Summer Fun

We are back from our second vacation of the summer and have no plans to go anywhere for a long time. The past few weeks have been busy and we are all glad to be aback in our own beds with nothing on the agenda.

It was considerably colder on the Oregon Coast this year than the past two years. And foggier. We still had a great time.  We did the usual - boogie boarding, climbing Cape Kiwanda, crabbing, exploring, etc.  

We also celebrated Carson's 10th birthday while we were in Oregon. I cannot believe my baby is 10! 

Here are some photos from our trip:

 

 

Home today after being away for 12 days.  That is just too damn long.  The kids and I left for Toronto (pronounced Torono btw) on the 17th and we arrived in the middle of a heat wave.  And it wasn't just hot but it was hot and HUMID.  Close to 100F and HUMID.  So gross!  We stayed in my mom's apartment the first three nights and she only has a window air conditioner.   Stephen took the red eye in and arrived on the 20th at 7:30am and we later checked into a hotel for 8 nights.  The trip was a visit and we told the kids to be prepared to be bored and they were.  We spent way too much time sitting in grandparents' living rooms chatting.  But, the grandparents were happy and we can check the obligatory trip to "home" off of our TO DO list.

Now to prepare for our "real" summer vacation.  :)

Gas-less kitchen

So we had another plumber come and give us an estimate for the gas and the price was right about the same as the first guy.  Perhaps a little less - he said it would depend on actual work hours.  I know that we could afford to pay that price but I did not want to.  Plus, we would have a gas line wrapping all around the house from the side of the garage, around the back and then down beside the kitchen before it went into the crawlspace and through the kitchen and continuing into the living room (for future gas fireplace).  Even if we painted the pipe (which we would have to because it would be a black iron pipe!), it would still look ugly wrapped around the house like that. 

However, our current cooktop is crappy as only two burners can heat anything in a timely fashion.  So we are going with an induction cooktop and new downdraft filter.  This will mean all new cookware except for my enamel cast iron Dutch oven and our cast iron skillet since the rest of our cookware is not magnetic so won't work with the induction cooktop.  The new cookware will be far less than the plumbing for gas too. ;)

I have hired the second plumber to come out and replace my hoses on my washer and install a lever shut-off.  It is something that I have always wanted to do and while he was here, he mentioned that the washer hoses should be replaced.  I actually know about 5 people who have had their washer hoses explode on them and flood their houses so I think will be a good thing.

The Final Final Reveal

So here is the bathroom with the glass shower doors installed.  I love it!  The room is so much brighter without the metal frame shower doors cutting off the light from the window.  And so far the boys have kept it mostly tidy.  Hurray!

Darn, I think my hopes and plans for a gas cooktop and gas fireplace insert have been dashed.  I had a plumber here today to give me an estimate to run the gas line and it turn$ out that it will be quite pricey.  Our house is a side split and the side of the house where the ga$ comes in is on a concrete slab.  The gas line would need to run around the outside of 1/2 of the house before it could go into the crawlspace and then across the crawlspace and up into the kitchen and living rooms.  I had priced it out in my head based on rough ideas from the fireplace places that I had visited and was e$timating $1200.  It turns out that it will be more than DOUBLE that.  Egads!  I do not want a gas fireplace that badly.  I mean I really do want one and a new gas cooktop but that adds so much more to the cost of the project.

And we are STILL awaiting the glass shower doors to be installed.  Tomorrow, hopefully.  The installed showed up last week and the glass panel was the wrong size - off my about 1/2 inch!  He had measured it and then someone typed in the measurement wrong when they sent in the order to the manufacturer.  So frustrating! 

Anyway, I will post the final photo once it is in.

Never Ending Indeed!

The glass company came to install the shower doors today BUT the fixed panel was made to the wrong specification.  Well, it was made to the correct specification but somehow the notes made by the measurer were input into the system incorrectly and voila!  A panel that was too narrow by almost 1/2".  It will take another 4 business days or so to fabricate a new one so with the holiday we have an estimated installation date of next Wednesday. I am not holding my breath.

Back to an ordinary day

Today it is hot!  DH and I spent the morning cleaning out the garage, cutting up the pallets that the bathroom furniture came on and loading up the back of the SUV with junk for the dump (transfer station actually).  We put away the leftover tile and grout and threw out a lot of broken toys (mostly lightsabers and Nerf shooters).  Stephen can now park his car back in the garage for the first time in 5 weeks.  And the garage is tidy and clean for our party on the 4th.

