My thesis was approved today. I now only have to get 50 copies printed in book form and delivered to Tilburg in 10 days. And of course defend it...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Sasha's First portraits
I get a coupon in the mail. Submit the coupon, sitting fees are waived and get a 5x10 pic at $3.99....$156.96 later....
My thesis was approved today. I now only have to get 50 copies printed in book form and delivered to Tilburg in 10 days. And of course defend it...
My thesis was approved today. I now only have to get 50 copies printed in book form and delivered to Tilburg in 10 days. And of course defend it...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sasha's skill of the day
Leaving a crumb trail as she grinds a pecan shortbread cookie against the DVR, the table, the playcube, and the rug. Trying to lick cookie dust from the rug.
Our wonderful little package has been a little terror these past few days. Granted, she is teething and has a nasty cold. Her discomfort may be causing her mood swings, happy and playful during the day and a crying banshee at night. Regardless, she is driving me insane. Two sleepless nights have made me seriously question our plans to have a second wonderful little package. I don't handle fatigue very well. When I get tired I find it more difficult to handle my temper. After a night of short cat naps as Sash kept waking up screaming in frustration, I was ready to slam something against the wall..if only I had a vase handy. Then it hit me....Sasha was probably as tired and frustrated as I was. While she did not have the added feeling of guilt and hopelessness of not being able to alleviate her own baby's pain, she was probably wondering why her Mummy could not understand her babbling and cries. I hugged her till she slept again and reminded myself to take those birth control pills in the morning.
We spent Easter Sunday at our neighbours house. They had the whole family over...and our little unit. Grandma and Pappy brought their grandkids Easter baskets filled with goodies...and one for Sasha filled with a huge stuffed soft Easter Bunny. We were very surprised at such generosity of heart. I thank my lucky stars every day that we have found such great friends.
We spent Easter Sunday at our neighbours house. They had the whole family over...and our little unit. Grandma and Pappy brought their grandkids Easter baskets filled with goodies...and one for Sasha filled with a huge stuffed soft Easter Bunny. We were very surprised at such generosity of heart. I thank my lucky stars every day that we have found such great friends.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Bidding wars
It has been a hectic and stressful month. A month full of hope, disappointment and milestones.
Hope
We found an agent in Toronto to help us out with the house search. I found her by looking at listings that I liked, but could not see ourselves affording, and contacting a listing agent that didn't look to smarmy. We drove up to T, was interviewed by her, and she agreed to take us on. We knew which area we wanted to live in, but we needed an expert to help value the houses. We had the weekend to look at houses and figure out what we liked. Within hours we discovered that the T housing market is extremely different from Upstate. In the area we were looking at we would get 1/3 our current house for double the price. Here if you sell your house within the month you have it made. In T, when a house is put on the market, offers are sought within days. Then the bidding wars start, so depending on the number of bidders, that price which we doubled....tripled. We started out having a mental list of things we wanted. We left T on that first trip with a list of what we are willing to forgo..proximity to subway, land, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. We made an offer on a Wednesday at 6pm...was told we were not even in the running. In the past month we have made 4 offers on houses. All not even close to the final accepted bid. On our third trip to T, after looking at over 20 houses, we found one we both loved. It wasn't really the house that we fell in love with, it was the location. Minutes away down one end of the street to the most beautiful park, filled with mature trees and nature trails galore. It wasn't just a patch of grass like all the other parks we have seen..this was heaven right smack in the middle of chaos. Oh yes, down the other end of the street there are shops galore...to name a few: Starbucks, Gap and Fruits and Flowers. We knew this was the location for us. We made a pre-emptive bid, a bid before all others were due. Not even looked at. We waited a week. Last night, at 6pm we faxed in our bid to our agent. She called at 9pm. Our offer was second highest, and just a tad lower than the higher bid. We have been given the opportunity to counter bid as the sellers listing agent is a colleague of our agent. We went a tad higher, to reach a number considered extremely lucky. We sat and waited, and waited, praying that we get the house but also wondering how on earth we would pay for it. She called back and told us she had the best birthday present for Sasha. Both offers were identical, but she sat down with the sellers to tell them about us, how we met, where we have lived, why we are moving, and how we plan to live in the house to give our 1 year old baby the perfect life. The sellers liked us (better than the other bidders I suppose) and want us to enjoy the house. We are still waiting for our agent to tell us this is all a huge mistake...but for now, we are the happiest family on earth.
