I Bought a House, All by Myself

I Bought a House, All by Myself

November 13, 2013

I did it! I finally found a house; I have been on the search for months. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I finally bought a house. I honestly was not sure if I was ever going to find something that I liked, in a neighbourhood that I liked and something I could grow into.

Initially I was looking at detached houses, they tended to run a bit smaller and I would have to walk from my garage to the house through the back yard. I wasn’t a huge fan of that but I thought, “Ok, my budget will allow this and it’s just me, how much room do I need”? I think I looked at close to 30 places and each one was the same, they just seemed too small.

I had actually put in a few offers on a few places but they were already sold or I was coming in too low. My realtor, who was also a friend decided that I needed to either up my budget or lower my requirements. I decided that I would increase my budget and see what or if I could get something closer to the requirements that, I had set out for myself. Once I did that, there were a lot more options on the table and I was getting so much closer to the things I wanted. I eventually came across one house that was a bank owned house, I wasn’t too sure what to think about that but after viewing it…I wanted it. Of course, there are things that I had to compromise on, as any home purchaser will attest to. Overall though, it had what I needed and wanted and most of all the price was right where I needed it to be. Luckily in Canada the bank will get back to you in regards to foreclosed home sales within 7 days. It was a tense 7 days as I was excited to buy a new home and scared to have to take on the payments alone. On the 7^th day, as promised the bank got back to me with and answer.

Low and behold, my offer was accepted. Now don’t misunderstand me, this was by no means the first house I had purchased nor would it be the last. However, this house was a house that I purchased by myself after a difficult break-up. It was momentous time, a time for celebration; it was a time to be happy.

I was over the moon happy to know that I could do this by myself, I took the pics to show my mom and she was super happy for me too. She said to me “See, things have a way of working out”. I could not have agreed with her more, they really do have a way of working out. Now to try to figure out what changes I need to make to make this place my own. Yay me!

I moved in with my mom...without her

I Moved in With My Mom…Without Her.

October 1, 2013

It has officially been 2 months since I moved out of my house, in with a friend and now into my mom’s apartment. It has been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least, since moving out of my house I had to put my stuff into storage, as I wasn’t able to find a suitable home to buy. I have been looking and looking but haven’t seen anything that comes remotely close to what I am looking for.

I initially moved in with a girlfriend as I thought it wouldn’t be a difficult thing to buy a new home. Boy was I wrong, I decided halfway through my month of living with her that this might be a bigger challenge than I initially thought. In the meantime, I have been taking care of my mom and she unfortunately had to move out of her apartment as she was admitted to the hospital. She has been in there for quite some time and it doesn’t look like she will be leaving any time soon. After talking with her, she is the one who suggested that I move into her apartment to take care of it and get things organized. After giving it some thought, I decided that it was a good idea and I would still be close to her.

So here I was 15 days after I had moved in with my girlfriend, I was packing myself back up to move down the street into my mom’s place. I still had another 15 days to move all of my stuff so I made a lot of trips and started to get things organized for my move into my mom’s place. After talking with my mom, I decided that she was more excited for me to move into her place than I was. LOL.

I’ve been here for about a week and my mom was right, this was the best thing for me as I continue to look for a new house to buy and get her stuff organized for if/when she comes home. I can’t believe how much crap of my sister’s is hidden in this 700 square foot apartment. I have since done a purge of my mom’s closet and delivered a lot of my sister’s crap to her as well as made some runs to Goodwill. The place is coming together quite nicely and I have to say I am enjoying being here. I make a list of things I have gone through, that my mom needs to make the decision on and when I go see her at the hospital, she decides yay or nay. She laughs at my findings as she thought she threw it out or she lost it. Most things are to give away or for family; I will continue to plug away at getting this place in order and in the meantime, I am enjoying my alone time. It has taken a bit of time to get use to living in an apartment again, I haven’t shared walls with anyone since I was 19 but it will do for now and I will continue to look for a new house. Fingers crossed I can find something.

Leaving a Small Town...Again

Leaving a Small Town…Again.

August 31, 2013

Today is the last day in my house, tomorrow it gets a new owner. I have mixed emotions about it all as I am sad to leave the house that I called home for 5 years. However, I am now embarking on a new chapter in my life and I cannot wait to see where it takes me.

I moved to this city on the outskirts of Edmonton 5 years ago not knowing a soul. I know when I first moved here I was a little nervous as I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was close enough to the city that I wasn’t going to miss anything too much. The drive to my mom’s was a lot longer than it use to be, the drive to work also had an additional 15 minutes tacked on to it as well. I have to say, those were not big sellers for me.

As time went on, I found that I had adjusted really well to the small town vibe. I found all I needed and more on the main drag of town. I loved how everyone was so friendly; I loved how the stores weren’t as busy as they were in the city (Edmonton). Believe it or not, it had everything that I needed. I found that I did not shop in the city as much as I use to as I had become accustomed to the small town vibe shopping. I did not like the lines, I did not like the crowds, and I did not like waiting. I had become a small town bumpkin. LOL.

