Some kid's Moms!

Why oh oh are there idiot parents out there? Ok a bit of back story so you know where I am coming from. We have lived on this street for 10 yrs, my son grew up here and has made friends with other kids on the street.

So a new family move into the street last August - they have a son one yr younger then mine - great right? Nope this kid is nothing but trouble from day one. We give all the kids freezies or Popsicles, this kids drops his wrapper on the ground on our lawn, never says thanks. So one day all the kids are playing - this kids rips a branch off a tree (he is ALWAYS doing this and his parents seem to have no problem with it) and proceeds to hit the other three kids with it. The three kids, get that all three of them, go to his mother and tell her what he has been doing. She calls them all liers and tells them to get off her property.

This is the kind of woman I have to deal with! She is nuts. Her kid can do no wrong.

So today, all the kids are playing together, so far no problems. She buds in, she calls her kid and one she is babysitting to come away from my kid. Tells them to stay away from him because he is a bad influence. Then she lures the other two kids still playing with my son to her house with freezies, my kid is not allowed on her property and wasn't included int he invite. So now all the kids are her house and my son has no one to play with. He is majorly upset.

We will be moving this summer, so it will be the last he can play with these friends. What the hell am I supposed to do? I would love to punch her, scream at her to grow up but that might make me look juvenile too.

Still no sale/House inspection

Today we had a home inspection on the house we put an offer on. It cost us $450. Everything pretty much checks out fine - there is nothing major wrong with it. There are a few things we have to watch and there are two windows we will need to replace.

However, while we were there I noticed how much cleaning I am going to have to do - I don't think anyone has ever washed the baseboards - ever! And there are casement windows with california shutters in front of them - opening them today was scary! Dead bugs, cobwebs and mold like crazy!

We will eventually have to repaint pretty much every room - it wasn't done well but can be lived with for now. If you kind of squint everything looks fine LOL it is only when you look closely that you notice how much of the wall colour ended up on the ceiling and on the thermostat etc..

Someone spilled paint down several of the stairway banisters and along the trim on the inside edge - you can see were they tried to clean up some of it - but they are either blind or didn't see most of it and there are now dried drips running down several spindles - I don't know how we will get this off.

It looks like they did most repair work themselves and very poorly - the caulking around the glass panels in the double front doors is disgusting, it is messy, cracked and filthy.

I know it sounds like I am whining but really I'm not - I know all these things are cosmetic and can be fixed relatively easily - over time.

Over all the inspector said for a house in this neigbourhood and by this builder (Rose valley Homes - who has had several poorly constructed homes) it is in fairly decent shape. He has seen some major problems with houses in the area by this builder. This house is 5 yrs old - so if anything were going to go wrong, it would have already.

Now we just have to get our house sold - we had two showings yesterday but no bites and no showings today - Ara says not to expect many (if any) showing on the weekend because it is the long weekend - I am still hoping there will be some.

We only have until July 16th to sell this house - and then our offer is null & void - not sure what we will do then. The summer is really not a good time to be selling a house and if we don't have any prospective houses to buy - we may just have to take it off the market and try again in the fall or something - but I don't know where that leaves Ara - he won't get paid I guess.

I am pretty positive that this house will sell - I hope we get many more showings this week - and that one of them gives us a decent offer - I want this completely ASAP!

And he scores!

Ok so that is a hockey term and I am umm talking about soccer.

J has been playing soccer for 4 yrs now - last night was the 5tgh game of this season - he scored his first goal of the season and the only goal for his team. They lost 3 to 1 but he got the one so it wasn't so bad.

His team has lost every game so far this year - it sucks. There are abut 4 kids on the team that know how to play, the rest don't have a clue.

Starting to freak out

So our offer on the house was accepted, however, it is conditional on the sale of our current house. We have until July 16th to sell it or the offer is null & void. I want that house! This one has to sell! We dropped the price 10K but have only had one showing since - we do have one scheduled for tomorrow but expected to have some calls for Saturday which didn't happen. K & I redid the grout this weekend - we used the premixed stuff, it looks much better than last time.

