ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL............

Excitement, excitement, excitement!!!. The date was February 23rd, the time between 7:00-10:00pm the event......My proposal!!!!. Chris and I had spent our morning driving up to Halifax to do our Ucbaby to see our baby in 3D!!!. I even did a few hours of the driving, which is the first time I have driven the Pt cruiser and the first bit of real driving I have done in oh......three years. When we got to Halifax we dropped the puppies off at doggie daycare, which made me feel pretty guilty as poor Mushu seemed to absolutely hate it!!!. The saddest part was watching a big golden retriever come to sniff her bum and Mushu looking up at me like the inmate who had just dropped the soap during group shower.

We went up to the Ucbaby and did our ultrasound where we discovered we are having a baby girl!!! We also discovered that despite the limited space a fetus has in the womb they are still able to find good ways of hiding. The coolest part of our ultrasound was that my Mom and Chris's grandma could watch it from the other side of the country. The next coolest thing.....they record your babies heartbeat and stick it into a teddy bear for you!!!.

After the excitement of our ultrasound we picked up two very relieved puppies and went to our pet friendly hotel, where they give your pets a stuffed toy and some doggie treats upon check in. We got ourselves settled at the hotel and cuddled up on the bed looking at the few print out pictures of the baby along with listening to the recorded heartbeat. Chris and I were pretty happy and were talking about how perfect life seems to be going right now and how much we love each other. Chris then gets out of bed and runs to his laptop bag, he comes back and gets down on one knee and proceeds to tell me how much he loves me and how he is always going to love me, then he pulls out a ring box. He opens it and asks if I recognize the ring.....which I do as it was the ring I showed him over a year ago when we browsing the jewelery stores together. He then asks me to marry him where I of course said yes!!!.....in fact I may have even blurted the phrase "me love you long time!!".

Chris then began to tell me the epic saga of what had taken him so long to propose. The first time he had planned the whole thing out in his head and was going to do it at the end of a mountain hike we both really liked taking at Blackets lake. The day he planned to do it, I refused to go for a hike. The next few times he made plans to do it was the same story, he would invite me somewhere and I wasn't in the mood to go. Then was our trip to Vancouver and he was afraid he would lose the ring so he changed his mind on that idea. Then only days after we got back from Vancouver I discovered I was pregnant and he didn't want me to think he was proposing just because I was pregnant so he delayed it again. The next time he decided he wanted to try to propose was when we got our keys to the house, but the house had some leaking and electrical problems so the mood was ruined. The time after that was when we spent our first night at the new house.....but then the mattress wouldn't fit upstairs so that once again ruined the mood. Needless to say poor Chris kept waiting for the perfect moment then he realised.....the perfect moment may never come but the day in Halifax went so well that he decided it was a pretty good time to pop the question!!!.

So the 23rd of February was an awesome day, I got to see my baby and got engaged! Best day ever!!. Now in a few weeks on March 21st Chris and I can celebrate our 6 year anniversary as an engaged couple!!!. Life is funny sometimes....it seems like it wasn't that long ago I was complaining that nothing was going on, then within the course of a few months I got a car, got pregnant, went on a holiday to visit family and friends, bought a house and then got engaged. I'm pretty happy!! I'm finding it allot harder to be in funky mood these days, I have great friends and family, I'm building my own nuclear family in fast order. I'm so lucky to have found the greatest guy in the world and despite all the time we have been together instead of growing distant or tired of each other we are becoming closer everyday and I only seem to love him more. I'm having a sweet baby girl~ which has always been my preference! I have two of the cutest most well behaved puppies in the world, I have great coworkers......life is pretty good. I'm feeling pretty lucky these days!!.

reconnected at last.....

