Royal Wedding

I love history (one of my majors) and was very happy to witness a little this morning...

my daughter and I decided to have a little all night party (my mother who went to bed early joined us at one) to witness William and Catherine exchange vows...but only I lasted until the kisses on the balcony!

The wedding was beautiful...

My mother and daughter are asleep and I am heading over to look after three busy boys...I hope I make it through the day...I am not handling all-nighters as well as I used to...but so happy that I did it!

Happy thoughts...

As I finish my second week without internet access at home...

I am really trying to keep Happy thoughts front and centre. One of the downfalls of our small house experiment is that we do not have our own phone line/internet service. We are borrowing wireless services from my father's shop. Most of the time it works great...lately, not so much.

In addition to the faulty internet service, my camera has decided that it does not wish to download photos onto my computer...

I am in need of upgrading...my computer, camera and internet connection. I must admit to feeling a little frustrated when computer tasks that should take five minutes instead take an hour or more. But, I am practicing my deep breathing...

I am borrowing my mother's computer and browsing through some photos that I sent her from our little drive around the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton a year and a half ago...Happy thoughts indeed.

Prayer, Faith and positive thinking

Just thought I would share some good news...

I am still having technical difficulties and am again borrowing a computer that happened to have a photo I took travelling across Canada on it that I thought would be appropriate since we are on the move again...

A little while ago I wrote about the good news we received regarding my hubby's acceptance to the Master of Architecture program at UBC...you can read about it here.

Today we are the recipients of more good news!!!

One of the concerns I had about our move was finding a place to live...while we were in Nova Scotia my hubby commuted almost daily over 200km each way (a two to two and a half hour drive) to school...long story...

Needless to say, he did not want to commute again.

 Moving to Vancouver is a little challenging as Vancouver is the most expensive city to live in in Canada and the West End of Vancouver where UBC is located is one of the (if not the) most expensive areas of the city. Living in a cheaper area of the city or in a neighbouring community would include at times a lengthy commute and/or could also be a little bit of a scary area to live in...my daughter still remembers the last time we drove through east van...and the woman dressed as a fairy skipping down the sidewalk jumping over the people that were sleeping and/or passed out on the sidewalk...since this is the only memory she has kept of Vancouver it has been fun trying to convince her that Vancouver can be a really nice place to live! We REALLY were hoping to get into campus housing.

UBC has a really nice community of townhouses for student families at a significantly lower price than the usual rent in the area. After receiving my husband's student number we applied...and found out that we were 19th on a waitlist for 42 townhouses that would accommodate our large family (they have restrictions on family sizes in their units...with four children we could only apply for a four bedroom townhouse). We were a little nervous...19th...of 42 and not all 42 would become vacant this year. They advised us that most families wait about a year to get housing...

We prayed...and decided that we would be positive. Keep our attitude of forward thinking...

When my husband wanted to get his master's degree in fine arts he picked the one school he really wanted to go to and applied to that school only. They took in nine students and they had hundreds of applications. He was waitlisted. We stayed positive and decided to move across the country anyway - knowing that something would work out...even if he had to wait another year...we knew he would get in. Two weeks after the deadline passed for getting in off of the waitlist and two days before we were set to move, my hubby received an urgent email that the school had decided to open an extra space for him. They wanted him there. When he decided to go to Architecture school, we looked at many different schools. He really wanted to go to UBC. He applied to UBC only...they took in 65 students...they had hundreds of applications...he got in. We were 19th on a waitlist for housing...we had no plan B. Less than a week after they received our application they contacted us with an offer. They had an opening for two weeks from now...could we take it?....

We will have to pay a few extra months rent...BUT...we got what we wanted!

We are doing the happy dance at our house again. It is such a relief to know that we won't have to be so far apart and my husband is really happy to be within walking distance of classes!

This Easter season I am so thankful for prayer and faith...and for always getting what we need.

Happy Easter!

Technical difficulties

The lack of posts this week have been due to technical difficulties.

I have been without internet service for nearly a week and it is starting to drive me a little crazy.

I have quickly borrowed a computer to check my emails and make a quick post just so you know I haven't deserted my blog. I am hoping to have the problem fixed shortly. In the meantime I have been taking a little computer break.

I have started packing for our summer move...and adding more boxes of books (just what every mover wants right? more boxes of books!) My husband's back is not thanking me. But, I really couldn't help it there was a large used book sale for the local museum and art gallery...and I think it is really important to support the arts! So I had to buy large quantities of books (just in case I have failed to get the point across previously...I really love books). I will now need a new book case and so my frugal buy may get a little more expensive; but it is still worth it to me.

In Nova Scotia we had a very large living room and a wall of books. Looking at that wall always made me feel so happy. I love that I can pick up a book off of my own library shelf on almost any subject that interests me. I suppose I am a little old fashioned...but I would much prefer to do my research from books (especially vintage books) than from the internet. And I love having books on hand when I need to write an essay rather than having to order them from the library and wait (a nod to my modern need for instant gratification). So this week I have had a boost from adding a number of very cool vintage books to my collection as well as a number of history, literature, architecture and art books...with a few cookbooks thrown in as well...due to some camera difficulties as well...no pictures yet.

Maybe that is one of the reasons I love books so much...they are so reliable with no technical difficulties.

Happy Easter!