New Braces, and Construction, and Thankfulness

Could this smile be any bigger? Janelle is thrilled with her new braces, which she got a week ago Monday. There is no complaining at all, even when we have to turn the expander to stretch them every day. She loves them, especially the bright pink elastics she chose herself. After two weeks, we will go see the orthodontist again, and if he feels her jaw has expanded enough, he will apply the wire to hold her new smile in place. I was completely terrified of this as a child! I'm so proud of my brave girl!

As you can see in the above picture, Janelle played the "foreman" on the weekend. Chris took advantage of our summer-like Thanksgiving weather to build shelves for the shed. Yes, it took time away from work on the basement, but this had to be done before winter weather set in. And what better way to spend a weekend of 25C heat in October! Connor was a super helper, and I gave a hand now and then when I could pry myself out of my lounge chair. I had to soak up every bit of those last rays of sun before Autumn decides to stay!

I am thankful for so many things this year. Thankful for the shelves Chris built for the shed so our garage won't be such a tight squeeze this winter. Thankful that we enjoyed such gorgeous weather on Thanksgiving weekend. Thankful that Janelle is happy about her braces and not hurting and whining. Thankful that Connor made the competitive basketball team and is happily out practicing his shots daily. Thankful that my basement is getting closer to finished every day. Thankful that we were able to have a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner in Burlington with family whom we are now able to see on a somewhat regular basis. Thankful that the MacPhees will be here in just over a week to share another turkey with us, and make lots of precious new memories. Thankful that my Mom and Dad are able to leave today to embark on their long awaited train trip across Canada. Thankful for friends, old and new, that are only a phone call away, or just down around the corner. Thankful that London is finally feeling like home.

Why are you thankful this beautiful autumn?

My birthday gift from Lori, which she gave me on Sunday.
I love it so much I just had to post it here!

Getting All Our Ducts in a Row!

Finishing a basement is a major undertaking. Especially when you plan to do the bulk of the work yourself, on top of your extremely demanding job. But this is what my husband has chosen to do, and despite the inconvenience and the extended timeline, I'm thankful.

Contrary to popular opinion, things are getting done down there. Chris spends most of every weekend in the basement, doing a lot of head scratching and a fair amount of banging, and by Monday morning he has a head full of steam and is ready to take a vacation day and press on. Such is the case today.

The only problem with Chris doing the job on his own is also the biggest blessing of him doing it on his own. He has an obsession with doing things right. This takes time. A lot more time than it would take someone that we could hire to do the work, who really doesn't care whether or not the bones of the job are sound, as long as it looks good. For the last week Chris has been working on bulkheads, and the other night he had an epiphany. If he just rerouted some of the ductwork, we wouldn't have nearly as many unsightly bulkheads in our family room. No big deal, he thought. I'll just move this over there, and then connect this to that, and Voila! Unfortunately, getting to "Voila!" invariably involves one step forward and two steps back, several minor injuries, and a fair amount of language that I don't usually hear coming out of my sweet husband's mouth. This time he found something done wrong by the original builder that would have inevitably caused us problems down the road, and I can hear him down there now, banging away, making things right. In fact, I'm typing quickly because I know that any minute now, he'll call my name and I'll need to go play assistant.

When all is said and done, I'm so glad Chris is doing this basement the way he wants it done, because I know he is obsessed with getting it right. At least once a day he declares he just doesn't know how to do something, but he always figures it out, and it is always well done. We are going to have an awesome space down there when it is finished, thanks to my obsessive hubby.

As a quick post script, I'm adding a picture of a job we had done last week that Chris did not do himself (although he did have to jump in once and fix something the workers screwed up). We had drainage put in along the side of the house and a stone walkway installed. I'm so happy with it! It really dresses up the house, and I don't have to mow the weeds that grow along that wall anymore, or tramp through the muck that collects by the gate! Love it!

Correction: Chris read this post and his only criticism was with my vocabulary. He thought I may have used the word "obsessed" too often, and suggested I substitute the words "committed" or "persistent".  That's my husband — always obsessed with the details! (wink wink!)

