Sleepy, Dopey and GRUMPY

What do you do when you're just plain GRUMPY?? No real reason at all, not hormones, not lack of sleep, nothing that seems apparent...just grumpy? Does that only happen to me? If it happens to you, what do you do? If you live with a significant other, how does it affect your relationship? How do you deal with it differently than you would if you were by yourself? Does your significant other understand your unexplainable grumpiness? These are the important life issues I am grappling with at 12:54am on a Saturday morning.

BeeBeeBeep!

The dehumidifier in the basement is full...it's beeping...it's driving me CRAZY. Awhile ago, the alarm from a watch (hidden somewhere, I couldn't find it) was also going off.....more continuous than the dehumidifier, and a slightly higher pitch. They actually harmonized quite well...but still drove me crazy. I guess I could always go and empty the dehumidifier. That would help. :P

AUGHGHGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In anticipation of our trip to Jamaica in February, I decided to listen to what my body has been telling me for a few months now: "You are not being nice to me." I haven't been moving, let alone exercising, and I haven't been eating...and when I do eat, it's not what my body needs. I don't avoid eating for weight reasons, I just get busy and forget. I don't often FEEL hungry, probably because my brain is too busy with other things...so usually what happens is by the time I realize I need to eat, I also feel like I should eat something healthy. And then I get overwhelmed and confused about WHAT to eat....so I put it off...and then it's either too late, or I'm too tired to bother. Thus begins the body's starvation mode where it will CLING to every little ounce of food it can get.

I went to my gym (Curves) and got weighed and measured. From past experience, I had an idea of where I thought I was and a backup idea of what the very WORST might be. Yah. I'm 10lbs OVER my worst case scenario, my body fat is UP 5% from where it was at my previous high weight. It's up 8% from my most "fit" point back about a year and a half ago. At first I was really defeated, but now I'm mad. Which is good. Cuz now I'm motivated.

So here's the plan:

EAT 6 small meals a day
EXERCISE by going to CURVES 5-6 times per week (varying levels of intensity), going for FAST, long walks with Cathy and some other stuff at home (dvds....I'm waiting for a new belly dancing one to come...that should be fun)
SLEEP my 8 hours a night and
DRINK my 8 glasses of water a day.

Sounds simple, hey? HA. I'm not sure how I'm going to stay motivated yet. Any ideas or advice?

Thanksgiving...a few weeks late.

I've had a peaceful morning.

After a SPLENDID night's sleep, I got up at about 9:45 after a very cheerful Aaron called me to ask me to make a few phonecalls for him and pick up a few things from the store. After that, I turned on the CD player and sat down here on the couch to see what I had missed on the forum and on Facebook overnight (not much. ha.). Our CD player is filled with recent Praise and Worship albums released by some of our favourites (Lincoln Brewster, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, The Newsboys). As I looked here and there on my computer, I found myself kind of sinking into the music and the warmth of the sun streaming into the big living room window. It's a little cool and windy out today, but from inside, the movement of the tree branches make flickering, dancing shadow designs on the living room. The wind chimes I got from "my" twins last year at school are making light, happy sounds just outside the window.

Listening to theses albums is one of the things that brings me the most peace, the most strength and the most energy, all at the same time. I can play them loud, I can play them softly. The effect is the same. I can play them as background music when we have people over, or as my company when I'm home by myself. The effect is the same. I may choose not to dance around like a crazy person when there are others here, but it still makes me dance inside. It's not the music itself that makes me dance (inside or out), it's all the thoughts of thanks, of praise, of joy that flood my mind as I listen and as my heart responds. It starts with singing the the words in my mind

{Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord}

{Indescribable, uncontainable, you placed the stars in the sky and YOU know them by name}

{You took and You take our sins away O God. You give and You gave Your life away for us}

{You make everything glorious and I am Yours. So what does that make me}

From there, my thoughts move to what this all means for ME. It means I am SAVED. I am SAFE.

