a hippie with a minivan

No word…

Well, it is Tuesday and we haven’t received any word on the house so I guess she decided to go with one of the other houses she was looking at. Honestly I feel relieved. Having two weeks to pack, move and figure out where we would go feels unrealistic. I mean, if we were a smaller family and planning on living closer and could just move everything, then it might have been able to work. But, because we are planning on selling most of our furniture and having just the minimum of what we want to keep, then I just cannot see how we would have done it. I want out of this house, but not that fast!

So on with the bus project. I think we found our bus. It is exactly what we were looking for with one catch. It’s in New Brunswick! lol. No matter, we will be going to the bank soon to see if we can get a loan and then if everything works out, I would fly out to Bathurst and drive it home…OMG… did I just write that?!

I don’t want to get into details too much because I would feel even more disappointed of this doesn’t work out, but I am excited about this!!

As you may know…

As you may know, we put the house up for sale in February and made the decision that once in sold, we would get our things together and move out and head to Nelson, BC. (where I was raised)

As you may know, we had visits and then spring started to turn into summer and life took priority over marketing and trying to sell the house and things became quiet.

As you may know, I felt like I was in a rut and was a bit depressed and was not writing here on the blog or doing much of anything except enjoying the summer with the family.

As you may know, I have always felt a bit nervous about this move because of the insecurities of leaving our house, leaving our income and heading to a city that is known for having expensive housing and little jobs. It does however have an amazing community and people that we already know and love and is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

As you may not know, is that about 2 weeks ago we decided that we would take the house off the market for a little while (what little advertising that we had) and we were going to buy a bus. Yes, a bus. We planned that over the winter months and maybe even for the next year we would work on converting it into a home that we could bring with us, giving us a bit more security that we would be able to make it even if we didn’t have the salary that we have now. We could travel and even be on the road for a while to finally end up in Nelson.

For the last two weeks I have been drowning myself in information about how to convert a bus and scouring sites trying to find the right bus for us. I was actually narrowing it down to a few options and was going to try to figure out financing for the initial purchase depending on where we bought it from.

As you may know, I am a procrastinator… and I didn’t take the ads down, nor did I take the signs down. I thought I would get to it soon enough…

Yesterday, we got a call.

I got a call from someone who is looking to buy a house and was wondering if our was still on the market. She asked the usual questions and a few specific questions, and one of those was the date of occupancy. I muttered a bit and said that we were flexible and put an emphasis on that it could take as long as she needed, but then she explained that she would need a house by the end of the month. I stuttered a bit and said honestly that I would have to get back to her because I needed to talk to my husband as we had shifted our plans a bit but I would call her back. When I hung up I realized that this is what we had been waiting for (though much faster then I could even had imagined)… I talked to Simon and we agreed that it wouldn’t hurt for her to come see the house, maybe it won’t be what she needs and we can go back to our plans. But if she does want it, then maybe this is the push… or rather awfully big shove that we need.

She is coming to see the house this evening. If she doesn’t want it, I am a bit confused about what I want us to do next… continue with trying to sell the house or do the bus. Both are ultimately what we want to get us to where we want to go. However, If she does want it, then we have 24 days to pack up and figure out where we are going to go….

Oh my…. I can’t even think straight right now…

breathe… breathe…

Eight..

My Colin turned 8 on the 2nd.

He is such a joy to be around. He is energetic and always moving. He always doing acrobatics and can jump from heights that make people squeamish.

He loves to cuddle and he is thoughtful and empathetic and he has deep thoughts about life. His questions at times surprise me.

He loves to draw and create and pretend.

He is always laughing and trying to get others to laugh.

This year for his birthday, he wanted the same cake as last year. A Two Tier, 4 layer Neapolitan cake. He loved it….

It is a bit strange to think that his whole life has been outlined on this blog. He was just a baby when I stared writing here and now he is an amazing 8-year-old… time goes by way too fast.

Happy Birthday Colin! I love you!

Quebec City

Around my birthday (end of July) we had some friends in town from Nelson, BC. Not just friends, but Sharon was like a mom to me when I was little. So, on the day of my birthday, Simon took the day off and we headed to the Cabin to spend the day with my mom, Sharon and her boyfriend Al.

This is Sharon… I just adore her!

We had a great day, hanging out, talking and walking around the property.

