House Tour -Chancery's Room

We have settled into our house in the last month, & are to the point that we have almost stopped shuffling furniture around... almost!  So, I figured it was time to show you some pictures.  We're going to take is slowly.  I'm only going to show you one room at a time, & today I am going to show you Chancery's room.

 This is looking straight ahead from the doorway into Chancery's room.  It is considerably smaller than her room in PEI was, & she is working on learning how to keep her small space clean.  It can be very difficult when you just want to play with ALL the toys!  We got rid of her bed in PEI which had lots of drawers built-in, & now she has Asher's old bunkbed.  At least it's tall enough to fit tote boxes under!

At the end of the bed is a dollhouse & her closet.  Thankfully we have numerous bookshelves, & we had one that fit perfectly between her closet & washroom door to hold some of her toys! 

Chancery's bookshelves are full to capacity.  She is making the transition from kids books to chapter books.  There are so many old favourites it's hard to know which ones to get rid of!  Just to the left of the dresser is the door again!

The door you see here leads into a washroom that the kids share.

  It is only accessible through their rooms, & they are learning to share, & remember to unlock both doors when they are done!  There is a shower, but no bathtub which isn't ideal (it means they want to use MY bathtub!), but it works!

It's Been Quiet Around Here!

...because my life has become chaotic!  Our moving truck finally arrived 5 days after we had first expected it,

but apparently something had gotten missed from head office to the moving men, because they didn't know they were supposed to assemble any furniture as had been promised in our contract.  We have been talking to head office for several days, & they have been doing their best to work with the crew here to get things done, but alas, it was not meant to be.  Now, after sleeping on mattresses on the floor for nearly a week, we have been told a NEW crew was hired & will come tomorrow to assemble the beds, couches, desk, shelving units, & jewelry cabinet.  We were starting to take bets on what would come first, our internet provider, or the furniture assembly crew.  Well, they are both coming tomorrow!

In the meantime my parents have come back up & been helping me go through each & every box to check the contents for damage.  I have to commend the kitchen guy who packed all of our things in PEI.  He did a great job, & there were only 2 broken kitchen items.  If only the rest of his crew had taken lessons from him!  I think a pack of monkeys might have done about as good a job packing some of these boxes!

Once we have all the furniture put together I can get started on putting everything where it is supposed to go, though we have discovered that our house has no coat closets!  None by the front door, none by the garage, not even a linen closet!  I know what I'm going to look for in our next house!  Then, once I have furniture, & stuff where it goes, I will be able to go buy groceries! and various things from Costco & Walmart to help us organize our closetless house!  And I will have internet, & I can put my computer together on a desk!  And then I will join the real world once again.  Until then you can find me carrying various items through my house with a crazed look on my face muttering, "Now where should this go?"  Visitors are welcome, especially if you come bearing Starbucks!

We Have A House!

We have a HOUSE!

Sorry, it just takes a bit for it to really sink in!  We sold our house in PEI in August, & January 1st we got the keys to our BC house!  We had a group of people from the church come & help clean.  We washed all the walls & cupboards, tubs, showers, & stoves (they were gross!)  We had requested for our household goods to arrive January 2, but that didn't happen, so instead we did some touch-up painting.

We did a few coats even since there are 2 very similar taupe colours (light & dark), we picked the light one & put it on the dark wall, discovered that was wrong, then painted the darker colour everywhere, only to find that the first room was the only dark room, so we had to repaint most of the spots again with the lighter colour! Phew!

I have been in touch with the moving company trying to get a date of when our stuff is coming (we are eager to make our house our HOME!), but unfortunately living at the top of a cul-de-sac has its drawbacks.  A big moving truck can't fit, so they have to put all our stuff in 2 smaller trucks, so now it's supposed to come on the 7th.  Hopefully there are no further delays, but hey, it's been 5 months already.  What's another few days?

Christmas With The Folks

Living in BC has a few perks.  One big one is that we are only 4 hours from my parents.  So, for the first time in 9 years, we got to spend the holidays together!  We headed down on Christmas day, & had a nice meal around the dining room table on china plates, & crystal, complete with wine for the adults, & sparkling cider (for me, the kids don't like sparkly drinks)!