So where have I been the last few weeks? The end of January sort of snuck up on us and we realised we still had allot of stuff to remove from the old house as well as get it all cleaned out so the people upstairs could view it and get it rented. So after work in the evenings and on my days off Chris and I went back to the old house to load up our goods and begin to clean it up. You never really realise how much stuff you own until you try to relocate it. Chris and I still couldn't fit our mattress up the small stairwell so we had it all set up in the dining room until we had the time to solve that problem. As of this past Saturday we are finally moved in our bedroom. It only took Chris ripping every single stair tread off the staircase and hauling the mattress and box spring up the stairs single handed while I was at work. When I got home that evening he still had to replace a few stair treads that had cracked when he pulled them, so while I took a nap he began to rebuild our stairwell.

About an hour into my nap I hear Chris yell "MICHELLE, I need your help". Startled, I jump up off the couch and run into the kitchen to see Chris hanging over the sink a trail of blood on the floor around him. With the amount of blood everywhere my first thought was he had cut off his finger with one of the power tools. I walk up to him to see what has happened, his head is oozing blood all over his face, his arms are covered and the sink is filling with it. He explains how he crouched down to grab some nails and whacked his head on a shelf bracket that had been resting against the wall. We staunch the blood with the some paper towel and clean him up quick then head out to the emergency room. We leave the house at 10:30pm we get to the hospital at about a quarter to and get checked in. We then proceed to wait...and wait....and wait at about 2:30 am they finally get Chris and I into a room, where we continue to wait for another hour and a half. We can overhear the nurses outside our room and discover that three ambulances arrived and they trumped our importance.

Five stitches later (thank god he didn't hit his eye)and by the time we were ready to leave it was a quarter to five in the morning. I was supposed to have started work at 9:00 am and I still hadn't even showered after work or had more than an hours sleep since 8:00 am the previous morning. Needless to say I phoned my boss who being a Baker was already at work as I was entering the Hospital parking lot and told him what had happened, I didn't phone off sick, I just switched my shift to 2:00-6:00pm instead. When we got home Chris still had to replace a few stair treads so we could get upstairs for the night, after that and my shower I wasn't even in bed until 7:00am....so needless to say I was a bit exhausted. The silver lining to the whole black cloud however was the emergency doctor letting us know of a female family doctor who may be accepting patients, he told us which office to reach her at and we were able to get her number from the front desk. I phoned today and got both Chris and I on her list and the receptionist said we should hear back from her office within the next week or so!!! So SCORE!!! we have only been looking for a family doctor for almost three years now.

Home updates going elsewhere...

To keep things organised I will be moving any and all home related posts here. So any home renovations, inspirations and home news will be in one easy to find place.

January's news.

Last week I decided to try something different and possibly even good for me. AQUA FITNESS!!! I hate exercise, I hate trying to keep my balance in weird yoga posses, I hate being out of breath with cardio, I hate getting sweaty with weight training.....needless to say I'm not big on the exercise aspect of life. If its not taking the dogs for a walk or a hike I'm most likely not going to be game to join in. So this past week I was invited by one of the girls at work to join her at the pool for this aqua fitness class. My first thought....I haven't been to a swimming pool in at least three years I don't think I even own a swimsuit that would fit me (pregnant), my next thought when was the last time I shaved my legs???.

So despite these few concerns I went out and found something modest to wear to the pool and made the decision to go. I showed up not sure what to expect. The gym always makes me feel uncomfortable as the last few times I tried going it was filled with pencil thin girls complete with hair/make-up wearing their latest lulu lemon fashions. Needless to say...not so much my scene. So I entered the change room and to my surprise it was full of women of all ages and sizes, a very un-intimidating group of girls. It was a good step in the right direction.

The hour went by incredibly fast, the exercise routine did not leave me sweaty, breathless or over heated and the atmosphere was very comfortable. Needless to say I will be going back this week and probably making it a part of my routine every Tuesday and Thursday night.

addicted!

I have spent my last three days off in 6-8 hour shifts playing only the greatest game of all time! ~DRAGON AGE!!!. On the first night I didn't even make it to bed until 8:00 am. Poor Chris, he finally got his long awaited 42" flat screen T.V for Christmas (thanks family) and now his girlfriend is hogging it on him!......life is just not fair......

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.

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!!!.