Snow and Grow-ops

I love it when it snows. I think it makes everything pretty and peaceful looking. However, driving in snow with idiots that don't know how to drive in snow is a whole other thing. Driving back from Kamloops on Sunday was very interesting. Lots and lots of traffic. Lots and lots of people skidding. Lots and lots of idiots in the wrong types of vehicles for the highway. But such is life. Life is full of idiots. My Subaru kicked ass in the snow BTW.

So my broker friend (lets call him RS) and I took off early Saturday morning to have a quick peak at a house we were looking at buying and flipping. ALWAYS go "kick the tires" before you leap in and purchase. This is a prime example as to why.

We are 100% positive that the only things living there for the past few years were/are spiders, wood bugs, the occasional mouse and the pot plants that used to be housed in the master bedroom. Um, ya. Grow-op if I ever saw one. It was never legally declared a grow-op, the guy moved it out before anyone could knock down doors and look. My guess, he too is an idiot and probably didn't know that much about growing it and never ended up capitalizing on the buds and eventually landed in foreclosure.

There was an appraiser that went out there but all he did was snap a couple of photos and write up a lovely "as-is" value ($225K). I don't know if he actually spent time in the house, as in more than five minutes because that's all it takes to figure out what had previously been housed there. So here's a "HOW DO YOU KNOW?" guide of whether or not it's a grow-op:

-When you first pull up to the house, it's usually surrounded by random items. Stuff being, but certainly not limited too: a broken lawn mower, lawn chair, Christmas lights haphazardly dangling from the roof, the odd tire, broken toys like a kids shovel/bucket combo, garden hose unravelled on the front lawn, etc. Not too much stuff so that it completely draws the attention of neighbours, but enough stuff so the place looks somewhat lived in. Oh, and you won't find perfect landscaping. Bushes will need to be trimmed, the lawn will need to be mowed (hence the broken lawn mower).

-Once inside, you will be greeted by a smell that is unpleasant and makes you shiver. Smells just like abandonment. Like no one has made a roast beef dinner or pancakes for breakfast in quite sometime. But don't worry, you unfortunately get used to the smell within the first few minutes.

-All around the door frame of the room in question has staples in the frame. That's from the plastic sheeting that was hanging.

-When a borrower gets money to do renovations, the first room is never the master bedroom. So take note when you find a home like this that the master bedroom, doorway covered in staples, has a brand new floor, fresh primer on the walls, and a hole cut in the ceiling going to the attic which then provides a perfect circular hole to the outside you just might be dealing with a grow-op.

-The house is moisture filled and leans slightly. Never a good sign.

There are many more signs but that's a good start. So is the stuff that's in the basement or shed that was used for growing. Sigh.

After this mess RS and I packed it in and headed back to Kamloops to find a pub that would be showing UFC and a motel within walking distance. RS, being the handy techie guy that he is, found us a pub on his iPhone and made us reservations. We managed to find the pub and a crap-ass motel.

We paid for our own rooms, but asked to be somewhat close to each other. The girl gave us each a key and pointed in the direction of our lovely accommodations. I don't know about you, but LOVE staying in hotels/motels. There's something so exciting about turning the knob on the door and walking through to see what is waiting for you.... a comfy bed, big TV, mini-bar.... Imagine my surprise when I went into my room to find it was no bigger than a storage closet. I kid-you-not. I had a small bed, small table, two chairs and a toilet. My closet was a metal post sticking out of the wall with hangers on it. The TV was older than me and partially blocked by the small table. The microwave had a cigarette burn on it.

Now imagine my further surprise when RS texts me to complain that his couch is blocking a door as is his table. "WTF? What do you mean a couch?" I typed back. I noticed that I too had a door on the inside and figured that was the door adjoining our rooms. Yes, RS got the palace of rooms. Full kitchen, living room, blah blah blah.

Anyway, we went to the pub, ate awesome pub food, drank too much and went back to the motel and got the little man to give us the key to open the door between our rooms (which he reluctantly gave us). RS being the thinker that he is brought a bottle of wine (like we needed more). So I sat in my PJs on the couch and we gossiped about work. Soon that got boring so we watched Walking Dead on his laptop. The only outlet was on the far wall by the bed (did I mention that NOTHING was plugged in at this place? Not even the lamps. You had to plug them in). I of course fell asleep within five minutes. I woke up sometime in the morning facing the wall and had that sudden "OMG Where the F am I???" I remembered I was in a crap-ass motel and rolled over to find a lump snoring. "OMG Who the F is that and how much did I drink last night??" Remembering it was RS I felt better then suddenly awkward. We don't really know each other all that well, especially to be sharing a bed. However we're both madly in love with our significant others but yet, I fell asleep in his bed watching a show and he probably didn't want to sleep in my bed because I had crap all over it that he'd have to move... Do I get up and awkwardly go to my room to sleep? He rolled over, his back to me, and started snoring again. So I rolled back to face the wall and slept. I finally got up and went to my room and finished off the sleeping cycle after my BlackBerry alarm went off (good excuse to go to back to my room without it being awkward).

