February is nearing ever so quickly. Disneyland, new home, it'll be hard to top this month!
As busy as it will be I look so very forward to it!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Bly's are moving up...
...up the hill! That's right, we're moving - into our new home! Oh yes, we bought a place!! Well, we've come to an agreed offer and it's been accepted and the first of the paperwork is done.
Here's our home buying story: we've been humming and hawing for months, and looking and watching for even more months lol. To comfortably buy a home we needed the house to be 300K or less which in this market and my wish list, that was seeming to be impossible. What was on my list? 4 bedrooms, finished basement, not any closer to the train tracks, not on a busy street, not in certain neighborhoods, a garage, 2 living spaces (a sitting room and a TV room), and a fenced yard. Anyways, my criteria was in homes in the 350K range and I was getting really discouraged. There were houses in our range but I had to compromise on some of the above criteria, which I was not willing to budge on.
So, this house we are going to get meets ALL the above criteria. In fact, the flaws are that there is no neighborhood park in the area, and the backyard is not a level yard (it's slanted cuz of the hill). It was listed at 299, and we have settled at 289 for the selling price. It's a duplex style home with a walk out basement and double attached garage, all three floors are about 2000 sq ft in total. We have to bring in our own washer/dryer, and we will eventually have to replace the appliances (you can totally tell they took out the stuff and replaced with old stuff). The colors are totally colors I love, so I won't have to do any cosmetics. The bedrooms are carpeted which I prefer - and the rest of the house is hardwood and/or laminate (I can't tell the diff between hardwood and laminate). I prefer carpet, but am sure i'll adapt to the non-carpet :) Gonna hafta buy a good quality mop! Oh, and the other detail is that the house has been made to potentially have a basement suite downstairs - so there's a second kitchen. Not that we plan to have people downstairs specifically, it's a neat feature.
We are beyond excited! Darin, our realtor came over last night to have us sign the final offer and now we have to do the legal stuff and inspection. Needless to say we will have possession on February 24th. It's going to be a whirlwind of a February because our Disneyland trip is the 16-22! That being said everything will have to be in place and settled before we leave, and i'll have to get alot packed before we leave because we are hoping to move out of here on Feb 25th (Saturday's are easier I find to move because you can get alot of extra help from people). That will also give me 4 days to clean out the old place.
AH! I pretty much didn't sleep last night (there were other reasons lol, Carter and health reasons that kept me awake, but add in new home-ownership and I reeeeally didn't sleep!). WIsh us luck through the rest of the process!! Bye bye savings...
Here's our home buying story: we've been humming and hawing for months, and looking and watching for even more months lol. To comfortably buy a home we needed the house to be 300K or less which in this market and my wish list, that was seeming to be impossible. What was on my list? 4 bedrooms, finished basement, not any closer to the train tracks, not on a busy street, not in certain neighborhoods, a garage, 2 living spaces (a sitting room and a TV room), and a fenced yard. Anyways, my criteria was in homes in the 350K range and I was getting really discouraged. There were houses in our range but I had to compromise on some of the above criteria, which I was not willing to budge on.
So, this house we are going to get meets ALL the above criteria. In fact, the flaws are that there is no neighborhood park in the area, and the backyard is not a level yard (it's slanted cuz of the hill). It was listed at 299, and we have settled at 289 for the selling price. It's a duplex style home with a walk out basement and double attached garage, all three floors are about 2000 sq ft in total. We have to bring in our own washer/dryer, and we will eventually have to replace the appliances (you can totally tell they took out the stuff and replaced with old stuff). The colors are totally colors I love, so I won't have to do any cosmetics. The bedrooms are carpeted which I prefer - and the rest of the house is hardwood and/or laminate (I can't tell the diff between hardwood and laminate). I prefer carpet, but am sure i'll adapt to the non-carpet :) Gonna hafta buy a good quality mop! Oh, and the other detail is that the house has been made to potentially have a basement suite downstairs - so there's a second kitchen. Not that we plan to have people downstairs specifically, it's a neat feature.