{You lived You died. You said in three days You would rise. You did You're alive. You rule You reign. You said You're coming back again I know you will}

{I have a Maker He formed my heart. Before even time began my life was in His hands. He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and He hears me when I call}

{Tell me what kind of man would die for you and me. Tell me what kind of man would die to set us free}

{Your grace is enough Heaven reaching down to us God I see your grace is enough I'm covered in Your love Your grace is enough for me}

It means I have Someone on my side.

{You are the everlasting God. You do not faint You won't grow weary. You're the defender of the weak You comfort those in need You lift us up on wings like eagles}

{Lord You are good and Your mercy endures forever. You are good all the time All the time You are good}

{You are my rock The one I hold on to You are my song And I sing for You}

{If God is on our side who can be against us If God is on our side we won't be afraid Though the mountains may fall and the sky may crumble There ain't nothin' gonna stand in our way}

The next thoughts that invade my mind are thoughts of what HE has given me. A family that loves me...a family that I love. It seems that is almost a phenomenon. An AMAZING husband. A husband who lets God teach him, a husband who God uses to teach me. A husband that works hard at something he loves, who is self-sacrificing for me and for others. A husband who is GENIUS at home renovations...even if he makes it up sometimes...it works!! A husband who shares my passions, my goals, my loves. A great house to live in. Yah, renovations are a pain...but at the end of the day, I LOVE my house. Partly because it's cozy and homey and partly because I KNOW it's the house God gave us. Who can complain about that? I love to look out of my living room and bedroom windows. To feel the sun hitting my face through the living room window, watch the leaves dance in the wind, see the clouds travel across the sky. Looking out the bedroom windows to a nice big back yard. A patio where we can spend time together, or with friends. The memories that are already there and the memories that have yet to be made. The flower beds, the garden, the raspberry patch. Feeling the breeze and breathing the fresh air. My cat. Yes, if you are not a fan of cats (or pets in general), this is hard to fathom...but for some inexplicable reason, I find peace and comfort in watching her, playing with her, holding her. My friends. Every time I take a moment to think, I am OVERWHELMED with how God has provided and BLESSED us, to the point of overflowing, with GOOD friends. I could go on and on...but there are too many friends from too many places and too many seasons of life. I'd be here all day. But what DOES stick out is how He knew we were lonely in the last place we lived, and how He has brought so many people into our little town...and what He is now doing in all of our lives through each other. Music. I don't even know where to begin. To play, to sing (even though I won't be recording a solo album anytime soon) is such a deep expression of what I am inside. It can be praise music, it can be classical, almost anything, really...but it comes from so deep down and spills out to GOD.

{In You I find my peace In you I find my strength In you I live and move and breathe}

{God I praise Thee You amaze me}

{The heavens declare Your greatness The oceans cry out to You The mountains they bow down before You So I'll join with the earth and give my praise to You}

{Lord I love the way You bless me And how You look into my heart}

From there comes an overwhelming sense of praise coupled with a fierce determination to live each day and each moment on purpose to bring joy and glory to Jesus...in gratitude for Who He IS and what He has done...from the moment of creation until this very moment...and to hopefully, in some way have it be obvious, to radiate from the very core of me.

{I'm living my life for You I'm giving everything to You Not holding back But every part I'm giving it all to You}

{Name above all names Worthy of all praise Oh my heart will sing How great is our God}

{I want to live like there's no tomorrow I want to dance like no one's around I want to sing like nobody's listening Before I lay my body down I want to give like I have plenty I want to love like I'm not afraid I want to be the (wo)man I was meant to be I want to be the way I was made}

{I will serve the Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind and with all my strength I will love You Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind and with all my strength}

{Let everything I say and do be founded by my faith in You I lift up holy hands and sing Let the praises ring}

{God I praise Thee You amaze me Take my life and let Your light shine through Jesus Saviour Friend of sinners fill me up Cuz all I really want is more of You}

{What to say Lord It's You who gave me life and I can't explain Just how much You mean to me now That you have saved me Lord I give all that I am to You that Everyday I will be a light that shines Your name Every day Lord I learn to stand upon Your Word And I pray that I might come to know You more That You would guide me in every single step I take and and Everyday I will be a light unto the world Every day it's You I live for Everyday I'll follow after You Everyday I'll walk with You my Lord}

{I will love You And I will serve You And I will praise You}




{Thank You for the cross, my Friend}

It's Not a Deck, It's Not a Step. It Must Be a STECK!

