Now it's Officially Official

It was official before....but I felt hesitant because we still hadn't 100% organized financing our new home purchase.  Risky, right?  Well...yes and no.  Technically, we had been pre-approved for more than the amount of mortgage we need for this purchase, however, we do require mortgage insurance for CMHC (boooo....we just don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars as a down payment, evidently)!  So that was the risky part.  After speaking with our agent we were very confident the house value would not be questioned so we went ahead and made a firm offer.

Well everything is now verified and we have obtained confirmation of mortgage!

So...it's officially official.

And because writing about a house and not providing pictures is just plain mean....here you have it:

We hope to eventually do some landscaping and get rid of the wine/burgundy door & trim:

Front entryway with a good closet for our many (many) shoes and coats:

 

Hallway looking towards the den:

 

Living Room:

 

Kitchen/Dining Room:

 

 

 

 

 

Den: 

 

Recreation Room:

 

Back Yard:

 

Can't wait to host friends on the deck in summer:

 

Mortgage, Here We Come!

....Well it's official!  We will be homeowners once again on May 15, 2015!

As mentioned in the last post, we made an offer (okay, we made a BULLY offer) on a house that we absolutely love and felt we would be miserable if we didn't give it our best shot.

The current owners signed our offer back (at $10K higher than our initial offer) and we signed back offering $5K more.

SOLD!

So as I alternate between moments of euphoria and intense panic, I dream about moving into our new pride and joy.

Now I suppose it's time to organize a little thing called a mortgage. 

Is Barfing an Option?

Well I think we can all agree that after not posting for more than a year posting twice in a single month is pretty freaking stupendous, don't you agree?

To be honest, I'm creating this post for very selfish reasons.  I may combust if I don't blog.

As mentioned in my previous post, Super Husband and I are furiously (desperately) house hunting right now.  Every time I tell someone we are looking I hear "Oh how fun"!  NO!  It's not fun!  It is sucking away my will to live as a matter of fact!  For the last 3.5 years we have been renting.  During at least two of those years we have been actively looking.  Let's also not forget about the year we spent sharing a house with a drug dealer.  But I digress.

So here we are.  FINALLY in a position to snatch up a new pad and I literally want to barf.

Why?

The money
The emotional toll the last few years have taken on us
The competition

Honestly, the competition is the worst of all these evils.

Currently it is a sellers' market.  They hold the upper hand in this nasty game of real estate.  We live and are targeting an area that is hot and lousy with investors (aka: developers) ready to pay top price for a piece of property only to rip down the house and erect a 2.1 million dollar monstrosity.  They have resources that we cannot compete against.

Super Husband and I had resolved ourselves to buying a real "fixer-upper" as long as we could find one in our budget.  And then we went to the house viewing to end all house viewings last night.  I mean it was like there were freaking angels singing to me as I toured this place.  As a matter of fact, I actually cried when I saw the kitchen.  And the house is listed in our budget.  How awesome is that?!?!

But like all things too good to be true we fear it is.  Naturally, they are holding off on offers until next Thursday.  Sigh.  What does this mean?  It means that they want to create a bidding war. 

Now, the interesting thing is, our agent also happens to be the selling agent.  In other words they are representing both sides.  They have a lot to gain (commission-wise) if they bring the winning bid to the table.

So in my fit of terror during the viewing last night I turned to the agent and said "can't we just make an offer now"?  Apparently the answer is yes.  It's known as making a "Bully Offer" when you jump the queue, so to speak.  Technically, the house is still not public knowledge as it will not appear on MLS until tomorrow.  So we have today to make our best offer as attractive as possible and snag it before other buyers swoop in and shatter our dreams.

So as I sit here and write this, the bank is preparing a certified deposit cheque that we will provide with our offer (which is well above the list price).  We are waiving all conditions and targeting a close date that is in alignment with the desires of the seller.

Will it be enough?

I don't know.  Super Husband and I both hope so.  We have alreadyy fallen in love.  We hope to not end up with broken hearts.

