$1.15 Million over asking price........

With the housing market being as crazy at the moment; but this article caught my attention.  The house was listed for $1.19 million and sold for $2.3 million.  This house is in Toronto but when you look at it, I wouldn't pay $500,000 for it, never mind over $2 million.  It looks better on the inside than on the outside.  I wonder if the buyers are going to tear it down and build a mini mansion in it's place?

We were out and about on Saturday having a drive by looking at some houses that caught our eye on MLS.  If you have bought and sold homes before, you like us know that the photos don't show everything.  We drove by three and of the three only one was a possibility and then it was too gut; which at our age is too big of a job for us.  Plus when I spoke to the real estate agent by telephone he was very abrupt, so that put me off.  A good sales rep would have asked questions about what we are looking for etc.  We are in no hurry to move so can take our time looking for the perfect home to retire too.

We are looking to move as we are fed up of paying condo fees that by this coming June will have increased by $120 since we moved here three years ago.  For what we get for that money it would be better in our pocket!!

We also got rid of our guy who shoveled the driveway of snow.  He confused the heck out of us, as we never knew when he was coming and most of the time we ended up doing it ourselves.  Plus it won't kill either of us to do it.  Mind you we got a blast of winter here on Sunday, so out came the shovels........

{{{SIGH}}} {{{SIGH}}} {{{SIGH}}}

Friday I cancelled the Toronto Star newspaper.  I am fed up to the back teeth of fighting on with them every three months having to negotiate a discount with them.  Why not give me the best price from the beginning.  Last three months I got a 30% discount, next three months it will be a 20% discount and the following three months it would only be a 10% discount.  I am not that desperate to read the paper, and figured that by the Fall they will be on the phone offering me a big discount after three months of not having the paper.

Bell Canada is no better but I have very few alternatives with those services, due to where we live, so have to put up with it, and luckily I only have to "negotiate" with them once a year, and then spend the next three months sorting out the mess they made!!!  LOL

Then there is my car.  Called them on Friday lunch time and they said they had reprogrammed the computer and it was fine.  Told them I would pick it up around 4pm.  Got a call at 3pm and when they tried to start it it wouldn't start {{{SIGH}}}

Told them I need a loaner car as this is crazy, so picking one up on Saturday.  Went in to talk to them about this, as we are really frightened that once the warranty is over and we still have problems what then?  Also with a normal car repair it's black and white; you take your car in the garage repairs it, and you take it home.

In my case, it's proving to be a problem repairing my car.  How long do we fight on with this before something is done?  Will say I have Googled Ford Fiesta and the transmission seems to be a HUGE problem with them, which is also frightening me.

On a more positive note, the new lawn tractor works like a charm.  Loving the power steering, makes life so much easier and the bigger cutting deck makes cutting the grass faster.

Lots of snow on Saturday.....

It was predicted that it would snow, so no surprise there I guess.  Poor dh's chest is bad again, so I decided to blow out the driveway.

We had a good day as we were working away in the new basement.  What a difference it has made down there putting all the insulation in.  We were actually sweating while we were working down there, which is a first.  Not sure how much more we are going to do in there before we head back up to the attic again.

In Saturday's Toronto Star newspaper there was an interesting article about how much food we waste per year.  It states that in Canada we throw away 40 per cent of our edibles per year.  That is crazy when there are so many people starving in this world.  I have to admit I am not innocent when it comes to wasting food.  I know I threw out a bag of salad last week, as I hadn't got around to using it.  Will say I did feel guilty when I did that.

It did mention Dumpster Diving, which is something I have heard of, but have never done.  Have any of you been dumpster diving?   I found this interesting link regarding Dumpster Diving for food not that I would do it, but congratulate people who can and will do it.

One of the other articles was about the work that Second Harvest does in Toronto.  Now I am sure  most major cities around the world do a similar thing.

For those of you who are members of Swagbucks make sure you start playing the games, as you can earn up to 10 sb a day for playing them!!  On Saturday I had my desktop on all day earning Swagbucks, and it worked out well for me.

Enjoy your Sunday.