Aaron has been a busy beaver during the past week....now that his cast is off, he's been itching to get something accomplished, I guess. So, he decided to tackle the front entrance of the house. As much as I want the basement DONE, I didn't mind the diversion because, well, as gross as it is, Suki DOES think we built her a giant litter box, and has been "using" the entire basement. Ew. It doesn't smell THAT bad, but definitely bad enough to be noticeable from the back entrance. And THAT is why I was more than happy to have an access to the front door built.

We had wanted to build a veranda all along the front of the house, but when Aaron went to get the permit, he found out that bylaws have recently changed. We basically were now only allowed to build steps up to the front door, due to the fact that our house is already quite close to the street. I was disappointed, but what can ya do?

Well, I'll tell you what we did..ha. Aaron asked "So, how big do you want the front step?" My answer was, "As big as it can be without being a deck." Since we really didn't know what that was, technically, we just went for it....And I'm REALLY happy with the result. The platform is the same square footage as the old platform AND staircase used to be, ending up about 6'x7'. Now we just hope and pray the bylaw officer doesn't come by and tell us we have to take it down or make it smaller...

Aaron did an AMAZING job putting it together. He had no plans, just did it from his head! He called a friend for help with the stringers for the stairs, but other than that, it was all him. Now we have a cozy little place to sit in the sun in the mornings, drink coffee, whatever...The rails are nice and high, and make it quite private, at least as much as can be expected for a front porch! Here's the before and after...

Before


After the demolition


The new "steck"


Obviously, we'll have some landscaping work to do in the spring. Having an entire basement floor's worth of concrete piled on it does not seem to have done our lawn any favours...and then there's the sinkage from the sprinkler hose being left on way back in July. SO, there will be more "after" pics to come...but for now, I have a steck!

Dear Blog,

I'm so very sorry for having neglected you these past two weeks. So many little things have been happening, but nothing that seems interesting enough to fill space with...and not very many pictures...Here goes....

On Labour day, lots of our friends came over and laboured greatly to help us haul the last of the concrete out of the basement. I have to be honest and say that I have not actually spent THAT much time hauling concrete, so I am EXTRA thankful for the people who have helped. Anyways, everyone stayed for some GOOD potluck supper afterwards, and a few people stayed even later, and we had a great chance to share the story of our spiritual journey the last few years, as well as to hear other people's stories....SO encouraging! It was a late night, and Aaron was off to school the next morning....

I've been working lots of hours at Reitman's, where I've worked part time since November of last year. One of the only reasons I've stayed on so long is that I LOVE my boss....she is one of the dearest, kindest, most giving person I know, and now she is sick...actually, she's been sick for awhile, but not taking care of herself. She finally decided to take a leave, so I've been working extra to try and help fill in hours. I do like the job, and don't find it stressful at all, so I don't mind the extra hours.....for now.

The football game is over, and it's time for Date Night (with my temporarily crippled husband)!!! I'll finish feeding you later, dear Blog....

The "Real" party

Check out the pictures AND video of Aaron's "Real" birthday party on Wednesday night here.

AND....bonus for this blog...here's a video of all of us girls doing the Macarena. It might be cheesy and corny, but it gets people moving!

Aaron's 30!

There was a "pre-Birthday" party here tonight, and the last guest left 6 minutes before midnight. Here are the pictures: (Is there any way to upload more than one picture at a time?)




Aaron's gift TO us was his stupendous rendition of "Business Time" by Flight of the Conchords...I'm thinking maybe it was a hint...for me...


