Well it's official! We have signed off on all the paperwork for the new house. Now when I say new, I mean a hole in the ground that has a basement poured and that's it. After much looking at new and gently used and after my husband hearing from me about "why we shouldn't live in this area or that area" we came to a decision. Okay, I came to a decision (sorry) and put a spec home on hold until I could bring Jack to the showhome.
Jack had a meeting on Tuesday evening and I told him that I was going looking (again) at a showhome in Cranston. His last words (of course before he said he loved me) were "And don't buy house tonight". Obviously his last words of "I love you" must of been etched in my mind because I forgot about the other words. However, being the loving, caring, want to give my wife what she needs/wants came through in the end because he went with me on Wednesday and signed off on all the paperwork as well left a deposit cheque to continue with the building of our very own, brand new, never used home. As well another saying of "A happy wife, is a happy life" comes to mind.
One thing that I must say is that I have listened to so many "new home building folks" and the problems that they have had with selecting items (cupboards, flooring, counter tops etc) and I didn't have any problems with what has already been selected for this home. I guess when the word "upgrade" or "this is an upgrade from the standard" and they were already included in the price...why would I complain or want to change it???? After all my husband loved the price and so let's just go with the "we finally made a decision and we signed/paid for that decision". The best part was that the house was actually listed at one price, then when I was there on Tuesday it had come down a couple of thousand dollars; then when we went Wednesday the price had dropped again so Jack said just before signing, can I come back Thursday and it will be a different price again?
Now we must get ready to list our house next week and see what traffic comes through our (of course) very gently used 1989 house. It will be sad to leave this home as we came into this residence with much heavy baggage from our previously loved house and we watched all three of my kids grow into their teenage years there. Then the beloved grandchildren came to visit and even stay over with me there. As well we have had the best neighbors anyone could ever ask for. Kevin is out before the crack of dawn and makes sure our driveway and front sidewalk is clear of snow (it's usually a race to see who gets there first - him or us) as well his loving wife, Patti has been a true Christian sounding board for me. We have shared highs and lows of each of our families growing up, but I know that we are only across Deerfoot Trail for a visit. But I'm sure the next home will find us getting to know new friends on our block. I'm positive that God will continue to be with us on our journey of house building and selling. Stay tuned........
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Life Continues To Be Very Busy
I can't believe how busy we can all get. Our home (empty Nester's my foot) is hardly empty nor unoccupied. We are so busy, like this past weekend. Jack went to Regina as he sits on the board for Western Christian School. These past couple of months have been very stressful and time consuming for him. He is there again today with more meetings and that after 4 days on the weekend. Hopefully God can help with all the decisions that need to be made and that many folks won't feel hurt or unheard, but that they will wrap their arms around the folks that have to make heavy decisions.
Then while he was gone, I decided that I should have a "Girls Sleepover" party and so both girls came and brought the babies. What a great time - watching chick flicks, eating from Wok Box and then having a fruit/chocolate fondue. We had a great time. I just love being a mother and now a grandmother. These past couple of years has made me treasure my time with my daughters so much more than when they were growing up. I even feel guilty that Ryan is a boy and couldn't share with us on the weekend. I am so involved with my grandbabies and both of the girls reach out and ask for my opinion or my advise on food, formula or just growing up babies. Anyone out there going through the terrible two's or teenage years or just adolescence, just know that I had all of that and now this is the best time ever. God has allowed me to share so much with my kids and get so much back with having my grandbabies. The happiness that I feel for these "kids" is so over whelming that I could just break down in tears. So back to my weekend.....after the girls left late on Saturday, I headed out to look at some show homes (to decide if we are building a new house) and then out with our realator, Kevin to see a home that was built 4 years ago. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything and we will continue to check out homes to see what fits our lifestyle.
Once home from there, grocery shopping and going to Home Depot to pick up some tools, I started to work on our master shower. The dreaded job that I did manually three years ago - stripping out all the ugly grout. Well this time I had an electric drummel, safety glasses, a mask and a light. Nasty job - Sat night for 3 hours and then Sunday for another 3.5 hours. But it is now stripped down. Then I had to get ready for Nicole's 23rd birthday party...chicken fajita's, salad and lemon/blueberry cheesecake...so things to make and places to really clean after the white dust flew. Then Marc & Ryan took out the hide-a-bed & a chair to go to Breanne's place. Plus each kid took some of their personal items to help clean up on the things to be sorted.
So after all the festivities Sunday night came to an end, we were both exhausted for different reasons. But after talking about our weekend we realized that we both accomplished so much in such little time. After much prayer we know that God will see us through our missions and at the end of the day we know that we have done our best.
