Pictures of Our House

We are 100% unpacked now. Not everything has found its place, but the house is looking much more put together now.





This is our front room, aka the music room. It's also the room with most of our books. Our Christmas tree filled up the space by the window nicely. Eventually we'll have some comfy armchairs, to sit and enjoy the afternoon sun. The room feels so warm with the hardwood - totally worth the work of pulling up the carpet! We recently moved our rocking chair and television from the front room to the basement den, where our new futon will be delivered Monday. Once we have some actual seating (!) it will be much easier to enjoy our tv, and wii, and having friends to visit.



We also use the dining room when friends visit. In addition to the futon, a kitchen hutch will soon be delivered, to replace the credenza/mirror in this room. Those items will move to the empty wall in the front room, where the television used to be. There is still much shuffling and organizing to be done! A real blessing in this house are the closets and storage nooks everywhere. The closet in the dining room is full of dishes and boardgames.



This is our office/den/room of constant comfort. We spend many hours here! I am constantly organizing and cleaning it up, but it still just looks windblown at best. Paper management is a never-ending chore! Thank goodness we have a huge filing cabinet. This room also benefited from carpet removal, to reveal the beautiful hardwood underneath. The closet in this room is full of computer stuff and Chiropractic odds and ends.



This is our upper landing. I just like the way the light filters in, and the pretty heron picture. The wooden railings aren't particularly safe or reassuring, but they allow light into the upper hallway. It's hard to make out in this picture, but the light fixture is deliciously retro! The downstairs and upstairs hallways are basically the only areas still carpeted, which is nice on icy feet in the morning.





Not that our bed is so fascinating... but here it is! We'll be building a stationary bedframe, because the wheeled one was moving too much, causing damage to the hardwood. The dressers and closet in our room are Jo's clothing area. The wardrobe and closet in the second bedroom are Christopher's clothing area. The second bedroom is also where my various craftage supplies are scattered for now.



It took us two months of winter to finally clean up our garage enough to park a car in it! All the wood piled against the wall used to be the crate that protected my piano on its travels from Calgary. It was rather inconveniently taking up all the parking space - but it has been so cold, we found it hard to get motivated enough to shift things around. I'm sure the Honda will appreciate its new home.

-Jo

Happy Saturday!

Yay, my garage is useable! When we moved to Winnipeg, we had the piano packaged in a big box and moved out here. The movers unpacked the piano and put it in our living room and left the box in our garage. We kept meaning to dismantle it, but never got around to it. Then it got cold, and it was too cold to do it.

Well today we finally got around to doing it. Well, we didn't fully dismantle it, but we did make the garage useable for the first time since moving in! Yay us. So one car is now in the garage, and the other is parked outside. They will rotate depending on the timing of us getting home, but it will be nice.

I also got winter boots today! This means Jo and I can go for walks and such, which is exciting. Now to slim down so I can fit into my snow pants, and I'll be set! Good times!

We also bought a futon today! (it was a good day if you can't tell) We didn't move any couch-like furniture from Calgary, so it will be nice to have a place to sit! and watch tv! and play wii! Once everything is hooked up that is... We only have electricity on one wall in the basement, the opposite one from the TV. So I'm going to have to run an extension cord across the room as well as run a ground cable to that outlet. I'm excited about the futon, it's really nice, and they've made technological advancements in futon matressess so now they don't flatten out where you sit like the old ones. We also have a futon mattress from Jo's cousin so we have a spare/backup.

And we finally used our breadmaker! Our house smells wonderful right now!

-Christopher

New Year, New Employment

In particular, chiropractic employment! I really loved my time at Starbucks, and recommend it to anyone looking for stimulating, fun casual work. I miss my sbux friends in Calgary a TONNE and really value the new friends I made at my store on Pembina. After some much needed recovery time, I'm ready to get back to my career.

Shortly after moving here, I met an Activator doctor practicing in Lorette, a small town about 15 minutes southeast of the city. She runs a busy, three-doctor, community and family centred practice that I find an absolute inspiration. However, she has no room for a fourth doctor. I will be doing a locum for her during February and a week of April, while she takes some trips.

It quickly became clear, after speaking with several doctors about associateships and starting practice, that every Chiropractor has a unique and individual style of practice. It looked unlikely for me to find a place in an existing practice, so I started gathering information about starting a new practice.

I also knew one of the doctors was selling her practice in the Lorette office, because she needs to devote herself to her husband's practice in the city, as he is now on permanent disability. Once I've looked over the financials from the past few years, I'll be able to determine a fair value for the clinic. Starting a practice or buying a practice will both require considerable capital. The major advantage of buying an existing practice is walking into an established clientele. This represents a much lower risk, both to lenders, and to my potential income.

The major advantage of starting from scratch is the power to choose my location. Unfortunately, Lorette is far from where we live right now. I'll see what the drive is like when I do the locums. Nonetheless, I am very excited about my return to Chiropractic, and the prospect of working in such a dynamic practice, which follows my Chiropractic technique and philosophy. It will be a privilege to work with an office of likeminded doctors, because it is truly a rarity in this profession.
- Jo