Aaron in his last moments of his 20's


Aaron in his first moments of his 30's


Oops...how did that get in here??

Renovation Update (Bee-beep)

Aaron has been working hard (with the help of several amazing friends) to jackhammer and remove the concrete from the basement floor. He got a crew together on one of the days I was in Olds, and they got a LOT done. When he started jackhammering again today, I noticed that Suki was really restless, trying to find a place that was a bit quieter, and not vibrating, I imagine. I'm sure she was left to endure it last week, so I thought I would take her outside, where it was a bit quieter, today. It soon started to rain, and she started to howl, so I moved the round patio table onto the lawn to make an umbrella for her, put "her" towel underneath, and there she stayed.

After the all the hard work today (thank-you Ryan, Glen, Philip and Udo!),the end is in sight! Here's where we're at:

South-West side of the basement:

I got a large chunk of it all raked and cleared...Aaron still has a little jackhammering to do along the footings.



South-East side of the basement:

Lots of raking left to do in the middle, and the whole far end of the room is still the big pieces of broken up concrete...plus a couple feet of un-jackhammered concrete on the far wall.




North-West side of the basement:

Just a little raking left in here, level things out a bit.



North-West side of the basement:

Not much left to do here! Ryan cleared most of it for us today!




Here's the pile of concrete in the front lawn BEFORE we went on holidays (July 27):





Here's the pile of concrete as of 9:30 this evening:


And we ain't even finished yet! Having this part done will be one HUGE check mark on the giant list of things to do.

My favourite thing of the day

When Aaron's flip flops broke on our bike trip in BC (more on that story to come), he had to go get new ones. Sadly enough (ha), there was a "Buy One Get One Half Off" sale at the store where he found the ones he liked. I was poking around, waiting for him to make up his mind, and I found the BEST shoes EVER!!

SHOES WITH FROGS!!!



Our new shoes:

Living my life 5 things at a time...

I have been avoiding posting the last week or so mostly because I just feel too mentally exhausted and overwhelmed to muster up the energy it takes to think of something to write, or even just to write.

Tonight, I was browsing through my usual blogs, and came across Zaak's new idea (which came from Petra, which came from Adam)...So, I started a NEW blog here, where you can see my list of the Next 5 Things, and read about my courageous feats of goal completion (or just kick my butt if I'm not doing anything...).

Here I go!

Maybe....

...what bothers me the most about the prospect of not teaching is that I feel like it wouldn't really be my decision, in that the retardedness of other people is going to keep me from doing what I am passionate about. Yet another thing that I feel completely out of control over. My own career. Ridiculous.

I know I have control issues, but not in a "bad" way...in that I feel like I'm either a doormat or a ()itch. I'm a doormat until I finally have had enough, or the odd, strange time when I actually stick up for myself right away, and then it's ALWAYS (yes, a big word, but really, it's quite true) perceived that I'm being ()itchy, self-serving, controlling, etc., etc., etc....I feel like giving up.

Workin' 9-5.....

If you've known me for any time at all, you know all about my employment woes. A teacher by profession, I love kids. I love teaching them, I love playing with them, I love telling them stories, I love listening to their stories. What I DON'T like about teaching is the HUGE lack of support I have found from most of the administration and a very painful minority of parents. Strangely enough, for me, however, I am not going to spend this blog entry complaining about it, though. Really, what I'm trying to figure out is "Where do I go from here?"

I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and really, I have come to no conclusions. Here are some things I DO know, however.

1)I NEED to bring in an income.
2)I love teaching kids.
3)There are few to no teaching jobs available for me right now.
4)When I get into teaching jobs where I don't have supportive admin, it becomes VERY stressful, to the point of being mentally unhealthy for me.
5)I have my permanent teaching certificate
6)There are people all over the place making money doing random things.
7)I could make money doing something different.
8)I don't want to do anything that would be intricate and complicated, or involve a lot of investment or inventory
9)It's scary...not knowing if I'll get a teaching job, or even if I WILL teach. Either way.


