A wee update-still looking for a new home :-)

A wee update for those of you who may be checking. We still haven't bought a house but continue to look. i still don't want to post too much in here about the dodgy dealings we have experienced so you can look forward to hearing all about it at some point in the future. Hopefully the near future :-)

We keep changing our minds about what 'fits' best for our future home which is part of the problem. The ongoing resistance of realtors, who don't want to show you property without you signing up to give them commission, is mind-boggling. You'd think that the 2.5% they get from selling the house would be enough without them needing to get another 2.5% for helping you to buy it...but alas, no. We are very lucky to have found a gem of a reltor who has been hugely brilliant with advice and help, so that is a very silver lining.

I had a wee wobbly to myself this week which likely was in part due to all the indecision on property but having now recovered, I feel positive again that we will get the perfect home when the time is right.

We had a giggle (and had the girls thinking we were bonkers) when we saw that a house 3 doors up from our old home was up for sale and we voiced out loud that we should just buy it :-) The dollar has been strong against the pound so swapping our money back would actually be profitable but...I don't think so.

Our furniture has still not arrived from Scotland which is a bonus because we have nowhere to put it. Unfortunately, I sent my Bach and Reiki certificates with the furniture so I don't have proof of my qualifications...oh dear. That wasn't well enough thought out. They were in frames so I just packed them with the rest of the pictures.

Weather wise-we just had a lovely big snowfall. It's the first 'real' one we have had and I loved shovelling it yesterday. No snowman yet...maybe tomorrow.

Jen is doing lots of child-minding and enjoying it. She gets lots of great feedback and word is spreading about her being really great so her original mum is getting a wee bit worried that Jen will be too busy to do last minute slots. Ah the joys of juggling motherhood.

Alison had a great time at conference last weekend with only a couple of mishaps. The worst one was that her brand new 100ml bottle of Viva la Juicy fell from the stopper on removal from its box and smashed in half on the marble vanity in her hotel room. The teeny silver lining on it was that her room smelled beautiful all weekend. I have complained to the company about the design because she couldn't have removed it from the box any other way. Perhaps they will offer a free replacement-fingers crossed.

She won a gold medal for her all-round performances, which was great and she got some really good feedback plus made some new friends. Now she has to negotiate and communicate and we shall see if she ends up with an agency to represent her acting.

I am meeting up with a group of women tomorrow morning who I have never met before. Finally I feel ready to make some connections and this is a group of 'Happy, Healthy Business women' who's aim is to help and support each other so I am hopeful that they will be lovely. I have also contacted someone about creating a meditation circle so I am definitely coming out of my long hibernation.

Okay dokay-must close.

Hope everyone is doing great and, if not-get in touch :-)

Much Love,

Lxxxx

Putting in our first house-offer :-)

Happy Valentines Day everyone and I hope that Love is with you whether or not it's part of a romantic relationship.

Apologies for the lack of photos in here. I need tuition on the new phone which Bill and I have been sharing-will try...soon.

We had our coldest day for 20 years yesterday which is surprising because this winter has been so much milder than last years. The Basketball 'Big Guns' are in town and the Americans will be now convinced of the fridid Canadian winter steriotype-lol. They will certainly be feeling the cold. I walked along to the fruit store yesterday and almost turned around because I had brain freeze within a couple of minutes but I soldiered on, pulling my hat down and my collar up and I survived. The walk back was easier because the wind was behind me...Brr -24 feeling like -33 is not pleasant, even when the sky is blue and the sun is shining.

Yesterday was the day that we put in our first offer on a possible new home. It's not the big beautiful property that I posted on FB but it is one that we went to see in Oct but decided was too expensive. It is now back on the market (after sale falling through) and we are offering a lower price with our fingers crossed. It's got a store-front with good floor-space and a basement which I could teach in plus a beautiful 3 (huge) bedroom house above. We have a fabulous Realtor who seems to know exactly what T's to cross so we will see. Perhaps by the next time I post, we will be home/business owners :-)

Everyone is good, over here.

Alison is busy with school, work and socially but she seems to be keeping up with it all. She has kept up her grades and we still have an 'honor student' living with us-lol.

Jen has been doing babysitting for a 20 month old girl who she loves and, even though it's not regular hours, it's been a decent amount. She's thinking of signing up for more.

Andrew is just about finished his visit to edinburgh and we'll pick him up on Tuesday afternoon. I think he'll be tired but also that it's been a great trip and worth any tiredness.

Bill does little bits and bobs to help our 'building-boss) but is still not able to work due to our laxness at getting him a work-visa...THIS WEEK, BILL-let's get the application in !

And me? Well, I have a client next weekend but life's quiet. Janice, who owns the shop hurt her ankle and wasn't in the shop so I haven't gone up there like I planned to. Maybe this week she'll be around and I shall go up and see if I can't come up with a plan...but, if we get this new place, I will have to begin concentrating on that. All fun and games.

My writing has taken a back seat but I do plan to restart.

I have done pretty well on my detox. I didn't have wine for a couple of weeks and had my first caffeine in a couple of weeks, yesterday. Have I felt better?-not so much but after the first days headaches, I haven't felt any worse either :-) Need to add in exercise next.

It's Family Day tomorrow, here in Ontario which is a PH given by the government a few years back for families to spend the day together. Mmm???

Oh and fuel is down to 82c=40p....cheap as chips.

Anyhoo, Happy Sunday and have a great week...or two...or three,

Lxxx

Happy 2106 Folks.

