Tag Archives: Canadian

Moving Stress, Buying in Canada 2021

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

As you may or may not know, Canada seems to be in a major housing crisis. There are homes going as much as 50-100k above asking in regular old neighborhoods. Trying to find a place to live has been nothing but stressful. Not to mention there are many folks who are being evicted due to their landlords selling the properties they have been living in. And apartments around the city, specifically Halifax are going anywhere from 1000+ for a one bedroom. So once someone is essentially left homeless or scrambling they now are finding it hard to find an affordable solution. Especially this is difficult if you have animals as well too.

If you are familiar with buying a house, it really was not this hard when we first bought a home about 8 years ago. You would simply find a home that you think you would like, and put an offer in. The sellers would than come back with a counter offer if they were not fond of your offer. And you would go until the home was inspected and everything fine and than you would be done and over with. There was no usual waiting period or holding offers it was pretty straight forward. Sure, if you were not fast enough there is a chance of losing the home to someone who maybe had finances in order quicker or perhaps you would lost it to someone who did put in a better offer but more likely than not you were pretty good on a home once you picked one you would like.

Fast forward to now, things are completely backwards. You no longer have time to wait and put in an offer. A home is listed on say a Thursday, and by Monday you will know if you are an accepted offer. There is a very short window for viewings and then they typically say close at a specific time and hold offers until 3-8 hours later. After that you will find out if you have won essentially. What you may or may not know is that there could be anywhere from 5-15+ people who are also putting an offer on the same home. Therefore you can no longer ask a few thousands above asking, You need to literally put your highest mac on the table and hope it is the best. You also have no idea what others put on their offers so essentially you are almost for sure going to be over paying for a home. It is a flex on who has the deepest pockets. In Nova Scotia more specifically there has been a lot of out of province buyers from Ontario and Quebec who are purchasing homes leaving Nova Scotians stranded with no where to live.

Essentially the new way of buying a home is in my opinion barbaric. Until the province or bank or whoever steps in to make it “fair” for everyone I don’t think it will let up anytime soon. You have to ask yourself what you are willing to pay for a home. Mortgage rates are so low due to this boom in housing for sale that they even do a stress test where they jump the rates up to 6% in order to see if you can survive the increase of you will end up having to sell again before the bank takes your home. Even homes that are outside of the city of Halifax that are normally going for asking are going anywhere from 60-110k over. What is weird is that there is no rhyme or reason as to what homes will go above asking or what will go slightly above asking. There is specific areas that are more expensive to buy in, ie: Directly downtown or close, Dartmouth or even Sackville which is super weird and never seen before. If the home is renovated you can nearly guarantee that they will be going at least 75k above the asking price. Some homes that we thought would go way above asking didn’t, others that we thought would go a bit above asking flew up to 100k+.

Another tactic that you hopefully know and do not fall for is that there are homes listed far under asking price. This is because they want to see more offers and where people are normally familiar with the market they are likely to be putting more into their offers. The best advice you can do is not to go over your max. Regardless of if the house is worth it or not. Do not go over the max you can do or you risk losing financing because the house is not worth what you paid. Another bit of advice would also be to make sure you have a proper down payment when it comes to buying a home. If not you risk losing financing as well based on the debt ratio that you will have when paying for mortgage payments etc.

And a final piece of advice, If you are able to on whatever website you use to look at homes, favorite ones you like and watch prices. There have been times that I see homes go from sale, to pending, back to sale and they have an increased price. Which suggests that the offers that the seller initially had gotten were too low and instead of putting the house for sale at the price they wanted to they did this in hopes to get more bites which didn’t work.

So where does that leave us? Well, I will be going more in depth about the journey that we took when it came to buying a house. As of the time of writing this we have had an accepted offer, and against all odds it was below asking price. There is a lot of work that will need to be done however we have to quarantine for 2 weeks upon arriving and we will hopefully get the painting done a lot before. I can tell you it is extremely disheartening and stressful to be putting offers on homes (That to be frank, are just not worth that much to begin with) And have them be 30-60k over asking and be denied.

Regardless we have out inspection tomorrow, I will hopefully have an update in the near future once the sale of this home is finalized and I will write up the amount of homes that we put offers on, the prices, and the bids to give you a better idea how crazy the market is. More of the math side of things. And hopefully I can share that the sale of the house is for sure!

