5 p.m.

A wonderful thing happened today when I got home – I went to get the mail, and it was still light enough to see! I’m so happy that the days are finally getting longer!

So what have we been up to in this dreary month of January?

Dan stole my thunder in announcing that the laundry room was ready to be used. Ready to be used, mind you, but definitely not complete. I still need to finish the tiling and paint, but at least we can do laundry again! Given that this was my minimum goal for the month of January (a usable laundry room on the main floor), I’m pretty tickled with this accomplishment.

But why didn’t we get more done? aka other fun things we did in January? One more thing that’s been keeping us busy is salsa lessons. That’s right, my wonderful husband’s Christmas gift to me was 5 weeks of salsa lessons. Both of us are really enjoying them, and will probably sign up for the next level. Just not next month, since in February I’ll be taking a cake-decorating class. Because everyone can use more (and prettier!) cakes in their life! I’ve never been good at decorating pastry, and I have recently fallen off the baking bandwagon, so I’m hoping this class will kickstart both of those. Hopefully lots of pictures to come from that course… and if you’re lucky and live nearby, maybe lots of baking, as well!

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Laundry Room: Days 1 and 2

It has begun – we’re working on the laundry room! I’m so excited! I’ve been promised a laundry room by the end of January, and I’m really going to keep pushing for that to happen.

Being off work until after New Year’s means that I can get started on some of the prep work. Of course, as with most projects, it had to get worse before it gets better.

Yesterday [err, yes, I'm posting this a few days after writing], I started with  removing the trim as well as the awful stick-on tiles. A drawback was that now the floor squelched whenever you walked on it, since the remaining construction adhesive was still quite sticky.

I inadvertently solved that problem today when I was scraping the popcorn finish off the ceiling – after finishing, and sweeping the popcorn into a neat little pile once I was done, the floor was magically no longer sticky, having absorbed the dust from the popcorn. Just for good measure, I actually spread my little pile back around the still-sticky areas of the floor, and re-swept!

When reinstalling the dryer vent earlier in the year, Dan questioned the adequacy of the vapour barrier, and in true over-engineering style asked me to take down the drywall on that wall so we could check. So I scored the corners, wound up my best Chuck Norris impression, and BAM…

…no more drywall. My best Chuck Norris impression may have involved a crowbar, drywall knife, hammer, and some serious grunting and swearing (sweating may have been involved as well, thanks spellcheck!), but who’s counting?!

The rest of day 2 – and I use the word “day” generously, not really having worked more than half a day on either occasion – was taken up with screwing in the first of three sheets of extra subfloor we’re adding to better support the tile.

Stay tuned! A trip to Ogdensburg may or may not be in our future – we’ll see!

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Garden – step 1

At long last – a post about everything we’ve done to the garden so far!

Obviously, lots of weeding. And trimming. And merciless chopping down of a bush or two. But I’ve already talked about that.

A few weekends ago we tackled the raised beds for the vegetable garden. The soil along the side of the house is kind of crummy, so I wanted a repeat of the raised beds we had at the old house. Except I was smarter this time, and made them a more manageable size – two 3×6 ft beds, and one 4×6 ft bed. I also decided to make them a full 18″ tall this time, instead of the 12″ they were before – I figured that even if I may want 12″ of soil, it’ll be nice to have a little bit of space near the top to work the soil without worrying about it falling over the edge all the time.

I started by clearing the area in question – covered in unidentified tall (and very smelly) weeds, as well as some very mature lily and hosta plants. Nobody wanted them, so in the brown bags they went.

Starting with a nice clean-ish slate, we put together the boxes in the driveway, and carried them over to the garden area.

Aren’t they so pretty and new?

Well, that didn’t last long.

In my ambition, I ordered 8 cubic yards of soil.

How much is that, you might wonder?

A half-driveway-size pile.

130 wheelbarrows.

