How we survived the 'pregnancy'...

...and other odds and ends.

Not long after we first viewed the property, I had to give myself a stern talking to. It was becoming clear that the acquisition of this property was going to be more of a process than an event and I am not the most patient person in the world. Ultimately, it took 9 months from the time we saw the ad, to closing. A term pregnancy. There were a few times that we feared the deal would fall through, but we just kept believing. There were times when we would give ourselves a shake and try to change our mindset, knowing that if things didn't work out for whatever reason, we would be in for 'lunchbag letdown' of indescribable proportions. Try as we might, it never worked.

From the minute we first laid eyes on it, we began to believe it would be ours. Not hope. Not think. Believe. Really, truly, believe. We were powerless to do otherwise, it seemed. We planned, we dreamed, we sketched, we shopped. It was never 'if' we get it. It was always 'when we get it'. DS' family is close, and when we all get together, we are 40+ people. The past few family celebrations had been at rented premises. This house could accommodate everyone for the party, and overnight!

When we did the inspection, we took detailed measurements so that we could estimate the cost of the work that needed to be done. And so I would have something to do to keep me busy. DS calls me the queen of planning. Before we found this property, I spent hours keeping myself out of trouble by designing floorplans for our future retirement home. Each time I showed DS and said 'this is it' she would smile, provide her input, and wait until the next time. She teases me, but this trait has served us well in the past, too, and she acknowledges it. Much as her penchant for hoarding toilet paper has served us well, but I digress.

Armed with measurements, we realized that the dimensions of the kitchen, and the layout, were very similar to the one we had just finished renovating in our current home. DS and I have very different tastes, so it takes some doing to find the middle ground. And since we don't believe in spending money we don't need to spend, finding what we can both agree on at a price we're willing to pay can be quite the task. Choosing a backsplash for the kitchen had been particularly time-consuming and challenging, but we had eventually found something we both loved, and for a song, because the tile line was discontinued. In fact, we love our entire kitchen so much, it was the one negative aspect to this acquisition: we would not get to enjoy it for the 8 years we had foreseen.

So, true to our mindset of 'it's ours', the weekend after our offer was accepted, but months before conditions cleared, we went out and bought enough tile for the backsplash in the new place. In fact, we cleared them out of it. This was very much against our usual pragmatic approach, but we were powerless to do otherwise. Try as we might, we could never consider that this might not all work out.

The weekend we had done the inspection, we had also taken a few pictures. DS is the photographer of the family and does extremely well, but this time, I happened to luck out. It was a breezy morning when we went to take the water sample, but one of the photos I snapped showed a mirror-calm lake. In fact, it's the one in my first post. We had that photo enlarged and laminated. Twice. We put one up on the wall just outside the kitchen door, where we would see it every time we came downstairs, or came or left the kitchen. I kept the other in my office. That photo became our computer desktops. We would look at it and sigh, imagining our golden years there.

And we planned and shopped and planned some more. Say what you will about Big Orange, but they have financed all our home renovations at zero interest, and we appreciate it. That trend continued with us buying a new shower for the upstairs bath, and various other items. In January, months before closing. It stood in the corner of our living room until the end of March, keeping the tiles company. When the day to pack up and head to the closing finally arrived, it was not a day too soon. The living room and hallway had long since stopped looking like a home and had taken on the airs of a big-box home improvement centre as we took advantage of bargains we came across that fit our vision, such as it was at the time.

We also buy a fridge. It took some doing to find a small, Energy-Star rated fridge, but we did finally find one at Sears. We place the order on-line, and using their nifty little calendar utility, we select delivery for the day after closing. Except they try to deliver it on the Wednesday, a week before closing. Luckily, no one is home. We had left a SIL's number with them and she calls, saying she's had a call from Sears. After several phone calls back and forth, we arrange for delivery the Wednesday after closing. Seems Wednesday is the only day for delivery to our area. Ah yes, a subtle reminder that we are choosing to leave behind some of the conveniences of city life.

We also put in a lot of hours at all manner of Home Renovation and Cottage Living Exhibitions. And we began saving every penny for kayaks.

Now, some people love a challenge, and I'm one of those people. We have always known that we would leave this area when we retired. One of my concerns about that was my daughter, who began her working career in the spring of 2005. As I have already noted, this area's real estates costs are amongst the highest in the country. Some folks pay their kids' way through college, but I have never believed in that, and even if I had, I was not in a position to do so at the time. But, early in 2006, I saw an opportunity for her and for myself. A newspaper article spoke of a special assisted home ownership condo building going up right downtown, in a very desirable area. We made some enquiries and crunched the numbers. If I gifted her the downpayment, she could handle the rest. And I could leave the area knowing that come what may, I had done what I could to see she was settled in and had a roof over her head. So she signed on, and I committed to forking over a good chunk of change.

So, on top of the purchase of the dream property, I had to be able to meet my commitment to my daughter. We very nearly cancelled the deal, forfeiting the deposit we'd made, when my daughter got laid off due to downsizing in the summer of '06. Our esthetician, a very savvy businesswoman, talked us out of it. You know how people say every cloud has a silver lining? Well, this one sure did. It ended up that my daughter went from that first fairly low-paying job to a contract job at better pay, followed by an extension, followed by a permanent job with even better pay, benefits and opportunities for advancement! She was now earning enough money that I wouldn't even have to sign as guarantor on her mortgage!

For a while, I had to cut some corners pretty tight, but it all worked out in the end. We closed in March of '07, and she got her condo later that same year. In fact, things have really worked out. Daughter is very happily in love with a young man who lives down the street from us. They both love this neighbourhood, and the plan is they will buy this house from us at a fair market value when we head to the rural property. This is such a great neighbourhood, they will be the third such second-generation residents on our street. And, in a turn of events, for the year I come back to work, I will inhabit the basement space my daughter inhabited when she lived in this house with us.