We're baaaaack...

It's amazing how quickly one's perspective shifts when one realizes that what one didn't really want in the first place is now gone forever.

This can be applied to all sorts of things (not just dating, ha ha), but for me, it was Google maps.  At first, I thought it was sort of creepy, but then the magic truck* drove by again, taking new pictures, and little V and I were lost to the mists of time... until yesterday!

About a week ago, Alert Reader TP#2 sent me the following:

Google (GOOG) has updated its Street View feature so users can now travel back through time and see how places have changed since the mapping service launched in 2007. Users will be able to click on a new clock icon in the corner of the screen when using Street View, which enables anyone to explore roads and areas almost anywhere in the world. Clicking this new icon will then allow users to move a scrollbar, changing the year and even season of the area or building they are currently looking at to see how it has changed over time. (Bloomberg)

My immediate thought was, I can see my picnic with Vaughn again!

I rushed (by typing in a url, of course) on over to Google Maps, put the little man in front of Saamis Rotary park, and ... there it was, with the new splash pad.  No little V.  No picnic.  I remember how hard I had tried to do some kind of screen capture on the image** when I first saw it.

I remember the first time I noticed it was gone.

Then, two days ago, my dad sent me a link to some items that he's posted on kijiji -- that I accommodatingly store in my garage (since nobody in their right mind would drive out to North Gower for a gently-used telescope) -- with the link to my address on Maps.

"What are the chances," he asked, "that both your mother and I were at your house that day?"

Parked in my driveway is their white car.  Parked in front of the house is their minivan.  Judging by the "landscaping" (loose term) of the front yard, I guessed that the magic truck drove by sometime over the summer of 2012, when I was on bedrest, Chris was in the Hat, my dad was in full basement renovation/sawdust creation mode, and my mom had moved in to help out, despite my fervent, repeated, and desperate assurances that, really, I was fine, and I didn't need to suddenly live with both of my parents again.  So, to answer his question, the chances were great.  It would have been much harder to have found a time that I was alone.  Blessedly alone...

I kid, I kid.

Kaff.

Yesterday, I went to find something else on Google Maps, and I got a new screen.  And a little clock in the corner.  I caught my breath, zoomed in to Medicine Hat, then to my old park, and clicked on the clock icon, and ... there we were.  Vaughn was wearing the full-sleeved blue bib that now belongs to Tamsin and his little brown hat, and I had on my teal v-neck tee, that I still own.***  According to the date stamp, it was September 2009.  He would have been 8 months old, and I would have been -- just slightly -- pregnant with Ailsa, though I had probably just found out.

It's amazing how nostalgic I can feel for a time which was incredibly difficult (or so I thought at the time -- life has since taught me differently!); with Chris was travelling a lot, I was overwhelmed and dreading the return to work... and probably feeling nauseous.  (Just) one little one underfoot, who was going to be going to daycare, and how-could-I-leave-him!  I was probably wrestling him to stay still on our Elvis picnic blanket while we ate our snack, and wished that I had remembered to bring wipes or diapers or any of the trappings that weigh down my giant purse now.  But how sad I felt when I thought that precious moment was gone.  And how I ached to see it again.

Thanks, Google.  You rock.



* I'm assuming it's a magic truck.  I mean, it apparently drives up every freaking street in the world and takes panoramic images that they can splice together into a website (portal?), which some people (nerds) might call technology, but to me, is pure magic.  Also, if you zoom in, you'll see that I'm looking directly at it... but I didn't see it... so I'm updating its status now to an invisible magic truck.  Whoa.

** I, like, right-clicked at least four times.

*** I still have -- and wear -- that shirt.  It contributes to my inner monologue when I'm walking downtown and I see a panhandler, and I can itemize every article of clothing I have on, how much it cost, and how long ago.  My recent record:  blouse ($5.99, Value Village, 2010), pants ($19.99, Sirens, 2000)****, shoes ($49, Winners, 2008).

