THE MOVE FROM "HE- DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS"

So, i sell my house roughly around May 21st. Need to be out by June 28th. Find a house, do my diligence by having a home inspection. Find there is $30,000 worth of structural work to be done. Back out of deal. On to finding a new home. Only problem is that I have scoured the area I need to be in and seen virtually everything out there - except new housing. Go that route find one on or about June 3rd. Put offer in - accepted - usually takes two weeks to close. Need it in one and am now almost at two weeks. Thankfully the builder is awesome and has allowed me to take most of my stuff over. Need closing by tomorrow night as the movers are coming on Thursday. May need to stay in the city at a hotel for a day or two till closing is done. Uh, the basement is not finishes - everything has to fit into the 1154 Sq. ft. upstairs so basement can be finished. Don't know how to fit it all in. Then will have to move over half downstairs in just a couple of weeks. God is teaching me some things like patience - lots and lots of patience. Also teaching me trust - I  am finding I get overwhelmed at times (actually lots of times), so hence learning to trust him to meet every need. So far the lessons have been gooder as my DIL says. God has been using devotional materials and a hue portion of my bible reading on the subjects above. Wish I could just "get it" once and for all, but God in his graciousness says no, that I must learn step-by-step or it isn't going to be a gooder lesson. Today, I will be working, moving more stuff, unpacking at the other end and hopefully have that call that says closing has happened and all is a go. Now I just need to find someone to pick up and deliver the appliances. Will work on that today.

My friend Rick says Life is Interesting and Life is Fun. His saying has stuck with me and I am finding that in the midst of the muddle it is interesting and is fun.

So today have and interesting but fun Life day.

Cheers
Jean

MISSING

Today as I start the big move, I truly miss my husband. He was so organized, he would have had everything packed, labelled and sorted by room weeks before the move. Me? Well, I still have loads of packing to do and have realized that the "widow's fog" tends to rear it's head at the most inconvenient times. Needless to say, I haven't booked a moving company yet as I can't for the life of me get it through my head what they need to move and what I can move by myself. My daughter and I had a good chat last night and so today some people in shining armour will arrive - my youngest Son, my daughter and my daughter-in-law. This morning the fog has lifted and my plan is to get everything I possibly can out today. Then, hopefully by late this afternoon I will know just what the movers will have to take. I have another issue in that I am not really familiar with the area I am moving to and have taken the steps to have my new appliances delivered as far as the town just down the way. From there, I am not certain how I will get them from there to my place. I am hoping that my real estate agent who has lived there all her life will have an idea of someone out there. So now my sewing room looks like this.

By the end of the day, it should be totally empty and some other rooms should be totally empty.

Enjoy the weekend all.

Jean

MUSHROOM TOES

We, like everyone else in Canada have had so much rain, I feel like I will have mushrooms growing between my toes very soon. Should not complain as the last two years were so dry and bonus I don't have to water the grass. On the down side, this weather is making my ankylosking spodiolitys act up with much pain in my back down around the start of my tailbone.

 I need to be moved by June 25th and still have not found a place. I had found a beautiful home, but after the home inspection it turned out to have roughly $25000 worth of work to be done and the realtor did not disclose there was a well on the town lot. I fully believe the owner knew about all the work as he came back after I  bowed out of the offer with "If I fix the problems, will you buy the house". I did not give him a copy of the home inspection and the company would not give him a copy without asking me. The owner is in his mid 80s and I take him to be quite the schister. Live and learn eh? This weekend I will really have to get down to business and try to see as much as I can. Oh, I also fired my real estate agent - to put it bluntly, she was a bully and in this deal was totally working for the seller and not the buyer. Again live and learn. My team of financial experts has decided that they will not be asking me to play poker with them any time soon as I am now 4 for four in working through dealing with the sale, the possible purchase, the home inspection (which they insisted I didn't need), and firing a real estate agent this far in the game. They figure my next job should be as a negotiator. Maybe, I have enjoyed the challenges.

Well, I best be off for the first showing of the weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Remember to relax and take time to play with the grands and smell those wonder flowers that are out there.

