House Photos

The post everyone has been waiting for! Let the tour begin. (I'm about to test how many photos I can post to the blog at one time...)

First let's see the outside:












Then the backyard and deck:










Step inside:




The kitchen is to your right:





You can see the front yard from the bay window:




Straight ahead is the livingroom/dining area:







We're keeping the couches for the living room. Putting the futons downstairs.

Upstairs you'll find a bathroom at the top of the stairs:




We don't have good photos of the master bedroom, but here's a hint:






There are two more rooms upstairs:











And now down the stairs...





To the basement.







There are hookups for surroud sound built into the wall. This will the the entertainment/video gaming/TV room. Complete with a gas fireplace.






There is also a second loo down here:






That's the quick tour. Hope it wasn't too confusing. We'll post again in a few months (say, September) once we have our own furniture set up.
So, when can everyone make it for the house-warming BBQ? :)

Things for the house

When we get the house, it will have plenty of green growing things to put on the deck and in the sunny living room. (I have 6 more plants around the house, but these are the new ones.)








I can't wait to pick some fresh herbs from our garden... if they ever stop baking outside first! I thought plants were supposed to like the sun... And yes, I give them plenty of water. And yes it drains properly. I'm keeping them in partial sun now.

Mandy

House Buying

Well, the negotiated offers have been accepted. We've agreed to purchase the house pending a home inspection by engineers. We hope to do that Tues or Wed when Robin does not have to work. We'll bring our camera then and be able to send photos as soon as we get home :)

The possession date is July 15, which will give us a couple weeks to move and do any painting etc we might want to do. Well, it will give me one week and will keep Robin busy while I'm in Germany. (That's another unconfirmed story)

I suppose this series of posts is rather anti-climactic for readers... you don't get the full sense of the tensions... lol You get the end before the beginning.
Mandy

House Hunting - Part Two

Our second time out looking at homes was far more successful than Tuesday.
So successful that we have put an offer on a house.
Our agent took photos, but we don't have them yet. However, we will know by 10pm if they have accepted/revised (but doubtful that they will refuse) our offer. :) It's very exciting!!!
Robin is at work right now. I wonder how he can sit there waiting... at least he has something to do.
So why did we pick this house? Great location, quiet cul-de-sac, decent yard (sloped, but terraced and fairly deep), nice porch, large sunny living room, finished basement with rec room and gas fireplace, 3 bedrooms, dining area, decent kitchen, appliances fairly new and included, and in our middle price range.
I'll add some photos as soon as I have them.
Mandy
(V, sorry you didn't get to vote. )

House Hunting - Part One

We took our first house hunting tour on Tuesday (two days ago).
OMG. It was scary! It wasn't the thought of investing a lot of money, making a big committment to a place etc. It was just the houses. Some of them were VERY scary!!!
One house obviously had an unneutered male cat... the basement reeked of cat spray. Others were not as described. Some we didn't even bother to enter. If there was no yard, then it wasn't even a consideration.
But one house topped them all: it had shag carpeting ON THE CEILING. Yes, on the ceiling. It was musty and dark. Carpet everywhere (despite the add saying hardwood floors, apparently under the carpet), including the bathroom. And there were two covered porches, front and back, very old. The back one was clearly rotted our beneath the carpet. One jump and it would be gone! I ran away. Almost literally. But mostly I was just shocked. ANd then very disappointed. It seemed we would never find anything we really liked. :(
Then we did find an amazing renovated home. Great fully finished basement. Lovely eat-in kitchen. But, it's on a busy road, akin to Jubilee (in Winnipeg; for those in KW it's Victoria St).

So we are off again tomorrow morning to see more. This time we'll be looking at semi-detatched homes (ie, they share one wall with a neighbour). All the Tuesday houses were single detatched and older homes. The worst feature of older homes is the teeny rooms upstairs with sloping walls - nowhere to fit furniture even if we could get it up the narrow stairwells.

Jen, I hope that is a sufficient update for you.
Veronica, we didn't take any pictures yet because there was nothing we are seriously considering. But we will place pictures of our favourites when they arise and everyone can vote/comment :)
I wish I had a photo of the shag ceiling to share though...
Mandy

Excitement

Oh, so much excitement... where to begin??
First, May is almost here. And I'm seriously hoping there will not be any snow in May!! We were doing so well here too. I even had a tan from reading outdoors in the mornings. And the herbs had just started staying outside overnight... and now there's been almost no sun and all precipitation! But the herbs are on the step now soaking in whatever sun comes their way! And of course May 1 is Beltane so there's fun stuff to celebrate with my Pagan friends.

