Monday, December 28, 2009

My new (to us) house...



So here is my house, its got a bit of a fugly problem but were looking forward to renovating her up and getting her in prime condition within the next few years.

This is the living room...



Here are the ugly linoleum floors that grace the entire ground level. When laminate flooring goes on sale we will probably do the whole ground floor in a dark "wood" stain, except the kitchen, that we will probably do in a warm tone (brown) granite tile.



This is my uber large living room door frame, it will be great for a jolly jumper, no chance of hitting fleshy little baby heads on the door frame. It would be nice to maybe put in some french doors one day. We plan on painting the trim in white and the walls in a light tan for this space.



Here is the sweet sage green micro fiber love seat we got on Kijiji for $250.00 it matches our over sized chair that I reupholstered last summer.



Here is my front window, It will be white trimmed, I plan on making some chocolate brown window coverings and throw cushions to match my brown ottoman and tie in my tan/green/ brown area rug.



This is the second living room window with my awesome classic hot water radiators!!!! I have not yet decided if we want to make a radiator cover in white to hide them or to just spruce them up with a fresh coat of paint. These things are super toasty!!! I love them!


Now for the kitchen....



my new fridge included in house purchase...score!!! note the pale blue "wood" paneled walls.....the 1970's paneled walls are a reoccurring theme through the house as you will see. The game plan...rip em out room by room as we can afford it and put up drywall instead.



This is my kitchen sink and counter top... first order of business remove ugly dark rose valance that appears to have been made out of old sheets. This room will probably be our last and most costly renovation in the future, the game plan modern cabinets and counters/ stone tile back splash, slate tile floors. Make some space for the oven...which currently lives in the dining room.....I know...weird.



Here's a view into my kitchen from the dining room, notice the radiator cover under the window. Its a nice toasty little room, I like to sit on the radiator cover to warm my bum!!!.


Here we have extra counter space opposite the fridge and beside the radiator. I'm hoping one day we can turn this into a home for the oven, Ideally we will be able to knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining to give ourselves a bit more space to work with in the kitchen renovation....but we'll see. Like I said this room will be the last on the chopping block.


Next is the dining room....



This door frame leads into the kitchen, note the wall clock....it hides a sloppy wall cover up of a hole that indicates the house once had a wood burning stove here. Now a radiator has taken its place. ahh history!!!



here is an ammature built in shelf floating randomly in my dining room, it may be handy if we decide to move the washer in that corner one day, the dryer currently lives in the back entrance and the washer is in the basement. Not so convenient we may have to reunite this pair sooner rather than later.


here is the door that leads into the back entrance way.



on the other side of the door is my stove (also free with purchase of home!) note my second built in shelf, at least this one has the decency to be tucked into the wall instead of hanging a foot out!!



dining room view from kitchen doorway, the door to the right leads to the basement and needs to be fixed so it closes all the way. I have to pull down round two of that ugly rose pattern window treatment.

Here is my down stairs hall way...



This door leads to the front entryway, the night we first got our keys and took a view of our new home I opened this door and the knob came off right in my hand.... Ah well this door is pretty much useless, although it may be a handy way to keep the puppies and baby away from the stairs.



Evidence of a giant floor grate from the homes old wood stove heat days. I may put an over sized grate there just for appearances to hide the strange gap in the ceiling.



The end space of the hallway is pretty much wasted space right now, I will probably put my computer desk here and leave Chris's office as his own work sanctuary...for now. One day I would love to build up a wall and turn this empty space into a 1/2 bathroom with just a toilet and pedestal sink. Once the kids are walking age that would be best.


Now our journey continues upstairs....



Chris is going to put up a banister right away for these stairs, eventually the paneling will all come down and be replaced withe drywall, the stair will be carpeted in a light tan berber and the carpeting will be continued throughout the upstairs hallway and bedrooms.



The current hallway flooring.....ah well at least all this linoleum will be fine while the dogs learn where they are supposed to be peeing in the new house.



view going towards stairway..



view coming from stairway...


The bathroom



Here's my tub and shower....oh yeah powder blue bebe!!



Needless to say I'm hoping to switch out all the fixtures for white and switch the tub backing and flooring with some nice tiles.



Some nice drywall will be a must. maybe switch out this window for a new vinyl one like we have downstairs.



A new white pedestal sink will do nicely.



As well as a matching white toilet, did I mention new tile....anyhow a good cleaning of this will have to do for now.



Huzzah anouther radiator!!!!


The Office...Chris's sanctuary!!!