On Boxing day we opened our gifts, & the kids were delighted about the cereal tradition that lives on!

 Who wouldn't be excited about Christmas Crunch?

 Chancery was excited about getting the entire boxed set of Roald Dahl books.  "I love these books!"

PChad got some London Tea.  It's always a bit of an experiment if the tea will be any good.  Last year I got him some really cute tins of tea & the tea in them was gross, but the tins were super cute!  Hopefully this box is good tea!

Asher opened Inside out, which we have seen a few times & is a very fitting film for our family in the midst of our transition. 

This was the highlight of the day.  Grandma opened a gift card to a restaurant & the card said, "Will you go on a date with me?"

Grandma replied, "Yes I will!"

To which Asher replied, "It's not from me!  It's from Grandpa!"

On Sunday we went to my parents church, & the new pastor there is a friend of ours from seminary.  Pastor Jacob's wife, Kami, is one of my best friends.  She & I were pregnant with our first kids at the same time, & got to spend the first year of being new moms together.  After church they came to my parents house for lunch & we spent the afternoon catching up & enjoying each others' company.  We do not get a chance to see each other very often, so it was nice to get to be together most of the day.

Monday we all headed up to an extended family Christmas celebration with cousins from near & far.  My cousin from Hawaii was visiting with her son, as well as a lot of local cousins, & we had a nice evening despite not playing a single round of Dutch Blitz.  We must be getting older!

Then Grandma & Grandpa left with Asher & Chancery to go back home, & PChad & I went back to BC.  Grandma & Grandpa had always said they wanted to spend more time with the grandkids, so we let them have them for a whole week!

Christmas Letter 2015

This has been an EPIC year for our little family.  It all started with snow, & more snow until Prince Edward Island broke the all time snow record & got 18 feet of snow!  The kids had fun in it, I had fun looking at it from inside the house with a cup of coffee, but I don't think PChad had fun snowblowing it!

We had a long winter full of snow which lasted us right up 'til April!  PChad has been doing an Executive Masters which means lots of travelling to Paris & London, & I got to join him for one of his weeks in London!  Now, when I say I joined him, what I really mean is that we flew together, then he went to Oxford for the week, & I gallivanted all around London visiting friends & shopping, then we met back up at the end of the week & flew back to PEI together!

April was also my Dad's 70th birthday, & my brothers & I few out to Seattle to surprise him!  It was awesome to get together for a few days.  We also had a breakfast together with a bunch of Aunts & Uncles & cousins we had not seen for a few years.

PChad received & accepted a call to a church in B.C., with a move at the end of the summer.  We knew we had to take full advantage of our last PEI summer, so we hit the beach as often as the weather allowed!

At the beginning of August we packed up, & headed across the country.  We decided to take our time & visit family along the way, which made of an EPIC 3 week road trip!

We stopped at both of my brothers' places, Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, met my parents for a weekend at my Uncle's ranch, & Chad's parents house!

We arrived in BC just as they were having a huge windstorm that caused a 2 day power outage.  Thankfully we had a lovely couple from church to stay with & they took good care of us.  We housesat for the first almost 3 months living in BC, & looked for a house to buy.  We found one really close to the church, but it was being rented & we had to give a full 2 months notice to the renters.  Unfortunately, that means we couldn't get into our house until January, so we are now renting a duplex with furniture donations from church people.  So, for the last 4 months, we have been 'camping' as I like to call it.  ("Sorry kids, we can't bake Christmas cookies, we're camping!  Everyone knows you don't bake cookies when you're camping!")  The kids have learned to adapt to our transient lifestyle quite well, but I think we are all ready to be in our own place with our own things.  When we packed for this adventure it was July, & we never anticipated we'd be without all of our household belongings this long.  Thankfully we packed a few sweaters & long sleeved shirts as it has been a bit chilly, & we have even had a tiny sprinkling of snow!  Now that we live only 4 hours from my parents, we are taking full advantage & spending a few days with them over Christmas!  It's been 9 years since we celebrated Christmas together & we are really looking forward to it!

