Big News! (No, I'm not pregnant)

So, um, yeah, it looks like we're buying a house!

Soooo... think back... way back to, well, yesterday, when I was posting about wanting to do some touch-ups around the house. Because, after all, let's be honest, not like we were going to get into a house any time in the near future.

Well, my Dad calls me up on Tuesday afternoon - got an interesting phone call. An eldery lady from our church was moving in with her daughter, and her house was one my Dad had built 33 years before. In fact the 1st house he had ever built. He had previously mentioned to her that if she was thinking of selling to please let him know because we might be interested in buying it. Now she is moving in with her daughter (who lives right behind) and is looking to sell the house, are we interested?

Dad popped out to look at the house - pretty decent shape! This afternoon we went and took a look - and we're thrilled! It's a 3 bedroom rancher with a family room and laundry room. It is off of a very busy street (and right across from Tim Hortons!). I took some pictures. Take a look here. I forgot to get a picture of the living room - but it's a nice open floor plan with the kitchen and dining area and living room. And the doors to the family room (right off the living room) close for peace and quiet. It has a huge apple tree in the front yard. And a separate garage with a storage room in the back. We've been pressed for space lately, and with planning for another kid, it was going to get worse.

So the best part of all is that they are selling it to us at a very good price. "After all, with housing prices the way they are these days, how can kids expect to get on their feet?"

This has come at us so fast it's silly, but assuming it passes an inspection, there is no reason not to do it.

Oh, but now we need to sell our townhouse. That's the tricky part. So if you know of someone looking for a nice 3 bedroom townhouse within walking distance of the West Coast Express and two covered parking spots, let us know.

Please pray for us during this whole process that if it is the Lord's will that we buy this house that it all comes together okay.

Oh, and we still need to paint. *grin*

Painting Party

If we had a painting party would you come and help?

We're thinking of doing some touch ups around the house - paint the master bedroom (never been done since we've lived there, 7 years now), and also the 3rd bedroom which will become Duncan's room. I was thinking the best way to get it done in one day (while pawning Duncan off on someone for the day) would be to have a few people over and help us get it done just quick and easy (including ceilings). I don't know when, but I'm just wondering if people are even up to this :) Let me know!

Misc. for Monday

Tanya - I totally forgot all the clothes you had along with you on Saturday to return to me. Sorry! This just means we need to get together again soon so I can take them off your hands.

I got a Wii Fit! Finally. This was actually my Mother's Day gift but we couldn't find one. I got the last one at SuperStore, so quite happy. Now I need to pull it out of the box and, gasp, use it.

Yesterday afternoon we put Duncan down for a nap and so I thought "ah ha, I'll have a few hours to quilt for once!" Yeah, not so much. He did not want to sleep, so I had everything pulled out, iron warmed up, even cut 5 whole strips of fabric, and had to pack it all away b/c there is no quilting when little boys are up.

Speaking of little boys, he was such a trooper this morning. He's been having a hard time adjusting going back to day care after vacation, so when we were ready to go he started to cry. I just said to him "You need to be a big boy and stop crying." And he did! I had to remind him a few times going over there, but with tears in his eyes, and a trembling lip I handed him over with no crying at all. He is such a sweet soul.

Happy Birthday Jeff

One of my big brothers (I have 3) turns 40 today! Happy Birthday Jeff!

Also I missed Tim's birthday b/c we were gone, so happy belated 42nd Tim!

Sean - it's not your turn yet. Not that any of you read my blog anyhow.

I think you're all old farts! ha ha ha ha ha!


Love you brothers!

Hope yet?

From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sci Fi Channel isn't about to let down "Stargate" fans.

The network is set to announce the order of a new series from MGM Television, "Stargate: Universe," that will mark the third entry in Sci Fi's longest-running original series franchise.

The green light comes on the heels of Sci Fi's confirming Thursday that "Stargate: Atlantis" will not receive a sixth-season order. The "Universe" pickup ensures the continuation of the popular "Stargate" franchise, which has been on the air in various incarnations since 1997.

"Universe" -- which will premiere as a two-hour movie in early 2009 and assume a regular hourly slot in the summer -- introduces a team of explorers who find an ancient unmanned ship called the Destiny. Unable to return to Earth, the crew must fend for themselves aboard the ship, which has a preprogrammed mission taking them to the far reaches of the universe.

So that's pretty cool.

