I Tweet Too Much

That's my problem.


I've largely ignored my blog due to Twitter. For those who are on Twitter, you know what I'm talking about. There's no commitment to the tweets you make: they're random, tangent, in-the-moment, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of comments. And I'm very random.

I'm sort of a perfectionist, especially when it comes to my writing. That's where this blog takes an exit: my life right now is far from being perfect and I'm constantly trying to find this balance I'm yearning for, and I'm not there yet. Writing should be comforting for me, and it is, but I'm finding I do not have the time to commit to such a project. I prefer to write than to blog, and I'm thinking my definition of the two should be more similar than I let on.

So that being said, I'm going to try and blog more than tweet. Ok, a half-baked lie, since tweeting on a Blackberry is way more easier than blogging, but I'm going to try.

Here's ANOTHER update to complement my latest tweets....


1. Grad school

Yes, I'm apparently going through an early mid-life crisis and have decided that it's time to go back to school. Frankly, I'm fed up with the sh!t I put up with at work and figured there's a lot more to life than staring down a microscope and listening to my coworkers bitch about the bureaucracy and each other. And the only way I'm going to make more money than my current salary is if I move into management of some kind.

Enter grad school.

I was considering an MBA but instead of giving up the "wealth" (haha!) of knowledge I've learned from being in the health care sector, I'm going to try my hand at getting in the MHA program instead (Master of Health Administration). It's also cheaper, by about half ($30K!). This is an executive-style program, meaning I can still work full-time, pay for my mortgage, and still study my way out of my current job.

So far, I've put in my online application, created my CV, and told my three referees about sending in their Letters of Reference. All I've really got to work on for the next week is my Letter of Intent, where I outline why I should be allowed into the program and how I see it fit in my career goals.

I haven't started yet simply because "making more money and getting the hell out" of working in a laboratory doesn't seem to be convincing enough. I'm working on more tangible reasons. :)

And, in the meantime, I also have to start studying for this GMAT exam that I may have to challenge. I've bought all the books I need to study, yet, hoping against hope, that I'll be given a waiver to not write (long story, but there's a stipulation in the admissions policy that could be in my favour).

So, in true procrastination, the following has occupied my past few days...


2. MAC and Other Lemmings

I've always been in makeup, being gifted my first Cover Girl lipstick in Frosted Rose when I was 14. But, lately, past few years, I've been practically obsessed with it! I have some posts in this blog under the tagline "makeup" you can search for, if you're interested.

So I won't go into great detail, as this blog is not a true beauty blog (there are many out there that do a FANTASTIC job at this) but I'm been wanting, begging, pleading for some decent eye brushes. I just picked up a 224, a tapered blending brush, but really wanted the discontinued 226 for creasework. My wish list: 217, 219, 239, 208, 249. I'd march right down to my local MAC counter and buy these all if it weren't for the awesome Canadian dollar...If I bought all these on the US website and have them shipped to just across the border my fave US-parcel-pickup, I'd save enough money to get another brush free! I paid $35 CAD for the 224 and it only cost about $25 US! Gah!

And I "lucked" out going to MAC yesterday for the launch of the Wonder Woman collection (I say lucked tongue-in-cheek because it's not so lucky how much I ended up spending!). I didn't think I'd like any of the product, purposeful avoiding all the online reviews, but I ended up testing Marquise'D (lipstick), Emancipation (Lip Glass), and Mighty Aphrodite (duo blush). I ended up liking Mighty Aphrodite so much by the end of the day, I called my MAC counter 10 minutes before closing and asked them to put it on hold for me until my makeover consult (*sigh*) next Saturday. I'm a sucker for LE's (Limited Editions). Kinda rethinking my purchase on Marquise'D, though, as my pigmented lips find it a bit chalky. It looked good with Emancipation, though (hmmm.....).


3. Baby #3

Hold your horses! This ain't a sealed deal yet! Along with my mid-life crisis comes along my ridiculous notion to plan out my life. And life, as I figured it, always included three kids. I don't know when I'm really gonna fit this in, with school and work, so call me Crazy.....

....if I get into grad school for September 2011, I plan to defer admission until 2012, allowing me time to have a baby prior to school. Then I can go to school from 2012 to 2014. By the time I've graduated, the kids will be 9, almost 6, and (if I'm lucky), almost 3 (or just turned 2).

I'll be 40 when I graduate.

Gad! I hadn't realized that! I'm gonna need therapy too....pencil-ling that into the schedule...!

So, if I can have my last kid before the rest of my life pans out, I can ditch the maternity clothes I've got! LOL All kidding aside, the true test is wrapping my head around perhaps having another boy and not getting the girl I'd like to have. Yes, even if God told me right now that my third child will definitely be a boy, I can honestly say that that's ok with me. After all, the two boys I already have brighten my day, who's to say that another boy would be so terrible?

4. House Hunting

For those that don't live in Vancouver, the real estate market here is INSANE! All homes have move than doubled their value in the past in 9 years, making Vancouver one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. The average price of a Vancouver home has reached $1 million.

Our tiny, 4-bdr, 2000 sq ft house averages $700K. In order to upgrade, we're looking at million-dollar homes.

Case-in-point: we recently put in an offer at the asking price of $1.050 million with one little Subject-To-Inspection clause in the contract, and we were outbid, by only $10K though, but no subjects. There are MANY homes that are being sold at $40K to even $120K over-asking. INSANE!

