May 18, 2012
Yesterday was beyond exhausting. We went to two flooring stores and ended up overwhelmed. It seems that there is hardwood flooring as well as engineered hardwood and laminate flooring. We were informed that unless we had a special humidifier running through our furnace we could only have laminate flooring as the wood would eventually dry out and warp. With us shutting down the house for six months of the year when we head down to Mexico, it complicates things further. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions or horror stories to share with us?
We realized that we really can't pick the tile until we decide on the flooring. We are planning carpet for the bedroom only. Thousands of choices out there.
One of the stores had an interior designer available to do a consult. She however did not like some of our choices to date and was very strong about her opinion. She even started to sway us on the colour of the house siding.
We went from her store back to the siding store where they pulled out a large piece of 'mahogany' colored siding which she said we had to use. We carried it out into the sun, back into the shade and looked and looked. We still are happy with our original choice of 'colonial red' which is the sample above the letters KAY. I don't like brown.
We spent 20 minutes in a lighting store but both agreed we were too tired and hungry to deal with it. Besides that is not as much of a pressing decision as the others.
This is my master list, the only way I am getting through these crazy weeks. June so far is only 50% full so there will for certain be downtime then.
We got the dreaded call while at one the the flooring stores yesterday…..the cement team has been delayed until Tuesday. This means that they just might finish an hour or two before we move over to the beach site next weekend. Sigh!!! All the coordination the other day with the irrigation guy and the water box thing, out the window. Plus the forecast is for showers next week, so it is what it is, nothing I can do but deal with it.
Meanwhile the lake is slowly rising. Mid April we had a large beach.
Now the lake is lapping up the third step. Still lots of snow up in the hills to melt...
Tags: 319
May 17, 2012
….Wednesday, Colin did a full day photo shoot and I did our company business stuff at my desk. It was a wonderful break from all the house stuff and for us, relaxing. Still lots to do but a normal routine does wonders for the mind. We are two weeks away from being ‘homeless’ other than the for the RV. I can hardly wait.
I have never seen this before. A truck that comes to your home to clean your BBQ! Amazing!
Other than running out of toilet paper and bread we are doing quite well. I really have to get to a grocery store soon…….
While doing address changes over the past week I came across two interesting finds. Shaw.ca who provide our TV service here, while on the road and in Mexico advised me that for $1.00 less per month I could get 3 more channels of my choice! Why do they wait until I’m giving them an address update to tell me this.
What totally overwhelmed me was Telus, our telephone and internet provider. While in Mexico we keep our phone service active just in case a client might call. Over the past four or five years we have been paying a monthly bill of $91.67 before tax, 12 months per year. When I did the address change, the very young sounding girl on the line offered to give us a bit of a better deal over what we were paying. Starting May 26th our monthly bill will be reduced to $31.11 before tax for 12 months. Starting May 26th, 2013 our monthly bill will increase to $56.11 before tax monthly!!! By my very rough calculations that means that over the next 24 months we will save $ 1153.44 before taxes. That leads me ask…… or at the very least wonder………
Why did we not move sooner….just think of all the money we would have saved!!
So folks the onus is on you to check often with your service provider re changes in service pricing!! They are happy to take the higher amount you likely set up years ago.
Tags: 319, Funny, money
May 16, 2012
We are evolving from a bit crazy to much more crazy. Some people in the housing industry are mas loco! I walked out of a meeting Monday and simply handed Colin the phone from another. I guess this is normal, but I don’t have time for stupid or for being lectured at by someone who has no idea what we want but will only give us the minimal.
At some point I leaned back..quickly and with force...and broke my computer chair. That will teach me, eh!! Still using it without the back as I won't need it in the RV.
Anyway, I have no idea what the heck happened to Tuesday.
The day started out early with the demolition of our existing irrigation so we can get more cement poured. That soon led to the decision to redo the irrigation from scratch at the beach site! We have had 2 great 30C days and now that the irrigation is off I will now have to add daily watering by hand for a few weeks.
The day just went on and on and well into the night. I got up about midnight to go to the bathroom and saw a light moving around outside, it was Colin, putting up the canopy on the gazebo for the new owners.
He not only put the canopy up, he moved about 12 boxes and packed some more stuff! He said he wasn't tired and had lots of energy, but to put up a canopy by flashlight at midnight!!!
How funny.....this just happens to be the Spanish word of the day!!
Tags: 319, Funny, garden
May 14, 2012
We are still packing in the activities and packing the boxes.
After moving stuff out to our rented shed Colin was able to set up to do some product photography. I'm thinking, how is this going to happen in the RV:( I guess we'll just deal with it at the time.
Then we get 'the call'. Our table and chairs have arrived from Toronto.
Beautiful!! Amazing for an online purchase and bought sight unseen other than poor quality photos.
Back to the house for some more packing and photography, lunch and then finally a walk. I do believe that this is our first family walk since we got home on April 14th. That is changing starting now. It has to!! Time to take control of my time back.
Our existing irrigation at the beach site needs to be moved before the cement can be poured. We started by laying out where the stairs to the new house will be, then how much sidewalk is needed and on and on.
We thought this process could be done quickly, wrong!! It took close to 3 hours of moving three measuring tapes and using pieces of scrap lumber to lay it all out. Even today I am not sure we are making the right decisions. Do I want more flower beds or do I want less yard work? I do have my lovely garden on the Isla in Mexcio!!
...and Gord...it was a "Princesa" cart you were being driven around in, rhymes with Contessa. Thanks for your comment yesterday.
Who knows what today will bring, yesterday was full enough! We certainly don’t lead a dull life.
Tags: 319, garden, Stone Island
May 13, 2012
Wishing all of you a very special day....
Friends Pat and Gord came by yesterday afternoon and we took the rest of the day off. First we toured them around Holiday Park in the golf cart so they got a feel for this lifestyle then we just sat and enjoyed some wine and appies at the beach site. It felt wonderful to just sit and relax.
Gord whipped us up some salmon burgers....
....I made a salad, Colin & Pat got an impromptu table set up and we had a lovely dinner.
A variety of locals provided the entertainment!! Yes that is snow still on top of the distant mountains.
Tags: friends, Holiday Park, Wine