****  Lettuce take note:  this marks the first occasion where I've asterisked out of another footnote.  I'm not sure if that's an accomplishment or not.  But anyway, those 14-year-old pants (shiny grey, straight-leg jean cut) still look brand new.  Stop judging.

You missed your chance

To all of those so-called savvy investors, general vacationers, and real estate mavens, well, you missed out.

The prime piece of Medicine Hat real estate that I've been shilling as a honeymoon getaway/ski lodge/summer home has been snatched up, and I'm afraid, friends, that it's your loss.

THE HOUSE IS SOLD!!!


Yay:
While we are no longer "house-rich", as I like to call it, nor are we "tycoons" anymore, it turns out that I had the wrong definition for tycoon all along, in that one apparently needs to make money on one's real estate, not just own a bunch of it and pay all the mortgages, etc. Who knew? But I digress. The point was that now, no longer being "house-rich", we are also no longer "dirt-poor". But...

Snif:
We just sold the house that I brought my babies home to. The house in which we went from being a couple to being a family. It was my babies' first home and we just sold it!

But...

Yay:
We can now afford to spend money frivolously on luxuries such as food and heat. But...


Snif:
It was the house we bought when we went on our Grand Adventure, that we decorated like fiends and made our own, with paint, flooring, and totally rockin' backsplashery. (and here, too)

And now we have to do it again. Eek. But...

Yay:
We won't have to deal with the Worst Relocation Company on the Planet anymore. But...

Snif:
It was sort of our one last tangible link to life in the Hat -- our park, our friends, our nightly walks. It feels that that chapter of our life has closed.

At least we still exist there, on Google Earth.

Urge for Going

I get the urge for going/
When the meadow grass is turning brown/
Summertime is falling down and winter's closing in.

Ah, Joni.

This is the last post, Hat-side. The packers come tomorrow, and the movers the day after that.

It's not as easy as it would have been last year, or even six months ago; with each day that passes, our roots grow deeper, and we create more memories with the friends we have made, and the eagerness to rejoin "civilization" -- as we've been calling it for the last three years, almost entirely due to the selection of restaurants -- is tempered with sadness: it's bittersweet.

We left Ottawa as newlyweds, which is different from best friends. We packed up and Went West, like you are supposed to do, on our Grand Adventure. We're coming back now, as best friends, and with two very permanent souvenirs, very much changed from the people we were.

We've learned that starting over is hard, but not impossible.

We've learned that great people are everywhere, and you can build friendships and bonds over the smallest things.

We've learned that cable is actually a good thing.

We've learned that we can survive on a whole lot less sleep than we thought possible.

We've learned that a baby can physically spit up more than 6 times what went in.

We learned that one good friend can get you through.

We've learned that a house becomes a home very quickly when you bring a baby home from the hospital.

We've learned that life went on, without us (gasp!), and that the Ottawa we're returning to isn't the one we left.*

But we've also learned that it's where we want to be.

So cheers to all who participated and shared in our Grand Adventure, making it so Grand. We look forward to this next one.



*For example, Vanier is now an "up-and-coming" neighbourhood. (see also, Dowisetrepla)

A Day at the Park

As we're wrapping up our time here in the Hat (in theory), I thought I should capture some moments at our favourite hangout, the park.

Our townhouse complex backs onto the best park in the Hat, and we go there almost every day, sometimes just to walk through or to play in the field, but usually to let V run off some steam on the playground equipment. It's an awesome play structure, with a rubberized surface around it (no need to teach kids that it hurts to fall down... kaff...) and so many neat features. I have to say, it beats the crap out of the Tot Lot, although it's missing the necessary element of X-treme danger.

Giddyup, mousie! Yee-ha!

(In other news, I'm at home alone with two sick kids, Mr. Snots and the Snuffling Pug. Mr. Snots developed rashy hives today and a fever, which prevented me teaching this morning's step class, and the Snuffling Pug kept me up all night, since it is evidently impossible to both suck your thumb and breathe when you're all stuffed up.)

