Bought a book

I bought a book, not unusual you might think, but I don't do books normally, don't buy them, don't read them (unless it's a computer book occasionally). So, the book had to be special for me to buy it....

What was it? It was The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. What is it about? Well - Randy was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer a year ago and he gave a "last lecture" at his university - this was his last words to the world. I say was, because Randy died on the 25th July 2008. I thought the lecture was great and when I found out there was a book, I had to see if it was equally as good - I'm only a few pages in, but so far so good....

If you want to see the lecture, it's here on youtube - it's quite long, so prepare yourself!



So,you're probably asking, what the hell does this have to do with Canada? Well, in a way, I guess I achieved in a close enough way one of my childhood dreams like Randy, as I always wanted to live in America, Canada being in North America and us living 5 mins from the border, I'll let myself have that one... Watch the lecture above and you'll see how this makes sense....

Flatpacked out!!

Who would of thought a few boxes of flatpacked furniture from Ikea would stress someone out so much. Despite following instructions (which at first seemed straightforward enough). I ended up having to unassemble several times due to attaching some the wrong way round or missing a bit altogether.

Several hours later I am now sat on our sofa, absolutely shattered, with a bad back and aching limbs and we still have a few more boxes to go. They can wait till another day now. As no way am I attempting anymore tonight. I am seriously flatpacked out.

On a good note, my dad arrives in a couple of hours time. It will be his first visit to Canada. I have already been telling Isaac that Grandad (or "Da Da" as Isaac calls him) is coming to see him and I think he understands. He lets out a shriek of delight each time I tell him. Not sure what things we will do while my dad is here, but we have a full 10 days with him, so I am sure we can fit plenty in.

The boxes are here and so is a little visitor!!

Well our boxes finally arrived today of the few personal belongings that we did decide to ship. I was quite surprised actually, as I didnt think they would get here so quickly. We haven't yet unpacked any of them, apart from Isaac's box which is full of his toys. It was hilarious to see his little face when we opened it. I have never seened a child so excited. He already has lots of new toys which we bought him when we got here, but I think it was the familiarity of his ones from home. He was squealing with joy. It was so cute.






The boxes will have to go into the basement for now, as most of the stuff has nowhere to go. However our Ikea bedroom stuff arives tomorrow, it will be great to finally sleep on a proper bed and not an inflatable uncomfortable one.

Also, I had a pleasant surprise when we got back from the mall today, I was quite excited. Just as we pulled up onto the drive, I saw a little bird on the side of the house, and once my eyes adjusted to what it was. I realised it was a little Downy Woodpecker. He or she wasn't scared of us at all, and stayed there for quite a while, before flying onto my bird feeder in the garden. So I quickly rushed indoors and grabbed my camera, just managing to catch a couple of shots of it before it flew off.






Oh and I forgot to add, we went back to try and get my OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) card yesterday, with the correct documentation because of all the hassle last time and can you believe the woman we saw the second time round said she had no idea why this other woman wouldn't do mine, as the documentation we had was fine and she even apologised for the inconvenience caused. Not that it was her fault. I was so annoyed that this first woman had been so unhelpful and picky. Oh well at least I have it now.

Bump in the night!!

We keep hearing a bump and scratching coming from the loft/attic - I am glad I am not here on my own otherwise I would be freaking out by now.

However I think we now know what the culprit might be, a tail less black squirrel. I think he or she has taken up residency in our roof. Will have to mention it to the landlord when he pops round.

My dad is coming to visit on Thursday for 10 days. Will be his first time in Canada. I wonder what he will make of it? He loves fishing and birdwatching, so there will be plenty of that for him to do round here. Hopefully it won't be too cold when he gets here and we can take him to the Ojibway Nature Reserve Park and Point Pelee near Leamington.

Is a tv fest night tonight, Heroes, CSI Miami, Prison Break and The Hills, so you can all guess what I will be doing. Alot of people complain about the tv when they move here, but I love it. It beats Eastenders and all that rubbish any day. Definately not missing UK television that's for sure. Infact all I probably miss at the moment is family and friends, but it is made a lot easier by regular contact with phonecalls and webchats and hopefully some will visit. ;)

It is our wedding anniversary on the 21st, 3 years we will be married. As they say the time definately fly's when you are having fun. Think we are going to go out for a meal, if the little fella will behave himself and sit still for more than 2 mins.

Speaking of little fella's, time to wake him up from his nap.

Back in business…

I had to sell my Xbox 360 before we came over here and have been waiting for a deal to come up…. That time came, a bargain $199+tax, which is nearly a 1/3 of what I paid for my original one in the UK (they're now cheaper there too of course)!