Have you sold a home in Canada in this crazy market?
Are you looking to buy a home in Canada?

Let me know in the comments below and hopefully this can help you in your house hunting journey too!

– Stacey

Want to know the details of my recent pregnancy or house hunting tips and tricks before they come out to the blog? Sign up for the email mailing list to get all the details BEFORE they come out live!

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.



Easter Idea’s for My One Year Old

Parenting, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thinking of something to do for Easter for your child who has just turned on can be challenging. At this point they aren’t really doing all the conventional things like skipping or using chalk outside or even munching on chocolates. Last year it was easy since my son Vincent was just a few weeks old. We did a few rattles and a few books and this year we really had to think outside of the box. Here are some things and ideas we used to fill my son’s basket!

One steal that I found was I had gone to the Dollar Store (Known as Dollar Tree in the USA) and found my son an awesome miniature lawn chair. It was only $4.00 and I had to get it. I thought it would be the perfect addition to add to our deck that he can hang out with us when the sun is not too hot and have his own little seat. And only $4.00 how could I not get that for him!

Something else I thought that I would do was I decided to make him some play foods. I used plastic canvas and cut out different fruits, veggies, and foods and sewed them with yarn to be different colors and things. I thought this could be a great thing for me to do in order to save some money as well as think outside of the box. I did not want to feel like I was getting him nothing in his basket due to him being so little and options are still limited for him. Some of the shapes I had cut and sewn have turned out amazing and others still need to be tweeked. I will eventually draw the patterns in my book of them and post them to pinterest (Or maybe even here as part of an email) so others can also use the designs. I never used any patterns how I did look up different things on pinterest so I could use them as inspiration for the shapes or colors used in each one. I also am going to be putting some felt on the back with a glue gun and making them a bit neater so you cant see all of the strings that may have been cut and tied too.

Another big purchase we decided to include in his basket was a new bathing suit. We got an 18-24 month size which hopefully will fit him as he is just over a year old now. If it doesn’t then we will have to probably have to buy another one but I think this should be good! When I was younger my grandparents always gave my siblings and I our own bathing suits for the summer and I thought why not since his ones from last year are for sure too small. We also got a unisex one so that with future children we won’t need to buy another and can use this for them as well.

I also decided to get Vincent (my son) a book with his name in it! The book is called Vincent Comes Homes (I think) and this is about a cat who lives on a cargo ship. I seen someone on my Facebook who had gotten their daughter a book that had to do with their name in the title and I thought if it was possible I would like to do that to all of my kids as they come to get them their very own book with their name in it! We also got him another Blue’s Clues book since that is currently his favorite show that we watch as we unwind for bed time too. We don’t really get him books outside of holidays but they are important since we regularly read him a few stories before bed time every night.

And lastly there are a few odds and ends that are also in his basket like bubbles to play with outside, as well as a new tooth brush since his current one he is not a fan of, and some body cream too since he has been running low on his current tube too. His basket obviously will be filled with more toys once he gets a bit older and what not. Next year we can fill it with all the traditional items you could do when it comes to Easter. I did not include anymore teethers since he has a lot of those from Christmas. He still enjoys the ones he has and not that he is getting older I find he still does not use them as much as he did when he had his first few teeth breaking through!

And before I end my parents also sent him up a few things. They sent him some clothes and a few little bottles and toys for his birthday at the beginning of March and included his Easter things as well that I just split up. They included a cool outfit with a onesie, and pants and sweater, as well as a little toy car/truck that makes a noise that I will wrap in some colored tissue paper to show it’s from his grandparents. Thankfully this will be the only thing left holiday wise they will need to send since we should be home for the next major holidays!

As you can see if you kept reading this long finding something to give your song for Easter when he is just a year old can be challenging at best. I really tried to think outside of the box when it came to thinking about what to give him this year. I cannot wait to see his reaction since he is beginning to understand that presents are something you can have unwrapped and enjoy too!

Do you and your family celebrate Easter?
And what are some of the staples that the Easter Bunny puts in their baskets every year?

Let me know in the comments below and see if I can come up with ideas for the following year when my son is big enough to be outside all the time too!

– Stacey

Consider joining the FREE mailing list! You can get all the secrets about upcoming novels I am writing by helping to choose character names, bonus streams and giveaways before they happen too!