Enough to fill the raised vegetable garden beds. [The holes you see above are from last weekend, when I finally planted my garlic. You'll also notice a future project that must be done - the wall at the left side of the picture is the shed, which is getting a lot of dirt splatter when it rains. This is from the water cascading down from the roof of the shed, so the shed will need to be outfitted with gutters at some point.]

And then add 4-6″ of good-quality soil to the existing gardens, where the roots of some poor trees and bushes were starting to show.

Ahhhh. All better now.

And it seems like I’m not the only one enjoying these improvements – I saw a nice black kitty deposit this little guy in the garden just as I was coming home today.

Maybe the softer soil makes for better hunting? While I appreciate the gift, dear kitty, maybe next time you could give it to someone who actually knows what to do with a dead mole?

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Bathrooms!

I’m happy to say that we have a few more things checked off our reno list!

First – our ensuite bathroom is ready to use! The last thing holding us up was Dan’s worry that the grout sealant hadn’t fully worked its magic in a few spots (and my corresponding procrastination on the matter), so I thoroughly applied a new coat yesterday. I’m going to test it out with a shower tomorrow morning, but I’m optimistic!  I picked up a few accessories, as well, so I present to you our new ensuite bath!

The new swivel mirror and built-in shelving.

The new space-saving vanity, toilet paper stand, and hurricane-lamp garbage. And new tile, of course.

The shower with the no-longer-see-through shower doors.

We also got an unexpected start on the main bathroom renos over the weekend. Our home depot light fixture finally arrived, and Dan planned to surprise me on Friday while I was away. Due to shoddy original installation, one thing led to another, and now we have a beautiful new light, as well as some bare new drywall. Of course, once it’s mudded, it will be just begging to be painted, which means I might as well do the whole bathroom in some new and exciting colour. Woot! We’ll probably stop there, although I would love to do something about the generic laminate counter, as well.

Yes, I’m aware only 3 of the 4 lights are on. It’s not a light defect, but a user defect – with the freezing rain today, I couldn’t be bothered to go pick up another lightbulb, and we only had 3 matching-wattage ones left in the house. A nice bonus of this fixture is that there’s maybe a 20-second delay as light starts at about 75% brightness and warms up to full strength. Love it in the mornings!

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Office closet

Remember those spice shelves I was raving about last week?… Well, I had full intentions of finishing them this weekend. Really. Except that I kept tripping up on the piles of stuff in the middle of the office, so I thought I should deal with that first. You see, as Dan will attest, I like to multitask. Unfortunately, sometimes it borders on ADD. So when I was working on the shelves last weekend, while I was waiting for husband to come home and explain the next step (and corresponding power tool), I decided that I also needed to get started on moving around the bookshelves in the office. Everyone gets that urge once in a while, right?

Anyway, I moved the gigantic bookshelf from the office into the hallway (it’s like it belonged there all along!). I brought up some books from the basement to fill that bookshelf with, and brought up a (smaller) bookcase from the basement into the office. Of course, this meant that not everything from the original office bookshelf fit into the new one – thus the week-old piles of stuff in the middle of the office.

So I decided to tackle the highly inefficient office closet, and turn it into my own little bookshelf. The rod mounting-point-thingie looked on approvingly.

There is no before picture of the closet, for which I’m kind of glad. It was disorganized, and the stacks of boxes were getting to be somewhat dangerous.

The first shelf probably took me as long as the last two shelves combined, and by the end I had a good enough system that I almost wished I could keep going. Well, except for the fact that my hands were starting to sprout tender pre-blister spots all over the palms, so I’m actually glad that I ran out of shelves when I did. Check out how level they are!

The final product – four shelves total (the top one was already there). Note how all our computer textbooks have been exiled into the closet.

Final tally?

Tools used:

• table saw
• drill
• screwdriver (the tool, not the drink)
• levels
• nail gun (husband’s idea)
• stud finder (insert husband running it over his torso and making beeping noises here… stud… get it? )

And I even kept my goggles on the whole time today. You won’t see me losing safety points for the same thing twice in a row!