Here are the questions:
1)Do I WANT to pursue something outside of teaching?
2)If I do pursue something outside of teaching, will I be stuck with it?
3)What would I do?
4)Is doing something I like even slightly less than teaching, but brings in a good income going to be satisfying for me?

So. Anyone have any suggestions for me? Answers to my questions? Simple business ideas?

Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy....

Well, we've been out and about for 10 days now...and we're headed in the direction of home. We parted ways with my parents at Halcyon Hot Springs (I had my deck chair firmly planted poolside, right underneath the "s" at the end of "Springs"...overlooking the lake and the mountains....gorgeous...) last night at about 6...and didn't make it very far towards home...we decided to find a campsite in Revelstoke so that we wouldn't have to set up our tent in the dark, and so that we could enjoy a bit of the evening...We stayed up quite late doing some reading and emailing (it's a "town" campsite...and they have WiFi!!!), but I was rudely awakened at 6am by very loud noises of machinery right next door. It's 8:45 now, and the noises seem to have stopped....it sounded like a rock quarry or something, and there were voices over loudspeakers, etc., etc., etc.....I was sure it was what Hell must be like. Aaron didn't seem to have a problem sleeping through it, but at 7:45, with a sore back and a splitting headache from all the noise, I finally got up and came to sit in the Jeep, which drowned out the sounds much more than the tent. An hour ago, I was ready to throw the tent into the back of the Jeep and head for home, but now that the noise has stopped, I might be tempted to crawl back into the tent and sleep for a while longer...

Tales of our adventures will be on their way soon...

Taking a break...

Well, we were back and forth on this, first we weren't, then we were, then we weren't again...then the day came, so we did.

We're taking a much needed renovation break to head to the Rockies for some camping, and possible to Kelowna to visit my grandparents! It will be good to get away. Unfortunately, it will all still be there when we get back, but we can pretend it's not there for a while...

Can my blog be googled?

Pandora's Box

In one of my first entries about our renovations, I mentioned hoping that I hadn't opened Pandora's Box. Consider it opened.

My parents were here all of last week, and Aaron's dad was up for a couple of days. It was decided that the front yard would have to be pulled back to fix the cracks in the foundation...which meant the front step would have to go.
Before:

After:


This was good news for Aaron, who has hated those steps since we first bought the house. The bad news is that, after jackhammering and hauling all that concrete to the dump, we found a different, and likely equally effective, way of dealing with the cracks from the INSIDE. So, now the front yard needs a little landscaping (remove those thirsty flower beds from the edge of the house, and we will be replacing the steps with a narrow veranda that will run nearly the entire length of the house...CUTE!!)

Back to the inside...ok, so the walls will get the special crack-fill procedure, and will get inside weeping tile, including a drainage trench around the outside edge of the floor...ah, yes, the floor...

We called in a concrete guy to look at things, and he gave us two options (which we had already figured out ourselves, since we're so smart).

Option 1: Pour a new layer of concrete over the existing floor to even everything out. Now the pros of this would be that there would be little to no prep work required. The cons would be that any structural problems under the existing floor would probably continue, and eventually, even quickly compromise the quality of the new pour. Also, we would lose even more head room in the basement, which is not really an option, considering Aaron's height.

Option 2: Remove the existing concrete, prep the "dirt" underneath, install new re bar, and re pour the entire floor. Pros: A new, properly installed floor that we wouldn't have to worry about. It wouldn't cost much more than the new layer, as concrete needs to be a certain thickness for the necessary strength, anyways. We would stand to GAIN headroom in the basement, as the floor would now be even. The cons: Jackhammering and hauling out 6-7 cubic yards of concrete. Doing the prep work and re bar installation.

Well, following our "Might as well" mantra, and Mike Holmes' advice to "Make it right," we are going with option 2. After considering many, many, MANY options regarding the jackhammering, the removing of the concrete from the basement up to the yard, and how to get the concrete from the yard to the dump, here's what we came up with:

1. Aaron bought a jackhammer. Yes, he did. It was used and cost about the same as renting one for 6 days. We can sell it to the Home Hardware here in town when we're done with it, and they will use it as a rental.