All in all it was a great trip even if we didn't end up with the house. It's nice to get away sometimes and it was nice getting away with another broker that is a fountain of information on bank deals, loves his dog, loves his girl, loves UFC and bad motels as much as I do. :0)

Road Trip!

I live for road trips. Seriously, I do. My beloved VW who has been in my life for 14 years has 300,000KMs on her.... why? Because I love to drive and I especially love road trips.

I have recently purchased a new Subaru Forester and OH_MY_GOD I love it. The dog now has her own area in the very very very back. No more dog on the backseat. There's plenty of room and a moonroof to boot (practically a convertible when it's open). Heated seats, a stereo that plays out of all the speakers evenly and even a horn that works when YOU want it to.

I'm heading out tomorrow morning for a road trip. I'm going with a broker friend of mine, Rowan, and we're going to view some properties. It's suppose to snow on the Coq so I'm excited to see how the Subaru does. I'm also excited to go with Rowan. He's so freakin' funny.

I LOVE ADVENTURE!

Weather???

What the F is up with the weather?! I can't figure it out. One day it's completely snowing and gross, all day long.... the next there isn't a cloud in the freakin' sky! Normally I wouldn't complain so much except when you own a dog, it's nice to know what the weather will actually being doing.

Speaking of dog.... in the past month or so Sadie has become grumpy. Randomly grumpy. Randomly grumpy at other dogs. She's started two fights at the dog daycare (both victims were golden retrievers...), sent a dog at Ambleside beach flying and charged another dog on a walk. I thought it was because her routine with me got broken when I went to the Island in January for a night. What's one night you say, well in dog world, a 24 hour period is a loooong time. I pretty much have her 80% of the time so I've got a routine down for her. The most important part being the weekends. I take her for incredibly long hikes or to the dog beach for hours or something to occupy her. Well, the weekend I was on the Island, Rob didn't do that. He didn't do anything. So I thought she was acting up because she was bored.

Two days ago Rob and I sat in my office and had a chat about how awesome our dog has turned out to be (some of you know the horrible crap we went thru with her - almost to the point of giving her up). So we hop in the car and take off to pick her up. You know it's a bad sign when she's waiting in a "cell" by herself, she's not still in the play area and Sue the owner is actually coming out to speak to you..... Sadie went after another dog. Again. A border collie. Sigh. Not sure what to do about this because I'm not really sure what the problem is. So much for talking about how awesome our dog is!!!! Damn it.

Budget!

I'm on a tight budget and have been for a long time. However with the new office space and moving, I'm on an even tighter budget. So tonight I decided to start digging through my freezer to find something for dinner. It's amazing how much stuff I have in there and forgot about.

Awhile back Robbie and I bought a vacuum sealer food saver machine thingy. I LOVE IT. So we buy our meat in bulk, cut it up into proper portion sizes and freeze it. It's a cheap and easy way to have meat on hand, already sized out.

So I dug through and found a pork tenderloin. YUM! So now I'm going to stuff it with apple slices, smoked Gouda cheese and crumbled crispy bacon. Last night we had steak, my Mediterranean brussel sprout dish and mushroom risotto. We still have the rice and veggies left over so this will go really well.

I suggest to anyone on a budget to get themselves a vacuum seal food saver machine and start buying in bulk and freezing. Not just meat, but anything. Saves time and money!!!!

Health & Wellness Show

My friend Holly invited me to join her after work to partake in the festivities to be had at the Health and Wellness Show. How could I resist!!! A) a night out with a new friend and B) I love health, I love wellness, I love free stuff. So I picked out my outfit carefully: comfortable yet "nice" shoes (not Adidas) so you can walk around lots and a light yet warm jacket (nothing worse then a big heavy jacket draped over your arm or coat check). Made sure my hair was out of my face, lip gloss on and I was out the door!!!

I met her in the lobby of the new Convention Centre in Vancouver. If you haven't been there yet, go. It really is quite amazing. Seriously, it's amazing. The details... wonderful. Anyway, we got to the front door of the room and we were pleasantly greeted with goodie bags!!! Not just any goodie bags, but BIG HUGE BROWN goodie bags. Like the big brown bags used at Whole Foods (Choices, a branch of Whole Foods, sponsored it). It was full of amazing delightful things. The goodie bag itself was worth the $12.50 entrance fee.