(And if YOU can't sleep, heck, why should anyone else?)

But, back to the park!

You want me to climb up there by myself? Seriously?

(For two sick kids, I must say that during daylight hours, they're ridiculously delightful, and aside from the runny noses and extra requests to nap (am trying to upload an awesome video which shows off Vaughn's awesome Napasaurus Rex-ness), there's nothing they're not up for. I keep them contained for the public health hazard, not for their own.)

I'm not quite sure what it is you expect me to do here...

(I can't wrap my head around last summer, when I'd take wee little Vaughn for walks to the park and tell him, "one day, you'll be running and playing all over the place," and now he can do so much! Snif.)

Watch me, Ailsa! I'll show you how to do it!

You can check out anytime you like...

Woo.

We've been keeping this pretty quiet, despite the Great Excitement and Newsworthiness of it all: we're moving! There have been cryptic references throughout the postings for the past few months, and finally, finally, finally, everything was, well, finalized, so we got comfortable telling people the big news:

We're moving back to Ottawa!

This has been in the works since January, in an on-again/off-again way. Unfortunately, the last time it was "official", which was June, it was repealed within 2 days, and we had to deal with a bunch of people calling us to tell us they heard we were moving, and we had to tell them all that, actually, we're not. (Not to mention, we hadn't told anyone that we were moving, and it's a bit upsetting to have to deny a rumour that you really, really wish was true, all the while wondering where the heck it started...) And then hearing that it was officially ON again, but not from the people in charge: no, from a friend who heard it from another friend.

So, understandably, we kept the lid on it this time as well...but with a move date 15 days away, understandably, we were pretty confident and ready to go and spreading the news quietly. Not a big, bellowy "We're Outta Here!" Nope, just telling one friend at a time. Giving notice to our beloved daycare. Cancelling important things like phone, heat, and cable. Telling everyone that it's supposed to be a temporary move, and we should be back within 2 to 3 years, and would they, by chance, like to buy our house? (http://www.mls.ca/PropertyPhotos.aspx?propertyID=9843484&PhotoNum=15)*

Until this morning.

So, we're moving back to Ottawa...but it turns out we're NOT going anywhere anytime soon. And the way we found out? Our relocation agent (a rant for another day) told us that the bookings (packers, movers, cleaners, and flights) that were supposed to be done last Friday didn't actually go ahead because we're not moving for another 6 weeks... or so.

Um, what?

What I don't understand is why nobody thought that it was important to let US know that. Sure, two young kids, me barely holding it together with lack of sleep, stress of a move and now a pulled muscle/pinched nerve in my neck (joy!)...why, what's another 6 weeks (or more) of stress? Oh, and Fis is holding up about as well, too.

So yes, we're moving to Ottawa. When? No idea. I'm not going to commit to a date, although I'm sure I'll hear about it through the grapevine.

I have to say, I can Pollyanna through just about anything, but I'm tired. I'm tired of having to regroup and wrap my head around a new reality every few weeks, and have to be ok with it. I'm tired of all the crap we've put up with over the past three years, and that we're expected to smile about it and accept it. I'm tired of the small-town gossip mill, of knowing that everyone knows my business before I do. I'm starting to believe that people don't move to Medicine Hat and stay here because they like it, but because they just can't leave.**

Oh, and the conditional offer on our new home expires tomorrow.



* No, seriously. Buy our house.
** Apologies to friends from here: I'm sure I'll be less bitter tomorrow, but today, this is all I've got.

A long way from the Hill

Happy Canada Day!

Wow, how times have changed.

I seem to recall a certain blog posting from a few years ago, defending my right to celebrate July 1st from Parliament Hill forever!

Let's just say that the Hat doesn't have a Hill.