2. Hauling concrete up a flight of stairs SUCKS. This was the most disheartening part of the whole process. It just seemed to be taking forever, and as of yesterday morning, we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would have to pay some students (which a., costs a lot of money...any labour is not cheap in Alberta right now and b., is not the best option as students tend not to be as motivated as SOME adults to get the job done). BUT help arrived. Yesterday afternoon, our friend Philip came over and after supper, he and Aaron hauled some serious butt, and got the 1/4 of the basement that had been jackhammered CLEARED of concrete in just over 1 1/2 hours. THANK YOU, PHILIP, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!! I honestly don't think words can say how much it helped to have that part of the job done, and to have the renewed confidence that this is DOABLE.

3. Once the concrete is out of the basement, we'll get a landscaping company to bring a Bobcat and a dump truck to load it up and take it to the dump. We thought about buying a truck temporarily, but I think hiring someone is the better option here.

I know you've all been DYING to see pictures...haha...so here are a few.

The concrete at the top of the picture was about 4" thick. The concrete at the bottom of the picture, where there was a BIG hump in the floor, was about 1/2" thick.



Aaron's new toy... :S



A BIG piece of concrete coming out...



...and the hole it left.



Aaron hauling the first 2 pieces of concrete...the first of MANY.



The first section (about 1/4 of the basement) is DONE...except a little work around the edges.


The pile of concrete that came out of that space


I think Suki thinks we've just built her a giant litter box!

Mystery Solved

Well, Annie got most of it...sort of. There was another cat in the house.

At 4:50am, we were awakened by the sound of cats fighting. This is a common occurrence in the neighbourhood, and though I KNOW Suki is in the house, I always get up and check just in case. So, as I heard the sound, I sat up and looked down the hallway to see two black blurs run out of the bedroom at the other end of the hallway, and through the kitchen. There was a big crash, and still a lot of howling and hissing. We heard them thundering downstairs as we tried to get ourselves awake enough to chase them. When we finally made it into the kitchen, the howling had stopped and Suki was just coming up the stairs, wide-eyed, and with a tail about 6" in diameter. We ran downstairs to find that Aaron had left a window open when he was jack hammering the floor last night, a window that had the screen removed from when we were passing demo debris through it last week. The cat must have wandered in, came upstairs, and found Suki looking out the window in the spare room. Suki, obviously, saw it, and took off after it. The other cat must have tried to make a tight turn at the fridge, not realizing there were open shelves on the other side, and gone right through, knocking all of the contents on to the floor. I'm assuming the it must have found super-kitty powers to make the leap from the floor up to the window it had entered through. Suki is a short haired tabby (very distinct hair...I can always tell when it's her fur on me), but we only found long gray and white hair in the house.

Yay for Suki the Attack Cat!!!

A very anticlimactic ending.....she usually wakes us up at 5 to be fed, anyways, so we fed her, had a bran muffin and a glass of milk each, then went back to bed until about 9.

A Midnight Mystery

Ok, we know what happened, we were there....but can YOU figure it out?

The crime scene:


The evidence:

Why isn't everyone like Mike Holmes?

Most Canadians know who Mike Holmes is. His website is here. If you are American, your only exposure to him might be on the Ellen Degeneres Show. (Upon further investigation, I understand that you can find his show on the Discovery Channel).

As we move through the demolition process in our basement, we keep finding more and more monkey work that has been done over the years. Today, we discovered 2 leaks in the foundation along one wall. Mike Holmes is a guy who goes in to the homes of people who have been victims of shoddy contractor work, or even had money taken from them, and then had the contractor run off with it, leaving them in an unfinished mess. I understand that this is not an uncommon occurrence. What seems to be uncommon is people like Mike Holmes who "Make It Right," the first time. Or maybe we just don't hear about them enough.

