Lots going on!

The last week in our lives has been a bit eventful, yet not. What I mean to say is that we took our house off the market last Friday... and I felt nothing but sweet relief. I was getting so tired of keeping my house clean every day and trying to keep R from being a two year old and messing things up, just in case we had a showing. And the showings were annoying because they are an hour window and usually over supper, so we would have to spend money to eat, because neither R or I would be able to wait. We just took a look at the market again and what our mortgage would have to go up and the monthly payments we would have and figured that it would be better to just do some rearranging and close in our loft to make another bedroom. It will be a bit of work, but far less stressful financially.
So now we are in plans to renovate. We are going to be getting a shed, moving our storage room items to the shed, move the office to the storage room - have to sell the current desk and filing unit and get a custom desk made. Finish off the storage room with giprock, mudding and taping, and painting. Change the door to a french door so we can get natural light into it. Then we get to close off the loft, probably with a pane of glass above the stubwall and put a door in. More giprock and mudding/taping and painting. We are going to get a standup deep freeze and sell ours and then get high efficiency washer and dryer that will stack so the deep freeze can go beside it and take up no more space. (I'm also going to be doing a lot more laundry, so this will save us money! :) Oh, and I am looking at a microwave that will go above the stove so I free up counter space! Yeah!
I had mentioned that we bought a van about 3 weeks ago. It happened in a day... I know, very fast. A guy we know works at a dealership, it is an awesome van, the make and model we were looking for, that they gave us a wonderful deal on, so we bought it. I posted the ad for the Subaru on Kijiji and usedcalgary on Wednesday at noon. We had a phone call on Wednesday night, they came and looked at it and test drove Thursday night and put down a deposit. They picked my baby up on Friday night and it now lives in Canmore. I almost cried, but I kept it together. Obviously, God is taking care of us as I never imagined that either of those transactions would go that quickly.
I am also now more confident in the decision that we made to take our home off the market. Though it would be nice to have a bigger home - we love this house. We built it, we picked everything and just finished off the basement in January! It finally felt like it was home to DH. Someday in the future, when the time is right, we will get a bigger place that will suit our family at that time, but for now God is taking care of us and we will do just fine. Maybe things will be a little more crowded in the next 6 months with 2 swings, 2 bouncy seats, 2 exersaucers and a playpen in our living room. Oh goodness, I am not ready to think about all that yet! :)
We have also been a little busier because my good friend V was here for a few days and now DH's parents are here on their way home from Mexico. It is nice to have people come visit us and see Rand how he has grown and what a good kid he is. He loves all the activity and attention and he LOVES my in-laws dog, Amigo!
Well, now that I have had the chance to catch up a bit, I think I ought to go. Have a wonderful week peoples! I hope to post more often once things settle down a little bit later this week.

The Jolly Roger

This Jolly Roger is DH's way of reminding me that the Subaru is our car rather than "my" car. He put it on the night that we brought the car home and it has been there ever since. At first I felt a little funny about it, being the lady driving around with the skull and crossbones air freshener until DH reminded me that it is a Jolly Roger, the symbol for pirates everywhere. And pirates are a big thing at our house, in fact that is what R is going to be for Halloween. We got his costume in Great Falls when we were there. He's going to be so adorable.

Anyways... this whole post just is an excuse for me... so I could say, have I told you yet this week that I love my car? ;)

Do I sound obsessed? I don't want to be obsessed, or sound that way, I am just so thankful for our vehicle and I love the way it drives and heats up and how I can start it from in the house and don't have to manually shift anymore. I just love it. I think that's OK.

Yeah, I love my car!

I lovin' it!

No, not MacDonald's!!! I don't do MacDonald's, refuse to go there unless I am with someone else and have no choice. Other than their milkshakes which I crave now and then and end up giving in to the craving and then I get such a bad stomachache that I regret it for an hour afterwards. Yeah, MacDonald's sucks.
So what am I lovin'?
My car... have I mentioned how much I love my car this week? :)

God is good!

R and I drove the car down to the dealership today to have them look at the keyless entry system. It just stopped working on Saturday morning and we went down there then and their parts department wasn't open. So, R and I took a trip today. Peter, the sales manager who we bought the car from, helped us out and they couldn't get it to work, so they are replacing it. He told me it was my lucky day because they were going to replace the keyless entry system and it only costs them a little bit more to put in a remote start keyless entry. So I can start my car in the winter from the house and it'll be warm without my going out there! I am so excited about this car already, and now I am especially excited! God is just blessing us with it, I am so happy. I love the seat warmers and the fact that it is automatic. I love the space in it and that R can no longer kick the back of my seat. I love the truck and the way I can see all around my car through my rear view mirror and shoulder checking is great because there are windows everywhere. And now we are going to have remote start as well as keyless entry.
Thank you, God!

Roo's 'Aru

We got a new car! New to us that is. It is a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback in red. As you can see by the pictures, there is silver/gray at the bottom. This is one of the things that makes it an Outback model. It also has a windscoop on the hood - which is purely cosmetic I am told. It has a roof rack - good for our stuff and a bike hopefully - just figuring the way we will configure it out. I am so excited about it - R and I took it on a little drive for groceries today. It handles quite well. It was cold in the car when we got in, so I used the seat warmer to get it warmed up. Yes, it has a seat warmer! Did I say that I am excited? I'm excited! :)

We called it Roo's 'Aru, as in R-A-Roo's Subaru. Cute, huh? DH won't get a custom license plate though. Thinks future kids might think we love the 'Roo more than them. I guess it's one thing to call the car it but to actually put it on a license plate for the rest of the time we own a Subaru is another! LOL
Thank you to everyone who was praying for us during this process. We really appreciate it, and God obviously answered in a very good way.

