Friday, April 21, 2006

264 Hollyburn Dr.

THIS JUST IN: The mortgage was approved! We're ready to rock and/or roll. So excited.

i've decided (i'm ian by the way) to upload some pictures of our new house for all the folks who read the blog. Some of these pictures were taken by the realtor who listed the place and some were taken by Rudy Suppanz of Gold Seal Property Inspection Service. If you're looking for a good home inspector who will tell you everything you need to know, then talk to Rudy. I've got his number if you want it.

The first picture is the exterior of the house. As you can guess, our half is the one with the FOR SALE sign in the front. The tall half. The cool half. Anyways, as you can see, the exterior is finishe with stucco and wood siding. This can all be changed thanks to my wonderful ties to the exterior renovation business. We'll see. We've got a 2 car side-by-side driveway, very handy for a two car family like us (though i may be selling my car).

Next is the front yard. We don't really have much of a yard here, which is really ok with me because A) we don't have a lawnmower and B) less work for us. There are some nice little garden type things here, as well as a spruce tree, a baby apple tree and a teeny tiny rose bush.

Check out this next picture. I never really looked at the backyard, and from the house you don't see too much because it slopes down towards the back. But this is sweet. I'm seeing this for the first time too so we can all be in amazement. As you can see, there are some stairs as well as some nice flat areas which would be perfect for building, say, a gazebo. Or maybe even a pergola! I've always wanted a pergola. There are also some garden areas here. The current owner was telling us what sort of stuff we could find in the gardens, stuff she had planted. But it was all too much to remember so i guess we'll find out what is there when it all grows. First on the agenda for the backyard though is to Dewie-Proof it. He jumped through a hole in the fence at Fran and Henry's that was like 3 1/2 feet off the ground. Circus dog.

This picture is a strange view of our deck. From the roof. But we have a deck!! It's pretty nice. Initially there was a concern about insurance and the height of the railing, but that's no longer an issue. The issue now is that the pickets are 5" From apart and should be more like 4". There are several things we can do to fix that so it's all good. It's a nice little deck and has a very nice mountain view. It gets morning sun only so it won't get sweltering hot either. Perfect for barbecueing (sp?) and whatnot (I hope you're enjoying my random links. I know I am.).


The next photo is of the entrance & downstairs bathroom. That's right folks, the place has 2 bathrooms! It's incredible, i know. The entrance has some little wooden spindly thingys that i don't particularly enjoy. We'll see how long they last. The entry and bathroom both have ceramic tile floors, very classy.

Next we'll journey to the living room. Here we'll see that there's a wood-burning fireplace. This is a nice added bonus for some extra heat or added romance. Laminate floors extend from the living room at the front of the house to the dining room at the back. The kitchen, which we'll see next, has ceramic tile floors.

The kitchen, as i mentioned, like 5 seconds ago, has ceramic tile floors. The cabinets are very nicely painted and seem to be in great condition. the countertop looks pretty new too. The kitchen contains a fridge and stove as well as a dishwasher. The stove and dishwasher are 2 years old, the fridge is 5, the washer and dryer, which we won't see on this tour, are one year old (pretty cool too, a stand up model). Kristin loves this kitchen. Ian loves that Kristin loves this kitchen.

So basically that concludes the tour, simply because we have no pictures of the upstairs at all. The inspection didn't really cover anything like that and they didn't show the bedrooms in the real estate listing. Needless to say, though, we are very excited about moving in. And, we get to move in on the 29th! That means that everything has to go through very quickly, so we are still not really out of the woods. I think all that's really left is things to do with the lawyer and switching things around with titles and whatnot. Keep praying for us and thanks for sticking around for this lengthy tour of our house. Have a great day!

Monday, April 17, 2006

The Real Deal

Ian and I have posted before that we had a house that we were going to buy, and then we didn't end up buying it due to misunderstandings of the seller and the buyers (us).

But now, that is all changed. Ian and I have found a house with the help of my dad and Ron VanBuren (our realtor). It is a half duplex on holleyburn. It big and perfect and has a fenced in backyard for our Dewie. It has a sundeck and even a workbench for Ian. It has appliances that are all within 1-5 years. The kitchen is perfect size for me. Our bedroom is a good size with a walk-in closet!!! And the living room is bright and cheery and has two big windows with a WOOD FIREPLACE in between.

