Home Is Where The Heart Is...

A drawing Michael made for the boys on the front of our freezer with the washable crayons Vicky brought over for the boys. Bennie really liked this drawing...

So I finally have my own computer! Which is why I can finally update my blog!
A lot has happened in these the last two weeks since my last post update, including another visit from Vicky, whom I've fondly nicknamed the Fairy Godmother as she always seems to bring gifts for the boys when she comes over and is always willing to help us out, and I also got a visit from my old school friend Jon last week. I had not seen him in several years, and he is now married and has a son named Oliver as well who is only one day younger than our twins!

My friend Jon sitting behind the couch with his son Oliver on his lap...

I finally got a chance to meet his lovely wife and their adorable son, and our children got a long so well together. It was a rather tender moment to see our children play together knowing how long I've known Jon and we both reflected on the good old college days when we had no responsibilities and how much our lives have changed now that we have our own families...

Oliver and Oliver playing together, how adorable!

However, there is still nothing happening with the court street house listing, so we decided that we would wait until the listing is actually legally listed before we make another offer.
Our real estate agent Bruce has promised us in the meantime that he would keep an eye out for anything within our budget and let us know right away as soon as something comes up.

However, finding a house is the last thing on my mind right now, as we haven't even started packing and we will be homeless in a month's time!
Our leasing agent contacted us last week to let us know that our apartment had been successfully sublet and that we have to be out of here by March 31st. There's no turning back now as we've already signed the papers to release our apartment!
I don't even know where I'm going to find the time to start packing, as it seems that I can't even turn my back on the boys for 5 seconds without one of them pushing or shoving the other, or some kind of fight breaking out over a toy (Argh!). Not the mention all the house work that piles up on a daily basis from the Laundry, to the cooking cleaning, and just taking care of and running after the boys!

Michael has his head planted mostly to the computer everyday now just selling like crazy to come up with the down payment on the apartment, so it's not like he can offer me much help as he obviously has to hussle and sell, sell, sell to make sure we have enough money for the down payment of the house and to move as well! We're both staying positive over all though, because at least we're working towards our dream, and not just sitting on it...

Benjamin 'reading' a flyer last week...

However on a good note, our real estate agent Bruce contacted us last week to let us know that a freelance reporter named Rachel Brighton was looking to publish a story on portable businesses and if he could help her resource any people she could interview, and he thought of us, the Toronto couple in Ontario looking for a home in Bridgetown. So Rachel contacted us and interviewed us and published our story in The Chronicle Herald local Newspaper!
Here's the link if you would all like to check it out:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/67253-toronto-record-dealer-brings-his-tunes-bridgetown

Rachel did a fantastic job with our story, and she even featured one of Michael's Cape Breton 78's in her article -The fiddler was A.A. Gillis, and the song is tittled Johnnie Cope. The next day, Rachel emailed us to let us know that some gentleman by the name of Brian read her article about us and wanted to get in touch with Michael to talk to him more about his featured Cape Breton record in the article. Michael contacted him back by email right away, and it turns out that Brian is married to one of the daughter of the late A.A. Gillis the popular folk artist fiddler featured in Michael's 78 record in the article!

Apparently A.A. Gillis had 6 daughters as we discovered from Brian, and none of the daughters have any of their father's recordings of his beloved folk music, so they were excited to get in touch with Michael so that they can hear their father's music again! What an amazing story!

Check out the featured 78 record on Michael's YouTube link!
http://www.youtube.com/user/Gamelan78s?feature=mhee

Rachel was kind enough to follow up with us by email to let us know that people in Bridgetown were approaching her in church telling her that they had read her article and were quite happy that 'The Record Man' and his family were coming to Bridgetown!
Michael also spoke with Bruce recently to inquire about the house situation and Bruce told Michael that ever since Rachel's article came out with our story that he's been overwhelmed with phone calls from people who are selling their houses and telling him that they read this story in the newspaper about a couple from Toronto looking to buy a house in Bridgetown and that they have their houses up for sale! Unfortunately none of them are within our budget though, but it's the thought that counts! People in Bridgetown are so helpful that they're willing to even sell us our homes so we can move there!
It appears as though our story is definitely making it's own little ripple effect in Bridgetown and in Nova Scotia as we're finding out!

So although we haven't secured a house yet in Bridgetown, it looks we've already made an imprint on Bridgetown and all signs are pointing us in the right direction. So thank you Rachel for publishing our story! We're so touched and humbled by the positive response we've had so far, and the people we've gotten connected with.

So far no there is nothing to report on the housing situation, but wow, what a start! I'm just excited to get to Bridgetown, and can't wait to settle in and meet our new community! So I guess that old saying is true - Home is where the heart is!