And the second item...

...was a meeting I had organised and led last Wednesday with a bunch of councillors from the municipalities we're working in. I don't usually find work very stressful, but meetings can be intense.

That was an exhausting week but also kind of energising. Life will certainly be dull from now on.

B and I had looked at about 40 houses, nearly all in this one neighbourhood north of highway one (just north of where we live now), and most were in pretty poor condition. The ones that were decent always sold for about $20,000 over the asking price (even in these 'tough economic times', though apparently the Spirited Energy Province has been relatively sheltered from all that hoopla) and so were out of our price range.

About two weeks before we found the house we got, we put an offer into a very small house in a central part of the neighbourhood. It needed a lot of work - mostly cosmetic. It was very solid, which is the important thing in an old neighbourhood. It sold, to someone else, for quite a bit higher than the list price.

The one we did get was a place we didn't even consider looking at. A friend across the street told us about an open house and said we should check it out. That part of the neighbourhood always seemed too far north to me, but he said it was great. He can be anywhere downtown on his bike in 10 minutes and there are lots of buses. So we had a look. The street was awesome. The house was beautiful and looked to be in good condition, so we figured it would just go for a whole lot more than asking price. Also, it seemed like a lot of house for us. I like small things.

It didn't sell. I think it's the location. We had another look with our agent and he really liked it. He doesn't usually like anything. B was all for it. I was apprehensive. We wrote up a large pros and cons list. The pros outweighed the cons. We put in an offer and got it just slightly under the list price.

I wasn't convinced we had it until the bank sent the approval letter to the agent. There was about a full day of stress in there when, upon receiving my letter of employment, the manager raised an eyebrow at my 'term employee' status. Even though he'd written us several pre-approval letters, he had no obligation to offer us anything. But this was the eleventh hour. Gah! He scared me for nothing. It went through fine.

So now we have this house. It's big, it smells like smoke and it's kind of far north, but I am really happy. I'm ready to try on this owning-a-house thing and see how I like it. I'm happy to move out of this apartment - not because I hate it here but because I'd like a change of space, one with a cat-litter-free bathroom. I'm happy to have space for a canoe and another, crappier bike, so I can cycle anywhere and not worry about it being stolen. I'm looking forward to reading on a porch, more counter space and somewhere to put a sewing machine. I'm also excited to move to a different neighbourhood. I love it here but it will be fun to know another part of One Great City!

The main stress of the week was my thesis defence, which I won't go into much because I have to go to work now. I can't believe how well it all went. There were only three people there but the discussion was good enough that I wish I'd asked more people to come. I have a few revisions to make, so the whole thing will be out of my hair by next week.

Which I still can't believe.