Once we entered the room my stomach started to growl. HOLY COW there were so many delightful things to sample!!! UNREAL!!! Bread, chips, dips, bars, yogurt, chocolates, seeds, nuts, rice dishes, juices..... I went hungry and I left full. I won't go into full details about everything I tried but my top three:

Vitala Yogurt - Blueberry. HOLY SHIT BALLS. One thing people may not know about me is my secret love of Blueberry Yogurt. I LOVE IT. The first time I had real blueberry yogurt was at a super fancy resort in Scottsdale Arizona. The yogurt I had tonight was hands down the best I've ever had. You can take a tour of the farm in Abbotsford that provides the milk: Bakerview EcoDairy.... I'm going.

Second: Bison Pepperoni. OMG. YUM. It's from Alberta and it's freakin' amazing. I don't have a link otherwise I'd add it but you can get it from Choices Market.

Third: BluePom Juice from Bremner's Juice. It's made locally and it's 100% berries. NO sugar added, NO water added, NO preservatives added.... my 946ml bottle of BluePom (Blueberry & Pomegranate) is made from 2.5lbs of blueberries. OMG. YUM.

I also bought some hummus because I LOVE hummus. Tasty.

After the show we went and had a cocktail at the Fairmont Hotel. There was a grand piano being played by such a talented fellow. He played Toto. HUH-LOW!!! I was in heaven. Now I'm at home.....and alone. Yes....alone. I dropped Robbie off today at the ferry (he's heading to Victoria for a weekend of fun with the boys) and I took the dog to the kennel. Sweet baby Jesus..... I'm alone. I don't have to walk a dog or feed a boy or do anything. Except I am because I've designated this weekend to cleaning out the loft. CLEANING OUT THE LOFT. I'm getting rid of stuff. I don't have room for "stuff" so the stuff is going.

Anyway, I'm off to make a martini, sit in my chair in the dark with nothing but the glow of the fire place, one of my cats snuggled on my lap and watch Slice television. Oh_my_yes_life_is_good.

Done and Done

I'm pleased to announce that officially, as of April 1st, I will be working one block away!!! Dave and I signed the lease today. Well, I signed, Dave watched. WOO HOO!!!!!! I'm so excited about this new adventure in work I can hardly contain myself. But there is a ton of stuff to do still. Yesterday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed so I snuck off to Spa Utopia in North Van for a facial. OMG, awesome. It was perfect.

Well, I guess another short entry. I'm off to the bank to transfer some money on my parents behalf to complete the sale of their condo in Maui!!! WOO HOO!!!! Then off to have sushi with some girlfriends. I don't know if life could get any better....

Two Things

First blog topic: Valentines Day.

As I've previously mentioned, I'm not a fan of Valentines Day for several reasons. The last memory I had of my grandpa, whom I love, was of him waving goodbye to me and my mom at his log house. We had made VD cookies and he helped (although I suspect he ate more then helped. Being so young my memory is a little foggy, but I remember him waving). He died the next day of a heart attack. I was 6 going on 7 at the time so this was truly my first memory of death. I got to see him in his coffin and I remember poking him. One trip that I took to visit his grave I gathered a jar of worms to put in the dirt so they would keep him company. I do believe I forgot the jar, but the sentiment was there.

The other incident came in grade 4 or 5 at Douglas Road Elementary School in Burnaby. In school we would make lovely pouches to tape at the end of our desks so kids could plop VD cards in them. When it came time to open the pouches, I had one BIG card. I was so thrilled that I got the biggest card in class. I was new to the school and didn't have a lot of friends so this pleased me. The whole class had signed it..... SMELL. I was so devastated. I cried and went home. I hated that school and I hate VD.

But this VD was awesome! Rob and I celebrated "We hate VD". I made Osso Buco with Saffron Risotto (Rob's favorite). We drank a bottle of wine, listened to music then after dinner we met up with our friend Steve that lives across the street. The three of us went to the Anza Club for drinks. Afterwards Robbie and I went back to my place and played Call of Duty and killed boys around the world until the weeeee hours. All and all, a perfect night.

Second: Moving the Office

OMG! I am overwhelmed. Moving the office is so much work. It's not just a matter of moving a phoneline or desks...... Addresses have to be changed, bills have to be changed or cancelled, insurance, business licenses, FICOM, investors, borrowers, selling office furniture, putting the files somewhere, shredding files, the list can go on and on and on. Dave is becoming a partner so we have to change the corporate structure of MCMC... And to top it all off, I still have to do my day to day broker stuff, it's year end for Masters, I'm closing Masters so there's a ton of work there, plus it's almost year end of MCMC. I'm going to have a heart attack. My neck is tense, my belly is tense....