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

Why Tim Horton’s Sucks Now

Life, Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I think it is safe to say that most people in Canada or even some parts of the world knows what Tim Horton’s is. Tim’s would be the Dunkin Donuts equivalent to the United States, or even the Krispy Kremes of the United Kingdom. And whatever else you would consider a big chain coffee shop with pastry delights in them. Tim Horton’s is a coffee shop. Chances are if you live in Canada you can get to one within a 30 minute drive if not far far before. Some streets go as far as having a Tim Horton’s every so many blocks. In gas stations, stand alone, in malls or in other stores as a side spot too.

Photo by Ahmed Raza Khan Films on Pexels.com

I think one of the biggest issues that I have with Tim Horton’s, and I would say a lot of Canadians have the same issue, it is that the company is not even Canadian owned anymore. The company was sold to Burger King or Wendy’s or whatever have you but the company that every Canadian knew of is no longer the Canadian company that we once knew and loved. I would even beg the idea that the quality has gone down as well. Everything pre-made and packaged and bakers simply throw in the oven. Or at least that is the way it tastes, like it has come off a factory line. Not to mention the regular things people once loved like coffee and things have changed. People are reaching for the cheaper counter part at McDonald’s which need I mind you in the summer has the dollar menu for drinks as well too.

*** If you are someone who is really enjoying the blogs and has the financial freedom to want to support this through tips, you are more than welcome to do so by clicking on this link to bring you to my personal Ko-Fi page. Never will you ever be pressured to support in this way however the option is there if you wish to do so! Your continued support regardless of financial or not is greatly appreciated.

My personal gripe with Tim Horton\s was when they took my beloved Cinnamon Donuts and Timbits off the menu. That was my all time favorite flavor of donut and they took it away. It was a flavor that I had known and loved from when I was a child to the moment they removed it from rotation. This particular item isn’t even out in particular seasons or anything they are just gone. Now I have not found a spot that has these items still but if there is a place out there I urge you PLEASE comment where and if I am ever around hopefully they have that there when I arrive. It was such a simple flavor where they have taken it off and have put on more complicated flavors such as Oreo. Do we really need an Oreo flavor baked good from Tim’s, I think not!

Photo by Erik Mclean on Pexels.com

Another memory of my childhood that has been gone and I am unable to find is the “Gingerbread Figure”. See how progressive Tim hortons used to be? And now what, Nothing! This was just as it explains, a gingerbread person with either just icing or icing and a harden sugar head. Sometimes it was based on holidays or a generic girl or boy person. It really depended. Sometimes it was cartoons of popular movies or kids shows or even just animals too. I always loved going with my grandparents to Tim Horton’s in the mornings when I stayed the night there and looking through the glass case at Tim’s to see that they had some made! I would choose this one every time. I would always pick off one of the legs and then the arms and then save the sugar head for last. I know this probably sounds super morbid then it really is but honestly I was a small child and it really isn’t that bad!

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.

I will say even though they have basically sold out the heart and soul of Canadians that they still do a lot for the country. Especially for the children. For the supporting minor hockey, the Timbits so to speak or their camp day and smile cookie day too. They continue to help our programs that are impacting the kids of the country’s lives daily and helping the art of sport be more accessible. And their camps that are including everyone no matter their abilities.

I’m sure, after I have tried to rip into the Tim’s you are asking yourself, Wow, Does she like anything there? I do actually. I enjoy having their iced coffee made with chocolate milk and I also enjoy having an Iced Capp also made with chocolate milk. Sometimes I don’t mind a sour cream glazed donut or a chocolate chip cookie, Only if they are chewy though! As far as anything else I really am not a fan of their bagels that i once loved. I avoid that. Tea biscuits cheese no ham or just plain are also good however microwaved with butter is how they are enjoyed best!

Photo by Designecologist on Pexels.com

Even though they continue to do things that tick most people off. I probably will still enjoy their products here and there. I know it sounds cray why would you still go there when you have a lot of negative to say. I still enjoy some of their things, however if they were to change their iced capps that would be extremely hard for me to go there really. A major point we go there is because of their convenience. When I go for a road trip we always stop their first for their quick eats and coffee even if it doesn’t taste very good which is happening more often than not.

I am all for supporting Canadian shops however the more time passes they seem to be becoming less and less of what my memories are made of. Something that was a part of nearly every shift on my way there has become a few times a year. I just am not interested in going out especially with Covid let alone for their maybe okay tasting drinks. We have recently upgraded our home coffee in the previous year to a Nespresso and with the Cold Wave system that nearly instantly cools hot coffee, I would say that there really is no need.

