Unofficial Day 1

So after the stupidness of our "clean day"...we did eventually make it across the boarder (minus a few car admin details) and are officially back home in Canada!!!! YIP YIP!!!

We drove as far as Delta yesterday (I know....the 1hr & 45min drive nearly did us in!) We thought since it was Shawn's Birthday we would take it easy the first day. Oh, and of course we wanted to spend some quality time with family.........And pick up our 20+ bottles of wine ;)

After shaking off the horrors of the morning, we arrived at Shawn's Brother's house for a surprise gathering filled with Family!!! It was wonderful :) 

(two different pics - see if you can spot the diff - is what happens when you don't have a tripod!)

There was also birthday cake....of course....I mean you only turn 42 once....oops!!! Sorry Shawn...was I not supposed to say??? XOXO

It was such a lovely end to a horrible day that we both said thanks for family. They make everything better. 

We want to say a huge shout out to: Mum, Dad, Phil, Andrea, Eric, Samantha, U.Den, A.Helen, Brent, Karen, Brandon, Cathy, Jason & Remi for coming out to celebrate Shawn's special day as well as to wish us well as we embark on another Perry Style Adventure. We Love You. Miss you already.

Clean Day (11 April)

O.....M.....G.....what a frick'n nightmare. What should have been a fairly easy day turned into such a drama show.

"Clean Day" should entail....cleaning (as the name gives away) and then as a renter (shoot me now, may I never rent again) the "march out" where the property manager should come in and make sure we have left the house better than we found it (We did) and give us our deposit back. Then bata bing bata boom we head to the boarder and go home.

No. That is not how it went at all. AT ALL. To start I should just let you know that our Home owners were/are very nice. BUT that is not who we have had to deal with while renting. Property Managers.....words of advice if you own property.....get references for who you have manage it.

Long story short....we drove away 3 hours later than anticipated and no returned deposit cheque in our pockets. We left that house in better condition than when we took it on. $600 worth of cleaning (Carpets & Merry Maids) and the property manager is refusing to give us our deposit back because "we weren't ready" for them to do the walk through. The carpets were still wet. Ummm.....well....excuse me, but they were just cleaned that morning...on their advice. Of course they aren't dry....sweet baby jesus. Oh, and there were weeds in the yard/garden (yes....spring finally arrived and in the last two weeks some weeds have said "hello"). Give me a break. (There is a lot more that didn't pass their greedy assessment...but if you want the full story you best come for a visit and we will pour you a glass of wine.)

So we missed the hours at the boarder office that we needed to get to so we could clear our car back into Canada. That will now have to be done at a boarder crossing in Ontario at some point so we can licence our car. The whole thing was basically a messy mess. It's still not settled, but we do now have the home owners involved, as well as some amazing neighbours/friends who have stepped in to represent on our behalf now that we have left.

So we leave the USA behind with a bitter taste in our mouths. But thankfully it is only towards Property Managers.  Lesson learned: be very detailed on your initial walk though when renting property. Take thorough note AND photo's of EVERYTHING.

OK.....that rant is over....my telling doesn't do it justice....but let me tell you.....it was one of the shittiest days that we have experience to date. Oh....and it was Shawn's Birthday. Happy Birthday Babe.

Can we start the drive already?

Before we even start the drive, we have to survive the pre-pack, pack, load and clean day.

Today was the load day.......TWELVE hours to load the truck...maybe we do own too much stuff for just two wee people?! Ok, so yes.....Shawn's bike took up a whole end section of the truck. You should have seen him watching with eagle eyes as it was loaded! :)

Here is a pic of the almost finished pack job of the bike:

By time they were done building protective bars and planks around the bike you couldn't even see it!! That baby is probably the best packed item on there!

Tomorrow the cleaners do their thing and the carpets get a good 'ol steam clean. Then....inspection by the property manager and hopefully we will be presented with our deposit.

Then for reals....the drive begins. Ok, so we are only going as far as Delta BC for the first stop. Yes, to see family....but most importantly to pick up our stash of wine we have ever so slowly been stockpiling at my In-Laws. 2 bottles here, 4 bottles there.......do you know how cheap Dom Perignon is at Costco here in the States???

Meanwhile...while all this packing, loading and cleaning is being done, we have been staying at the nicest Inn in Coupville. It's about 10 min down the road from our house, and for those of you who watch the news, it is 10 more minutes to the major land slide that CNN was all excited about.

I've attached the link so you can have a looky lou. You just never know when you might need a place in Coupville WA.

http://www.thelovejoyinn.com

So yep...that is the first three days of this adventure and we are already tired. But, tomorrow the real fun begins as we drive from one country in the morning back home to Canada. Sigh......pray for a speedy and uneventful boarder crossing.

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY To The LOVE of My Life SHAWN PERRY!!!!! (tomorrow) (I am typing this today) (Does that make sense?...) Don't say I didn't take you anywhere for your special day ;) XOXOX

The Move

The packers arrive in three days. Holy heck where did the time go?

