A new home

I got one step forward in the right direction today and sent the damage deposit and first months rent to my new landlord for our new home. My Dad was in Courtenay this weekend and agreed to meet the landlord for me and hand over the money. I had decided on a 2 bedroom second floor condo in a nice quiet residential neighbourhood.

While he was there the lady from the property management company showed him a different one that was about $100 more but twice the size and a million times better. He reported back to me with his findings insisting that it was the better choice. I googled the address and found the real estate listing (it was just bought by the landlord and I am their first tenant) so I could see pictures. I was sold immediately. It is everything I wanted that I didn't even want to look for because I thought I couldn't afford it. I am organizing all my stuff and people to move this weekend as it is vacant and clean and ready for us to move in!

I will post pictures on here when we get over there, it is not a townhouse and not a condo is all I want to say right now. It is a little more than I had wanted to spend but I thought I would take it and see how it goes, if I am over-extended then I will have to downsize but it is the kind of home I wanted for Abby so I am going to work hard to give it to her. We will be happy there for several years, maybe as long as it takes to get my degree.

Normally when one is looking for somewhere to live you have an income and know what you can afford. I will be looking for a job once I'm over there so I am working out a budget based on what I made before I went on maternity leave. I am hoping to make more than that but if I return to that wage or close to I will be ok. I don't have much wiggle room in the budget for new furniture, at least not for the first couple of months, so it is actually good timing that my parents are renovating their house in Comox.

They have had to put all of their furniture in storage and wont need any of it for several months which means I have lots of time to comb Craigslist for appropriate furnishings. I'm kind of happy to do it that way. I love the idea of spending as little as possible, and being able to refinish, repaint or whatever to make things my own. I have some ideas I would like to try out. It also means that they need somewhere to stay every couple of weeks or so while they supervise the work on their house, and my new abode has plenty of room.

I am excited to get back to work. It has been wonderful to be able to extend my maternity leave and have a year and a half to focus on raising my daughter. I think she is better for it, but now is a good time for her to start daycare. She loves hanging out with other kids and loves to do things and be busy. Her and I have a wonderful close bond yet she is comfortable to be away from me and doesn't panic or freak out at all. I looked into some daycares and found there is subsidy available from the government for people just like me.

I think there should be help available for everyone, one of the barriers for a lot of women in their career is finding affordable daycare. If I still lived with my husband I would not qualify for assistance because he makes too much money. So paying for daycare would suck up so much money it's almost not worth it. A lot of women (and some men, there are more and more men staying home with the kids these days) sacrifice their own goals for their family. Subsidized, government daycare would even things up for everyone.

Next week I have to find daycare and then a job. Hopefully by the end of April I will have all the pieces in place and I can focus on some inner healing. I'm really looking forward to being at work all day, hanging out with Abby, having dinner, putting her to bed and relaxing in the evening. I am aiming for peace and calm in my life.