Let's start with a history. I grew up in BC. Loved the ocean. Wanted to be a marine biologist. The whole 9 yards. But, life didn't turn out that way. Instead, just before my 21st birthday, I ended up facing homelessness and moved to Ontario, hoping to find more job prospects. Well, I found that, plus a husband (eventually). We did some post secondary education, had 4 boys, and then moved to Montreal for work. Never thought I'd end up in Quebec. Wish I never had. I'll just say it wasn't good for any of us and leave it at that. Anyway, in October 2019 we took a road trip to see the Maritimes. We'd never been there before and since we were homeschooling we thought we'd go off-season and avoid the crowds. Best decision ever. It. Was. Gorgeous. The leaves were all changing colour but hadnt started falling yet, so every drive we took (and there was a lot of driving. We saw as much as we could over just one week.) was absolutely breathtaking.
Back in Montreal, we had to decide between moving in 2020, or trying for one more baby (hopefully a girl this time). I didn't want to move while pregnant (BTDT) and didn't want to put off a baby until I was nearly 40, so we decided baby first, then move. Well, Christmas morning we got the good news that I was pregnant already. And then the pandemic hit. So, we hid in our home, not knowing what covid would do to a pregnant woman or the baby, and then after giving birth (to our 5th boy) trying to keep him safe from everything.
We had a deadline though. Homeschooling in Quebec was getting harder and harder as the government put pressure on parents to educate their children the "right" way (i.e. their way. No room for change if your children have different interests, strengths, disabilities, etc). Even in the pandemic, with children being forced to go to school in buildings with failing air systems and very little options for kids with compromised immune systems or high risk family members at home, the government still kept putting more pressure than ever on us. I knew that in the 2021-2022 school year, they would be implementing mandatory exams (ensuring we followed their curriculum to the letter), so we needed to move before then. And if we could move before June 15, 2021 then I wouldn't have to submit the year end reports (which can be dozens of pages long for each child, and I had 3 to report for, while taking care of a newborn). I looked at the Ontario housing market and knew immediately it was still out of our league. But the Maritimes? That we could do. I got a realtor, a mortgage specialist, and started searching. We found an amazing home and put in an offer, but it was priced to be very competitive and we lost out. But the next home we put an offer on was accepted! We had our home! And then Nova Scotia closed its borders a few days later. Ugh. Luckily we didn't have to change our closing date, and we were able to get into our new home on time, after a 15 hour drive with our 5 kids and 3 cats piled into the back with as much stuff as we could fit in. (The moving truck came a couple days before so we had enough stuff to keep us going without our possessions.)
So, now we're here! We finished our quarantine and have started to do a little exploring. And I've started to do some redecorating. I thought some people might be interested in the before and after, or the process,so I'm here. I hope you get something out of it 😊
And since I can't figure out how to delete pictures from here yet, here's some of the before!