Cheers
Jean

WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE GOING

That is what I feel like. I finally sold my condo. It took 10 months, but it is in the country so was to be expected. I am planning to stay in the country, but I want elbow room. I want a yard to plant a garden, I want trees, I want a fire pit, I want, I want, I want. I have been looking, but in my quest to be more fiscally responsible, I don't want to go to the top of my price range. Again with the wants - I want to travel, I want to go camping in a motor home, I want to take the grands away on trips, I want to be able to have enough to live until 90. I may not live that long, but what if I do? With the markets the way they are, with the world constantly changing, who knows how much we will truly need. I know a lot of people who planned for taking out 4% per year and then have the government pension to help. But now from what I have been reading, it is now 2% they want us to take out and the government pension plan, old age pension and the supplement may not be there until all the boomers are gone. So, if I plan to have enough to live till 90, then if I live to 80 or 85 I won't have to be too concerned......I hope. I don't think anyone knows for sure, look at the great depression, look at the late seventies/early eighties, the early nineties, then of course now. I am so happy that we grew up very poor. When you do with out a lot of things and you go through life with that mentality, you, in the end, have been doing all the things like having a garden, canning, freezing and drying food that the younger people are struggling to learn. Also learning to shop at thrift stores or stores that are more economical and learning how to fix things around the "old homestead" instead of just going and buying new. I am so proud of the way these young people want to learn the "old" ways and then put a new spin on them.

My daughter has always called me the "herbal tea hippie" and I have always been proud of that moniker. Yesterday to treat myself after selling my house I had a Starbuck's coffee. The gal who was serving me had the most healthy head of hair. When I commented on it she said "My mom was a hippie, so we ate very healthy". I was glad to hear that and I could also hear in her voice it was something she was proud of and continued into her own life. I think it is wonderful when I see younger people who want to have a garden, who want to have chickens in their back yard, who only buy at the thrift store and who are living out their down to earth life.

I know there is always the other side of the coin that says - Where would the world be if people didn't buy new things. I realize that the world is like that, but for myself I believe that lifestyle has contributed to the world problems. Everyone wants more, bigger, better. To me yes, we need new, but I think we don't need the so much throw away. I think that if everyone started buying less, putting down the technology and commit to communicate more face-to-face, our world would evolve into something where people would be able to slow down, communicate more and through doing things in a less harried way, there would be less errors in the mass production of food, medicines etc. Society would be able to breathe.

Anyway, this was not what I was going to post, but I think it has been inside of me for awhile and it helps to put down my thoughts.

I have so much going on right now and there is way more to come this summer. I feel almost like one of those semis that moves the wide loads. I think I should wear a sign saying "Wide Load". For those that know me, it wouldn't be too far off the mark from my physical appearance, so for those, take it and run. I gladly await to see what family jokes will come of this and at what point someone will present me with the Wide Load sign. LOL

It is good to laugh -at ourselves, our circumstances, and life. God made us with the ability to laugh so lets do it.

God is Good All the Time!
Jean

MOVING

Not my blog, but my life. I finally sold my house. It took 10 months. Due to it being a condo in the country and the market is farmers who firmly believe they can work the farm just one more year. Gotta love their perseverance! The Canadian government has changed the mortgage rules, so there are fewer houses on the market but only a bit less people looking. So, there is a bidding war on almost every place and that is whether it is in the city or the country. I have been looking, but feel I need to have at least 3 houses in mind in order to even get close at getting one. I have two in mind. One is far enough out of the city that I won't have to face a bidding war. Problems are it is only two bedrooms and no garage. I would also need to replace the furnace, the hot water tank and put in an air conditioner as well as put in a garage. I have looked at this one twice before, but due to the horrendous  amount of snow we had, I never saw the pad for a garage. So that will make it easier to put in a garage. The cosmetic upgrades have all been done i.e. flooring, cupboards etc.  The second one would be a good investment property. Where is is situated is in a bedroom community so the minute I upgrade anything, my investment would go up. This one does not need too much - new shingles, two of the three bathrooms need all new fixtures and the kitchen and bathroom floors need doing, but other than that it is good to go. This is one where there will be a bidding war. But, having said that, we all would have to replace the same things so this one may tip in my favour. I will take a quick look around on Saturday at some of the open houses and see if anything else clicks. I do have the option of going into another condo, but right now I am only 59 so am not really in that condo age yet as I still work and don't travel. So if I haven't been posting or don't post for a bit, that is why. Oh, and I need to be out of my place by June 28th. I really would prefer to find a place and not have to spend any time living in my son's unfinished basement. Besides they just bought 5 acres which needs to have about 200 trees taken out, the power run in, the well dug, the basement dug and poured and the RTM (ready to move) house built on site and be in by August 20th so the dgd can get ready to start school out there. Their backup plan is to stay with me if it is cold, if it is still warm, we will set up the trailer at my daughter's place. We are fortunate to have contingency plans. Lots of people don't have options. Yes, I could rent a place for a while----- if I could find one. We have a 0.0001% rental rate up here. Needless to say there would be no option that way. So, have a good rest of the week. Enjoy the weather if you are having good weather and enjoy the rain if that is what you are getting for after the rain all the plants will look so beautiful and the air will smell marvelous dear!

Cheers
Jean

ONLY A MINUTE..

