Dear Reader,
Hello! It’s been a wild two months for me. And while I’d like to say all’s well that ends well, I don’t think my anxiety and waistline agree.
Moving is always stressful, and after a very busy April setting up my house to sell it, I sold it quite quickly. And then found a house that me, Bren, and Kale really loved. Put in an offer that was accepted. Paid the deposit and did the inspection…
And was then informed by my lawyer that the CRA would have to withhold the proceeds of my sale… for year. Which meant I no longer had a down payment for the house I was contractually obligated to buy and had already put a deposit on.
Thankfully, because I was guaranteed the money (once the CRA finally clears it), I was able to beg a loan from my parents. Which is a bit humiliating as a 40-year-old, but I was very grateful nonetheless. And then the bank told me I’m ineligible for a bridge loan, which meant that, once again, I didn’t have the money for the house I was contractually obligated to buy.
This is (almost) all sorted now: the seller has agreed to move the closing date with only a small cost to me, and my accountant has found a way to get me most of the money now, so I have my own down payment again. Huzzah! Everything didn’t fall apart!
So, here’s a photo of me walking with my family by my soon-to-be-new-home:
I have, of course, gained about 15 pounds through all this moving stress. I am definitely an emotional eater, and while I’ve learned many strategies to prevent myself from emotional eating, this house stress overwhelmed many of those. But I’m back on the wagon now, and rugby season is starting, so that will help. I just need to get back on my diet and running. And get a cardio machine for winter, haha.
In the meantime, you now get rugby photo spam! Featuring HAIR
So, with summer more-or-less here and a move in a month and 6 days, I’ve got a lot of work to do both on myself and on my house. I’ve been on vacation the last two weeks, but am still really behind because, well, HOUSEDRAMA.
But I do have some more good news! I finally got the Marvellous Makeover Murders ready to go out to beta readers. My comedic, thrilling murder mystery.
It took me… quite a bit longer than I planned to get it out to beta readers, both because the book turned out longer than any other I’ve written (about 90k words), and also because, well, everything else I’ve mentioned in this blog. But I’m really excited to get some fresh eyes on it and see if the jokes land, the mystery intrigues, and the action thrills.
For now, I’m back to editing On the Shoulders of Demons, which is coming along well. I see a lot of places that it can be improved, which is exactly why I gave myself the time to let it sit before coming back to it.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to stick to the plan here and get this done by the end of September, at the latest. We’ll see how the move drama goes.
Until then, it’s always a pleasure.
Payson