Mobile blogging: Ready to Hibernate

What better way to ignore the elements and outside stressors than to pull the covers up and hibernate?
Flooding basements, sewer backups, still more snow, renting a huge dumpster (so much money yet again), looming moving/house purging and that's not even problems at my house! No that's just dealing with causes at my mom's, whom we are trying to ready for moving. The driveway is inaccessible due to the entire thing being made of mud. So far everything is costing more and more money...of which no one has. I'm worried we won't have enough left after renting this and that and fixing things for others to pay for our own needs in two weeks. I still have the other half of my appliances to buy and here we are paying for yet another dumpster to haul more stuff away from my mom's.
Now a spring/winter storm is stopping me from easily moving around to move things; tracking mud into hallways in order to move things from house to house. My worry on top of it all is my joy at moving into our new house is pretty much gone. I haven't even wondered at what may be going on over there. I need a break.
Please, just let me hibernate until it all goes away.

We Got In!!

Love the lino.

Chralie's bedroom

Seriously in love right here.

Laundry room around the corner in the basement bathroom

Basement bathroom

Bar

Last pictures I will post until move in day, which is set for the 15th of May.  We have the movers booked for the 17th.
I really did not want to leave; I could have gladly curled up in the corner of my closet on my new plush carpet and stayed there for the rest of the month.

Mobile Blogging......

Today Brandon made us proud when he received first place in his Jazz piano solo and second in his Instructional piano solo at the Kiwanis Music Festival. He did great and he wasn't nervous at all, which contributed to his high marks the adjudicator said. And because he has been working so hard in school and during his extracurricular time, I bought him a game on the weekend for his XBox that he can connect with his friends with at the same time online.

Jacelyn had her first dance competition this last weekend and did very well too. She got a silver in her Tap trio routine and a Gold in her Jazz large group. She was pretty pumped and is looking forward to competitions in Edmonton next week. She even got to compete against her cousin who danced in the same category so that was exciting as well! Dance will sadly be over for both girls May 5th with the completion of FAME's year end show.
Although Jacelyn will be attending dance camp during the summer, so she can look forward to that to keep her busy while learning some great technique.

Tomorrow is the day we are going to get into the house, come hell or high water. I NEED to see the progress...it's been driving me mad. Apparently it looks awesome, according to the builder's wife who wet there today. The tile is up as around the fireplace as well as the kitchen backsplash and the basement is finished save the plumber installing fixtures and mirrors in the bathroom. I'm not sure if shelving has been installed yet but that won't be far behind. A few weeks is all that's left before the movers arrive and we take possession. :)

Sunshine...and the subsequent result of water in the basement.

My house key has been confiscated.

I haven't been able to see anything since my last post due to the painters being there until midnight all last week, and now the flooring is being laid and to prevent mud being brought in the key is in the builder's trusty hands. :)
I would so love to see what is going on; it is killing me in fact.  Mike has been there twice for this and that, and has seen the walls painted.  When I tried to go last night to measure the windows for blinds as I wasn't able to all last week (they take 2-3 to arrive and so I wanted it timed just right), I found myself taking big boots and my Dawg shoes and getting stuck in the muck all for nothing as the key was missing from it's hiding spot.
Well, if the blinds are a bit late I will just have to live with it.
Unless I can get in there tomorrow morning, that is. :)  We tried to get in this morning after I dropped off Charlie at school (prime time as we were kid less , but the floor-er was laying the linoleum in the front entryway.  So we gave our newly varathaned mantle to the builder instead and I will just have to wait some more.
The next few weeks will be crazy around here.
My mom got a call from the apartment complex she sent an application to saying she could move in May 1st.  Awesome news for all of us, and I love that her balcony faces an empty green space and has a huge evergreen tree right in front of it, providing shelter and a nicer view than a parking lot.  Since we found out I have been slowly selling her things on Kijiji and on Facebook so that she can considerably downsize to fit her most needed belongings into that apartment.  We used to live there as well; I know she will have a bit of a time adjusting to the teeny tiny kitchen and the loss of all her cabinets.  I couldn't imagine having to go through my Tupperware and appliances like that and go from having a huge walk in pantry and eat in kitchen to what she is downsizing to.  But that's what she's got to do, and so we are working at it.
Unfortunately, moving her in will be insane with Jacelyn's dance competitions starting May 1st in Edmonton, and again May 4th, and the year end show on May 5th which Jacelyn and Charlie both dance in.  Then we will need to get us ready to move into our place as well during the following weeks after that.  We both thankfully will have the entire month to get to our places, and I'm sure we will all make it through just fine.

