to have space to spread out, to have more than one washroom, a dishwasher that works well, a garden, etc., etc. But. I’m going to miss this house. We’re a five minute walk to one of the nicest beaches in Vancouver. We visit the beach at least once a day, if not three or four times. This whole community makes a point of going to the boat launch to “check the tide”. It’s lovely. We have a beach close to the new house, but I think it’s going to be more of a walk (20 minutes in toddler time equals what, an hour?), and it doesn’t have as much sand. (Wow, first world problems, I haz them!) I think I will miss (a leetle) the coziness of this house – we can hear Tiny playing in his room from the kitchen, and it takes about 10 paces to get there if it sounds like there’s a problem. This house tops my list of favourites, but I’m sure the new house will make it very close to the top of that list in no time.

To add to the stressy feelings, we’re short on help for moving day (so if any of you want to come on by, we’ll spring for pizza and beer!), so Mr. called one of his good friends back east today to see if he wanted to come out for a “working vacation”. My awesome brother will be here to help load the truck up on this end, but at the other end, despite the fact that those were my old stomping grounds, I have few resources.  So our eastern Canadian friend can help unload the truck, then the boys can go off to Whistler for a ski trip while I put everything exactly where I want it! Mr. said he would feel bad about leaving me to unpack, but my inner control freak was jumping up and down cheering. Is it just me who does that?

Much love to all!

It’s a Long Road… March 24, 2012

Well, that’s it! Finally our little beach house is sold, and our little bit bigger rural house is bought. We move in the middle of April. Mr. went hunting for boxes already, and I’ve started filling them. We freecycled an Ikea desk that just won’t fit, and the box stacking has begun.

Side note: I used to hate moving because I couldn’t stand seeing how pitiful my life looked packed into a bunch of boxes. Now though? I kind of like it. It’s a good opportunity to purge stuff, and it’s maybe the only time my house is super organized.

So we’re heading up to the Sunshine Coast. Mr. has been trying to get me up there for 7 years. But I’m stubborn, and a wannabe city girl. (Another side note: autocorrect accepts wannabe as a word. Huh.) It took the arrival of Tiny to realize the there were more important things to life than how long it takes to get to Granville Island.

I have had this dream of making less impact in the earth for a long time, and have been working towards it. But the place we’re in right now doesn’t have any space for a garden, and our neighbours would freak out if we got chickens. Those were two big things I’ve been wanting for a while. So, that was part of the deal; we move there, and I get a garden and chickens. Of course, Mr.’s going to say yes, because he gets more room, a garage, a shop, and the Coast.

So now we’re talking about all the different ways we can reduce, reuse, lessen our impact, etc., etc. What I’ve found is that if Mr. is unsure about some of the ideas I suggest, I just have to reframe them in the context of the “zombie apocalypse”, and he’ll reconsider. It’s a dirty trick, but it’s also kind of funny.

So I’ve been pinning like crazy these days – most ideas and plans for gardens, chicken coops, and other cool home stuff. I can’t wait to put some of this stuff in motion! It’s an exciting move, much more exciting than I had initially thought it would be. I’m looking forward to being closer to my mum, and to taking Tiny to all the great beaches and lakes I grew up on. I’m really excited to start my own garden again, and to using that fabulous kitchen to preserve all the (hopefully) extra stuff we grow.

I “borrowed” the photos off the realtor’s website, so for now, here are a few shots of the new house! There will be more, I promise.

Much love to all!

Counting blessings. Again. March 7, 2012

Whoa. Seriously. I’m about as frustrated as I can be with this whole real estate process now. It’s been time after time of our realtor promising us that our subjects will come off, and then at the last minute, telling us that something’s come up with their other client, and that they’ll need an extension. So we heard this evening, again, that the buyer will need an extension because of some financing shenanigans somewhere down the line, and how FOR SURE everything will be settled by Friday. (Riiiight….)

So Mr. and I discussed it over dinner, and we’ve decided to give until Friday, and then that’s it. We “pull the plug” on this realtor, and sign with the competition. (How’s that for a slap in the face?) We’ve found a house close to the ideal area for an excellent price, and it’s beautiful! As beautiful as all those other places I’ve posted. I’m not going to post any pictures of this one because it’s like a tease. If and when we get it, I’ll jam up the lines with pictures of the joint!

So then, after we’d got done talking it over, and Mr. was still looking pretty despondent over the dishes (maybe it was the dishes?), I suggested that maybe we count our blessings instead of our disappointments. And it seemed to work! We’ve got a great little family; we live in a lovely area in a sweet little house; we’ve got family and friends who love us, and whom we love; we’re healthy; we live in one of the best countries in the world; we have a good income….On and on it goes. Seriously? We’re so fortunate that it makes it hard to be disappointed about anything for very long. It’s stressful to deal with this real estate debacle, but you know? It’s okay. We’ll make it through all of this. I know it.