How's everyone this morning? I'm riding to the train with Theresa so I get to leave a little later. I was up normal time anyhow and snuck Duncan a fresh bottle in hopes that it will help him sleep a bit longer for Bill. Oh, wait... here's Bill, so obviously that didn't work!

Check out Bill's recent post for goings ons... he pretty much covered life as of late.

Baby shower tomorrow, so that will be fun.

I can't think. I need coffee. Have a good day everyone!

Hi!

I'll post tomorrow. Time for bed! Good grief people, you ask too much of me....

Stargate Atlantis Cancelled

Darnit all! We've become quite big fans of the whole Stargate franchise. We have all of Sg1 on DVD, including the 2 direct to dvd movies, and all but the most recently released Atlantis on DVD. It's a good solid fun show. And now it's ending! There are talks of a 3rd show, but it's only been proposed so far and nothing else has come of it yet. There is also the huge multiplayer game coming out, but that's not quite the same.

I'll miss you Stargate!

Stop canceling all the shows we like Sci-Fi!!

from my MOPS email

I receive weekly emails from the fine people at MOPS - although I haven't gone in quite some time. I just really appreciated this email though. Thank goodness I haven't gone "here" with Duncan (yet?).

On one thing professionals and amateurs agree, mothers can't win.
(Margaret Drabble)

Eating Deodorant

Christy Molnar, Council Coordinator

Yesterday morning I caught my 21-month-old youngest child, Danielle, eating her dad's scented deodorant. Well, actually, when she heard me coming, she ran back into the bathroom and tried to quickly put it away. I saw little, white "crumb-like" pieces all across the floor. As I ran after her, I saw the deodorant and then I caught the full scent. Whew! I grabbed it and saw she had been gnawing on it. The warning on the back said that if swallowed, to contact medical personnel or call Poison Control.

I immediately called my pediatrician's office and they gave me the number for Poison Control. I was in full panic as I waited on hold with Poison Control for what felt like an hour (but was really less than 2 minutes). What has she done? Should I have rushed her to the hospital? WHO eats deodorant? Of course, while I’m panicking, Danielle was over by her toys calmly playing. That was a little reassuring. When I told the operator what happened, she assured me that it would be fine. Thankfully, Danielle didn't get any deodorant in her eyes. And, I was told that if she actually swallowed any of the deodorant, she would probably throw it up and be fine. “Really?” I thought. “You can eat deodorant, throw up and be fine? Ok, thank you.”

What I really appreciated during the phone call was that the operator was very reassuring. I felt so guilty. I felt like a bad mom. Who lets their child get a hold of deodorant and eat it? I defensively told her that I’m the mom of two older boys and have never had to call Poison Control with them. I didn't want her to judge me. She didn't. She said, "Oh, you have a little adventurer on your hands who will certainly continue to be a blessing to you."

Yeah, I have a little adventurer all right. She is taking me on quite the roller coaster ride. In the end, Danielle didn't throw up. As I cleaned all the bits off the carpet and soaked her clothes, it appeared she had really just been chewing it. I don't know, maybe the texture was appealing. Ewwwww....

Prayer From a Mother's Heart

Dear God, help me to understand that your love and validation is not dependent on what I do or don't do so that I can model that love to my child.

Misc. on a Saturday night

Good evening! Just relaxing and watching the news... I feel like I haven't paid any attention to the news in the past 2 weeks and so I kind of felt I should see what's going on.

1st - congratulations to Carol Huynh, a Canadian Wrestler from BC who will win our 1st metal in the Olympics. She is wrestling for the gold, but will at least get silver around 2 AM PDT. Good job Carol!!

People have been super critical of the lack of metals for our athlete's so far, but I really feel it should be out gov't who should step up and put more into our athelete's as opposed to these men and women who work so hard to get there taking any blame.

Canadian Athelete's - good for you! I'm proud of you and the efforts you're putting in.

2nd - I've really enjoyed this time off. Aside from being away from work, this is the most time we've spent with Duncan since I went back to work and Monday morning is going to be really hard on all of us! This has been an awesome time to watch Duncan grow and learn. He has an awesome sense of humour - he's our kid!

3rd - la de da de da

4th - a funny story from the cruise. We were leaving Sitka and I was at the front of the ship watching all the fishing boats. I had the binoculars along and was watching this one boat refuse to move for the ship. Now I understand both sides of the story, apparently bigger ships have the right of way, but how frustrating would it be as a fisherman to have these massive boats come through all the time? Anyhow the ship blew it's horn a bunch of times and actually had to slow down and change direction some, but the fisherboat also moved (kind of had no choice) and as I kept watching I was thinking it was surprising the fisherman wasn't flipping the cruise ship the bird.