A small closet maybe will be used for linens...Chris already took a pry bar to the door frame to see what was under the pannelling.



Oh yeah check out this ugly....



More ugly pannelling and flooring to be redone in drywall and berber carpeting.



Homemade wooden valance's in all the rooms upstairs...we even have a scrap piece of matching wood in our bedroom closet confirming the homemade origins...we suspect the kitchen cabinets were homemade as well. Ah well these guys pop right off.


The future Nursery. This (and the living room repaint) will be the only room we really rush to get completed before the baby arrives.. New walls and carpeting, most likely to be done in nice neutral tones like tan or a soft green.



These closet are deceptively deep, the downside they are tiny little hobbit doors...big enough for me and Chris but a bit small for anyone else.



Seriously are you seeing these floors...really? THAT was the decor you wanted in your home.....wow these need work! Nice to know my bedrrom flooring matches!!



The shock of the day~ more...GASP...paneling.....




last in my tour of home improvement delights is my bedroom.



My closet..



I should have used flash here...sorry, my first window.



My second window.

So needless to say this place needs some major updating, but the home inspection went well, shes a solid old girl, so room by room we will shall improve her and get her up to modern standards of living. On the plus side WE HAVE OUR OWN HOME!!! we can decorate and renovate how we please. We can have as many animal friends as we would like and the best part....no more cohabitating and having to hear people through apartment walls etc. SCORE!!!!. I think once the reno begins I shall start a seperate blog on my homes progress.

Friday, December 25, 2009

December a month in review!!!


So what has been going on the Eastern Canadian home front?. December was an incredibly busy month for Chris and I. We began looking at some property at the start of the month, we found an awesome historical home in Glace bay. It was a 5 bedroom, 3 level, 1.5 bathroom home located downtown. The price tag was $43,900. It had a sweet claw foot tub, as well as a fireplace. The downside, its currently occupied by some of the worst white trash tenants I have ever seen who are essentially running the home into the ground with their filth and disregard for the property. Despite the tenants it was SO tempting to buy and restore that home to its former 1920-1930's glory, but with a new baby on the way this spring it may have been a bit more work than we could reasonably handle.

The next home on our list was a small two bedroom located downtown Sydney, only a block and half away form the shopping district and the animation studio Chris occasionally picks up contracts from. We went by during the day and it seemed to be in a good state of repair from the outside, the street seemed pretty quiet and the price was $49,900. So we assumed the higher price tag for a smaller home may indicate it was a higher quality building.....WRONG!!!. The space was ridiculously tiny and the basement was so damp and dank it was growing a cotton candy style mold/ salt buildup from the floors. I swear to god in 50 more years the basement will be growing its own stalagmites. To top it off the building across the street which during the day looked like a quiet apartment or office building is actually a pretty loud and rowdy bar during the evening. So this home was a NO!!!!. The third was a horrible little crack shack located directly beside a busy stone quarry....needless to say we decided to skip even looking inside this one. Following the crack shack was a little two bedroom home sitting on almost an acre of lawn!, someone had taken the time to fully renovate the interior with new flooring, fresh drywall and paint. The downside.....the house had somehow buckled in the middle so the downstairs floors were a bit like a fun house with an odd slant, which actually made me dizzy when I walked from the kitchen to the living room. Also it relied on a septic tank rather than municipal water.

About a week later we lined up 4 homes in a row to view on a single day priced between $42,000-$60,000. The first one in Glace bay (only a block away from my boss) was a two level apartment building. The downstairs was an empty two bedroom unit with a decent amount of space, maybe slightly larger than the basement suite we are occupying now. It was still fully above ground!, and the perk was an older single woman living in the unit up stairs paying $600.00 in rent each month. It was only a two block walk to the major grocery stores. The unit itself needed a few repairs (rewiring of the kitchen/ new appliances/ new windows in a few rooms). A few more downsides were the lack of storage and a creepy little stone cross in the garden beside the house hinting at maybe a little pet grave :(.

The next home was a well built older home just outside of town a bit, it was a two bedroom bungalow style home, with a newly renovated unfinished basement. The catch it was at he highest point in our budget and the interior was beyond 1970's style grandma. I mean bright red shag rugs and wacky 70's ceramic tile 3/4 of the way up the kitchen walls, also strangely one bedroom had no closet but there was a bedroom style closet in the bathroom?????? weird!.

