le grand update

it has been a very long time since i've updated, thanks to the craziness of moving, getting settled whilst working full-time jobs. because of this, you'll only get tangenty, all-in-one-shot-blog:

we thought our house would be more finished when we moved in - as promised, we didn't sneak in to see it from the sunday until our inspection on tuesday so we thought things would be completed during that time. when tuesday rolled around, it didn't look like much had been done. the staircase was still missing carpet. the hardwood stairs and banisters had just freshly been stained, to the point where they were still tacky when we walked on them. the shower stall wasn't up yet either and the baseboards and trim still needed a second coat of paint. aside from the paint, all of these things were installed on moving day - good timing. there are several areas of drywall that needed to be patched, sanded and repainted...we're still waiting for that to happen. for the longest time, there was green painter's tape everywhere marking the spots they were supposed to fix before we moved in. we got tired of waiting, so we ended up taking pictures of the tape and removing it so we don't feel like we live in the land of green tape.

at first, the kitchen cabinet doors were a different colour than the rest of the cabinets. this was a problem. the other problem was that the cabinet guy found out that his contract was being terminated - well, they asked him to finish what he started, but never to come back after that, our botched cabinets being the last straw, i believe - he blew up when he received the bad news, and was screaming and swearing several blue streaks. i consider myself to be a pretty street-savvy person, but i was blushing with the words and phrases that were coming out of his mouth. then i felt like our house had a negative energy, thanks to mr. cabinet potty-mouth, but it's gone now. good riddance. and our cabinets are all the same colour now, but took 2.5 weeks for that to happen. at the beginning, it seemed we witnessed a different construction worker swearing into his phone or threatening to kill someone for the first few days. apparently construction workers aren't very civilized, who knew? things have settled down since.

living in a new development definitely comes with its growing pains. we couldn't park in our garage because the trades workers kept parking in the alley that leads to the garage. we gave up and started parking in front of the house. then the builder called us and politely asked us to stop parking in front of the house so they could do landscaping. we politely asked them to tell their workers to stop blocking the path to our garage and we would happily park in our own garage. it has gotten much better, but lately there's been a couple guys who missed the memo about not blocking us in.

there is no garbage/recycling pick-up yet. when we want to dispose of garbage, we have to go looking for dumpsters that are strategically located throughout the development. these dumpsters keep getting moved around, so everyday is like a treasure hunt, only the treasure isn't as exciting as old artifacts or gold coins. there also isn't any mail delivery. we asked the post office to have our old mail addressed to the condo held for us. we didn't think it made sense to change our address officially since there was no mail delivery yet. the post office only had 3 letters for us the first time we went to pick it up, then found the rest of the mail once we went on vacation. while away, the hold expired and the mail was delivered all at once. to the condo. the girl who bought our condo contacted us, so we have it now and thank you kenji and shelley, for the lovely birthday card!

we recently discovered water damage in one of the second bedrooms; we thought it was coming from the shower based on the location of the damage, but one of the guys came to check it out and said it's not leaking anymore...it's probably from the bathtub which was used just once. just in case, we aren't using the master ensuite and patiently waiting for someone to fix it. we were thinking we were unlucky, but then met the neighbours across from us. their move-in date was delayed twice, and their old house sold and closed long before they could move in, so they stayed at a campground in the interim. yuck. they have several leaks to deal with inside their house, including one in the master bedroom; whenever it rains a lot, water drips from the light switch! their roof has already been replaced. now we are thinking our house isn't so bad. it is strange since our builder is considered one of the premium builders in the area...but we also were told from the disgruntled cabinet-maker-potty-mouth-guy that this is the biggest development they have ever built and they have taken on more than they can handle. not unlike the cabinet maker. hello mr. pot, have you met mr. kettle? he is black, as are you.

scout adjusted pretty well to the move. she was a little scared at first, but now she's happy with her new home. she likes the stairs...more specifically, the banisters - she likes poking her head through the spindles to play peek-a-boo. on a completely different note, sometime on the weekend, she managed to pull out a wad of fur beside her eye. so she has a bald patch right under her eye - she looks like she is crying a single tear, how emo. she must be going through her adolescent phase.

we have been busy purchasing things for the house - the last thing on our list is window coverings - apparently we are exhibitionists as we never did get window coverings for our condo and we still haven't put anything up other than some temporary paper blinds in the bathroom. roller shades are next and last on our shopping list. once that's done we will be out of money. round 1 of spending a lot is coming to a close. i think round 2 will come around december...

in the meantime, we wait for the deficiencies to be fixed and enjoy having triple the space, pretty surroundings and that new-house smell. mmm!