The latest update on the basement is that, upon returning from Aaron's sister's wedding, I set the sprinkler hose on my front flower bed, which was looking kind of wilted. I went to bed shortly after, and asked Aaron to turn it off when he came inside. Well, long story short, he forgot. The water ran on the flower bed, which is right along the south side of the house, all night. It caused some big-time settling in the flower bed and edge of the lawn, probably up to 6". The water seeping into the ground found its way into our basement via 2 large cracks. I don't know how long it had been coming into the basement when I found it this morning, but it took quite a while for both cracks to stop seeping water. We don't really know where to go from here, Aaron is just trying to finish getting all the debris out of the basement (he called Hire-a-Student today and 2 kids came over about an hour ago)so that we can assess a bit better. My parents are also on their way up. They were expecting to help frame and drywall, but I guess that won't be happening now.

MIKE HOLMES, HELP ME!!!!!

(Our desktop computer is put away to make room for other furniture from the basement...I can't upload pictures onto this computer. I'll get them on as soon as I can)

Renos - Day 3

No pictures tonight. Long story short: there is much destruction. We've taken about 6 pick-up truck loads to the dump. 2 full rooms yet to wreck, and 2 that still have a little work left to be done. Sorry, not a very interesting post to read, but I've been going full steam for about 14 hours now, and I am TIRED. More tomorrow...or soon... :)

Bee-beep...bee-beep...We Interrupt your regularly scheduled blogging for this very important Renovation Update ...Bee-Beep...Bee-Beep

Here's what it looked like this morning:


Here's what it looked like under our gross carpet:

(You have no idea how much humility it took to post that)

Here's what things looked like at the end of today:


Someone tell me I haven't opened Pandora's box....please? ;)

My favoUrite thing of today (Canadian spelling, thank you very much)

After a celebratory root beer float (marking the financial beginnings of our renovations), we decided to peruse the Saan store in town. If you don't know what Saan is, it's your basic, slightly up the ladder from bargain, carries most things you need, except groceries, store. I happened upon a Loonie Bin (no, not a crazy person...a bin full of things for a Loonie...$1...). There were 2 different kinds of pet brushes in the bin, and seeing as the one that Aaron just bought for Suki takes her skin off, as well as the hair (not his fault, he didn't know!), I thought I'd give these 2 bargains a test run. The first one was like a little rubber pad with little rubber fingers. There was a strap to slide your hand into while brushing the pet. The second was your standard, 2 sided brush...metal bristles with plastic caps on one side, and a regular bristle brush on the other side. So, after spending a grand total of $2.10, we went home and I immediately enticed my victim by cruelly shaking her bag of treats (I'm mean...it's ok).

I tried the purple rubber one first. Awesome. In fact, I only gave the other brush a courtesy test run...Now, I have to admit that the little rubber fingers don't trap the hair so well, so I can't do it in a room with a fan running, but it got a TON of hair out of her, and it didn't hurt her. I'm actually almost surprised she has any fur left!

So here it is, folks. My favourite thing of the day:

And here I thought I'd have nothing to blog about.

I hope you like reading about renovations, cuz I think that's what will be consuming my life for the next little while. Even as I'm typing, the floor is shaking from whatever Aaron is ripping apart downstairs.

We went to the bank and got the money (borrowed) to do what we need to do. Here we go!

Renovations, anyone?

Over the past two years, Aaron and I have become infamous for our last minute renovation projects. There was the bathroom re-caulking project that turned into a full blown bathtub renovation....twice. Then there was the kitchen reno, which started when Aaron began ripping out the cabinets while I still had things on the counters and in some of the drawers.

The latest project started this evening when we were moving furniture. This past week, an opportunity to rent our basement suite arose, and because the timing seemed good, we decided to take it. The above picture was taken 2 years ago, before we bought the house. There were only a few things to be done to prepare: put up a door to separate the suite from the rest of the house, remove personal items from the rooms and clean up a bit. At least that's what we thought.