In the garage we have a stash of booze - Mike's Hard Lemonade, beer, champagne, etc. I was thinking with the kids the ages that they are now, I should think twice about keeping it readily in view.  And not just for my kids but for their friends who pop buy.  How easy would it be to slip a bottle into their jacket pockets when they walked by the wall of beverages (pop and water bottles are there too).  I don't think my kids are bad kids of course but they are teenagers and I remember drinking beer that my friends had taken from their parents.  My parents rarely drank anything other than wine and gin so we only ever had 1 bottle of gin and my mom knew exactly how much there was so there was never any sneaking anything out of it!

And along with kids growing up, my oldest just got his learner's permit and started driver's education this past week.  He has not actually been behind the wheel of  a car yet.  I am nervous!  He is nervous!  My children are growing up and I cannot believe it is happening so fast.

I saw a link to this on facebook today and I had a good little cry as I watched it:

Day 24

Well, lots of pain but lots of gain!  The bathrooms were virtually finished today.  We are awaiting the shower doors for the upstairs bathroom.  But here goes...

Downstairs bathroom

Downstairs bathroom with teak-coloured vanity and cabinet

Downstairs bathroom with teak-coloured vanity and cabinet

Downstairs bathroom mirrored medicine cabinet and light fixture

Upstairs bathroom - mirrored cabinet and light fixture

Upstairs bathroom - espresso floating vanity with acrylic countertop with integrated sink

Upstairs bath - shower doors to be installed NEXT week

Upstairs bath with Benjamin Moore Castlegate on the walls (which I thought for sure was going to be too dark but it isn't)

Upstairs bath - mirrored medicine cabinet and light fixture

Upstairs bath - we replaced the hinges and level handles on the doors - they were brass but are not satin nickel.  In process of changing out whole house now

And finally a black door (not burgundy or dark blue!)

Day 20 - The Reveal...NOT!

So, like you, I was expecting the bathrooms to be done today.  However, they are not.  Mostly there (besides the shower doors which we knew would not be here until next week).  The guys came and they did not have the right drill bit today to drill through the porcelain tile although they have known for MONTHS that they need to drill through the tile and the drill bit has been an "issue" for at least 2 weeks when they kept pointing fingers at each other to say "he should drill the holes" and "No, *he* not he should drill" etc because I gather the drill bit is expensive and no one wants to buy it.  I had told our designer I would buy the friggin thing if it meant the bathroom would get done on time.  She assured me it would get worked out and here we are, not worked out. 

I am mad and disappointed.  I want the boxes gone. I want the pallets gone. I want to try to scrub the ground in grime on my carpet (don't get me started there - so much for carpet mask).  I want my house back and I want to be able to enjoy my beautiful bathrooms!  Wah!

Day 18 (bathrooms not done yet and it is the last day of school!)

No bathroom action.  Nothing until Friday which will be Day 20.

Today was the last day of school for my boys.  Bittersweet.  Jax finished his first year of high school.  Just 3 more years and then he is off to college. I am trying not to think about that too much.  I think because I lived at home while I went to college (and after!) that I find it really hard to imagine that he will be gone then and may never be back to live here.  :'(

Dex really enjoyed 7th grade in middle school this year and he met a lot of new friends.  It was a great year for him to go directly into the middle grade of middle school with the school district's changes from jr. high to middle school.  One more year and then he too will be in high school.

Report cards for those two will be coming in the mail soon.

Cars, oh what can I say about him.  Finished grade 4 and I would love to say with flying colours but I cannot. His grades were more than fair - he actually did quite well in a few subjects.  Below standard in geometry and measurements in math but the test for that was when we were away at his hockey tournament in Richmond BC so he did miss two full day so instruction and review.  I hope that is all it was.  The biggest ding on his report card were under the life skills section.  He got "approaching standard" in almost all of them.  This was the teacher's comments on his report card this term:

I have truly enjoyed sharing this year with Cars.  I love his ability to find humor in life, and the joy he carries with him each day.  He continues to work on the fine line between humor and disrespect, and appropriate vs not appropriate behavior at school.  Cars is very bright, yet likes to do the minimum required.  This can tend to give him too much time to fill with socializing which distracts others during work time.  In his writing Cars learned the pattern for expository almost too well, and repeat the exact phrase from the sentence before when he supports his reason, detail and fact.  Reading remained somewhat inconsistent for Cars.  He never found a book that really excited him, and I hope he can find that soon,  He worked hard in math on the new concepts we learned.  He was successful for the most party though did struggle with units of measurement and area and perimeter.  He was a good leader in his Oregon Trail Sim group, and during this time really made an effort to move away from distractions and focus on his work.  he did an amazing job on this Pacific Northwest Native American carving research and PowerPoint presentation.  He was proud of what he did, and completely focused on learning as much as possible about his topic.  This focus and effort will be helpful to embrace in all learning.  It would be wise this summer to practice writing (especially expository), go on IXL (our online math program) and practice math concepts, and continue to read and discuss books for a great start to 5th grade next year.

