Monday, March 24, 2008

Spring sprung late last week

First, happy belated Spring. Spring really is a time of year that should be embraced and celebrated. Yay. The long, cold, dark winter is finally (mostly) gone.

Second, we finally managed to tucker out T last night. Two walks and some time with the kids and it was all over. The pup was pooped.

Third...

SPRING MEANS SANDALS! Must have new sandals. Gotta love the colourful choices available this spring. One pair of periwinkle sandles will go with black, grey AND brown. Then again, will one pair be enough?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

"No."

It's a simple word. Two letters. It stands on its own - a person simply has to say "no" and you know what they mean.

Yet it is so hard for so many people to say it. I have a problem with it. It's how I became president of my curling club (to be honest, I never thought I'd go from VP to Pres simply because I was convinced I was moving. Go figure). It's how I ended up curling in the club championships this week.

Last night I curled at 8:30pm. We lost, but I feel we could've won if I'd skipped *woo hoo....ego!* Regardless, I had originally intended to be DONE curling by this time. Yet when C asked me if I'd be willing to participate I readily agreed. J had pretty much said no because of his knee. He then reconsidered since I said yes and now we're both curling.

Yesterday, my trainer asked me if it was ok to switch my training day from Thurs to Wed to accomodate another of her clients who had an appointment. I didn't really want to, and working out two days in a row wasn't in my plans, but I accepted because I had no "real" reason to say no.

So... last night I hit the gym with my trainer, worked hard, then went off and curled a late draw. Tonight, I get to do the same. Trainer, curling, bed....exhausted.

I only have to do those things I want to do. People don't need a reason when I say "no." I just have to say it.

No.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The new house

J and I have purchased a home. It's a spec home that still isn't built. In fact, at the time of signing the papers, it had a basement. It's further along now and looking fantastic. But there's a story behind why we bought this house.

We'd started out looking at one that backed onto a small pond. That house was fantastic. A little bigger than we'd planned, but it had a large(r) garage, granite countertops, hardwood and tile rather than carpet and lino and it backed a wetland. Then we looked at things like the high water mark (6.5m into the backyard!) which concerned us. We still loved the house, however.

They had a slightly larger one in the same area that we hadn't really looked at. As it was, House A was bigger than we wanted! Who wanted one even bigger? And house B didn't back water (ugh, more neighbors!).

One day, further on in our deliberations, we went in to visit the showhome and were almost prepared to say "Yes" to House A. Then we learned they'd changed cabinet suppliers and the cabinets in House A had been changed.

Yes, this is a petty point. They'd changed the cabinets from a wonderful, rich dark brown to grey. Today, I certain the new cabinets in that house will look fantastic. I'm positive they will. But I'd had my little heart set on the dark ones and that change was too much for me.

Luckily, they hadn't changed the ones in House B. They're still a nice rich brown. And this is what made us look at House B. We drove to the showhome for that model of house. We decided that we could deal with the extra space in the larger house (oh, the tragedy). We rationalized the lack of a pond in our backyard (we didn't really want to deal with floods anyway) and the neighbors behind us were now down a slight hill and the backyard sill maintained it's privacy.

And we bought the bigger house. Yes, we did it for cabinet colour. I did it for cabinet colour (J shall remain innocent in this). Really, the cabinets were simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

The best part? House B was the same price as House A.

The even better part of the deal that has nothing to do with the houses? Another couple had been looking at House B for about the same amount of time as J and I had been deliberating. We'd gotten the necessary paperwork done so when we made a decision, it could take effect immediately and we wouldn't risk losing the house.

The other couple hadn't. They decided they wanted the house the day we dropped off our deposit. They had a two day wait for the house because they hadn't done the paperwork - because she worked for a bank. I still laugh at this. She felt because she worked for a bank, her credit should be unquestioned. And she was angry. She wanted to call the saleslady's boss over the policy. But the policy is the policy.

After dealing with C for that many weeks, we knew. She told us the first night what was necessary. She warned us we risked losing the house we wanted if we didn't get that done. We had everything done and the financing simply awaited final signature when the deal was done. I actually had a little bit of guilt over doing all the work to put everything on hold.

But we've got a house (ok, we have three) and I look forward to the day that I have more than a postage stamp for a countertop.

You get one life - Live it.

Warning: I'm about to be extremely judgemental. Deal with it.

Last night, as I walked home from the train, I followed a man carrying six beer from the local liquor store. And as I walked, I wondered what kind of day (or life) he had, that he needed beer on a Monday night.

Now, I'm a social drinker. I don't drink to forget about my problems. I drink when I'm out with friends - and at most I have one or two. I don't need a drink to get through a day or a week, and I wondered (briefly) whether those beer were for the night or for the week.

Regardless, it made me wonder if he was living the life he wanted to live. I suspect not. Those who are, don't buy six beer on a monday night and drink them while sitting on a sofa. In fact, cheap beer on a Monday night reeks of someone who has given up.

Now, it's not like I'm perfect in any way. I spent about a year using WoW to hide from life. I enjoyed the heck out of that game, but when you get right down to it, it was just an escape. I'd stopped doing other hobbies I enjoyed (quilting, reading, the gym). The night a keylogger forced my to do a low level format, I realized how ridiculous the situation was. I cancelled my account that night and haven't played since.

In the meantime, however, J and I were talking about travel and goals and...well, I was whining about not being where I wanted to be or where I thought I'd be at this point in my life. I was wondering if this was all there really was to adulthood - bills, work, food and sleep. I didn't seem to have enough time to do the things I wanted to do (oddly now that I've dropped WoW, I feel less like that), and my life felt as if it belonged to someone else and I was just along for the ride.

I wanted to take a 3 month leave of absence from work. First, let it be said that J and I can easily afford it - especially since at that time we were considering remaining in his house which would have made us debt free. He looked at me and said, "take a month and go to Europe." I scoffed at the idea at first.

But now, I have a flight to London booked. I have tours picked out in Scotland and my passport is waiting. It'll be a little inconvenient at work since I've been placed on the security council, but life goes on and they can deal with it for a month.

It's time I took my one life and started to live it the way I always wanted to.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Been awhile

I'm still here, just really busy between building a house, hitting the gym, finishing up curling and walking the dog :) . He's a much happier dog, by the way. Works gotten a little hectic as well as I try to build myself some projects. Ohhh and there's that little trip to Europe to finish planning and booking.

All is well, however and I hope to be back posting soon.