Well I hadn’t become a small town bumpkin; I just reverted back to one. I had grown up in a small town and very much enjoyed it. Everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everyone’s business. There was some give and take…but the atmosphere that it provides makes all the negative things not matter.

I enjoyed the quaintness, the peace and the harmony that I felt when I was there. I don’t think that I am going to have that again as I am moving back to the city and am already missing the small town.

I know that it is time for me to leave and I cannot live here as I stated before I am starting a new chapter of my life. This chapter just happens to live in the city; I look forward to not having an hour-long drive to attend anything. I will not miss the white-knuckle winter commutes, the extra time I needed to make the drive and the early morning starts as it took that much longer to get anywhere.

What I will miss is the peace that this place gave to me and the calmness that I felt when I had to run an errand. I know that I must move back to the city, but I also know that there is a small town girl who is going to miss this community. I will be back as its only 20 minutes away but it will definitely be missed…   

Goodbye House

Goodbye House

June 21, 2013

To say that a lot has transpired in the last five months would be an understatement. Where do I even begin?

I have been busy since last fall preparing the house to be sold; I have been packing up my stuff slowly since then and have been getting it all ready when the house sells. It is amazing how much stuff I have been able to get rid of while I pack. I feel like I am working towards a clean slate as I continue to fix things that need to be fixed in the house. Sadly, this is a task that I have had to take on alone, the Ex Mr. is nowhere to be found and despite our amicable break-up, I am soooooooooo over the notion of us ever being friends.

Not only have I been tasked with packing mine and his sh*t up, I am also in the process of taking care of my mom (which has taken a turn for the worse) and working full time. I swear I do not know how I am even functioning, I am being pulled from every angle and it is starting to take its toll.

Needless to say, in all of this mess and chaos…I was able to sell the house. Turns out, not only did I stage, de-clutter and fix everything in the house to sell it. I was also taking care of my ailing mother, working full time and trying to have a life at the same time. Who needs a man?!?! (That last statement was aimed towards my Ex)

Now that I have sold the house and need to be out of here by the end of August, I am a little sad. This house was suppose to be my ‘forever’ house. It was my labour of love and I bought it at a time when I thought that to be true.

Sadly, here I sit…happy that I sold the house because it will be the last thing that binds me to the Ex. Also sad as this represented a completely different lifestyle that I thought I would be living. I guess sometimes, happily ever after just is not always in the cards.

This house was good to me and I do have some good memories here. I will always think of this as my labour of love home and will cherish it forever. Therefore, goodbye house and I hope you will be as good to the new owners as you were to me.

So much for the 'We Found It' blog post.  http://lifeafter30withtan.blogspot.com/2008/08/we-found-it.html

Cut...for the very first time.

Cut…for the very first time

January 6, 2013

I got the phone call on a dreary Sunday afternoon in January, why was my coach calling me I asked myself. I had just seen him the day before at our team practice and we chatted; maybe he forgot to tell me something I thought. After our quick pleasantries and discussion about yesterday’s practice, I noticed he started to stammer and stutter. I tried to follow along in the conversation and asked a few questions as he finally came out with it…”I’ve never done this before, and don’t really know how to say it”. My curiosity was piqued now and I waited patiently for him to get out the words…as I waited, I thought, “how bad could it be”? I meant for that to be a rhetorical question and then he said it, “You’re cut from the team”. What, I thought. How is this possible? I was just at practice yesterday, and there were not any signs that I could see. After a long silence from me, I asked some of these questions and he was kind enough to answer all of them. It did not have anything to do with my attitude, my personality or my skill. I just was not in the plan for “the direction that they were going”. I was a little confused by this and asked what direction it was that they were headed…it was age, meaning that they were going for a younger demographic. With me being 37 at the time, I could see what they meant by it but my gut wasn’t ‘buying’ it. When the conversation was finished, he had hung up the phone as I stood there still holding it in my hand. I was in shock, I was in disbelief, I was numb. Had this really just happened? Was I really just ‘cut’ from an adult slo-pitch team? How did this happen?

All of these questions were swirling through my head and I could not make heads or tails of it…I just stood there dumbfounded. I immediately called my girlfriend and teammate and found that as I described the scene to her, I broke down and cried. Yes, I was a grown ass woman and I broke down and cried. I don’t know if it was because I never experienced being let go from anything before OR if it had to do with my break-up 6 months ago. I suspect it was the latter as my conversation went on with my friend, I heard myself say things like “I can’t stay on a team of misfits, no wonder I couldn’t make a relationship work”. It was a low point for me and I was releasing any last emotions that I had carried forward from my break-up.

Once the realization started to sink in, I also thought to myself that I had never been cut from anything before. I had played sports all my life and never once was I on the end of the girls who did not make the team. This was also a new discovery for me and what a feeling it was…I was down, then up, and then down again. So many questions go through your mind and you start to wonder what you did wrong and how to improve so that you don’t have to go through this again.

In the end, being cut from the team helped me to get a workout program started and overall I became a better player. Being able to keep up with and sometimes surpass the 20 year olds, makes me feel like a million bucks. It was a lesson that I learned later in life but one that I will always remember.