Last night we made an offer on it and we will get it for 187, 500. Not bad for the compared prices in this town. So now all that's left is our subject tos and then we have a house, and we will have possession (hopefully) by april 29, so that we can move straight from where we live now to the new place. The owners now were going to leave in two weeks anyway.

EEP! I'm so excited. This was just another God send thing. He is just always looking out for us. Helping us find the perfect place when we were in despair about ever finding it.

So, PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Big Marital Step

Awwwww. How cute. A young married couple's first illness together.

This morning, Ian and I both woke up feeling very nauseous and dizzy. No one else that we now is sick like us, so it wasn't anything we ate because we have been eating at my mom's house for the last few days. I would really like to know why we are sick.

Ian called in sick today and I should have but I didn't. I went to work and felt awful. All I had the whole day was water to drink and then at about 2 I had a juice box and had a hard time keeping it down. I did though. Ian ate some crackers in the morning and then threw up. In the afternoon he ate a lot of crackers but he threw that up as well. When I came home from work, I passed out on our bed, I slept for about an hour and now I am feeling quite a lot better. I'm eating crackers right as I am typing this and they are sitting nicely in my tummy, for now. Ian is feeling worse, however. He is still in bed wishing that he was better.

Hopefully you soon will be baby!

Kristin

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

87

Today my grandpa would have been 87. He died last year, February 2nd. He's gone but not forgotten.

ian

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Silent No More!

hey! it's ian! i know i haven't blogged at all in weeks, so here's some updates!

Yay!

not much is really going on. we have to move out so we are kind of looking for a place to live. we don't know for sure if we want to buy or rent, but finding affordable places to rent or buy is a challenge in this city. especially if you make a combined income of just under $50000. i am leaning towards buying, for a few reasons: 1) its our place, so we can do with it what we want. 2) we can have our dog (99.9% of the places that are out there for rent say NO PETS. the other .1% are on the north shore *yuck*) 3.) renting just stinks, because you're throwing your money away.

those are all the reasons. there is one duplex we are/were looking at but haven't actually seen yet, which is only like 130,000 (believe me, that's good for a half duplex) but it's been a real challenge to get in to look at it. also i saw this one house that is 135000 and has a nice yard so maybe that would be nice. i don't know. sometimes i panic about it, but then other times i could really care less. mostly i am just kind of looking around and if there's something that interests me then i will think about it a lot. but i'm not panicking.

speaking of work (oh, i wasn't speaking of work? whatever), i've been working a lot lately. longer days mean longer hours. it's good and bad. lots of money rolling in on payday, but i'm tired and dirty and won't get to see my wife very often. but it is a lot of fun running a machine that eats aluminum and poops gutters (for those of you who don't know, i work for Continuous Gutters, we build and install custom lengths of aluminum gutters and downpipes). in the sun all day, different location every day, what more could you want? more money. a new tool belt. ladders that work. a cow-orker who shows up every day, never hung over. a radio. that's about it.


well this has been fun, hasn't it? we've shared some laughs, we've delved deep into my personal life. good times, good times. have a great day!

ian

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

On My Way to CDA!!!!!

Today is the deadline for having all my school work finished and being registered for my practical evaluation on April 22. I wasn't certain that I was going to finish in time but I did!!!!!!!!! I finished it all. 11 tests in less than 3 weeks. 6 months-1 year to finish this school work and I did it 4 weeks. I'm exhausted and oh so happy. The rest should be a breeze, or so I'm told. No more tests, that makes me want to sing for joy. God is good, sometimes freaks me out with last minuteness but I knew that me and Him could do it.

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts and support!

~Kristin

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Tragedy

My little Gilligan didn't make it.