Striving for January Clean

Back to reality. The kids have returned to school, Chris is back to work, and I find myself buried under a mountain of Christmas. The dry, nearly bare tree has been stripped and carried outside, but there is still so much more to do to reach that lofty goal of "January clean". That is a term that Chris and I coined early in our marriage, referring to the kind of clean and spare feeling a house has when all the the decorations and gifts have been safely stored away, and we are left with an uncluttered home. Chris loves January clean. Honestly, so do I. It seems that is practically the only time of year that we actually achieve that level of tidiness in our house, and in the years since we've had children it has been harder and harder to hit that goal. It feels like the 7th of January is a very late start, but that's what happens when you travel at Christmas. Today I'm trying.

I've been bringing gifts upstairs to be put away, and packing away tree decorations left on the table when I took the tree down yesterday. I still have to drag out the home decorations boxes and gather the remaining gifts that need to be returned this afternoon, along with their receipts. This is on top of unpacking that still hasn't happened, and much laundry to do!

All this to say I am checking in with my blog, but I can't stay. I have a number of blog posts already composed in my mind during the seemingly endless hours of driving home from New Brunswick, but I can't write them now. Not until I reach January clean. I'll let you know when I do.

Finished!

It's been a busy week, as the last half of December usually is. I honestly don't have time to write. But I do have time to post these pictures and declare "Hallelujah! Finished!"

On the weekend I posted our old entertainment unit on Kijiji "for free to anyone who can come and pick it up on Sunday". We also picked up Chris's grandmother's chair, refinished and reupholstered:

And we found the perfect end table to go between my favourite reading chairs in the living room. The great story about that is, once I had decided which table I wanted we took a quick look in the bargain room at the back. There is was, the exact table, with one small hardly noticable defect, for half the price! Are you proud of me, Mom?

One more picture, just because I haven't posted pictures of our family room coffee table and end tables, and Mom has been asking. Now I'm done, until the basement is finished.

Everything was lovely for the Haines family Christmas get-together here yesterday. Christmas has begun! Although I'm still not quite ready for it... Today I ran around doing various errands, so I don't think I need to go out again. But I do still have wrapping, cooking, laundry and packing for our trip to do. I think the packing may happen on Christmas day. I'll try to post again before then, but it may not fit into the hustle and bustle. In case it doesn't:

Merry Christmas to all,

from our home to yours!

Still Snowing....

It is still snowing in London. The newspaper says we've gotten 120 cm since it started on Sunday afternoon, with about 20 cm more to come. When I look out my window I see no signs of it stopping anytime soon. I never really understood the meaning of the term "snow squalls" before I moved here. Apparently, the warm water in Lake Huron evaporates into the cold northern air and brings major dumps of snow. It is a very slow moving storm, so it just sticks around in one small area, slows down for a while, goes back out over the lake, and then brings more snow. In fact, it is only a very small area that is getting this amount of snow. Several of the people who work in Chris's office but live in outlying areas have seen only trace amounts of snow. Apparently, northwest and southwest London are getting the worst walloping. We are in southwest London. The city has nearly come to a halt. Our new mayor, who was supposed to have his inaugural ball last night, just announced that he will not be calling a state of emergency. However, London City Transit will not be running after 3 o'clock this afternoon. I haven't seen or heard a snow plow on our street yet, but there was evidence that one went by on the other side of our street yesterday. We must be a very low priority area — quite a contrast to living on Crocket Street! The snow drift piling up on the window beside my desk has nearly hit the halfway point. I have to boost myself up on my seat to see the houses across the street. It is a winter wonderland.

The kids love it! They are sure they won't have to go to school this week at all. I keep warning them that school is almost never cancelled in London, so they better be prepared to go tomorrow. A Grade 8 boy quoted in the newspaper said he could remember one other time that school was cancelled for snow. That is something my kids will have to get used to! Last year in Fredericton school was only cancelled once (the day our moving truck came), but that was a very mild winter and very out of the ordinary. My kids are accustomed to missing at least 4 - 6 days a year for snow.

