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The shovel's in the ground.
Pick shovel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We are undertaking our first major piece of renovation work on the house. It had needed (exterior) painting for three years or so, and the trim is in appalling condition so we're replacing it with afaux stucco product. We'll also add quoins to the corners of the house to give it a little presence.
We had a horrid railroad-tie-and-brick front porch/landing in which the bricks were sinking making it a trip hazard. There were also no handrails. Our contractor has dug it all up and is replacing it with flamed granite over concrete plus aluminum handrails. We'll probably go with "Sunset Granite" and a black handrail, the design of which we haven't settled on.
Finally, we're going to replace our aging windows with new ones. I am seriously thinking of getting integrated blinds for our main floor windows so that we don't need to worry about drapes. At the moment we have louvred shutters which are irritating as you can't place furniture in front of them (or you have to leave the shutters closed.)
It feels good to be getting going on this, and we have an excellent contractor who does one job at a time, hiring help when he needs it.
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In other breaking news, I'm still sick. Don't think either the antibiotics or inhaler are doing a jot. Missed Kathleen Turner in High at the Royal Alex on Tuesday and the TSO doing The Planets tonight because of my hacking. I haven't been able to sing with my choir for weeks. So I'm heading back to see my family doc and hope to get in on the secret, heavy-duty cough syrup. Or whatever. My lack of sleep and other nasty byproducts of uncontrollable cough have GOT to stop.
ikea hacker: The cherry blossom lantern
Gorgeous! Take one Regolit lampshade, paint on the branches with watercolours or black ink, and (hot?) glue some faux cherry blossoms....what a lovely result.
This almost makes me want to get a hamster....
Ikea Hacker is a great site full of ideas for messing about with Ikea furniture and other stuff. Lots of fun. Today's hack is really inspiring! Check it out here...
ikea hacker: Expedit hamster home
Posted using ShareThis
ikea hacker: Expedit hamster home
Posted using ShareThis
NaBloPoMo Day 1!
Early results are in!
As soon as the new water service was installed, I rushed to the kitchen sink to check out the new pressure. It showed no noticeable difference at individual taps/showerheads. My heart sank at this. Did we just blow over two grand for nuthin'? I mean, it made sense to do it if the city is running a big fat pipe across the street to our house. They were already in the ground, so it was the right time to extend the service to the house.
But this morning it became apparent that the big payoff is when multiple fixtures are working. I ran the shower this morning, hopped out, flushed the toilet, and hopped back in. No change in pressure! Then I did the same thing, but ran the tap at the sink while running the shower. No change! Woohoo!
Next step will be to see if two people can take showers at the same time (in two separate bathrooms, I mean). This could be the end of Michael's plaintiff cries from the boys' shower: "Whoever is using the water, could you PLEASE STOP!"
In a house with three full baths, it would be nice to be able to stop coordinating shower times, particularly during the morning rush, or when we have guests in the basement and need to tell them to ask before they have a shower!
Plus it just occurred to me this morning that our expenses quality for the new Canadian home renovation tax credit, so that's a little bonus.
Oh, and our lawn has frozen solid into a gnarly wreck. Very unsightly. But they will resod, once sod is available. And that will only draw attention to the rest of the lawn, which was pretty pathetic to start with. I actually asked the city contractor if we could pay him extra to sod our whole lawn, but sadly, no. He contracts for the city and while they can do the plumbing work to extend the service to our home privately, they're not lawn contractors. I'll see who comes to do the sod and find out if they could do the rest of the lawn. Unfortunately, we are a corner lot in a neighborhood with a ton of dogs, so it may never look great, unless we fence it all in.
Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
Today is the day our water service is getting upgraded. The crew was here in the dark at 7 am, warming up the excavator. And they're still here at 1:40 pm, with lots of dirt piles, water running down the street, but none coming into the house yet.