Yesterday afternoon Gilligan was cold and he wasn't moving so I freaked out and called my mom and she said that I should take a warm face cloth and wrap him up. I did this and within a half an hour he was back to normal. Well at night at about 8:30, he again wasn't moving so I did the same thing, but after two hours he still wasn't movingand he was stiff. I put him back in with his mom and decided to wait until morning to see if anything had changed and it had not. My poor little bunny is no longer with us. Its just so silly. I know its only a rabbit, but it made me so sad, I just cried and cried and cried. I was so excited to save him and now he didn't make it. He was just so small and cute and his little eyes couldn't even open yet and his little ears were so sweet. How could I fall in love with something so small that isn't human and that I only knew for one day? Maybe I'm just crazy emotional right now.

~Kristin

Monday, March 20, 2006

More Bunnies?

Yesterday was a wonderful, beautiful, sunny, and warm day. In the afternoon, Ian and I played some frisbie with some friends, then we came home. It was such a nice day that I needed to be outside more, so I fed the two bunnies that Ian and I have and decided that it was time to go get the bunny cage from my parents house and clean up the sundeck(where the bunnies were roming free). In the short 20-30 minutes that we were gone, Thomas(our girl bunny) had had 3 more baby bunnies. However, they were not all snuggled warm in the house, they were lying all over the place. We were very sad about more dead baby bunnies.

So we went out with a broom and shovel and garbage bags to clean up all the poop and dispose of the deceased baby bunnies. We cleaned up the first two and they were definitely dead, but the 3rd bunny kept moving his legs a little when we touched him!!! Ian and I decided that we needed to try save our little baby, so we took a tupperware container and put some shavings in it and took him inside to where it was warm. About an hour later I went to check on the bunny and he was wiggling around looking for something to eat! Our new bunny survived!!!!! We named him Gilligan ( a good survivor name).

We then decided that Thomas needed to be with her baby, so we took her inside and made her a cozy little home in a rubbermade bin and with a cardboard box where she could hide and keep Gilligan safe. This morning I saw her feeding him!!!! I am so happy that at least one baby is still with us. I show pictures of him when he is a little less ugly. He is alot cuter today than he was last night.

Also, I am bunnysitting Anyssa Gill's bunny, Cairnie. That means that yesterday morning I had 2 bunnies and last night I had 4.

It's a zoo in here!!!

~Kristin

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Tests

So here is the update on my tests.

I wrote them all including my final. I passed all of them except for one, dental reception. I have to rewrite this test on monday when schools are back from spring break. I will not find out the results of my final exam until that test is written and marked. I am coming very close to my deadline. That test will be written on the 2oth, received by the school by the 21st and then marked. My deadline is the 22nd of march!!!! So I better have passed that final exam, which I am thinking that I did. And if all goes according to plan, I will be done my school work and just need to go to Edmonton for my practical courses and then I AM A CDA!!!!! Oh, that sounds heavenly. My brain and body can't wait, this is taking way too much out of the two.

Well I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on in this house.

~Kristin

P.S. I got 99% on my prosthodontics!!!! (that is crowns and bridges, etc) Woot honors!!!!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Lack of Blog

Sorry for the not blogging lately.

I've just been so busy with school. That is all I have been doing. Seriously, yesterday I left the house for 20 minutes to go to the chiropractor and that was it. The rest of the day I just stayed home and studied. My brain hurts. I have to get back to it now. I promise I will talk to you all more on the weekend because I have this weekend off!!!!

~kristin

Thursday, March 02, 2006

My Strength Comes From The Lord

My head is just spinning!!! I needed to come blog just to give my brain a few seconds of no dentistry. I have been doing school non-stop lately. It is tough because I feel like I cannot keep going but I know that I must persevere because I now only have until the 22nd of March to get all my tests and assignments sent in to school and marked and passed. What is really stressing me out though is that the school where I write my test has spring break not the next week but the one after that.

This all means that I have 6 tests to write and then my final all before next friday!!! I'm really stressing out about all this. I have a fear that I am not going to finish. I'm not sleeping well at nights because my mind just will not stop thinking about all the things I have to do in a short period of time. I just spend my days praying to God and studying and I know that He will see this all through. Right now my brain and test are all in His hands. I persevere because He gives me the strength to. I still need more strength though. Please keep praying for me. I need it sooooooo much right now.

