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This is going to be long...so feel free to jump ahead and read only the sections you want to know....or read it all...your choice!

I will start by saying that I have been without internet (or tv for that matter) for a very long time. And a lot has happened since my last post..

Our Home

The house that I posted about last time, is not the home we are in town.  Some things didn't work out and we ended up house hunting again and back to the very first place we looked at originally.  It's homey and cozy.  3 bedrooms, 1 bath.  A decent size.  Fenced backyard for the dog to run around in.  It's worked out perfectly...

I love it! Those pictures are from the real estate site and I will get some updated ones with our furniture and such inside of it.

Linx

A new addition has also come into our lives, by the name of Linx.  Story time...

Josh went to help a friend of ours move some furniture.  They drove over to this apartment building and stopped by a man asking if they knew how to get ahold of the landlord.  No, they don't live here, but they inquired to why.  The man said that someone drove into the parking lot, threw a kitten and a litter box out of their door, and drove off.  It wouldn't stop crying, so he was trying to get the landlord to take care of it.

Josh went and scooped it up and took it home with him...because of this....

Someone had tried to kill her.  Her head was huge...swollen...the back of her skull had a huge lump on it, she couldn't walk..and she was crying from pain. 

We took her to the vet immediately and none of us thought she would live.  But we gave her some pain meds and anti flammatory drugs to help ease the pain for her a bit.  The vet said it looked as if either someone kicked her, or tried to hit her head against something to rid of her. I laid her in the bathroom that night and hoped that if she was going to die, that it was be peacefully.

The next morning I opened the door and was greeting by a very wobbly, mewing kitten! I picked her up and she just started purring.  Over the next week, her head swelling went down...she eventually learned how to walk again and generally is all right!

She is doing very well.  She still has a crack in her skull and we believe it's stunted her growth.  She is only about 4 months old and she is barely growing.  She loves the dog and Blue is her boyfriend...and she's full of kitten craziness.  Josh named her Linx and it suits her.  Something inside of her still feels as if her next meal might not come to her, so she's a food thief...and lets you know when there is no food in her bowl! I love her to little bits...

That's all for now....I will do another write up on my new job, Josh's job change, going back to school and some other future plans in a day or two!

Don't ask where I've been.  It's been ridiculous in my life.  A new job that I am loving (which we'll talk about another day)....a new kitten...finally living alone with Josh....and now.....a new home.

Because of circumstances surrounding the place we are renting, together with my Dad, we decided we should buy a place.  He said he'd help us out and we all went out looking.  We found a very cute little place.  Seven minutes out of town.  The area is surrounded by trees and wonderfully quiet.  We fell in love as soon as we walked in. 

Details...

It's a mobile, but all very updated. 4 bedrooms. One bathroom, with double sinks and a jacuzzi tub. 1544 square feet of space.  Yard is all fenced.  Living room and a big den...kitchen comes with everything in it, which is nice for us.  Has an alarm system.  It's just a pretty little thing.

We take possession on October 31st.  No more roommates.  No more renting.  Finally it feels like we are starting a life together.

You ever have those days (or weeks) where you aren't sure where you will be a month from now? Or if everything is going to change on you and there is both hope and worry about what may come from it?

First let me start out by saying that I began my new job on Monday and I am loving it! For those who don't know yet, I took a position at the Daily Herald Tribune as a Graphic Designer.  It's....well it is what I always wanted to do in life.  And now I've been given the opportunity.  There are 6 of us in total and we make advertisements, features, classifieds...basically anything that goes in the paper that has graphics.  My first week went quite well I think and I couldn't be happier.

Josh's parents have been gone since the beginning of the month and we are finally experiencing living on our own.  It's very comfortable.  Both of us are happier this way.  However, the house we are in is going up for sale within the next week or two.  That means, we are out of here once it sells.  As much as that sucks, it has got the wheels in our heads turning. 

So last night, we starting looking at trailers.  Do I care that I live in a trailer park? A little...but not really a big deal.  Ryan's neighbours are some of the nicest people around.  But what we figure is if we get something cheap for now, Josh can put a little work into it.  Then once we have had more time to save up, we will sell it and move into a house. The biggest problem right now is, once this sells, we can't rent.  Why? We have a 6 month old boxer who is already over 50 pounds and 2 cats.  Around here, people won't rent to you if you have a dog.  And if they do, you pay about $1500 - $2000 a month for rent.  That's not happening.  A cheap ass trailer will cost us around 500-600 a month for a mortgage.  You do the math.