The city has a huge project to increase the diameter of the pipes that come from the city water mains, and we are also paying to have the upgrade continued into our house so that we get the full effect (more water pressure - yay!). This also takes care of the dirty little secret here in Toronto - lead pipes.
By 1:00 pm today, this was the scene from my bedroom window. Note the three large, deep, holes in my lawn. (Well, one is actually in the neighbours bit of lawn next to her driveway.)
The plumber, who came to do the work inside the house, mentioned that the crew was "having a little trouble" getting the line across the street. And that my water would be off for longer than the half hour that it usually takes when he arrives at the end of the process.
On top of all this, at around 10 am this morning there was a strong gas smell in the house. I stepped outside and it was there too. I spotted an Enbridge truck (gas company) and a bunch of other white vehicles parked in the vicinity.
When I wandered out to talk to the crew, there was much hemming and hawing when I mentioned I smelled gas. They said something to the effect that "it's all under control now" and so I went back inside.
I'm supposed to be cooking dinner for a friend tonight. We typically meet for lunch once a month, visiting restaurants in the vicinity of her office, but I hadn't had her over for ages, so a few weeks ago, I invited her up here after work tonight. On Monday, I was informed that the water service upgrade would happen today...they are coordinating households that are on the same service (or whatever), so there was not much flexibility on that front. The plan was to be done with the water stuff by noon at the lastest (so I was told) and then I'd do all my errands, shower, prep and cook. Because of our nervous dog, I can't really leave the house while the crew needs access. I need water. I need cilantro. I need limes.
I think we will be dining out.
Catchin' Up
I contemplated ditching the blog for a couple of weeks. I continually felt "behind", whatever that means. Then I thought about a redesign, which I may still do, but I'm booked up with reality-based chores at the moment so it will have to wait.
We've just completed replacing the flooring in our basement. We went from smelly, stained carpet installed directly on the concrete slab to warmth and dryness. We used DriCore subflooring and then a low VOC laminate flooring. We lost a bit of headroom in our already low-ceilinged basement, but the space is SO much nicer. After the flooring went in, I painted one room and the storage room, and installed new shelving. Then began the sorting and purging of all the stuff that had emerged from the basement before the flooring could go in.
Yesterday I went through three quarters of my books, getting rid of duplicates (that's what happens when you have a lot of books in boxes), books I've read and am unlikely to read again, and books I'll never read. Also books on lost causes (like houseplants). I have three boxes to take to Goodwill today.
I alphabetized all my fiction and interleaved hard and soft-cover books. I have a lot of great reading material, and should really start reading some of it rather than relying on the next new thing that I get from the library. On the positive side, I have pretty much stopped buying books, although I still mooch them from time to time. (Okay, yesterday I mooched two Joy Fielding books but I have all this credit....)
I have gone through all my craft/sewing/needlework stuff and purged UFOs, ugly fabric, tiny amounts of wool, and patterns that I will never make. Also gone is old craft paint, mostly-used sketch books, and miscellaneous stuff that I have no idea why I had it (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, gold leaf....).
We need to make some decisions about old stero equipment that has become obsolete with the advent of ipods. We have a home theatre audio system that we haven't installed since we left our last house in Ottawa in 2002 and is now likely very out of date (not to mention HUGE).
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On the personal front, I have decided to (try to) grow out my hair a bit. I've worn it quite short for, well, a couple of decades probably. I'm working toward a bob style, but the growing out phase is going to be a b*tch. I have thick hair, a LOT of hair, and it's on the coarse side of the spectrum. With it short, I could go a day without washing it and it was fine. Now, I get up in the morning and it's simply wacky looking. Flat on one side, puffy on the other. Me and my hair dryer are getting to know each other again.
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Reading: I'm currently reading Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. As it turns out, I have a bunch of Chesterton on my shelves, so I may start going through that. I also have Updike's first Rabbit novel, so I'd like to start that in his honour.