Is there something that you really liked when you were younger from a restaurant or shop that has changed and you find yourself avoiding it

is it only known in your country or worldwide

Let me know as I am curious if anyone else has experienced this as well too!

Reasons Why I Do Not Like Quebec

Life, , , , , , , , , , ,

I have a feeling this may turn into a bit of a rant but you know what I am going to try to do everything in my power to NOT let it get that way and actually have a structured stance on the reasons why I do not like Quebec.

1st, I don’t like it because it is french speaking. JUST KIDDING. I will say though in the nicest way possible. I get that Quebec is French Speaking. That is true. And I respect that they are trying to preserve that in a country that is predominantly English. However, It is extremely frustrating when we first moved here and I would go to a grocery store and a person would speak to me in French when I would respond in English. I would like to think that the person who normally is young. I would choose a young cashier more often than not since they for sure would have known English from being in school. Would speak in French to me. Don’t you think that if I knew French I would be trying to speak it. As someone who just moved here I also find that people are not as friendly as they would be in Nova Scotia.

In order to get anything done I had to jump through hoops. For something as simple as a medical card for example. I have always lived in Canada my entire life. I just used to live in Nova Scotia. I have never, seriously NEVER lived in another country. The only time I even left was for 3 weeks to babysit my neice and nephew in England. Other than that I was always here. For me to get a medical card I had to get the proper forms. This included that I lived in the province. I get it. I had to get a piece of mail with my address. My boyfriend even went as far as getting our housing people to provide a letter stating that I was on the lease for the home we were renting too. Which in the end wasn’t even good enough proof that I was permanently living here. After doing this a few times with a run around of different papers I then got a temporary card. This was only good for so long and after so many months I was sent another letter asking me if I could send mail for the previous 6 months PROVING yet again that I lived in the address that I had said I did. Luckily i had mail from school since I was paid to go (More on that coming up) so all I had to do was take my pay stubs from the time frame that they wanted and got to send those in. Which is pretty hard to do, partly because it was 2019 at the time in a world that encourages paperless living. I don’t really receive any mail now that I am not in school either.

Anyone who knows me also knows that I was in french school for a year and a half. In order to get on this course I basically had to convince someone I wanted to take this. Which was a feat in itself. I want to remind you before I begin, If you are a person coming from a different country you simply can fill out all of this paperwork online and start the process super easy. For me, A Canadian, it was a completely different story and in telling said story to a friend of mine she had said that her experience was not this difficult at all! I had to get paperwork. Fill it out. Bring it back. Sit with someone and explain to them why I wanted French courses where I was told that I could do “warehouse work” with English. Then I was told that I had to wait to meet with a counselor or something. I met with them. Then I had to go back to be told if I was accepted. All of this to do a course in French while being convinced along the way that I didn’t need it to work in Quebec which is a lie. You for sure need to know both languages or they won’t even really look at you.

And lastly, The difficulty it was in the hospital having my Son and nurses either do not know English or they did not want to speak it. My boyfriend had to translate nearly everything. Not to mention the hospital that we ended up being was a hospital that was in a town that was known for being bilingual. It wasn’t a small town but was known for being both languages. As frustrating as it was was having some nurses not respond when we asked questions was insane. And even in instances where my boyfriend would specifically ask for an English speaking nurse we were told at times that “the particular nurse was on lunch so we would have to wait an hour for that person”. Which is absolutely insane. We have this new baby and have questions and we aren’t allowed to answer? Really? Needless to say the other challenge was also trying to find my Son a family doctor. A friend of mine even had to find one on the Island of Montreal since there is no available ones around. The clinic that we went to for pre-natal appointments doesn’t really do anything to check up after the birth on the mother or helping in finding a family doctor for the baby. it really is once that baby comes out you are kind of on your own. Needless to say I will be able to go back to my Family doctor in Nova Scotia and things we assume will be far easier than they were here.

As you can see these are pretty big things for someone not to enjoy Quebec. I’m sure that there are things that we have enjoyed. Like Krispy Kreme or things along that way of food. However with issues like this along the way, even though my boyfriend is from Quebec, we both are anxiously awaiting the call or message telling us we will be moving back home. To a simpler place!

-StaySeeJ08

Things We Want For Our New House!

Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It comes as no surprise if you are a regular reader of the blog that I am more than excited to move back home to Nova Scotia. Mostly because we rent right now and cannot wait til we buy and have our own property again. There isn’t a whole lot on our list of demands when searching for a house but there is a few non-negotiable here. Especially where this will be our hopefully forever home and we won’t be moving again after this.

My boyfriend has one major request. That would be he either wants a garage or he wants a place to build a garage. All we had before was 2 sheds and now in our currently rental we have nothing. He wants a place he can tinker around or store his bike if he wants too. A place to put all his tools and what not too. For me it really doesn’t effect me about a garage or not but for him it is for sure a major deal breaker. If a property does not have a garage either, that will hopefully be reflected in the price. That way in the future he would be able to build one too.

For me, I am way more picky. I would like the house to have at least 1.5 bathrooms. In our old house we had a master bathroom and a half bathroom upstairs. No second shower or anything but there was a second toilet and sink which was great. If my boyfriend was getting ready for work he would be able to shave or wash his face instead of taking up the bathroom. Also if you needed to use the bathroom and someone was in the shower you would be able to do that without intruding on the person washing up. This was huge and we never really noticed the difference til we move to this rental where the bathroom is so small you can barely even move around. If you are sitting on the toilet you are only able to open the door a crack unless you turn around because there is so little space. I wouldn’t mind if we had just one shower and bath but I know for sure there best be two toilets in the new home! Along the lines I would like to also have a deep bathtub. Ultimately I would like to have a bathtub that I can lay down in and have my knees be under the water. I am not super tall so this might not be a hard task however the bathtub that we have no it gets the job done, don’t get me wrong, but I would like something that is a bit deeper. As far as jets or anything I really could care less since apparently they are a lot more pain in the butt than they are worth.

The backyard is something we are slightly both picky about. If the backyard has a fence that would be huge bonus points. We had a fenced in yard when we owned a house before and going to a house where you cannot have a fence and if you do it is a pain in the butt since you cannot take it with you when you move and you have to sell it. I would like a fenced in yard so that Sheldon can run around and enjoy the freedom. He cannot be let off a lease or he would run and run and run. So a fenced in backyard is for sure a bonus, if the yard doesn’t have one though we will just put one in so that really isnt a deal breaker.

Privacy is huge for us. our last home we lived somewhere that everyone could see in your backyard. There was no privacy what so ever and our rental home here is no different. When you stand on your back deck you can see at least 8 other homes. We do not want this. Ideally, we would like to have a house where we don’t see anyone. Total privacy but not in the sense that you have to drive to a neighbor, but just so that you don’t see them. They are close enough that if something happened you can go there but far enough that you don’t have to see them when they do things. We want it to also be a big back yard as we would like to put in a pool eventually, my spouse would love a hot tub but for me I could care less. We also want to build a nice fire pit for some entertaining hopefully when covid is over with. We want our back yard to be like a hidden oasis. I know it sounds nutty. We do not want to be house poor and forced to live just at our house but we want a space that is so nice we wont want to go anywhere else.

As far as inside goes, I would like a big kitchen. And big to us is really not what you may think. Our kitchen now in our rental is so small you can’t even stand together cooking. We want something where you can have a few people around and much more counter space as well. We went from a big open concept kitchen to this super small one and we both do not like it. So something open or even just a bigger space would be great. if it has a dining room area that would be a bonus for us but by no means a deal breaker though. And as far as bedroom I would love it to have 4+ since we would like to have 3 kids. Master bedroom would be ours and each child would have their own. However if there was a den that could be turned into a bedroom eventually that would also work out great as well too. Though I have no idea where we would be putting out computers and things though, that is all up in the air! Paint colors or flooring is not really a deal breaker either as we will be changing it if we do not like them.

Overall I feel like we are a bit more picky this time around instead of when we first bought a house. Mostly because of the fact that this will be our forever house. I will not want to move anywhere after this. I want to be here for the rest of my life tweeking and working on it so that we have a home anyone would love to be in.

What are somethings you want in your dream house?
What are your deal breakers?

Let me know in the comments below! Maybe I can add to my list too!

-StaySeeJ08

Christmas Traditions

Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m not even sure where to begin since there are so many traditions that my family has had and ones that I wanted to start with my son (And future kids!). To keep things simple we can talk about the ones I grew up with and then move on to ones that are new to bring into my Son’s life! And if I want to continue it with him I will mention that as well too!

