Creating Kris ~ a young mom blogs…

house-y, webby, scrappy

House:

So we’ve narrowed it down further and it looks like we’re going with either the Piccadilly or the Sutherland! Especially since both are in Chapman Mills, which was much closer to the new RCMP HQ than the other communities. We’ll head out there this weekend to take a look at the models (they only have the Sutherland plus a few others, unfortunately not including the Piccadilly) and get a lot map. I’ve called them this week though and there are still lots available in this Phase. In the meantime, we’re getting all the financial “stuff” in order, and crossing our fingers my car accident doesn’t factor too heavily into things when it comes to calculating my regular salary/earning potential! Does anyone know how much they look at what-is-your-present-income-right-at-this-moment as compared to what it’s been over the years and how well have you balanced your budget and paid off your debts?? ‘Cause yeah, really worried about that.

Hmm…. Piccadilly or Sutherland??

Webby:

Been extremely busy with YM the past few days, like probably 10 hours total. We had a situation arise on the Breastfeeding Mommies board where a couple of moms made comments to the effect that extended nursing was “gross” or made their “stomach turn”. So not acceptable! So we’ve dealt with that particular thread but we’re also being proactive towards future discussions but posting what types of comments are OK vs. what types of comments are considered offensive. Because apparently people really need those type of examples.

This was the “Guidelines Examples” post I came up with yesterday:
read the post
(you don’t need to be logged in as it’s in a public forum).

So I’m hoping this helps quell some of the offensive comments we’ve had come up lately on the board. And hey, if I can help encourage a handful of people to be a little more P.C., then I’ve done my job. I’m actually so keen on my “Amend before you send” idea I just may make a blinkie.

That was the focus yesterday, then today “we done caught aw’selves a faker!”. Which has happened to me many many times over the years but still stings. Especially when they manage to slip through your security measures – this one had even posted a “Salute” of herself with a pregnant belly and YM sign and an ultrasound pic. Like is this some new level of faking that people are reaching for these days? We have upped our security measures so much over the years and then the “bad apples” keep spoiling the bunch. Now we may not even allow pregnant mommies to become “Salute” members (those are the full members who have access to almost all boards, including the pics forum).

I could write a book about running online communities, I swear.

Scrappy:

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building a home for summer 2009 – choices!

So I’ve been in new-house la-la land all week, and here are the ups and downs…

Paul got yet another e-mail at work specifying which groups out of each section/division/branch (I tried asking him to explain it and within seconds my head was spinning with government jargon…) are moving, and although the entire “section” is slotted to start moving in Fall 2009, his branch will not be among the first to be moved. They may not get around to his group until Fall 2010!!

OK, but the good news is that Paul agrees with me that we shouldn’t put off moving any longer. The “RCMP is moving to Barrhaven” news started like, pretty much right after he started working there and we have always planned our big move around that! It’s been delayed and changed and who knows how longer it might continue to do that. However, we are ready to move out of this house, and although we can wait one more year, I don’t think we can wait 2 or 3.

Especially given how fast things seem to be moving there in Barrhaven! It feels like a “land grab/ gold rush” thing! The prices just keep going up and up (for one builder, the prices I’d seen on one website were off by over $20,000 by the time we got the latest price sheet from the sales centre!!!) and the residential area is hungrily eating up everything around what’s already there. Google Maps and even our GPS can’t figure out where we’re going, yet we were there in person looking at completely formed neighbourhoods (a bit muddy mind you, but still owner-occupied!). It’s just crazy.

It’s exciting though, and we’ve waited so long for this and worked so hard… We started saving up for a house the summer after graduation from uni (also the summer we got married), every single month. On top of that, we took out an RRSP loan a couple years ago for $10K and that contribution will all come back out for the first time homebuyer’s plan.

So want to catch a glimpse of what we’ve been saving for all this time?

Here’s a peek at a few of our top choices!

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Ready… set… house-shop!

So Paul got confirmation last week that his section @ work will be moved over to the new Barrhaven building in Fall 2009. Which makes our original plans of moving in Summer 2009 work just fine.

I’d really like to move in the summer, as the kids’ school years won’t be disrupted. Harmony will have just finished grade 5, so she would be moving to a new school anyways, so that timing works out really well. I’d prefer to move earlier in the summer (early July maybe?) to give her a couple months to get to know some kids in the neighbourhood before school starts. And to give us time to paint and decorate before the busier Fall/Winter season arrives.

Given this, it looks like we may be moving in about one year!

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