Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Right House

We were out for brunch with Marc and Jen. That's when we decided that we'd like to share a house. It wasn't just the coffee talking (although I have my best ideas after a cup); we live in an expensive city and we'd been talking about housing alternatives for months. But it was during that meal that we shyly agreed that we would like to live with each other, that we thought our lifestyles would work well together and that we were ready for such an experiment.

We were ready because we wanted to move out of our apartments. By combining our resources, we realized we could afford to rent a real house with all the trimmings (a garden! laundry! windows! closets!).

We were excited, but it took us a while to get the project off the ground. At first, I delayed because my job was unstable. Then there was nothing available in our price range. During those months, we kept the project alive with serious discussions about the implications of sharing a house, and we came to the conclusion that we could mitigate a lot of potential conflicts by landing the right house.

So, we started visualizing the right house.

We wanted a house with more than one bathroom and preferably one with two full bathrooms, one for each couple. We wanted a dishwasher. We wanted bedrooms that weren't located next to each other. We wanted enough space for guests and musical instruments and sewing machines and sipping cocktails outside. We wanted to be walking distance from groceries, co-op cars and the city centre.

Thankfully we were on the same page about all of these things, although Jen doubted that we'd find a house with two full bathrooms.

We started looking again after Christmas, when Michael noticed that there were a number of rental postings in our price range.

After that point, everything happened very quickly, which surprised us, since we weren't sure how landlords would respond to the four of us. We looked at three houses in one week. The first two were close -- we could picture ourselves in both -- but they didn't quite meet our criteria.

The third house was better than anything we had imagined. It met our requirements and threw in a couple of wood burning fireplaces for good measure. And friends? It has 2.5 bathrooms.

We sealed the deal with the owner fairly quickly, thanks to a mutual friend who vouched for us. Since then, we've been picking paint colours, packing, updating addresses and willing time to pass quickly.

We found the right house. Now we can try out this housing experiment with the knowledge that we're giving it a fair shake.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Moving

In less than two weeks, Michael and I will move out of our apartment and into this beautiful house. There's more to it than that, however, and that's why I'll be writing about this topic quite a bit over the next few months. You see, we'll be living with another married couple (our buddies Marc and Jen). Intrigued? Me too!

Monday, February 08, 2010

Darcy

Michael and I went home to Saskatchewan for our friend Darcy's funeral on Saturday. I'm at a loss for words about the whole thing, so these (awesome) photos will have to suffice as a tribute. I've also included Darcy's obituary, below.

Darcy Pellerin

July 17, 1977 – January 29, 2010

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Darcy Pellerin on January 29, 2010 in Prince Albert, SK at the age of 32 after a brief battle with brain cancer. Darcy is survived by his parents Norm and Leona Pellerin; sister Dana; grandmother Mary Lubyk and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. He was predeceased by his grandparents Arthur and Eliane Pellerin; grandfather John Lubyk; aunt Darlene Lubyk and cousin Jeremy Chenier.

Darcy received his schooling in Prince Albert and then later attended the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina where he attained his degree in Fine Arts. He moved from Regina to Vancouver where he worked in the film industry until he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After surgery and treatments he decided on a career change which brought him back to Prince Albert where he enrolled in the addictions program at SIAST. After completion he was employed with the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region as an addictions counselor.

Darcy enjoyed playing and watching sports, especially hockey and football. He also loved fishing, watching movies, art and playing poker with his many friends.

In lieu of other tributes, memorial donations can be made in memory of Darcy Pellerin to Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada or online at www.braintumour.ca/braintumour.nsf.