Castle Fun Park

Last sunday, we decided to finally head over to 'Castle Fun Park', one of Abbotsfords only tourist/family attractions. Never been as we thought Quinn was too little, and assumed it would be ghetto as it's been there forever... surprisingly, we had the place to our selves!

It has 3 large and very impressive 18 hole mini gold courses. 1 outdoors, and 2 indoor (underground) theme courses (Under the Sea and the Jungle). There are also bumper cars, go- carts, batting cages, golf cages, huge arcade, kiddie games and other various fun stuff. We had a fantastic time.






We played our first round of mini golf with Quinn in the under the sea room. He scored TWO holes in 1! Having no traffic in front or behind us, we had an awesome game and were able to goof around and take our time. :) I am glad we went to check it out.




The Sale of our home is FIRM, done deal, just need to deal with the lawyers and such now. We never did paint the basement!! Woo-hoo!

I've been packing a bit every day. Next week will be full steam ahead. We've hired movers, using the same movers who brought us out here. Decided it was worth the extra bucks to have a stress free trip over the mountains, so we'll just have to worry about ourselves the car & van, not a truck and all our stuff! The money we spend will be re-cooped at tax time.

So moving day will be Thursday Nov. 13. Lair's last day at work. I will take Quinn to school, come home, meet the movers and get them started, then I will go get my hair done and maybe a pedicure :) Now that's my idea of how moving day should be!

Now we need to find mini-storage in Calgary for our stuff, this weekend we'll scour the internet for the best deal and safest facility.


Man are we ever getting excited!



xoxoxo

SOLD (Updated with details)

Well, that was a lot faster than we anticipated! We were expecting the house to sit on the market until at least January - March!

It's been a horrible experience (unlike our other real estate experiences where we laughed all the way to the bank)... In the end, we feel like we've been taken advantage of.

This was definatley a depressing experience. We are very lucky that it sold in 17 days, so NO complaints there as we were leaving for Calgary regardless of the sale for Dec. 1st! We seriously planned for it to sit on the market until Jan-march.


So we had a live buyer on the line. We listed it 10K less than we were hoping to; First offer came in almost 25K under list price (which was 10K less than what we wanted in the first place)... We countered; they countered; we countered; they gave a final offer...

We reluctantly took it. We asked our realtor, if it sat on the market for 30-90 days, what kind of price reductions would he suggest in that time.... He said $5000-10000+.... We decided to take what we could get now instead of risking a major loss later.


I feel violated. By the time commissions, fees, lawyers, etc are paid out, we will have lost most of our home equity which was our down pmt for a calgary home. So we're kind of ^$&#ed right now. :(

The only good thing out of all this is at least we will be in Calgary. Sigh :(

Not sure what we are going to do. We stay with mom till the new year to save some coin/pay down some debt. Need to talk to Jen to see what we qualify for with what down payment we have and have a pow wow with Tom about the Calgary Real Estate market. I am quite deflated that this is proving to be in my mind, disastrous... Again, at least it's disastrous in Calgary....


Our possession date is Nov 15 - so we'll be in calgary then - Lair may have to stay behind and work another week or 2 before he transfers over to AG...

I am quite numb. I feel like I am Free-falling without a parachute :(

Phew! Everybody knows now!

So things at work have been a bit stressful for everybody. A few weeks ago the Facility Manager was fired. He'd been there 20+ years and was a few years away from retirement. Since then, other big wigs from head office have taken over and they've been interviewing everybody and getting us to do anonomous employees reviews on our fellow work mates, do our own self-evaluation, have round tables in a safe off the record environment... over all, it just feels 'off' there, like we're waiting for the Axe to fly. So for me, being the part-time admin support, I have felt like I would be the first to go, so I was waiting to tell them until november as I was afraid they'd can me on the spot now if I told them.