I wish I had some pictures of the house to post, and if I do manage to convince Mike to take me there tomorrow I will definitely put some up.  In a way it will be nice to be surprised to see so much done at once.  But dang I am so impatient right now!
Especially with the water that is starting to seep into the basement here.  That just started on Friday, and I have been chipping away at the ice outside where we think the melting is starting from and travelling along the ground to where it is getting inside.  Of course we are crammed in here, and with B sleeping downstairs and the smell of the dirty wet basement carpet being overpowering we all want out even more than before.   I Febreeze it all throughout the day.  Mike ripped back the carpet so we could see where the water was coming in and so that we could suck it up faster without the carpet repeatedly getting soaked.  It got so saturated in fact that at one point, I slipped in the water and my knee went right through the sopping drywall...it was as soft as florist's sponge.
Thankfully, though our storage room is jam-packed, everything is in rubbermaid tubs stacked to the ceiling and not in boxes laying in water.

We are dealing, and I'm thankful for Mike being here to put things into perspective when all I want to do is break down and cry (which I admit I did do a bit)... there is just no time to lose it.  :)  And in truth it all doesn't sound that bad when I write it all down, but I suppose it is just so many things all at once going on in such a short period of time that has me feeling like I'm always forgetting something.

Maybe some fruity drinks in a loud, crowded pub are in order sometime very soon.  Or another night like this one where we had a tropical inspired party to chase away our winter blues a few weeks ago:

House Build...Paint!

I hope my blog isn't getting to boring.

I know alot of those who regularly check it out are wondering what's been going on, and my scrapbooking friends probably think I fell off the earth.

Well, a whole lot of nothing and a ton of everything has been going on around here, making our lives feel crazy and stressful.  I am trying to go with the flow and succeed most days (thank you Jasmine for being the best friend a crazy gal like me can have), thanks to the sounding boards I have all around me (mom and Mike...grandma and A.Rhonda).  I like to get ahead of myself which causes my brain to never, ever shut off, especially at night.  That is the downside of having an overactive imagination, which I should have put to good use like my high school English teacher told me to do and became a Journalist.  Then I could have at least made money from the rambling images that parade across my mind all day long.
Lots going on here keeps my thoughts occupied: painting...when is the painting going to start/end/hurry the hell up, snow, and more snow, taxes, moving my mom into the city and subsequently getting her house ready to sell, dance competitions, homework, piano lessons and an upcoming music festival my son can't prepare for properly because the piano that was fixed for 400.00 is broken again worse than before the guy fixed it, getting to Edmonton to drop off said piano, taxes (did I mention taxes?), some more snow, running the house, laundry-oh yes, it is still there waiting for me, trying to lose a few (10) pounds, trying to remember to be a good wife, ignorant people on the phone, and more dance competitions and recitals.
Oh, was that a run-on sentence?  I didn't notice...I was too busy trying to brush my teeth while I tied my shoes and blow dried my hair.
Sound crazy?  That's exactly how my mind has been running for two weeks.  And ever since I first uttered to my friend Jas that I was feeling stressed out, a floodgate has opened up.  Like as if my thoughts came running out of every hole in my head yelling, "Yay!!! Look out, here I come and I'm going to REALLY piss you off!"
I am not much of a go with the flow lady and I need to have a plan.
So I have a new plan: I'm going to roll with it.  Starting today.  Oh not yet it's only 11:37...I will tomorrow.  I promise.

Jas came with me to the house tonight after I escaped at 9:30 and we got to take a peek at some of the painting going on.  So far the last week has been prep...and more and more prepping for paint.  Which is a great thing!! And it did look good.  :)

Looking great! Maybe some flooring by next Friday????  Probably not. :)

House Build

We have a beautiful newly scraped basement ceiling that looks great. I'm so glad that it turned out well, and right before the painter starts tomorrow too.
The trim is all up waiting for its coat of paint as well.
Everything is getting yucky outside with the ground beginning to thaw and the snow finally receding. Thankfully all the snow around our house has been kept away by the builder and there aren't any puddles or globs of mud.
This weekend we would like to steal an hour without any kids to give the floors a good vacuum. Can't wait to post some pics on the weekend. :)