Whaaaat?

Holy Crap!  How did that happen?  I blinked and suddenly came to the realization that I didn't make a single post in this blog in all of 2014.  And here I am....in 2015.  The ultimate blog fail, apparently.

I will humbly forge ahead. 

So here we are, in January 2015 (Happy New Year)!  Let me bring everyone up to speed.

Buddy is 6 (going on 33) and in Grade 1.  He is currently obsessed with Minecraft, Stampycat and winning.  Yes, winning.  Part of me is appalled, however, the other part wants to give him a high five. 

Little Man is 5 and like a non-stop tornado.  He loves to draw, document his life in his notebook (future blogger)? and bike like a rockstar.

As for myself and Super Husband?  Not too much to report.  Lots of work, routine and house hunting these days.  Yup, that's correct, we are FINALLY (maybe) going to purchase our "forever home".  If we can find one that we can purchase AND still affort to eat afterwards.  Tall order.

Anyone familiar with the series of pictures posted on the internet about "Why my toddler is crying"?   Google it.  It's hilarious and every parent can identify.  It has pictures of random kids screaming and melting down.  Under each picture there is an explanation telling why they are so upset.  Things like:  "I told her that her sweater looks warm" or "I wouldn't let him play with the dog poo".  Well, I may be able to gather enough material single-handedly to create a site displaying reasons my SIX year old son is crying.  Last night I could have added some beauties like "Because his Tiddlywink landed in the incorrect point category" or "Because he recalls being a better soccer player last summer than today".

These meltdowns were happening while Super Husband cleaned the kitchen furiously.  Why, you ask?  Because he removed the blender lid and shoved a bamboo spoon in while it was turned on.  What was he making, you ask?  Blueberry smoothie, of course!  Our previously white kitchen ceiling (and blinds, backsplash and walls) now have a lovely blue hue.  Oh, also Super Husband's face.

The really shitty part?

The smoothie was undrinkable due to the bamboo shards distributed throughout.

I think we can all agree that wine would have been the better option.

Stick It

I keep forgetting to rant about something that I find completely annoying.

Now, before I start my rant let me say I am sorry if you subscribe to this phenomenon.  It does not make you a bad person.  I just don't get it.  And for some strange reason annoys me in ways it should not.  I apologize but cannot help the way I feel.

That was my disclaimer.

With that out of the way, what the hell is the del with people finding it necessary to adorn their vehicles with stick people?  You know the ones I'm referring to:  the happy family including dogs, cats and, heck, even fish (yes, I've seen fish in fishbowls) included are displays of their hobbies of choice:  hockey sticks, glasses of wine and tutus to name a few.

My first question is why?  It's also all subsequent questions.

Do you really want all the creepy people who lay eyes on your vehicle to know your family demographics?  Do you want to announce that you have 3 kids (1 boy and 2 girls), 2 dogs and spend most of your free time on the soccer pitch?  I've even seen these with NAMES included (gasp).  Congratulations.  You've just given the pedophile driving behind you all the info they need to lure your child.  I know it sounds terrible, but the reality is it's true.  In a world where information is already waaaaay to easy to obtain (hello facebook) I am a firm believer you need to keep information close to you and that includes not advertising your family dynamics wherever you park your car.

Plus, it kind of makes me want to rear end you.  Except I don't want to hurt your baby and poodle.

My rant is over now. 

Smash Week

Damn, I am bad at every day posting. 

Last week was an epically shitty week.  At least from my perspective, and that's my best excuse for not posting.  Besides, I thought I would save it all up and amuse anyone who has the time to read about it.

As I have been recently complaining, my work situation is a bit out of control.  Not enough hours in the day and not enough energy in the world to do it.  As a result, I have been known to be, let's say, less than pleasant on the home front.  I try to not let that happen but alas, I am human.

