- Preparing the house for sale - We want to get the most possible for our house here in Ajax. So we have some winter-time wallpaper stripping and painting to do, a few other minor improvements to make along with the regular spring maintenance jobs of painting the deck, re-sealing the driveway, and gardening.
- Downsizing - We will be moving into a smaller living space - a condo. So much has to go. When you have been in a house for 24 years, you accumulate a lot of stuff. It will be a challenge. This will be an ongoing project that will gain momentum as the year progresses. One sub-project is to scan to my computer 12 slide carousels full of slides! I have been meaning to do this for a few years but never managed to find the time. I started yesterday and I will keep working away at it. Just think - all those slides will fit on a small external hard drive! Anyone know what I can do with those empty slide trays?
- Travel plans for 2012 - we want to finish our exploration of the east coast of Canada before we head west. We are planning to go to PEI/Cape Breton/Newfoundland this summer. That will also complete my geocaching map. I will have found geocaches in all 10 provinces. That will leave just the territories. I am also planning to finish my Ontario county geocaching map. That will lead to a spring-time trip to Moosonee on the Polar Bear Express.
- Finishing my certificate in adult education - I have done 5 of 6 courses towards this certification, with one elective left to complete. Starting "Performance Consulting" at George Brown College this evening.
- Selling our house - Planned for the spring, when the garden is in full bloom.
- Purchasing our new home in Canmore - The real exciting part!! That will probably happen in late spring.
- Training Mum to play Scrabble on the computer. This is the one thing Mum and I have in common. Mum is upset about our planned relocation and she is going to miss me a lot and miss our regular Scrabble Games. I hope to get her comfortable with using a mouse and playing Scrabble on one of the computers in the library at her new Amica home, so that once we have moved, we can continue to play on a regular basis over the internet. There is hope, as she has just become a huge fan of Wi bowling. In addition to that, I will make plans for Mum to visit soon after we have moved and again around Christmas time. I had planned to bring her out with me last fall, just a few weeks after her heart attack. She was approved to fly on West Jet with a personal assistant (like my sister) who would qualify for a free ticket.
- Losing it - I have decided to work harder than ever at the annual weight loss project. Goal: 3 pounds per month x 9 months = 27 lbs. Every year I worry that when I come to go skiing, my ski pants will not fit. Well they do, but just barely. They are so tight that when I bend over to do up my ski boots, I just about pass out! I refuse to buy bigger ones. I have drawn a line I do not want to cross. I am so looking forward to the next ski season and my pants fitting comfortably. Stay tuned! After one month, I am on track ......... minus three. But I no it will get really, really tough.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Projects
Planning to move to Canmore in the fall of this year has spawned a number of major projects that will make 2012 a very busy and exciting year from the get-go:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Where Did This Begin - Part II
I realized I forgot a couple of significant pieces in the "Where Did It Begin Story." In 2005, I was being coached by my good friend Joanne McLean. Part of the coaching project involved me envisioning where I wanted to be in 10 years time, if there were no obstacles to realizing my dream. My vision placed me living in the rockies, in a lovely log home. Another step in the process was to transform my vision into action steps and plot them on a timeline. Moving out west was scheduled for - you guessed it, 2012! However, there is a lot of ground to cover between visioning and bringing that vision to life. When I realized we just were not going to have enough money to buy a few acres with a log home on it in the rockies, I gave up on that and looked at other possibilities, like purchasing property in the Mt. Tremblant area. But when Colin and I visited Mark in Dec. 2009 to go skiing, on the last day we went for a walk from Mark's apartment to his place of work, the Banff Springs Hotel. By the time we had walked there and walked around a bit, it was going to be tight to walk back and get to the airport on time so we took a taxi back.
The taxi driver was a friendly, talkative fellow with long grey hair tied in a pony tail. Talk turned to how much he enjoyed living out west. I asked him, "Do you live in Banff?" wondering how he could afford that. He answered that yes, he did live in Banff. He and his wife lived in a small apartment, but he added with much enthusiasm, "this is my backyard" sweeping his hand around to encompass the beautiful mountain scenery. At that point, the lightbulb went off in my head that we too could afford to live in the rockies if we lived in a condo. If I walked the talk and lived in a compact, walkable neighbourhood, I could very well live in the land of my dreams! On my next visit to Banff, I made a point of touring a condo in Canmore to see if I could adapt to a condo after living in a single family home for the last 30+ years. I looked out the large living room windows at the most beautiful view of the mountains that YES I COULD!
The taxi driver was a friendly, talkative fellow with long grey hair tied in a pony tail. Talk turned to how much he enjoyed living out west. I asked him, "Do you live in Banff?" wondering how he could afford that. He answered that yes, he did live in Banff. He and his wife lived in a small apartment, but he added with much enthusiasm, "this is my backyard" sweeping his hand around to encompass the beautiful mountain scenery. At that point, the lightbulb went off in my head that we too could afford to live in the rockies if we lived in a condo. If I walked the talk and lived in a compact, walkable neighbourhood, I could very well live in the land of my dreams! On my next visit to Banff, I made a point of touring a condo in Canmore to see if I could adapt to a condo after living in a single family home for the last 30+ years. I looked out the large living room windows at the most beautiful view of the mountains that YES I COULD!
Monday, January 2, 2012
When Did This Begin?
