HOUSE IS SOLD!!!!!

This past week has been a whirlwind of activity and I think we both feel exhausted but happy!  The house went on the market Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m.; we had 6 showings by the afternoon and one offer to be presented.  Since we had more booked showings for Wednesday; our agent delayed the presentation of that offer until late Wednesday afternoon.  We had to leave the house the whole day on Wednesday as there were a total of 15 showings and as we were sitting in the real estate office waiting for the first offer to be presented, another offer came in.  That started a 4 hour back-and-forth between the two offers and we finally settled with an awesome offer.  $8500 more than our asking price, no other conditions other than a house inspection.  So in 24 hours it was over – in all the houses we have bought and sold over the years, we never had one like this and we were blown away (as was our agent) at the interest in our house although it is a very nice house and the location is one that is rare in Guelph.  Both Brian and I realize what we are actually giving up by selling and we will definitely miss living here and our neighbors as well.  It is a little bitter sweet in reality.  BUT we are still looking forward to the future and still think that the time was right for us to be moving on and downsizing.  The best thing about our move will be that we are closer to our children and grandchildren.  I used to love it when my parents just lived around the corner from us when we lived on Pheasant Run and it was easy to go over and visit and stay for a cup of tea and one of mom’s “failures” and when the grandchildren are old enough, they can drop by to see us any time. 

The house inspector has already done his inspection and there were a couple of things he found that we are going to fix and so we hope the new buyers remove the condition on Monday and we can get the SOLD sign up.  They are a very nice couple, probably in their late 40’s, early 50’s, who have no children, just a dog, so they will fit in quite nicely in the cul-de-sac and they will get along with with all our wonderful neighbours!

Otherwise, Brian is still doing well and we both definitely feel like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders now and our next focus is more decluttering and packing.  Brian’s next round of chemo starts Feb 7 (one day before his birthday) and that will be round #5 and if we are lucky, then only one more round and he should be done unless the doctor opts for two more rounds. 

“WOODEN SHOE DANCE”

 

Just a great video sent from our dear friends in Holland, Rens and Annimeike.  While in Holland we visited the “Windmills” as seen in the video and actually went through one. It was very interesting how they were built and work.  Also on the site was “The Shoe Factory” where they make the wooden shoes, we saw some being hand carved and of course had to buy some for Annika and Selena. Enjoy the video

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVZi_JLbTYw&feature=email

More Condo Pictures

We took a drive yesterday and took some more pictures of our condo.  It is definitely coming along now and we will be glad to see it completely enclosed. With all the rain and snow we have had over the last week, everything there is pretty wet! 

Walking in through the garage.  This is a better picture of the 6 foot hallway in our garage that will have a door at the back to get into our “small” yard. 

This is taken from the back of that hallway looking towards the front.

Stepping out into the mud,, I took a picture of the back of the house looking at what will be our deck at the back.

This the basement window at the back.  We are getting our basement finished, so this window will be where the extra bedroom is downstairs.

This is looking out our bedroom window at the parkette that we back onto.  Unfortunately, we think our builder will be putting up a fence where the black tarp is which will give us privacy but I wouldn’t mind if they just left it as is as that little parkette is quite nice but does belong to the condo buildings you see there. 

They have started the second floor lofts.  The big window at the front will be the dining room.

The back of  our condo.  The big machine is lifting the wood through our condo window which is the bedroom off the loft. It is pretty muddy as you can see.

Looking face on to our whole section

This is what our condos will look like when finished.  These ones are pretty well ready for the owners to move in.

Next week our present house goes on the market and hopefully we have a quick sale!! We just want to get that part over with, so we can concentrate on packing and further decluttering!

Chemo Round #4 – January 17, 2012

We have had a busy few days medical-wise for Brian.  He is really starting to get “sick” of it all as he literally hates having to go for CT scans, blood work, seeing the oncologist, having chemo; it just seems never ending and it makes you feel old and feeble!  Brian, being the avid athlete that he is, not being able to exercise very much and not having much to do without his training and not working at the Running Room, and stuck at home with me,  it is now starting to catch up with him, I think.  But we do have to look on the positive side of things and feel fortunate that he still suffers few side effects from the chemo and can lead a relatively normal life. 

Unfortunately, Brian developed a cold last Thursday and he had a scheduled CT scan on Friday which we went to but by the time the day wore on, he was definitely not feeling very well and had a very barky phlegmy cough.  We just took it easy over the entire weekend, just so he could rest and he did start to feel better but still had the barky cough.  He went for blood work on Monday morning and then we saw the oncologist.  She asked us very direct questions about his cold and was thinking about delaying the chemo but then after listening to his chest, said that it was clear and that his cold was just a virus and since he was starting to feel better in that regard, she did allow him to go for the chemo yesterday. Unfortunately, she did not have the results of the CT scan yet, so we don’t really know how his lymphoma is responding to the chemo just yet other than the doctor palpating his liver and spleen and saying they are greatly reduced from when he first started with chemo.  She explained to us that she may elect to go 8 rounds of chemo depending on the CT results.  She said after 6 rounds she will do another CT and if his liver, spleen and/or any lymph nodes are still showing some disease, she will add on the extra 2 rounds. 