Kin Coulee (right by the giant tepee), is the place to be here. There's lots of things for kids, like face painting and balloons and clowns. A few bouncy castles and slides. A food-court-esque section with smokies, burgers, and korean stirfry (oddly enough). And most of the community, it seems, turns out to check it out.

Which is fine. No, ok, it's nice. Very low-key, very good-clean-fun.

Humph.

We rounded out the day with a trip to the dentist (wheee!) and a barbecue at a friend's house, which, again, was very nice and civilized. We were home by 7:30.

At about 11 pm, long after the V-man was down for the night (and me too!), Chris got me out of bed. We crept out of the house in our housecoats, and tiptoed, barefoot, across the dark and empty street. There's a little path between the houses that let us see the fireworks display clearly against the giant prairie sky. They were gorgeous and impressive, and the night was warm with a nice breeze. We held hands and I leaned against him, and it was almost like being home*.

Can you believe that these pants stayed white for an entire day???

* well, minus about 400,000 drunken fools. Man, I miss the Hill!

Things That Suck

Alberta-philes, close your eyes.

We have only lived in this godforsaken province for 11 months (minus 3 days), but we have agreed that it sucks. When we decided to make this move, a big selling point was that an awful lot of people seem to move here, and end up staying forever. How bad could it be?

Well.

The cost of living is ridiculously high. Come on, we're in MEDICINE HAT, not some thriving metropolis, or even some small-but-cool area that people would go to visit. We make oil and gas, but it's more expensive here than in Ontario. It has a pathetic assortment of restaurants, at which you get lousy, lousy service, and the food is always hit or miss. People are uneducated. They're rich, because you don't need to finish high school to start working in gas and oil and pulling in $100K plus a year...at 18. They're ignorant. They're rude.

Mostly, though, they just don't care.

This is true of our visits to Calgary and Edmonton, too. Too many idiots with too much money, with stupid, giant, gas-guzzling trucks that drive too fast, tailgate you, cut you off, talk too loud, and generally think that they're better than you.

Today's rant is sparked by an ongoing struggle to get laminate flooring installed. We need the flooring installed before we paint. We need to paint before we set up the baby's room. What should have been done well over a month ago -- simply enough, one would think -- has taken way too long to even get an installation date (it took 14 days to estimate the cost, after they measured, and then another 14 days to order in the supplies). But, they even called on Wednesday to CONFIRM they were coming out to install it today! Somehow, though, they didn't think to call to CANCEL it when they decided NOT to come out to install it.

Which means: all of the furniture that was on the carpet in our living room, hallway, landing, and master bedroom (quite a bit, all together) is piled up in the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and upstairs bedrooms. We moved it ourselves, and I don't know if we should move it back while we wait for them to return any of the 75 cranky phone messages we left to reschedule, or leave it, since I'm not getting any less pregnant. We slept in the guest room last night, and had to rummage around in various piles to find our clothes, since we took the drawers out to make the dressers lighter. It also means that Chris took the day off work to be there, since they required someone to be home for the whole time. To sum up: not only is there a tv stand in the bathroom (the tv is still on the wall, alas), but there is a Very Cranky Man in my house, and I expect he will stay there until we get flooring, whenever that is.

We've called the Head Office of ISO Installations (oh yes, I'm naming names!!!). We've called their customer service line. We've called their Calgary office, which was in charge of the installation. We've called Home Depot. And nobody has called us back. The best we got was at Home Depot, where a real person, at least, said that she'd pass the message on.

Hisssss.

I think I know why people stay here. They stop caring, too. They start to think that this is normal, that this is what it's like everywhere, or maybe that they don't deserve any better, and hey, there's no PST.

It's not enough.

But nobody's there to listen, and if they don't listen, nothing can change.

/end rant

(for now)

DG: Domestic Goddess? Or Delinquent bloGger?

All right, all right. I know I've been delinquent in my updates. However, honestly, I... have no excuse.

