Another Month Zoomed By...

I thought it wasn't that long ago that I last wrote on here, and yet, it has been well over a month.  Geez time flies even in confinement!

As I'm writing this I feel like crap, not because I am sick, but because I feel bad, for more than one reasons actually...  You see, I've been working on that husband on mine for a while now, chirping in his ears that we should think about changing our car.  We were the (proud) owner of a Honda Civic that we bought in 2010 a recup from an end of lease that was already five years old.  When we got it, purchased following a car accident I had (while stopped at a red light some truck rammed into me, while he was on his phone planning his vacation).  We were going away on vacation, and decided to get a car, not a new one, temporarily, until we decided what we wanted.  That "for now" car became our car for the past ten years.  It served us very well.  Honda were/are good reliable cars, but like any car of ten+ years, rust was starting to show, it had a hole (made from a hitch of a pickup who backed into it one winter) right in the center of the front bumper, the doors would not stay open, the rear passenger left side window did not go down anymore, the speedometer wasn't indicating our speed at times (and according to the husband, more and more often), the AC wasn't as cold as it used to be, plus last January, while driving on Ste-Catherine downtown, some guy slowly "scraped" our car while he was changing lane.  Since it was night, and darn cold, it looked like he had peeled off some dirt.  When we looked at the car in daylight there was a little more damage, but since it was an old car, we didn't care too much.  Following that though, it had loosen the left part of the front bumper and one day while Hubby was going in to work, a piece of plastic flew off the car, exposing the window washing container completely.  Something had to be done, so I did a tape job on it!

It didn't look that bad, right?  Granted we did not fit in our neighborhood where most people are driving Audi, Mercedes, BMW, etc, so our tape job was clashing to say the least, but it still got us from point A to point B.  Hubby had been researching some models, asking friends, etc. and we agreed that the Kia Forte pleased us both.  It was in our price range (cheap! not really) and offered good warranty.  We made our way to our dealer, in Laval, and after four (long) hours, we had signed for a brand new car.  They (offensively, almost!) offered us $350 for our old Civic. Yes we could have tried to sell it ourselves for more, but didn't want the hassle.

We picked it up Wednesday evening.  Hubby drove it home.  Thursday he drove me to the eye doctor, because I have another lids (eye lashes) infection, and Saturday we decided to go for a little drive, and visit some friends in the Waste Island.  (On a side note, I will say that it was really the first people we've visited since this Covid nightmare started and it felt somewhat strange at first, but also nice to catch up with friends, and talk with someone other than my husband.  I also realized that I'm far from ready to go back to malls or even restaurants, call my pussy, I don't care.  I haven't been "secluding" for months to go into a group or a crowd, just to be social.  Nope.  Not yet. Side note closed.)
We visited our friends, and actually stayed over for dinner.  A pleasant afternoon was had by all.  Since Hubby had been drinking I was to drive home, my first time driving our new car.  I put it in drive, and I started pulling out of the driveway when I heard my girlfriend yelling "Stop, Stop!"  I had clipped a little cement triangle that was along the road... Long story short, and to spare you the drama, I scratched the car.  Let's just say that there haven't been much conversation in this house today.  We've been on different floors most of the day, and earlier we went out together to look at the damages... I scrapped the bottom of the door from the driver to back door it seems.  I feel like shit about it, it was my bad.  I didn't know (and still don't)  the feel, size of this car, and I put on its first scratch.

I really feel terrible about it all, and to see Hubby this upset about it doesn't help at all how I'm feeling...  I didn't do it on purpose, and like Hubby said, I have really bad juju with new cars, or so it seems.  I have to let this go and get over it.  But it was brand spanking new!!  Within minutes of me driving it!!!

Catching-up!

Yeah, it's about time for me to catch up some... We are now in week 25 and changes did occur since my last post.  Eight weeks since my last visit, wow, time does fly, fun or not, it only goes one way, as Hubby often says.

Since our last chat, we have moved in our new place.  It was a nightmare from Hell, really.  No jokes, never had such a horrible experience moving.  This wasn't our first move, but this sure was our WORST move.  All of our wooden furniture was damaged.  The degree of damages varied from one piece to the other, but ALL were damaged.  The company we used, Go Transport  came recommended by a friend who moved from Montréal to Calgary and she was happy with them, had no complaint.  I wish I could say the same...  On the day of packing, the team that showed up worked well.  There was one guy who seemed to be a little more cowboy (read careless) than the other two, but it went well.  They wrapped our furniture with bubble wrap, some covers and some type of clingy paper.  When we did ask about some pieces, we were told not to worry they would get re-wrapped at the warehouse, before storing them. On top of moving we were also storing all our stuff for two months, while the new place was being completed, thus the rental apartment.

Right from the start, first box they brought in, we noticed some damages...  That was our first alarm... 

Things were coming in and showing abuse, it did not convey care at all.  I did mention it to the guy (a new one, since the previous team leader who was there at packing, was sick) in charge and he couldn't tell me much.  I did contact the manager, and my contact at the GOT.  He even came for a visit the following day.  He was really apologetic and seemed genuinely concerned, but that didn't repair the scratches or broken dishes.  He even fired the one I referred to as Comboy, since he seemed to be the source of most damages.  That box was made by Cowboy when they packed in February.  It contained the four legs of our dinning room table and... the two lamp shades of our nigh table lamps.

