I'm writing this blog update on our upstairs balcony while the sun peeks over the roof of our house and a slight breeze rustles the oak trees. It's gorgeous and it's all ours!

Our move began Wednesday and offically ended yesterday at about 5:30. For the most part it went very well. There was no way we were going to move ourselves so we hired the help of some movers. They showed up at 9:20AM and immediately got down to work. We thought they'd be all done by about 12:30... but we were wrong. They unloaded the last box at about 3 in the afternoon. So we went over our moving budget a wee bit but it was still worth it.

And even after selling our bedroom suite and dining room table and chairs, the truck was still completely full! We had to come back the following day to pick up our jungle of plants. Luckily we had a truck for the week as the car was out of commission (see previous post).


Of course, all was not perfect.

While moving, a building maintenance guy came by to do an inspection. According to him he found a bunch of problems that we're responsible for. However, we refused to sign his document so George and I expect a court date in the near future. Fuckers. I look forward to meeting them in small claims. I always thought I'd be a good lawyer.

Robert & George: We object
Judge: What are you objecting to?
Robert & George: We object to the fact that the plaintiff is wearing white after labour day!
Judge: Guilty!

So anyway, we came back to the apartment on the Thursday to paint over some dark blue and give the place a good clean. Damn,it looked good! In the meantime, we had our new dining room suite and bed delivered to new house. Looks incredible.

Friday was our last visit to apartment... final cleaning and a few more plants plus locker and bikes. As we approached, we found ourselves completely blocked out by the police! The entire neighbourhood was under quarantine because right across from the apartment was the Esso Gas station where the car full of letter bombs was sitting! We had to come by that evening to finish up.

The dogs seem to be handling things well. No more 22 floors of elevators! Peeing on demand! We think squirrels live under our porch since both dogs go crazy sniffing it. Quite funny.

That's it for now!

A Smashing Weekend

A weekend with my parents is always smashing but this past weekend took the cake! Or should I say it took the Sebring.

Friday night, after a most wonderful dinner, we all decided to go for a stroll to the lake. The sun was setting, the birds were chirping and the wind was blowing.

In fact, it was blowing so hard that upon our return to the house, half of a tree was sitting in the back of the car and there was glass everywhere. Needless to say, we were all in shock. The back window was completely smashed.

After a few phone calls we found out that it would be impossible to get the car fixed in Owen Sound. So our drive home to Toronto was in a convertible! The dogs seemed to enjoy the breeze.

Saturday afternoon was spent at a Pow Wow. My mom taught me that if i have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all. The silence is deafening!

house update

Our first new home dilemma!

We move in two weeks. The current basement tenant was scheduled to move out in middle of October. They just announced that they're moving out in 2 weeks.

Frig.

The search for a new tenant begins! How xciting.

Furniture for our new home

The furniture buying spree for our new home has begun!

This past weekend we went to Idomo (I thought I'd never buy from that place!!!!) and picked up the most spectacular diningroom table, chairs, hutch and mirror that will sit on the hutch.

Plus we bought a coffee table that moonlights as a wine rack and storage container. You have to see it to believe it. It's awesome.

Aannnnndddddd we redeemed for some Rona Gift Certificates, which will go towards our new BBQ.

Soon friends and family can enjoy a fabulous steak/ribs/chicken a la George while sitting around a most wonderful table.

Can't wait.

This past weekend was spent camping with some friends at a provincial park on Lake Simcoe.

Despite the rain, we had a great time. Needless to say, there was a lot of beer and marshmellow consumption. And some shrimp. And chili. Who says camping has to be barbaric??

We tried taking a swim but that lasted about 2 minutes. It was freezing!!! Certainly sobered us up. Or was that the 3 hour nap?

Unfortunately we didn't take a hike like last year. Next time.

The dogs had a terrific time and were very well behaved. Even Lola, surprise surprise. We weren't sure how Cierra was going to react since this was her first camping trip but our worries were quickly eliminated. She never left our sides and was a joy to be around. Of course, both came home completely filthy.

Finally - Home Owners!

We did it - we bought a house!

It's a gorgeous detached home in Toronto's east end literally just steps from the Danforth and less than a five minute drive from The Beaches. And we got it for asking! After some previous homes we were interested in going for between 70-100K over asking... we were starting to get pretty down. Highlights include:
- 2 fireplaces, 1 of which is in our bedroom. All that's missing is a bear skin rug. But then again, if Lola keeps acting up she may soon find herself face down in front of the fireplace.
- a huge kitchen with a refurbished 1950s stove, which includes two ovens. George can now make roast chicken and chocolate cookies at the same time.
- built in bookshelves
- bathroom with a tin ceiling
- a canopy of trees over the house
- second floor balcony
- third floor loft/office
- and much more!

Needless to say George and I are on cloud 36. Closing is Aug 28 and tonight I've started going through our stuff and getting rid of the junk we'll never use. We spent the last weekend inspecting BBQs at Rona and found the one we want. I can't wait to have our first Saturday evening steak BBQ with a couple of beers.

Pictures to follow.

Whale Watching

George was working the Victoria flight with a 24-hour stopover a few weeks back so I booked off a couple of days and joined him out there.

With basically one day at our disposal, we decided to do something that has been on both our "to do" lists for years; go whale watching! So we dropped our $80 each and hopped on a relatively small yellow zodiak with 6 others and headed out into the Pacific Ocean in search of Orcas, also known as Killer Whales.

Half the fun was flying across incredibly large waves at top speed and bouncing around. Our tour guide's advice was to pretend you're riding a horse.

After about two hours, we ended up close to the Vancouver's coast and inbetween two pods of whales. Damn, what a site. They must have had a good feeding because they were actually jumping out of the water! And we even saw one calf swimming beside his mother. Marineland has nothing on seeing these incredible animals in the natural habitat.

On our way back to shore we even found ourselves surrounded by dolphins. However, these dolphins weren't the 'friendly' ones you think of... they kept their distance from our boat.

It was the best $80 we ever spent.