The boys took to Al who is a history buff and they were immersed in conversation all day long. They enjoyed the time with him and Sharon so much that they said that they want to move to Nelson soon so that they could be closer to them to be able to hang out more often. I can’t wait to move!

(My mom, Al, Sharon, me and the kids)

Sharon and my mom… friends for life…

A couple days later they were all heading to Quebec City for a few nights and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see them again and be hang out together.

Simon was OK with it, and I knew that Willa would be OK for a night, so early Saturday morning I headed to Quebec City on my own to go meet up with them. I finally arrived around lunch time, parked the car where I could leave it over night as the place that they were staying was easily accessible and without parking. We had lunch and then walked around old Quebec city. It was a perfect day and not too hot which made things easier.

We had supper and then walked a bit more and waited for the Fireworks before heading on the Ferry over to the Levis, where the apartment they were renting was. It was such a beautiful night and the Chateau Frontenac looked absolutely beautiful all lit up. above old Quebec City.

We talked on the balcony until it was much later, looking at Old Quebec until all of the lights went out and then finally headed to bed.
The next morning we had a late start as we waited for Sylvain, my mom’s boyfriend, to come meet up with us for the day.

We all piled into my minivan as it had the most space (and air conditioning) and we headed to Ile D’Orleans, a historical residential and agricultural Island just off the shore of Quebec City. We had lunch… which for me was an amazing Steak Tartare and then headed back to the van to tour around the island.

It was another beautiful day and we rode and stopped for a drink (Virgin for me) and then rode some more and stopped at a beach to get our feet wet.

Sharon and Al got a bit more then their feet wet though.. 🙂

We then headed to the Montmorency falls which is right at the foot of the bridge coming off the Island. These falls might look small in the pictures, they were also were very dry as we have not had enough rain this year but they are 1 1/2 times the height of the Niagara Falls at 275 feet. Stairs going up the mountain next to it, show the height a bit more…

After walking around a bit and talking pictures and talking I brought everybody back to Sylvain’s truck and we said our goodbyes and I started to head back home.

It was strange not having kids around, but it felt really good to just relax and think of only myself. I can’t say that I am not tempted to do it again one day…

Writer's block

What a better topic to write about when you are right in the middle of it. I seriously sit down to write and nothing comes up and because nothing comes, I get discouraged and then just started ignoring the blog altogether and that is not something that I want to do.

I love blogging, I love putting my thoughts down and sharing them with people. I love being able to look back and see who I was just a few years ago and how things have changed. But in the last few weeks, each time I sit down to actually write, my mind just goes blank. I am seriously forcing myself to write this right now!

I think that a big part of it is that I feel like we are at such a stand-still with our plans and I had a few weeks that I was feeling very down and depressed. I was not wanting to do anything and when I look back everything feels like a blur. It is not the head space that I want to be in at any time.

think a part of it is that we are still waiting for the house to sell. We are selling “by owner” and at first I was quite aggressive at getting the word out and advertising, and we did have quite a few visits but as time went by the visits dwindled and instead of fighting back with more advertising, I got discouraged and started to hide under the figurative rock. I had not planned on still being here by summer, so when Summer arrived it felt like we were failing at our plans. Though I knew that it could take time, I hadn’t thought that it would be taking this much time. So, we got the pool ready, started a small garden and the kids started summer camp and life went on and I just felt more and more down. So up to about 2 weeks ago, I felt I was in a daze.

Finally I snapped out of it and though I am not completely myself yet, I am feeling a lot better and more optimistic. I have started advertising the house again a bit more and we are thinking of perhaps finding a way we can get it listed on a larger site or with MLS but not exactly going with an agent. We really don’t have enough equity for that 6% commission and having a bit for ourselves and with Simon quitting his job when we move, we really need that money.

I have also started changing my diet a bit more and really want to start losing weight again and hopefully by doing so I will start regaining a bit of energy and feeling less sluggish.

One of the things that I have been taking pleasure in again is having a cup of tea.

Simon bought me a beautiful hand blown glass teapot for my birthday with 4 small double cups that keep the tea hot and your hands cool.

This flower tea was an amazing treat to the eye and the palette.

I am going to be making an effort to get back to blogging.. I truly have so much to write about… we went to the cabin and say a few special creatures, I went to Quebec city all by myself! made a doll carrier, made new dehydrated treats and so much more…