So long, Roosevelt

We have been moved out of the house for 23 days. Closed on June 12.  Everything couldn't have gone better; events happening according to a schedule even though the prerequisite offer to those said events was serendipitous.

I listed the house just when it needed to be, although it took a few weeks longer due to snow, final touches and negotiating with the real estate agent a proper price.  A very interested buyer submitted an offer, meeting the asking price plus 100.00, with in 24hrs of listing.  I accepted it after the weekend. The inspection, the negotiations, the bank assessment, the fixes, etc. all happened within  two month time frame. The buyer agreed to a later closing day to accommodate my child's school year schedule. The buyer was perfect and sweet, which made passing on the house so much easier.

 

The 4+ weeks time I gave myself for sorting through stuff, eliminating and moving boxes down two floors to main floor and then to basement and out to POD. Working several hours a day, enough to feel like I was making progress yet also spending valuable time with preschooler, scheduling swim lessons and book club assuring we get out of the house.  Enough of a work out but not kill me. Realizing and Recruiting my  neighbour to help me move one big item each day into the POD, allowing me to then stuff it like a puzzle with all the little boxes.   Everything that I wanted fit into POD and everything I decided to part with, either selling or giving away went.

An Ode & and Twang to the house on Roosevelt

It just could not have gone better. Even budgeting my savings to last a year, down to the last $100.00 dollars, before closing and receiving the house $$. Phew!

I'm officially a visitor in the US now, another thing I needed to deal with, surrendering my VISA. We are living out of suit cases in a friends house, enjoying our easy going month of nothingness but summer fun in July.

What happens next, a bit of mystery.  Hopefully events will unravel in the same smooth way. Moving to Ottawa, finding a job or making one happen. Getting kids enrolled in their new schools.... or perhaps some other kind of adventure. Who knows.

This blog was originally about renovating the house, with a whole lot of other stuff happening in between. I believe, this is where it ends too, until my future becomes more apparent!

"So long, Marianne", as we used to say

Bye bye Moses Basket

Document an object and let it go.
Two weeks until the official, unceremonious house closing day, and I am one week behind in cramming stuff into the POD.

But luckily, I gave my self a two week buffer and am basking in the joys of planning and knowing myself so well. The attic is almost empty with the exception of two rugs and a sweeping.  The next floor down, beds are disassembled and packed in POD, mattresses laying on the bedroom floors. Bureaus disassembled, hauled down and packed in pod. Dresser drawers filled with delicate and fragile objects and reinserted in bureaus. Clothes packed in containers, linens in boxes and carried out to POD. A suitcase each worth of clothes, scattered on the floors around the mattresses. The main floor of house is a disaster, sectioned  off  in groups; the last bit of must take furniture, boxes of things to take, a large pile of things to donate and the items that may or may not make it, depending how much room is left in the POD.

Moving and packing and letting go of stuff. Sooner then one would like too, but also an opportunity to clear out excess and embrace a new stage in life.  The Moses Basket is a deliberate object to let go of. I can easily make room for this and cram it in. I know lots of people keep such a precious baby item and lots of people let it go. She would easily play with it, and has done so, but it has also sat in the attic for 4 years. Instead of bringing an extra monumental item, I give this object and precious time in our life a proper farewell. Bye bye baby stage. Hello 4 year old.

When my first was born I was given 12 weeks of learning how to be a parent and mother before I had to go back to work. With my second my situation was a bit different and managed to spend a lot of time with her over the past 4 years. The first few years, while work was slow, I could not part with you and brought you along to work instead. You slept and fed and I held you and managed the office. When you were walking you continued to come to work with  me. We had a corner of toys, a couch and a computer to play on. We took walks around the campus, jumped puddles and had picnics. You slept the afternoon away and I worked. And when you needed more socialization you went to Tot Drop once a week and then a few days at a grandma type day care.   And then when we closed down our business we spent lots of time together again hanging out, walking dog, going to park, visiting grandma daycare, walking to the plaza. Building blocks, train tracks and and little cities. Reading books, drawing pictures, cutting out shapes and even painting walls. Taking baths in the middle of the day, making pancakes and muffins and following me around, helping me with my chores of laundry, grass mowing and gardening. Eventually we signed up for a few activities, reading club, swim lessons and pre-twinkle violin, which helped me keep track of the days of the week.

I suppose this is My Ode to the Baby Moses Basket But Really, Our Time Together Before Starting Our New Stage In Life, In A New City.

