Two Showings and a Bazaar

The house finally went up for sale last week after a couple minor snags. Since the house is in my name Ryan got the honor of heading to the lawyer's to sign a piece of paper saying I'm allowed to sell it. Then the real estate paperwork had to be done and signed all over again. Ah well, not that big of a deal.

We've already had two showings which is a fun experience. You need to get out of your own house for an hour so that someone can wander through it commenting on your furniture and the color of your walls. Then you get back to find all the lights in the house off and your doors locked in ways you didn't know were possible. As annoying as it can be, I keep hoping for more showings. Let's get this house sold already!

For a taste of the experience to come, we headed to the Tibetan Bazaar that was held this weekend at Westmount hall. It was a small space but it was packed with the exotic. The usual fare of 'Free Tibet' t-shirts were on sale but there was also beautiful jewellry, prayer wheels and fair trade items. Momos and tibetan curry were also available but we didn't indulge.

Who knew we had so much junk?

After last week's disappointment we were very happy when our dumpster arrived on Friday. There was a new guy driving the truck that brought it and he almost crushed the neighbors car. Instead he just scuffed it a little, whoops.

It sure didn't take long to fill it up. In two hours we had tossed out almost our entire basement. It felt awesome chucking things up over the side and smashing them in there. It's very cleansing tossing out the stuff that we've ended up dragging with us every time we moved. The basement looks huge now!

Now time to sit back and watch the opening ceremonies for the paralympics. This is the first year that adaptive rowing is in the paralympics and I'm so proud of my sister who is the coach for the Canadian adaptive rowing team. Good luck Allison!

A New Coat of Paint and 11 Less Snakes

The painting was completed a few weeks ago and it looks great. Nothing like the smell of new paint throughout the house for a few days. Other home improvements that we've done include new blinds, a small fence and new shrubs in the front yard, re-caulked the bathtub, got new handles for the kitchen cupboards and freshly painted the front window trim. Not much to do now except for installation of a new front door and screen doors.

We also had a bittersweet moment last weekend. Mark Isabell from Gone Snakee came to the house and picked up 11 of our snakes. All of our favorite ones have now been sold and it's an odd feeling seeing the empty cages when we go downstairs. Although I must admit that it has also been a relief. We are half way to our goal of finding new homes for all of our snakes which is a huge step before putting the house up for sale. Selling the snakes is the right thing to do and we've already decided that if we get another snake after our trip, we will only get one and give it the most amazing enclosure you've ever seen.

Shots, shots, and more shots...

Yesterday was our first trip to the clinic to start our immunizations. Our nurse was really good. She was very informative and gave the least painful needles that I've ever had. We spent about an hour and a half there getting information on all the vaccinations that we need as well as getting info on malaria and the various ways you can treat/prevent it.

Today the only side effect of the tetanus and polio shots that we got are sore arms. Ryan was warned that his arm would be more sore that normal due to the fact that he had a tetanus shot recently, and it definitely was...

For the two shots for both of us it came to around $300.00. Not to bad but we still have two more appointments to go in order to finish up all our doses for Hep A, Hep B, Typhoid, etc. We are still unsure what to do about the malaria pills but we have a little bit more time to look into that before we need to make a decision.

After the vaccination trauma we decided to treat ourselves. So, we headed on over to the Taste of Edmonton to get some good food: bacon wrapped scallops, potatoes with a garlic and mayo sauce, papusa, balsamic strawberrys with a cream cheese topping, banana curry chicken and farang beef with rice. All very good!

The painter is booked for Thursday and Friday. After that we just need to get the new doors put on and the snakes out of the house and it will be ready to put on the market. Let's hope that it sells quickly!

So much work to do...

The process of packing up your entire life is not as easy as I first imagined it to be. It always seems that as soon as you start filling boxes, more stuff comes out of the woodwork. We are well on our way but there is still alot of work to be done. The storage unit is rented, boxes for non-essentials have been packed and the contacts have been made to sell our snakes. The painter is coming to the house tomorrow for an estimate so that we can have the house painted before we put it up for sale. The wheels are in motion!

Our last big hurdle is the sale of the house. I hope to have it on the market soon with a price that will have it sold soon, without sacrificing too much money that we could be spending on our trip (and saving for our return).

I'm giving my notice to work one week from today and that has me really excited. I do enjoy my job but after working at the same company for almost 7 years I think the break will be really nice. I am anticipating a reasonable reaction from my boss so hopefully I can get my job back afterwards if I still want it.

For now we have researched the trip to death and I am currently trying to take it easy and just hang out for a bit until the house sells. Then we can get to the really exciting part of heading off to MEC to buy packs, clothes, gear.... I can't wait!

Our Country List

Here is the list of countries that we think we'll be visiting:
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
India
Nepal
Turkey
Egypt
Romania
Austria
Greece
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Morocco

It'll be interesting after the trip to see the list of countries we ended up visiting, our tastes or ideas may change along the way. We have the first leg of the trip semi-planned but after that we will be playing it by ear.

The decision to go...

The decision to go travel this way was an easier decision than you would think. We both knew that one day we wanted to go see the world, but that day always seemed far off. In a strange twist of fate, our neighbors again determined our decision for us.

You see, the entire reason that we are able to do this is because of a pair of awful neighbors from three years ago. If we would have had normal, respectful fellow tenants and not the doberman that lived above us and the crazy couple with the screaming baby below us, we never would have moved out of that apartment to buy the townhouse we are currently in. We bought at the best time too, right before the real estate boom. We loved this house.... for a while....

Again, our neighbors conspired in our life and threw us a curve ball. A couple houses down from us, they found the most dreaded of all pests, the bedbug. Now after weeks of sprays, even though we have not been infested, we have decided that we need to sell. Bedbugs are just icky! You could say, that we have been bit by the travel bug, although thankfully not literally... All we really needed was a good excuse to get up off our butts and out into the big wide world out there. Besides, if we are going to get bit by a bedbug it may as well be in a hostel in Cambodia, not in my own house!

So, the house is being put up for sale, hopefully within the next three weeks, and we are in the process of packing, selling and giving away all our worldy possessions. It has been a very cleansing experience so far. I should have gone through everything a long time ago, we already have 8 bags of clothes to give away!