My Family Christmas Party
This is something that was started so long ago and somehow it always falls off on my Uncle or my Mom to throw the party. however maybe when we buy a new home we will take it on! This is just my dad’s side of the family however there is sometimes my Nanny (Mom’s mom) Who comes as well since my grampie passed away. Though with Covid this year there is no party (Not that I am happy but I don’t feel bad about missing out since there is nothing to miss!)

Annual Tree Hunt
Before, when I was younger we used to get a tree for ourselves, Now we go and get a tree for friends of ours. This is when we go about an hour or so drive to a pot luck dinner. It is a bunch of friends of the family and my grandparents used to bring my mom and siblings to this, then my mom brought my siblings and I to it, And now (Well next year) I will be bringing my son to it! Everyone goes to a tree lot to chop down their tree (If they still have a real one!) And then we all go back for a potluck dinner with everyone. Again, Another thing Covid has cancelled.

Christmas Eve
This can be quite a busy day for us. We started the day mid afternoon by stopping at my mom’s friend from high school. Usually chatting for a little bit. Afterwards we would all go to my Aunt’s house, Well Great Aunt. They would make rappie pie. Which is like a weird acadian dish with potatoes and chicken pieces and stock, with bacon sprinkled on the top baked. The consistency was like boogers from your nose when you had a bad cold. Simply yucky and I cant even try it. My boyfriend loves it but screw that noise. Yuck. After my Aunt’s house we would go back to my parents house. That’s where we would prep for the evening. Normally my Dad has his brothers (Who live close) to come over. Normally they would wait til my parents were ready to put us to bed to come over and get us all excited since only one of them understood the concept of time. Now that we are older we just hang out at my mom and dad’s for a bit. When we were a kid we would go to bed and now as adults we go to our parents friends, Brenda and Juniors. Sadly Junior passed away a few years ago but we still head over and shoot some pool for a bit before hitting the hay. Oh, And dont forget to leave out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer as well too! Sometimes if we got them from school we would even leave reindeer feed for them to find their way to our house (This was normally glitter with oatmeal or what not so that you threw it on your lawn and Santa would know that there is children in the home!). We also always read the Night Before Christmas. We had the Hallmark version from way back when and it was a pop up.. I checked amaon and it was 300 dollars so needless to say I got a nice version that was a very small portion of that price. Maybe some day I will snag that version but until then the new book will do!

Christmas Day
When I was younger we would take turns going from my grandparents house to my parents for dinner. We would make Log Cabin Potatoes and by we I mean either my dad or my Grampie. Now that I am moved away though I make them for my house and my brother makes them for his, (I’ll share the recipe at the end of this post). Since my Grampie passed however, My dad normally makes them at home and we pick my grandmother up and go to my parents for dinner. My sister and her 2 kids will sleep over at their house since they dont have a Christmas tree due to her and her husbands religious beliefs but we all still celebrate the meal and exchange of gifts together. I know my parents would love for my family to also stay over there but I can say once we buy a new home next year I do not think we will be since there is barely enough room or beds let alone we have our own tree in our home that we will be opening gifts under. Not to mention I just enjoy sleeping in my own flipping bed! We typically ate around mid afternoon so that by supper time we could be in our own homes and relaxing in our food coma.

Boxing Day
Boxing day is pretty fun for my family as well. We typically go to my Dad’s oldest brothers house. We go about mid morning for a visit and for him to showcase all the things him and my aunt exchanged or got for Christmas. We are kind of pranksters and while he shows us things we really get him to give us the “full package” so to speak by taking everything out of their boxes or bags even if they are in an orgional box. We make the typical “Oooooo” and “Awwww” for the items and if my Uncle tries to tell us he doesnt want to do it we give him grief about it and he gives us grief back and it’s all in good fun! Even being away from home living in a different province if the time is right I will video chat with them for a bit and we will still pull the same tricks from a different province too!

Most of the traditions that I had done as a child I want to continue with my son, and future kids too. One in particular that I never had as a child I would like to start with him would be the pajama box on Christmas Eve. This is where they receive a gift of new jammies, and as they get older they would get some hot chocolate, maybe some popcorn, or a treat, That way they can have a nice movie and unwind before bed. I don’t think my Uncles would be making their way over since they have their own grand kids and what not already. And we won’t be doing the pool thing while our children are young since the evening wasn’t met for children. It was just for the adults. Though we may swing by though to say hello! Another I would like to do also when my children get older is to hide the pickle on the Christmas tree. Whoever finds the pickle gets a special gift. Something silly to match the little game. Elf on a shelf will also be happening however that is a bit away til my Son and future children understand what they are too!

