I'm on steroids

A lovely steriod nasal spray, that is. I'm going to have the buffest sinuses in town. Woot woot.

I have to do an hour or so of work tomorrow, then I'm off for two weeks --- my funding is up, and my new funding will start then. So I finally get my "vacation" that I planned to take when I first got here! But I don't even really need it. I wanted to take a break because I needed to destress and heal, but I was able to do that IN my job. I am so blessed to have a job that allows me the flexibility to work when I'm well and rest when I'm not; it has made all the difference. I am very aware that this is providential --- how many people have this kind of schedule? It was just what I needed.

Sunday morning Jilly is taking me to the boat so I can go to Saint John and visit my "family" there. Then Paul will drive around on Tuesday and I will join him at Beulah for Ministerial (and watch the House premiere with Lynnette!). On Thursday, we'll go to his parents for overnight, then head back home. At first I was disappointed with how it worked out, because I would have loved to take the whole two weeks in Saint John. But when I thought about it more, I remembered that, hey wait, I love it here in Woods Harbour. I think it will be fun to have a week off and be able to take walks with Esther and have people over and go to the bank to talk about mortgages and maybe explore some of the places I haven't seen yet. Lord willing, it shall be swell. I wish I could bring my "family" back with me, though.

I learned CSS at work, and made a few websites with it. Very nice... or so I thought until I tried to view them on our Mac -- it MANGLED 2 of them. So now tomorrow I will have to try to edit code until my PC and the Mac can both view the sites properly. Silly Macbook. Silly Safari.

I have a secret prayer sister! I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was a nice surprise (no one asked me if I wanted one, and I hadn't been here when people were matched, so it was unexpected), and I've never had one before, except for at BLEC. I get prayers AND presents! And my name was spelled with stickers! STICKERS! It was SO NICE. I wish it wasn't a secret, though, because when Paul brought the stuff home, I got all blessed and wished I could have hugged the person and let them know how much it meant. Esther, if you know who it is, will you tell them for me?

HOUSE HUNT UPDATE - the house referred to in the previous message did not turn out to be what we had hoped. Really NICE, but not enough house for the money they were looking for. We looked at another house that someone had flipped, and it was WAY nice, but still too much money, and not with a finished basement. Another house today - the price is right (assuming we can get them down a bit) and it has real potential I think. It has a basement rec room with a little bar counter in it that would be great for youth. (No, not to ply them with alcohol.) The real problem is that the people are smokers. Anyone have any insight on how long it takes for the smell of smoke to exit a house? We could obviously rip up the small amount of carpet (just on the stairs, I think), but will that do it?

I guess it's in all of Canada that first time home buyers only have to pony up a smaller percentage for the down payment on a mortage, and can borrow against your RRSP to do it. BUT Is it true that you can't borrow against your RRSP through Wesleyan Pension? I think I read that on someone else's blog. That would stink.

Oh, I didn't switch to Geico, but my car insurance seems ridiculously low; I just received the documents from my broker in Saint John, and it was less than $800 for the full year, full coverage on a new car. I was expecting it to be a lot more, and was concerned about adding those payments to all our other ones. But this is TOTALLY doable --- I was able to write a check for the full amount! Total blessing.

I am so happy here. I know I say that a lot, but it just blows my mind. The glass-half-empty in me keeps waiting for something bad to happen. And maybe it will, but I won't be able to deny that for these months at least, I have been completely content.