That's about how much time I have tonight. Either I am moving really slow these days or I am getting downright lazy. I can remember a time in the not too distant past where in about two hours I would thoroughly clean a three story house, do all the laundry and have time to spend outside working in the garden. Now, I have to gingerly dole out my energy or spoons as Sue from Blackberry Creek Home Arts would say. I had an open house on the weekend and it took me most of Friday, and Saturday morning to get ready. Then yesterday we did the next batch of birthdays as well Saturday night I had two grandsons and my oldest grandsons step-brother over for a sleepover. Of course with living in a construction zone, my house is filled with mud, dust and grass. Now, I get notice that there is another showing in the morning. I am happy there is a showing as this one may result in a sale, just wish it could have been on Wednesday, instead of tomorrow as I am worn out from the weekend. As it was, I arrived at work this morning to find that all the major routers had died.  Took about half the day to get that sorted out. Then had to get all my other duties for the day done before going home. As well, I had to be in the city at the crack of dawn to drop the truck off for servicing. If I am this busy all the time now, am wondering how it will be when I retire. From all the people I know who have retired they are still run off their feet most of the time. Good to keep you mobile and your mind working though.

Though I will turn 60 this year, I have no plans of retiring any time soon. I think I am on the 99 year plan as my husband use to say. I do have money to retire on, it is just that with all of us living longer, I think I need to work for a few more years. My mind tells me 10 years which now that they have raised retirement age to 67 isn't too far of a stretch. Part of the reason I think 70 is that by the time I get to 65, the government will announce that the government pension plan has either gone bust, or that retirement age will be 70. Just being prepared! I am sure seniors all around the world are wondering when or if it will all sort itself out.

Seeing as it is 6:45 p.m. and I still would like to sit outside for a bit, I better go get my act together. Still need to do a quick vacuum and a quick mop of the floors. Oh, how I despise cherry coloured hardwood floors!

Enjoy the spring weather everyone.

Jean

JUST HAVE TO SAY

I am so glad that spring has finally sprung here. No flowers or leaves on the trees, but it is going to be a wonderful weekend with highs around 20C (68F). Time to get my old bones moving. Got big plans for the weekend. Wash the windows with a marvelous new recipe for window cleaner I found. I am going to sit on my front porch and watch the world go by and I think I may take my oldest grandchild on a Geo caching day at our nearby provincial park. Not sure what the prize is at the end, but last weekends was held at the goose sanctuary and there were many, many eggs to be found. I think he will love the adventure.

Two of my wonderful grandsons share a birthday today. One is turning 12 the other one is turning 4. Mr. 4 idolizes Mr. 12. I am trying a new strategy for birthdays this year whereby each child gets a special day with grandmom. Well, I hope they think it is special! We do a special activity, and then we go somewhere for lunch/dinner where they want to go. As their birthdays fall on the same day, I am planning still to do their special days separately. I think I will take the youngest one out today. He loves going to a place called "Kid's City". It is all about climbing and oh so noisy. Then he will get to pick the dinner place and I'm thinking it will be MacDonald's as he loves their play structure also. For Mr. 12, I think the Geo caching trip and then if I know him correctly, he will want spaghetti.

After our long, long winter it will be nice to finally get outdoors and do something. Too bad that soon it will be mosquito season here and with all the flooding that is to happen, there will be many of those little pests about. Some years here are very bad and they have had to blanket the province with spraying. They use to use big military planes to spray, now with all the people wanting to live a healthier lifestyle, they use trucks and in the cities they have someone going around and checking every one's yard for sources of standing water. If you are "caught" they give you advice on how to make sure there are no sites for mosquito reproduction. I don't know if removing all the water works as I have seen years where the soil in flower beds and gardens is full of mosquitoes. We have heavy clay soil here which doesn't dry out easily and though most people amend the soil, it still isn't usually enough to have nice loam. Since I have lived in my province, I have seen a couple of years where the air is so thick with the pests that once you walked out the door your whole face was covered in them. Needless to say, that summer was wasted - hardly no one went outside. Usually you don't see too many in the day time, but those year it was terrible.

My window cleaner recipe is:
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 cups warm tap water.
I used an old febreeze sprayer someone gave me and it held all the ingredients - no problem. Right now I live in a construction zone, so my windows are filthy and when I tried this mix, I was really surprised. It took all the grime off and the windows actually sparkle. When I sprayed it and was wiping it looked like the cornstarch was making a mess - little dots of it all over, but then I realized it was actually sitting on the dirtier areas and all I had to do was wipe over that area again. I guess it adhered to the heavier dirty areas. Anyways, was worth a try.

Well, I best be getting ready for the day. Enjoy Spring where ever you are.

Jean