Helping kids in Uganda at the Oak Bay Night Market

                                                                                                 This blog is not about real estate, or how great Victoria is.  It's about helping our kids become great adults by leading by example for them,  Finding joy in their communities and giving back.  A couple of weeks ago, I got to volunteer at the Oak Bay Night Market, doing something I love, face painting for kids, raising money for something close to my heart, education for impoverished kids in Uganda.  Our tent will be up again for the market on August 21, 2013.  It was a wonderful evening spent with friends from our church, Providence Community Church, and our kids enjoying the beautiful Victoria sunshine while reaching out to the community around us and teaching our little ones the value of giving.  We had a blast.  My son managed to eat his weight in donated, fresh baked goodies that he carefully paid for, one at a time.  Fuelled by a raging sugar high and the noise and bustle around us, he proceeded to paint his entire face and every exposed centimetre of skin at least four separate times, in completely different themes each time, including times devoted to exploring minions, crocodiles, and ending up covered head to toe with gold glitter tiger stripes  .Some how his appearance didn't seem to scare off any of the parents as the little ones lined up to have their faces made even brighter.  One of the most asked for adornments was ice cream cones, a no brainer for such a gorgeous day, the days most challenging request had to be a blueberry, for a little girl who, as it turns out, didn't even like them.  Thankfully, her standards weren't that high and mottling the blue and purple seemed to help make it more fruit like.  Among other things, I learned that nobody likes the silver face paint when there's gold available and that there is no such thing as a kid that says no to added glitter.  We also got to teach our kids and community about the realities of growing up in Uganda.  20 years of guerilla warfare combined with poverty, illness and displacement has resulted in almost 10% of the population being orphans.  That is a staggering 2.5 million children.  Almost half of the country's population is under the age of 14, a full 49%.  An additional 21% are between 15 and 24.  Only 4% of the population make it past the average life expectancy of 54 years old.  Most die of preventable and/or curable diseases.  Malaria causes 20% of all childhood deaths, an especially frightening statistic considering that the most effective weapon against it are treated mosquito nets that are unaffordable for most families at a cost of $5.  I'm no stranger to tough choices and sacrificing things but I can't fathom losing my baby over $5, the cost of a latte.  One of the most effective solutions to end the cycle of poverty is education.  For comparison, the average Ugandan adult has received 3.5 years of education to our comparable average of 11.5 years.  100%  of the donations we took in go directly to meet the needs in Uganda, managed by indigenous Ugandan Dan Muwanguzi.  Through him and Christian model ministries, 46 orphans are currently receiving an academic education.  School fees for 1 year of primary education is $210 Cnd.  We had such a great time bring happy smiles to kids here and on the other side of the world and got to put some real parenting time into raising compassionate, caring human beings.  We will be there again on August 21st, 2013.  I hope you come out and find us and enjoy some of the baked goods and get a joyfully, if less than perfectly rendered, duck, balloon, or glittered tiger stripes painted on and get some more info on how we can help kids and families in Uganda directly.  We'll see you at the next night market or join us every Sunday in the Monterey Center,  1442 Monterey ave, at 10 am.  Providence Community Church

Summer in Victoria is well under way, with all the fun this wonderful area has to offer.  It is easy and tempting to overlook those that live outside our society's norm while we play in the sun.  The summer months bring a whole new set of obstacles facing the poorer families both here and around the world.  My boys and I spent our Sunday combining the summer outdoors with family, friends, food and altruism.  Sunday was a fundraiser for the Victoria Street Soccer Association, held at the main field behind Victoria High School.  It's not a very glamorous charity, mostly supported privately.  Weekly games are held year round for the marginalized of our society to participate in organized sports, get a meal, (provided by Fat Daddy's Bbq), build community ties and self esteem and in general, participate in the society around them in a meaningful way.  It is loosely affiliated with Street Soccer Canada and the Homeless World Cup and follows the same goals for reaching out to the community.  For more information their achievements and personal stories, as well as upcoming events, click this link:  http://www.streetsoccercanada.org/   The fundraiser on Sunday raised money to pay for the rental of the gym in the Fernwood Community Center over the winter so the players and supporters can get out of the cold wet weather while they participate.  It was a great day to enjoy a barbequed burger with my good friend Alicia and all our kids.  She made the time to come out and support the guys after just completing her own fundraiser for VIDEA, The Victoria International Development Education Association.  She, and her family, kids included, completed a Global Solidarity Challenge that had them trying to live without many of our first world perks.  My personal favorite highlight of her week was the wonderful pictures she posted of her kids enduring cold water bucket baths.  Click here for info on her pledge or to donate:  Alicia's paricipant page  It was a great day, with the only injury being sustained by my 4 year old, a bloody nose, caused by the 9 year old, soccer ball to the face.  We enjoyed our burgers in the sun and Fat Daddy's contribution to her cause put her over the $600 mark for the week.  It was a great way to support our community and pass on some of our good fortune to others as well as being a reminder to keep finding ways to reach out to others in our busy, busy lives.  The next time you are running around our amazing city, enjoying all our wonder amenities, it might be a nice idea to put your Costco card to good use and buy a flat of water to hand out to some of our less fortunate to help beat the summer heat.  Drinking water should be a basic human right, but for all too many in the world, it is a luxury.  I hope to see you out at the next fundraiser.  Info on VIDEA:  Victoria International Development Education Association

