Book Review: Busy Months Reading

As a teacher, January to June is crazy-bananas time! I read when I can. My book club keeps me a bit accountable. Here is what i've had my nose in the past few months:

WHY NOT ME by Mindy Kaling - Goodness I love this woman! I've already blogged about the first book, and Tom got me the second one for Christmas. As like all sequels, not as good as the first, but still worth a read. I especially love her quips about body image. She "wishes she could be thin" but says she doesn't "wish for it with all her heart. Because my heart is reserved for more important things."Not to mention her commentary on ordinary life things that just slays me.

STUFF CHRISTIANS LIKE by Jonathan Acuff - I used to follow his blog before he turned it into a book. Hilariously funny! Some zingers like "how metrosexual is your worship leader" "the side-hug" and "being slightly nicer than mormons". Basically any silly thing you have thought in church he has taken and made 1000 times funnier. 

THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton - We picked this for book club even though everyone had read it. Mind you it has been probably 13 years since I had last read it. We decided to meet up at the end of the month for appies and to watch the movie. I finally understand "stay gold pony boy". I wasn't very deep in high school. 

THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion - As someone who works with children in the public school sector, i've had my own first-hand experience with people with Aspergers. They are endearing. I absolutely adore Don. Can't find a woman? Make a survey! Trying to get into a fancy restaurant? A windbreaker is a "fancy jacket". Someone disrespect you? punch him. He's logical but not socially aware. I sometimes feel like that too. Also, Rosie is a hot mess. Who doesn't like reading about a hot mess, but an endearing hot mess! I have The Rosie Effect sitting on the bookcase and am going to get to it soon.

LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave - It seems that every time I do a massive book review list there is a book that broke my heart. This book broke my heart. Little Bee is a victim. A victim of bad politics, greed, and the facelessness of immigration. She snuck into the UK and was put into a facility for two years. It was impossible for her to have her voice heard. It is only when she meets up with a family that is intertwined with her past that she can start to heal (but not really). There is a quote from the book that is fabulous:

"We must see our scars as beauty. This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived."

LAUGH YOUR WAY TO A BETTER MARRIAGE by Mark Gungor -Don't bother your husband. He is in his "nothing box". He is literally thinking about nothing. You are a woman. You are always thinking about, at least, 20 things. Tom and I read this book together, and it was quite the eye opening experience. It just felt like sage advice from your crazy uncle. I would highly recommend it to any newlyweds so they can better understand what makes the other gender tick.

READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline - I grew up with an original Nintendo in the house. I sucked at it. I would always fall into the hole on the very first level of Super Mario Brothers. So, I can safely say that I am not a "gamer". This book though was relatable. So relatable. In fact, it made me worry about the future. The characters log into this alternate reality called the "oasis", and the whole population spends most of their life plugged in. Not to sound all conspiracy theorist but I can see that happening in our society. We are all so plugged in that our online presence is basically our entire personality. It's freaky! Anyway the main character is this overweight, poor, geeky guy who you can't help rooting for to win the prize. You go geeky guy!

Milestones: Moving Day

Shortly after Tom got his residency (read like a week), we met up with a realtor to look for our own house. It has been something that we have consciously put money aside for since we got married. We were thinking we would get a townhouse. Tom and I are not big into yard work and liked the idea of just a small patio. We also thought we couldn't afford a house, or at least a big enough one. We had a very small list of "needs":

1. three bedrooms
2. 1 and 1/2 bathrooms
3. open-ish concept
4. a garage (Calgary gets massive hail storms)

From everyone that we talked to, it didn't seem like a lot to ask for. We also had areas of the city picked out e.g. a map with highlighted areas (yes i'm a dork). So we met with Stewart Chyz. He's an awesome realtor and I couldn't recommend him more. He talked to us frankly and said "yes you can afford a house". So we trusted him. He sent us a TON of listings that night and agreed to meet up with us the next day to look at our top 5 picks. Well we went out and the third house we saw, we just knew it was the one. It had everything on our list. In fact it was bigger than we thought we could afford! Oh, and the backyard is all patio so really you are only cutting the teeny tiny front lawn! We can handle that.

With the help of some awesome friends and a trusty U-Haul, we moved in the 30th of July. Here are some pictures of the move:

And finally, the reason we bought a house with a garage (and literally what came down our first night we moved in):

Definitely more updates as we figure out this whole "Home Owner" thing!

Milestones: 5 Long Years

It finally happened! May 12th, 2016 is a new favourite date! The above picture has nothing to do with this, but it shows my little family all snug and together (and now forever).

Tom finally got his permanent residency and now we are established here in Canada and can finally settle down. The whole process took around 5 years. Some people have been asking how it all panned out so here is how it worked FOR US:

2011-2014: Tom was living in Liverpool, finishing school and applying for Work Visas.
February 2014: Tom got a one year work permit and moved to Canada.
October 2014: We got married and applied for a residency.
February 2015: Tom got a new work permit.
March 2016: Tom was contacted for his medical for his residency.
May 12th, 2016: We were told of the appointment about a week before, went to immigration and signed his papers!