This (past) weekend...

So Friday Tyler and Conor left for their surprise weekend getaway to....

Calgary's Comic and Entertainment Expo!

How cool is that??! Tyler walked in last Friday and announced that he had been laid off, to which I announced I had this trip already booked for him and that he must go! *L*

So he did! But before that he bought his brand new laptop (thank you severance pay and taxes!) which was part of our prep for him to leave for months at a time anyways....

Last night the girls and I were able to Skype with him! Yay!

This past Friday I received a phone call from our builder informing me that they'll be here 9am Wednesday to fix our basement wall (build a frame and insulate it for the sound proofing).... Then he told me that they need at least 8ft to work in from the wall out... HA, HA, HA... Oh goodness! Our garage isn't built yet so our basement is storage. And because I run the Dayhome the back half of our basement is floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall boxes and our desk area set-up against said wall with boxes all over it.

*ahem*

So I made the decision not to tell Tyler so he could enjoy his last weekend away before heading to the camps for months on end.....

My plan? To work my butt off this weekend going through every single box down there and clearing it all out. Why not?

What happened?

Emma missed Thursday and Friday of school because of a fever and illness. Then Zoë woke up Saturday ill with the exact same thing. Last night I was up with Zoë until 3am.

Uggggghhhhhhh!

So here I am today rushing around to go through all the boxes and somehow figure out how I'm to lug all of our furniture and such (there's absolutely no way I can move our entertainment center -the TV alone I can't move!- in case Tyler is in the field up north starting Tuesday morning).....

As of right now I know the guys are having a blast in Calgary! Yay! Exactly what I wanted for Tyler... A weekend of no stress! He so, so deserves this.

Anyhoo.... I have two little girls watching The Backyardigans on my bed while I'm in the basement in boxville. I'll take photos!

I suppose I should get back at it... *sigh*

p.s.

While speaking with the builder he said that Tyler had asked for a couple of days notice for this... Cool..... When I said that he wouldn't be here to help he said 'Well at least you have the weekend! That'll help!'....

Yessssss.......

Good Afternoon??!

So how did your afternoon start today? Lunch? Chats with friends? Work? Laundry? *L*

Mine?

With a bang... A LOUD bang!

You see... I'd been asking Tyler for days now to go and see our house... I hear that my dishwasher had been installed and just had to see it!!! *L* Dorky yes, but I've NEVER lived in a house with one! This is HUGE for me!!! *L*

Anyways, we had a viewing of the house we're in this morning from 10-11am so we left before then and grabbed some breakfast as a family of four! Imagine! (Tyler is working nights right now)... The we went to Caster Town where Tyler picked up the four caster needed to make his dolly type of thing to move the playhouse we placed in the yard last year (it weighs about 600lbs and is on stilts... I'll post photos below...)... After that we went for a drive... That's what Tyler said we were doing... And we ended up in Leduc! YAY! I have the best Husband around!!!

So we're driving down the main street not far from our neighborhood when a van in oncoming traffic decided to turn left right in front of us...

BANG!

My poor, poor van.... My poor, poor children! Emma automatically said her head hurt (she's in a booster seat now remember...).

We get out of the van and check our children before even giving the driver of the other van a glance. Once we knew that they were okay but a little shaken up we turned our attention to the driver of the van.

He said that he thought we were in a turning lane. Nope, we were in the straight lane... the turning lane had it's on merge lane to our right into the Leduc Common area.... WE were in the lane that is supposed to go straight... And our light was green.

Nice guy though. He's 60 and this is his first accident... Ugh!

So we pulled in the a parking lot nearby (since we were taking up the whole intersection), traded information, called the Police... Started a file with them over the phone and then headed over to Leduc's RCMP branch where we filled out more information sheets and such.