Then Monday we started all over again - going to work; going out to look at 2 more houses; cleaning up and stacking bins & labeling everything; then Tuesday, Jack flew back to Regina; I went to work to come home and clean up some more bins as well sort through my old "tickle trunk" to have it ready for Breanne to pass onto Lyla with some great dress up clothes. So many happy memories in there.
But all in all we are getting things in place and ready to move onto another chapter in our lives. We just realized that we never have had the opportunity to search out a house together for our life..so this is a new and exciting time and I truly am excited about venturing out to find our dream come true place. Home is where the heart is and where God surrounds us in our day to day routine. He is there in times of happiness, sickness but most of all he is just there.
Then while he was gone, I decided that I should have a "Girls Sleepover" party and so both girls came and brought the babies. What a great time - watching chick flicks, eating from Wok Box and then having a fruit/chocolate fondue. We had a great time. I just love being a mother and now a grandmother. These past couple of years has made me treasure my time with my daughters so much more than when they were growing up. I even feel guilty that Ryan is a boy and couldn't share with us on the weekend. I am so involved with my grandbabies and both of the girls reach out and ask for my opinion or my advise on food, formula or just growing up babies. Anyone out there going through the terrible two's or teenage years or just adolescence, just know that I had all of that and now this is the best time ever. God has allowed me to share so much with my kids and get so much back with having my grandbabies. The happiness that I feel for these "kids" is so over whelming that I could just break down in tears. So back to my weekend.....after the girls left late on Saturday, I headed out to look at some show homes (to decide if we are building a new house) and then out with our realator, Kevin to see a home that was built 4 years ago. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything and we will continue to check out homes to see what fits our lifestyle.
Once home from there, grocery shopping and going to Home Depot to pick up some tools, I started to work on our master shower. The dreaded job that I did manually three years ago - stripping out all the ugly grout. Well this time I had an electric drummel, safety glasses, a mask and a light. Nasty job - Sat night for 3 hours and then Sunday for another 3.5 hours. But it is now stripped down. Then I had to get ready for Nicole's 23rd birthday party...chicken fajita's, salad and lemon/blueberry cheesecake...so things to make and places to really clean after the white dust flew. Then Marc & Ryan took out the hide-a-bed & a chair to go to Breanne's place. Plus each kid took some of their personal items to help clean up on the things to be sorted.
So after all the festivities Sunday night came to an end, we were both exhausted for different reasons. But after talking about our weekend we realized that we both accomplished so much in such little time. After much prayer we know that God will see us through our missions and at the end of the day we know that we have done our best.
Then Monday we started all over again - going to work; going out to look at 2 more houses; cleaning up and stacking bins & labeling everything; then Tuesday, Jack flew back to Regina; I went to work to come home and clean up some more bins as well sort through my old "tickle trunk" to have it ready for Breanne to pass onto Lyla with some great dress up clothes. So many happy memories in there.
But all in all we are getting things in place and ready to move onto another chapter in our lives. We just realized that we never have had the opportunity to search out a house together for our life..so this is a new and exciting time and I truly am excited about venturing out to find our dream come true place. Home is where the heart is and where God surrounds us in our day to day routine. He is there in times of happiness, sickness but most of all he is just there.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Moving on Up
Great title...or is it? There are many things in life that we can adjust to and work towards, but one of the many hard things is MOVING. Okay it's not the moving but the packing up, throwing out or just deciding what to keep and what to give away. The last time this happened was in 1997 and we didn't have to do anything as some little juvenile criminals did the damage and our insurance company paid for a company to come in and pack up all of our treasurers and then move us. Now ten years later it's our turn to pack up our belongings and move on to a new chapter in our life.
We don't know where were going or even when.
If we thought that deciding what to pack; what to give-away; and what to throw away was tough, now we need to decide what to live in and then get there. Of course that's the half of it, but we also need to get our current house ready to sell. And anyone that has sold a house knows, there are many little & big things to get done before you can even list it. We have only a few things to fix but it's the de-cluttering that is the challenge. We have things left over from the kids and now we have added baby things again because of the grand kids. So we have an adventure ahead of us. But we know that this will be wonderful, challenging time as we decide on what's best for our future. Being an empty nester has it's rewards and benefits and I love my Life, as ut can't get any better.
We don't know where were going or even when.
If we thought that deciding what to pack; what to give-away; and what to throw away was tough, now we need to decide what to live in and then get there. Of course that's the half of it, but we also need to get our current house ready to sell. And anyone that has sold a house knows, there are many little & big things to get done before you can even list it. We have only a few things to fix but it's the de-cluttering that is the challenge. We have things left over from the kids and now we have added baby things again because of the grand kids. So we have an adventure ahead of us. But we know that this will be wonderful, challenging time as we decide on what's best for our future. Being an empty nester has it's rewards and benefits and I love my Life, as ut can't get any better.
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