My address book is in the moving truck, so this is as close to a Christmas card as it's going to get this year...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Idle Threats

Last night PChad had a meeting, so I put the kids to bed.  Asher knows that once he's in bed, he needs to be quiet, & if he calls out we usually ignore him because he will just keep talking if he knows he has a willing audience.  So, when a few minutes later I heard him calling for me, I did not answer.

He was persistent though, & after awhile decided to change tactics, "Mummy!  Are you being rude & ignoring me? ... Mu-mmy!  Well, I guess I will just have to turn my light on & read then!"

(We have also discussed that he may not read at night, & have removed his bedside lamp because the temptation was just too great)

"I'm going to read now, & I might just read all night!"

I wasn't too concerned that he would actually do it because he knows he'd be in big trouble.  But after a few more minutes he couldn't take it any longer.  He came out of his room to tell me, "My arm really itches & I need some lotion!"

Grocery Store Prices

After 3 months of living in BC & always wondering if the "closer, more convenient" (Save-On) grocery store was THAT much more expensive than the "seems cheaper, but farther away" (Superstore) store I decided it was time to make a list.  And make a list I DID!  I wrote a big list of the regular type things that I buy from the store, sometimes I get these groceries from Costco since it is so much closer than when we lived in PEI, but here's what I found...

On my list was:

Broccoli
Cranberry Juice
Veggie Juice
Dr Pepper
Milk
Coffee Creamer
Pilsbury Biscuits
Eggs
Butter
Margarine
Yoghurt
Magnum Ice Cream Bars
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cream Cheese
Bread
Bagels
Coffee
Coffee Filters
Tortilla Chips
Salsa
Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Ketchup
Soup for Cooking (cream of mushroom)
Soup for eating (Italian Wedding)
Pasta Sauce
Butter Chicken Sauce
Oatmeal
Granola
Peanut Butter
Nutella

I compared the same sized items, & priced according to the brand I would normally pick if I was shopping at that store.  I only put the full price of the item on the list so I wasn't comparing sale prices  I then added all the prices as if I had bought one of each item at both stores & compared the final cost.

The results were...

Save-On-Foods (with 6 store brand items)  $203.04

SuperStore (with 5 store brand items)  $168.64

Individually, the only items cheaper at Save-On were bread & broccoli.  I did not compare other produce, but I'd be interested to know if that is cheaper.  I don't really like the selection at Save-On for produce though...  I was shocked at some of the price differences!

Brown Sugar       Superstore $4.98          Save-On  $6.49
Peanut Butter      Superstore $8.97          Save-On  $11.88
Salsa                    Superstore $6.99         Save-On $12.89

I'll still shop the flyers since I know Save-On have good sales on some of my regular items (Magnum Ice Cream Bars!), but I definitely will aim for Superstore more often now!

Three Things...

It's been a busy few weeks, so just for fun, I decided to do this fill-in. 

Three names I go by
1 Sherilyn
2 Mum
3 Chad's Wife

Three places I lived
1 Poulsbo, WA
2 London, England
3 Charlottetown, PEI

Three places I have worked
1 Solicitors' Office
2 Western Retail Store
3 Doctors' Office

Three things I love to watch
1 The 100
2 Orphan Black
3 The Chicago Fire, PD, & Med shows :)

Three places I have been
1 Israel
2 Newfoundland
3 Greece

Three things I love to eat
1 Pizza
2 Brownies
3 Shrimp Cocktail

Three things I am looking forward to
1 Christmas with my parents for the first time in 13 years
2 Moving into our own house after 5 months of temporary housing
3 Summer!

The End Is In Sight!

I've had a few people ask about what's been going on in our lives, so I figured it was time to post an update.  Life has been a bit hectic & chaotic to say the least.  Last weekend we moved out of the place we had been house-sitting since the owners were coming back home this week.  We were very fortunate to be able to stay there for nearly 3 months, & initially when we began our move we had figured by this time we would be moving into a house of our own.  However, the house we ended up buying had renters in it, & we needed to give them 2 months notice to vacate the premises.  Unfortunately, that left us with about 6 weeks with no place to live. We put out the word that we were looking for a place in the meantime, & through church connections we managed to find a 3 bedroom duplex to rent, & church people have donated furniture for us to use since our things are all in storage!