We are pretty much ready for them. I think. We have designated what's going in the car. We have printed, copied, scanned and pulled all paper work we feel should be with us. And even the dogs (who are no longer with us as you know) have been packed in a lovely satchel to join us on one more road trip.

We are off to the NEX this afternoon for one last panic shop. We will miss no tax purchasing. Especially when headed back to Canadian prices + 15% tax.

All our hotels are booked for the drive across.

The part of moving that never gets easy are the goodbyes. I've moved every 2-5 years of my entire life. You would think I'd be good at this. I think it is actually becoming harder. Gulp.

The flip side of course is the excitement when you move back to a place you've lived before and you have family and friends there. So once the sadness of saying goodbye has subsided the happiness of seeing everyone takes over. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions.

Well, that's my page for today. (Mostly procrastinating......I have bathrooms to clean.)

Tax Time

Today's thought is in the form of a joke. I "borrowed" this from a friend's post on Facebook.

We just filed our taxes this week, so when I saw this I needed to share.

Enjoy.....hope it makes you laugh!

Happy Thursday
XO
Sarah

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Revenue Canada

At the end of the tax year, Revenue Canada office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the agent was checking the books, he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said "I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the CFO. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way? "What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they send us a free bag of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO. "Well, What do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the CFO. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the Revenue Canada office, and about once a year they send us a complete prick."

****************************************************************************************************

Tuesday's Rant

Just a quickie.....something that is close to my heart....Dogs. 

Watched a video this morning that made me cry at first and then smile. 

This is very much worth the 3 1/2 min to watch.....a happy ending from a nightmare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7A-pUe9NI&feature=player_embedded

Puppy Mills need to be stopped. Please don't buy your animals from pet stores!!!!


You have two smart choices....

1) Rescue 

2) Use A Reputable Certified Breeder.......BUT if you do go with a breeder.....please research the bajeezes out of the breeders you chose.

Tuesdays rant done.
:)
Sarah 

Time To Go Insane

I'm more of a "program" fitness person. I am motivated by deadlines and parameters. Herein lies the problem. I do a program, get fit and feel good about myself. Then.....6 months later none of my clothes fit and I feel awful. Then the hunt for a program begins again.

So far my Husband and I have both done "Body For Life" (Good results) and P90X also with good results. We have also done Weight Watchers (which by the way.....actually works!). Yes, I know WW isn't a workout program, but it certainly helps with the weight loss :)

One of the phenomenons of moving here to the States has been the weight gain. We were a little slow on the uptake and have only just recently learned to split most meals that we order in restaurants. Really, when one orders an omelette, does it really also need to come with a "Stack" of pancakes as well as toast, potatoes and a side of pig?

Needless to say we are both back up to our lounging weight and have started the latest work out craze. This is were Insanity enters the Perry Household. Please note at this point that my Husband has been told he will be participating.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/insanity.do

If you are aware of P90X then you probably know the empire know as Beachbody. Well, this is the same empire that has put out Insanity. Shaun T is the likeable trainer that will indeed put you through your paces and make you want to die. Literally.

Insanity is a 60 day workout program that does not require any equipment or a lot of space. It's all about cardio, power and the use of your core. All the workouts are also 45min and under.....this was not the case with P90X which did make the motivation a bit hard after a long day of work. With Insanity you will sweat like you have never done before and the whole time your doing the workout you will wish you hadn't had that last beer the night before. The best part of the workouts is when they are over. I will add here that before you start the program there is a Fitness Test that you do to give you your bench mark. You will then repeat this test every 2nd week so you can see how you're improving. This test made my Husband look at me with daggers in his eyes and whilst trying not to throw up he promptly told me that he wasn't going to speak to me for a few days.

Today is day 9 of 60.  Breakfast is still digesting, but my stomach is already nervous because todays workout is called "Pure Cardio". I seem to recall from last week that I nearly threw up while attempting to make it to the end of this workout. Hhhmmmm.....maybe that second coffee this morning wasn't such a good idea?

Now that we are in week two, we are starting to repeat some of the workouts. It is motivating to already see an improvement in our ability to keep up. Every time I start a work out I just tell myself to do my best and that the only person I have to impress is myself. If I give it all I have for a whole 45 min a day I will thank myself (especially when the workout is done) and will be grateful to the changes that I hope to make to my body both physically and mentally.

The main reason I wanted to blog about this is to hopefully encourage you to get your butt off the couch and do something that your body will thank you for. It doesn't have to be some insane workout that will potentially kill you if your not already in some form of half decent shape, but at least get out there for a walk and then go from there. All you have to do is start...that is the hardest part.

In case your wondering, Yes....My Husband is now speaking to me again and I think he almost smiled as he headed downstairs to do his workout today!