As you can see, there really is many traditions that I had as a child and I am sure there will be many more for me to find out about and decide if they are right for our family!

What are some of your Christmas or Holiday traditions?

I would love to hear them.

-StaySeeJ08

When I First Smoked Weed

Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Before I get into this remember.
If you are in a place where weed is ILLEGAL please please please do not smoke/eat/dabble in this. You can get in trouble depending on the laws that you have. I live in Canada and though it might be legal now at one point it as not. Laws are there to abide by and not to break .. If you know what I’m saying. So if you are thinking this is a way for me to endorse smoking up before you are of legal age in the country or state or province that you live in that is not the case here. Use your brain, seriously!

The first time I smoked weed was when I was 16 years old. I know, I know I basically broke the whole first paragraph of this blog post but I think the story will be HILARIOUS and well worth it. I do not recommend if you are this age to start smoking weed. If you were to ask me why I started or what promoted me. Honestly, I have no idea. It just happened. You could say it was a bit of peer pressure and I felt like being new to high school I wanted to fit in somewhere and well why not try being a stoner, everyone likes stoners!

One day after school I had headed down to a person I had just met, Andrew. Well I mean he was new to my school so I had talked to him and we were friends but it was just when the year started. Nothing like Junior high or whatever friends. I never met his Mom before but as soon as I got there he said he kind of wanted to get high. Now, me being SUPER naive I was like Oh.. How and do you have any? His mom grew this little weakling of a plant that he took some from. It obviously wasn’t dried or anything and was tough to smoke but it did the job. I remember us jamming to some Eazy-E remix of How we do. Then there was the “smokers” from my school who popped over to his house. It was a bit awkward for sure since I never hung around with that crowd but they came up for a bit and left. To be fair I am pretty sure we even SMOKED IN THE HOUSE! Like honestly, what was I thinking ?! But here we are.

Now some time has passed. How much I don’t know. I think my mom was working til 8pm. Well, We got a SURPRISE. His Uncle showed up!! Here is the kicker though. My mom did this “stitch” night every Tuesday and there was a woman there who she knew and she also bowled with her every week too. My friend Andrew’s Uncle was HER HUSBAND! So he totally knew who I was! And I don’t mean he was like someone who MIGHT know who I was, I mean he knew. We used to go to their house because they had train tracks behind their house and a lake so we would walk down and then we would swim to the dock for a bit while my mom and her would talk on the shore line. Like this was not a friend who randomly we would see my mom would catch up and that was it for another year. I mean she seen her once if not twice a week REGULARLY for a very very long time!

As you can imagine this has now become one of my worst nightmares and worst fears. He starts calling me by my name. Questioning me. Now there was a lot of times I lied to my parents for harmless things. This was one of the first times so I was completely unprepared. Not to mention thrown off guard as well. His uncle asked “Why was there smoke and it smelled like weed in here”. Andrew was a pro and simply said that the people who stopped over for a visit was smoking it and it wasn’t us. I don’t think he believed us for a second. I kind of went along with Andrew with whatever he said even if it wasn’t believable one bit. Then his uncle said I should call my mom. Which I did stupidly. I should have walked home. The worst part is that he basically knew who I was before I knew who he was! Due to the fact he was normally working whenever we would visit his wife.

Once my mom picked me up it was extremely awkward the drive home. She questioned me the entire time. ARE YOU HIGH? DID YOU SMOKE WEED? I said the same thing, I never smoked any but he had friends who had come over and did smoke some. Obviously I smelled like it so there really was no denying that part of anything. She then questioned why I was stumbling over my words and stuttering and had dry mouth. Again, This was my FIRST TIME smoking weed so I was in no means a professional that I am today not to mention I never knew the side effects either! Once we got home I think i went to my room and stayed there. I couldn’t even tell you if I did anything else, Maybe I had a shower? Maybe I went to bed? I really don’t remember that part anymore!