So that's the situation right now.  It's busy and hectic.  But it could work out to something good in the end.  Maybe.

I really wanted to talk about Koodo with you, but I wanted to test things out for myself first. 

First let me say, this is a Canadian service just for us people. 

Hype about Koodo Mobile has been popping up all over the place.  Posters and ads claiming no contracts, no hidden fees, free phones, free activation...all seemed pretty good.  But are they as good as they claim?

I picked mine up from London Drugs.  They currently only have 4 models of phones to choose from, but each is different and very decent. I personally picked a slim Motokrzr.  It has a 1.3 megapixel camera in it, as well as a MP3 player.  The others available are the LG Shine, Motorola W385 and a Samsung U410.

The TAB

Now, once you've picked your phone you can two one of two things.  You can buy the phone outright (which costs $75 to $250 CND) or you can put up a Tab.  A tab is not a contract, but a way to get your phone for free.  It's $150 attached to your account. Basically, you talk your way out of your tab.  Every month, Koodo takes 10% of your bill and applied it to your tab.  They continue to do this even when your tab is paid off, leaving you extra cash a new phone later on if you like.

Now that's cool.  My tab is already down to $144 and I've only been with them a month. And they do plan on adding new phones in the future.

The Plans

Plan time.  No contract, but no pay and talk crap either.  You pick how much you want to spend and pick a plan that meets your needs.  Don't like them? Make your own damn plan! They have 3 ready made plans at $25, $45 and $65 a month. But you can mix and match all you like. You can add all the goodies like voicemail, call display, long distance, five essentials...whatever you like.

There is the best part.  You can change your plan once a billing cycle and change your features whenever you like! When I played with the feature cycle, I added voicemail and it took 2 minutes for the system to set it up and I could access it.  Impressive.

Coverage and Clarity

I was really worried about dropped calls and clarity of the phone.  My Telus phone was less then impressive when it came to cutting out and dropping calls.  I haven't had a problem with Koodo yet.  They are surprisingly clear and easy to hear.  I have only had one spot where I could not get service and that was down in a valley near the river.

Their coverage map is decent for a new company. They could use a bit more in BC and Ontario, but they are new and they have plans for expansion. They does cover 96% of our population though.

No Fees

When the bill came, it was nice to see that they were true to their promise.  I paid for nothing but my plan and features.  They suck up the costs of the System Access Fee, the 911 fees...all that crap.  But you still get the service for it all.  I like that.  A lot.

It's worth checking out if you are not happy with your current cell service.  So far, I haven't been so happy with my cell phone in years.

KOODO MOBILE

You can be the moon and still be jealous of the stars.

~Gary Allen~

Oh, the full moon always creates an interesting night for me.

It has been bloody hot here lately.  I'm talking 30-35C degrees the last few days.  And after a long and hot day yesterday, we decided to go down to the river to cool off. 

Of course, it was too hot to go in the daytime and by the time everyone was ready, it was after 9pm.  Josh and I grabbed the dogs and his mom and hopped in the car.  His dad got in the Mustang with Cory, and we followed Ryan and Jessica in the Jeep and headed down to the park in the dark.  When we got there, it was 10pm, so we had a good hour before the gates closed. 

The moon was huge, full and hanging in the sky that night.  I made a comment on the way to the river that something was going to happen.  It sure did.

Ryan drove his Jeep right down to the river and did a bit of driving around.  He wanted to go across and take a trail across the river.  So after he shined some light for us to walk back up to our cars, he took off.  Cory took off to go home and we followed shortly after. 

To get to the river, you take about a 5 minute drive down a long winding hill.  We got not far up when the car ahead of us started having flickering lights.  What's going on? The car stops and as we get closer we see it's the Mustang.  Cory gets out, slams his door and starts cursing his car.  It's dead. Again.

And Ryan with his tow rope is no where to be seen and none of us have cell phone service down there.  Well we can't leave it on this narrow little road in the middle of the hill, so we decided to turn it around, coast it down the hill and park it at the park entrance. We get it part way turned, taking up half the road when a truck comes racing up.  We manage to make sure they don't hit Cory's front end and they did stop.  A little drunk, but 4 big guys who helped us get that car turned in no time.  Cory tried to jump start it down the hill, but no go.  So he coasted down to the park.

Now the lady was getting ready to close the gate and told him he couldn't leave it outside or it was a $500 fine.  We managed to convince her to put it inside the gate and we'd be back the next day. 

It was a long night...that's for sure.