*sigh*

I did email the teacher after reading the report card and told her that it was disappointing to see all of those 2s in his life skills and that hopefully maturity will come quickly for him.  She was quick to respond to me that he is "so delightful and smart" and that he just struggles with thinking before he acts and speaks sometimes.  And that he does respond well to her "teacher eye" and redirection.

While my other two kids also struggled with the inappropriate humor (more so when rather than actual inappropriate humor) but not to this extent.  Let's hope that 5th grade brings some changes for him.  And to be fair, with an August birthday he is the second youngest in his class.  But maybe by this age it should have sorted itself all out. 

Day 17 (and Day 16)

Faucet and new light in upstairs bathroom. 

 

Nothing happened yesterday. Well that is not entirely true. I spent over 2 hours scrubbing pencil marks off my tile. Gabby tile guy wrote on the tiles when measured before he cut but because the tile is slightly textured, it would not easily clean off. Aargh!

Plumber had to cancel yesterday but came today while I was at my woodcarving class. He installed the final sink faucet then looked at our gas plumbing (looking ahead at next project). 

The electrician came tidy too and the light fixture I bought for downstairs would not work so our designer ran to Home Depot and bought a new one. It looks really nice. I hope I can find my receipt for the other one!

Cabinet guy was supposed to come tomorrow but he has a job that is taking longer. I am not available on Thursday so he will come out Friday morning. 

This project will never end!

New lighting fixture in downstairs bathroom

Day 15

Hurray!  The boys showered in the downstairs bath today!  Took some pressure off my small bathroom.

I also packed up all of our towels that are not white to be donated.  Well, I guess not all towels that are not white as I kept 5 beach towels and the boys colour-coded bath towels (J is Green, D is orange and C is blue).  I need to figure out where they will hang their towels because I will not put the large towel hook rack but up but just a single towel bar.

And today was Father's Day and we just had a very low-key day.  Stephen slept late then went to get a hair cut.  I worked in the garden.  Cars played outside, Dex puttered about and finished up a project for Gen Tech (wood shop) while Jax studied for final exams.  He just informed me that he gets out at 10:30 tomorrow!

This is the last week of school.  I have to get my act together for Cars' class party on Tuesday.  We are just having rootbeer floats and will play a couple of minute to win it games and have the kids sign year books or memory books.

I am really glad that this year is over.  It was exhausting for me mostly because of after school activities and so much driving around or arranging for pickups.  Having three kids at three different schools was a bit of a challenge, even though the schools are so close!

Ok, let's just get through this week and we are golden!  Then it will be time to plan summer activities!  Yikes!

Day 14

Nothing happening today.  We have no one coming or going this weekend at all which is nice.  We all slept in and lazed about the house for a while this morning which was very nice.

I cleaned the two bathrooms and there are a few small issues that I have to bring up to our designer. 

• There some markings on the wall upstairs that the tile guy made to remind himself of where to cut the tile.  I scrubbed but cannot get them off
• Some grout remaining on the accent tile that I cannot get off
• The bathtub stopped leaks and the tub drains.  Not too fast but enough to notice and it would suck to take a bath in there
• Downstairs there are some black marks on the light taupe tile that I could not get off while scrubbing
• Writing on one floor tile that does not come off (says FLOOR so I think the tile guy just wrote himself a note about which tile was floor and which was wall tile)

And of course the chip in the brand new tub that will cost $300 to repair.  Looks like gabby tile guy (no consistent name for him here) dropped a tile on the tub and there is a gouge in the acrylic.  It is in a "good" stop for being able to try to hide it but I friggin' spent hundreds of dollars on the tub and several hundred dollars more to have it installed and there is a gouge in it.  Aargh!  We held back $300 of the fee for the tile guy to pay for it.  My designer thinks it will be about $250.  I told her it had better not come in at $300 plus TAX because then I would be out $30 for taxes and I will be very angry about it.