Monday evening as I was cleaning up from dinner, Little Man turns around in his chair and starts talking to me.  I have my back to him and we are talking back and forth when suddenly, BOOM!  He manages to fall backwards off the chair and smack his head on the wooden cross beam of the table.  Screaming ensues.  I scoop him up and immediately see a HUGE bump sprouting on the back of his head.  I mean, this thing stuck out a good 2.5 cms.  And was dark purple.  After icing it and assessing, Super Husband announces he needs to see a doctor.  Which means off to emergency we go.  The whole family.  With Little Man Screaming the entire way.  The good news is he's okay.  No fractured skull but needed to wake him up through the night to make sure all is well.  Disaster averted.

So, Tuesday morning I get up and actually set off to work in good time despite being awake half the night.  I am thinking, "Gee, I'm so super awesome.  I look good with my new cream coloured pants on"!  I continue to think about random things as I drive.  So much so that I manage to plow right into a pole in the parking garage while zipping around the corner.  Fucking awesome.  Might I add this is not the first time this has happened.  I managed to do the EXACT same thing almost three years ago.  Except, of course, it was a different car.  So now BOTH of our cars have smashed up right sides.  How incredibly idiotic, right?

So I smash my car and proceed to go up to my office.  Shut the door and call Super Husband:

SH:  Hello?
Me:  I did it again.  I'm so stupid.  I smashed the car! [starting to cry]
SH:  What?  Again?  Are you Okay?
Me:  NO!  I'm so stupid and angry at myself
SH:  How bad is it?
Me:  Bad
SH:  Ummm...well....I was just writing you an email to let you know I've been told I need to fly out to Quebec tomorrow morning.
Me:  Well that's fan-fucking-tastic
SH:  Yes.  Is there anything I can do to help you?
ME:  Yes.  You can get a gun and shoot me.

Okay, I admit it.  Not my proudest moment but I was a little irrational at the time.

I then composed myself and trotted down to my all day meeting.  Where I realized that I managed to get grease or something similar (black) on my new cream pants.  I have since washed them three times and said stain is STILL THERE. 

Thankfully, I made it through the week and weekend without Super Husband.  He arrived back Monday. 

Moody Morning

Do you ever wake up and just know that you have an uphill battle ahead of you?  That was me this morning. My alarm went off as always at 5:40am and I thought to myself:  Holy shit. How many hours until I can crawl back in here?

Sad.  But oh, so true.

You see, I woke up knowing that today was going to be a challenge at work. In fact, this whole week has been what one of my old coworkers liked to refer to as a "cluster fuck".  Back to back meetings, presentations, confrontations and stressful situations.  Not something I want to get out of bed for.

On top of that, I barely get out of the shower and realize I am already running late. I put on a new dress feeling confident that I at least looked good attire-wise. As a side note, it was not until I got home this evening that I realized I had gone the entire day with the price tag still dangling from my dress. Whatever. We got the guys up and bribed them to eat breakfast and get dressed. As we were finally getting shoes on to leave I realized that it is "Halloween" day at Buddy's day camp. Crap. I run to his room and convince him that the fireman jacket and hat he had in his closet is super awesome only to find Little Man in full meltdown mode. Screaming and lamenting the lack of Halloween at daycare.  Ugh. I get his shoes on and he rips them off. He also throws off his sweater. Then yells at me because it is not on. The clock continues to move forward at an alarming pace. I am ready to combust. Literally.

At this point Super Husband hightailed it with Buddy in tow leaving me to deal with the wrath of Little Man.

We get outside...finally....

I open the car door and ask Little Man to get in. And...

He bolts.

Around the side of the house to the back. I chase him. In my new with tags dress. He stops and runs the opposite way. This continues about three full times around the house. I finally catch him, scoop him up and cart him to the car. Breathing heavy and breaking out in sweat.  Not impressed.

I must have really looked a sight because by the time I got to Little Man's daycare, his teacher took one look at me and said, "uh oh...looks like mom needs a hug".

Yes, I did.

Now the good news is that I indeed made it through the day and when I arrived home my beautiful, spirited Little Man ran up to me and apologized for running away. Unprompted. Bliss.