Much love to all!!

A real estate update February 21, 2012

For all of you (super sweet people!) who are following the debacle that is our real estate situation these days, the gorgeous house with the cottage, shop and gardens has passed us by. We were approved for the mortgage from the bank without a blink, and then the CMHC sent out an appraiser to assess the value of the property. He loved it! So we were sure we were in the clear for it. Then, a day or two went by and we didn’t hear happy news from our mortgage guy. Then we did. He said the CMHC had done a second assessment because the first appraiser hadn’t used current numbers. The second assessor did not move from their desk, but compared this amazing house with that amazing view and all of that wonderful spirit to a bunch of other listings for houses that were nowhere near as nice, but that had sold in the area, for nowhere near the price. Then he (or she) valued the house at almost $100,000 less than the selling price. Boo. Meaning we would have had to have made up the difference in the down payment. Which, not being gazillionaires, we couldn’t. All because the property was “rural”. Which it is, but then EVERYTHING is rural up there! Gah!

So, we put in an offer on our second-favorite house. It is GORGEOUS!! Like I can’t even describe how amazing it is! It’s fairly new, is MASSIVE, and has a suite in the basement for a bit of a mortgage helper. It’s in our preferred location, on an acre of land, gets good sun for gardens, is zoned for chickens, and is close to some very good friends of ours. Problem is: Buyer’s Remorse. Big time. The mortgage is higher – doable, but higher, so Mr. will need to work as much as if we stay here. The house itself, though amazing, show home quality, is not *quite* us. The gardens are not there yet; we would have to put them in. There is a decent list of things that are not quite right and it’s making us nervous. So, now we wait. Because at this end of things, this house is not yet officially sold. The buyer wants it badly, but their house is not sold, and there has been hold up after hold up on their sale and their financing and everything. It’s been a frustrating time, let me tell you. We have only a couple of days till the offer expires on the second favorite house, and at this point, we’re both hoping it just quietly goes away. I’m not posting any pictures because, well, I’m just not.

I’ve had enough real estate excitement for a while. I’d like to find a place, sell this one, move, and get on with our lives. But, I will continue in this holding pattern for a while longer because what else am I going to do? And, when eventually this place sells, I am going to open a really nice bottle of wine and have a giant cry of relief.

Much love to all!

Acceptance December 30, 2011

After all the intensity of the other house, there is yet more real estate drama to report. After wondering for weeks why we didn’t get a good feeling for the “wonder house”, we decided to just accept that there was something about it, and move on. Search after search after search on the MLS website showed so many houses – overwhelming, really. Mr. had a wider parameter for his searches than I did, but I stuck to my guns and fought him when he got out of bounds. We took a few trips up, looking at various places, but not finding the place that really “wowed” us. Finally, after torturing Tiny with a six house visit, I decided that was enough. Mr. found a few more places to look at, and we agreed that he would just take video footage of them, and that if anything popped out at me, we would go for another visit all together.

Well. Find a place he did. Actually, he found 3, but only one had the same cozy feel that our little beach house has. So…after 7 years of him trying to get me to move up there, I told him to go ahead and put an offer in on the house! Without even having seen it physically! I am going to try and accept whatever comes; I have a feeling that if I don’t fight things, my life will be a lot easier.

Here we go – loads of room, a great view, garden space, zoned for chickens, and with a tenanted cottage as a mortgage helper!

Isn’t it lovely? It’s got a great dining room, which leads out onto that big ole patio, which has an amazing view of the ocean! Mr. is ridiculously excited to sit out with a beer and just stare. I’m ridiculously excited about the garden, and about having chickens! (CHICKENS!) There’s loads of extra bedrooms, so of course, we expect guests (I’m lookin’ at you!)…

So, we countered back and forth a couple of times, and settled on a number. So now we’re waiting for our place to sell…oh goody…open houses…Will keep you all posted!

Much love to all!

Breathing December 16, 2011

Things happen for a reason. We truly believe that if we’re meant to do something, it will come to us easily and without struggle. So, we made our offer on the house, and it was met with a ridiculously high counter offer. We hadn’t had a good feel for the seller’s realtor from the beginning, so we decided to let it go and not make a higher offer. He had informed us that there was another couple interested in making an offer, and we were not interested in a bidding war, so we said Thanks but no thanks. Our own realtor called us yesterday to say that the seller’s realtor wanted to know why we weren’t countering, and that there was indeed no other couple interested. Funny. So the hunt continues for the perfect house that sings to us and calls for us to make it our home. We shall see. We shall breathe.

Much love to all!

