And… She’s back! (with big news)

Sorry for the radio silence, folks! I had hoped to be able to have many more updates for you, but… Here’s why:

We just removed conditions on our new home earlier today! We move in THREE WEEKS!

In just one short week, we’ve accomplished the following:

• Packed up the truck and the chicklette, and cleaned our condo in Yaletown for the new owners (who are moving in April 15th)
• Endured a twelve hour drive to Calgary, where I was white-knuckled MOST of the drive due to a windshield fluid leak, which meant that I couldn’t clean off the debris with passing trucks, and snow and salt that was piling up on my window. Wow. Was that stressful. We stopped every chance we could to fill the container holding the fluid, only to allow me one or two squirts before it had drained out again. At one point, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it — I knew the tires would cause me a little bit of concern, but I wasn’t anticipating the outright panic because I couldn’t see where I was going. Yikes.
• Got my “home-office” unpacked, and set up at Al’s place (thank you so much, Al, for putting up with us invading your home!)
• Got my TT inspected for out-of-province cash-grab, registered, insured, and plated. Phew, who knew it was so darned difficult to move provinces??
• Took all of last Sunday to drive around the city and see the various neighbourhoods we’d been looking at on MLS. It became very clear to us that we liked Auburn Bay (but not the house we’d fallen in love with online… The guy was a photographer, and had obviously done a great job making his place look amazing online, but the lot location, and the interior fit and finish was not nearly as nice as we’d expected) We drove through the Southwest, where Cougar Ridge was, and decided that it was a bit harder to reach, as it wasn’t on a main highway. In the end, we really loved the amenities, and future hospital and major retail area that the Southeast offered. In non-rush hour traffic, we could reach the neighbourhoods we really liked in about 20 minutes (aka mid-Burnaby for you Vancouverites reading this). We also tried driving into the city in rush hour with both main routes in, and found it wasn’t that bad… about 50% longer.
• During our drive on Sunday, we even visited McKenzie Towne (just before Auburn Bay) and I now have a new nickname for it… Stepford. Holy crap… Maybe it was just because it was a Sunday afternoon, but it was plain weird. There’s this central area of that neighbourhood where a town gazebo sits, and literally, everyone looked like a Stepford Wife with two kids and a dog in tow. Very strange, plastic like smiles. Again, maybe it was just me, but I found it utterly odd.
• On Monday we took the afternoon with our Realtor, Jeff Mikolajow (FANTASTIC guy… really knows Calgary well — highly recommended!) to do a house tour in the areas we’d scoped out the day before… And, the first house we saw, was this one:

VISIT TOUR HERE: http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=568868

• What are the chances that the first house we saw, we’d love? But, that’s just what happened. We saw another ten or so houses that day, but we kept comparing them all to this one… It has four bedrooms, a finished basement (nicely finished) with a theatre (!!), and a wet bar… It’s got double high ceilings in the “great room” off the kitchen, and a very nice ensuite off the master bedroom. Of course, it also has the necessary rooms for his and hers offices, too. Did I mention the hot tub, and the firepit in the backyard — which has no one behind us? (One of the minor arteries into Auburn Bay is behind our fenced back yard, so it gives us a lot more privacy than all the other lots we looked at, and it’s really quiet, too!) It’s gorgeous.
• Tuesday afternoon, we went back to the house, and decided we wanted to make an offer on it. We went through the house, trying to decide what we could include that would give the house more value, and less for us to buy when we moved in… And, with a slight modification on the price, we got everything we were asking for, including all the components of the theatre room, the theatre couches, the bar stools, and the “whole house” sound system (every main area of the house has in-wall speakers). Nice!
• Yesterday was the house inspection… And, it passed with flying colours (we weren’t concerned… The home is only three years old).
• Today, the conditions were removed! The house will be ours to move into, on April 16th! YAY!
• Oh, and did I mention? I’ve been working full-time from Al’s place since last Tuesday, as well. I’m actually finding the telecommuting super easy, as I can focus on the work without any distraction. That said, combine it with everything we’ve been doing after work hours, and Barry and I are completely exhausted.

Don’t even get me started on wedding planning. Oi. I guess I’ll pick up where I left off with planning when I left Vancouver. Needless to say, the wedding invites haven’t gone out yet, so we’re going to have to settle with digital invites. They’ll be finished tomorrow night after work.

More news to come about our honeymoon… Check back tomorrow!