While moving a shelf, the corner of it caught on a corner of the carpet (a remnant the last owners put down over the original lino tiles)and pulled it back. To our shock and horror, we saw that the underside of the corner of the rug was completely BLACK and soaked. MOLD.

So, needless to say, we find ourselves in the throes of yet another renovation. Now come all the decisions. How much of the basement do we renovate? Do we just do the rooms in the suite, or do we do the 2 other rooms that are not part of it as well? Do we rip up and renovate the suite bathroom while we're at it (it does need to be done)? And, of course, the kicker...how do we pay for all of this. It makes me happy to know that things will be new, clean, fresh...but the thought of the work and the money just makes me crazy.


This picture was taken about 20 minutes after we started the "demo"

You are getting sleeeeppppyyyyyy....

Do you every get to that point of sleepiness when you really can't stay awake any longer , but somehow you still don't go to sleep? That's where I am right now. I've typed this whoe thing with my etes closed. Did I make any mistakes?

Maybe it would be a good idea to go to bed.

Heat Wave!

I LOVE hot weather. Love it, love it, love it. During these last couple of very hot days, I've noticed something. People are never happy with the weather...especially in Alberta. All winter long, they complain about the cold and the snow (DUH, you live in the Canadian prairies...what did you expect??), and then spend the summer complaining about either a)too much rain/too many cloudy days, or b)too hot. Screw the weather man, I say! Whatever the weather is, ENJOY the day. Even if you have to enjoy it from inside. When you stop and think about it, the weather could usually be worse in some way on any given day.

Even as we speak, I'm plotting a way to get in some outside time between the ceremony and reception of the wedding we're going to tomorrow. It's supposed to be in the high 20's, low 30's all through the next week (that's high 70's-low 90's for the non-metric people out there), "feeling like" (I don't know what that means...but the weather network says it...) into the mid to high 30's (high 90's). That doesn't bother me one bit! I can't wait! I was stuck inside working today and yesterday, and I don't want to miss out on the hot weather while it lasts! And the best part is that there is not much for wind. Wind. I dislike wind. How ironic. A few sentences ago, I'm saying people shouldn't complain about weather. Now here I am, complaining about weather. HA!

I do feel very sorry for Suki, however. Poor kitty. She's so hot. She just lays around the house on the floor, wherever we are. Unfortunately for her, we're not in the cool basement very much, so she just lays there stretched out on the floor in the living room or kitchen, half asleep, kind of lifting her head and looking at us now and then to make sure we're still there...


I can't wait for the sunshine tomorrow!

Trashing your dressing room

I work in a clothing store as one of my part time jobs. I really like it. I love my boss, the people I work with...actually, there's very little I DON'T like about working there...BUT...it drives me CRAZY when people take clothing (1 piece or 20 pieces, it doesn't matter) into the change room, and then leave it in piles on the floor, or slung/crumpled over the walls and doors when they leave. It's never the people you'd expect it from, either. For some reason, it seems that some of the most well-put-together people, style-wise, can be the biggest culprits of all.

Even though I know that part of my job is to clean up after people in the dressing rooms, and I expect to straighten things up a bit before putting them back on the racks, I just feel a little bit disrespected when things are left in a big heap.

Is it me? Is it because I work in a clothing store that I am always careful to leave the change-room relatively neat when I leave? I don't really think so...I've been conscious of this since I was young. Maybe I'm just a neat freak. Nope. Just ask Aaron. So is it just a general lack of consideration for others? I dunno. I give up...I guess I'll just keep cleaning up.

Here I go again...

After being bullied and badgered (ok, mostly just harassed) and being completely UNsuccessful in finding my password information for my old ("dead," as Reese refers to it) blog, I'm STARTING again. Maybe Jim's furious rate of bloggage will inspire me to keep up with things this time, or maybe my fascination (ok, ok...it's an addiction...I'll admit it...) with Facebook will inspire me to keep more on top of things. Whatever.

Here I go again...