Planning

Now that house decisions are well on their way, our appliances are purchased, and we are going to order our dining set today, we are slowly starting to plan our big event. We have not settled on a date yet, we are going to work it according to when Maria and Scott take holidays, as they were coming to see us anyways. We will begin preparations once we arrive there, and make it an all in one party-including housewarming & anniversary/event. We are keeping the guest list very small, but the menu will be good-for sure to include fresh oysters and local fish! I can't wait for it, I have had the vague overall plans in my head for years! I just hope I can get enough landscaping done before then -I should as I love gardening and miss it so much. We and a great yard in Kingston, we had a lot of fun with the garden. It will be so nice for the kids to plant again! Stay tuned for event info!

Shopping, plans, thoughts and plans

Got the end table for our bedroom, chose our dining set, Dave is out wrangling a deal for the 4 kitchen appliances-the ones I really wanted, so I am happy. He will hand over the cash for them today if they give him the price they said! I just need to unload the stove, everything else is sold, awaiting pickup.Just need to buy some kids furniture and linens.I have no idea yet how to cover the windows in the new house. Three sets of bay windows has me stumped. I need to do some research to figure it out.Suggestions?

Mimi is going for a sleepover at Breanna's, we are still waiting to see if we can get a sitter for tonight so we can go out for some thai food. I am in need of some spice. The younger pair are watching a movie, so I will have a run. I can't wait to run outside again-I ran outsdie while in BC, it was raining but it was still great. It is a better workout than the treadmill, as everyone knows, but it does when it is -1 million outside.

Thoughts about ethnopharmacology-interestingly western and eastern(ie asian etc) have no discernable differences involving metabolism of drug components, yet the difference is vast in comparison to african-american and hispanic cultures regarding only certain drug groups. I found this fascinating, as the reason is attributed to the length of evolutionary distance between the races.

Anyhow, house is coming together. Need to replace the rug in the living room. I haven't found one yet, needs to be just the right colours, I have it in my head, but haven't seen it yet!

Potatoes, kids and gingerbread

Lauryn and I peeled potatoes together tonight. She is the best helper in the kitchen. She has amazing skill for a five year old-she can peel, measure, mix and crack eggs. She is very eager to learn too, always wanting to learn whatever I am making.Mimi does not have as much interest, although she is efficient enough. I was just so surprised at how well Lauryn could wield a peeler-perfectly peeled and no injuries even! All in all, we had a nice turkey dinner tonight with my helper.

The kids painted after dinner, and then made puppy key chains with pompoms, felt, eyes, and the glue gun-they are so cute. Josh also did playdoh today. It is so bloody cold, the kids need to be crafty indoors-that and playing ocean/sharks with the laundry basket! Homework is almost done for the night. We all need to turn in early tonight. I am tired, had a lot of cleaning to do today, and I did a long workout too. Josh and Lauryn played volcano while I did this this in the pm, it was funny watching him "trying" to escape the lava. Dave and I are just discussing furniture purchases-we are getting a new room for Mimi-a queen bedroom set. She ahs chosen a very grown up decor-the pink girly stuff is no longer cool I guess. Lauryn still wants the all pink room, but Mimsters wants brown and white and light aqua. It is amazing how old she seems sometimes. I feel nostalgic at times for when the girls were 5 and 2, life seemed so simple back then, now almost 4 years later we have another 2 year old in the house, another 5(almost 6) year old, and a big 8 going on 9 year old. Our house is half wee kid and half big kid, the differences are like night and day. So much change.

I baked the caramelized gingerbread recipe yesterday, and it is all gone. Love that stuff!

Stepping into a walk-in cooler

That's how it felt stepping out of the airport today-arrgghh. Yesterday we went hiking. We hiked down to Qualicum Falls, then went hiking in the Cathedral Forests. Josh kept saying "wow" and just running-he loved throwing rocks in the stream. Amelia was reading all the signs, and was quite concerned about the natives that might have been buried there-worried about ghosts of course. It was all very breathtaking, so hard to believe it is so near where we will be living. It reminded me of a dinosaur forest, it almost did not seem real. I also had the best cup of coffee out that way, good to remember. We were tired after, Dave and I sat by the fire after Josh was in bed, and the girls went to play at Erin's for awhile.

I am already missing the fresh Fanny Bay oysters. They were SO good.