Listening: I've been enjoying Paul Quarrington's King Leary via the CBC's podcast Betweeen the Covers. It won the 1988 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and the 2008 Canada Reads competition. I listen to it on my ipod when I walk the dog and work in the kitchen.
Watching: Lost, for goodness sakes. The Week the Women Went. Wild Roses. House. The Closer. Being Erica. The Colbert Report.
Knitting: Socks. From some sock yarn I bought on ebay...hand-dyed near Ottawa. I'm a little worried that they will be loose, but I was too lazy to go out and buy smaller needles. They can always be bed socks if they're not good for day use.
Cooking: Made mashed sweet potatoes yesterday and they were delish. The lads sucked them back. Could it have been the leftover whipping cream from the previous nights swedish meatballs that I tossed in? Along with a stick of butter? And the Lawry's Seasoned Salt that my dearheart brought back from the States 'cos I can't find it anywhere in this town?
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Well, this has turned out to be a novel. And I didn't even mention the trip to the SuperBowl (not me, but Z and Alex) or Alex's early offer of admission to Western. Yay! Or the Coach bag that came back from US (along with the Lawry's). Too much love, is all I can say.
It's been a while...
Lots of milestones since I last blogged:
- Became godmother to William Joseph. Spent 5 days in Berkeley CA where my brother and his family live and enjoyed very much the ceremony (which took place DURING mass, and was great) and the party aferwards.
- The boys finished their first year of school here in Toronto. Alex has one more year before he heads off to university.
- Alex got his first job, as a grocery clerk at our local No Frills. It's four blocks from home which is great, but he hasn't been scheduled for many hours yet. He's enjoying the paycheque though. He bought an iPod shuffle to run with and is suddenly hyper-aware of how much everything costs.
- Alex is taking Driver's Ed this week. Yikes! How did that happen?
- Michael got contact lenses yesterday.
- We replaced five feet of our kitchen counter (a peninsula) that was damaged, and installed a new sink and faucet, and....wait for it....a new dishwasher. Our old one sounded like a jet plane and prevented conversation pretty much anywhere on the main floor of the house. The new baby is flush with features, and you pretty much have to put your hand on it to figure out if it is running. Yesterday, I ran the "Top Only" cycle after breakfast which saves water and frees up space to get the rest of the days dishes in by the evening.
- I have started listening to a very inspiring audio book on decluttering (It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh). I gave away all my scrapbooking supplies to a (very grateful) cousin, and a pile of art stuff to Michael's art teacher. I listed a bunch of books to sell on Amazon.ca and give away on Book Mooch. I've got a long way to go, but it feels good so far.
More clearing out
We finally got rid of 5 doors that I had posted on Craigslist 10 days ago. Four were actually one item, 2 pairs of sliding closet doors that we removed from the boys' rooms. They made the closets very difficult to access, and our long term plan is to replace them with bi-folds. But the boys are fine with no doors for the time being. A young couple picked them up Saturday afternoon. The wife told me that their son had just smashed a mirror door on a closet and they were looking for a replacement.The other door was a narrow (24") passage door from our master bedroom closet. The closet is a small walk-in, and when the door was open, it covered half of one side of the hanging clothing space. We just decided to remove it and forgo a door completely. At some point, we'll remove the hinges and re-do the door frame trim, but it's just fine for the time being. A guy who is renovating his house picked it up, saying that is was perfect for his master bathroom.The frustrating thing about these transactions was the number of people who emailed to express interest, and then when I replied with my phone number, never called or emailed back. These were free items. I just needed them out of my house. I tried to donate them to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, but they were completely overstocked with doors, so I decided to just offer them for free on Craigslist. At least half a dozen people expressed interest in each of these two items, and with one exception, nothing ever transpired. The two people who actually took the items contacted me on Saturday, promised to pick up the items that day, and followed through.Anyway, they're out of the house. Now I'm trying to sell a Queen size mattress, box foundation, and metal frame. I hope that these will go this week, and then I have sold wood bunk beds to sell.