We are beyond excited! Darin, our realtor came over last night to have us sign the final offer and now we have to do the legal stuff and inspection. Needless to say we will have possession on February 24th. It's going to be a whirlwind of a February because our Disneyland trip is the 16-22! That being said everything will have to be in place and settled before we leave, and i'll have to get alot packed before we leave because we are hoping to move out of here on Feb 25th (Saturday's are easier I find to move because you can get alot of extra help from people). That will also give me 4 days to clean out the old place.
AH! I pretty much didn't sleep last night (there were other reasons lol, Carter and health reasons that kept me awake, but add in new home-ownership and I reeeeally didn't sleep!). WIsh us luck through the rest of the process!! Bye bye savings...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
"You're Killing me Smalls"
The past about week and a half Carter has taken to some extreme nursing - like every 2-3 hours, instead of every 3-4 hours (with typically one 5-6 hour stretch in a day)...and even at night time hes been every 2-3 hours.
In the past usually he has gone through these little spurts of extreme nursing for like 2-3 days then it passes, but this one has stretched on far to long. Typically it's a sign of a bad teething day or growth but frankly now it's seeming to just be bad habit.
So last night before the night started I "vowed" to only let him nurse every3 hours or longer and low and behold at 1:00am he woke up after just waking 2 hours prior. (He also has been going through a bit of a 'cuddle me' stage at night, so sometimes if I just hug him for a few seconds he falls back to sleep) But this time he was adament he wanted to nurse and I said no as 3 hours was still another HOUR away. -sigh- Which meant I had to get up and walk/sit/talk to him for an entire hour - not something i've never had to do with Carter as he sleeps the night away (aside from nursing) since he was born. Of course he wouldn't fall back to sleep on his own and cried the entire hour more or less. Sad for me.. but frankly my body can't really take all the nursing, and all the night time disruptions.
The plan: stretch every 3 hours for 3-5 days, then stretch him to 3.5 hours, then 4 hours, etc - hopefully he'll just start stretching on his own and make my job easier :) I don't mind nursing alot in the day time, but nighttime really has to slow down or stop. He's certainly doing well enough size wise that he doesn't need to be eating so often.
Wish me luck!
PS. Some of my friends/family have asked me if he's sleeping through the night yet and frankly I don't even know what that is like LOL so it's not something I even anticipate happening - I had my hopes up with Logan for years (literally) as people woudl say "once he turns 6 months" "once he turns 8 months" "once he turns 1 y/o".. frankly I will just believe it when I see it! :D
In the past usually he has gone through these little spurts of extreme nursing for like 2-3 days then it passes, but this one has stretched on far to long. Typically it's a sign of a bad teething day or growth but frankly now it's seeming to just be bad habit.
So last night before the night started I "vowed" to only let him nurse every3 hours or longer and low and behold at 1:00am he woke up after just waking 2 hours prior. (He also has been going through a bit of a 'cuddle me' stage at night, so sometimes if I just hug him for a few seconds he falls back to sleep) But this time he was adament he wanted to nurse and I said no as 3 hours was still another HOUR away. -sigh- Which meant I had to get up and walk/sit/talk to him for an entire hour - not something i've never had to do with Carter as he sleeps the night away (aside from nursing) since he was born. Of course he wouldn't fall back to sleep on his own and cried the entire hour more or less. Sad for me.. but frankly my body can't really take all the nursing, and all the night time disruptions.
The plan: stretch every 3 hours for 3-5 days, then stretch him to 3.5 hours, then 4 hours, etc - hopefully he'll just start stretching on his own and make my job easier :) I don't mind nursing alot in the day time, but nighttime really has to slow down or stop. He's certainly doing well enough size wise that he doesn't need to be eating so often.
Wish me luck!
PS. Some of my friends/family have asked me if he's sleeping through the night yet and frankly I don't even know what that is like LOL so it's not something I even anticipate happening - I had my hopes up with Logan for years (literally) as people woudl say "once he turns 6 months" "once he turns 8 months" "once he turns 1 y/o".. frankly I will just believe it when I see it! :D
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
I don't understand some people...
Michael often sells used tools or overstock on Kijiji for his work (he usually gets a portion of the sale by doing this) and he came home with dozens of...I forget the word suddenly - you know that stuff they line the edge of tubs/toilets and such with? I know it's not specifically for household but it's the stuff in a tube like that! lol Anyways, we've got a tote full of 'em (probably 30-40) and Michael got a call almost immediately after posting it.