This was somewhat disappointing to hear as we are hoping that we could still get away to Florida for a couple of weeks in March but if Brian has to have the 2 extra rounds, that will probably not be possible but we don’t want to jump the gun yet, we will just have to see what the CT scan tells us and we are are praying that the lymphoma has melted away and 6 rounds is all that will be required before going on maintenance therapy.

Brian had his chemo yesterday and is feeling relatively well this morning. He had yet another doctor’s appointment this morning with the dermatologist which is an ongoing 3-6 month visit which stems from his itchy skin he was suffering which now we know was a result of having NHL.

On the house-front, Breanne called yesterday to say that she had taken a walk to see our condo and the first floor is complete and they are now working on the second floor loft area and maybe by the weekend, the roof will be on.   We will be taking a drive over sometime this week to get some more pictures and I will post them soon.  

JANUARY 12, 2012

We have been a little remiss on writing in the blog since Christmas, so I thought I would give an update.  As is the saying, no news is good news; and with respect to Brian’s health, he is still doing amazingly well.  He has had a couple of days here and there where he has not been feeling at the top of his game, but they are just minor little things that maybe would have happened, cancer therapy or not!  We just tend to always blame it on the chemo.  Brian is booked for another CAT scan this coming Friday. The doctor says she always does a repeat CAT scan after round 3 of chemo to see how the lymphoma is responding to treatment.  Just from her palpation alone though, she says his liver and spleen have really responded well and have drastically reduced in size already.  We then go for more blood work early morning Monday and then see the doctor an hour later; with chemo round #4 slated for Tuesday.  We’re getting there, hopefully after next week, he only has 2 more rounds to go before being put on maintenance therapy. Updates are forthcoming after Tuesday’s round.

We have busily been getting the house ready to put on the market.  Brian and our neighbor, Glen, went to the dump this morning to get rid of all our old TVs and electronics and believe me the the van was packed with it all.  With the “tech world” as it is today, we certainly accumulate a lot of tech garbage when we buy to replace old technology for the new.  The house is slowly showing signs of the decluttering, especially the basement as Brian has been working diligently on that as that is where all our junk has accumulated over the years.

We will be putting our house on the market during the week of January 23rd and our hope is that we sell quickly and that it doesn’t drag on too long. The market seems reasonably good in Guelph and we feel the house will have a lot of appeal with the surrounding open fields, being a bungalow and having a full apartment in the basement.

This week they started building our new condo and they already have the first level done on all four units in just four days.  We of course have been driving over every day to see how far they have come along.  It is exciting to watch the process and hard to believe that in four months’ time we will be moving in!!  I have a few pictures I will add below. 

So that’s our update for now.  We will update again next week to report on Brian’s fourth round of chemo!  Thanks for reading!!! 

This was when the foundation was done back in October/November time frame.  We back onto the little parkette that is beside the building in the background – those condo’s are very expensive – over $600,000 – each owner has the entire floor and they have their own personal elevator!  They are quite beautiful but a little beyond our price range but it is nice to be backing onto their quiet parkette at the side and most of the people living in that building are seniors – so it should be a quite place to live – we hope!

This is our double car garage and it is hard to visualize here, but see the space at the back of the garage to the left of where the building starts, this is a 6 foot wide walkway/storage area that steps down a few steps from the garage area and you can exit out the back of the house from there too.  We have a terraced lot, so it steps down a few steps here which will also give us bigger windows at the back of the house. 

The main floor supports.  We are looking at the front of the house towards the back, the garage is the cement floor on the left; the stoned area is part of our porch at the front. 

Looking down into the basement.

The red support beam you see is where our double car garage is and although you can’t see it from this picture, right beside where you see the doorway that will lead from the garage into the house is a long 6 foot wide storage area that goes directly to the back of the house (which I mentioned above) We have tons of space in the garage because of this.  I will get further pictures this weekend and post more pictures as the condo is built.  The window to the right of the garage is where our dining room window will be.  We are really starting to get excited about it all now! 

Notice the lack of snow….we have been very fortunate so far this year – the weather has been quite baumy for mid-January.  It would be nice if it stayed that way but we know the snow will come sooner than later!

HOLTEN CEMETERY CHRISTMAS EVE

Brian’s cousin, Jennifer, just posted this on Facebook and I have to share it with everyone as this is the cemetery where Brian’s father is buried and we were just at in October. It is totally amazing what the people of Holland do in memory of all the Canadians that died in the war to give them all freedom.  They NEVER forget the sacrifices made by the Canadian Soldiers.  This is truly amazing!!  I would love to see it in person!

Happy New Year!

I just received an e.mail from a very close high school friend who shared this video with me and it is a beautiful video and rendition of Auld Lang Syne.  I just had to share it with you all.  May you all have many blessings, happiness and health in the New Year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing all our friends and family all the best in 2012. 

Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”

Luv Brian and Janet