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Aquarium

In a wave of unfinished projects getting finished, I managed to knock two off my list this past weekend! Yay me!

First, those who have visited our house in the last 10 months may remember an aquarium sitting on our mantelpiece. Due to a combination of cost, time, and fear of the unknown, I’ve been putting off setting up the aquarium with its rightful residents since I got it for Christmas last year. Well, I finally decided enough was enough, hoofed it over to the nearby (live) fish store, and got all my supplies in order.

Thus, unfinished project number two comes to the forefront. When we first pained the living and dining room, I had this idea that perhaps it would be nice to paint the small walls jutting out to separate the two rooms a different colour, to visually separate the space even more. Thus they sat, primed but unpainted, for close to 2 years. The key was that once we got the aquarium filled up, it would be immovable. And since the plan was to leave it on top of the fireplace, it would block access to one of the walls in question. So I had to do something about it, and quickly.

Over the summer, I’ve slowly come to the realization that because of the faux finish on the walls, a solid colour on the separator walls would look out of place, and a different faux finish/colour would look to busy. So this weekend I finally finished what I started two years ago, and in the same fashion – same faux finish on the unfinished walls as I did in the rest of the room in the first place. Now, I just hope that next time it doesn’t take me two years to make a decision like this.

Here’s the final result, first with the light on and then looking out into the living room. Note the nicely uniform wall colour behind the aquarium. I can just imagine how nice it will be to curl up on the couch, with the water bubbling in the background and colourful little fishies darting around in the background.

But of course, that has to wait. First I have to let the (good) bacterial cultures establish themselves in the fishtank. To that end, I’m using this wonderful stuff (300 m bacteria in every teaspoon – the breakfast of champions!)

Once they do their magic for a few days, I’m supposed to get a couple of trial fish. If they survive a few weeks, with no signs of discomfort, then I can start stocking up! With all the additives, fish (some of the more extravagant ones are over $60!), and filter and heater running all day, I have a feeling this is not going to be the cheapest of hobbies. But think of the calming effect! At least on me… I expect to have more than one entertaining post about kitties and fish!

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The best laid plans…

… have a tendency to get scrapped when sun and alcohol are involved.

I had great hopes for this weekend – namely, being able to finally paint the garage door and stain the deck, given that we’re in the middle of a whole week *cue collective gasp* with no rain. The plan on Saturday was to go to ultimate playoffs in the morning, hang out with my team at a BBQ, and then stain the deck. Well, I definitely got home early enough to get the deck done – except that instead I took a nap. Courtesy of a gorgeously sunny day with temperatures nearing 30, and Marianne being very generous with her Strongbow at the BBQ. No regrets, though, because how often do I get to take a nap in the shade in our back yard?

The playoffs have been very disappointing this year – none of my teams won free beer. And given that in any group of 4 teams, the top team gets free beer… *sigh* That’s just rotten luck. Each team won our first game and lost the second one in the playoffs. But I still had a great time – thanks everyone for another fantastic season!

Today was much more productive – I turned down an all-you-can-eat sushi outing for dinner (yes, I know, superhuman willpower right there) and actually got home in time to paint the garage door. I think it will need another coat, but already I’m loving the look much more. Original colour with work-in-progress on the left, new colour on the right. The edges were a bit of a pain – I actually had to paint the edges while the door was up and open, since when closed they are covered by the rubber weatherstripping. I’m sure the worker’s safety board would not approve of the gymnastics I had to perform on the ladder to paint the top of the door, but they got the job done.

You know how our little girl kitty is a strange one when it comes to dietary preferences? Well, I have two more items to add to that list – watermelon, and crepes. That’s right. This crazy kitty thinks she’s a dog.