K is thinking very negatively about this whole thing - I don't think that helps - butit is hard to convince him to be positive - he is naturally negative.

We are thinking that we will put J back into public school instead of Catholic school as he can walk to the Public one and would have to be bussed to the Catholic one.

I think he will do fine there - the problem with the last public school was more the principal and the reputation J had there.

I know I just have to think positively that this house will sell, probably this week at the decent price of 245K. I hope also to be able to close earlier than Aug 24th - I would like to close Sprucewood on July 27th and this one on July 30th so that we have a couple days overlapping.

That would allow us the entire month of August in the new neighbourhood to meet people and get settled before school starts in Sept.

I think the people viewing our house tomorrow are really going to like it and put in an offer on Tuesday - probably a low offer of 240K, we will counter with 247K and then they will counter with 245K which we will accept - I really hope they can do a July 30th closing.

Everything is going to turn out fine - and once it is sold, I can get back to packing stuff and not have to worry about constantly cleaning everything, although, having the house clean has been nice. Who knows, maybe if I am not too busy I will keep it up - lord knows, we will have plenty of cleaning to do in the new house and to keep it clean as well.

We got the house!

Now we just have to sell the old one!

Tentative moving date is Aug 24th - unless the closing of this house is sooner, in which case we will move our close date up as well - we have that flexibility. I would rather move the end of July.

1st post using my new laptop

So I got my new laptop today. It is quite large but the keyboard is tiny and I am having a hard time getting used to it. I can't get it to connect using the wireless card either - I had to bring up the CAT5 cable to get hooked up to the internet. K will fix it tonight for me and connect me to the network in the house as well so that I can transfer all my files over from my desktop PC.

Still no word back from the last offer we put in. We will here something this evening I guess.
I am pretty sure they will go for it.

We are going to go to the Greek pavilion this evening for dinner. J will eat at home as he doesn't like Greek food or at least he doesn't think he does.

I hope K is able to set everything up on the laptop tonight so that tomorrow I can sit in the backyard, if it is not too hot, and transfer my file or write or whatever.

Put an offer in on a house

Yesterday we put an offer in on a house - pretty much the only house we have liked since we started our house hunting a month or so ago. It was one of the first we looked at - it has been on the market for quite some time and we didn't want it to sell from under us before we sell ours so we put in the condition of ours selling. We offered 335K , they countered with 345K, we returned countered with 340K - that is pretty much as high as we want to go. I guess we will find out tomorrow if they accept or not. We really don't have any other house we like either so this better happen.

We haven't had any showings on our house since we dropped the price - I was sure we would have a few calls but nope nothing - I am expecting Saturday to be busy - we should make plans to be out most of the day I think ... I hope.

It is Fiesta week this week in Oshawa - we went to the German pavillion tonight - I had schnitzel, with saurkraut, hashbrowns and a roll, J has sausage (it came with two large sausage) but they tasted akin to balogna. K has schnitzel on a bun. The schnitzel was good. Portions were large as was the price - $28 for the 3 of us. Drinks were extra. Eating out this month is going to break the bank.

I wish I knew in advance - like a day or so - when people would be coming to see our house. Then I would cook on the days when they are not coming. I am afraid to cook anything, even in the crockpot, because it may smell up the hosue and turn people off. I just wish it would hurry up and sell already!

Tomorrow night we will probably go to the Greek pavillion. J will eat at home before we go as he doesn't like the food there.

I have been reading firously the last week or so. I read all 5 of my novels from the library - I have two more book I think, but they are not novels. It has been really nice to do nothing all day except read or surf the net.

Keeping the hous clean is easier too, I just have to wash the few dishes we use each morning, make the beds, tidy a few things and it's done. Would be nice if I can keep this up even after the hosue sells, but by then I will have to start packing again and will probably lose the motivation to keep things tidy - oh well.

The boys are definitely going to have to lend a hand with housework at the new house which is so much bigger. More sweeping, swiffering and vacuuming will need to be done. I think I may get one of those swiffer wet jets for the kitchen/diningroom floors. I don't wash the floors here hardly at all - I will have to do this more often in the new house - hopefully the swiffer wet jet will make this an easy weekly task.