Then we went to our Insurance Company as it just happens to be in Leduc (no actual planning with this years ago! *L*)... While Tyler dealt with that I took the girls for some furniture shopping (what else are girls supposed to do in this situation??!! *L*), looked at our house (OHHHHHHHHHH! Soooooooo sweet! Dishwasher in, counter tops in, flooring in... Carpet was being put in!!!!) and grabbed a drink and a cookie before picking up Daddy (who is now going to be late for work! Ugh!)....

I know that I'm going to hurt tomorrow.... Tyler will as well. We could feel it right away. I'm sure that Emma is going to feel the stiffness kick in over the next few days (I hate this for her!)...

So now my van has to be taken in (and more likely will be having a mini-vacation at the repair shop for a whole new front bumper, alignment check, etc.) and we'll be sharing the car.... Which we're very grateful to have as an option. I just wish that I could say to Tyler 'Nah, take the car, we'll hang out here tonight' but instead I have to drive him every day (and, of course, he's on night shift so we'll be picking him up at 12:30am...) just in case there's viewings of this house.... Grrr...

Oh! And I have to buy new car seats... Now. We weren't actually supposed to drive home with the car seats we have but how are we supposed to get anywhere? We don't even live in Leduc yet! *L* Now I'm on the panic to find someone to watch my girls for a few hours so I can buy new car seats tonight and not have to worry about it tomorrow as we have our days packed full for the move stuff.... Ugh again!

Yup... That was my afternoon. The accident happened at 12pm... Great start to the afternoon!

The Chaos has just begun!

This morning the Realtor called and informed us that there was a couple that would like to look at the house between 2:30-3:30pm.


Ugh!


Now as some of you may know, our Church time is from 1-4pm... Yes, you read it correctly.... 3 hours! *L* Every Sunday!


So when the Realtor called you would think we'd automatically be saying 'Heck yeah, Bring them on over.... Why not have lunch??!' (Okay... Well maybe we'd leave out the lunch part... Maybe...) but we didn't....


You see... The girls have slowly been catching the chest cold that I've had for two months now... And I hate every horrible sounding cough they produce in the middle of the night where they can no longer breath from the coughing attack....


This happened a lot last night. Two nights ago Zoë got a bit scared at the fact that she could no longer breath (honestly) and came to our bed for awhile... Last night was no different (except for when Emma rolled off her bed at 4am and smashed her nose into the wardrobe which has some hard edges... Poor thing! *L*)... So this morning we decided that I would stay home with Zoë while Tyler took Emma to Church... This way not every child in Nursery would get the horrible, dreaded chest cold that lasts forever....


And then my cell rang.


*sigh*


So, of course, we prepared for people to come to the house for the viewing. Tyler would go to Sacrament while I did stuff around the house with the girls... This includes making sure that every one's beds are made (bounce a quarter off of them good! *L*), every room is spotless as they can be, vacuumed (including kitchen, living room, etc), dusted.... The dishes from last night are washed... Bathrooms cleaned completely through once again (this happens every day now... It's tiring! *L*)... I do not feel good about myself until this routine is done before we leave the house... Every time. Also, the just mentioned must be done while not allowing the girls to tear what I've just cleaned to pieces.... I think that's my hardest chore of them all! *L*


Anyhoo.... Tyler showered this morning while the girls watched some kid-TV and I got the bedrooms cleaned and got myself dressed. Then Tyler ironed his shirt (because, as we should all know, I DO NOT iron! *L*) and such while I made the girls pancakes and waffles... And tore apart the bins that were under our kitchen table (some may remember that I mentioned I had taken our table away... I did. It's still in pieces in the storage room upstairs... This is the craft table from the back room... Um humm... Not my idea...). I couldn't stand the fact that Christmas decorations were hanging out of the bin into your walk space in the kitchen. The kitchen is small enough as it is... So Tyler comes upstairs and is a bit flustered at the fact that I have now made more work for myself! In a few more minuets I had everything packed up where it's supposed to be and the bins in the storage rooms ready to move! AND my kitchen looks more open! HA!


