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Consumed (And Obsessed)

July 18, 2012 by 22 Comments

I am lost to MLS. To the insatiable need to find the house. The house that is mostly perfect for us. It’s taking over my life.

To be fair it is really hot out and it’s doubtful that I would be doing much cooking or cleaning anyways. Chips for everyone! And coffee, lots of coffee.

School starts in September and if we are going to move this year I want to be in and settled before school gets going. Or close to it. We’re on a new house deadline. I can’t say that this deadline is making me fun to live with.

I’m learning that house shopping is 5% determination, 25% imagination and 70% dumb luck. Come on dumb luck!

Part of the problem is I am shopping for a house that has it all. And I do mean all!

  • Acres, with a pool.
  • Private and away from the hustle and bustle but still close to school and town.
  • More space but self-cleaning space.
  • And for the love of all that is Holy, please a kitchen at the back of the house. Preferably overlooking the pool.
  • A rec room for toys and playing.
  • A craft room for me.

All that with an ensuite and a mudroom. Wrapped with a bow if you please. Oh ya, and an office for Ken to work in. I guess we need that too.

If you are singing “You can’t always get what you want” to me, you wouldn’t be the only one and I won’t be insulted. It’s the theme song at my house.

 

UPDATED: It’s very possible that our house searching is coming to an end. The stars have aligned and we’ve found a house. A house with a pool and a creek. The pool hasn’t been functional for 3 years and it’s very possible that it is in danger of falling down into the creek. But those kind of engineering details will not sway me.

It has nearly everything we need and want, and the whole thing needs gutting and renovating. I”m overjoyed! And hysterical with excitement. Or it could be the excess coffee.

We are getting an offer ready this morning. Stand by friends, stand by. Send pixie dust or whatever you’ve got.

TO COME: A blog post, or maybe vlog, series called “OMG, my house is a freakin’ mess and it has to go on the market for sale tomorrow!” Followed by a few posts about “My house is beautiful and in a great school district, would you like to buy it?”

 

Filed Under: Moving to a new house Tagged With: ,

I’d Like That With A Pool Please

May 3, 2012 by 7 Comments

This moving business is getting me down.

First- There’s get my current house ready to sell. Which…well… I don’t want to think about it. Have I mentioned the 36 buckets of gravel sitting on my patio leftover from Ken’s thesis experiment?

Second- There’s new house shopping. It’s hard work and I have no idea what I want. Or I want everything. Acreage but still walk to school, pool but still lots of green playing space, more living space but self-cleaning.

House shopping without a wish list leads to distraction, quickly. “Ooh look, a pink toilet. That’s cute.” No Kristin not one bit cute, stay focused.

So I’m making a drastic decision to save my sanity. You know those crazy people on HGTV that walk around house hunting with a checklist and an complicated scoring system? That’s what I’m going to do. Make myself a house shopping list.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. (Probably because the host always makes fun of the couple with the scorecard) I don’t go to the grocery store without a list, a house is a much bigger purchase. I need a list.

Here it is

  • Pool, and not a pool that takes up the entire backyard. Or an above ground pool, that doesn’t count.
  • Space for a vegetable garden and some fruit trees.
  • Kitchen at the back of the house.
  • Main floor walk out to the backyard, preferably from the kitchen.
  • Kids bedrooms at the back of the house or on the 2nd floor.
  • Mudroom space or potential for a mudroom space.
  • Sewing and craft space that isn’t the dining room table.
That’ll about do me. Oh, ya and an office for Ken. We’ll need that too. If a house can offer all that we’ll take it. They can even throw in the pink toilet.
*This post is the modern day equivalent to wishing on a star. If you write it on the internet it’s sure to come true.
Filed Under: Life as I know it, Moving to a new house Tagged With: ,

Survival Of The Fittest: In Which I Don’t Survive

March 30, 2012 by 6 Comments

I haven’t studied up on global warming in scientific journals. I get that the globe is getting warmer and I know about the polar bears.

I feel bad about those polar bears.

Some species adapt well to change, like crows and raccoons, even bears. Some species don’t, like the polar bears. I am not a crow, I am a polar bear. I am not adapting well to global warming.

Despite living in Canada, where sadly I don’t live in an igloo, we’ve had a ridiculously hot spell to kick off Spring. Thankfully it’s over, for now. We had 2 days of over 28C (that’s 80F), in March! I was overheated from walking 20 minutes to school.

OK, that’s not entirely true. Most of the overheating came from digging my Summer clothes our from the basement because you can’t turn the air conditioning on in March for Heaven’s sake. Especially in Canada.

I hate the heat. HATE IT. Every Summer when the temperature rises I hit the basement in an overheated headached mess and lie on the cement floor and begin asking non-stop “Can we move to Newfoundland? Can we move to Newfoundland? Please, Labrador even.”

I’m not kidding, I even post it on Facebook, regularly. Friends love it.

I believe in biology, ecology, ichthyology, nearly all the reputable ologies. I know all about survival of the fittest. And I know that I am not going to survival the warming climate.

But it’s not all lost. I did have enough genetic sense to mate with a warm blooded heat loving creature. Hopefully my offspring will have inherited a love for hot weather and thrive.

Filed Under: Life as I know it, Moving to a new house Tagged With: ,