This guy says he'll take them and asks if Michael can drop them off at his work today (Saturday) so Michael said he'd check with his wife (smart man) to be sure it would work out to do so. I immediately asked if Michael was charging him a delivery cost because this guys' work is Deerfoot and 16 Ave which from Cochrane is probably a good 45 min drive. I suggested $15-20 (whatever Michael chose) for delivery because it'd be a solid hour and a half plus gas of 5-10 bucks for that kind of distance. (Is that reasonable? I thought so).
Michael called the guy back to talk to him and said he'd like the extra 20 bucks and the guy was all "well you should have posted that in your ad" and "I drive a 2 ton truck, it would cost me too much and be too much hassle to drive it out to Cochrane" (hello? our time/money means nothing?) and Michael told him if he wants it he can come get it or pay the extra cash.
Anyways, moral of the blog, I don't understand people. It's not like we were trying to rip him off, we were simply offering the service of dropping off the stuff for a fee - he after all IS a complete stranger to us and I don't think our request was unreasonable. Personalities are interesting.. i'll be interested to know how "personalities" present themselves in the here-after!
This guy says he'll take them and asks if Michael can drop them off at his work today (Saturday) so Michael said he'd check with his wife (smart man) to be sure it would work out to do so. I immediately asked if Michael was charging him a delivery cost because this guys' work is Deerfoot and 16 Ave which from Cochrane is probably a good 45 min drive. I suggested $15-20 (whatever Michael chose) for delivery because it'd be a solid hour and a half plus gas of 5-10 bucks for that kind of distance. (Is that reasonable? I thought so).
Michael called the guy back to talk to him and said he'd like the extra 20 bucks and the guy was all "well you should have posted that in your ad" and "I drive a 2 ton truck, it would cost me too much and be too much hassle to drive it out to Cochrane" (hello? our time/money means nothing?) and Michael told him if he wants it he can come get it or pay the extra cash.
Anyways, moral of the blog, I don't understand people. It's not like we were trying to rip him off, we were simply offering the service of dropping off the stuff for a fee - he after all IS a complete stranger to us and I don't think our request was unreasonable. Personalities are interesting.. i'll be interested to know how "personalities" present themselves in the here-after!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Hmm..
Okay so today is Friday Jan 6th and I overspent at Christmas so I sadly have to buy my groceries with my credit card. The first of the month paycheque is always the tightest due to rent and utilities, and typically I keep a reserve from the middle of the month cheque, but that was the Christmas one - i'm sure many can relate to overspending at that time of year! Oh well, next Friday i'll be able to pay it down, it just sucks!
Speaking of Christmas, Michael and I have decided that assuming the costs aren't out of this world, we will be cruising the Caribbean next Christmas with my folks (and likely my brother)! We're in the process of checking/comparing prices to see if it'll actually be a reality or not. -cross fingers-
Speaking of Christmas, Michael and I have decided that assuming the costs aren't out of this world, we will be cruising the Caribbean next Christmas with my folks (and likely my brother)! We're in the process of checking/comparing prices to see if it'll actually be a reality or not. -cross fingers-
What else... I have organized a little um, garage sale? lol, nothing for sale, it's all give away stuff - but basically all the home-mom's in the ward have purged toys/clothes/housewares after the Christmas season and we're going to bring it to the church so we can see everyone else's 'junk', take what we want, then we'll donate the rest of it to a used store here in town afterwards. You know the phrase "one person's trash is another person's treasure" :). We're also having our second craft night. The picture frame below (if I can find reasonably priced supplies) is what we're making. I'm going to find hopefully frames we can paint to the color we want.
In February we are going to Lacombe for a re-do on a Christmas get-together with my really good friends Crystal and Shelley (plus families). We're thinking of making the following crafts:
And then the banner is also one i'd like to make just because I think it's cute! I'm going to give my cricut a good test run with it I think.