So there you have it, The first time I smoked weed. You would think something like that would completely turn me off from smoking since I legit almost or kind of got caught smoking but it didn’t. I just became more secretive and was better at lying. I didn’t see it as a problem as I was never lying to hurt anyone and I wasn’t always flat out lying, I just was dancing around the truth really! Instead of going to a basketball game for the school one night I would be going with a friend to smoke weed in the park.

The Great Remembrance Day and Christmas Debate

Life, , , , , , , , , ,

In Canada every single year around this time of year we see the great debate about whether or not you should put up your Christmas decorations before Remembrance Day or should you wait til after to do so.

Remembrance Day to Canada would be the same as Memorial Day in the USA, I do believe, Where you take a moment to remember all the fallen soldiers in the wars that have fought to protect the freedoms and rights of the people in our country. Normally around the country there is different ceremonies taking place (However with Covid-19 I don’t know how many are really doing different things or if they are going to be virtual as well). At 11am we take a few moments of silence where we really reflect on this. I am sure that there is also a lot of folks who don’t participate and well, that is their right to not take part. This is also why you may see on Canadian news stations that the broadcasters are wearing poppies. This has to do with the poem Flanders Fields and remembering as well. That is a whole different blog post though.

Now here is the juicy drama. In Canada at least, Every year there is many people who have nothing better to do then to complain about the decorations being put out too soon. They say this for many reasons, One being that it takes away from Remembrance Day. Apparently if you decorate your home with Christmas lights and decorations you magically lose your memory and ability to remember fallen soldiers. I know, Crazy right. Actually crazy. Another reason is we so much want to commercialize the holidays. Since apparently every year right after Halloween you see Christmas Decorations earlier and earlier. I can see the argument of it being so early to jump from Halloween to Christmas. The stores and shops even have things started before Halloween is over by making their aisles blank and prepped for all of the Holiday things to be placed on the shelves waiting for suckers like me to come in and dump loads of money (Maybe not loads) on new things to decorate with every year. They would basically have a skull that screams when you walk by next to a batch of Christmas Tree lights or ornaments too.

If you notice, Or haven’t, I freaking LOVE Christmas. I decorate right after Halloween. The magic that is Christmas makes me feel extremely happy and when its over I am ready for my own place again. That being said. I don’t judge if people want to wait or put them up like I do. I put and have put them up every year on November 1st. Outside especially because normally the longer you wait the colder it gets and what fun would it be to put up Christmas lights in minus 20c. Not a lot. Not to mention I love gifting and prepping. Since I was a child I have loved it. Do I care what people say, No. I normally post a photo on Facebook about the tree being up and what not and I see the same people every year saying “Oh it is too early and its not right”. I even start on the posts to be reminding people about the golden rule, “If you have nothing nice to say don’t speak”, as my mom would remind me all the time. I even see people tag me in post saying if you decorate early than Santa kills an elf or something like that. Insert a HUGE eye roll here.


Fun Fact: If you were to ask the older generation about their thoughts for the decorating prematurely for the holidays. Chances are they wont really care. They went to war and to fight for our freedom. If they were to care that would be a bit hypocritical right. They don’t mind if they see decorations and things. They want us to show who we are and if we love Christmas and decorations why not show that off! There has even been articles online that I am sure you can find about people asking Veterans what their thoughts are because this is such a controversial subject up here that people just had to know what they thought about it. My grandfather was a vet and mind you, He would probably say it is super early for the decorations to be up, But I don’t think he would really mind or give someone a hard time about it. Not to mention, He tried to beat the system and he would keep his Christmas Lights up all year just unplug them so that he only had to plug them back in again come the next season.

Interestingly enough, in Quebec City apparently the mayor has offered up a refund of sorts to businesses to decorate early as well. For most, Christmas is a time of joy and family. And with Covid-19 around it really isn’t that great either. So by decorating it might make the city look a bit more festive and create some great vibes for everyone around. Not to mention how can you not smile when you are driving or walking around and seeing houses lit up in their own unique way with old school or the newest lights. I know this year my son will be about 9-10 months old and chances are he will fall asleep but we for sure will be doing an evening where we go driving around looking at Christmas lights none the less. Even just to say that we did it would be fun!

So as you can see, Canada has their little fights between citizens as well. Though the issues may not be as cray as some may think. It really is a downer. At the end of the day, Live and let live. Putting your decorations up early is not hurting anyone at all, again I know, crazy right. And if it makes you happy, whose to stand in the way of your happiness right!

-StaySeeJ