The next home was on a quite street close to a park, it was a small two level, three bedroom home. The downstairs was pretty clean and clear the walls were all a fresh white, the floors were an ugly department store style linoleum. The upstairs rooms were a bit outdated, wood laminate walls and gross 1950's style powder blue bathroom fixtures. The basement was unfinished but overall pretty clean. The plus side newer looking appliances and awesome old school hot water radiators. Other than a bit of ugly that could be fixed up over the next few years we had no real complaints about this house. The price~ $54,900.

The last home we looked at was HUGE!!!!!! It was a 6 bedroom two and a half bathroom monster home priced at $59,900!!. Apparently it had been used as a senior citizen care facility, so there were some old walkers and bed pans sitting around in one the rooms. The upstairs hallway had a huge ballet style rail all the way down the hall. The massive space was freezing!!!. As it was no longer occupied the owners shut the heat right down to next to nothing. As we here on the east coast have to pay for oil heating I couldn't imagine the cost to keep this thing warm, especially seeing as it would only be me, Chris a baby and two tiny dogs. Also the thought of living in a home that many elderly persons may have died in left a concern of ghosts in the back of my mind. So needless to say despite the fact the home was huge! and could have been easily made functional for us, it just had a bit of a creep out factor I don't think I would have wanted to deal with.

So that afternoon we decided that house number three would suite our needs nicely and we decided to put in an offer on the home pending inspection and insurance. We then spent ten days in a frenzy trying to arrange a home inspection/ land survey/ finalising bank approval/ getting insurance approval and getting all these things done before the lawyers office closed down for the holidays. We wrote in our offer to keep the appliances and the window coverings and offered about $2000.00 less than asking. They agreed to these terms but then after our inspection we learned we had to have the oil tank replaced and the electric upgraded to get insurance, so the seller replaced the oil tank and took an additional $1000.00 off the home price so we could get the electrical upgraded. So while we will have to pay for our months rent this January anyhow we decided to move our things over slowly and let the electrician in to make repairs while we could still comfortably live in our current apartment. Also my NEW dad (step is such an ugly word) said when he comes out to visit he will help us fix up the bathroom and check out the heating system, which will be a HUGE help!!!. I know Chris will enjoy learning some tips and tricks from him while he is here.

So now that a home is in our cards we need to accumulate some furniture, as we moved here with only the luggage we could get on the plane. My mom bought us a new bed and Chris's mom helped us with our down payment and closing costs on the house. We just bought a nice love seat and have a big comfy chair in a sage green that matches. The rest will be what we can find on Kijiji for a reasonable price. Our first few projects will be to fix up the babies room at least and to get the living room a bit more livable!. The best part! My family sent us a gift card for a video camera for Christmas and then Chris's family actually sent us a video camera so we can now use our gift card towards a new flat screen t.v for the house. Talk about having your cake and eating it too! Thanks everyone for all your help!!!. I think Chris and I truly lucked out in the great family department, I cant wait for everyone to come out and visit us this summer to meet the baby!!!.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

bank meeting...



The bank meeting looked promising yesterday, Chris and I will know for sure whether we are pre approved for a mortgage again within a week or so!!!. ****fingers crossed****

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Monday, November 23, 2009

Score one for Credit!!!


So Chris and I have made some pretty large strides in eliminating our overall credit these past 3 months. I'm happy to say were well on our way to meeting our goal for this year. Which is good, were going to the mortgage specialist again tomorrow and are hoping we have done enough to still be approved for a mortgage. We were pre-approved a few months back but the need for a new vehicle trumped our housing dreams so we had to put a new home on the back burner.

Now that we are having a baby this late spring we want to be in our own place. If that is not possible then we need to find a nicer place to rent, A basement suite will not cut it with a new baby. So fingers crossed we will have some good news to report this week.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Christmas cheer?




The time is approaching fast, LIGHTS, TINSEL, SHOPPING!!!. Now most years the approach of December has me begin premature frown lines that no amount of Oil of Olay will be able to repair come January. This year however is different I find a little bit less 'Ba~hum' in my 'bug', in fact I am finding I am actually gently nursing a tiny seed of what can only be described as.....Christmas cheer.

My usual problem with Christmas is how commercial it is. I would much rather receive a handmade gift from people than an expensive gift that makes me feel guilty to receive. I also hate surprises, ABSOLUTELY DESPISE THEM!. I am a hard person to get an over inflated reaction out of, I generally save my over inflated reactions for my rage filled outbursts. A smile and a thank-you is pretty much as emotional as I get, even when I picture Ed McMahon coming to my doorstep with a giant check my reaction is still a "thank-you" with dignity, no fainting, no screaming. Its not that I'm ungrateful I may absolutely love my gift but it will always be coupled with the guilt of receiving it, an awkward feeling of being indebted to the giver. I even feel this way about a cup of coffee. So I hate surprises because I know the gift giver tries so hard to find the right gift, then to keep it secret and present it to you in a moment of grand revealing to get the ultimate response...which for me will not be huge.