Today my Boss, the office supervisor, wanted to have a 1 on 1. Before we got started, I told her everything. She is very happy for us and sorry to see me leave. We had a quick chat about work, then just talked about everything going on in my life. She will be very accomodating to my departure. I gave an end date as Nov 21, but this may change pending sale of house (like I may leave earlier or might stay an extra week or 2 into december; who knows!).



We had two showing on the place last night. No offers :( Still waiting for feedback.

Pumpkin Patch & Thanks Giving

We had a pretty good Thanks Giving weekend so far. It was absolutely gorgeous on saturday so we headed out to "The Apple Barn Pumpkin Farm"... Here's a pic of my 'Punkin' with the pumpkins! They have U-pick Pumpkins, apples, plums, farm animals, hay rides, pony rides, Trike Farm, Marshmallow Zipline, Jumping Pillow, orchard tours, Cider Mill, Veggie stand, Honey Bees, Store and concession. It was a lot of fun we had a fun afternoon!

Quinn picked out his own Pumpkin. Found it in the middle and off to the side of the patch. We were glad he chose one his size and not any bigger!



Today was laid back and quiet, just chilled and relaxed. I cooked a nice Prime Rib for dinner with Yorkshires and cauliflower casserole. Made the rub from Olive Oil with fresh chopped Garlic, Oregano, Garlic, Basil, Garlic, Rosemary, Garlic, Parsley, did I say GARLIC? :) And the Yorkshires came out great - didn't even fall after they came out of the oven! (I could easily eat all 12!)...


I am Thankful that this will be the LAST Family Holiday where we are alone with no extended family of friends..... I am thankful for Lawrence and Quinn the most amazing Beings in my life, and I truly thankful for our Families Health and of course, the trek back to Calgary.

Lair has to work tomorrow. Not sure what Quinn and I will do. Was thinking maybe one last trip to the Zoo or maybe go swimming. Who knows.



Happy Thanksgiving!

My head is spinning!

Oh my Gosh My head is spinning! So All of August and September we've been primping the house and trying to organize and strategise to get the house on the market and us to Calgary.

So here we are, October, the house is on the market (MLS# F2828851), Lair starts his new job Dec. 1, so now we need to get to calgary. So this weekend will be full steam ahead pack & purge.But, we need to pack for two things: <1> our temporary situation which could be a few weeks or a few months.... and
<2>our full move to our new home.

Ug, trying to think of what we'll need for 3 months is tough. Clothes, pillows/bedding, bed? (will probably buy a futon in calgary); will probably bring Quinn's bed as he misses it lots when we travel; I need to find out if mom has certain kitchen items; Our cpt, printer, speakers, PVR.... TV? It will be so hard to say good bye to our beautiful flat gorgeous baby.... toys? books? Yikes.

I guess we will have to use the mentality we do when packing for a vacation - once we are gone - if we need something and don't have it, we either buy it, or didn't need it that bad....


WINTER.... Am I ready for it? didn't miss it one bit... The visual beauty of winter and the crispness in the air will be nice - the big Blue sky.... But the cold and slush and crappy roads.... :( So, I keep reminding myself of how much FUN I had in Winter as a KID.... Spending HOURS outside in the snow....

Am I ready for 'The Big City' again? My life has been centered around Abbotsford this year - no traffic, everything you need is literally 15 minutes from my door (the whole city is only 20 minutes driving radius...)....

LOL - who am I kidding, I am a PROUD CALGARIAN! I am sure we will slide right back into things; will be interesting with Quinn in toe. Will be cool to see it through new eyes.

He adjusts well and travels very well. I just hope this move won't be too hard on him. Right now he is in Montessori 5 days a week and learning so much! I hate to shake up his little life but it will be for the best. Better now than when he's actually in school! One of the first things I will need to do is find a temporary pre-school class for him near moms that is cheap (as I won't be working yet) and I won't worry about a permanent spot until we buy a place and settle in one area.