Better late than never!!

I know I know, it has been a while till we updated. Been so busy settling in that it has been hard to find the time.

Anyway we have been here a month and a bit now, we are slowly furnishing the house. It is only when you are buying the furniture that your realise just how much bigger the houses are here. Where we would on have one family/living type room back home. Here we have several. The house is still looking a bit bare, but we are getting there slowly. Although I did realise today that we are STILL sleeping on an inflatable bed. Luckily that will all change soon, as our KING SIZE bed is now ordered. I can't wait.

Went to a place called Holiday Beach Conservation Area near Amherstburg at the weekend. Mainly wanted to check out the Hawk Tower, as my dad is coming over soon and he likes to do a bit of bird watching (thats the feathered kind, before anyone thinks he is some kind of pervert). The tower is situated in the migratory path of many hawks, eagles and gulls etc. We didnt actually see many as I was a bit nervous with Isaac up at that height, as he could easily of fit through the gaps and fallen off. They had a great camp site there and a beach that is linked to Lake Erie. I would like to perhaps go camping there sometime in the future. Although Gav (hubby) had a look of shock on his face when I mentioned it. Anyway I have put up an album of some pics of the place for anyone who wants to have a nosy ;)

We also went to the childrens playground down at the Odette Sculpture Park (great stuff for the kiddies), but didnt stay long, as the damn wasps were bothering me, that is one good reason to look forward to the winter I suppose, as they will all be gone.

Had a nightmare today both me and hubby ended up coming home very stressed. Basically we went to get our OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) cards. But the nice woman we got (NOT) decided as it was near the end of her shift, she was going to be pedantic and picky. Despite hubby having his work permit/visa with both me and my son named on it, she argued that it wasn't good enough for me and I needed my own visitors permit. Which is bloody stupid, as if the visa we had was a problem then on our several visit in and out of the US, they would not of let me back in. We even read the legislation that she was adamant she was going by and was sticking to and going by what it said (which wasn't very clear to say to the least) she was most definitely being picky. I could even see a slight smirk on her face, I knew she was going to find some reason for one of us to not get our OHIP, I just knew it. So now we have to go to immigration to try and get my own visitors permit, which they may well say no to, as what my hubby has stamped to his passport is valid in their eyes, if they do say no, then we will have to go down the route of either appealing which could take months or paying for a working visa for me (which is pointless as I am not going to be working). All I can say is GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

We've landed!!!!

Well we flew out to Toronto from Manchester on the 1st September. The flight seemed really quick. Just under 7 hours. Isaac was pretty good too. Slept for the first 2 hours and then was awake for the rest and apart from the turbulence when he had to put his belt on, his was pretty happy on the flight and well behaved.

Stayed in Toronto for the first night, then we had a train to catch the next day - 2nd september to Windsor, but had a few hours to spare, so went to Shopsys for a huge breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, potato, toast and pancakes with syrup. Then we took a walk up to the Eaton centre.

The train journey to Windsor was a little more hard work. Isaac wouldn't sit still and spent the majority of it, driving the other passengers insane by shouting at the top of his voice. Managed to get him to nod off for the last hour or so of the journey.

We didn't get to Windsor till late so was booked into the Comfort Inn for that night. Popped into the Golden Griddle for a quick bite to eat and then went to bed as we were shattered.

The next morning we met up with the realtor, who drove us over to the house we are renting where we met our landlord and his father in law. House is lovely, so spacious and although it is an old house, it has all been renovated, so nice and new. Gorgeous swimming pool out the back a well.

It is now nearly 2 weeks since we have been here and we are slowly furnishing the house. So far have a cooker, dishwasher, washer and dryer, huge sectional leather sofa, two tv's, a dining set and a inflatable bed (which is starting to become uncomfortable). We did order a huge ice maker refridgerator, but when it was delivered we was shocked to find it didnt fit in the space, we measure from the back of the wall to the unit and as the wall wasnt completely straight it meant the fridge was too big. Luckily Gav spotted a dent in the front, so they took it back and we are getting a slightly smaller one (but more expensive grrrrrrrr) tomorrow.

Our landlord visited the other night with his wife, brought a few gifts (toys) for Isaac and a wall clock and Tim Hortons coffee and donuts for us. I thought that was rather sweet. Certainly wouldnt get anything like that back in the UK.

Gav has gone off to look at cars today as the lease on our rental car is nearly at an end, so need to sort out something quick. We also need to sort out my Visa as they spelt my surname name wrong. Once we have that sorted we will pop across the border into the US to get our bedroom stuff and other bits from Ikea.

Will leave you for today with some pics of the house etc.

Pics here