Otherwise, I think that's all the news? I havne't had any Bowen clients (or any scheduled thus far) for January, which is fine - the past 2 months were SO busy that I gladly look forward to the break, but by the end of the month the money I made will be gone as I have to pay my trainer and am taking Zumba once a week (thus won't be able to hire her unless I have some clients - I have vowed not to use household money for my fitness endeavors)... all in hopes that I can get where I want to be by my vacation!! I'm enjoying working with a trainer again. I still wish I could get a better grasp on my food intake - it's been a good New Year for that so far, been able to say no to things.
Speaking of vacation, we are on the 1 1/2 months to go countdown! I'm very excited - of course nervous about how Carter will be while we're away, but so far he's proven to be a really easy going baby so hopefully this trip doesn't screw him up too badly!
Oh, we had vaccinations yesterday. Carter had I suppose what you could call a reaction - he reacted in a way i've not experienced. It was like an insta-fever. He came out of the room with bright red cheeks and a flushed face and it stayed like that for a few hours afterwards (likely until the tylenol kicked in). He had a kinda rough night: he nursed like 4-5 times (but I wasn't about to deny him as they say you shouldn't after a vaccine) and he slept on my tummy for a portion of the night, and when he wasn't he was moany and groany in his sleep.
I think that's truly all the news across the nation for us! I am positive I could ramble on about a few other things, but I'll leave it at that for now :)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Year
I don't particularly believe in "resolutions" but I do believe in goals. Every year I make goals for myself, but I honestly haven't sat down this year and really decided what I want to focus on.
In church today there was a really good Sunday School lesson taught, and one of the thoughts discussed was that we maybe need to focus less on ourselves and more on others - aka: service. Now, there are certainly things we need to do for ourselves in order to grow/progress - and for me I have two that I will focus on this year:
1. I am going to read the Book of Mormon this year along with the Sunday School reading schedule. Along with this I had a potentially inspiring idea come to me while sitting in church today. Michael and I do not watch much TV but now that we have cable again since Carter's birth I find it is just on in the evenings - a couple nights a week we actualy watch a show or two (like Mondays and Tuesdays...sometimes Wednesdays) but otherwise it is just a channel surfing fest. SO, what we've agreed to do is that we will allow ourselves to watch TV if we so choose on M,T,W, and then we will keep it off on T,F's. That will allow us either time to spend together as a couple, to work on projects/goals, or whatever we so choose - it'll just be TV free time. In alignment with my goal, I will likely do alot of scripture study on these particular nights.
2. I want to work on my physical appearance. I have yet to figure out how (aside from the "last 10 lbs") I want to accomplish this, or at the very least where I can get the strength from. There are some serious things going on in my head when it comes to my "relationship with food", and as of recent I have considered trying seeing a hypnotist or a counsellor of some form as I am uncapable of getting the right frame of mind.
Then of course there is service! I have yet to think of a way I can do this on top of what I already do... but I would like to have an equal balance of personal goals and service goals. :)
Happy New Year to you all!!
In church today there was a really good Sunday School lesson taught, and one of the thoughts discussed was that we maybe need to focus less on ourselves and more on others - aka: service. Now, there are certainly things we need to do for ourselves in order to grow/progress - and for me I have two that I will focus on this year:
1. I am going to read the Book of Mormon this year along with the Sunday School reading schedule. Along with this I had a potentially inspiring idea come to me while sitting in church today. Michael and I do not watch much TV but now that we have cable again since Carter's birth I find it is just on in the evenings - a couple nights a week we actualy watch a show or two (like Mondays and Tuesdays...sometimes Wednesdays) but otherwise it is just a channel surfing fest. SO, what we've agreed to do is that we will allow ourselves to watch TV if we so choose on M,T,W, and then we will keep it off on T,F's. That will allow us either time to spend together as a couple, to work on projects/goals, or whatever we so choose - it'll just be TV free time. In alignment with my goal, I will likely do alot of scripture study on these particular nights.
2. I want to work on my physical appearance. I have yet to figure out how (aside from the "last 10 lbs") I want to accomplish this, or at the very least where I can get the strength from. There are some serious things going on in my head when it comes to my "relationship with food", and as of recent I have considered trying seeing a hypnotist or a counsellor of some form as I am uncapable of getting the right frame of mind.
Then of course there is service! I have yet to think of a way I can do this on top of what I already do... but I would like to have an equal balance of personal goals and service goals. :)
Happy New Year to you all!!
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