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!