and now for some other goings on ...

We're moving!

This will be the 6th house in our 7.5 years of marriage. (And we've had as many, if not more, vehicles.)

This time it's just across town. Compared to our big moves in 2005 & 2007, this will seem like a cinch. (Maybe.)

It's bittersweet. Mostly sweet and a little bit bitter. Our landlord cried when talking to Paul about our decision yesterday. He is Indo-Canadian, and has said that they consider us to be 'family', and they never could have imagined having such a good relationship with white people. This is the bitter part - we knew that they would be heartbroken by our leaving, but our new situation will be much more suitable. We do intend to continue our relationship with them as much as possible, as they have come to rely on Paul's help for things that they are not as knowledgeable about. (Stuff like programming their remote control, re-setting cordless phones after a power outage, changing the furnace filter ... that kind of stuff.) He lives across the cul-de-sac from us with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren (boy - 8, girl - 5). Just in these last few months, Max and the girl have become very good friends. We'll miss her. (That's a coconut husk behind them, by the way. We've discovered that they do not break down in the compost. Max "cleaned out all the bugs" after he retrieved several from the compost bin. They make great dirt pails, actually. We're all about the natural toys over here.)


The father and son have endeared us with phone calls or knocks on the door or a holler across the street ... "Baulllll ... five minutes?". They adore our boys, and always greet them with a "Hi Buddyyyyy!" and a pinch on the cheek. In the summer they bring us buckets and buckets of fresh blueberries, and then bags and bags of broccoli after that. Paul has made a few trips to and from the Vancouver Airport with them.

It was a complicated issue to find this house, as we were living so far away and needed to have a place upon our arrival. Brenda spotted the ad, and my parents looked at the house and met the landlords. It took a lot of work to make it comfortable for us to live in, and to get the suite rentable. (Landlord feels they spent too much money on the carpet we finally convinced them to install in the suite. Not much we can do about that.) We will be leaving this place in much better condition than when we arrived, and we feel good about that. They know they'll likely never find renters like us, which is very discouraging to them. The house has served us well in the past two years, but as we have lived here we've discovered several key things that make our lives more complicated than necessary.

We rent the whole house and sub-let the suite. This means all our living is upstairs, but the entrance is downstairs. Max has even been complaining about having to go up and down the stairs so much. I'm sure I've mentioned the laundry set-up? It's downstairs. And out the front door. And through the side door (with a separate key that you have to use upside down and the door doesn't latch properly so you have to pull it closed to lock it while holding a basket of laundry, and perhaps a baby on your hip and a bare footed pre-schooler just in his undie-wear) into the garage. And at the far end of the garage. Not so user-friendly. Our suite tenants actually have better access to the laundry than we do. I'm done griping about that now, and forever more. Onwards! There are more things that are complicated about this house, but I'll leave it at that and tell you about THE NEW PLACE.

We weren't actively looking for somewhere else to live, as moving is a huge job and we didn't want to disappoint our landlord. Although there are several things we're not crazy about in this house, it's liveable. But when we heard about this new possibility back in December, we hoped, hoped, hoped it would work out for us. Paul knows the owner through work and helped him out with some side jobs. He was renovating the basement suite while he and his wife lived upstairs. Paul asked him what the plan was for the house. He said he wanted to rent the whole house out and allow the tenants to sub-let the suite. This obviously sparked interest for Paul, and he asked more about the upstairs. The more he learned, the more he realized it may be ideal for us. He took me to see the place in December (on Jaxon's due date, as, clearly, we had nothing else to do that day.) I fell in love! I don't have any inside pictures, but here's one I snapped as I was stalking it drove by the other day. The owner has completely renovated the whole house, and has a few other major projects on the go, which is why we've been waiting so long for confirmation.


Our new rental, as of August 1st. Cute, hey?

Some of the things we're very excited about:

- living on the same level as the front entry door! This means it's a flight of stairs down into the suite, but it's not at all dungeon-like down there. Our current house has high ceilings and very poor windows, making it highly inefficient for heating. (And very hot in the summer.)

- laundry machines are right around the corner from the kitchen. I have never had such easy laundry access in any of our previous homes, so I'm hopeful (and determined) to keep better order of this area of our home life. (We sure do miss the laundry chute we had in our house in PR!)

- big, BEAUTIFUL back yard and brand new deck. We may have to get creative in containing the boys, as there are two spaces that are not fenced. It's fenced along the back and sides, it just doesn't meet up with the back of the house. There are lots of mature trees (see photo) that provide great shade and privacy. It backs on to the empty end of a cul-de-sac. We'll miss the big ol' dirt patch we have at this house. The boys will just have to be more civilized in their back yard play. There is a corner in the new yard that is about 10'x10' of square concrete blocks, making it a great spot for the little play house in the above pictures, the outside toys, and maybe a small, contained pile of dirt (better than sand, don't you think?).

- the suite is very, very nice. Has its own laundry (in the kitchen - that's how big the kitchen is. (Our current suite? The fridge is in the living room. That's how tiny the kitchen is.) Stainless steel fridge and stove, a dishwasher, oodles of counter and cupboard and drawer space. Open concept, great for entertaining. It even has an eating bar. Gas fireplace, large windows, media room, storage room, huge master bedroom. Our tenants, who we quite like, saw the suite last week and have agreed to move with us. We're very thrilled about that.

- the location! No more than a five minute drive to Marty's preshcool (actually more like a 2 minute drive - I hope to walk often), 5 minutes to Max's Kindy school, 5 minutes to Paul's work. This is one of the biggest 'sell' factors for us. We both drive over to that side of town every day and look forward to spending much less time sitting in traffic. It's walking distance to an elementary school with a new playground and shady grass. A friend of Max's from preschool, who will be in the same Kindy school lives directly across the street. We'll enjoy getting to know their family better, being so close. It's also just a few houses away from the house my grandparents lived in when I was growing up. (Sadly, that house has fallen into disrepair, but I like the feeling of familiarity in the neighbourhood.) It's also very close to the freeway which will be nice for day trips to Old Navy and Ikea other cities.

- three bedrooms: the big boys will share one and the other will be for Jax and toys. Eventually we hope to move Jax in with the boys and dedicate the other solely for playing. The master bedroom has two closets and a powder room.

- the layout is fairly open, with the kitchen, dining and living rooms all flowing together. The windows at the front are the bedrooms, with the rest of the living area looking out on to the back yard. *grin*

Sigh. We're very excited. Now the huge task of packing and sorting. Just think how much more stuff we'd accumulate if we didn't move every two years?!

Garage sale, coming up!