Suspense December 13, 2011

So, it’s done. We made an offer on the house in my old stomping grounds (or close enough to my old stomping grounds anyway..). Our pretty little beach house is up for sale, and we’re waiting on the signs to go up on the lawn. We’ll be having an open house for the realtors on Friday, and a public open house on Sunday. (Which kind of sucks because I’m a bit of a slob and now I have to keep the house clean…sigh…)

Funny thing is, the Mr. and I talked about it after our realtor left with the signed papers, and we are both a bit sad to leave here, even though the other house is amazing, and interesting, and on loads of property, etc. etc. After the way we came across this house, though, it seems like the universe wants us to be here, and we both kind of feel like we’re fighting against where we’re supposed to be. So…

We find out Thursday about our offer. Till then we’ll clean, and paint, and tidy, and reorganize. Once we hear, then we’ll make whatever next step feels right to us.

Much love to all!

Rollin’ on with the changes… December 10, 2011

So I’m wondering again why I called this blog Buying Karma. I don’t feel like I’m doing much of that, unfortunately. Oh, I have good days where I feel like I’m contributing to the world, but lately I’ve been having a lot more where I feel like a failure at so many things. It’s a terrible feeling, but really it makes me think a little harder, and pay more attention to my actions and my words. I guess I’m glad for that but wow is it ever nasty to go through!

If you remember, I was looking for signs from the Universe about Mr.’s work situation. I thought I had found one, but I think it was really *just* a seal. Oh well. Enter Plan E (or F or G or H, I can’t keep track!). Mr. has been trying to get me to move back to my home turf for 7 years! I was holding out for the perfect house in the perfect community, and it seems like it might finally have come. It’s a big funky house on a 2.5 acre plot that shares 16 acres with 5 other houses. There’s a workshop on the property, a greenhouse, a garden plot, plus a community garden. A studio (!) in the house, loads of windows and skylights. A 10 minute walk from the beach, a 10 minute walk to friends’, a half hour (or so – depends who’s driving) driving from my mom. In a community that embodies most of our values and accepts almost anyone no matter what. Never mind that the mortgage would be a clear $100,000 less than what we have now, meaning that Mr. would have much. less. stress. So … why am I so hesitant about this?

Our realtor came yesterday and we signed all the papers to put our cute little beach house on the market. It was a very sad moment; I love this little house. Anyway, last night there was much discussion about the old house, the new house, feelings (blech!) and such. After a couple of hours, I felt better, and it looks like we’ll put in an offer on the new place and see what happens. On the positive side (I think), I imagine there will be all manner of trials and tribulations, and I have a feeling that I will have so much more in the way of blog fodder, so that’s something! You all (All…who am I kidding? I know my mom is my only reader!) will probably get a good laugh out of me battling the garden, the wildlife, the cabin fever. Be warned, people, I’m going to need you!!

So, here’s a couple of shots of the house, stolen directly from the realtor’s website:

Lovely, ain’t it? Let’s see what happens over the next week or so. I’m still trusting the Universe to guide us to the right path.

Much love to all!!

End of an era… March 12, 2010

So that’s it. Yesterday was my last day of work in Ottawa; I am technically unemployed at the moment. That’s not to say that I’m not busy – on the contrary, I have now started the “frantically packing and cleaning” phase of my life. That will be followed by the “6-7 days of 8-10 hour driving” phase. Which, then, thankfully, will be followed by the “relaxing near the beach and playing with my niece” phase, which is what it was all about anyway.

I’m bittersweet on leaving Ottawa – I made some really awesome friends here, and I love them all. I had great opportunities, and one of the best bosses around! I learned a lot, and hopefully will be able to translate some of that knowledge into a good job out West. My work colleagues were wonderful and it was really tough to say goodbye to them. I take heart in knowing that many of them will be heading out to BC at some time, and will hopefully come to visit me!

So, this is a short post to check in and to let you know that there will be cross country photos and updates coming throughout the next week and a half. Now…where did I put those boxes? …

Beach dreamin’ January 28, 2010

Well, that’s it!!! The house is sold (as mentioned in my last post), and the new house is bought!! And now, every day, I’m dreaming about finishing work, collecting the mister and the little brown dog, and taking a nice long walk on the beach! We both love the thought, and we’re both super excited to get out there. The excitement is bittersweet, though, because it means leaving an awful lot of very dear friends out East. My consolation is that we will have visitors throughout the year – skiing, sightseeing and restaurants and nightlife – the call of the West! I thought I’d show off a few pictures of the new digs, courtesy of the talented husband of our real estate agent, Debra.

 

So in addition to the cutest little house, there’s also a cute little yard just begging for some more plants, and also an extra building perfectly set up for a shop on one side, and a studio on the other!!! Rest assured that many more photos will be taken and posted!

Much love!