Now begins the changin, mental re-arrangin, nothin's really where its at-

In the car, a few days ago.

M: So eventually, we're going to need a truck.

L: (as we pass one thats for sale) Oooh, how about that one?

C: Thats an ugly truck.

(a few moments of silence)

L: When we get a truck, can I make it pretty?

The Rest of the Car: What?!

L: Not like, girly pretty, man pretty. Masculine prettiness.

C: I would love to see that. Seriously, explain man pretty to me Leigh. What would that look like?

M: Fairies with flame throwers!

S: Gnomes with knives!

L: Deadly doilies.

C: Poisinous plastic flowers!

M: Bobble head bombs!

S: I want this truck.

So whats new here?

Well, first things first, I got the job at Starbucks, and I love it! Also, the house is full of smoke because Michael is trying his hand at making dimsum and tempura. I am excited for the outcome, yet full of trepidation.

You know what else is new?

THE AWESOME PAINT JOB IN THE BEDROOM!

Unfortunately, the lighting in the room makes the colors a lot more saturated than they are. It actually turned out pretty cool, with lots of layered reds and oranges and yellows. It isn't done yet- I have a canopy that I'm putting over it on Sunday when I have some time (yay Canada day!). How long did this take? 13 hours of painting, with a midday break for ice cream with Cam. 

Which does mean that I didn't get the office done before my day off was over, but I'm certainly ok with taking my time on that. Its pretty early days these days for me at the Starbucks. 

But, there are happy preparations in the works- my family is coming to visit! I'm working on finding awesome things for us to do like ziplining, kayaking, beachgoing, etc. So, I have about two weeks to get the rest of the house in as much order as I can before they arrive. Don't expect too much mom and dad!

Lessee.....not much luck with jobs for everyone else yet, but still hopeful since Cam's interview. Meanwhile, spirits are high, we have a really good routine down for things, and no house we've lived in has ever been so consistently clean. The clothes line gets constant use, and I am gleefully tearing down the wallpaper in the entryway. It started as an accident- I slipped, tried to catch myself on the wall, and the wallpaper tore instead of stopping my fall, sadly. But, that just means another space to paint! 

Can I admit here that I've really developed a love for making rooms look awesome? Well, what I consider to be awesome I'll admit, but everyone seems to really like the bedroom and the music room and the stone wall. I feel like I'm forgetting something....

ah, yes, the hobbit hole. Can't make any headway there until I can save up some money for a good sized carpet remnant or two. Hopefully soon, I'd love to be able to start sewing again.

Now, for your pleasure, some awesome. 

Someone I met with fantastic finger nails. 

"Dis our hoomin. Go 'way."

"Come upstairs. Ah Dares You."

Really nothin' to it, anyone can do it, it's easy and we all know how!

Where have I been?

Turning this

Into THIS

and this

Into THIS

And this

And by this I mean that 70's throwback faux stone wall that looked like dried oatmeal

into THIS

I also scrubbed the living daylights out of both washrooms and got a job at Starbucks. Who da woman? I da woman. 

Whats everyone else up to besides rolling their eyes every time I consider a new color of paint for the kitchen? Michael wheels and deals to get us some theatre space, Cam also has interviews for jobs (yay!) and  we are all working on writing a comedy pirate themed sword fighting show, cause THAT'S HOW WE YO HO HO, Yo!

We also continue to explore the surrounding towns. This week we went up to Transfer beach in Ladysmith, where Cam proceeded to bamf around like Captain Planet pointing out awesome things that I didn't know about sea life and cleaning up various debris from villainous litter bugs. 

It was genuinely the first time that I had ever seen Cam genuinely cavorting and enjoying himself in what he refers to as the "outdoor place". 

Coolest thing about Transfer beach? This

Can you see the seals?

Hmmm, what else?

I finished Michael's Alice tea towels- pictures soon. Still working on my cave- can't afford carpet yet, so everything else is kind've on hold. But, I rode my bike to work today (my legs are not happy) which was a really nice thing. We've been playing a lot of the Arabian Nights board game (SO COOL! Thank you Dani!) and I taught everyone to play Skip-Bo which was a great time that was had by all. 

The boys have been enjoying the zombie themed library, where they play Diablo, and we've been enjoying (mostly by looking at it because, well, we really aren't playing any instruments right now) the music room. Michael one day elected to put plastic card sleeves thusly on his nose

And at one point in the week, this happened. 

Which frankly, should just happen more often. 

Next on the agenda? Building an end piece for our bed (we have a queen- it isn't working. He kicks and steals all the covers. And don't believe a word he says about me snoring it is vicious slander. Its the cat that snores.) Also, that will give us more storage! Which it may surprise you we could use- the closets are very small. Painting the entryway, guest room, bedroom, and kitchen, putting together a new top for the bakers rack, finding some more furniture (still need some tables and chairs and dressers and things for everyone) and just general odds and ends. 