So I gotta think about packing for December, packing and staging the house (maybe finding a temp renter to help off set the costs), finding a pre-school for Quinn, not driving mom crazy, selling the van and getting a cheaper reliable 4 door car (BTW - the van is for sale if you know anyone looking!), finding a job in the new year, buying a new place in Cowtown, flying back here to do the final move (U-haul or mover?), Moving again, settling, and finding a school for Quinn... Just to name a few things on my plate... Sigh.

Will be nice to have cheaper car insurance (Meloche Monnix how I've missed you!), cheaper gas, health care paid for.... :) Higher wages! We're trying to sell in the suckiest time in Abbotsford - however, we welcome the soft market in calgary as it will be cheaper for us to buy - so in the end it will even out. I'm hoping the calgary market declines considerably in the next few months so we can get into a newer development (We're looking mostly at Townhouses).

Oh - we've hired a painter to paint our basement.

So this is going to be painted the light color on far wall.... Sigh.







A year ago today we were in the Mayan Riviera... Quinn wasn't talking yet! I can't believe how much he has grown as an individual. He is such a nice boy. Very thoughtful and careing, sincere and considerate....


I digress. It's bedtime.... Thanks for reading my random babble. Just needed to get some things out of my head before bed.

"I'll be HOME for Christmas".... literally! We're moving back to CALGARY!

Well Lisa, you asked for it, so here it is! Where do I begin...

In January, Lawrence & I decided that as a family, we are happy, but as a family and 2 individuals in BC, we are both ridiculously miserable and lonely, missing our friends and family.

We went to Calgary in January, February, May and July......

In May, we decided we needed to sit down and create an 'Exit Strategy' and start thinking about packing it up and heading East (It's sure a lot more difficult and complicated than when we left!).

Upon our return after our July visit, we were 100% committed to making it happen and making it happen FAST.


AUGUST: In early august. Lawrence told his boss we wanted to move back to Calgary so he may be job hunting - just in case it got back to him (it's a small industry, word travels fast). He also told his boss how he really does like the company he works for, their ideologies and business practice, and was wondering what the chances were of an opportunity at their sister company in Calgary ('AG' Associated Grocers).

His boss then started to talk to the AG guys. a few weeks later, they told Lair they would Create a position for him and to hang tight while all the details were hashed out...

We spent the month purging items we didn't want/need anymore. I had a virtual garage sale on Craiglist/Kijiji and sold TONS of random household items & baby stuff and made a fair penny! We started talking with Jen Mikla about mortgages and Tom Sherry about Calgary Real Estate. Tom referred a local Realtor who we met with to chat about Abbotsford Real Estate.

Lair replaced 7 light fixtures, we updated all the door knobs and closet handles. So August came and went. We were pretty disappointed as we had full intentions of listing our place for Sept 01.

SEPTEMBER: We decided to freshen the WHOLE main floor (Excluding 1/2 bath), stairwell top to bottom and upper hallway with new (boring neutral) paint. First we were going to get a painter in ($1000+), then decided to tackle it ourselves, saving the money for the move. What an ordeal! Week nights we were unable to do anything until Quinn was in bed, and 2 full weekends we sent him off to a sitter and worked none stop. We got it done, but man, what a chore. The house was upside down for so long; It was pretty hard on us.

In mid Sept, work got back to Lawrence with a drafted idea. If he was willing to leave the Buyers position and go back into the Warehouse side of things, they want him to go into a Supervisory/Produce Quality Control roll. Lair said sure.

Sept 24, a big-wig from Alberta came out here to officially outline and offer Lawrence the job. :) And he accepted! They won't pay for our move as we asked, however, the new roll includes and extra week of holidays and a $5000/year raise. They have asked him to start on December 1st if possible!