It's been forever...

...since I last posted. Sorry all! I have been so busy with life, my house, trying to keep 'Roo from being a TVaholic - that DVD player was great on holidays, but 10 hours of Baby Einstein in the car to keep him happy does not make for wanting to play once he's home. We have been looking for a car and visiting with friends and went for a hike on Sunday. It's been a busy summer for us, I have realised. We have been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity to enjoy spending time as a family, as well as with family and friends and enjoy the creation that God made. Especially the mountains, which we really haven't had a huge opportunity to spend time in until this year as life kept getting in the way.
News from our household... we have most likely found a car! There is a 1998 Subaru Outback at one of the dealerships here in town that we have a deposit on. They just have to do some repairs and are waiting for parts, so we should have it by next Wednesday or Thursday hopefully! I am so excited! It'll be my car to drive on a regular basis, though the family car for everything. We do not have to move the carseat back and forth anymore because of the air conditioning in the summer and 4WD in the winter as this car has both. YEAH! Anyways...
I can't think of anything else that is new at the moment, though I will try to be more consistent with my posts now.
Have a wonderful day!

And the answer was no...

We had the 1997 Subaru Legacy L Wagon taken a look at today by a mechanic. It was a good thing too, because there was two major things wrong with it that would have cost $2500 to $3000 to fix. The mechanic told DH that he would not buy this car if he were him. So there is our answer to our prayer. We will be looking more after our holidays, which I guess we will be taking Mom and Dad's Honda on.
I am feeling a little let down about the entire thing - I guess I had my hopes up a little more than I thought. I am so thankful that we took it to a mechanic though first, because finding out that we would have to spend $3000 to fix a car you just bought would not be a fun surprise!

Test Driving a Subaru

So we test drove a 1997 Subaru Legacy L wagon yesterday night. We are debating about getting it - going to take it to a mechanic tomorrow and checked the VIN through www.carfax.com to make sure there were no problems we should know about. So tomorrow afternoon we should know whether or not I am going to be the proud new owner of a Subaru wagon. (*gasp! Never, never thought I would own a station wagon!*) Who would've thought a week ago that we'd be looking for a new vehicle, let alone buying one. Things certainly happen unexpectedly and unplanned.
I think that is why I am feeling really emotionally drained all of a sudden today. I got off the phone with the mechanic arranging a check with him and cried. For no reason. Just felt like crying. It's crazy - seemed like everything caught up with me. Between R's finger in the fan last week and my accident on Friday, making all our vacation arrangements and now looking for a vehicle - playing out all the scenarios with DH constantly, my house being a bit untidy and no matter how many times I clean up I never seeming to be able to keep up with it, I am feeling completely empty and stressed. I guess it is a good thing that we are going on holidays this weekend. :)

Working on life

So much for posting tomorrow! Sorry! Between being engrossed in Harry Potter and making tons (!) of phone calls, life has been pretty busy round our house. Anyway, I do not have much time to post at all, but wanted to put a little note on here that we are looking for a vehicle and there is a good possibility that we are looking at tonight. Pray for us if you think of it - for a great vehicle that will meet all our needs as well as will be reliable and a good purchase for us.
I am still planning to get pics up of our hike on Saturday as it was gorgeous scenery and a lovely walk. IT will just have to wait awhile.
Oh, FYI - if you are a Harry Potter fan - so good. I hate how you just have to keep reading and reading once you have it and then it is over. And now with this last one, it is really over! Last time this happened to me was with the "Left Behind" series, which we have all the original series of (one is even signed! :). And then the publishers and authors decided to do the prequels - what is with that!?! Need more money or what? Don't get me started on that. Anyways, even though I am sad the series is over, I am happy that I no longer have to wait two more years for another one. :) And I won't give away any details - DH would be very upset! :) (Can you have too many smileys in a paragraph?)

I will post more tomorrow...

... but needless to say it has been an eventful weekend already.
Yesterday I was on the way to my parents with R - we were going to have supper and put R to bed there, then go on a date and go for a long hike today. Need less to say my rear-ending someone changed some plans. Yes, R and I are fine. No, we weren't going that fast - just a number of cars coming to a sudden stop and even my following at a reasonable distance and doing the speed limit resulted in an Xterra's hitch through my radiator and totally finishing off our car as it is not worth a lot (translation - old but reliable!) Anyways, I will write more on that tomorrow.
Today DH and I hiked to Ribbon Falls from Kananaskis Village area. It was about a 22 km hike - very beautiful and the falls were amazing! The spray cooled us right off and the scenery was gorgeous. We remembered the camera, so I will post a bunch of pics tomorrow. Again, making you wait. R spent today with my parents, so it will be posted on this blog. He had his own fun and went to Heritage Park - we don't have pics yet, so I cannot post for him.
The last thing that happened is that I got the last of the Harry Potter books in the mail today - I wasn't expecting it until Monday or Tuesday as I didn't pay the extra shipping to have it arrive today! So exciting. I am already 60 pages in and it is calling me - so I will post more tomorrow. :)