Wednesday, May 25, 2011

100th Post!!!

Wow! The big 1-0-0! This is my 100th post on MovingHolm! I think it's as good a time as any for a bit of reflection, which I seem to be doing a lot of these days (who am I kidding? I'm always doing this!)

Where have the past 100 posts seen me?

It was around the end of April, just over a year ago, that we started seriously discussing the option of moving, like the actual logistics involved. We were debating the pros and cons. I was wondering about my own motivations in wanting to move. I published my first post with these thoughts in my head. The first posts were all very much about moving, and packing, and saying goodbye. Saying goodbye to B.C., to Vancouver, and to all our friends and family. Looking back I can see quite clearly how apprehensive I was, but at the time, besides allowing myself to vent it in those posts, I tried to deny it. People kept telling me I'd hate it in Ontario. People kept telling me not to go. But it really was something I had to do, and something we had to experience for ourselves. Hindsight is always 20/20, my Mom always says.

Then there was the "big trip", the move itself. It seems too obvious to note that our lives changed remarkably on that trip. Of course they did. It was the transition from being there, to being here. I feel like I didn't notice it at the time, but somewhere along the way I lost who I used to be, and became this new person. It may not be all that profound, but I feel like a very different person now, nearly a year later. It may just be the house, the lack of work, the time spent reflecting, and being so far away from so many people I love, but I'm not the same person. I don't see myself in the same light, and it started on that trip.

Then we arrived in Niagara Falls, enjoyed the first several weeks as a sort of vacation, and then got onto the job hunt. Ian, of course, found something right away. I still haven't found what I'm looking for I guess. We also started appartment hunting, and going to open houses, "just for fun." Then someone suggested we see about a mortgage, even though I wasn't working and Ian was just starting a new job. So we did. We figured it wouldn't hurt to try, and they could maybe give us some direction about what we need to do to get a mortgage sooner rather than later. And then the unthinkable happened. We were approved!

So then began the house hunting. We were lucky, we found our house very quickly and knew it was the one right away. We won a bidding war, not with the highest bid, but with the best overall deal I guess. And we moved in at the end of October!

Since then, my blog has focused mainly on the house, settling in here, and looking for work. Sadly, there hasn't been much progress on any of this.

The house is coming along, but with the lack of work also comes a lack of money, so house projects are on the backburner while we pay for groceries, the mortgage, and utility bills much higher than what we were used to.

In the meantime, I've been keeping myself busy with a number of hobbies. I figured if I have time to do them, and enjoy them, I should. Sadly, they are affected by the money issue also, but I'm trying to work with what I've got. I've done a bit of cooking and baking, a bit of sewing, a bit of painting, a bit of drawing, a bit of scrapbooking, and a bit of writing. It's funny though, I feel a bit like the retiree who looks forward to retiring so they can pursue their interests, only to find out they're really not very good at them! But I do still enjoy it anyways, so I guess that's something.

I've also been researching my family tree recently and I've had a lot of fun doing that. I just got an email from a relative in Sweden, with some information about a branch of the tree that I was having difficulties finding information on!

So, where do we go from here?

Well, we're going to start with a haircut. It's been a long time coming. This is before. Please excuse the slightly blurry mirror selfie, and here's another half cut-off shot of a hairstyle I'd been trying lately.


And here's the brand new me! What do you think? It was an inexpensive haircut, but it sure made me miss my two favourite hair dressers of all time!

And now, to celebrate my 100th posts, I have some questions for you:

Who are you, why are you reading this blog, and what would you like to see in the future?

Leave a comment here, letting me know what you think. In addition, I'd be really interested to know what you've liked reading about, and what you'd like to see less of! And to thank you for your honest comments and your continued support, I'd like to send you a thank-you card! Like a real one, in the mail! So if you leave your email address, I'll email you to get your home address (if I don't already have it), and then I'll send you a thank you card! For real!!!

Cheers to 100 more!

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