I may never own my dream home here in Vancouver, but maybe I will one day after I get that higher-paying job after grad school, after the baby #3, after.....

...I stop procrastinating.

Signing off Twitter and the blog tonight, to get some rest and start my Letter of Intent!

Oh, To Be in Hot Water!

We live in a civilized nation, where freedom is a chartered right, crime is relatively controlled, and democracy prevails. The trees grow tall around us, providing us oxygen and playful scenery. Roads are being paved constantly to allow us to venture near or far with ease. Indoor plumbing is a given.

We take for granted many things that we expect to be around when we need them. I'm guilty of this too.

Case in point: my hot water tank blew this weekend, and I REALLY missed having hot water to do simple things like washing my hands.

And being a mom, you REALLY miss having hot water to do your mom-ly things.

Several problems I ran into this weekend:

* washing The Little One's diapers:


If you know me, I'm a closet environmentalist. I recycle everything like crazy -- my mom shocked me one day when she mocked me and called me The Recycle Queen...and my mom doesn't say witty things like that! -- I will walk if I can do without my car, I swore off drinking bottled water, I have an "enviroVisa" that subsidizes local environmental initiatives, and so it was natural to start cloth diapering 4 years ago when The Big Kid was born. You need hot water for the washing machine to do its thing (no, I don't know ANYBODY who hand washes those suckers....ewwww!), and I had to boil 4 huge cauldrons of water to get the load at a lukewarm temperature.


* washing my breastpump parts:

I hate sterilizing, so I don't do it often. Instead I wash and soak with really hot water. Had to boil another cauldron each time I did this.

* washing our dishes:

In retropect, I guess we could've used paper plates, but that would defeat the environmentalist in me. Lucky for me, DH washed all the loads of dishes, again heating up several cauldrons of water.

* no showers:

'nuff said. We stunk this weekend! LOL

My husband is a plumber, but that didn't do any good all weekend, since the wholesaler was closed until Tuesday (yesterday), and it was Victoria Day long weekend. He believes that the tank is still under warranty and managed to get another tank to install yesterday. So now we have LOTS of hot water! I can wash dishes with ease again, re-wash my load of diapers, and most of all, TAKE A SHOWER!



Oh, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner....
Water, water, every where!

Photo credits:
Recycle Symbol by chris27
Water Drops by alexfrance
Great Diaper Hunt Icon
by DiaperDecisions.com

My Real Estate Reality

I'm slowly coming to grips with the reality of my world.

We didn't put an offer on my dream house, mainly because it would require too many coinciding events for everything to slide in place: the quick de-clutter and staging of our home for sale, actually selling our home, securing the final details of our financing, etc. Too many things to consider in such a short span, impossible to do everything perfectly. Bye, bye, house...maybe in a year or so?

I'll still be looking around for another home. We're a little cramped here, but it's cozy and our parents did fine on a lot less, so I really, really, can't complain so much.

So, for the meantime, we'll be sprucing up the the place a bit, doing some much needed touch ups and spring cleaning. I still like this little corner of the wood we're in: close to all the shops that makes a quick walk through the neighbourhood rather nice.

There's still the option of actually keeping this house and using it as a rental property while living in a second house. Of course, there would be two mortgages, but what would really matter is if the new house would suffice for us in the long run, and if it means to actually sell this old house in lieu of, then so be it. I just want to move once, and that's it!

So, not closing up shop here yet!

Pre-Approval on It's Way!

OMG...I could get pre-approved for a mortgage that would allow me to buy my dream house!

I have to wait a day or two to find out.

My dream house could be within reach!!!

OMG!

Real Estate....Part II

Wow!

We went to see that house this morning, and I am STILL drooling over it. It really is perfect! We wouldn't have to move (ie. downsize) until the kids are grown, and we're retired at 60, which will be when we can pay it off anyways.

Wow!

Just for fun, I'll be contacting my mortgage company tomorrow to find out what we can be pre-approved for. And if it looks good, then my mortgage broker will have some ideas on how to proceed. I'm still waiting to give the go-ahead with my realtor to see if we even have the power to make an offer.

I'm getting that sick feeling in my gut like I did when we bought our current house 7 years ago. Am I sick at how much more the mortgage will be, or sick about making the commitment to change?

I almost, almost, wished I hadn't seen it in the first place. It'll continue to haunt me.

Real Estate...Here We Go Again...

It's for sale!

This house I was swooning over last summer is back on the market again, a little bit cheaper, but still oh-so-expensive. It's almost $1 million.

But, yes, that be the story of the market up in these neck-of-the-woods. It has everything I've been looking for in a home: 4 bedrooms upstairs, dining room, family room, 3 floors, patio, 3 car garage (looking for two, but I'll take three!), at least 2 bathrooms, a Master ensuite (with jacuzzi tub!), an island in the kitchen with stainless steel appliances, close to a good school, and even a 1-bedroom suite to rent out if we want. It's perfect!

I downloaded the floor plan off the realtor's site ("yup, it's still perfect!") and - god dang it - the Realtor emails me back with a private showing tomorrow! I emailed him back, to be courteous of course, that the time he suggested wouldn't work for us...but if he could schedule one in the afternoon instead. I might as well follow through, right? I missed the Open House last summer because my kid was sleeping in the car when I chanced upon it, and besides...I could definitely not afford it then. I don't know what makes me think we can afford it now...maybe I'm just dreaming. Or maybe we can make it work...somehow?

Pinch me tomorrow...let me drool for a little while longer.