Second, all my papers are in for the term and I finished grading 120 essays last night. Now I get to start reading for a summer course. So I'm not quite done. I do still have 3 years left...

Third, and this is the best part, Robin and I are house hunting!! We've got an appointment with an agent tomorrow and we've been browsing online listings. Many good options... Now we just have to start visiting these places! Ideally we'd like to move by June. I'll be sure to keep you updated. I can't wait to be away from these walls, literally. I hate the paint (or really, it's just primer) here - hate the colour and the texture and the fact I can't wash it. I hate the "bomp-bomp" noise at the base of the stairs. I hate the carpets, yuck. And I hate having the living room with my work computer and Robin's XBox all together! Oh, and I hate that we don't have a yard or anywhere to plant a garden or let a dog run. Otherwise I like this place :) It was a great starting point, and a very good option for grad students. And of course, my friend Monica is just down the street... Moving will make it difficult to get together spontaneously as we usually do. And then there's the proximity of the university, but I don't have to be on campus that often.

And a related fourth - once we have a home we can open it to a dog! But we won't do that until July when we return from Winnipeg. Then Robin will have his pet and a reason to get out of the house (read out of my hair) and go for a walk. :) And I've told Jenny that the dog will keep Gryphon busy, but I'll train it to leave her alone! I'm not sure she's buying it.

As for new events: went to a surprise birthday party Tuesday evening for Laura and it was a great success, ie, we REALLY surprised her. But poor thing, she'd been sent up to her apartment on the pretense that her cat was sick and not moving on the floor. So she was freaking out and then we yell "surprise!" Of course, she still had to find the cat and make sure he was okay :) Robin and I were the decorating committee and hosts for arriving guests. And Robin spent a lot of time preparing yummy foods in the kitchen - some M&M party pack stuff and home made antijitos (VERY good!!!! Better than at Montanas!)

And I just learned that one of my friends in Newfoundland is engaged. Congratulations Sabrina.

I think that's about it for now.
Blessings,
Mandy

Spring Cooking

One more thing...

It seems I forgot to mention that we got the BBQ a while back - a couple days earlier then expected even.  So, everything is cooked on the BBQ - from Pizza to Quesadilas (I have no idea how to spell that) to good ol burgers.  Already had one couple over for BBQ, but it's an open invitation friends. Robin will fire up the grill without hesitation.

We may not have gotten around to the full spring cleaning - but we are well into the spring cooking.

Robin Multitasking - for Corey

This one is for you Corey. 

Here is Robin talking on the phone with you while playing Halo 2 with his friends. (Boys, if you were wondering why he was playing poorly now you know.)  At least he took his head set off.

You can see Griffin in the back at the window. He's taken to playing outside while I sit in the sun and read. With all the bugs flying around he gets a good workout - and then sleeps off most of the day. It's great: Keeps both cats out of my hair/lap for the day!

So for anyone wondering what's new, I have to give the standard answer of not much.  The sun is shining, the herbs are growing (we can now leave them out overnight, saving us a lot of hassle moving pots around), the cats are meowing, Robin's at work/playing XBox/watching TV and I'm here at the computer...  Except during the mid-day when I like to sit outside and read school texts.

Friends

Here we are at brunch.  The two behind me are the token Americans, including the token fellow PhD in Religious Studies student.  Across from me are the token Brazilians (they're here to bring on the sun!), including another PhD student and a Fool. And in the corner is the token family member.  (The token dogs are in the truck outside the window).  All in all, I think everyone is represented.

Happy Birthday to Me

Thank you to everyone who left me messages for my birthday. They were much appreciated. I spent most of the day out with friends (and thank you as well):
Did brunch with Robin, Chris & Laura, Monica & Denis, Natassia & Collin (the special was designed for me... apple pancakes!).
Dropped Robin at work and joined my fellow Fool-witches at Luci's Mudhouse to paint pottery (Now I have to wait a whole week to pick up my piece being fired).
Then Monica and I found the perfect dessert house and savoured divine cake. (We happened upon it by chance. Luck was my lady this afternoon.)
A wonderful way to celebrate my 25th birthday.
I'll definitely be back for more at all of these places! Especially desserts... You know, Robin didn't get to celebrate eating birthday cake with me... maybe we'll have to return Tuesday on his day off... ;)
Mandy