Well Mom was outside watching this whole thing take place from the side of the ship and sure enough he did send his one finger salute once he was out of the way... Kind of amusing.

Alright, I need to go to bed. Yep Tanya, I'll tell Laura you said hello. Also we got a call from Chris and Ronnie who were just on their way back from the airport. They had a good time in Vegas.

Second Week of Vacation

Time off work rocks. Duncan is loving having both of us home right now. He's slept in every morning this week (bless him!).

On Tuesday Bill and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Yay! We took Duncan to the Greater Vancouver Zoo (kind of sucky to be honest, but he liked the giraffes). And that evening Mom baby sat while we went for dinner.

Also on Tuesday Nikki (our awesome day care lady) gave birth to a baby girl named Hannah (or Hanna, not sure on the spelling) Elizabeth, 8 lbs, 11 oz. We're thrilled for them and happy Nikki got her girl :)

Yesterday was some running around and playing. Today we're doing more running around and then going to John and Amy's in the evening. We haven't seen Siena in I think 4 weeks so it's going to be awesome to see how much she's grown.

Duncan had his 18 month check up yesterday (yes, we're 2 1/2 months late) and we taught him to say "Hi Doc!" when our doctor came in, which cracked our doctor up. Duncan is 32 lbs and 82 cm tall (about, he wouldn't stand still) which is about 2 feet 6 inches tall. Big boy! He's doing really well though.

Saturday we're off to Bellevue for Jesse and Laura's BBQ and I believe we have not seen them since last years!! Crazy. I admit I hesitate to make Duncan sit in the car that long which is why we don't go more often. Not that he can't, I just don't like to make him do that more than we need to.

And I fixed my blog. Next time save template prior to changing. got it.

About Alaska

First I need to say I find it hilarious that Jilian's parents were on the same cruise and I didn't bump into them! Not to say we met everyone on board, but you would have thought... and I mention it to Bill "we sat with them at Tanya's wedding right?" "Yep" "Oh, now that I think about it I think I might have seen them..." I hope they also had a good time.

So yes, things went really well. We didn't go on any excursions - we just didn't think Duncan would be too keen on a 3 hour wild life sightseeing tour, and so we were totally content to wander around the various ports, take in the sights, and relax.

Duncan did so well! We knew he'd do 'good' but he actually lasted through 6 of our 7 2-hour meals at night. One night my Mom and Dad took him - but who can blame a 20 month old kid for getting restless? But otherwise he was totally content to hang out, make friends with all the crew (I'm not kidding...we'd be walking somewhere 'hi Duncan!' from people we didn't even know). He became known as the 'Hi Boy" b/c he said hi to everyone.

The weather was good over all. Juneau it rained, but we're kind of used to that and went on shore a few times during the day. Found a really good used books store there and so I think we all kind of stocked up on some stuff we'd been looking for.

Mom and Dad really got to spend their own time, and we didn't pester them too much - which I wanted to make sure of. However being able to use their room when Duncan went down to sleep made the trip work. We brought the monitor and it worked like a charm. We'd read, play games, just hang out, and so that was our down time too. Mom and Dad actually were at a different seating for dinner than us, but this also worked b/c we could use their room when Duncan went down then. They were however at the same table with the same wait staff, so they would get reports on how Duncan did at dinner that night :) Very sweet, Mom told them it is our anniversary (tomorrow - 8 years!) and so they sang for us and brought us cake to share with the table. That was fun.

And we also have this week off! We might go to the Zoo tomorrow, and on Saturday we're heading down to Jesse and Laura's for the summer BBQ. Unless my sister in law happens to schedule Jeff's 40th birthday party for that day - I've warned Laura we can't skip that if it comes up, so we'll see how it pans out.

I have a pineapple sitting on top of my fridge! Sweet!

Back from Alaska

Hi everyone! We're back! I'll do a longer post later, but we had a fantastic time on our cruise, and Duncan was amazing.

I've posted pictures (many)at http://picasaweb.google.com/carolejm/Alaska2008 which will also show you pictures of me with my great new hair cut :)

So now lots of laundry, and I'm thinking nap because it certainly was not a holiday with lots of extra sleep. Chris and Ronnie are popping by tonight before they take off to Las Vegas, so it will be good to see them.

Talk to you all later.