No action tomorrow either but on Monday the plumber $hould arrive to in$tall the faucet and drain in the up$tair$ bathroom.  Tuesday the electrician is coming to finish up that work.  Wednesday are the guys to install the medicine cabinets, storage cabinet, towel bars, tp holders, etc.  Friday is the tub repair guy and the following week is the frameless shower door for upstairs (curtain rod for down!).  I will be so happy to be done!

Edited to add photos of gouge in tub:

 

 

 

Close up of gouge.  You can tell it was hit with the corner of something hard.  Like a porcelain wall tile!

It is hard to see it because of the shadows (we only have the heat lamp for lighting in there right now) but the gouge is along the little lip in the tub, just down from the edge of the tub.  It is a good location in terms of it will be hard to see once the glass shower doors are on (hard to see from outside of the tub).

 

Day 13

The painters were back today and finished up the bathrooms. I also hired them to paint my front door black but there was a problem. 

The door is BLUE!!  A charcoal-blue.  The paint store screwed up the formula.  And the painters have no time to come back to fix it for about 2 weeks!  Thankfully the blue is not too blue.  But aargh!  Always something!

 

No action this weekend (we need the rest). Then the plumber returns on Monday to put in the final faucet.  Electrician on Tuesday and carpenter guys on Wednesday to put up the cabinets and towel bars, tp holders, etc. 

 

The bathrooms need a good scrubbing too.  Designer suggested we hire a cleaner but I will keep my money and clean it myself.  After the restful weekend.  ;)

Day 12

We have paint!

Upstairs:  Benjamin Moore Castlegate

 

Downstairs:  Benjamin Moore Smoky Taupe

 

Day 11

The countertop with integrated sink went on the vanity in the upstairs bath today. I am wondering what is going to happen to the chipped one in my garage. Maybe no one will claim it and I can sell it to recoup some of the plumbers' cost!  Yikes!

The drywall guy came too and the walls and ceiling repairs are all textured to match. Painters come at 7:30 am!  We are in the home stretch!

Upstairs vanity with countertop installed. 

Day 10

No new photos as there was not a lot of action done today.  Some tiles had to be taken out and refitted because they had slipped in the thin set (mostly the glass tile in the backsplash downstairs).  Also, the replacement vanity/sink arrived and I freaked out because the box was damaged and attached was a HUGE PINK NOTICE that said that the shipper was not responsible for any damage.  I made the delivery guy sit and wait while I opened the box and checked over very slowly and carefully.  I figured this was fair since was (once again) 1.5 hours late past the delivery window of 11am-3pm (it was the same late delivery truck driver as two weeks ago!).  Anyway, it all looked fine as far as I could tell.

So tomorrow morning the tile that was fixed will get regrouted.  The sink will be installed upstairs.  The drywall guy will come in the evening to texture all of the places that need texturing.  Hopefully the painters will come by to give us a bid.

After the painting is done (hopefully by Tuesday), the guys will come and install the medicine cabinets, the storage cabinet, the towel bars, toilet roll holders.  Another week after that the glass shower doors will be installed upstairs  (we'll just use a tension rod with a shower curtain in the meantime).

And now it is on to plan for the next project.  Gas cooktop and gas fireplace.  I think the cooktop will happen first although I have been talking about the gas fireplace for ages.  We'll have the gas lines plumbed for both at the same time though.

Ok, more pictures tomorrow!

Day 9

We have progress!  We have toilets!  Showers/tub too but the tile is not yet sealed so we have to wait a couple if days to use them. No sink in the upstairs bath yet. The replacement will arrive tomorrow and be installed on Wednesday.

Upstairs bathroom with no sink/countertop

Downstairs vanity/sink.  Drawers are very difficult to reinstall (they had to be removed to hook up plumbing).  A couple of the glass tiles slipped while they were setting so they have to be removed and reset.  Then grouted.

Downstairs shower and look!  A toilet!  Still thinking about that paint colour on the wall...

Day 8

Slow tiler came back in the morning. We chatted for a moment and then I ignored him. I know he was trying to make eye contact whenever he came downstairs but I was having none of that. Then I took Cars out to the club for a swim so I did not have to hear about how slow tiler was missing his son's last soccer game (he had mentioned to me several times on Saturday that he was missing time with *his* family to tile my place. (Emphasis his!). Whatever!  Don't take the job next time.

Anyway, the tile looks really beautiful though. 

I am looking forward to this being done so I can be less crabby!  ;)  I am really not a crabby person so when I get this was it makes me crabbier because I feel crappy about myself. Carb loading!