Yep, that is only in one box.  We had over two hundred boxes and that is not counting our furniture.  It was a nightmare, really.  Every thing we unwrapped we found new damages.  Even last week, we installed a big picture frame that had not been unwrapped yet (waited for the paint to be done, etc), and that too, have one corner chipped and the frame is cracked.  We didn't add it to our claim, because at this point we just want to put this nightmare behind us and move on to better things.  We've had a woodworker come in to fix all our wooden pieces as best as possible, we had our lamp shapes re-done and this week the sub-contractor of the builder will be coming in to change the carpet in the stairway, since they pulled a big thread in it.  There is about $1,500 worth of damages and that doesn't include our console table which was wrapped so tight they bend the legs and cracked the wood!  Hell, I tell you!

Good thing we did not have the place painted before the move in since not only was our furniture damaged the walls took a beating too.  But not it is all done, almost, we have curtains and blinds on all windows, the food pantry and our walk-in have been done - and we love them both - most boxes are unpacked, we even have pictures on the walls so this is really starting to feel like home!

Last weekend, I drove with a friend, to Rimouski - we had a Postcrossing meet-up.  The drive there was pleasant, since the weather was nice.  I even took the road along the shore, such scenery.  Took us six hours to get there.  Walked around a bit that first night.  We were facing the St-Laurent, where the Empress of Ireland went down in 1914 (1,012 victims sank on May 29th that year).

Pointe-au-Père (museum and lighthouse)

We stayed at this very little motel, our room was so tiny we didn't have chairs to sit (to give you an idea), tiny! 

June 11th, while I enjoyed my breakfast Likki took in the scenery.

We were really along the water, the last road before the beach. The smells reminded me of when I would go for walks along the pier in Bodø.

We had a nice big meet at the local post office, since the post mistress is an avid participant in Postcrossing, and twenty of us showed up, mostly from the region, but one girl came from New Brunswick, one from Toronto, a few from Québec city and four of us for the Montréal area.  We manage to sign and send 433 cards!

Likki with Postman Pat and Jess the Cat with my stack of cards: 43 cards!

Likki with the stacks of cards being mailed from the meet

It was a fun, but long day.  I did manage to "escape" a little, went to visit the Empress of Ireland museum, walked some on the beach and did some socializing too.  A busy weekend overall.  We drove home Sunday morning and had heavy rain most of the way back.  It took us ten hours, granted we did make some pit stops, I needed to wake up from the wipers hypnosis!

Rimouski is a very nice region of our province.  The people are friendly and the scenery is gorgeous!

The lighthouse, with a meringue sky!

Sunset on Sat. June 11th, 2016

The interesting rocks along the shore...

Since my last post, one of my aunt passed away as well as the daughter of a cousin.  Sad that we often only get together for a death...  But at least some a bunch of us (six to be exact!) got together for dinner after that and managed to catch up some.  We said we would try harder to get together more often... let's see if that works.  Besides that, life in Pleasantville seems to be just that, pleasant.  Getting use to it, and so far liking it. Starting to know more than one path to get home, woohoo!

I think this will be it for now, and I will try to be better at keeping up... trying being the key word here...

Hit me, baby, one more time...

Ever noticed how long it takes you, after being away for a while, to get back to the way you were before you left?  How long does it take for life to wipe that smile off your face once you're back?  How fast do you feel stress getting to you or how quickly the benefits of being away from it all disappear upon your return home?  That perma-smile doesn't last that long once back in daily life.  I can now confirm it.  It doesn't take that much, or rather that long to feel a known rush of stress.

Last week, Hubby and I drove to New Hampshire for the week.  A little get away, just the two of us.  Turns out, that the chosen location was actually very remote and there wasn't really much to do around there.  Given that my foot (still) hurts, hiking was out, and since we don't really golf that was out as well.  The nearest town was about 30 minutes away, and there wasn't much there either.  Thankfully, we were lucky with the weather and had a gorgeous week, an actual heat wave, and even luckier there was a pool at the resort.  So, for the week, we slept in, and lounge at the pool.  We rested.

We drove home Saturday.  It was a nice drive,

the one the Saturday before; it rained all the way.  While Hubby was unpacking the car, I made my way in the house, to realize that something wasn't quite right.  I looked around and noticed a spot on our kitchen tiles.  Oh no, crap, something leaked.  I couldn't quite tell where it came from, until I saw the ceiling above the cabinets. Crap!  I'm thinking "this is not good... this is not good!" as I make my way to our office.  As I walked in I see another spot on the floor, the hard wood floor.  I look at the ceiling to see it a joint all puffed up... as I'm looking at this, I also notice the wall and closet doors are all streaked... "oh no, what now?" That is when I opened the doors to find the self ripped off the wall, water dripping.  That closet is where I've kept all my books.  I'm actually remaining calm, until I start to make my way downstairs to meet up the unsuspecting husband to let him know that while we were away, relaxing in the sun of NH, our condo was being flooded again, for the third time.  Let's just say that the shit hit the fan, fast.

We didn't even unpack our luggage, started to look at what happened, contacted our neighbors who did confirm that yes they had a water leak, some problem with the thermo-pump that their owner/landlord had not fix... I took pictures of everything and then, with Hubby help started emptying that closet. That is one big closet and it contained a LOT of shit, let me tell you.

I've contacted the Syndic, to have the insurance appraisal for the repairs, which will not be minimum.  Our kitchen is seriously damaged; our cabinets are warped, and the tracks of the shelves are not working correctly, the hard wood floor is warped as well, the laundry closet, behind the appliances has a bubbling wall and the office's ceiling and floor is warped... so...

Let's just say we are not happy campers.  Not at all.  Our house is a big fucking mess at the moment, while we wait for people to come and see and evaluate and tell us what will happen and when... so frustrating..  We are both fed up.  Ready to snap we are wind so tight... not good, not good at all!