But this year I'm not going to worry about it, I'm just going to enjoy my last Christmas alone with Chris. We have never had our own Christmas tree in our 5.5 years together so this year we will put up and decorate our own tree. We will sing Christmas Carols and make some holiday goodies to enjoy, and just enjoy a quite holiday with the two of us and the puppies. We may burn a yule log together and then have a nice Christmas dinner, the two of us.

I will be merry and enjoy decorating the Bakery and try to make the most of the last uncomplicated Christmas of my life :).

Friday, November 6, 2009

1980's me!!!


So this Halloween was the first Halloween I actually dressed up and had some fun in the last few years. It was a spur of the moment idea between myself and the girls at work but we decided to come to work dressed up in our best 80's retro gear. About two days before we went down to Value Village and browsed the racks to find the look we were going for. My costume would not have been complete if I hadn't found the sweet metallic, fuchsia, zebra print, spandex tank top!! I tried to go glam rock wearing a longer t-shirt underneath my tank and a pair of skinny black leggings, the finishing touches were my pink leg warmers, leopard flats and fake hair extensions!. One of the girls brought in a CD book FULL of 80's tunes which we enjoyed for the entire afternoon while we dipped into the customer candy bowl, to finnish off a great day my boss baked us a pizza for lunch!!!:).

It was the best Halloween I have had since Chris and I lived closer to our friends!! I'm really glad I did something this year. Next Halloween we will be a family of five, two adults, two small puppies and one baby!, I think I'm going to borrow my friends family tradition of doing a group costume and going up to Walmart each year for a family photo session. I'm already planning my 'Labyrinth' tribute photo shoot~ David Bowie eat your heart out!.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

More Amy Sol





Here is anouther sweet Amy Sol print I got last month. Thought I would share the awesome with you. Im thinking I may frame the two prints and put them up in the nursery when we set things up. oh yeah btw...Im pregnant check it out!!!
http://saucymamasjourneyintotheunknown.blogspot.com/

Friday, October 16, 2009

Today's highlight!





(this is not the mouse I saved, but he was just as cute)

Today a baby mouse ran into work, one of the girls screamed and it was so scared it was paralysed with fear. I scooped him up in a little bucket gave him a chunk of muffin and took him out back to a small field that leads to a little ravine behind the store. I carefully turned the bucket on its side and let him be alone outside. when I went back out to check on him a little while later he had already scurried off somewhere. I'm glad I freed that cute little mouse before one of the men at work could kill him :). I have decided to write a short story about this little mouse who I have named Finnegan Pearson Mouse.


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

My vacation: Vancouver- round 2!





Now we continue my vacation saga, day two in Vancouver we go to my Aunts house to help her build some shelving units, a few hours turns into an all day event. But it was fun none the less, we were able to visit with each other and spend the day together. Late that afternoon we browsed Granville Island and bought some Granville Island beer right from the brewery and I was able to visit my favourite store in the world.....Dragon Space. That's a store that sells nothing but fantasy related items, if your in need of Gryphon's, Unicorns, Fairies or Dragons- you need look no further. After that we went back to my Mom's house to have a BBQ and celebrate my younger sisters birthday.

The following few days went by in a blur of visiting friends and family, we were able to visit a few favourite haunts but the majority of our time was spent trying to see everyone we could. I was able to catch up with everyone I had hoped to see and Im so glad it worked out that way. We were also able to do some shopping....so much so that I had to ship some of my clothes out to myself to make room for my purchases in my luggage.

On a visit to my Grandmother's house my sister rear ended a car in front of us and totalled my Mom's car. We eventually made it out to my Grandmother's house after driving the car back to mom's house and contacting the insurance company. We visited my Grandparents and had a HUGE lunch at their house. We found out that they were going to be selling their house of 25 years and moving into a condominium near the beach.

They were pretty happy about the move, although I found it was a little bit sad to know they would be leaving the only home I remember them ever being in. What really makes it tragic is my grandmothers massive floral garden and my grandfathers vegetable garden in the back will eventually be bulldozed after the house is rented out for the Olympics to put up an overpass. 15 year old grape vines, roses, fig trees and hydrangeas among other flowers and vegetables will all be lost to "progress".The visit went well though, we poured through some old photo albums for a few hours and listened to some old stories about the good old days. It was nice. Having not seen them for over two years the good-bye was a bit emotional, living on the other side of the country from your friends and family can be tough. It turns out not just for us but for them as well.