Back to my story.... I started to vacuum which I think was going to make Tyler lose his head from total confusion (why, WHY would you do this to yourself???!!) when he took over. I showered (YAY!)... I gave him instructions to vacuum the whole house, every corner you can think of!


After my shower I came out and there's Tyler, all dressed for Church sitting in one of our living room chairs.... Napping! *L* Poor guy! And to add to this he didn't vacuum everywhere that I had in mind. Although he 'swept really well' in the living room! Ha, Ha, Ha.... Yup.


Tyler left for Church shortly after this while the girls played hockey and golf in our living room (with a death threat if they break the TV! *L*)... I did my hair and make-up...


Oh yeah! I left out one of the best parts of my story... Right before I went into the shower (but after all that cleaning) I got a text message from the Realtor, "Showing cancelled.... :) lol"


UGH!


Anyways.... Tyler went to Sacrament, I got myself and the girls ready... And somehow kept them busy enough that they didn't make the house look like a tornado had stopped by....


Now we're ready to head out to family dinner on the other side of the city... And I have some peace in knowing that the house looks 'show-ready' just in case someone want to view it while we're out.


And the chaos begins....

WHAT exactly is the defintation of 'Realtor'??!!

Well let me tell you!



"Realtor
One entry found.

Realtor


Main Entry: Re·al·tor
Pronunciation: \ˈrē(-ə)l-tər, -ˌtȯr, ÷ˈrē-lə-tər also rē-ˈal-tər\
Function: collective mark


—used for a real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of Realtors"



Thank you Merriam-Webster!



As you see know one really knows what the Realtors job is...... This must explaint eh trouble I've been having with ours.... Well, not really ours.... But my Husband's parents whom we've been renting our house from for... Humm... I've been here about 5 years and Tyler was here for a few years before that... So 7ish years. Yup.



I'm learning that I may have too high of expectations from Realtors, can you believe that??!! *L* I knew that today was the day this house (that we're currently living in) was to go on the market... So i get up this morning and check the Realtors page and there it is! Spelling errors and all! We're right arcross from one of Edmonton's most well known Colleges and he has spelled it wrong! GAH! Does he live here???!! Honestly.... So I give him a call... Chat it up with him about how I need ot get a key and how I need to be out of the house for at least an hour when there are viewings, etc.... And I forget to mention the spelling errors.... I did ask about the listing though and he assured me it would be out today he was just working on the spec's sheet.... Um humm... I gave him my work e-mail so that he could forward that right to me... Which, I'd like to say, he still hasn't done and it's now a new day! Blah. I could go on about our conversation but I'm saving it up for later on when I have no kids around me and can compeltly focus on ranting... Lucky you!



Anyways, I got home about 12:30am (oh yes!) and checked out the mls site, and there it is... The spec's of this house.... SPELLING ERRORS AND ALL! Ugh! So I sen the 'Realtor' and e-mail stating that the very well known College was spelled wrong and he may want to fix that as many young couples (he's aiming this sell at first time home buyers or someone rental imverstors) attend such College....



Does that make any sense?



This may not sound so bad right now but when I'm not so tired later on today I'll write more about my morning of phone calls back and forth with this awesome (ha, ha) Realtor..... And such.



Tired now, going to bed!

STRESS!

So I was looking up images for 'Stress' to use for my Facebook picture when I came across this... Are you ready???!

Here is a very quick test to determine your stress level. Read the following description completely before looking at the picture.

The picture below was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences between the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing.

Look at the photograph, and if you find more than one or two differences, you may want to take a vacation or at least get a massage.

Click here to see the picture before reading more.



How did you do? Do you need a vacation?! Apparently I do!
Hope you got a good laugh! On a serious note, laughter is a great way to reduce stress and boost immune function. Next time you're feeling overwhelmed, call a friend who makes you chuckle or head off for a comedy club. You'll feel better for it!

**This was kindly borrowed from here**