I think once the cooler weather comes in the fall I will also get in the habit of making homemade pizza on Friday night - it is so mucher cheaper and better for us and will help us to save money too.

There are going to be a lot of changes I will nee dto make in the new house - kind of a new life. Clean more, eat less, save more money etc... Time to tighen the belt all around.

Laptop & stuff

I bought myself a laptop last week - online through Dell. I checked today and it is listed as shipped two days ago - I don't know when I will receive it. I have such plans for my laptop. I want to be able to sit in the backyard in the sun and write. Write what I don't know yet. The next best seller? Who knows? I just want to write. I will also, no doubt, spend countless hours surfing the net and reading blogs of others who just want to write as well. I'll call it research.

I want so badly to be able to write something - something good I mean - something that I can make a living on would be fantastic. But I have read so much lately on how hard it is to get published and all that, that I have almost talked myself out of wanting to write - but not completely.

I am taking the summer off - I am not looking for work unless I can find a part-time work-from-home type job. I want to spend time with da kid as well as just have time off for myself. I would really like to get back into my painting too - but it requires the right mindset and usually when I am fretting about not having a job, well I am just not normally in that mindset.

We have had 8 viewings of our hous e- still no offers. We dropped the price 10K yesterady, let's hope that gets more people interested. We are going to make an offer on the house in Bowmanville - the 2nd one we saw I think and the only one to really fit the bill of what we are looking for. It is large enough and in our price range. It has alos been on the market for over 100 days - I hope that is just because it is waiting for us to buy it and not because it has anything major wrong with it.

I just really hope this buy and sell gets moving soon - it is really a pain to try to keep the house in perfect order all the time - I just want it over with and done - then I can relax and start packing again :D

I could feed an army - ok a small army

I finally got around to doing an inventory of my 2 freezers and my pantry (I didn't even do the fridge freezer - so I have even more food than listed).

So I knew I had a bunch of stuff and wanted to use it up before we move (which will be sometime this summer) but didn't realize I had this much.

I will be doing a grocery exile (not buying food except for fresh product, milk & bread).

Freezer	Qty/pks
mushroom risotto	2
steaks	2
pork ribs	1
chicken breast	8
chicken lasagna	1
lean cuisine lunches	3
mini pizza bagel	1 pk of 9
pizza pockets	6
scallops	1 pk
smoked salmon	2 pk
salt cod	2 pk
choriso sausage	1 pk
debrezini sausage	4 pks of 3
honey garlic sausage	4 pks of 5
extra lean ground beef	1lb
frozen juice	4
premade hamburgers	6 asst
mixed seafood	1/2 bag
pork tenderloin	5 oz
pork tenderloin	1 pk
rainbow trout	4
lean italian sausage	1 pk of 5
homemade chicken stock	3 cups
homemade chicken stock	4 cups
whole chicken	1
pumpkin puree	3/4 cup x 2
edamame	2 bags
ground turkey	1lb
blueberry waffles	8
breaded chicken breast w/garlic butter	10
Individual chicken pot pie	1

Pantry	Qty/pks
Tuna in water	3
New england clam chowder	3
cream corn	4
pasta sauce - jar	5
pasta sauce - tin	1
honey garlic rib sauce	1
corn relish	1
ketchup	1
italian salad dressing	1
Punjab sauce	1
Dad's grill BBQ sauce	1
Greek salad dressing	2
Chicken broth	1
Steel cut oats	lg container
Parmasan cheese - grated	1
Chili	1
Green chilis	1
Tomato paste	1
Cream of mushroom soup	4
Nibblet corn	2
Crushed tomatoes	1
Manderins	2
Chick peas	1
Evaporated milk	1
Lychee fruit	1
Maple beans	1
Baked beans	1
Condended milk	1
sardines	4
Mussles	3
Smoked oysters	1
Single serve tomato jiuce	2
Triscuits - pepper & olive oil	1/2 box
Melba toast	lg box
Cheddar & brocolli rice mix	1
Scalloped potato mix	1
Lipton chicken noodle soup mix	6
White rice	tons
Brown rice	3 cups
Dried lentils	6 cups
Split peas	6 cups
Pasta - asst	7
Alfredo sauce	1

I have so far come up with the following meals - I will add fresh or tinned veggies or salads to round them out. I have included the main ingredients and what they will become.