Towards the end of the week we were trying to help Mom get her wedding organised, to no real avail. Eventually we just threw our hands up in the air and had to say 'its her wedding, not ours, let her handle it how she wants to handle it'. With the relatively little amount of planning and the huge last minute venue change (three weeks before the wedding) everything really did come together rather nicely. I must give allot of credit to My Aunt Sherry and my Sister for the amount of things they brought to the table to pull it all together, including flowers and getting my Mom to the bridal shops early enough to have a dress to wear on her big day. She wanted to go dress shopping a week before the wedding.....can you imagine that potential disaster?....gah!!.

I was able to make the best speech at Mom's wedding by singing a song instead welcoming my "My new Jewish Dad" to the family. The entire room was laughing and it was great. We danced we drank and we had a great night. The following day was a day for good byes as all our family from Ontario was preparing to leave and my sister left to go back up North to B.C. More tear filled goodbyes for all. Chris and I packed up and were ready to head out for our flight for the second leg of our trip...Saskatchewan. To be continued......

Monday, October 5, 2009

Halifax-Vancouver : my vacation part one


So what has happened in the last few weeks I have been silent from my blog updates?. Well Chris and I were working pretty hard the few weeks before our vacation to earn a bit more spending money for our trip. Each of us working extra hours as well as baking Gluten Free bread which has been selling as quick as we can make it. On top of that we were packing up and house cleaning to prepare for our trip.

On August 21st, At last after a nine hour shift at work I was able to come home take a shower and 20 minute nap before we packed the dogs/ the luggage/ my neighbours stolen garden gnome and ourselves in the car for our 5 hour drive up to Halifax, to take our 8 hour flight to Vancouver....looooong day and a half to say the least. A few times we had to stop at a gas station and set the alarm on the cellphone for a 20 minute rest as we were both running on fumes at this point.

Before we got to the airport we had to find my Boss' brothers house as he was kind enough to let us park PT at his place for two weeks to save the $175.00 the park-n-fly or airport would have charged us. We arrived at his house at around 5:30 in the morning and parked the car in his driveway, left a set of keys in his mailbox and a note. We phoned for a cab to the airport and began waiting. A few minutes of waiting Chris realises he has to use the bathroom...badly and its a number 2. We cant knock on their door and wake them this early, that would be rude. As much as the thought disturbs me I suggest he craps in a few plastic bags and uses some paper towel crouched in the back of the Pt which still has its back seats all pushed forward after the luggage was unpacked.

The cab company calls us back and says the driver became lost but he is on his way now. Great Chris cant wait!!! He grabs the roll of paper towel out of the car and runs down the block hoping the end of the street will yield some lot of foliage....no such luck it just opens out onto another street. At precisely the moment he runs back (in a panic at this point) the cab driver shows up. We ask him to make a stop ANYWHERE with a bathroom. We pull up to a Tim Horton's and Chris runs in. While we wait the driver casually asks a worker having a smoke out front what time they opened...it turns out they literally opened up 15 minutes before we got there. Chris comes out and were on our way again.

We make it to the airport, check our luggage right behind a cute hippie family moving. Chris teases me saying that whole family has a kid and their moving across country and they have the same amount of luggage as I do....maybe he was right?. I had two large suitcases one medium carry on, my purse and Mushu in a carrier, he had one medium suitcase, a small carry on and Foxy in her kennel. In fact he had to check one of my bags just to make sure I could bring it along. Two weeks is a long time and you never know what you may need, always be prepared- a motto for scouts and women travelers alike!.

We have a coffee and some breakfast then go through security, we get to pre-board with our little beasts and get them settled under the seats in front of us. The flight goes by pretty smoothly as myself and the dogs nap through most of it. When we do arrive in Vancouver I am greeted by my Mom, her Fiance and my Sister. I have not seen my mom in two years and my sister since she visited last summer. We hugged and my sister and I took the dogs outside to make a pee while Chris gathered our luggage up. While at the airport we decided to get pictures of 'GNORMAN' my neighbors garden gnome at some of the tourist art displays throughout the airport.

That afternoon we showered the travel stink off ourselves had a nice long nap and then woke up to get ready for an evening at our old favourite Vancouver bar 'The Blarney Stone'. Chris and I were able to bus/walk from my moms place and be there in about 20 minutes.....which turned out to be about an hour or so too late. Our friend Ryan met us in line and we waited for about 1/2 an hour in line when our other friends decided it was too loud in there and came out to see if we wanted to try another bar. We all agreed and made our way to the next closest Irish pub which just happened to be two or three doors down the road.

