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...