Chris hates winter. He hates clearing the driveway, even with his snowblower, because of all the work involved in clearing off the vehicles and moving them into the street before he can really start blowing the snow away. Our new house has a two car garage, something that was on the top of our "must have" list when we were house-hunting. Actually, this house has a three car garage, if you count the area deep enough to actually park two cars. Unfortunately, since we moved here, our garage has been a shed. When we first moved in we were able to get the van in on one side. Then we brought a bunch of stuff out of the basement when we thought we had hired someone to finish it. No more van in the garage. There are boxes in it, wood for the basement, the cabinet that I just finished varnishing. No cars. It's been a "no car garage". Sunday night, Chris and I spent two hours reorganizing the garage so that Monday morning we would be able to get both cars in it. I am happy to say, we were successful! Today we are all home. School is cancelled and Chris is working from home, and the snow is piling up in the driveway. But there isn't a flake of snow on our cars. They are cozy and warm in the garage.

I am a Maritimer who is very accustomed to big snowstorms, but this is a lot even for me! I love it, though. It means my whole family is cozy and happy and together. I am enjoying my Christmas tree and a good book. The kids have been tobogganing with their friends down the street on the huge piles of dirt behind our subdivision. They come in occasionally for lunch or cookies and hot chocolate, but they always have big smiles on their faces. And Chris is happy because our two car garage means the driveway will be easy to blow out. This is a fun storm.

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...."

A Productive Day

I have been in a funk lately. I have a million things I could be doing every day. If you could see my house you would agree with me! But I just haven't been able to make myself get off my butt and get things done. I have no problem settling in with a good book, or watching something on TV, but cleaning out my mudroom, working on the cabinet (grrrr), or scrubbing my floors just don't seem to get crossed off the "todo list". I had a bit of a breakdown about it over the weekend (okay, so maybe a couple of breakdowns), and this morning I woke up determined to make a change.

I woke up on time. Woohoo! First thing crossed off the list! I kicked Chris out of bed on time. Victory number 2! Everyone had breakfast and I had their lunches made in plenty of time to get them out the door, into the pouring rain. Since it is so rainy today, it is warmer than usual for this time of year, so a perfect time to get some work done on the cabinet that has become the bane of my existence. If I had a nickel for every time I told Chris this weekend never to let me sign up for a project like this again, I would be a rich woman. But today, I was determined. I think I am nearly done. Two small shelves need one more coat of varnish on one side, and the large front doors need two coats on each side. As long as I don't make any more mistakes, it should be finished before we leave for Indiana, ready for Chris to put together and move into the house when we get back.

In between applying coats of varnish I ran out to the grocery store and to run a few other errands. When I got back I did a bit more work on the cabinet before I got a roast ready to put in the crock pot. I promised that I would bring sweets to home group tonight, so I made brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I don't remember the last time the kids came home from school to find warm cookies on the counter. I used to do that all the time! The house smells great, and I feel like I accomplished something.

Sure, my mudroom still needs to be organized before winter is fully upon us, and my floors still need to be scrubbed, but I have not been idle today. I feel like I've been productive. And since I've been struggling in that area lately, that is a great feeling.

The kids will be home in 15 minutes, welcomed by the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies. I think I have time to slap one more coat of varnish on those shelves!

Just Not Me!

I know many people enjoy woodworking. Many find it relaxing and deeply gratifying. I've heard some even find it is a stress reliever. I am not one of those people.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my latest project. At that point it was coming along quite smoothly, and I was even enjoying the time I was spending working on it and the progress I was making. Now, not so much. I've encountered a few problems that have required sanding right back to the fresh wood and restaining and varnishing again. We may even have to buy some stripper to erase my mistakes. I find that so frustrating! Now every minute that I am working on that despicable cabinet is frought with stress. Every stroke I make I am afraid I am making a mistake that is going to cause me even more work. I am not enjoying it. Quite the opposite. I am resenting it!

Someday, hopefully not too far down the road, I will have a new entertainment cabinet sitting in my family room. I am sure it will be much more pleasing to the eye than what sits there now. But I'm afraid all I will see are the imperfections, and I think my joy in it has been significantly decreased by being part of bringing this project to fruition. So much for the satisfaction of a job well done.