This place 'the Irish heather'had a nice quite table out back for the group of us to sit and catch up. Sometimes when you haven't seen people in awhile you wonder if it may feel awkward seeing them again after so long, but once we all got settled at our table it was like old times again...minus all of us agreeing that maybe our crazy Blarney Stone days may be at an end....:( damn you maturity!!!!

After a few hours of visiting we all had to get ready to leave so our pals could catch the last sky train home again. Chris and I decided to enjoy the nice summer evening and walk the whole way back home after picking up a coffee at Tim Horton's. Once we walked across the Granville street bridge my pretty girlie shoes began digging into my heel to the point of drawing of blood and I was tempted to walk home downtown Vancouver barefoot.....yes I had partaken in a few drinks and it seemed like a logical conclusion. Fortunately for me, Chris had the sound judgement to say NO!. Instead he piggy backed me from the bridge uphill on Granville street a few blocks until we were almost home....ahhhhhh that's romance :).

We got back to Mom's place and crashed on the air mattress set up for us and slept like a couple of babies...without the need for midnight feedings of course :).

this concludes part one of our vacation...stay tuned for the saga to unfold.....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Update at looong last!!!



So what the hell has been going on with me this past month or so..... where to begin......

I have been working lots trying to save up for my trip(s) to Vancouver and Saskatoon. I had to miss my Kiss concert because my car decided to be an asshole and fall apart on me.

Chris and I found a pretty neat little house online, four bedroom, living room, bath, kitchen dining room for $46,0000, seriously where can you get a house at that cost in this country???. We decided for curiosities sake to take a look at it one day, and we fell in love with it instantly. The next few weeks were spent going to bank meetings and and trying to get pre-approved for a mortgage. We were, and Chris's parents were going to front us the money for the down payment (as we hadn't really planned on buying a house and hadn't saved for said purchase). We phoned up the realtor to take a second look at the home pumped to be making this big step together and then.......APPARENTLY the f*cking home had an offer put in on it two days before we called to take a second look at it.

Being pre-approved for our mortgage we decided to continue looking at houses within our price range and same damn thing happened again and again. We would phone to view a house and it would literally have been taken out of the equation only days before our call. I was pissed to say the least!! The real estate agent said she would love to show me all her listings as it seemed all the houses we took an interest in seemed to be hot shit after that. What really ticks me off is a few of these places had been sitting idle for a few months before we noticed them. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

So as we were on our house hunting, our car failed its MVI and we were driving it illegally for a few weeks...oops. It would have cost us $1000.00 to get it fixed and that's if Chris did the body work himself, the repair guy said in our cars condition and at its age (98 for Taurus) we may put the money in to fix it and then find out it needs more repairs in a few months. It was pretty apparent we needed a new vehicle, especially since we have to drive up to Halifax (5 hr drive) to get to the airport for our trip and Chris will be needing to make business trips to Halifax this fall.

What really made me angry was the fact I would have to miss Crab Fest in Loisbourg because of our crappy car. Since Chris and I have been living together we haven't really made any traditions, holidays come and go and we pretty much skip them. No kids to make happy and if it comes down to cooking up too much food for two people to eat at Christmas or buying myself a present on ebay then I chose the online shopping. Having no family and a limited amount of friends out here pretty much eliminates the need for Christmas trees, Halloween decor etc... BUT since we moved out here two years ago we have gone to Crab Fest every year...it was our only maritime tradition, and as crappy as it may sound~ getting cheap crab and eating it for breakfast in overcast old Loisbourg makes me happy. So I was determined to get a NEW $1000.00 car that wouldn't fudge up our mortgage pre-approval and we could use it for 6 months until we were in our own home then we could apply for a car loan.
So we saw an add on Kijiji for a car it was $1000.00 had an MVI sticker for the next 5 months and we figured perfect it should get us to and from Halifax and around town for a few months until we get our home..... We drive out to North Sydney to see it. I have never been to North Sydney before........people told me it was the ghetto, I grew up in freakin' Surrey, B.C so when small Town Nova Scotian's tell me about the ghetto I tend to disbelieve the stories. Well~ when easy going humble small towners start talking trash about a place in the future I shall take there words a bit more seriously. We drove into the "down town" section of North Sydney, every window in the business sector was smashed in accept for the one dollar store, the well maintained historical homes were becoming more paint chipped and seedy looking. We drove up to the house to see this car, car parts laying around a dirt lawn....does not bode well. We walk up and see this purple monstrosity...when I say purple think "the Phantom" hue. "Well can we take it for a test drive around the block" Chris asks. This guy looks at us like were crazy~as if just looking at this thing should have us pulling out our wallet.... Chris offers him to come with us he says "no take it but I don't want you taking it to far". Okay fine we get in and drive her around the block, the first thing I hear in my head "bang bang chitty chitty bang bang, chitty bang bang we love you!" this car sounds like an old man in the throes of his final death cough. Chris looks at me and asks "what do you think?". I look at him and tell him "I think these people have a very different opinion of what a $1000.00 car is worth. Hell our car was $1000.00 and at the very least the interior siding isn't coming lose from the f*cking doors. The worst part was there was a baby seat in the back.