Honey garlic sausage, 2 risottos - grilled sausage & risotto
Pork tenderloin, lentils, chix broth & brown rice - pulled BBQ pork & taco lentils & rice
2 chicken breast, angelhair pasta & alfredo sauce - chicken alfredo
Chicken lasagna
Spiral pasta & 3 debrezini - pasta primevera
Ground turkey, greek salad dressing & rice - mini turkey patties & greek rice
Asst burgers, pasta - burgers & pasta salad
Whole chicken, rice & chix stock - crockpot sticky chicken & rice pilaf
Ribs - bbq ribs & baked potatoes
3 debrezini sausages - grilled sausage & baked potaoes trout, rice - grilled fish & rice pilaf
pasta, pasta sauce & debrezini - sausage pasta
ground beef, pasta & sauce - spaghetti and meat sauce pasta, pasta sauce & lean italian sausage - sausage pasta salt cod - Bojul - cod salad (only DH eats this)
steak, 2 chicken breast & rice - grilled dinner w/rice
steak, 2 chicken breast & rice - grilled dinner w/rice
Honey garlic sausage - grilled sausage & baked potato
Honey garlic sausage & pasta - pasta primevera
4 Breaded chicken breads & rice - chicken & greek rice
4 Breaded chicken breads & rice - chicken & greek rice
2 chicken breast, 5 oz pork & rice - curry

Ways to save money this summer (while not working)

• Do a freezer & pantry inventory and use stuff up - we don't want to move it.
  - did an inventory have started to use stuff up.
  
• Double think things before buying - do we really need it now, or can we do without.
• No new clothing for K or I unless we lose a size down.
• Don't buy any books (other than Happy Potter 7 on order) use the library.
• Homemade inexpensive treats for J all summer.
  - started today, was cool enough to bake muffins and granola bars.
  
• Get J to drink more water than juice or koolaid this summer.
• Eat less - K and I both need to lose a few.
• Read more, stitch more, paint more - spend more time on hobbies while I have this time off.
  - problem with this is that I packed my stitching and painting supplies - will see how bored I get if I decide to unpack those boxes or not.
  
• Stretch shampoos and liquid soaps.
• Take advantage of splash pad at park.
• Keep air at 22 whenever possible.
  

Adventures in Selling/Buying a House

We decided about 2 months ago to put our house on the market and buy something bigger - something that we could accommodate an in law suite in the basement for my father in law.

Since there really aren't that many house in the area with inlaw suites, we will have to buy something with a basement big enough to have one built in it.

Since we are losing the basement to my father inlaw, we have to ensure we will have enough space on the two upper floors for all our junk.

While getting our house ready to list, I did get rid of tons of junk. Our real estate agent came by and told us what needed to be done to our house to have it showable.

We had the interior painted. Da man and my nephew painted the garage trim and outside front windows and trim.

I decluttered, cleaned the inside thoroughly, and packed as much non-essensials as possible.

It took us approximately 4 weeks to have the house ready to list. Our agent came and took pictures and got us up on the MLS site.

During this same time, we had been looking in the area for house that were for sale that we liked. We went and seen 5 or 6. We were really surprised that many didn't seem to have put inthe effort we had to make their house look clean and presentable. Many had obvious signs of disrepair.

At this point our house has had only two showing, it has only been listed for 5 days though. I think our agent was alittle optomistic with the asking price and I think next week we may have to reduce it a bit.

There is one house we do like, it is the right size and the price has recently dropped and it has been onthe market for a long time so they may even take less. It does need quite a bit of cleaning and minor repairs but nothing major and it is down the road from good friends of ours so that would be a bonus too.

So now our house is freshly painted and all nice and clean - it has to stay that way should we get a call to show the house. It is actually very nice to have it this way - but not so nice keeping it this way. I appreciate the result if not the effort.

So now we wait - our house was listed in the paper today so maybe we will have some calls for tomorrow. We can't very well make any offers on any other house until we actually have one on ours. Most agents recommend against accepting an offer on the condition of selling theirs.