Next time, I hope I'll remember that a new, fully finished piece of furniture is well worth the money! Woodworking is just not for me!

Time Change

"Spring ahead, Fall back". We've done it every year of our lives, but it never gets any easier. I always think of spring as the hard one — I hate losing that hour of sleep, and feeling for the next week like I'm getting up so much earlier than is natural for one of my species. This past spring it was a bit easier. We moved to Ontario just few days before Daylight Saving Time began, so we actually just switched back to Atlantic Time, which our bodies hadn't adjusted away from yet anyway. In the fall we get an extra hour of sleep! Bonus! So why do I feel so exhausted?

Yesterday I moved around in slow motion, feeling (and I'm sure looking) like a zombie, for most of the day. I just couldn't seem to summon the energy for anything substantial. I tried to work on the armoire, but I needed a new tack cloth and so I blamed my lack of progress on that. I went to a mall near my home to do some Christmas shopping, and I did pick up a few things at Zellers, but as I walked past all the other stores it just felt like too much work to go in and actually look for anything. The headache started just before the kids came home from school, and as the Tuesday routine wound up into full swing, it only intensified. The large English Toffee cappuccino I picked up at Tim Hortons, while very yummy, did little to increase my energy state. By the time I brought Janelle home from the church and put her to bed, I was ready to fall into bed, too. But there was laundry to do, so I stayed up to finish it. When Chris and Connor got home from basketball an hour later, I was flaked out on the couch watching a new episode of Glee.

I know I should have gone to bed then. But it was 9:00, and how do we get used to the time change if we just go to be early? Chris and I hadn't seen each other all day, so I wanted to stay up and visit with him a bit. Laying sprawled out on separate couches flicking channels isn't exactly quality time, though. I came up to bed at 11:00, and by then I had gotten a bit of a second wind, so I settled in with a good book, and was still reading when Chris came up an hour later. I was sending a message to my body: "Fine, if you want me to stay up later, I'll stay up later. And I'll get up later, too!"

The problem is, that doesn't work. I blame it on the kids. My children could stay up until midnight and still get up at 7:00 a.m., like clockwork. That makes it very hard for their bodies to adjust to the time change. I almost look forward to the days when I will have to drag their sleep-lovin' teenage bodies out of bed (but I'm starting to think that's a myth!) Neither Chris nor I are morning people (far from it!) so I don't know why our kids are so insistent on daily rising with the sun. Monday morning I heard Connor starting his day at 6:15. To be fair, I had forgotten to set his clock back, so he thought it was 7:15. Since they don't leave for school until 8:45, I encourage them to stay in their beds at least until 7:00. But once he was up, there was no going back to sleep. And once his sister heard him up, she was right there with him. And of course, hearing all this, I wasn't going back to sleep any time soon. So we were all exhausted. Both Monday and Tuesday we have all neared our breaking point right around homework time after school. Connor claimed he was "too tired" to figure out his homework, and Janelle was "too tired" to go through her whole piano practice. And I was "too tired" to fight about it!

I am determined that today will be more productive. I have a list, in my head, but I may actually write it down. This blog post was first on the list. I haven't even had breakfast yet. That's next on the list. I am going to move through the day, and no matter how tired I am, I'm just going to keep moving. This time change is playing havoc with my body, but I will WIN! And hopefully by next week we will all be functioning normally in Eastern Standard Time.

My Latest Project

I'm in the middle of finishing my latest project. No time to write.

We bought this entertainment armoire unfinished about a month ago. I stained it a few weeks ago, and finally got Chris to help me finish staining the feet on Saturday. Yesterday I put the first coat of varnish on it, and today I need to sand it and apply the second coat.

I really need to get to work on it, because my garage is becoming a very COLD work space! So this is my blog post for the day.

Told you they wouldn't all be that interesting!