But you know what?

We're really happy here. Cam said the other day "Hey, this is really starting to look like a house now". Sarah was making dinner the other night, and turned to all of us and said "Have I mentioned lately how much I love this house?" We spend time sitting on the porch looking at the mountain, we laugh uproariously at the cats chasing each other up and down the stairs (try not to die of shock, but Emma has lost weight), we spend evenings together in the living room being a family. 

And I no longer have to share a bathroom.

This is the contentment we feel. 

Until next time!

Let me take your picture, add it to the mixture, there it is I got you now!

Yep, its me again, totally failing on the 'keep writing blog posts' thing. Sadly, part of that is that there isn't much to write about until it accumulates over a week and a half. But, at least I'm still here!

I'M AN AVATAR!!!!

Actually what I am is covered with yellow paint from the Hobbit Hole project. I haven't had any luck getting Michael and Cam out of the habit of calling it the Murder Room (you know they do it just to piss me off) but at least Sarah tries not to call it that. No pictures yet, pictures when I'm done painting it I promise. Then I just have to find some carpet remnant for cheap and voila, I can start organizing my crafting/sewing/escaping room. 

So lets see, what has happened in the last week. Sarah got a co-op bike, I lost and found (hopefully) a job, 

I've almost completed my repeat round of the week 3 run, and the ceiling of the hobbit room (and consequently my hair) is now yellow. I did start painting the red trim in the room, but sadly the color turned out too dark laid over the teal, so now I have to go back and paint all the trim yellow THEN paint it red to get it to turn out bright enough.

I'm not inclined to get into it, but the job that I originally found did not work out, as it was not a good environment. Right now I've got my fingers crossed tightly after a Starbucks interview which went REALLY well. So, hope hope hope!

Meanwhile, no job luck for the others, but I'm sure things will pick up soon.

Sarah and I stopped in town for an afternoon, and found a really awesome community outreach bike co-op.The way it works is that they have a bike shop, where they teach kids how to repair and maintain bikes, and then they sell them for $20, or 4 hours of community service. So Sarah ended up with a cool beater bike that she sanded down and re-painted blue, which she is rightly proud of. She paid the $20, "I don't feel comfortable taking something for nothing" she said, but she intends to go back at some point and do the community service anyway. Its such a cool idea!

Memo to me- put the wheel back on my bike...

There are now SO FEW BOXES in the dining room! You can walk around in it! Big circley walks! And the 5 boxes that remain are full of books, but thats no trouble because I snagged us 3 bookcases for $65 on UsedCowichan, which is like an epic craigslist with pictures. We pick them up on Sunday, so hopefully that will do us and we can start really setting up the dining room. With, y'know, a table. And chairs. And such.

In unhappy news, the house back in London was broken into twice and the washer and dryer stolen, along with all of the rosewood bedroom furniture. We are understandably upset, but thank goodness for home insurance. The police are on it, so hopefully we will hear something positive soon.

Yesterday we tried (rather abortively) to drive up to the top of Mt. Prevost. According to the website, the logging trails are in good condition and any vehicle should have no trouble driving up there. WRONG! We scraped the bottom of the car more times than I want to remember before we finally found somewhere safe to turn around and go back down the mountain. It was in absolutely abysmal condition. So, thwarted by rocks and potholes, we decided to spend the afternoon at the BC Forestry Museum instead, observing its interesting displays and riding its picturesque train.

What did I learn? Basically that the people who climb and cut the trees are crazy. Granted, the clip that they showed us in the museum was shot in the mid to late seventies judging by the grainy film quality, the chain smoking and the music choice, but still, this guy just hooked a running chainsaw up to his belt, wrapped a rope around himself, climbed a 150 foot tall tree, cut the top 50 feet off it, and then clung for dear life as the tree swayed back and forth in arcs of about 15 ft. Don't bother with horror movies, watch a forester sometime. 

Also, they had an adorable family of swans. 

Today we sit in a cafe in town and work on our various writing projects. I'm working on a novel about what would happen if Angels showed back up on earth one day, not unlike the Grigori. Tomorrow is friday and I get to go back to the Dice Bag and play Magic with my new friends while Michael and Cam game with the boys back in London. In the interim, life goes on. Laundry, lawn, running, dishes, organizing, painting, and generally trying to keep a sunny attitude as much as possible. I love it here, but would it kill the sun to shine for like, five minutes in a week? I thought this was supposed to be the start of the dry season? Oh well, rain is good for strawberries. 

And now, your weekly dose of Emma!