I met Adam August 27th, 2005. Two weeks later we were in a ring shop looking at engagement rings. Exactly four months later, on December 27th, 2005 we got hitched. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds.

Two weeks after we asked ourselves “hey, what if we moved to Canada?” we were crossing the border.

So yeah…we make big decisions quickly and go for it. So far it’s worked out really well for us.

Here’s the newest one…we’re moving {again}. See, unfortunately our two fur babies have been getting more and more aggressive with our real baby. They attack her. She has been bitten and scratched and my mama-bear instincts won’t stand for it anymore. They may not sound like serious injuries but cat bites can actually be very, very nasty. I also don’t want Lucy growing up with a fear of animals because the animals in her own life are cuddly sometimes and unpredictably violent at other times. It’s sad for me. And I feel guilty for “divorcing” my cats. But I keep telling myself, the cats are cats. Lucy is my daughter. And she comes first. So, we’re paying a forfeit fee and taking them to the shelter tonight. :(

What does that have to do with moving? Well, we’re in our current place because it was the only place we could find that welcomed both children and animals. It’s bigger than we need. It’s got some issues we don’t like. And it’s in a neighborhood we have grown to hate. Once we had made the decision to say goodbye to the kittehs we wondered if we might be able to find a smaller, cheaper place to live since we’d no longer need a pet-friendly rental. And we did. And I’m in love with it. Why?

• It has carpet. No more ugly foam mats to protect Lucy’s little knees. No more falls and bonks on a hard floor.
• It has a normal-sized refrigerator that isn’t leaking cold air.
• It has a dishwasher.
• It has lots of space where it counts. In our current place we have more space than we really need, but it’s all in the basement/rooms we don’t use. The new place has lots of space in the kitchen, the family room, and the dining area! In fact…it’s spacious enough in the living area that we’ll now be able to fit all the people we want to invite for Lucy’s birthday party! Yay!
• No more stairs! There are stairs to get up to the apartment. But there are none in our living space. I hate stairs. Knowing I don’t have to walk up and down stairs every time Lucy needs a diaper change or I need to use the bathroom makes me want to do a happy dance.
• It’s within walking distance to the library. I repeat, it is within walking distance TO THE LIBRARY. I cannot begin to describe how happy that makes me…you know, the bibliophile without a car all day because Adam takes it for school/work?
• Walk-in-closet. *swoon* And it’s a niiiice closet with lots of shelves and multiple bars at different heights and magical fairy dust.
• Nice, new windows (did I mention it was renovated about a year ago?). That means no more cold, Canadian, winter air pouring in our home through gaps between the glass and the wall.
• The only utility we pay is electric.
• The building is nice and secure. You can’t enter without a key or without being buzzed in. And there are security cameras in the hallways. Medicine Hat isn’t exactly the crime capital of Canada. But I can be a bit paranoid some times. So the security definitely appeals to me.
• It has those fancy hot water heaters that provide instant, on demand, unlimited, hot water. Um…maybe that’s a bad thing because it will probably mean I’ll use up the city’s entire water supply taking hot showers/baths and that’s maybe not so good for the planet…
• It’s just really pretty.

The one drawback is that there is no in-suite laundry. That means we’ll be washing the cloth diapers in the coin-op down the hall (but at least I don’t have to go up and down stairs to do it). Paying for laundry always sucks, but even taking that into account we’ll be saving money in our new place. {If you’ve ever done cloth diapers with coin-op laundry please leave any advice in the comments.}

We’re going over there today to take some measurements (so we know what kind of baby gate to get) and to drop off some paperwork. I’ll try and take some pictures while I’m there. We move in Dec 1st. So…yeah…I’m going to be REALLY busy in the coming days. In addition to moving and all the hassle that entails I’m still doing NaNoWriMo {I don’t think I’m going to finish by the 15th but I still hope to finish early}, I’ve got a few clients at the moment, I’m planning Lucy’s birthday party, I’ve got some Christmas crafts {advent calendar and some gifts} that need to be finished, and Adam is approaching finals and picked up some extra hours at work recently. So, we’re sorta, kinda, maybe a little busy right now. That means the blog posts will be sporadic at best until some time in December. But oh boy, once they get going again you are going to be pleased. I’m going to have posts about the new apartment {with pictures of course}, posts about the holidays, posts about Lucy’s AWESOME party that I’m currently preparing for, some product reviews/giveaways, and, you know, my usual awsomeness. ;)

Life’s a crazy adventure. Wish us luck!

I’ve been feeling like my brain is broken lately. I’m swamped with Coffee clients (and even had to turn a potential client down). I’ve been trying to get some things around the house taken care of. I’ve had a lot of errands to run. I’ve been trying to get some holiday projects and shopping done early. I’ve also got Mama Note’s Body After Baby challenge going on. And I’ve been combating my ADD and the blues for a little while which definitely makes even the little things much more difficult.

I did so-so on the Body After Baby mini-challenge to drink water. I definitely started strong. But I haven’t done a single minute of exercise thus far. I’ve been stretched so thin lately between my blogs and my graphic design projects that fitness has been left by the wayside. I’m not sure how much that bothers me. Something’s got to give and maybe this should be that something. However I don’t want to be completely inactive. I want to at least be training for my running goals.

I’ve got a lot of clients right now, which is great but stressful. I have a pro-bono client that I really want to work on to return a big favor she did for me last year. But my paying clients obviously take the priority, especially since some are in a bit of a time crunch. I also have a few of my own projects I’d like to work on and can’t right now. Plus I’m always unsure if my prices are fair {to me}. I like being affordable because I know a lot of my clients are SAHMs like me and can’t afford to spend a small fortune on graphic design. But, depending on the project my wages are as low as a dollar an hour. So yeah, it’s a bit frustrating at times.

I have one more post about bullying I’d like to write. And I’ve got a list of posts I want to write for my other blog. Plus NaNoWriMo is coming up and I know that is going to take a lot of my free time. I also have some reading I’d like to do. And of course there’s a long list of random to-do items that need to be taken care of {e.g. open a RESP account for Lucy, return some borrowed items, sort out all the clothes Lucy has outgrown, etc.}. With so much to keep track of I think even if I didn’t have ADD I’d feel overwhelmed. But I do have ADD and it’s been bad lately. I feel like I’m in such a fog. I’ve started taking fish oil supplements again because the Omega 3’s are supposed to help. But I don’t know if it’s enough. I may have to ask the doctor about using antidepressants {which can be used to treat ADD} since I can’t take the normal ADHD meds while breastfeeding.

I’m also considering shutting down Coffee for the duration of NaNoWriMo, or maybe for the month of December. But I can’t decide if I want to do that. I’ve even considered retiring this blog but I know I would regret that in about 24 hours. If I were rich I’d just hire a personal assistant/maid. Yeah, that would be perfect.

Anyway…that’s just some random stuff I wanted to put out there.