We are thankful that everything has worked out, but this time of transition has not been easy for the kids.  They are adjusting to a new school, new friends, new church, & their normal routine has gone out the window.  PChad & I are trying to maintain as much normalcy as we can, but there's always the occasional thing that comes up, & while it's not so difficult for us to deal with, the kids occasionally have little meltdowns.  I made the mistake of bringing the kids to the grocery store after school the other day, & they did not have as much time to play at home as they wanted, & dinner was a sad, sad time.  If you have seen the movie "Inside Out", you will understand that my kids wanted to lay on the floor like a blob, & just disappear.

I have been filling my days trying to do normal boring things like laundry & cooking, & also trying to do as much as I can to get things set up for our new house.  Making sure we have electricity & heat when we move in, so we don't actually need to lay on the floor like blobs under a pile of blankets just to stay warm.  (We did move into a house once in November & were without heat for a week, it was not fun).  Getting the vehicles inspected so they can be registered & insured.  Some of this stuff has to wait until we are in our new place so we have an address (you can't have a drivers' license without a home address on it).  I have started making a list of all the things I will be able to do once we have a permanent address again: library cards, Nexus cards, Provincial healthcare, Order new checks from the bank.  It will be so exciting!

So, we get our new house January 1, & all of our things come in the moving truck January 2.  The kids go back to school after Christmas on the 4th, & my parents are going to come up & help me to unpack all the boxes while the kids are in school.

Before we left PEI the kids were so excited for this move.  Asher was 2 years old & Chancery was 6 weeks when we came to PEI.  They kept saying, "This time when we move we'll remember it!"  I dare say they will never forget it!  At dinner the other night we were talking about how I had decided that I'd like to marry a farmer so I would never have to move, & then we were counting all the houses each of us had lived in, & how sometimes what we plan doesn't work out, but it's ok because God knows, & his plans are better.  For those of you who are curious, by the time we move into our house here...

Chancery - 7 Years old
- 1 Country
- 3 Provinces
- 4 Schools
- 5 Houses

Asher - 9 Years old
- 2 Countries
- 4 Provinces & 1 State
- 4 Schools
- 7 Houses

PChad - 35 Years old
- 3 Countries
- 4 Provinces & 2 States
- 6 Schools
- 16 Houses/Moves

Sherilyn - 36 years
- 3 Countries
- 4 Provinces & 4 States
- 4 Schools (PChad went enough for both of us!)
- 18 Houses/Moves

The Butterfly Princess & The Robot

I realize I am nearly 2 weeks late with the kids' pictures of Halloween.  It's been a busy time.  My parents came to visit, my computer crashed, & it's been hectic around here!  Better late than never!

 Chancery wanted her wings this way, but they kept bonking her in the head, so we snapped a picture, then turned them over.

And every butterfly princess wears cowgirl boots!

Asher decided to be a robot, but he also kept asking for a sword.  We compromised on a lightsaber.  Of course a robot walking in puddles would be an issue, so he wore rubber boots.  Pretty smart, eh?

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating.  They got more candy than they needed once again, but they were willing to share with PChad & I, so everyone was happy!

Beach Blondes & Spring Fling -review

Beach Blondes is a book about a girl named Summer from Minnesota who goes down to Florida to stay with her cousin for the summer before her last year of high school.  On her flight she meets a woman who does a tarot card reading & tells Summer that she will meet 3 guys, one is a mystery, one is dangerous, & one is the right one.  Chaos ensues as she tries to determine which one is which.  This was an enjoyable book, a slight deviation from what I normally read as it was about 17 year olds rather than adults.

After I finished reading Beach Blondes I realized there were more books in the series, so I picked up 'Tan Lines' which is about the second summer, but as I started reading the book, it kept referring to things that had happened over Spring Break.  I realized I had the 'Spring Break' book, so I checked it out.  Here's where I started getting confused.  According to the publishing dates, the order is:
1. Beach Blondes (1995)
2. Tan Lines (1996)
3. Spring Break (1996)
4. Sun-Kissed Christmas (2010)

I don't have the Christmas book, but the Spring Break book refers to things that happened over Christmas, so I assume she decided to go back later & write those books to fill in what had happened.


