a moment in the Sun

beginnings...endings...keeping in touch

I recently read a friend's blog and it would appear that she has updated her blog roll features to include the last time the blog was updated and even snippets of the post.
I knew it had been a while but I was ashamed to see there in the bold writing under my name... 5 months.

Well, it really has been that long. So long that other friends have even removed me from their blog rolls. Touche.

Of course much has changed. I have changed jobs yet again but I hope to have this one for a while. And - it has finally happened. I've started a family. You can see the adorable baby pics on facebook here.

Muffin and I continue to renovate our home, my in-laws (per se) drive me a bit nuts and we try to find time to balance work and pleasure. While so much changes - so much stays the same.

I have contemplated deleting this blog as I just don't seem to have much of an interest in the upkeep of it or the dedication to spend more spare time on a computer than I must but even though I am an infrequent poster there is so much time already spent in this medium and events recorded through the last few years.

So what say you gentle reader? Shall I stay or shall I go?

posted by KK @ 6:16 PM 2 comments

Rick and I

Today was a long day. Not in the least bit made better by an enthusiastic photo that I'm sure I will treasure in the future - just not today.

Last Wednesday my office was notified by the CBC that Rick Mercer would be coming to campus to film an episode (airing on Nov 6).

Last Thursday I became the coordinator of the parking required for his team as they went about their various filming activites on campus, the lunch and booking a suitable lunch room and finding a fine arts class for Rick to pose for while students sketched, painted or scuplted their celebrity model.

I discovered only 2 suitable art classes, one of which the teacher would be in Montreal for a showing of his work (large scale installations of testicles) and the other...had an incorrect home phone number on 411.com. Fortunately I received a new phone book on Friday and had the bright idea to look through a printed (!) book for his home listing and I was able to confirm a class. Whew.

Onto parking and onto lunch.

Now - You might be asking why I am going to such lengths to explain about the detailed logistics I encountered and you might be asking why wasn't there a secretary able to do this booking? Good question I think and one too which I do not have an answer. I have recently changed departments (a story yet to be told) and even in my old department where i was at the bottom of the org structure I was able to delegate filing and room booking. Anyhow - it was my first source of frustration.

Recently CUPE had given notice of possibliity of job action. So getting catering from on campus services was chancy at best. I opted for Subway - it was across the road and I could pick up. Happily I discovered they also delivered for no charge.

And now to today.
Today with the CUPE action looming large and staff rushing every which way to prepare the campus.

I couldn't help but think back to my old department again - where I had been the one with the soft skills, the writer, the one with technical skills, the blogger, the webdesigner... and now here to my new department where everyone was a better writer due to their increased experince. At least three people had more, better and faster technical expertise.

So I was left alone.

Well, I fixed a small parking dilemna and wrote a letter. But in the midst of such crisis no one had interest any longer in the work I had been hired to do and with no one to provide me with information, I mostly browsed for updated media information for my own interest and in order to stay plugged into the work my collegues carried out.

I wallowed in selfishness - as I do now. Second hand reports began to arrive that CBC with Rick Mercer's team had changed the schedule dramatically. They had their own ideas and their own plan. Lunch might not be needed.

At 11:30am I walked out of the chaos that was my office, specifically enlisting the graphic designer to come have lunch with me in the event that no one else did.

No one else did.

I sat alone in a board room overlooking the gym with 2 dozen cookies, 15 bottles of juice and water, 2 platters of Subs and individual containers of all the fixings.

The graphic designer came, as promised. We sat and bitched and talked.

And then the paniced phone call came. "Please bring everything across campus (at lunch time) to the downstairs floor of the student building (thats never crowded at lunch time) - oh, and please hurry.."

So I conveyed the paniced message to the graphic designer and we hurriedly packed the food - by no means a fast process considering the individual containers and individual lids and three boxes to pack everything into. Except that we didn't have three people to carry three full boxes.

I re-dialed the caller and requested assistance be sent to meet me and my harried help. None was forthcoming, although the caller was quick to reiterate the "please hurry" message.

So we managed. We had to rest as the boxes were large and awkward and quite heavy and I almost tumbled down an escalator before finally meeting up with the rest of the team who was gathered and chattering among themselves. Granted they were quick to include us in their chattering, but with full loads rapidly gaining weight in our arms and a staffer trying to tactfully gain our attention I was in no mood for chatter and quickly followed the relieved staffer.