October. On the 1st we listed our home. This was good news/bad news. The good news is, our house is on the market. The bad news is, the market is terrible right now for selling. Being that we have to take off in +/- 60 days, we can't list high and gamble that we will get any bites. So we've listed pretty much at Fair Market Value. We bought the place 23 months ago for #231,500... We are asking $237,555... I was pretty disappointed as I was really hoping to ask $247k... :( Boo.... As well, there are 3 unit up in our complex. Let's just hope that our shows the best and it is priced right.

Our Real Estate team is helping a friend start their home staging business. They are offering a complimentary consultation (Usually $100/hr). He came over today. We've done a pretty good job so far, only a few minor suggestions to help it show a little better. But 2 MAJOR suggestions that suck.

#1, paint the basement a neutral color. Now we are not stupid, we totally understand why, but we were thinking whoever moves in will just paint over it (like we did when we moved in). But the Stagger brought up a good point. It may only truly appeal to 50% (or less) of any potential buyers... the other other half may totally disregard our unit because (a) they hate the color, and (b) think it would be too much work/$$ to paint over it....

So, it looks like we will have to cave and paint the rumpus room a dull boring bland color. We understand that it has to be done to help attract buyers. This would be a Big project and by the time we add up child care, paint, more supplies and Time - it's not worth it for us to do it. We will get some painters in to Quote it - if they can do it for under $500 we'll get them to do it.

Suggestion #2 - to paint over Quinn's mural... :(

I really really really don't want to do this (yet).... The demographic of who will be buying this place is a Young Family. I'm hoping a young family comes in and sees it and fall in love with it for their child....

As well, Quinn's life is about to be completely turned upside down, I want to keep as much normalcy as possible until the move....

So we will talk it over with the Realtor. I want to here the feedback after a few showings before I send Lair in there with a paint roller.... :( Meh.



SO - that's pretty much it. Now we are getting ready to pack up what we can, and try to keep our place in 'show home' condition for the next two months.



OH - I guess I left out some pretty important details about the move.


So, originally, I wanted to move back to Calgary and NOT tell my MOM! I was going to unpack and settle for a week, then tell her I was popping into town and have her come to my 'friends' place then tell her.... Ya, LOL, I think that would have been awesome....

BUT, things are not going to be so smooth.

Real Estate in Abbotsford is sitting on the market for 3-4 months.... So originally we were thinking Lair would head to Calgary, start his new job and couch surf for a week at a time from friend to friend while Quinn and I stayed here, packed and tried to sell the house...

Ya, right. Well, there is no way I could handle being stuck here over the holidays in the rain separated from my soul mate and Quinn would definatly have a hard time being away from daddy.

So what were our other options... Well, we can't buy a place until this place sells. So do we move and temporarily rent?.... No way - we'd still be paying our full mortgage and utils for a vacant home in BC - can't afford any rent...


hmmm...... Well I didn't surprise mom the way I had wanted.... The only way we can do it would be to find somewhere to stay, virtually rent free, could be a few weeks, could be a few months.... So I called my mom.... and Bless her heart, she said yes. She's a little dumb-founded and shocked, but said yes none the less. THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!! THANK YOU MOM!!

Seriously, this is pretty much the most feasible way we can all be there before Christmas. So I've asked her to clear out her spare room the best she can and we'll come with a few suitcases of clothes and a few books and toys.

Now, it doesn't get any easier. What do we do with our stuff? Originally we thought we would move and put it into storage, but the Realtor and the Home Stager both suggested that a Furnished home shows much better than a vacant home. So perhaps we will just pack everything up, put the boxes in our storage room and keep the basic furniture etc out for showing.

Once the place sells, we will have a possession date - this gives us that amount of time to find and Buy a place in Calgary - fly out here and make the actual move.


Geez, could it get any more complicated????



K. I think those are all the thoughts I need to get out of my head for now. I feels SO good to poor it out!


In conclusion. We love and miss you all. We'll be home for Christmas. Please pray our place will SELL FAST and for close to the ASKING PRICE!


I don't have time to re-read this to make sure it makes sense, so hopefully it does.


xoxoxoxox

Melanie