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!