Mrs. Fix-It

I am pretty proud of myself. So I'm going to brag. Just a little. I am so not a Mrs. Fix-It. But my hubby has been away since Saturday, and on Sunday the kids noticed that the handle on their toilet was loose. I tried it and they were right. Every time I tried to flush it felt like it was going to fall off. I panicked a little bit. I tried to figure out how I was going to wait until Chris got home to get it fixed. Two whole days. We do have two other bathrooms. It's not a big deal for the kids to have to use them. But yesterday I finally broke down and lifted the cover off the tank. After close investigation I discovered that the rubber knob that holds the handle onto the tank had come unscrewed. I carefully screwed it back on, and, voila! The toilet was fixed. One whole day before Chris came home. And I did it all by myself.

An odd subject for a blog post, I know. But I'm pretty proud of myself. And I just thought I'd share it.

Mom's Room

Since we moved into this house, the front room has been a bit of a puzzle for me. First it was going to be an office. That worked for a while, but in the end we mutually decided that the mess that our office inevitably becomes is not the first thing we want people to see when they come in our front door. Then, through months of indecision, the room organically became the junk room, the place where everything that didn't have a home yet fell in piles all over the room. I knew that wouldn't last forever, but wasn't sure how to move forward. Was it a dining room? Seemed like a waste considering how infrequently we would use a formal dining room. But we do have Chris's grandmother's table that needs a home. Was it a living room? I liked the idea, but we already have a family room off the kitchen and are building another in the basement. Do we really need three living spaces? Then I started thinking, what about a hybrid of the two? The table folds down and doesn't take up much space. I've always wanted a cabinet to display my beautiful but rarely used china. Both of those would work in a dining area. But I would also love to have a sitting room that is free of technology: no tv, no video games, not even a stereo. I decided that with a little work, and a little furniture, I could combine the two.

I started with a china cabinet that I found on Kijiji. I really wasn't even looking for one, but rather researching what to charge if I decide to sell my family room furniture. But when I saw it I knew we were made for each other. We headed out to look at it an hour after it had been posted. Chris did a bit of work to fix it up like new before we even took it out of the van. Once I had it in the room and filled, it looked like it had been destined to house my china. I loved it. And I was hooked.

The same day we went shopping for a couple of chairs for that room. I walked into one store and fell in love with the first piece I saw. But my heart broke when I saw the price. I spent the next few hours trying to get over my love affair with that chair and fall for something else. No deal. Then I started bargaining with myself. If I found a second chair really cheap, I could afford to buy the first chair. The hunt was on!

It took two days, but I found it. A floor model, going out of stock, just the right colour, about half the price that I was even hoping for! I took it home the same day, and went back to the original store to order the chair that was my true love. It arrived on Friday, just in time for the Moores' visit. Ellen and I enjoyed many cozy chats in my new sitting room. She also helped me find the large print for the wall that really finished the room beautifully. For now... A second hand piano and a print of the Fredericton waterfront are two items that are still on my wish list.

So now I have a sunny living room/dining room. We've used it for both already. Sunday the Moores were here and the Lambiers stopped in on their way home from church. We had plenty of food so we convinced them to stay. The kids ate in the kitchen, at what became the buffet table, and the adults (and baby Ellie) enjoyed Chris's grandmother's table in the "dining room". It was perfect! And it served a double purpose that night when it housed a rousing game of Wizard (which I won easily, of course!)

I love my "new room". I love its many purposes. But now that the kids are in school, my favourite thing about it is the way the morning sun streams through the picture window over my shoulder as I sit in my beautiful new recliner and read. I don't think anyone would dispute that it is "Mom's special spot".

And most importantly, it's leading me to finally begin to fall in love with my London house.

A Hard Weekend's Work

The cover of the box said "Assembles in 4 Hours". The cover of the instruction booklet inside the box said "Assembles in 6-8 Hours". In fact it took three of us 2.5 hours on Saturday, and 10 hours on Sunday to put up the play structure in our backyard. And it still isn't finished!

Okay, so I did spend a lot of the afternoon sitting in the shade on the deck reading a book, but I was completely "available" to help at a moment's notice. Connor was the true helper. He was ready and willing to take on any task assigned to him. He is really more confident with a drill than I am! Janelle wanted to help, but after realizing that there really wasn't much she could do, she retreated to the air conditioning inside and the Family Channel.

