Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin' into the future...

Sigh - no blog posts for ages.

But my favourite time of year is coming and who better to celebrate it than Honey & Gracie!

Home Sweet Home

I'm all moved in!

Exhausted but mostly unpacked and now putting finishing touches on things. Hanging pictures, arranging dust collectors, etc.

I'm so glad. It's such a lovely house.

And it's home. A real home. I've missed that. I guess the mini-home never did feel as much like home as this does.

Sigh....such sweet relief.

Green dog knees

Gracie is such a little kid!

Yesterday I threw the squeaky ball for her & Honey. Actually I had two balls to throw so I alternated and it worked quite well. They ran until they were pantingly exhausted. They are so cute!

Later I was sitting out on one of the sun shelters and Gracie came over. Her knees and feet were totally green from running so hard and having to put the brakes on. I was reminded of a little kid - she has so much joy & enthusiasm.

I'm so looking forward to the long weekend. It's seems like this has been the longest week of my life!

Waiting for the 2nd

I think I may have mentioned in previous postings that patience is not my long suit. I'm not so good at patience at all.

I want it to be September 2 today! I want to sleep in my new home. I want to start the long hard slog up out of stress-related illness and start feeling better.

I want to wake up in the morning without a headache or churning gut. I want to feel rested even after a series of good nights' sleeps - this just isn't happening right now.

I'm so lucky to have a wonderful place to stay - that keeps me sane. My friend's D&D have a great set up for dogs and I am so lucky that the girls are happy and safe all day. I bathed both of them last night (and Shiraz).

I miss Mitch too....

Happy Dance!

The cheque has been deposited, the mini-home is sold!

I am actually for the first time in many many years, technically in the black. If I paid off my car loan, I would have no debt until September 2 when our new place closes.

Of course I'm not going to pay my car loan off because it was a good rate and we will have other chunks of money to be sucked out as moving expenses but it's kind of cool to know that for one short week I have a completetly positive balance sheet!

I celebrated with this:

My pal D brought it home from Cabela's for me.

I got some bumpers for the dogs too. (bumpers are training aids for retrievers)

oh fer f*cks sake!

So I'm looking forward to cashing a big fat cheque today with the proceeds of four year's of living in a mini home that sold for more than I bought it for (as it should!). I'm burbling along, pondering what accounts what money is going in, how I"ll finally pay off my line of credit. How I'm about to start a new life as a fiscally prudent partner to an uber-prudent man.

And then the phone call comes...

Buddy's financing didn't come through! Today? WTF?

So now he's got to try to get financing at another bank and I have to hang for another week or so! This is so f*cking unfair I can't believe it. Nothing, not one little f*cking part of selling and buying a new house has been easy! It's like it's been cursed for some reason.

I want to crawl into a little hole and drink and curl up and cry. It's just all wrong.

Alas no option to wallow in self pity. I get to drive out to my friend's place and play nice with a house full of field triallers(people who run dogs in field trials). At least they all drink!

I may not have the option to hole up alone but at least I can drink!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did all that time go?

I can't believe I've ignored my blog for so long! It wasn't that I didn't like blogging but I confess that perhaps Facebook snuck in and took over my online presence. It does have a certain appeal that blogging didn't fill.

And so much has happened since last November when Gracie came into our lives. Let's see...

Well first off I sold my mini-home! It closes today. I'll be briefly flush and virtually debt-free until September 2 when Mitch & I become cohabitating, land-owning partners for life!

"Crikey!" you say. Crikey indeed.

Much water passed under that proverbial bridge. After the arson case, I planted a wee seed in Mitch's head that slowly germinated into an idea that sprouted just after Christmas with a "I've been talking to my financial advisor and I will be in a position to buy a house with you later in 2008" conversation. That was a knock me over with a feather moment!

We carefully reviewed our respective financial positions, assessed what we could afford, totally agreed on where we wanted to live. Staged my place, packing up a whack of crap. It sold in just over 2 weeks!

We found a spot we liked but came up against a titanic anal sphincter of a son who was selling for his mother who was in a home. There were so many things wrong with the house that we couldn't overcome the massive amounts of quid we would have to spend to make it livable on top of the massive amount of money we'd have to drop just to have the privilege of owning the money pit - so we walked away.

And found a wonderful spot in Sunshine Gardens. Right where we wanted to be in terms of location. I'll be able to walk to work (and get back into shape!) plus it's walking distance to grocery/liquor store, the Y, Odell Park.

It's a completely renovated duplex. Hardwood floors, natural gas (including fireplace), gorgeous kitchen, three bedroom on the top floor, finished basement. The backyard is perfect for having people over and there is a gazebo that will be used for outdoor eating as often as possible just for us. We'll fence the backyard for the girls and it will be perfect. No extra work inside. A turnkey house!

The boy heads off to Grade 9 at FHS. Another milestone in his life. I can't believe he is starting high school already! It seems like only yesterday I was dropping him off at kindergarten!

Life is good.

Or at least it will be once we survive all the moving! LOL

There's a new kid in town!

Kelore's "A Touch of Grace" a.k.a. Gracie