Happiness has an address...

and it's on Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo! We had a lovely surprise last Tuesday when we went to the lawyer's with final payment for the house - ahead of settlement date on Thursday. As everything was fairly straightforward and previous owners had already moved out, we were given the keys around 5pm. It was very exciting as we thought we still had two more sleeps before moving. We took over some of our things but couldn't stay as we had nothing to sleep on. Rearranged delivery of the new sofa bed for Wednesday and since then have taken up full-time residence.

Our first night was a bit interrupted because of some strange noises which the fearless head of the household perceived to be an intruder. We both got up and made more noise to ferret him out! I realized next morning that it was the sound of the sheets of paper I'd taped to the bathroom windows (in lieu of curtains) which were flapping in the breeze through the partly open window. It does take a while to get used to the sights and sounds of a new house. Needless to say, I've found a few pieces of fabric which work great as temporary curtains, and don't make any noise, until we figure out what to do on those windows.

The first morning we were up early (easy because we hadn't slept very well anyway, being on burglar alert and all) to watch the sunrise and the first ferry heading out for Vancouver. We see about 20 ferry movements in and out of the bay each day, along with all of the sea planes coming and going. It's a wonderful spot. I can stand at the kitchen sink and watch all of this activity too which is nice - not that I'm at the kitchen sink all that often, but I could be.

We also have a great vantage on the front deck to watch the deer decide which of the plants they will devour for their next meal. So far they have left our garden alone but seem to like the berry bushes which are on our property line. There are such things as deer resistant plants - resistant only because apparently when they are hungry, they will eat just about anything. Thankfully the back yard is fenced so it should be okay.

The deer in the middle pulled up short when he spied the garden gnome - I had moved it from its original position to somewhere less obvious (pending complete removal from the garden). After checking it out, he decided to go the other way - maybe the gnome should stay?

I'm so excited in this house to finally have some of the little extra and luxuries I have always thought would be nice (such as remote controlled rope lights all around the deck railing no less). We've been watching lots of the house and garden TV channels and there are shows featuring young couples looking for their first home and whining that there are no granite countertops or they can't live without double sinks in the master ensuite. Makes me just a bit crazy! Maybe we are just late bloomers! I've already lost the fight with the double oven and trying to make it work - never mastered my oven in Bateau Bay either! This time, I'm determined to do better so reading the manual is on my to do list.

Our morning coffee and evening wine chairs.

The ballroom.

Kitchen...obviously.

and the other side of the kitchen...

We've already enjoyed several meals out on the deck - along with the unwanted company of some wasps.  They are incredibly persistent so I've had to employ drastic wasp-trapping methods to keep them away - which by the way don't seem to work.

Two of our neighbours have already dropped by to check us out and introduce themselves so that's been nice. One lady from behind us even came bearing a huge container of blackberries, with the promise of more.

While waiting for Brian to pick me up the other day from outside one of the big department stores, I noticed a guy furtively taking some shelving off several huge store display units which were on the sidewalk behind me. After he left, I went inside and asked if they were disposing of them - and yes, they were. I proceeded to take the rest of the shelves, along with the brackets. Then had to stand guard over the rest until Brian arrived - I went inside and borrowed a drill and we removed all of the metal strips for the brackets. So, that was quite a find and allowed Brian to continue with his garage reorganization - he has already made some big changes - no small feat when working with minimal tools and equipment. He found an old Ikea type shelving unit in the store-room and, on our first day here, reinforced and painted it and it is now a temporary TV stand for us. Oh yes, yesterday was a big day with the Shaw cable guy here for 3 hours hooking up TV, phone, internet & wireless - we are now connected to the world properly again. Email me if you want our new home phone number.

Our other major furniture acquisition was a $60 table & chair set purchased from a garage sale yesterday - I think it was one of those permanent garage sales and was like going into a Steptoe & Son property except Steptoe was a lady, but just as ugly and ornery! A big score there were several expensive decorating books acquired for about $2 each. Can never have too much inspiration.

This morning we went out and hit several more garage sales and now have a few more dishes and glasses to augment our meagre collection. Any more and we'll be able to justify using the dishwasher. Brian has just assembled the two stools we purchased to use at the kitchen counter so now we have choices of places to sit. Sure would be nice to have a comfy chair or two but I think that will have to wait till the container arrives.

It is a long weekend here this weekend and now that we have some of our jobs done, we can sit and enjoy the brilliant weather and wait for Colin and Jess to arrive later today. They will be our first official visitors. I've been given the task of creating a mixed berry crumble for dessert - Brian has gone to get the cream. Must go and read the oven manual as it will be important that I figure out how to turn it on.

Random home-made raft on the beach (see how rocky the "sand" is?).