When I was seven years old and living in England, my friend's family was considering emmigrating to Canada. They brought over brochures to show us that featured.... mountains, mounties, and indians! That was my understanding of Canada. Imagine my disappointment when we got to Toronto in 1964 and there were none of the aforementioned in sight!
Twenty years later, in 1984, I made my first visit to Alberta, spending a glorious two weeks in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, with my first husband Jim(Mark's Dad), visiting Banff and Lake Lousie and Jasper, hiking and going on one of my most memorable adventures - a three day trail ride along the Skyline Trail near Jasper. I fell in love with the mountains. My next visit was 16 years later in 2000 - a ski trip to Sunshine and Lake Louise with two of my work colleagues. I couldn't wait to come back and bring Mark back with me to experience skiing in a big mountain setting! That happened two years later as Mark (age 16) and I met up with my good friend Lesley and four of her skiing friends, all from England. We both loved it of course and I tentatively watched Mark start off to ski his first double black diamond. Little did I realize what the future would hold!
In 2004, Mark headed off to New Zealand to study outdoor adventure tourism for two years, coming back with his Level 1 ski instructors. In the fall of 2006, he drove out to Banff to work his first season as a ski instuctor/guide for SkiBig3. Now that he is the Outdoor Activities Manager with the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, he is permanently residing there year-round.
After I had been single for five years, I was thinking about selling the house and moving out West. Mark was just finishing up high school and I was really feeling the urge to finally make the move. Then I met Colin! I explained to him my urge to move west, and he thought that would be great after his two boys had finished high school. After another seven years, we are there! In November 2010, I visited Canmore and knew it was the town I would like to move to. Colin and I both visited in January 2011 and met with a former high school acquaintance of Colin's, Brad Hawker, who is now a real estate broker in Canmore. How exciting that was! He set us up with a website to view appropriate listings and that quickly became my favourite past-time, whenever updates came in. In July 2011, Colin and visited again and toured through other communities between Calgary and Vancouver. We were then absolutely sure of the Canmore move.
We have decided to move in the fall of 2012. But the project begins now, in January, as we spruce up our house in Ajax by stripping off the remaining wallpaper and doing some painting, with the plan to put the house on the market in the spring. That will also include a lot of downsizing activity as we anticipate having less living space in a townhouse or condo (no more crawl space.... yeah!) We will also focus on finishing up our exploration of the East Coast this summer visiting Newfoudland, the Cabot Trail, and PEI. I want to complete my geocaching map of Ontario by doing the remaining 13 counties. That will include a trip to Moosonee on the Polar Bear Express. Colin and I will stay out east to ski this season. Colin has never skiied at LeMassif. We are heading off on Jan 7th to ski a day at Tremblant, a day at Mt Ste. Anne, and two or three days at LeMassif.
It is going to be an exciting year!
Twenty years later, in 1984, I made my first visit to Alberta, spending a glorious two weeks in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, with my first husband Jim(Mark's Dad), visiting Banff and Lake Lousie and Jasper, hiking and going on one of my most memorable adventures - a three day trail ride along the Skyline Trail near Jasper. I fell in love with the mountains. My next visit was 16 years later in 2000 - a ski trip to Sunshine and Lake Louise with two of my work colleagues. I couldn't wait to come back and bring Mark back with me to experience skiing in a big mountain setting! That happened two years later as Mark (age 16) and I met up with my good friend Lesley and four of her skiing friends, all from England. We both loved it of course and I tentatively watched Mark start off to ski his first double black diamond. Little did I realize what the future would hold!
In 2004, Mark headed off to New Zealand to study outdoor adventure tourism for two years, coming back with his Level 1 ski instructors. In the fall of 2006, he drove out to Banff to work his first season as a ski instuctor/guide for SkiBig3. Now that he is the Outdoor Activities Manager with the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, he is permanently residing there year-round.
After I had been single for five years, I was thinking about selling the house and moving out West. Mark was just finishing up high school and I was really feeling the urge to finally make the move. Then I met Colin! I explained to him my urge to move west, and he thought that would be great after his two boys had finished high school. After another seven years, we are there! In November 2010, I visited Canmore and knew it was the town I would like to move to. Colin and I both visited in January 2011 and met with a former high school acquaintance of Colin's, Brad Hawker, who is now a real estate broker in Canmore. How exciting that was! He set us up with a website to view appropriate listings and that quickly became my favourite past-time, whenever updates came in. In July 2011, Colin and visited again and toured through other communities between Calgary and Vancouver. We were then absolutely sure of the Canmore move.
We have decided to move in the fall of 2012. But the project begins now, in January, as we spruce up our house in Ajax by stripping off the remaining wallpaper and doing some painting, with the plan to put the house on the market in the spring. That will also include a lot of downsizing activity as we anticipate having less living space in a townhouse or condo (no more crawl space.... yeah!) We will also focus on finishing up our exploration of the East Coast this summer visiting Newfoudland, the Cabot Trail, and PEI. I want to complete my geocaching map of Ontario by doing the remaining 13 counties. That will include a trip to Moosonee on the Polar Bear Express. Colin and I will stay out east to ski this season. Colin has never skiied at LeMassif. We are heading off on Jan 7th to ski a day at Tremblant, a day at Mt Ste. Anne, and two or three days at LeMassif.
It is going to be an exciting year!
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