Disappointment
After our first trip to T, we came home to accept an offer on our home. There were two offers and we were encouraged to accept the offer from the more financially stable older couple (DINKs), and turn down the offer presented by a young couple with two kids. We negotiated with the DINKs. They retracted their offer as we did not get back to them in time. We were confused as how did they expect us to get back to them while we were enroute from T. They came back the next day with a lower offer. We turned them down. They cam back with the original offer. We suspected they would be difficult to deal with, but what can you do. They inspected the house and wanted us to change all 3 garage doors. That was straw that broke the camels back and we told them to bugger themselves. We instructed our agent to get them to rescind their offer. They did with minutes. We then accepted the offer made by the young couple. We decided to take the riskier option and bet on the nicer couple coming through. I believe what goes around comes around. The DINKs later called our agent and told her they were still interested. She had the satisfaction of telling them that another offer has been accepted.
I am sure that our accepting the young couple's offer has a huge part in the sellers of our new house choosing us over the other bidder.
Milestones
Sasha turned 1 on Tuesday. We bought her a huge dollhouse which was unveiled to her on the morning of. She is having fun chewing on the furniture. We had her portraits taken. Then we invited a few neighbours over for dinner and champers. One guest commented that she expected a Mickey Mouse themed party with balloons, not champers and brie. We told her that it was more a celebration for us as we have been able for one whole year to keep a baby alive and happy. A milestone for both Sash and her parents who this time last year never thought that such a wonderful little package could fill the days with this much joy and love.
Hope
We found an agent in Toronto to help us out with the house search. I found her by looking at listings that I liked, but could not see ourselves affording, and contacting a listing agent that didn't look to smarmy. We drove up to T, was interviewed by her, and she agreed to take us on. We knew which area we wanted to live in, but we needed an expert to help value the houses. We had the weekend to look at houses and figure out what we liked. Within hours we discovered that the T housing market is extremely different from Upstate. In the area we were looking at we would get 1/3 our current house for double the price. Here if you sell your house within the month you have it made. In T, when a house is put on the market, offers are sought within days. Then the bidding wars start, so depending on the number of bidders, that price which we doubled....tripled. We started out having a mental list of things we wanted. We left T on that first trip with a list of what we are willing to forgo..proximity to subway, land, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. We made an offer on a Wednesday at 6pm...was told we were not even in the running. In the past month we have made 4 offers on houses. All not even close to the final accepted bid. On our third trip to T, after looking at over 20 houses, we found one we both loved. It wasn't really the house that we fell in love with, it was the location. Minutes away down one end of the street to the most beautiful park, filled with mature trees and nature trails galore. It wasn't just a patch of grass like all the other parks we have seen..this was heaven right smack in the middle of chaos. Oh yes, down the other end of the street there are shops galore...to name a few: Starbucks, Gap and Fruits and Flowers. We knew this was the location for us. We made a pre-emptive bid, a bid before all others were due. Not even looked at. We waited a week. Last night, at 6pm we faxed in our bid to our agent. She called at 9pm. Our offer was second highest, and just a tad lower than the higher bid. We have been given the opportunity to counter bid as the sellers listing agent is a colleague of our agent. We went a tad higher, to reach a number considered extremely lucky. We sat and waited, and waited, praying that we get the house but also wondering how on earth we would pay for it. She called back and told us she had the best birthday present for Sasha. Both offers were identical, but she sat down with the sellers to tell them about us, how we met, where we have lived, why we are moving, and how we plan to live in the house to give our 1 year old baby the perfect life. The sellers liked us (better than the other bidders I suppose) and want us to enjoy the house. We are still waiting for our agent to tell us this is all a huge mistake...but for now, we are the happiest family on earth.
Disappointment
After our first trip to T, we came home to accept an offer on our home. There were two offers and we were encouraged to accept the offer from the more financially stable older couple (DINKs), and turn down the offer presented by a young couple with two kids. We negotiated with the DINKs. They retracted their offer as we did not get back to them in time. We were confused as how did they expect us to get back to them while we were enroute from T. They came back the next day with a lower offer. We turned them down. They cam back with the original offer. We suspected they would be difficult to deal with, but what can you do. They inspected the house and wanted us to change all 3 garage doors. That was straw that broke the camels back and we told them to bugger themselves. We instructed our agent to get them to rescind their offer. They did with minutes. We then accepted the offer made by the young couple. We decided to take the riskier option and bet on the nicer couple coming through. I believe what goes around comes around. The DINKs later called our agent and told her they were still interested. She had the satisfaction of telling them that another offer has been accepted.
I am sure that our accepting the young couple's offer has a huge part in the sellers of our new house choosing us over the other bidder.
Milestones
Sasha turned 1 on Tuesday. We bought her a huge dollhouse which was unveiled to her on the morning of. She is having fun chewing on the furniture. We had her portraits taken. Then we invited a few neighbours over for dinner and champers. One guest commented that she expected a Mickey Mouse themed party with balloons, not champers and brie. We told her that it was more a celebration for us as we have been able for one whole year to keep a baby alive and happy. A milestone for both Sash and her parents who this time last year never thought that such a wonderful little package could fill the days with this much joy and love.
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