Chris was our hero. He was tireless in the relentless sun and heat. I covered and recovered him with sunscreen and he still went to bed with a sunburn. He put things together, took them apart, and put them back together better. He was not going to let this be a less than ideal swing set. He was (and is) a truly Awesome Dad.

Today there is a swing set in the back yard. There is no slide yet. There are no monkey bars yet. There is no climbing wall yet. Hopefully by tomorrow. But today there are swings... hanging lonely in the the pouring rain. But they are there, available whenever the kids decide to brave the wet backyard. They can play on the play structure whenever they want... for four days until they leave it for a month. But what an exciting thing it will be to come home to!

Serenity

I worked hard today, dreaming of creating a little piece of serenity.

I fixed my little garden.

I created a little oasis for me and my book.

Three months ago we moved into a house that didn't have much personality.

Now, with a few flowers and cozy spots, it looks like a home.

I think I may be able to find a little serenity in this tiny corner of my world.

But not until after bedtime...

What Monster Ate My Weekend?

Suddenly it is Sunday night. How did that happen? It must have been that ruthless "time-eating monster" again.

Friday night was quite peaceful. Chris and Connor went to a movie. Janelle and I did some shopping and junior web-surfing. The boys got home after 10, and we all went to bed shortly after that.

Janelle had soccer pictures taken first thing Saturday morning. Then we tried a new place for breakfast. It was okay, but we can tick it off our list and move on to another. Off to Costco, Canadian Tire, Home Depot and the local garden center to stock up for all the work we planned to do this weekend. Quick lunch at the Lions Club hot dog stand. Then it was time to party. Well, not for me. For my very popular daughter who was scheduled to attend her fourth and fifth birthday parties since moving to London. The first was a pool party, and although the skies threatened thunder showers all day, it was a perfect day for it. Hot, hot, hot. Out to buy a few more supplies during the party, including a flat of fresh Ontario strawberries, grown so near my house I can practically smell the field — YUM! Sent Chris and Connor to Home Depot to buy supplies for converting the cold room to a warm room. Back to get Janelle, so she could be delivered to the next party, at a neighbour's house. This time Connor was invited as well, so Chris and I could get lots done!

NOT. Sent both children off to the party. We unloaded the van and ended up debating whether or not we even need to convert part of the cold storage room to a warm storage room. Somehow that decision ate up most of our free two hours. We did manage to squeeze in an ice cream and some shopping for patio furniture. But didn't get done nearly what we both had hoped. Kids came home. Chris went back to Home Depot.

Suddenly it was bath time. Janelle got out of the tub and I went outside to find Connor. I spent 10 minutes looking for him and chatting with neighbours, and when I came back in I found Janelle sound asleep in her bed, no pjs, tangled wet hair soaking her pillow. She had a busy day!

My hubby suffered through televised chick movies all evening, mostly because neither of us had the energy to change the channel. Went to bed somewhat early, and woke up this morning to Janelle, (I apologize, but I had to suffer through it, so you do too) covered in vomit. Sometime during the night she had thrown up, but she had no memory of it, so the two of us had to get her and her disgusting (but still pretty purple) bedroom cleaned up. She felt fine. Do we go to church? Do we warn Jocelyn and Mark and their new baby, who are supposed to come for lunch? Yes to both. Janelle felt fine. Must have been heatstroke, which her brother gets fairly often. Off to church.

We went to the same church as the last two weeks. Still nearly ready to declare it is "our church", but waiting for.... I'm not sure what. I enjoyed the service. The kids happily ran upstairs at Junior Church time. It almost felt like home. Maybe someday it will. Church ended. Back on the treadmill that was our weekend.

Stopped at Home Depot and Canadian Tire to try to make a decision about patio furniture for the front veranda. Then hurried home to get lunch ready before Jocelyn and Mark arrived. They decided to come after all. After dessert, Jocelyn, Ellie and I left the dishes to our husbands and hurried off to her church shower. Two hours of new faces, but I did feel like an honoured guest, and it was so good to see how loved Jocelyn is in her church. So many people have prayed so long for this baby to arrive safely. I was thankful to be able to be there.