And it was there that I met him.

Rick Mercer, looming larger than life in all his 5'8" glory.

Truth be told he was absorbed in work and busily writing for filming which was to commence in the next hour. He grabbed 2 subs and popped the top on a water bottle which he never took more than a sip from.

As he completed his writing and began to gather his crew for transport to the next site, my collegue spoke up. "Would you take a picture with KK?"

Rick looked down the long table to our end, "Sure. Who's KK?"

The photographer ushered us into a spare office and Rick courteously shook my hand. Others from the office eagerly filed in after me to take similar shots (although mostly they kept their mouths closed).

But, voila! My photo. How photogenic am I...?

I'm thinking of listing the barely sipped from water bottle on ebay - any takers?

posted by KK @ 8:21 PM 0 comments

The House Saga continues

Everytime I put one of these picture things together I always like to include the first photos - you may be getting sick of them by now - but I can see just how much we've done and its very encouraging.

We are finally starting to see results. Rooms that are finally getting finished. We have moved into our bedroom upstairs (only to move out again due to heat) and we moved the TV upstairs (only to watch DVD's on our latops in the basement due to heat) and we have begun slowly organizing the bathrooms and optimization of storage. At the least it counter balances the chaos that is our kitchen.

Next weekend we will be painting the downstairs bedrooms (the make-shift Master we just moved out of .. and then back into) in preparation of our tennant moving in. Baseboard work will continue and countertops should be arriving - Huzzah!

posted by KK @ 8:06 AM 0 comments

Warnings

City of Saskatoon3:44 PM CST Monday 9 July 2007

Tornado warning for City of Saskatoon issued At 3:40 PM funnel clouds have been reported northwest of Saskatoon with Doppler radar showing rotation in thunderstorms 16 kms northwest of the city at this time. A brief tornado touchdown is possible with this thunderstorm although it is expected to be brief. This thunderstorm is moving southeastward at 40 km/h.

Yikes!

posted by KK @ 3:04 PM 0 comments

Reno updates - my beautiful bathrooms

Shall we have more before and after?

I am absolutely loving the process of designing these spaces. I choose all my own colours and thats the part I like the most. And seeing it finished and come together. I chose that. I made it mine. My house. Love it!

Of course I didn't build it - although I'm learning all sorts of useful things. The Muffin has taken to stopping mid-task to give me a lesson on electrical or carpentry so I can be an empowered female and know how to do things. I think I'd rather the tasks got done and we'll worry about empowerment later. Anyhow (the first pic is the before):

Main Bathroom














Master Bedroom Ensuite











Master Bedroom Closet

(3/4 mine ;) ) Note the fabulous Roman Blind (JC Penny) and light fixture that Muffin installed himself - there is also a light inside the closet, the terribly inefficient drawers in the wall were drywalled over and we replaced the dated brown doors with opaque white curtains for a softer look. Of course right now the curtains are pulled so you can see the double rods. It makes a huge difference!

The spare/craft/drawing room.

The room is all white with just the one storage wall in an accent colour. Accesorizing hasn't been completed so thats all to be shown in this room for now. And another fabulous light fixture by the Muffin.

And after all that hard work I went with a girlfriend for my very first pedicure. Drinking wine at 11am in a posh salon with good company while someone rubs my feet is a pretty good deal. Check out my fabulous french toes!

posted by KK @ 9:45 PM 0 comments

Arrival

The Muffin drops me off at work in his long silver Cadillac Deville. Today I ran into a co-worker on the steps. I hastily removed the sunglasses from my hair.

"You look like Miss America getting out of the car." He continues with a flirty head toss and elevated voice pitch, "'I'm here, I hope they're ready for me.'"

posted by KK @ 7:41 AM 0 comments

In the midst of chaos

posted by KK @ 7:37 PM 0 comments

KELLY IS a homeowner!!!

I have much news.


First - the title of this post is, as well as news, a reference to facebook. One friend is refusing to join because she was told "Facebook stole my soul" from another friend. But other than her it appears that everyone else is on it. And of all the groups networking things, Ringo, Hi5, Myspace, that I constantly receive invitations for. Facebook is one I am finding entertaining, easy to use and easy to find and interact with others on.














Second - I am a homeowner!! As of April 15 the Muffin and I will be moving into our very own home.