Technology still has a ways to go

Our real estate agent (and friend) told us tonight how his phone has voice recognition software to send text messages so you can just talk to it and not have to type while driving or something.

He says it doesn't work all that well though. He spent about 1/2 hour training it to recognize his voice.

Someone sent him a text message asking how he was.

He replied "Fine, thank you."

The voice recognition software translated, "kind bank jew."

Yup, still some work to do there!

Unemployed = Vacation

Ok so Tuesday was the last day of my contract - I am offically unemployed again.

I have pretty much decided that I am going to take the summer off - I am not going to look for work until late August. And I am going to enjoy my summer - instead of panicking about finding a job.

I have looked over the budget and the money still coming due to me and realize that with not having to pay daycare ($400/month) or summer camp ($1200+/summer) or travel expenses (#300+/month) - I can do this just fine.

I will however, do everything possible to be as frugal as I can because we also have the move happening sometime this summer (haven't sold the house nor bought a new one yet though).

I also have a few thousand left over in my income tax account from last year and will be thowing this on my VISA to almost pay it off.

I will be doing a pantry and freezer inventory in the next week or so - and do my best to use that stuff up so we don't have to move it. Hopefully that will cut my grocery bill a bit too.

Also, since I am not working, I am saving at least $2.15 per day (Tim Hortons cafe mocha) and often times $7+ for lunch.

Today I made pasta salad from stuff I had on hand - it was lunch and will also be my dinner.

The pasta primavera I made the other night was dinner for DH & I for two nights plus two lunches for me. Will definietly be making that again.

DS is thrilled that he will get to stay home this summer and not have to do camp - he loved camp last year (because he got to go swimmer twice a day) but that camp closed down - plus with us moving, he wants the summer to play with his friends on this street and if we move mid-summer, to meet new friends on the new street.

It works for me - summer camp last year cost me $1200+ and I had to pack his lunch and snacks each day - he will still need food while home of course, but I can give him inexpensive things like PB sandwiches, which we could not send to camp (or school for that matter) as every public place here is NUT free due to allergies.

While at work over the last month, I wasn't that busy and spent most of the time surfing the net thinking of all the things I had to do at home to get the house ready to sell - now that that is all done and I am home - I can't think of anything to do. LOL

I don't want to get into anything that will make too big of a mess because I still have to be able to clean the house quickly should I get a call for a showing at any time.

So far I have done a lot of sleeping, reading, and surfing the net - also planning on how I will keep things within budget this summer. I really wish I could find a part-time work from home writing assignment - but they are pretty non-existent.

Going to see a house tonight that we saw once already and like. The price was a little high but they have lowered it by 10K and it has been on the market a long time.

Dinner will be leftovers or scrounge your own.

$0 spent today - I guess that is frugal :)

Pasta primevera recipe

I kind of made this up to be similar to something I had in a restaurant on Friday.

• WW spiral pasta (I actually used flax pasta) a box - don't know what size
• 4 sausages (any kind you like - I used 2 mediterannian & 2 sweet basil) - grilled then sliced up - would be yummy with grilled shrimp too!
• 2 zuchinni - grilled in slices then cut up into chunks
• 1 eggplant - grilled in slices then cut up into chunks
• 8 asparagus spears - grilled then cut up
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• Mushrooms, onion & garlic sauted in olive oil

Once the onions were soft, I tossed in all the other veggies, and added more olive oil and about 1/2 cup of italian salad dressing to make a bit of a sauce - how much is going to depend on how wet you like your pasta.

I then tossed this with the cooked pasta, added snipped chives (about 1/2 cup) from my garden.

And when I plated it - I added crumbled feta cheese to mine and blue cheese chunks to DH's (DS ate something else). The warm pasta kind of melts it up YUM.

It was really good and made a huge batch - so leftovers for tomorrow night.

Let me know what you think if you try it - you can add any veggies you like - I was going to add roasted red peppers too - but the jar I had had gone bad

This amount lasted for two dinners for both DH & I as well as two more lunches for me. Will definietly make it again.