Ian and I also decided not to buy a house right now. We stopped looking and trying to get mortgage stuff in order because I just could not handle it. It was too much stress with the amount of school I have to do right now. As well as, we just don't have the money right now. We are going to wait a few months to a year to find something to buy. That way I can focus on one thing at a time.

Oh....feels good to vent. My head is feeling a bit better now. Well, time for more studying, test writing, and assignment doing.

Love Kristin

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

We Lost It.

We didn't get the house. Due to alot of confusion and misunderstandings, the house went to some other people. Ian and I are very sad about this. But we aren't that worried. We believe that God will be with us and allow us to find just what we need.

I just never realized though how emotional finding and losing a house could be. As well as all the financial things to deal with. I am just exhausted with everything I've been doing. Real life is tough. I wouldn't change my life, but I sometimes wish that things could be easier and less stressful

~kristin

Sunday, February 26, 2006

HOME Hunting (as in not just a house)

This is (hopefully, God willing) our new home. It is a half duplex on waddington. My father (Henry) made an appointment for Ian and me to see it on thursday. We loved it when we saw it, I especially loved it, the place felt like home instantly as I walked around it.

Funny story about this place and its previous owners. My aunt lived in THIS very house many years ago. The owner who is selling it now, I recognized when I saw her but I could not put a name to the face. Later as we were touring the house, I saw a cupboard with her kids names on it and I instantly remembered who she was. They are a quite well known family in the dentist office that I work in.

Anyways, so this house has a good size living room and kitchen, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a big rec-room downstairs, and a BIG laundry room that Ian wants to change into his new BIG shop. And the most wonderful part, a nice big, fenced yard for Dewie.

Another couple actually made an offer on this house on thursday and the owner called us to tell us about it. She said that she was holding them off until she heard from us because she really wanted us to have it! The awesome thing is, is that what Ian and dad and I were discussing what we were going to put down as an offer and it was higher than that other couple! ALRIGHT!!! So, what we really have to do now is figure out mortgage stuff (blah) and save, save, scrimp, and save for a down payment. Thank God for tax return. He he he.

We will have to see how things go. I really want this place. So please pray, pray, pray for us. I do not feel grown up enough for this. Oy vey.

~Kristin

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Guess What!!!!

It is only ONE MONTH UNTIL MY 22nd BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

Get prepared. Start thinking of what to get me. :)

love Kristin

Sad News

We now know the sexes of our bunnies. Thomas and Isabelle have been alive and together for about 9-10 months now and Ian and I began to think that they were the same sex, until now.

A few days ago, Ian and I noticed that Thomas' fur (he is the fuzzy bunny) was all over the deck, where the bunnies live. I made a joke about maybe Thomas was pregnant, but how could that be, they have been together for soooo long and no baby bunnies. A couple days after I had said that, Ian looked outside at the bunny house and noticed something sticking out of the door. He went to look and it was a frozen baby bunny. He then proceeded to look on the internet to see if it is ok to disrupt a bunny's house to check for more baby's and how to take care of baby bunnies. So he learned that he could move the house and went and got food and bedding. He lifted the house to find 3 more babies, all frozen to death as well. He cleaned them up right away to spare me from the horrible sight.

A tragic, tragic thing. It is now a sad thought of having to split Thomas (our girl) and Isabelle (our boy) up, because they love to hang out together. But it has to be, we cannot have another tragic bunny mishap.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Get Away

This past weekend, Ian and I went to Vancouver for a little, well I suppose you could call it, a honeymoon. We went for three days, friday, saturday, and sunday.
Here is a look at our itinerary.