I just love living in Victoria.  This is truly one of the most naturally beautiful places on Earth.  The sky is bluer here, the clouds whiter, the foliage lusher, the grass, literally and figuratively, greener.  There is no other time of year that this oasis is more enjoyable than the long, bright, joyful days of summer.  Our normally outgoing and friendly citizens become beaming neighbours to all who visit our home.  I look around our fair city and I swear that even our asphalt and concrete are more appealing shades of grey and black.  I don't think there has been a moment since I moved here that I've wanted to live some where else.  Don't get me wrong, there are things I miss about living in more cosmopolitan and urban metropolises.  I miss rapid transit and subways.  I most assuredly miss the culture and arts available in bigger cities.  I miss restaurants that don't need to rely on tourists to make it through the year.  I miss an independent music scene that extends beyond garage bands.  And boy, do I ever miss vintage shopping as a full fledged hobby.  Trust me, what we have here is vintage lite, at best.  But whenever the nostalgia threatens to become more than a nagging sensation, it only takes a short trip over to Vancouver to visit friends to remind me of why I came here in the first place.  I love the city I grew up in but everything here is just cleaner, fresher and shinier.  I love the fact that when they were designing our newest mall, instead of fighting human nature, they just made the centre of the court yard essentially a water park.  There are no security guards to chase kids out of the fountain in the heat of summer.  Just a welcoming green space surrounded by benches filled with families happily playing together, sharing summer treats with strangers while their kids become fast friends jumping and running in the water splashing against the Van Gogh inspired mosaic tiled fountain.  Don't get me wrong, I still whole-heartedly oppose pretty much everything Wal Mart stands for, but I'm also convinced that we probably have the nicest looking one in existence.   I love living in Victoria.  It truly is a bit of heaven on Earth.  As I once heard some one say, "God has done an absolutely amazing job on all the little squiggly bits  around here!"

    These days I am always having to take a deep breath and remind myself that worry rarely changes the outcome of any situation.  That, when faced with what at first seem like insurmountable obstacles in life, we, as moms, can generally pull off near miracles from just the contents of our cupboards.  When I embarked on this journey of parenting, I, like most people, was much more at it before I had put in any actual woman hours.  Always ready to offer unsolicited advice and quick to judge.

     Having been blessed with a relatively quiet and subdued first boy child, I was able to merrily sail along balancing parenting with working nights and congratulating myself on my vastly superior parenting skills because we were able to go to fancy restaurants with toddler in tow and he would sit quietly at the table and read his books or play with his cars while we basked in the envy of every other parent in the place.  The arrival of boy number 2 quickly dispelled any illusions I had regarding the level of control one actually has over one's children.  I understand now who is actually in charge.

I am now the mom that gets shot dirty looks and not so quiet remarks of derision from the childless and from those parents that had the good sense to stop at one, as I attempt to maintain an ounce of dignity and professionalism while I drag an irate toddler through the mall by one leg (face up, of course) as I race from one appointment to another, so I can pick up the older boy from school on time and get him to one of a million extra curricular activities.  I now know you get the easy baby first, it ensures the propagation of the species.  If the order had been reversed in my two, there would not have been a second one, I'd have been too afraid.  Continuing to work nights while juggling a newborn with the early mornings of a school aged child proved that human beings, even moms, need SOME sleep.  So with that realisation, combined with the knowledge that I'm just driving the crazy train and am not really in control of anything, I decided a drastic career change was now a necessity, not just a dream.