When I was reading Spring Break there were several pop-culture references that didn't line up with the publishing dates.  The book was first published in 1996, then re-published in 2010.  They listed several bands which had not formed yet in 1996, & they referred to Heath Ledger having died.  What I don't understand is why the author felt the need to try to update some of these notes in the book.  The new bands & references didn't mesh well with the other things happening in the book, & it made me not enjoy it as much.  True, the book itself never states what year it is, but usually a publishing date will let you know that the book is written about that year or earlier.  I probably would have enjoyed these books better if I read them before they were re-published & had things changed.

Hard Choices

My parents are up visiting for a few days, & today while we were out & about we stopped to have lunch at Tim Hortons.  Just after we had gotten our food as we were bowing our heads to pray, a man came up to us & said, "Please could you buy me some food? I have not eaten in 2 days."

At first we said no.  We didn't have any cash or change with us, then I thought about how we were bowing our heads to pray, thanking God for the food we have while this man is asking for a meal.  I got out my credit card & went after the man to tell him I'd buy him some lunch.  At that point he was at another table asking another woman for some food.  She was reaching into her purse as I came up to him & said, "I'll buy you something."

The man replied, "She's going to give me some money."

The lady said, "I only have about a dollar."

"That's ok," he said to both of us, "she's giving me some money, you don't need to buy me anything."

Funny how if he hadn't eaten in 2 days he was happy only getting $1 rather than having a meal bought for him!

New Groups

Every time we move, I try to find a new Bible Study group to join.  Sometimes the new church we are in has one, & sometimes they don't.  When they don't, I peruse the area churches online & see what they have going on.  This morning I went to a church about 20 minutes away, & as I had been warned beforehand, the group consisted of 10 ladies who were at least twice my age.  Every single one of these ladies had an accent, mostly Dutch.

When I came in the room, they greeted me & then told me what normally happens.  "We sing a song, & read the Bible, then we have coffee & snacks.  After that we do the devotion, then we sing again & have more coffee!"  Very formal, but you know what to expect!

I thoroughly enjoyed the study & company of the women, but what really made me smile was after our second round of coffee, one of the women beside me was telling about how she had bumped her leg at the doctor's office last week, & before she knew it she had  exclaimed, "Potverdekke!"  Then she had to apologize to the doctor for saying it even though he had no idea what she had said.  I don't know many Dutch words, but I knew that one!

Asher's Boredom Buster...

The kids have no school today, & apparently during quiet time, Asher got bored.  He came to me afterwards & asked me to take a video...

Bartholomew Cubbins has met his match!

Crossing the Border

There is a long-standing breakfast meeting which is held in the tiny town that my Dad is from.  Every Wednesday my Aunts & Uncles, & occasionally some Great Aunts & Uncles get together for breakfast in a private room which the restaurant keeps ready for them.  My parents often come up to join them, then visit my Grandma afterwards.  Since we now live within an hour, I figured it was time to join them (& get a free breakfast!).

I dropped the kids off at school, then headed towards the border.  Despite the rain & a bit of road construction, I arrived right on time, & even beat my parents to the restaurant!  It was great to get to see some of my extended family, & I look forward to being able to make it for family get-togethers & holiday celebrations.

After breakfast my parents & I headed to Grandma's to visit for a little bit.  Grandma doesn't always remember who you are, but I love that she still has her sense of humour.  She was sitting in the chair & her feet were peeking out of the blanket.  "They are worn out," she said.

"What are, your socks, your feet, or your shoes?" my mom asked.

"All of them," Grandma replied with a little smile.

"You have been dancing too much!" I said.

Grandma turned to me quickly, & shushed me.  I guess that's her little secret that no one's supposed to know about!

After visiting Grandma, the tree of us made a quick stop at Starbucks, then I headed back home.  It was nice to take a little break from house-hunting, but I had a few appointments to see some more that I had to get back for.