The story of how this came about in light of the booming real estate market began on the last post. The dreaded tennent finally got evicted - we observed the moving van at 7pm on the last allowable day of occupancy.














The realtor called the next to say, "Well she's out, but I don't want to show you the house."


The tennent and her 2 dogs and cat had left a mess. Namely dog poo on the floor, a cat litter box that had never been cleaned, garbage 2 feet deep in the backyard, not to mention more dog poo. She broke the window on the front door and put a hole in the living room wall, probably with the couch, before exiting.


The seller changed the locks and hired professional cleaners so I never had to see it in that state. The cleaners did a fabulous job I must say, there is not even lingering scents to disturb me.


The home inspection was passed last week: 30 yr old furnace, 30 yr old shingles but everything is in fabulous condition and often better than expected.



The tennent still left her mark though by painting. Bubble gum pink, creamsicle orange, purple with pink sponge paint. These are definately the 'before' pics.







And finally, on top of all that - I'm going to the Junos!!!


Yay!! It's good to have a Muffin with connections. But what will I wear?

posted by KK @ 9:25 AM 1 comments

Housing update

The Muffin and I may have bought a house over the phone without even seeing it, without even seeing pictures of it.

OK, OK. It's not that bad.

It's just that the housing market is crazy. Absolutely crazy. Who would think that real estate in Saskatoon could be so popular?

We put an offer in on another house after loosing the little brown one in the last post. This one was also on the market for 24hrs and we came straight off the highway from Calgary to see it in time to make an offer. Ours was the back-up offer ... second again. Damnit!

Then we looked at another house that the Muffin hated on sight (he has an aversion to vinyl) and the woman, moving ASAP due to a nasty divorce apparently had accepted a phone offer for list price and was calling him back at 6pm to accept it. We discovered all this at our 5:30pm showing of the home and ended up standing outside at 5:50 arguing about wether to go in and offer over list because there was absolutely nothing available in this neighbourhood, in this market anymore.

Prices went up 8% just in January! And houses are selling consistently for at least $7000 over list. Part of this is due to a correction in the marketplace simply because housing here and in Regina has been undervalued for so long. Part of it is due to people returning from Calgary where the land of plenty has turned out to be plenty expensive - plus the governement is doing everything it's power to entice them back, thanks to a brillant punctuation campaign - Saskatchewan! - and after selling a home in Calgary people are able to buy a brand new 2000 sq ft home and a rental property mortgage free.

It's just not fair I tell you.

So while complaining to a realtor who had shown us another home he mentioned one that was coming up. Again only for a 24 hour listing and 4 hrs of showing times. We promptly made an appointment only to be informed the next day that the seller was pulling the listing due to a nasty tennent who refused to allow people into the house because she and her many pets and guests had wrecked it. The seller intended to relist in April after a cosmetic fix.

Not interested in cosmetic fixes and wanting to beat out the rabid competition Muffin and I made an offer. And it was accepted! We aren't obliged to anything given that we haven't even seen the home yet but the seller is now prevented from selling it away from under us. Pressure is off and I'm so relieved! Four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, single detached garage.

But I'm dreading what the horrid renter has done to the interior. Cross your fingers!

posted by KK @ 7:16 AM 2 comments

No home of my own

Muffin and I are house hunting and its a frustrating process. We are deciding on location and size and layout ... looking and looking and eternally looking.

I'm tired of looking. You're never going to get perfect especially in your price range so just except it and pick one.

Besides, it's dog eat dog out there.

A condo in the same builidng Muffin and I looked at during the summer is alrady up $20 000. That's four months. Prices are climbing so it seems to be buy now or wait ten years til the market settles again. They say Saskatoon will be the next Calgary - and at the moment there are certainly enough Albertans moving back. They're the ones taking all the houses.

If you own a house in Calgary you can sell it, move here; buy your house outright and a couple rental properties all without a mortgage.

Slightly sucks for me. I just want a little bungalow (no slanty ceilings) in a good neighbourhood that isn't going to fall down in a year. Oh and a garage. Now is that too much to ask?

So.

We've been preapproved for a mortgage. We found a house we liked, a house we agreed on. We put an offer on it.

It was listed 'for sale by owner' for only 24hrs. There was at least five offers put on it. We were second.

posted by KK @ 10:35 AM 1 comments