Back home. Supper time. Phone call from Karen. Made up Janelle's room with clean sheets and got her snuggled into bed. Then I took out my contact lenses and put on my pjs.

Hmmmm... I think I forgot something. What could that be? What did I promise to do before the end of the weekend? The end of the weekend? How could it suddenly be the end of the weekend? Some monster named "Busyness" ate my weekend. And I have to write my blog post.

Check. Now all I have to do is wrestle Connor away from the basketball game, tuck him into bed, and settle down with my book. On the couch. In front of my husband's beloved basketball game. Bye-bye weekend. See you in 5 more days.

Plans on Hold

Three days ago we were ready to get right at the basement and get it finished. Today we aren't sure when it will be done.

Chris had his misgivings about our decision to hire a couple of guys starting their own business to do the basement, and when it got right down to the night before they were going to come, he shared more of his concerns with me.  I didn't feel comfortable with it if he didn't feel comfortable with it. He called them yesterday morning and asked them to clarify of few areas of concerns, and the answer he got was not satisfactory. So we decided not to use them after all.

Chris has always wanted to do the work himself. He knows what he wants to do, and he knows how he wants it done. He has done it before, and knows he could do a good job. I know that he is meticulous about any project he is working on. He does not cut corners about anything. The only issue is time. The idea of having our basement finished in a month was so tempting! But really, it doesn't need to be finished until winter. He really could take a couple of weeks of vacation and do most of it. Or even a week and then hire the rest out.

He is going to meet with another company, a well-established one this time, in a couple of weeks. We don't expect they'll have time to do the work this summer, but perhaps they could take it on in the fall. In that case, Chris may be able to get a start on it and they can finish it up later. Either way, I know he'll feel much better about the end product.

So I guess the "time for the big project" has not come after all. Plans are on hold until further notice. But most of the boxes are cleaned out of my basement...

Time for the BIG Project!

I've been doing all kinds of projects in the past month: gardening, painting, blogging, cleaning. But now it's time for the major project that we committed to when we bought this house. It's time to finish the basement.

When we were looking for houses it was one of my "must haves": a finished basement where the kids can go so I can have a little peace and quiet. A big family room with lots of room to entertain, where we can finally put a flat screen TV for family movie nights. But the house we ended up with didn't have a "finished" basement. It just had a big open space full of possibilities.

Well, it's time to turn possibility into reality. Dad spent this morning moving boxes back up into the garage, and I'll start dismantling the temporary playroom this afternoon. Thursday and Friday the new insulation is being installed, and then things really start moving. The builders we hired expect it to take about 3 or 4 weeks. Time to start picking lighting and maybe even a fireplace!

I decided to take a few "before" pictures today, and I'll add to them as our new space starts to take shape. It's exciting, but it sure feels like a HUGE undertaking right now!

The Colour of Joy

Janelle has wanted a purple room for soooooo long. I'm so happy that I could give it to her. It was a lot of work. It was truly exhausting.

But one look at the joy in that smile makes every minute of effort worthwhile. These are the days I really love being a parent!

Quiet Evening

It isn't often quiet this time of night at my house. The boys have gone flying (yes, actually flying with a friend of Chris's from work who is a pilot, and his 10-year-old son — an awesome tour of London from the air), and Janelle and I got back from her soccer game about an hour ago. She got an award tonight! Guess the coaches have figured out that the fact that she actually touched the ball three or four times and did some running is a big deal for my little dreamer. Now she is sleeping peacefully in the spare room (her just-painted room is still off limits), and her Kenny Loggins lullabyes (our favourite) are playing, very nearly putting me to sleep.

I've had a very busy day, painting the one last wall in Nellie's room. It was such a dark colour it took three coats, and I couldn't tape the corners on the other new paint, so cutting in there was misery! I am exhausted, but it's done! Both kids rooms painted, so Papa doesn't even have to touch a paintbrush while he's here. But he does need to put up a clothesline! If I know my dad, he won't be happy unless he has some kind of a "to do" list. Only one more week until Grandma and Papa are here. I can't wait!

