One final helper...

Although most of you already know, Jason and I are thrilled to announce that one final Clarence Road helper will be joining us somewhere in the vicinity of September 1st, 2010. In its mothers typical fashion, it will be arriving hopefully as most of the house work has been completed!

We could not be happier to have our family go from 3 to 4 (including the pup) and are so excited to meet this new little person that I am sure will steal our hearts from the second he or she joins us.

Happiest Days!

Official Plans

My handyman and I have spent quite a few hours lately, making sure each and every detail of our house plans are discussed, debated, and agreed upon. Now that we have completed the drawings, they are being sent to a structural engineer to hopefully be approved and stamped. Here is a sneak peak at a rough drawing of the front & main floor plan.


So far two purchases have also been made - a kitchen hood, and a shower system for our master bath. Hopefully other things we purchase won't be so large or else this apartment of ours is going to start to feel like it is closing in on us!!

2009 Highlights, 2010 Dreams

My handyman and I spent New Year's Eve with some wonderful friends of ours, enjoying some homemade pizza and a board game or two. After an anti-climatic midnight countdown (advice - do not watch the Canadian TV countdown, you know it's bad when you have to google who the hosts are), we went around the room and talked about the highlight of our year. Here are a few of mine...

• The love of my life was finally mine for good! - Although we were technically married in 2008, I figure that it was close enough since there were only 11 days left in the year on our wedding day. Marrying my handyman will forever be my most favorite thing that I ever did. This past year together has been full of fun and laughs and I could not imagine my life without him. I feel truly blessed to have him in my life and to be part of our wonderful family of 2 (3 if you count the pup).
• Dominican - In late January of 2009, my handyman were fortunate enough to snag a great deal on an all-inclusive trip to the Dominican Republic along with another couple of friends. I spent the week in the sun, pool, ocean & buffet line while my handyman spent the week in the shade and the Dominican hospital for 3 days due to what we think was some bad sandwich meat. Even though he was laid up for 3 days, we could not have asked for better company or weather and are looking forward to another trip south someday!
• Puppy turns 2! - Everyone that know us, knows how much we love our schnauzy, and this year we got to "celebrate" his 2nd birthday! He is a wonderful dog with such a distinct personality and he makes us laugh each and every day.
• Lot 6, Clarence Rd - Clearly a highlight! Buying our land and starting the journey of building a house together definitely belongs on this list!
• Goodbye Campbell - In June of 2009, we were finally ready to put Campbell on the market after a final few weeks of intense renovations. After a weekend of showings and a successful open house, we were immensely blessed with 5 offers on our River Heights hideaway. After a few short hours of negotiations, the house was sold and we were even lucky enough to remain in the house throughout one last summer. Goodbye Campbell - you served us well!

2009 was such an amazing year for my handyman and I! Recapping all of its glories makes me feel unworthy of all the blessings that the year brought to us. We are both looking forward to another busy year which we are certain will bring even more amazing highlights and memories - all to be documented here!

Happy New Year to you all - all the best in 2o10!

Another Helper...

For the past year or so, it has become very evident to my Handyman and I that small sedan type cars are not ideal house work/renovation vehicles. Because of this, we have been fortunate enough to borrow, beg and steal trucks and trailers in order to complete the work we have done on our past Campbell St house, and the bit of work we have completed at Clarence Rd.

In order to ensure that we have the ability to purchase and pick-up all the supplies and finishes for our new house, a big wonderful truck was purchased over this past week. Although we won't actually have the truck for a few more weeks, we are both extremely excited to test it out on the St.Clements roads.

Here is a picture of what we can expect, except in fabulous WHITE (so that it goes with the inside of our house :)).


I am probably a little more excited to actually get the truck as it will mark my official break-up with Winnipeg Transit, just in time for the cold weather to set in.

If there is something that my Handyman and I have realized since we got married is that we are definitely a two-car family, and that is a-ok with me!

Unexpected Progress

Because road restrictions are not lifted in the area of St.Clements until June 1st of each year, our road was unexpectedly completed this past weekend. This will allow our house to be started as soon as the weather permits next spring!

My handyman was in his glory driving around on the Bobcat all day...


Here is the mostly finished product...

View of Block 5 from the road...


Our great, great friends and neighbors have made substantial progress and are almost ready to settle in for the winter. The garage is nearing completion, beautiful counter tops are installed, and furniture is finding its place in their spectacular home.

While I was waiting for the Bobcat to be parked for the day, I started to think about all the wonderful family and friends that my handyman and I have been truly blessed with. Everyone has been so unbelievably supportive and helpful throughout our lives, marriage, and multiple moves and we both feel so lucky!! It makes me so happy to imagine each and every person we love enjoying this house and this space with us. This house will be a house of love, of laughter and of all around good fun.

A Mountain View...

I have been hearing some grumbling about my lack of posting lately so I thought I better hop to it and update the blog with something even though not much has been taking place out at Clarence lately.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we were invited to a lovely dinner out at lot 5. When we purchased our 4.3 acres, we didn't realize that it came with a mountain view!

Just like Banff, right?

Another "exciting" development has been our first house purchase - a tiller. What's a tiller you (and I) might ask?? A tiller is an accessory for the tractor that digs and breaks up the soil so that we can plant grass seed and grow our much anticipated gardens! Here is a picture of the beloved tiller:

We have pretty well finalized our house plans and have started to think about some of those finishing details and have also applied for our first building permit because June is just around the corner (at least we hope it is!).

In other news, our Clarence Road Project has welcomed our newest crew member, a little lady born October 1st, 20o9. She arrived just in time to start helping us out! Her older brother is already all set to help with his own set of tools - we will have to get a pink set for this Sweet Girl.

We have also heard through our lot 5 spies that both lots across the street from us have been sold as well. According to our sources, one of the families who purchased lot 3 have a 5 year old, 3 year old, and another on the way so we are expecting a busy bus stop one day at the end of Clarence Rd - just the way we like it.

Happy Days!!

A road to nowhere is our road home...

Over this past week, the beginnings of our driveway/road started out at Clarence. Although we won't start building the actual house until next Spring, the boys thought getting a jump on this project was worth it.



We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday over the long weekend checking out the road, mapping out of the house and talking about future plans. I don't think we ever enjoy being out there as much as this guy does though - maybe we do have a country dog in the making?