Here we are...

...in Calgary! We sold our house and had one week to pack everything and hit the road. My husband drove the truck out with the dog, and Mia and I flew out to catch up with him a few days later. Not everything fit in the U-Haul, so we had to abandon a few things (so sad!). Not to mention leaving behind our beautiful house that we put so much work into (the pergola! the composter! the shed! the raised vegetable gardens! painting the whole house! the pretty nursery! taking the basement from concrete and 2x4's to a finished state! the kitchen we finished with a custom island, new granite, new sink, new touch faucet and new backsplash TWO WEEKS before having to put the house on the market...)

Oh, well. On to the next phase.

We're in Calgary now, living in a seriously dated rental house. It'll do for now, but we have been house hunting in a major way. I think we've seen about 50 houses from the $500k to million dollar range (really... it's insane). We have a conditional offer that has been accepted on a house, we're just waiting to firm up the house inspection and financing before we can consider it ours.

 The house we are in the process of buying (if all goes well) is in need of some serious renovation. We can look forward to a complete kitchen gutting and redo, same with the master bath, and I'm sure some other things as well. It's a big house but needs updating, and the kitchen is small and not that functional - though there is room to spread out.

After renovating and making two houses nearly perfect already, I was really not expecting to do it all over again. But given the enormous waste of money involved in renting, we wanted to buy as soon as possible. With what is on the market here, we could either have spent a LOT, stretched our budget to the max, and had a lovely house with some drawbacks (nothing we saw was perfect, even the super pricey ones had flaws), or we could buy a house that needed some work and finish it to our own taste and needs. So, here we go again! 

And Mia has had her first birthday (on Sunday!). My big girl is one year old. I can hardly believe it. After all we went through, I feel so lucky to have her. And even in those moments when she is screaming her little toddler head off, I still love her to pieces. Did I say toddler? Oh, yes - she started walking on her own the day before her birthday. She amazes me every day.

Here's my big girl in our old house... all my recent pictures of her haven't been uploaded yet. I do not have computer time any more - she's down to one (if I'm lucky) nap a day, and has me on my toes all day long!

I made a fabulous cake for her birthday. Carrot-coconut, with a cream cheese and white chocolate frosting, from the rebar cookbook (a fabulous vegetarian restaurant in Victoria, BC). They apparently do not have a website, but if you are ever in Victoria, I highly recommend a visit. Anyway, the cake is amazing. Of course, when I gave her a slice, she squished it all up and flat out refused to try even a taste of the icing or cake at all!