The peaceful strains of "Inchworm" are floating out to me, along with Janelle's precious snores, and I'm feeling an irresistible calling to my book and to the couch. I think I'll go enjoy the last few minutes of my quiet house. The boys should be home any minute, and I'm sure they'll bring plenty of excitement with them!

Painting Purple Posies

Today I am up to my ears in Purple Posies Paint.

I can't even imagine being creative today.

It is 30 degrees C outside.

The humidex is 38C. 

Luckily I have air conditioning.
I'm hot anyway!

The first coat is drying, finally.

But my fingers are too tired to type.

I can't wait to see Nellie's face when she see her room!

Making Lemonade

I am recovering this morning from making lemonade.

Last week this time I was very excited about a weekend getaway we were going to take to visit friends in Indiana. Unfortunately, our plans were put on hold early in the week, and I was disappointed. Much of my life these days is wrapped up in what I am looking forward to (and at that time I didn't know my parents are planning a visit in a couple of weeks—Yay!). So I had to come up with something else to look forward to. I succeeded! I succeeded in making so many plans we all finished the weekend exhausted. But I also succeeded in making lots of new memories.

Saturday — Painting Connor's Room!

We've been planning all along to paint the kids' rooms, and I even had the paint waiting in the basement. I don't want my dad ("the painter") to feel obligated to do it when he comes to visit, so I decided this was the perfect time. I (wisely) decided only to tackle one child's room this weekend, and Connor's required the least preparation (ie. the least amount of crap to haul out of it) before I could begin, so he won. We started the day with a trip to Home Depot for supplies, and then I got to work. Chris made lunch and offered emotional support, and practical support later in the day. My first attempt at painting a room on my own was very successful — and supremely exhausting!

My boy does love green!

Sunday — Patio Set

We tried an new church Sunday morning, a bit more of a drive from our place than the others have been. Neither of us felt like it was one that we could see ourselves attending regularly, but at least we've ruled it out and we can move on. However, on the way home I joked "Well, one good thing about attending that church would be that Costco is conveniently located on the way home!" Chris suggested that we stop in at Costco and see if they had a patio set we'd been looking for. No luck — but we still bought plenty of groceries. While I was making lunch I (not very seriously) suggested to Chris that he should go right out and get the patio set we had seen the day before at Home Depot. I stepped outside to put the burgers on the bbq, and when I came back in, he was gone. Twenty minutes later he was back with a brand new patio set — that we spent the afternoon putting together. Well, not all afternoon. I did get some time to sit in the comfy new chairs and read a book.

Monday — The Toronto Zoo

What better way to spend the holiday Monday than a trip to the zoo? Yes, that is exactly what the MILLION people who joined us at the zoo in 30C weather were thinking! We left about an hour behind schedule, drove two hours, and arrived in a 20 minute traffic jam at the parking lot. But by noon we had refueled with granola bars, plenty of water and sunblock and were ready to check out the animals. The restaurants were packed, so we waited a couple of hours to eat lunch. We didn't pressure ourselves to see the whole park. We knew that polar bears were high on the list of priorities, so we headed there first. Then we were off to see the African animals.

"Where do we go first?"

The polar bear exhibit — our unanimous favourite. Although Chris and I both felt sorry for the bears in that way too small pool!

I love the giraffes!

Amazing fish! So many kinds in one aquarium!

We got to the elephants just in time to hear the zoo keeper talk and watch one of the elephants do some exercises. Way cool!

Lazy lion enjoying a nap in the sun.

We ate lunch, walked as much as we could, and took the zoomobile around the park. Then Daddy did the 15 minute walk to the car, while the kids and I went to see the kangaroos and made a quick visit to the splash pad (fully clothed, but it felt wonderful!). At five o'clock, we were back in the car, the kids settled in with their DVDs, and ready for the long ride home.

By 7:00 I was cooking in my kitchen, counting the minutes until the kids would be tucked in bed, and I could climb into my jacuzzi.

I was completely spent after an extra-busy long weekend. But I had made lemons into lemonade!