     I decided on a new career that would allow me the freedom to be with my kids, that combined many of my skills and interests and settled upon real estate.  It was shortly after becoming licensed that, once again, reality began to intrude into my plans.  I find myself about a year in and faced with the never easy task of trying to explain current market conditions and, now a single mom, juggling kids, sick days, work and home.  My new career is fun, challenging, interesting and in many ways, not at all what I had envisioned when I started this journey.  I truly love helping people find their perfect home, nothing makes me happier than helping to make a reality, that which seems impossible.  It has forced me to re-examine what I believe it takes to make a house into a home.  I've learned that people are rarely looking for walls and a roof.  People are looking for the right frame to put around their family.

The challenges and successes of the past year have made me realise that I really am capable of almost anything, even if the end result doesn't look anything like what I had pictured in the beginning.  I am probably never going to be the slick and polished real estate agent, with the fancy car and immaculate suit.  I am always going to have smears of home made peanut butter (we ran out, and as most moms can attest, I am willing to try just about anything to avoid a trip to the grocery store with the kids, and we had nuts left over from Christmas and, thank you Google) and goodness knows what else on my clothes.  There will always be Cheerios and granola bar wrappers in between the seats of my car, and I can absolutely guarantee I will not be taking any exotic vacations any time soon, nor will I be making any appearances on television either.  Unless it's a news report about the fire department having to breakdown the door of the bathroom at church because there's a 3 year old who locked himself in and there's no key and he's got all the water turned on.  I also know that I understand all the challenges that face today's families better than any other Realtor around as I've had to live through pretty much every single one of them in the space of a single year.  It has made me a better mom, a better person and definitely a better, more compassionate Realtor.  I've realised just how capable I really am, and that I will get everything that needs to get done accomplished, even if it means using Duct Tape instead of a very necessary but misplaced belt when getting the kids ready for little league practise.  Thankfully he didn't need to use the bathroom during practise!

     I think I might try juggling chainsaws in the coming year, just to keep things exciting.

The days grow longer as we wind our way through spring and life gets busier and brighter, with play dates and picnics and long evenings spent outside with friends and neighbours.  It gets harder and harder to get the kids inside and to bed, harder and harder to get them to sleep in through the sunlit mornings.  We are racing around the city trying to fit in all the fun, to be the super mom we all love to be, meeting the needs of my clients, trying to remember to meet a few of my own needs against the looming deadline of summer.  It must be a hold over from our childhoods, waiting for the promise filled days of summer vacation to arrive.  The first niggling of excitement starts as May blooms and Mother's day breaks.  I got to enjoy a day as close to perfect as I could expect.  Sunday morning breakfast of home made waffles topped with the first crops of local strawberries and tons of whipped cream.  Then a wonderful trip to church to meet the newest family member, an adorable bundle of energy from Siberia, now at his new home here Victoria.  We spent a lovely afternoon at the pool playing, swimming and splashing and then made food to share with our neighbours.  It turned out I forgot to put onions in my ham and mixed bean soup, but that wasn't the important part of the day anyways.  My so sweet baby boy insisted on getting me a beautiful amber and sterling silver ring because he saw a commercial on TV about showing mom how much you love how much she does for you with diamonds.  Of course it sure helped that they were referred to as "candy diamonds".  What a brilliant marketing plan.  I'm betting that dad was grateful 4 year olds don't really know what diamonds are!  It was still the sweetest gift I've ever gotten.
Since that wonderful day, I've juggled working 10 and 12 hour days trying to find the perfect home for my wonderful clients with my beautiful baby boy's crazy hectic schedule of school, gymnastics, baseball and friends.  I'm looking at tomorrow, the traditional start of summer, the May long weekend, exhausted, with a heart filled with peace, love and joy.  I can sense a real turning point in the future.  The Real estate market here in Victoria appears to have picked up almost over night and I love being a part of it.  I don't know if it really is God I am feeling as  the sun shines down on my skin or if it's just the warm blush from a glass of wine on the patio after work, but it sure feels good.  then again it could just be that I'm just too tired to care about anything anymore.  Whatever it is, I'll take it.  Especially after the last 9 months!