More stuff

We made further changes to the kitchen layout, it looks so good. We picked lighting today, got some gorgeous artisan lights to hang above the peninsula. We will have a mountain view from the front of the house, so nice too. We chose to upgrade to the jacuzzi bath, and the main bath also has a skylight. We have decided on the exterior as well, dark taupe with black and the dark rock front. Two other houses on the street did a similar finish, looks so good. We meet with the builder tomorrow-at least Dave will be here to keep an eye on progress.

We took the kids to Union bar and grill for lunch-very funky, nice menu-lots of artisan type dishes. Blaine met with us for lunch, he's had a bad last few months, but it looks like things are on the upswing now. We wandered a bit up and down the street, lots of artsy shops there, I spent some time in the tea centre, and got a great cobalt teapot, will go great in my new kitchen. I am slowly picking up new stuff for the house, hopefully we will have it all by the time we move in. I never want to leave this place, everyone keeps saying how there is endless stuff to do-it feels a lot like Kingston. Oh yah, and it was +5 today, so the bonuses are obvious. We all swam at the aquatic centre tonight, nice big wave pool and slides.

I do not look forward to going back to the peg for the next spell, we will survive I guess I forgot to mention our holiday open house was so much fun. We stayed up late and ate and talked and just general holiday merriment. It was a great end to the year!

So much to do

We were busy all day, picking out flooring for the whole house, plumbing fixtures, and changes to the kitchen layout. Tomorrow we look at lighting and pick the siding colours. It is so hard to decide quickly, but such is military life. I can truly say that our military friends completely understand the semantics, you know who you are! I would never change being military, the excitement makes up for the hassles, big time. I can't wait for the house to be done! We meet with the builder tomorrow to sum up the plans.

We had dinner with Beth and Adam tonight Silverado's is awesome dining. I had an assortment of seafood-oyster, smoked salmon, scallop and clam as a starter, then pan seared duck, then a butternut squash cheesecake-so fantastic-and the wine pairings were perfect. We had such a nice night, I am so glad they are living here too!

I worked on my course a bit today, lots to do but so interesting. I am glad I have time off to do it. I don't know what I would do if Dave couldn't support us income wise-I would never have the chance to spend time with the kids the same or do courses.

I must go-we are watching superbad of all things.....!

We just bought a house!

We bought a brand new house. New subdivision, we pick the amenities. We go tomorrow to pick floors etc. It was the only option in the end, as there is too much crap on the market, and the prices are high. Small community but tack on a big price tag over the old peg. BUT it is so much nicer than the prairies, hands down. We would still be much less culture shocked had we just come from Kingston mind you. The cultures there and here are far more similar. I do not feel nostalgic about prairie life, I did not miss it the first time, and I am glad to leave again. All our friends who have lived elsewhere concur-there is so much more everywhere but there. I eagerly await the completion of our home!

We and such a nice evening with Jeff and Diane-it was like Erin and Amelia were never apart! The kids had a blast, and we had such good conversation-and they got a great house! It is so nice to be making a connection with the west. i look forward to immersing myself in the culture.....oh and Nick and Relic are here-it is so true! ROFLMAO!!

New year, new post, new life

Well after some mucking about, the blog is up and about again. So much going on in the past while, no time to sit and write. This will also be brief, as any comp time I have needs to be focused on my current course, as it is a bit time consuming, but interesting.

I am done my scheduled shifts at work. What a great bunch I worked with, what a nice job. I had a very nice rotation, and I am honoured to have worked with such a dedicated bunch. I felt so touched to be told that "the good ones always leave" and how much I would be missed, I wish I could have stayed. I am feeling appreciated lately, my old boss from Kingston sent me an email when I said I was not returning(sadly), and in it she said I am an excellent nurse. That is the highest praise I could receive, as she is absolutely my mentor. There is no one professionally whom I aspire to more, so it was very high praise indeed.

We are preparing to stay at a luxury golf resort, this time tomorrow I will be dining in their restaurant looking out over the greens. If we can get sitters, Dave and I will hit the greens together, if not he will do a round on his own. It was a former PGA tour site, so it is one of the best. We are staying in the loft suite, the kids are excited! We have so much to do next week, but I can't wait to go to fall/spring climates. I could do without Manitoba winters forever. I hope we can get settled in soon, there is a lot of things we are anxious to do. The kids are just thrilled to be living on an island and have ocean and mountains in our daily view. We have been super shopping for spring clothes, I think I need to take out stock in the Gap. I will be posting pics of our adventure on facebook, so stay tuned.

Filling out the passports, getting prepped for a trip this year. We are hoping to embrace the rest of the world as we become west coasters. Another chapter begins!