Work has become super interesting and challenging...this week. I've been painting the third bathroom...today.

What, you ask? You've been PAINTING a BATHROOM? Tell me all about it!

Ok, ok.

First, it has to be said that it was fine the way it was, very nicely painted, really. It's just that our stuff (towels, shower curtain, etc.... ok, just towels and shower curtain, since really, what else do you put in a bathroom?) didn't match. Instead of going out and spending money on new towels and a shower curtain, we invested the same amount of money, and about 20 x the time, into repainting. Kaff.

This is the guest bathroom on the upper level, and the only bathroom we haven't done yet. So, with His Huffness away this weekend, I decided to get started.

Before:
It's a pale grey-green, the same shade that was throughout the house. So far, it's been relegated to just our bedroom and the upper floor.

And this is how I feel about it:

Step one: Scrub the walls with TSP, rinse the walls, tape everything that you don't want to get painted. This step took about 2 hours, is boring, and really doesn't give you much satisfaction.

Step two: "Cut in" around the corners, fixtures, etc. Again, time consuming and not much fun...mostly because of all the time spent awkwardly stuffing myself behind the toilet. (Note to visitors: please don't criticize the paint job behind the toilet.)




Step three: Wheee! Roll the paint on, and have a good time doing it! This is the outcome, so far. Two coats of a steel-grey paint, and we're ready to...well, to let it sit for 48 hours, before "we" attempt the next bit. Chris has washed his hands of this particular project, and you'll see why with the next batch of updates.

After (part one)

Ride a painted pony...

As they say, what goes up, must come down. In this case, what goes in the box in seemingly random groupings must eventually come out of the box, hopefully in the same number of pieces it went in with.


Finally found the USB cable. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but there it was, in a box with my motorcycle helmet, a stuffed bunny, a teal cowboy hat, and some flip flops. I'm hoping this lostness isn't going to be a theme; I went out on Sunday to recycle (they don't have curbside pickup here... well, they do, but you have to subscribe and pay), and I couldn't find a directing sign, so I drove around and around and around... ok, enough with talking 'bout my troubles.



Without further ado, the photos!




Oh, hi Chris! Here, he paints our hallway with a lovely shade of torchlight over the yicky dingy grey-green.

It may seem, in the following photos, that he was doing all the work, while I was "just" the paparazzi. Not quite! I had the Very Important Job of taping and edging the low bits that I could reach (since it took us a little while to invest in a step ladder) and then recording the progress for all of posterity.








We were so excited to start on the back wall of the kitchen....until we applied the primer, a deeeeelightful shade of pink...yikes. This is when we started to get a titch worried about our colour choices.











Luckily, when we applied the ACTUAL paint, it showed us the colour that is real. Phew! The colour darkened with the next two coats. You can see the green wall in the background that was part of the original paint job. In real life, it's a very nice mossy green. We're keeping it.








Highlighted by the gorgeous deep red-orange wall, the beautiful plant and pot on the right was a housewarming gift from my parents. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for showing me that someone is waiting just for me, and for making me cry... for an entire day...


I'm feeling better now, honest.



Snif.





And finally, the might-as-well-celebrate dinner, since we're almost done! Complete with wine (Shotfire Ridge Quartage, which is a variant of what I drank to excess on Christmas Eve -- note: it's more fun on the way down), candlelight, and a partially-cleared kitchen table, I made Dilly Beloved Chicken (from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry) with roasted fingerling potatoes (with olive oil and garlic) and steamed broccoli. The DG is back!






Pop Quiz: what song's lyrics (and by whom?) pervade this post? Can you find all of them?

Testing...sibilance...sibilance...

Aaaaaand I'm back.

It seems to have been years since I've had Internet access, thanks to the so-helpful CSRs at a provider-which-shall-remain-nameless (kaff rhymes with velus kaff), but with sincere thanks to a wonderful technician named Ted, I'm all set up here!

Here, of course, is the Hat.

