Sanity Is Over-Rated

Jason headed back to Toronto today, for his second week of work (or more accurately, endless training) out there. He seems to like his new office building, and his new co-workers. I think that he is trying not to feel overwhelmed by the amount of new information. He has a nice desk area, right beside a window.

It is somewhat lonely here without him. The kids and I miss him a great deal while he is away, and I know that he misses us. Today he took a photo of the kids and I, and had it printed off at Superstore so that he could take it with him and keep it on his desk. I also have a webcam for our computer so that he can see the kids. Once he gets his work laptop (they get issued one from the company) he is going to get a webcam for it too, so that the kids can see him. I will make sure to post some of the pictures he took today, the kids look so cute.

We still haven't heard anything from the appraisers. It's rather annoying, but I expect something for sure this week. I finished up at the gym, my last day was on Thursday. They were sad to see me go, but I feel spread a little less thin now.

Jason and I discussed the house situation and we are leaning heavily towards building a new house out there. Moving across the country, away from family and friends, will be an easier pill to swallow if we are getting a house that we love. I know that a lot of people have said that we shouldn't think of this house as a long-term residence, because we will likely move back sooner rather than later. However, I don't believe that to be true. Unless Jason gets fired and cannot find another job out there, we won't be moving back. We LOATH moving. I also don't want to have to uproot our kids once they start school. It's hard on kids.

Obviously I cannot predict the future, but I don't want to think that we are going to be moving in the near future, so I am looking at this as a long-term situation. I don't think I could do it otherwise.

My Aunt Leann and I had a good chat about this very topic. When she and my Uncle moved away to Moose Jaw, SK nobody in our family thought they would stay there for long. I don't think that they did either. They heard a lot of comments about it, and everyone expected them to move back within a year or two. Well I know it's been at least 6 or 7 years now and they have no plans to relocate.

All I am trying to say is that I would prefer people not assume that we will be back. We might be, but more likely we won't be. We are embracing this change, it's going to be good for us, and we appreciate all of the positive encouragement and support.

Back to my original train of thought. We are very seriously considering building with Reid Homes (a different Reid Homes than the company that built our house here). The house that we are considering is beautiful, and the lots that they offer are huge. The one that we are looking at backs onto a park, and on the other side of that is a protected bird habitat, with trees as far as you can see and a lake. It's close enough to provide a gorgeous view, and far enough that I don't have to worry about the kids near the water. It's also very close to a Catholic Elementary, and the price is within the range we had set for buying a house. We haven't committed to anything, and Jason is going to look at some more houses this week. If he finds anything worth seeing, I will have to make another trip out there.

I will update again as soon as I hear anything new, and once I get those cute photos uploaded. I hope that all of our family and friends had a good weekend!

Ontario Photos

I uploaded and captioned all of my pictures from our weekend in Ontario. You can take a look at them (and my other photos) if you click on the following link:

Ontario

You can click on any of the pictures to see a larger version. You can also click on View As Slideshow in the upper right-hang side of the screen to see them scroll through.

Enjoy!

Shouting From Ontario!

I apologise for the delay in updates, things were a little psychotic last week, and the week prior to that.

I am posting this from the condo that Jason will be living in between now and the final move. It's in Mississauga, which for those of you who don't know, is basically a subdivision of Toronto. There is no 'break' between the cities; they just mush together, like Edmonton and Sherwood Park. As the plane was coming down in the dark it was basically lights on either side, as far as the eye could see.

We arrived here on Thursday night and have been looking at houses for the past two days. I think we have been to around 30 or more houses between Friday and yesterday. It's been a little wild, LOL.

Our realtor has been absolutely fantastic. He acted as our tour guide and took us out to a couple of great little pubs for lunch both days. We got to see pretty much all of Guelph, not to mention Rockwood, Georgetown, Milton, and even Cambridge. Jason took me to see his office building in Brampton (I've got pictures, be patient) and I have gotten to know the 401 fairly well.

The streets in Guelph are confusing, and not at all as organized as the cities I am used to, but it makes for interesting driving. They don't have the same system of streets and avenues. They are just randomly strewn about, intersecting here and there, mixed up with lots of 'Boulevards' and 'Drives' and 'Ways'. Mapquest has become our best friend. Guelph is beautiful; I think I am really going to like it there a great deal. It has all of the amenities I am accustomed to, and a few other little extras. The architecture is INCREDIBLE! It's hard to find a house that isn't made out of brick (which we love) and many of the older homes have fantastic character. It makes the idea of buying one of these old houses very attractive.

We also checked into some Show Homes. The idea of having a house built, and making it exactly what I want it to be, is attractive. None of the houses we looked at made me fall in love with them. I really liked some, but there seemed to be something about each of them that put me off. The house we liked the best already has a pending offer on it, and besides that, the backyard was almost completely covered by the enormous deck.

The cost of building out here is dirt cheap, when you compare it to our area. We can get a house that is just under 3,000 square feet (on a huge lot) with a developed basement, a deck, and an enormous Master Bedroom in the attic (they call it a loft here) starting at around $400,000. That will also include 4 really big bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen that I love. They aren't suffering the same labour shortage that we are so we could be moving in around September if we start the process right away.

We have been taking advantage of the kid-free time (and our daily food budget) by going out for nice dinners to try some exciting cuisine. Tonight we had some alligator at a Cajun restaurant. Alligator is surprisingly gristly. It didn't taste like chicken however, and it was interesting to try it once. I also had some catfish for the first time, which I actually found way too spicy (normally I can handle that but I am suffering from a sinus infection and my tolerance is lower). The atmosphere of the place was really amazing, and Jason really enjoyed the live Jazz music.

I have been taking as many pictures as I can (not of the houses, but of the area). I will post them as soon as I get home and upload them all.

Tonight we received some very unfortunate news. A very close family friend passed away last night. She was practically an aunt to Jason, and he has been best friends with her son, Curtis, since they were boys. Jason is understandably very sad, and he is making arrangements to attend the funeral on Tuesday. Curt is in our thoughts as well, and it's making us wish we were back home to offer whatever support we might be able to.

I am not looking forward to leaving tomorrow. I hate to leave Jason here, even though I miss my kids. I know that I will see him every weekend, but I am not accustomed to being separated from him. It's not going to be easy. Thank goodness it's only temporary.

So nothing definitive on the house front quite yet. I shall keep you updated.

Last week we had the appraisers come to our house in Airdrie. I should be hearing back from them on Monday. I am curious to find out what they think our house is worth.

This update is sort of all over the place, but in my defence, it's almost midnight here and I am pretty exhausted. I will do my best to get pictures up in the next few days, so stay tuned for that. Good Night!