And finally, what I’m sure you’ve been waiting breathlessly for all weekend – the dehydrator update. Oh. My. God. Anna, you’ll have to pry this toy from my cold, determined hands when my trial period is over! Dehydrators are amazing. I can’t believe I’ve never tried this before. I’m pretty sure I’m getting one for christmas. I have to be careful, though – in the tupperware shown below are two mangos and three apples. Have to pay attention when snacking…

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User error

I have a confession to make, to all of you who think we’re great at all of our renovation projects. Well, we’re not. In particular, the ensuite reno project has been full of lessons recent.

Lesson the first: you already own a respirator – why not use it when using wood stain inside a small box of a bathroom? The first coat I did with the door open – well, actually, the door was open in the sense that there was no door. Dan put that in just as I finished the first coat. The second coat, however, was a doozie – I was definitely feeling the side effects of the woozy and nauseous variety afterwards.

Lesson the second: apparently shaking the can of said stain is not enough. No – you need to dig to the bottom and dredge up the actual paint so it can mix with the… rest of the liquid. I don’t know if that stain had just been sitting on the shelf at Home Depot for a while or what, but that stuff was pretty well settled. The epiphany came when, unsatisfied with the cabinet still looking more like cedar than walnut after two coats of walnut stain, I decided to put on a third one and was getting to the bottom of the can. And somewhere along the way, on the next brush stroke I ended up with black goo on my shelf instead of the nice, easy-to-apply liquid I’d had before. Well, now it makes sense! Some panic-filled (imagining having to tell Dan that after all his hard work, he needs to completely redo the cabinet because I screwed up the colour) brushing and rag-rubbing filled the next 20 minutes, but I’m actually very happy with how it turned out. A coat or two of clear-coat, and I may be ready to finally show off our ensuite in all its glory!

Hopefully, my next experiment will not be nearly as complicated as wood stain. Anna has loaned me her food dehydrator to use in preparation for our canoe trip, and (despite the first batch not even being ready yet) I have to say I may be hooked. For now, I’m starting with fruit leather (you know, the real fruit roll-ups) and dried apples and mango. Don’t they look delicious?

What’s that, dear mango? You want me to eat you right now?? Oh, how I wish… but I must resist your charms! You will taste so much better on the 3rd day of our canoe trip than now, when I’ve already eaten at least another cup of your brethren, who were not uniform enough to be put in the dehydrator.

I’ll update you on the progress tomorrow!

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Soon, soon

A less angsty post is coming soon, I promise. However, we’ve been really busy with the ensuite reno and my mom’s visit. Really, we were supposed to be busy with the deck, but given that Mother Nature decided to gift all mothers with a lovely sprinkling of snow on Mother’s day (Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, by the way!), instead of enjoying the downtime I talked Dan into starting the ensuite, which has been on my wishlist for a while now.

I’ve decided to do the strié effect for the walls in the bathroom, and have already picked out the paint. We’ve had the new (and much smaller!) vanity for a while now, and we’re going to add some built-in shelving. I think the overall effect will nice, but the main bonus is that the bathroom will look WAY bigger than it does now. Heated floors are my ultimate dream, and will stay so for now – not worth the effort of putting them in in this house, since we’re not here for the long term.

My mom and I hit up the rare plant sale down at the Central Experimental farm, and it was nice – but freezing, given that it was being held out in the parking lot. If someone had set up a coffee station, they would’ve made a fortune. Since I haven’t come to terms yet with what exactly I want to improve/add to the back yard, or come up with a plan for the front yard, I only walked away with 4 lovely little succulents. They’re too pampered to be able to survive outside, so they’ll live in a nice big clay bowl inside the house.

Sorry there are no pictures today. A purry little BB on my lap is preventing me from going anywhere.

P.S. I’m glad I ignored my planting schedule and didn’t plant out the tomatoes this weekend like I was supposed to. You’d think mother nature would be more careful with her own creations, and wouldn’t be trying to kill them all the time!

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