We get in our car and go to drive back home, As we are not accustomed to driving around North Sydney Chris somehow misses our turn back home and we find ourselves on some weird back road. Houses are becoming spaced out about a three minute drive apart. The gas light dings on...were driving in the middle of nowhere, At this point Chris notices he doesn't have his wallet on him and I left my purse at home as we just brought the check book in case the car worked out. Did I mention the cell phone is dead..... So essentially were screwed we have to make the car home or walk if it dies. The only thing I can think to do at a time like this~look at Chris and say "You got a perty mouth" and begin humming some hill-Billie banjo tune as I braced myself for the inevitable hill-Billie death rape that would surely ensue should the car decide to die out here. Chris was not impressed. Eventually we did in fact make it home to my relief, but Crab Fest was looming near and my only crap-tastic tradition was in danger of being ruined.....having already missed the KISS concert it made my mood even worse.

Essentially I had a choice to make... keep house hunting and rent a car to Halifax missing Crab Fest or get a new car. So we decided to put our house hunt on hold and get a vehicle instead have I mentioned how much I LOVE cheap crab for breakfast???. So we drove around a few car lots after hours to check out a few vehicles without the commission vultures circling us like a pair of dying baby Gazelles. We narrowed it down to the Golf, Matrix and Yaris as we figured a small little car would be perfect for our lifestyle and good on gas too!

So we go back to the few lots we found a decent vehicle at and decide to test drive a few cars. On our first car lot (Toyota) we checked out the matrix and the golf, they were nice, but nothing to write home about. The sales guy seemed so defeated, like his plans on making commission this month had been bludgeoned to death like a baby seal. He just gave us the keys to some cars and went back into the building telling us to come see him if we found anything we liked. As we were leaving to check out the next lot he made a point of letting us know he could drop the price on a few cars if we wanted. He didn't even try to play hard to get. The next two lots were crap so we didn't even bother test driving anything.

Then we made it to the Chevrolet dealership, we wanted to test their used Yaris, as we reinspected it during the daylight we realised it was a standard and lets face it I can barely drive an automatic, so it was a no go. They did however have a 2007 Ford Taurus in our price range that Chris wanted to investigate and that's when I noticed a PT Cruiser sitting there on the lot. "LOOK CHRIS A 2008 PT CRUISER!!!" I squealed.

"Absolutely not those are the ugliest cars I have ever seen" he replied. "Well come on it cant hurt to just look inside" he looks at me and shrugs "fine but were just looking".

We walk up to the dealership when a guy comes out and asks if he can help, he gets some keys and we sit inside the PT. "Hey Its kind of nice in here, huh Chris?" he looks at me and says "yeah it is kind of nice, I guess its not on my NEVER category anymore". We go check out the Taurus its just a newer sedan style of our current car so there is nothing new or exciting to report. The sales guy gives us the facts about each car we ask about then tells us to come back if were interested in taking any of them out for a test run.

We decide to head back towards home and wing past the Volkswagen dealership on our way. The second we hit the lot a slick commission buzzard is on us like a fly on shit, this guy is absolutely EVERYTHING I HATE about commission sales people. I look to Chris the second he walks off to get some keys and tell him " I don't like this guy, he would sell an Eskimo a refrigerator to make a buck". Chris looks at me and says "really I don't see that?" I smile and say "watch".