We're sort of settled in, and are quickly getting the feel of the city. It's not remote, small, or hick-ish at all, which continues to surprise me. The people are nice, there's a lot to do, and it really has everything we need for entertainment and creature comforts. The only thing missing is... well, everyone else. I miss: Aaron, Allie, Andra, Andrea, Ashley... and that's just the As. No, I'm not going to list everyone, but know that if you're reading this, you're on the list and that I miss you!!!

Let me explain about the "lot to do" bit. There IS a lot to do here, like hiking on great trails (the weather's been super-mild), going to shows at the Esplanade (the Hat's version of the NAC), watching the Tigers (like the 67s, but harder to get tickets), and exploring historic downtown, trying out tons of restaurants and pubs, etc, but unfortunately, we've spent every single day that we've been here (literally) painting. The previous owners had beautiful, rich, dark-brown furniture, that really looked nice with the light grey-green walls. Our Ikea-chic pine/birch looks kinda insipid in comparison, so Chris said we could buy all-new furniture!!!

Ok, no he didn't, but he said we could paint the entire house! Kaff.

We're using (promotional plug warning) Behr paint. (You can look up our colours if you're that interested.)

We've finished the entryway, the stairs to the basement, and the stairs to the main floor, and he is putting the final coat on the hallway to the kitchen and one living room wall - it's a beautiful deep yellow (Torchlight); the other wall of the living room/kitchen will be a deep tomato/terracotta red (chili pepper). We've done the powder room (feather plume) and the ensuite, too (peanut butter), and may need to take a month or two off before conquering the upstairs. Maybe six, in fact.

I started my new job last week, as well. And that's all I have to say about that.

Cats in the Hat!

Warning: Spoiler alert! For those of you that I haven't talked to in person or by phone lately, you may want to stop, pick up the phone and call me before reading this, so that I don't get the "you're telling me that you got engaged with an evite?" response that I may have received a few years ago.

Aaaand we're back.

To answer your many, many inquiries (ok, two), yes, we're renting out the condo, and yes, we're moving to a bigger place. To quash an obvious rumour, no, it's not because there will soon be three of us.

Chris has accepted a great job opportunity at the Suffield base in Medicine Hat. We spent the past week on a house-hunting trip (be vewwy vewwy quiet...), and after two days and 17 viewings, we were totally exhausted and had it narrowed down to four...then two... then we decided on a very cute, spacious (with guest rooms - no excuses to not come visit!) townhouse, that we may own in 25 years or so. We're also fairly sure that all ducks are in a line for me to get a new job there, too -- all in all, a very successful week! On the right, we celebrate the acceptance of our offer.

WHERE'S THIS HAT OF WHICH I SPEAK, you ask?

View Larger Map

A little bit about Medicine Hat: sunniest city in Canada, population of about 60,000, and there's a Costco opening there in a few weeks! It's 3 hours from Calgary (Is and Danielle!) (and we can come pick you up there if you don't want to fly on the wee little scary plane, at left), 6 hours from Edmonton (Rob, Lynda, Ryan, Nouha, Mel, and Sue!) and 2 from Lethbridge (closest GoodLife)...and about 20 minutes from Saskatchewan (wheat)! We can DRIVE to Vancouver and Kelowna (Jenny and Chantal!), which is totally awesome.

It's apparently a wonderful place to live, with most of the people that move there for "a year or two" ending up staying forever... we'll see, of course.

Anyway, we're looking forward to the adventure starting shortly before Christmas, but I'm already sad (getting sniffy typing this) at the thought of leaving our many friends and my family here in Ottawa. We're hoping to have a big Ho-Ho-Houseleaving party before we go, but with the holiday season (and GREY CUP!!!! WOOOOHOOOO) fast approaching, it may be a challenge... but watch for the evite anyway!

As always, there are fun photos and captions posted on flickr: enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/gp/11228573@N07/588mUC