This is my life

I'm in, and it's good!

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Just gotta say, I love my house.

This move is finally starting to feel real.

I've booked movers.
I've booked time off.
I've arranged for home insurance. (and it's not a lot more than tenant's insurance... who knew? not me! I'd budgeted for a considerable increase)
I've arranged for cable, phone, gas, security system, and water. All that's left is hydro, and that's left because I'm afraid if I bring the bill into work so that I can call from here, I'll forget to pay it :-).

I've even started packing. Mostly, so far, it's been about prep, but I have definitely started. I think getting the difficult stuff (the kitchen, and the knickknacks) out of the way first is definitely the way to go. Most of the work will be done, and less space used up.

Speaking of packing, anyone want VHS versions of the Indy movies? I've replaced them on DVD, and it seems a shame to just toss them in the garbage....

Days until move: 28
Boxes packed: 2

But, at least I've finally started! And, I'm doing the slow, time-consuming stuff, so I got more done than it might seem. 2 boxes of candleholders, pictures, and knickknacks takes awhile. *g*

If I'm going to the gym in order to pick up and sign a membership cancellation form, I probably should get in a workout while I'm there, shouldn't I? I mean, I'm already there, fergoshsakes.

But I don't wanna work out!

(hunh - I just went looking for an exercise/fitness/weight loss icon, and realized I don't even have one of those. This says something about my attitude towards exercise, I think....)

It's been a good weekend, all told.

Let's see - Friday I brought my cat out to Cambridge with me, and he encountered Cowboy, M's roommate, for the first time. The Pooka does NOT like Cowboy, that I can tell you. I don't know why, but he really, really doesn't. It started out okay - but then tough, rodeo-riding Cowboy who ropes bulls for fun was jumping on top of furniture, afraid of the attacking Vampire cat. Once we told him Pooka had no front claws, things calmed down, but every time he walks past Pooka, the cat hisses at him. I have no idea what that's about. I had figured that Cowboy would either be at a rodeo or at his girlfriends for the weekend ( I think I've seen him twice all summer), or I wouldn't have brought Pooka out. He did leave for his girlfriend's yesterday, so things are a bit calmer, now.

Pooka around the dogs is kinda funny, actually - things are definitely getting better there, day by day. Pooka hisses every time he walks past them, and they just ignore him. Yesterday Havoc was sound asleep on the porch, and Pooka hissed at him as he walked past the dog's hind legs to get to me. Definitely no threat there - Havoc was asleep after all - so it seems like Pooka's at the point where he's just hissing on principle.

Anyway, yesterday morning we headed up to St. Jacob's, hoping to hit the market. We left a little late - around 10:30 - and we realized that was a mistake as we approached the turnoff from the 86. The traffic was backed up down the highway, so we decided not to spend an hour just trying to get to the market, and figure'd we'd hit St. Jacob's proper instead. The traffic there was just as bad, so we headed home. Did a little appliance and furniture shopping on the way (found a kitchen table that I really like, and might be a possibility), but didn't actually buy anything.

Today was spent sipping daiquiris in the sunshine, doing nothing more energetic than tracking down free-ranging animals. *g* Pooka's starting to like the place, I think - he seems to think that as long as he's standing on the concrete around the house, he isn't actually outside. He keeps doing a circuit - from the french doors, across the porch, across the concrete behind the garden, up the main steps, in the door, over the half-door separating the porch from the house (it's one of those doors with two sections, and only the bottom is closed) and then through the house to the french doors again. He seems to be enjoying the freedom to roam, but I won't let him go far. The last thing he needs to do is tangle with a squirrel. Without front claws, he'd almost certainly lose.

I went up to the site today, for a walk through of my house with the builder.

It's coming along really fast. Most of the structural work is done, now - HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and wiring are pretty much complete, with the tubs going in later today.

There's blown-in insulation around the windows (good!), and vents in all the bathrooms and the laundry room (also good). Casement windows (now all matching! unlike two weeks ago, when one lone window had a different grid pattern on it) are good, and the bulkhead is already up in the kitchen, so I can measure how deep the bulkhead over the fridge actually is.

They can't start doing the real insulation until the electrical has passed inspection (they're just waiting on the inspector to show up and do it), but there will be blown-in stuff in the attic, and in the garage, with a nice, high R-factor.

They're also expecting to have the lots on the street sodded, and the street itself properly paved (including the first coat on the driveways) before closing. This is a relief - I wasn't particularly looking forward to pups full of mud all winter long. *g*

The only bad news to me is that the laundry never got flipped (I wanted the washer on the left, and it's on the right), but that's really my own fault - it was a last minute, casual call, and not really any kind of documented request.

But there's real progress, and a real house! W00t!

( Pic! )

So, I brought Pooka out to M's with me place this weekend. I think he's just been left alone too much recently, so I thought I'd take him out here with me. Besides, he has to meet the dogs sometime, right?

It's weird - the dogs are fine with the strange cat wandering around the place. They're curious, but that seems to be it.

Pooka started by hiding out under the futon, in the room that we blocked off so that Pooka could get in and out, and the dogs couldn't get in. Once we went to bed, Pooka started wandering the house, and then hiding under the bed once the dogs realized he was there. Things have calmed down since - he's not hiding under furniture any more - but every time a dog walks within 2 feet of Pooka, the ears go back and he starts to hiss. Havoc walked by, and Pooka actually batted at him. Now, since Pooka has no front claws, and is all of 10 pounds to Havoc's 110 pounds, Havoc thought this light tap was play. Heh.

So Pooka's generally staying as high as possible - he's been perched on one of the top stairs for most of the morning - and the dogs are basically ignoring him. That seems to be working.

I'm just worried that Pooka gonna bite one of the them, and they're gonna snap him in half. Any aggression's gonna start with the cat, though, it seems.

So far, so good...

I had a great weekend, full of happy-making things.

All day Saturday was spent at a wedding (The wedding was at 11:30 in the morning, followed by a luncheon/reception, followed by a pool party back at the newly-weds' house) - M & I got home sometime after midnight. *g* It was a wonderful day, the bride was radiant, and it's always good to share in that much happiness. Wonderful day. Even if the best man did spend the last hour or so of the night trying to browbeat M into proposing to me. Apparently the consensus is - we should be getting married next summer, it's our turn to throw the party. We told them we'd throw the party anyway. *g*

Yesterday was spent lazing about in the sun, devouring my copy of HP:TDH. I got up at 10 in the morning and ran out to pick up water and milk for coffee... and a copy of the book. I am such a geek, sometimes. *g* I definitely enjoyed the book, and I had trouble putting it down until the end, but that's all I'll say about it here.

Plus, the first of the absolutely fresh, just picked that morning, Ontario corn (bought off the back of the farmer's pickup truck, the best kind) came out this weekend. Supper last night was chicken burgers, spinach salad, and BBQ'ed corn - one of my absolutely favorite meals.

Yeah, it was a good weekend.

I actually manged to get an airline ticket home on points for Christmas. With direct flights each way. At the lowest points required level.

That has never happened before. So, I get to go home for Christmas, and all it'll cost me is all the NavCan and airport fees. W00t!

For those at the party a week ago, M finally managed to catch a few pictures of the turkey that did such a good job of terrorizing him last week. There's nothing in the pictures to give scale, but yeah, he's pretty big. This turkey just keeps wandering through the yard. It's actually kinda weird. *g*

( Pictures of the infamous Clive )

This Flickr thing could get addictive. Blogging from it's not as easy as I'd like, though.