Last week, Michelle and I made a decision. A mafor decision, we decided to sell our home. We have a beautiful big house. We like it very much. It is great for hosting people, which we love to do. But big houses come with big prices. It is expensive to heat, hydro is expensive and because of the pool, the water bills are way up there too. Over the last few years we have simplified our lives. When we left our last home on Woodfield, we did so because we needed more space. This house has about twice the floor space. A few years back we were doing a lot of home business stuff. I had an eBay store selling gaming miniatures, those took up a lot of space, most of the basement at Woodfield. Here they used up a good portion of the functional basement. At that time, Michelle was getting into selling wedding invitations. Those too required space. The other house was just too cramped.
Michelle has since buried the hopes of making a living at selling wedding invitations and I have closed up my eBay store and I am in the process of getting rid of my inventory. The incredible thing that has happenned since closing up shop is that I have found spare time. Time to read, to play, to relax.
Also, over the years we have had many people live with us. Mostly to help them out. That is a chapter that we will close. The next home is going to be smaller, much smaller. I'm looking at a 3 bedroom apartment, atleast for the next few years. That will allow me to give myself to my kids and see their development. With an apartment, we would still have a pool but not the responsibility of maintaining it or the direct expenses associated with it.
We are giving ourselves a year to get the house ready. We'll finish up all the little projects that are on the go. Start some new ones. Clean up the yard and do some landscaping, mainly getting some grass to grow..
Oh what a year this will be.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
What do we do with all this snow???
This winter has gotten way out of hand. Snow...Snow...and more Snow. Most people don't know what to do with it anymore. I think that since it all started in November we have gotten over 13 feet of Snow. Last week we were closing in on the record of 1970. Now, we must have surpassed it.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a snow-blower. I bought 8 years ago, after we got a couple of huge snow dumps that year. The following year it was very useful. But for the last 5 years or so. I barely used it. Maybe once or twice a year. But this year. Man it sure has earned its space that it uses up in the garage.
This week has been a tormenting week. Monday, the kid's stayed home due to freezing Rain. Wednesday they stayed home again. there was about 20cm of snow that morning. When I left work on Friday the snow had started. By Saturday morning there was another 15cm. This morning, well that was another thing. It was up to my in-laws car's bumper (Taurus Wagon), I'd say about 40-50cm.
Like I said the snow blower has been a blessing. But it does nothing for the roof, which is pile high with snow. I've heard reports of people's roof collapsing from the weight.
Now, there are 2 things to be worried about. The first being another storm. If we get another one like we got this weekend, we might as well declare a state of emergency. The second is warm weather. If we get warm weather that hits us quickly, people's basement will flood. There is alot of water in those 10 feet snow banks(up the street 1 guy has it pile atleast 20 feet..I don't know how he does it)
On a drive to a friend's house this afternoon. I realized another thing that concerned me. Along, the street, there are fire-hydrants, clearly marked by a yellow post that must stand at at least 8 feet tall. Driving up the street I could only spot 2 of them over the distance of 2 km. The piece that I did see was a mere 2 inches of yellow. If the hydrants were directly bellow them then they were atleast 4 feet into the snow bank. I'm sure the city will send crews out to dig them out. But if a house was to get set ablaze tonight, they would be in trouble.
I hope that where ever you are, you are not having to dig yourself out.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a snow-blower. I bought 8 years ago, after we got a couple of huge snow dumps that year. The following year it was very useful. But for the last 5 years or so. I barely used it. Maybe once or twice a year. But this year. Man it sure has earned its space that it uses up in the garage.
This week has been a tormenting week. Monday, the kid's stayed home due to freezing Rain. Wednesday they stayed home again. there was about 20cm of snow that morning. When I left work on Friday the snow had started. By Saturday morning there was another 15cm. This morning, well that was another thing. It was up to my in-laws car's bumper (Taurus Wagon), I'd say about 40-50cm.
Like I said the snow blower has been a blessing. But it does nothing for the roof, which is pile high with snow. I've heard reports of people's roof collapsing from the weight.
Now, there are 2 things to be worried about. The first being another storm. If we get another one like we got this weekend, we might as well declare a state of emergency. The second is warm weather. If we get warm weather that hits us quickly, people's basement will flood. There is alot of water in those 10 feet snow banks(up the street 1 guy has it pile atleast 20 feet..I don't know how he does it)
On a drive to a friend's house this afternoon. I realized another thing that concerned me. Along, the street, there are fire-hydrants, clearly marked by a yellow post that must stand at at least 8 feet tall. Driving up the street I could only spot 2 of them over the distance of 2 km. The piece that I did see was a mere 2 inches of yellow. If the hydrants were directly bellow them then they were atleast 4 feet into the snow bank. I'm sure the city will send crews out to dig them out. But if a house was to get set ablaze tonight, they would be in trouble.
I hope that where ever you are, you are not having to dig yourself out.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Back from the funeral weekend.
I just got back from my last grandparent's funeral. That's it. I have no more grandparents. It feels weird.
It had been a long time since I had seen my grandfather. The man in the casket I did not recognize. He was 93 when he passed and for the last year his health had been failing. The photo of him on the candle that was burning near his casket was a photo of the man that I remembered. It was taken a few years ago. So he was too different from what I remembered him.
