The Beginning

Thought I'd give everyone a little too much information about life in Canada, week1. Hope you don't get too bored! It got really long.

TJ and I arrived in Mississauga last Sunday and spent the night with Linda and Hugh. Michelle, Geoff, Abby and Lesley were all there for dinner that night and we crashed hard because we were so tired. Oh yea, it was cold too. No, really cold not just freezing cold. The dogs lived in the condo for two nights and were realy city dogs getting to ride on the elevator and walked on a leash to go to the bathroom every time. They did however love the lake and all the ducks and geese in the lake. Sadie thought this must be the reason she spent 3 days in a dog box in a car!

The movers came on Tuesday, we claimed our "stuff" at customs and had no problems! $65 later we were on the way to the house. Linda came over to help clean and unpack and then Cheryl (her husband Edward works with TJ) came over to help as well. Linda bailed before lunch and Cheryl stayed until dinner. She was amazing. She opend and unloaded boxes and basically forced me to put stuff away. We gladly took her to dinner that night with us and all ate well and slept well, in our new house among the boxes. Dogs still getting the leash bathroom due to incomplete fencing in the backyard. Oh yea, TJ "had" to work this day and made a 3 hour drive to Sarnia and flew home that evening. You can imagine my delight at that situation. Weather: It snowed lightly most of the day but the sun did shine too.

Wed. more unpacking. Cheryl came over and helped all day! What a trooper. TJ stayed home and did man stuff, moving boxes from here to there and taking empty boxes outside which was very helpful. We went through a lot of stuff. Out to dinner again that night. Weather: sunny and high 20'sF for any Canadians.

Thursday I chilled! TJ worked. Cheryl stayed at her hotel and read. We went to dinner that night to let Edward pay off his bet against LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Great French restaurant in west Toronto. Slept like babies again that night. Weather: more sun more 20's

Friday, I tried to get the boxes out of my master bedroom and unloaded some of the upstairs. Got somewhat organized. Cheryl and I went out and bought some new lighting for the kitchen, temp fencing for the backyard for the dogs, other sundries. As if there weren't enough to deal with. I COOKED DINNER at home that night.

Sat. TJ woke up at 6 with an upset stomach, I think I should not cook at home anymore, he spent the better part of the day groaning and moaning. Low grade fever. Great, just what we need, the flu. Maybe it was just food poisoning, lunch? We did manage to get a lot done around the house though. The goal is to not have any boxes on the main floor by the end of the weekend. 2 boxes to go! It started snowing in the afternoon and is still snowing. It is very pretty and I have realized that the good news is that when it snows it is not that cold, 28.

Observations: No garbage disposal, ugh. Some list of stuff I am supposed to compost and put in a green bin. UGH. We have a green bin, a grey bin, and a blue bin, still trying to figure out what goes where.
Doing laundry is a challenge. The glass doors that close off the washer and dryer are very wide and the way things are situated laundry goes something like this. Slide doors all the way to cover the dryer, put wash in washer. Close doors. Open again to unload wash into laundry basket because the doors cover the dryer and you can't get to it, slide doors to other side and put clothes in dryer. Meanwhile if you are doing multiple loads you would put the wash in the washer while the doors were on the dryer side. UGH! These things are not disclosed on the buyer sheet! How did these people live with this all these years???Plans are in the making for a better system. There has to be one.

It does seem that everything up here takes about 5 more steps to get done than it does in the states. One reason these Canadians are sturdy people.

The people around here have been nice so far. Have met neighbors on both sides and across the street. A variety of people, young and old. Very nice though. I still like the area, it is very pretty and I can only imagine that it will be beautiful in the spring and summer.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of the Canada Chronicles, stay tuned for more as life develops. You can unsuscribe by pressing delete when you get these emails.

Love to all,
Lisa