What do you think makes the difference between a house and a home?  The difference between a neighbourhood and a community?  I've come across a few items that seem at first trivial but make all the difference for me and my family.  The first item that tops my list is a double sink in the kitchen.  I never even realised how much that mattered until  had to make so with a single sink for a couple of months.  I have always known I hated doing dishes, but the one sink almost made me switch to disposable plates, and for someone as committed to environmental stewardship as I am, that's saying a lot!
At one time, I would have sworn that counter space was the one thing I couldn't live without in the kitchen, but thankfully the small appliance manufacturers have stepped up their game and you can get teeny, tiny blenders and food processors designed with today's kitchen sizes in mind.  Santa was good enough to bring us a fantastic little one with a 500 watt motor.  Thank you Santa!
We used it last night to make an amazing batch of home made, all natural almond and walnut butter.  The whole process took about 10 minutes, even with the help of a 4 year old pushing the buttons.  It was so easy and I wish I'd known how to do this years ago, considering how many "peanut free" classes and playgroups we've had over the last 9 years.  The top secret recipe that warrants what the nut butter companies charge is as follows:  First, dump a bunch of room temperature nuts in the processor, whatever combination you desire.  Turn it on.  Keep processing, stopping every once in a while to scrape down the sides.  First you'll get nut sand, then you'll get nut clumps, then you get nut putty, (nutty putty, ha ha) then after about 10 min, you get nut butter!  The longer you go, the creamier and butterier it will get.  You can add spices before you finish as well, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, nutmeg, heck, garlic if you want.  Just think of the never ending possibilities.  Cashews, macadamia, sunflower.  Or seasonal flavours like pumpkin pie flavoured seed butter.  And it's so simple and fun it makes a great activity for the whole family to get involved in.
I also have to say I do prefer an open concept.  This too, was a late discovery as I have spent most of my life genuinely attracted to the architecture and designs from the 1920's through the early 1960's.  I've recently come to understand that my style has evolved beyond the love of Danish Modern to the realisation that any rooms that aren't part of the main flow of my home go largely unused.  I think it's been a by-product of the evolution of family and the more involved I become with my kids on a day to day, minute by minute basis, the more I truly enjoy them and the less I want walls and doors between us.  Though, it might also just be that as my kids get older and the messes get bigger and harder to contain, my standards just get lower and lower and I no longer feel the need to have a door to hide the mess behind when guests stop by.  Actually, the more I think about it, it's probably the latter.  Though being able to see them at all times even after I've taught them how to use the food processor probably has a little something to do with it as well.
If you're looking for some tips on what to look for before choosing a neighbourhood for your family to settle into, please check out my real estate website:  www.angeliquetroyer.ca 
For anyone new to either Victoria or parenting, or just thinking about either, there's plenty of the kind of activities that make a neighbourhood into a community available in the May/June issue of  Family Chatter May/June issue

Happy April Fools Day Victoria!  I hope everyone had as wonderful a long weekend as I had with my family.  So much sunshine and so many fun activities to participate in.  Good Friday saw us attending the city wide, multi-congregational service held at the Pearkes Recreational Center with over 2000 others of all ages for a start to the Easter celebrations.  It was our first year to attend and it was a great example of the great community we live in here. 
Saturday morning meant the 7th annual Community Easter Egg Hunt at Windsor Park in Oak Bay put on by Providence Community Church.  This event gets better and better every year, with coffee and goodies for the grown ups and an indoor area for shelter that obviously wasn't needed this year.  It took less than 5 minutes for the kids to scoop up the thousands of candy filled eggs!  It truly is a sight to see.
Sunday we were at the Lighthouse Church service and community dinner.  It was a full house and we served mountains of salads, pounds of potatoes, 8 hams, 3 turkeys, and a multitude of assorted sides and desserts to friends and neighbours.  It was heartening to see so many people come out and participate.  It's an uncommon find, a young, vibrant congregation dedicated to community service and an approachable and fun Pastor who reach just about anyone with honesty and humour.
The last day of our long week end brings us to April Fool's Day, with 2 mischievous little boys sneaking cayenne pepper into breakfast, much to every one's surprise.  Another day full of sunshine, and a ton of housework as family departs and a bit of light reading to brush up on the return to GST/PST and the transitional tax.  Now that it's here, do you know how it's going to affect you and your family in their purchases in the coming year and beyond?  Click on the link below for a fairly extensive and relatively easy to understand list of changes.  There is also additional, housing specific information available on my website:  www.angeliquetroyer.ca 
What's taxable, what's not?