But I run. Thank god. Running releases every ounce of "tense" for at least three hours of relief. But I think things will be better tomorrow as Dave and I are going to the new office to sign the lease. Once that's signed and squared away, I can really push forward and get this shit done. And do the year end. And the T5's. And broker. And change the company structure. And And And And And And...........

February 14th

Today is Valentines Day. Some people out there are rushing around and making plans with/for their sweeties spending gobs of money on flowers, presents, dinners, wine, etc. I hate this day. I was NEVER a big Valentines Day person. Every boyfriend I've ever had never believed me until the 14th of February rolled around and I didn't do anything or ask for anything.

I personally think it's silly to have a commercialized day to tell someone that you love them. Silly I say! Matthew was about the only guy that liked Valentines Day and it upset me sometimes that I didn't get into as much as he did. One Valentines Day he came home with a card that said "You deserve the best" or something along those lines and told me I had to leave right away because he booked me a Valentines Day massage at Spa Utopia. I was so thrilled!!! I did nothing for him. A year later Cari came over and as she and I sat and sipped delicious cocktails Matthew made for us, he made a four course meal. Not only that but he gave us each a card stacked with scratch and wins (our favorite). Matthew was definitely more the "romantic" in our relationship.

One thing I will give Valentines Day is an excuse to eat a delicious meal. So tonight I'm having a date with Rob. I'm making him his favorite dinner. He's not allowed to come over until 7pm. I'm pretty excited. I like an excuse to cook something elaborate so Valentines Day, I thank you!!!

Soups on!!!

This will be quick and short as I only have a moment.... but I made the best wonton soup EVER the other night!!! It was dark and stormy and very very very cold in Vancouver. I suddenly wanted wonton soup. So off I went to Save-On-Foods to get the goods and the wrappers. Went home and whipped up the best wonton soup known to mankind. I had found a recipe online but of course it looked boring so of course I added my own flare (and hot sauce) and it was so delicious.

There you have it. WOOT WOOT!!!!

Family

My parents are currently away in Maui and after that they are somewhere else for a month. I sometimes dislike it when they are away so long. I miss the phone calls with my mom. I miss Bill answering the phone and using the same line he's had for the past 30 years: "Hello dis place!"

So missing my family got me to thinking about my family which then lead me to asking my sister April if she'd be interested in having dinner at the house, a family dinner. To my delight she was delighted so we made plans for a Tuesday night roast. YUM YUM YUM.

I came armed with a roast an the makings for yorkshire puddings (and my dog tagged along). April and Andrew made the most wonderful tasty mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Monte bought our favorite dessert of all time..... Pavlova. OMG, my favorite. When the roast was roasting, Monte was playing this crazy song on the piano to which April and I danced to in the kitchen (I think Andrew took pictures). It was just simply awesome. The house smelled like roast, we were laughing and being silly..... fantastic. Andrew even set the table (using trivets which my mom was pleased when she saw the pictures).

Next week I'm going over there and Andrew is going to assist me in making my yummy Beef Wellington. I'll take an afternoon off and hang out with my brother-in-law and at some point (probably when the chicken liver pate is resting) we'll take the dogs for a walk.

It's nice having family around in the city and celebrating a Tuesday night randomly. It oddly makes it seem like mom and Bill aren't that far away. So I leave you with this... take time out to realize what you have right there in front of you and take advantage of it!!! I sure did. I truly had an amazing time with my siblings and siblings-in-law. Makes me smile.

Coffee

I'm currently sitting at a coffee shop in North Van waiting to me a gentleman named Peter. It's a "business" coffee and I'm looking forward to our chat. We get together every month or so for a quick chat and to swap information. He works as a consultant for people who have gotten themselves into credit trouble. We don't exchange clients or anything like that, but we do exchange ideas on how to make our business grow.

He too has to pound the pavement in order to find clients. Networking groups, cold calls, building up portfolio's. The point of this quick blurb is: just because you can't do "direct business" with someone doesn't mean you don't keep in touch. Through Peter I met another broker who is new to the industry and eager to learn the private world of finance. This will one day pay off as I helping this broker with the deals he can't place. Ironically he's friends with another broker friend of mine so this new relationship will blossom.

So to all of you self employed peeps out there, keep in touch with EVERYONE you meet. You just never know what might come of it......

BUSY

That's all I can say. Busy. I've been really busy the last few days and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. However a big item has been checked off my task list: office space. Dave and I finally found a place to hang our hats today. Best part: it's a block away from me. Seriously, one block. And we have a view!!!! I'm pretty excited. We get it April 1st which fits right in with losing this dumb office in Burnaby (the lease expires April 30th).

Now that the office has been taken care of, I can concentrate on the deals that I have on my desk and getting rid of everything I own. I can't wait for this process to be done and over with and I could finally be in my new space. A clean slate. A fresh start.

:o)