He has his schmooze button on max and hes telling us "unlike allot of sales people Michelle, I listen to what people tell me they want" he tells us a car in our price range is just on another one of his lots and invites us into his car for a ride up. This car that we get into is apparently the car he has just purchased for his daughter, Chris tries to open the back seat and the door is jammed shut. I just smirk~ if this piece of crap is what hes giving to his own flesh and blood I don't want to see the cars hes trying to pawn off on the unsuspecting public. The car he takes us to is not at all what we were looking for and before we know it hes throwing Chris a set of keys and telling us to take it back to the other lot. We cant refuse, were on the other side of town and have no way back to our car. He has successfully pushed us into his forced test drive sales tactic, at this point Chris can see what I was trying to tell him. I tell Chris I wouldn't buy a car from this guy if we found our dream car on his lot, so we have decided to kindly say thanks but no and go home.

We get back to the dealership and the guy somehow worms us into his office where he eventually tries to sell us ANY car on his lot (our budget was 15,000 at the most for a used car) hes trying to sell me 30,000 suv's by the end of our conversation. So much for "listening to what the customer wants". Gah I swear this guy was so greasy my face broke out from the 20 minutes spent in his presence. To make matters worse the very next day whose number shows up on my call display~ Jim Sampson, Volkswagen dealership.

The following afternoon we went back and test drove the Taurus and PT cruiser and eventually we came home with.........



The 'never in a million years PT Cruiser' a.k.a "PETEY"...TA DA!!!!

The next day I call from work to get a ride home and Mr. "I-hate-pt-cruisers" is out joy riding in the middle of nowhere, when he eventually comes to get me, I open the door and the first thing I hear from his mouth is "Man I love this car".

So that has been the highlights of the more exciting portions of July for you stay tuned for menial day to day nonsense in the near future :).

Friday, July 24, 2009

so much to share but I will wait until I have a better climax!



So because Im waiting to share some potentially exciting news until it has happened and any story I may tell in that vein would give it all away I will leave you with some random thoughts for the day.

It has been said "once you go black, you never go back!" today I came up with an even better quote along the same lines. It goes a little something like this.....

"Once you go black, you ruin your snatch.......but..... when you go white you stay nice and tight!"

I know its pretty dirty but sometimes its fun to throw out things to shock and amaze your 40 something male coworkers who think they have said and heard it all.


Monday, June 29, 2009

Sloth Sunday! BANNED edition!!!





You may notice my banner has been completed!! Thanks to Chris for the hours of tweaking, unfortunately I cant post the high res version which is even nicer than this one. I love it all the same though!!!. Huzzah ~ Giddy time!!! For those wondering whats going on in the image...Well I am luring my puppies and evil winged monkey with delicious baked goods to a world with unicorns on the back of the illusive space Hippocamp~ Duh!!!!(BTW I realise Duh is so 1996 but it amused me to use it).


My week in a nutshell~ oversaw the bakery while my boss was out of town and it was a success!!. Looked at a sweet fixer upper house with Chris and have fallen in love with it....now were trying to figure out the ins and outs of our finances and the mortgage game. Took a walk tonight with the puppies and we bumped into a fox with a dead critter in his jaws, we both looked at each other then walked along our separate ways. I have successfully paid off my capital one and I am selling my first ooak custom Hippocamp ornament on ebay.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Artist!!!



Just wanted to SQUEEEEEEE about the new Amy Sol print I was able to snag today and bring this lovely artist to the attention of others. The print I got was entitled "DUST WINGS" and its adorable. I urge you to check out her site, she has a very unique style and is a rising star in the modern art community.




http://www.amysol.com/

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Abused....



Accident Prone! That would be an under statement for the last few weeks. Last week Chris and I were moving our mattress/box spring to the floor to make it easier for the dogs to get up and down from our bed when I managed to get the box spring (mattress weighing on top)to come crashing down on my fingers. I still have a black spot under the nail of my middle finger from the blood burst it caused. This week I tripped twice, two separate occasions and landed on my hands and knees while walking along the street. My palms on both hands have the scabs from gravel cuts. I have six other cuts and gashes on my hands from various paper and knife cuts, including a nasty slice from the side of a tin can. Today I dropped a 40 lb bucket of icing on my ankle which is now swollen the size of a grape fruit and quite painful, and tonight I burned my two index fingers on the pizza pan at dinner time.


I look like a battered spouse covered in cuts and bruises as I limp along my merry way. People are noting my injuries and asking how they could occur and when I give them my lame replies (I tripped) I can see their minds formulating far more sinister ideas about how they occurred. The only theory I have about this damage is Karma!!!. I'm sure this is just a continued slap on the wrists for all the nasty things I'm prone to saying and any negativity I release in the universe...well karma...I got the message loud and clear. Enough is a Enough!!!!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

good bye






Good bye Michael Jackson~may the media vultures leave your corpse in peace.