I was asked to be a pallbearer along with a handful of my cousins that I met on the weekend. Some I remembered visiting when I was a kid, One I remembered when he stayed with us for a week or so...about 28 years ago. Others, I couldn't recall ever meeting but they were much younger than me. I felt honored to do this for my grandfather, for my mother, for my family.
I was unsure going to Timmins for this funeral. Like I said, I hadn't seen these people in a long, long time. So I didn't know what to expect. My reward was warm memories of every single one of them. I had been with them at some point. The family used to gather together every year when grandma was alive. but she passed a long time ago and it seemed like the ball got dropped and that the closeness was gone.
All of my mom's siblings were there this weekend. There are 4 sons still alive and 11 daugthers. 1 daughter had passed away at the age of two, talking about this pains my mother even 55 years after the fact. I remember when my 2 uncles passed away. The first about 15 years ago of cancer, and the other 10 years ago due to a work related accident. In all my grandfather had 18 children all from the same marriage. That alone is incredible.
Many years after my grandmother had passed, my grandfather remarried. Her name is Cecile she is considered his widow now. She had a daugther. The closeness that the family had, pretty much ceased after this. Cecile was never really accepted by my grandfather's children. I was much to young to know what was going on. Now, I can see where things had gone wrong and had things been done a little differently, a lot of pain may have been spare. But hindsight is always 20/20.
But I digress. I have no regrets what-so-ever about this weekend. I am very pleased that I got to see all of my aunts and uncles. I don't know when they'll all be together like this again. I found that my mom's family is a typical French Canadian family, that loves to laugh. They were all very warm people and they were certainly full of hugs and kisses. I the last 16 years or so I may not have spoken or seen my grandfather but I see his legacy in his children. With was there this weekend and what was spoken about him, I can only remember his laughter. He laughed a lot. Every time that I did see him, he laughed. I can help but get the feeling that he was a good guy.
On a side note, when I was 18 I worked a summer for my uncle (who passed away about 10 years ago) While I worked there, I stayed with my aunt and uncle and their 2 daughters, Melanie and Stephanie. Melanie would have been about 10 and Stephanie about 4 I guess. While I lived there I was like their big brother. I scared away the bully that used to pick on them all the time. This weekend I got to rekindle that relationship with Melanie. We exchanged MSNs and we will be keeping in touch. It should be easy to do since she is my 3rd little sister ;-).
We took a bit longer leaving Timmins this morning, since it was my nephew's confirmation. I would have gone up to Timmins just to be there for him on this special day.
I apologize to the readers, this is just a dump of my weekend. It was such an awesome time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
It had been a long time since I had seen my grandfather. The man in the casket I did not recognize. He was 93 when he passed and for the last year his health had been failing. The photo of him on the candle that was burning near his casket was a photo of the man that I remembered. It was taken a few years ago. So he was too different from what I remembered him.
I was asked to be a pallbearer along with a handful of my cousins that I met on the weekend. Some I remembered visiting when I was a kid, One I remembered when he stayed with us for a week or so...about 28 years ago. Others, I couldn't recall ever meeting but they were much younger than me. I felt honored to do this for my grandfather, for my mother, for my family.
I was unsure going to Timmins for this funeral. Like I said, I hadn't seen these people in a long, long time. So I didn't know what to expect. My reward was warm memories of every single one of them. I had been with them at some point. The family used to gather together every year when grandma was alive. but she passed a long time ago and it seemed like the ball got dropped and that the closeness was gone.
All of my mom's siblings were there this weekend. There are 4 sons still alive and 11 daugthers. 1 daughter had passed away at the age of two, talking about this pains my mother even 55 years after the fact. I remember when my 2 uncles passed away. The first about 15 years ago of cancer, and the other 10 years ago due to a work related accident. In all my grandfather had 18 children all from the same marriage. That alone is incredible.
Many years after my grandmother had passed, my grandfather remarried. Her name is Cecile she is considered his widow now. She had a daugther. The closeness that the family had, pretty much ceased after this. Cecile was never really accepted by my grandfather's children. I was much to young to know what was going on. Now, I can see where things had gone wrong and had things been done a little differently, a lot of pain may have been spare. But hindsight is always 20/20.
But I digress. I have no regrets what-so-ever about this weekend. I am very pleased that I got to see all of my aunts and uncles. I don't know when they'll all be together like this again. I found that my mom's family is a typical French Canadian family, that loves to laugh. They were all very warm people and they were certainly full of hugs and kisses. I the last 16 years or so I may not have spoken or seen my grandfather but I see his legacy in his children. With was there this weekend and what was spoken about him, I can only remember his laughter. He laughed a lot. Every time that I did see him, he laughed. I can help but get the feeling that he was a good guy.
On a side note, when I was 18 I worked a summer for my uncle (who passed away about 10 years ago) While I worked there, I stayed with my aunt and uncle and their 2 daughters, Melanie and Stephanie. Melanie would have been about 10 and Stephanie about 4 I guess. While I lived there I was like their big brother. I scared away the bully that used to pick on them all the time. This weekend I got to rekindle that relationship with Melanie. We exchanged MSNs and we will be keeping in touch. It should be easy to do since she is my 3rd little sister ;-).
We took a bit longer leaving Timmins this morning, since it was my nephew's confirmation. I would have gone up to Timmins just to be there for him on this special day.
I apologize to the readers, this is just a dump of my weekend. It was such an awesome time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)