Friday
-we left Kamloops at about 9:00 am, after dropping Dewie off and my mom and dad's. (thanks for puppy sitting)
-we arrived in Vancouver at about 12:00 pm.
-we found our hotel at about 1:30 pm (we got lost and missed out exit and went almost ALL the way to the ferry terminal and realized that we missed it, this was my fault not Ian's)
-our room wasn't ready until 3 so we went to Metrotown Mall and walked around the whole mall
-went back to our hotel and got our room to our surprise, it was tiny. Very funny, we were not expecting that. It didn't even have a bath tub, just a shower stall. Nice place though.
-we went back to Metrotown mall and parked there, bought sky train tickets and went to downtown vancouver to go to the TALL GIRL SHOP!!!!!!!!
-I bought 5 pairs of pants!!!!
-we went to the old spaghetti factory in gas town for dinner, then walked around and saw some of the sights downtown
-then we took the sky train back to the mall and went to our hotel and went to bed

Saturday
- we woke up and got ready and walked for about a half an hour to the nearest sky train station.
- we got off at the science world main street station and had to wait an hour for science world to open
- we needed breakfast so we walked around until we found a starbucks for a coffee and a muffin(we walked between GM place and BC place)
- we spent a couple of hours acting like children in science world, learning is fun!
- we were going to go the Aquarium but after science world, we were a little touristed out
- we then went to the waterfront on the sky train and then hopped on the sea bus to Lonsdale Quay and had lunch and went shopping in the little market (we went into a games shop and found the Beanz game!!!! We didn't buy it, it is cheaper to buy on the internet)
- we then hopped on the sky train and went to metrotown mall again to actually go into stores and shop
-we only went into HMV and bought movies. Hehehehehehehehehe.
-Ian wanted to find a music store to go to so we looked in a phone book and went back downtown vancouver
-we then walked around downtown vancouver and decided that we were bored and didn't know where anything was and then went back to the hotel
-we stayed there until we got hungry and decided to go see a movie at silvercity
- there was nothing good playing so we just ate at TGI Fridays and then went to the hotel and watched some TV

Sunday
- we woke up and got ready for church
- we found the route on a map to Ian's aunt Dawn and Uncle Rae's church
- we checked out of the hotel
- we left super early and found the church but we were there an hour and a half early
- we found a Timmies and had breakfast
- after we drove around Richmond (because that is where the church is) and just saw a bit of the city
- went to church and surprised Ian's aunt and uncle and two cousins
- then Auntie Dawn took us and a 7 other people out for lunch (thanks again auntie dawn)
- then we went to ikea in richmond and spent alot of money
- then we drove home and picked up our dog

what a good trip. It's nice to just go away and forget that you have a job or responsibilities.
it is also nice to be back home.

Kristin

PS. it took me a few days to write this blog because it was alot to type and i have been trying to be a good girl and do my school work.

Friday, February 17, 2006

We need some prayer please!!!!

So, there are things in life that Ian and I know that we can not do alone. We know that we need God to help us. We also need to the help of our family and friends. If you feel called, could you please pray for one or more of these needs.

1) I only have 4 weeks left to finish my school work. I have alot to do, and I have the next two weeks half off to try and finish, so please pray that God will give me the determination and brain power to study and pass.

2) I found out that Ian and I will have to move out of our condo in May due to our landlord's daughter moving back to town and needed to live here. Please pray that God will provide us with a good place to live that we can afford.

3) Ian is off work right now due to sickness and cold weather. I have off to finish school. We will not be making alot of money, and we are looking at buying a place to live in, also we have some big expenses coming up (ie. school). Please just pray that God will provide. I know that he will, but prayer for it is still in need.

Thats all that is on my mind right now.
Thanks to those who are praying for us already, we love and appreciate you, and we are praying for you too.

Kristin

Another Baby!

Again, not a baby of mine, but a related baby. My cousin Mark and his wife Stephanie have a new little baby boy, Theo Jonathan Carroll. Here he is:Welcome to earth, little man!

-Ian

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Sunday, February 05, 2006

First Dinner Party

Today, after church, I was secretly hoping that the boyz would ask me if I would make lunch. But alas, they did not. We went to the Burcharts for Uncle Dave's left over meat loaf (very good), so I had to step up and ask them over, and to make sure that they came I had to bribe them with wonderful delicious STEAK!!! And it worked!!! They all came over and saw my new couches and the house with the furniture in it, and they ate. Food was great, company was fabulous. It made me feel so happy. No longer lonely. And the most fun part was that Ian and I cleaned the whole house together, so it's really clean and then we rearranged the living room and computer desk. It looks so nice and much more open and spacious. You should come over and see it some time, maybe come for dinner.

Call us, 372-9663

~KG