I know that I must have posted something in here since November so WHERE is it?

Happy 2016 folks and apologies for those of you who have been peeking in here regularly to see what I am up to.

I suppose I should begin with Edinburgh in December-a busy time of planning/leading mindfulness classes and bed-hopping between friends and family. I have to admit to being ready to come back to Toronto with eight days left. I just woke up that morning and thought-I'm ready to go home now...much to Bill's relief, I think :-)

God love the man, he lets me plod away at things that I tell him are meant for me to do. How do I know that.

Questioning myself has been a bit of a theme for the beginning of 2016 but I am getting the belief-system back on line. It can be really hard to flounder, with lack of direction, focus and motivation. Now, seeing as I help people with this all the time, you'd think that I'd simply take the correct remedies and fix the problem. Mmm? Sometimes I get lost and, with no real support system here...yet...I allow the days to pass by with little progress towards the life that I know I can make here for myself and my family.

Funny, this old life-not in a ha ha way but in a peculiar way that I accept for what it is.

Right, getting off track with news.

We are still renting on Lakeshore Blvd and still love the apartment although we will be in soapy bubble when the furniture from Scotland arrives. I think we may just manage to squeeze it all in but we may look like a furniture store for a while :-)

We are looking at various options for our new home. Some of you may have seen the 'Beauty' that I put on FB that I hope we go see this coming week. It's in a wee place called 'Tiny' and I love that as much as everything else about it. The realtor hasn't got back to me-likely because I told her we didn't want an Agent. They make an absolute fortune here. 2.5% of purchase price goes to the sellers agent and 2.5% to the buyers agent. For a few hours work, in our case so we are trying to bypass the system but the ranks pull together and most realtors won't work with you unless you have an agent. Perhaps Bills new job could be an independant co-ordinator for those who don't agree with the monopoly on real estate :-) I know that some realtors probably work really long and hard for some clients but they ought to have different rates for different services, in my mumble opinion. Rant over.

Back to housing.

We can see pros in having a Condo which usually has a gym/pool/media-room/party room etc but you have to pay a monthly fee so it's a bit like having a wee mortgage on a non-mortgaged property. If the maintanance fee includes utilities then it's not too bad a deal. We have not scored Condo purchase off our list as having 5 gym memberships would be expensive so it's good to factor that in.

A townhouse (tall and skinny and attached on one or both sides-sometimes known as a row-house) can be freehold (no maintanance) or condo fees which are much lower than a condo but that's because you don't get the pool/gym etc and it only covers snow/garbage removal and window cleaning/garden. These are an affordable option but we are not convinced. They are usually pretty new and shiny inside but often in not such a great location.

A house-obviously our best choice-is hugely expensive in Toronto itself. There is a chance that we will find a decent sized one that we can afford but they are few and far between and much sought after. One benefit of having an agent is that they can find them quickly and do the closing quickly-something to ponder.

Moving out of Toronto is probably my favourite option because of the kind of property we could have. There is so many lovely homes just waiting to be bought...if we go a couple of hours out. It's not ideal for Ali with school but there are ways around it and we shall see.

My latest idea was when I found a sprawling property that we could run retreats from, on a lake. BEAUTIFUL and a wonderful opportunity but I just have to get a business plan drawn up for Bill to let him see it could work.

So, housing still an ongoing issue.

Bill is still doing little bits and pieces around our building to help out, Nicole.

Me, I have set up a room at my friend Janices shop and have my first client booked in for Feb. We need to do a bit of a 'drive' to see if we can get some folk in but it's lovely to spend time with her as she's on the same wavelength and full of wonderful advice on nutrition.

For my first time ever, I have decided to DETOX, as in actually use some stuff to help. Nutritional stuff, not crazy no food stuff and I am actually quite looking forward to Monday because I begin it then, for a couple of weeks and we shall see how I am at the end of it.

I have been drinking a lot of wine and I know that it's just time to rest everything. Those of you who know me well, know that at this point, I usually give up drinking altogether for a few years but this time, I am going to do this detox and see what happens from there. I have been aiming for no relationship with my wine rather than me trying to control it and so this is a wee tester to see if we can agree to have a get-together ocassionally when I feel like it rather than it being wine-time most nights.

Our weather has been so very different from last winter. It's gone down to -12 but that's been very bearable. Plus we have the car-we got a lovely Ford escape last Oct-which makes shopping and Ali getting to school/home from work so much warmer.

I have been loudly complaining about the lack of snow especially when I see the photos of Scotland getting lots. I think I may have to take a drive North or South to find some before the winter is over.

The apartment is very warm and we rarely have our heating on. The girls especially are finding their room too warm at night despite no heat on and their window wide open. Bizarre after the cold house last winter for which we were paying heating. Heating is included in this places rent and we are not using any-lol. Go figure.

Bill and I are booked for an Edinburgh visit in April/May but I will be there a week longer than him. I will be teaching a couple of Bach courses and a couple of workshops and of course, trying to fit in some Reiki for folk who'd like some.

Andrew is currently in the UK after a couple of weeks in Europe and he'll be back here in a couple of weeks.

Jen continues to write and she's also just got another wee babysitting job which begins in a couple of weeks.

Alison has just sat her mid-terms and seems happy with how they went. She goes to Conference at the end of Feb and will hopefully land a lovely agent who will get her some acting work. All very exciting.

Well, I better stop because it's been a long one.

Will try to get the girls to send me some picks to upload soon.

Lxx