Rainy day update

1) Its a rainy day and perfect for curling up stretching out in bed and watching the last season of Gossip Girl ...

except I'm doing laundry and  first need to resheet the bed (because I apparently packed up all the other linen. What was I thinking I still have a 1.5 months).


2) This makes me smile.

A toothbrush holder. My 4 year old is with her dad and when I see where she places her tooth brush it warms my heart  ... but the fact that she is with her dad right now adds to the perfect day for stretching out in bed and sneaking in a few episodes of GG.


3) And my IKEA HACK, along with packing boxes, unloading stuff at salvation army, researching living options up there and making killer  decisions on what I may need up North and what I should give away here and repurchase up there so everything I LOVE fits into the 16 x 9 x9 POD that will be delivered in a few weeks I am researching ribbons and fabric for weaving on to the Gullhomen rocking chair

One of the pieces of furniture, er, I mean frame that I am opting to stuff in the POD is the wicker rocking chair, an IKEA favourite.  Mine has been moved around from one apartment to the next house to the next, to the next (that's 4 total moves), since 2000.  At first loved and oh so cool, and then eventually left outside where the elements got the better of it.  I tore of the leftover rattan and am researching weaving options. I want some kind of colourful ribbon weave or maybe a pvc yarn for out door use, left over fabric (check out pinterest) ... which would be a great way for me to reuse and monument my past collection of t-shirts rather then hauling them off to the thrift store.

4) House selling update. The house did sell, (did I mention that?) and besides the packing part, the inspection was signed off with a few minor things to fix (electrical covers in the basement, and a leaky faucet in the basement); the buyer's loan people came out to appraise the house since the selling price was significantly higher (for this area) then I bought it for.  They need to see for themselves the kitchen reno, bathroom reno, vestibule upgrade (even painted walls increase the value, he told me). That was all approved. So other then that, its up to me to pack before the closing day which is mid June and perhaps re weave the IKEA rocking chair..

Sunbeam

 Piercing through my eastern windows, Flirting with the morning sun rays. Oh how I missed you.

Picnic on the moon

After making paper clothes for her crew - the Thanker (the scary frog guy with 5 hands and 4 legs), the Knight, and the Wombat Police force,

  and then getting locked up in jail...  for using all the crayons and leaving the lid off the glue...

... and then The Miraculous Escape with the help of her crew ... After all that it was time for a picnic, but not just any ordinary one...

A Picnic on the Moon.

A little Christmas Cheer

 

 A tall skinny tree, tinsel and lights. Little Santa's brimming with delight. 

And me with a paintbrush, wanting to fix just one little thing. That red brick fireplace so bold in my face.

And so I trick myself and decide to test a wall colour. RIGHT BESIDE the brick. And then ever so fluidly while testing a paint colour on the living room wall (HA), my brush could not control itself any more and moved over to the brick, just to fix up the previous owners poorly applied edging that left splatters and splotches of primer paint on the brick... just this one little brick so I told myself.  Ever so curious if I could actually do it.  But I can't really tell so how about a few more bricks. And a few more. At the least the messy splatters are looking better...

First snowfall

She woke and called from the bedroom as usual, but this time her voice was not filled with urgency,  and impatience. It was delight and sweet and she wanted to share with me, for she discovered through the window, the first snow falling. "Is it Christmas!"

Not ready to go out myself, but not wanting to deny her the novelty of running through the first snow fall of the year, I cleverly dressed her in the bare essentials and out we went, keeping the experience instant, short and sweet.

Shirt: Zara Kids
Jeggings or are they Carggings: Marshall's
Frog boots: Kidorable
Mittens: H&M
Magnifying glass & Halloween reflector necklace

A duck? A bird?

Ah the tail, A platypus! Three strands of hair, Perry the platypus, to be sure.

It was a not so dark and raining evening. Not a creature was stirring, not even a witch. Households were doling out candy by the handfuls, trying to get rid of it.

"Perry", being the 2nd born has experienced Halloween since she was 1, but this year it was much more fun for her. And mummy, finally got to make her box costume.  Over the years she always suggested box type costumes to her son, a die? a robot? rubic's cube? To no avail. He was into the super hero's. But this year, it was all homemade. A box platypus. And a Hobo.

My middle school hobo was invited to Halloween party this year. He chose to trick or treat first. And secretly, I was happy that that is his preference. Candy over girls.