Life has been feeling like one big waiting game lately. My sister is putting the final finishing touches on my new niece-to-be, Alice. Her due date was the 24th, so, any time now. Truth be told, the only reason I've been taking calls from home lately is to hear if there has been any news. And as I write, she isn't on Gmail, so maybe today is the big day!

As for the other 'big day', the counter is telling me there is 2 months and 4 days left. Despite the occasional bout with buyers remorse, we are still excited. I have to admit I'm going to be sad about not living downtown anymore. I really do enjoy where we are and how easy it is to get around. At the new house, we are on a well traveled bus route, and we are close to nearly everything we need, but it'll still feel a little weird to be a little removed from the hub.

Speaking of being carless losers, I have signed up, once again, for (not so) Young Drivers. The last time I went through the course, I was a fresh faced 16 year old with a learners permit. I still have the learners permit, but no full license. I don't often talk about it because of the last.... twelve years, it has become a bit of a phobia. I feel very anxious about driving, and I feel like my brain just shuts off. It's like, I don't get it. I feel like a freak because it seems like everyone and their dog can drive, except for me. For all these years, I've managed to get by without one, somehow. Even when I was living in Nova Scotia, I managed quite well. I actually tried to get my full license while in SH. I figured it would be quite easy to get a license in a village with no stop lights, and, like, 2 streets. But still, no.

So, now, my employers has...shall we say... politely asked me to buck up and get it, with their financial help. By August 31st. Which seems, despite all other evidence to the contrary, to be coming up very, very soon. I hope that this time, something will just click and I can ease into it like every other normal human on earth. Hell, I know a LOT of abnormal humans, who also seem to drive quite regularly. Why not me?

So, next week, I'll begin the in class sessions, which will be fun, because I'm picturing a bunch of nutty 15 year olds and ME, asking dumb questions in the back. Yeah, that'll be fun.

I know this has been a one trick blog lately, but this really has taken over our lives, so why bother trying to fight it?

Before launching into the update, I heard Friday that a funding proposal I had written was actually approved. It was a pretty substantial proposal, so it felt good that it paid off, and will benefit a lot of people.

Back to the house. People, it pays to shop around. Not for houses, of course. No, we picked the first one we looked at it. But in terms of mortgages, there is apparently a lot of wiggle room. We had originally wanted to deal with a certain company, but then we were referred to a woman through the realtor. She came to meet with us and talk over all our options. She was very friendly and answered all our questions. The other company, on the other hand want us to work around their schedule, and really didn't even ask us what would work for us before setting up the mortgage without our permission. Suddenly, when we told them we had gotten a second opinion... tada! Now they are ready to talk turkey. The gave us a new offer, and we went back to the woman again. She returned to us with a slightly lower offer, plus a $1000 incentive. Which, I am sure, is a molecule in the bucket for them, but with all our closing costs and lack of forethought, is HUGE to us. So, it's all settled. The other company whined a little bit, but boo-hoo, fellas.

It is a little frustrating, though, to think that even at this, we had to go through a lot to get better rates.. Why can't people just be more upfront?

In the same vein, we went furniture shopping on Saturday. We built in an allowance into the closing price for appliances and furniture. It was fun, and efficient, but, again, I feel powerless to negotiate prices. The most we got was 5%, which is what everyone gets anyway if they make any major purchases. We're going to ask around again, and see if we can screw 'em a bit more.

So, I believe it's 87 days and counting until the big day. We're nearly at the point when all the fun stuff happens....meeting with the designer, picking floors, tiles, colours, etc. If anyone has any neat colour schemes, feel free to post them. I am pretty picky though. I tend to like cool colours, and I don't usually like earthtones, greens, yellows, etc.