More big changes

By admin

We’re moving to Alberta - land of snow, the mountain time zone and brown grass – blech!

I got laid off…. my Mom is about to have surgery again – she owns a pizza shop so we’re going to go that way and help each other out.   We’ll stay in her unfinished basement.  Kaius will go to Grade One at a school there.  So before I even get there our schedule is going to be school drop off at 9am, pizza shop at 11, school pick up at 3, pizza shop at 4.

Once Mom sells the pizza shop (which she’s been trying to do for a while now) – they are taking off in a fifth wheel and we’re on our own.  Until then, I’m going to work my ass off relaunching my business – I just bought TutorialGurl.com and am excited to see where that goes.

I’ve had this feeling that it’s all been leading up to us going that way for a few months now and I was ignoring it because it’s not my favourite place in the world.  But it makes sense.  I’ll be closer to most of my family.  The only family that is over here is my Dad.

The town we’re going to live in is called Strathmore , 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Calgary – population 11,000ish. It’s sunny almost 333 days of the year with an average number of 112 frost free days per year.

I found out I was being laid of on August 25th, we’re going to be out of our apartment by September 9th and leaving for Strathmore on September 20th.  We’re dog sitting for a friend at her place for a week and going to WA state for a couple days before we leave.

We’ll probably be there for at least the school year if not longer… it’s cheaper to live out there than here.

I’m going to miss the Vancouver area… it’s home.

All of Me – Part 4

By admin

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

While Bruce and I were still trying to get on the same side of the border and working on immigration papers, thinking we were going to be in Canada temporarily we stayed with my sister in Saskatchewan for a bit and then went and stayed with my Mom in Alberta for almost a year.  My mom and her boyfriend own a pizza shop and Kaius and I helped out while mom had surgery to remove two hernias.

When it was clear that we weren’t going back to the States we moved back to where I consider home – Vancouver (and surrounding areas) – it’s where I lived when I moved out on my own at 16 and it was where Kaius was born and had spent the first year and a half of his life.  I’m not too big on snow or east coast cold so the west coast is where it’s at for us… for now.

We stayed in a 16 foot camping trailer for a couple months and then stayed with family for a month and then with a family of 5 that I’ve known for 20 years.  While staying with them, they had to move (due to their rental house being sold by the owner/landlord) so we decided to find a place together in a house that had a basement suite.  We moved into the new place in May 2008 and come September I put Kaius in preschool so that I would have a bit of time to myself and so we could meet some new friends in the area.

I was working from home during this time and it just wasn’t cutting it financially so I chose to go out and get a job outside of the house this past October.  Probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life because I had planned to be at home with him, homeschooling him and going to every family based event, festival and fun place the Lower Mainland has to offer.  We still do these things most weekends, just not as much as I’d like due to time constraints.  In January 2009 we all moved again.

The apartment we’ve lived in since January 2009 is great – 11th floor, less than two blocks to the skytrain, the mall, an inexpensive grocery store (well as inexpensive groceries can get in Canada), Kaius’ daycare and school.

After the Christmas break from school, I transfered Kaius to a new daycare as well as into Kindergarten at a new school.

Once we got here I was determined to stabilize our crazy life.  It took some doing but it’s working out pretty good so far.  Coming from a place of lack in regards to money all through life – I wasn’t very good at managing things until I had to provide for Kaius on my own so over the years I’ve gotten that under control and by under control I mean we live on a tight budget, don’t have savings, but don’t have much debt either – I don’t do credit cards (besides pre paid ones) and haven’t for years.

I haven’t always made the best decisions, I apparently like to move fast (which I’m working on) and as you can see I make things happen for myself – if I want it, not much can get in my way.