Day 7

Problems...

A broken floor tile left us short a tile in the upstairs bathroom. So we decided to tile the closet with the wall tile rather than the floor tile. No one will notice unless they are rooting around in the closet and move the Costco sizes toilet paper packages. Otherwise we would not have the replacement time until Monday sometime. Too late!

Slow tile guy finished the floor that and then buggered off for 3 hours. I was out and he told Stephen he'd be back in an hour and 2 hours later I was calling our designer to track him down.  He showed up another hour later.   Needless to say the tile did not get grouted. Then he said he would be back sometime tomorrow after his son's 1pm soccer game. I think not!  If the game was at 1pm he would show up at 3 or 4pm and he said he had 3 hours of grouting to do which means he would be here until like 10pm (remember he is so slow!).

I pitched a fit with our designer and said he would either be here tomorrow morning and be done by mid-afternoon or he can come Monday afternoon and she can reschedule the plumbers, the carpenters, the drywall guy and the painters.  At this point I don't care how quickly it gets done. I just do not need people in my house for 12+ hours a day who are not accomplishing their tasks.

Needless to say, she scrambled and called the other tile guy who will come at 8am tomorrow.  We will see what happens in the A.M.  

But, the tile looks so beautiful. 

Downstairs bathroom

Upstairs bathroom (not grouted!) Grrr!

Mismatched tile in the closet.  It is back far enough past the doorjam that it will be ok, right?

Day 6

Someone needs to take chatty tile guy's cellphone away from him. 

He promised that he would start

Laying the floor by noon or 1pm. He started after 5pm!  We are so behind!!

Downstairs bath is on schedule. This tile guy works with noise canceling headphones and works quick!

Day 5

Upstairs bathroom. No floor laid yet. 

Downstairs bath. Floor is laid and grouted. 

Remodeling is a huge PITA. Downstairs bath is coming along. Upstairs is behind schedule. No point stressing as it is what it is.

Day 4

No problems today - just a lot of work. Two tile guys came in and one was able to get the floor of the downstairs bathroom laid (he had mostly prepped the day before). Drywall guy came back this evening and will come back on Friday to finish the job. Things are starting to take shape. 

Upstairs bathroom

 

Downstairs bathroom - drywall repair on ceiling

Downstairs bathroom - tile floor has been laid

Day 3

Where do I begin?  The carpenters came to install the floating vanity but here were ever so many problems. First, while we ordered a 48" vanity to replace the old 48" vanity they are not equal. This new one has drawers that are flush with the very sides of the vanity whereas the old ones drawers were inset a bit towards the middle. So, that allowed for those old drawers to open without hitting the door jam!!  Also, where this vanity has special cleats on which to mount the vanity on the wall, the carpenter said there was no way he would mount them right into drywall and the while thing needed to be mounted into the studs for support. Makes sense but that means the vanity has to be offset an inch that will leave an inch gap between the vanity and the wall. Not the look I was wanting.

Then we looked at the vanity top with integrated sink and noticed there was a big chip out of the corner of the top. It is supposed to be installed today I shouted in my head!  So, the designer got on the phone and  by the afternoon we had confirmation that they were sending a new vanity too that should arrive on Monday!  Aargh!

Then, because of course there's more,  the tubs would not fit. Fortunately, I was not home when they realized this as I am sure I would have stroked out. And our designed [who is fabulous] worked with the plumbers to get it in, which meant  cutting some of the framing. Now because of this issue, the general contractor guy had to come in and repair the cut framing. Of course he is not very happy about this because he was expected to come in and start tiling.  In fact, he was supposed to start early at 7:30am but because of the plumbing issues,  he didn't get around starting until 3pm. 

So, we are a couple of days behind Schedule but hoping to make up that time on the weekend. How will I survive?

Bathroom remodel day 2

Technically this is the third day since the bathrooms were ripped out 2 days ago but there was no action yesterday.

Today we have major drywall ripping out which was not expected so a drywall expert is coming TONIGHT so we can get back in track tomorrow. Plumbers have been here for 4.5 hour$ so far and the tubs still are not in place which they need to be before the carpenter comes in to install the cabinets. And until the upstairs bath cabinet is in, the tile guy cannot start. I wonder when we will really be done.

One good thing about the plumber being here is that he noticed a problem on our hot water tank and he will fix it before he goes.  Some copper line droops down rather than go straight across and it should have been caught when the house was inspected.  :\

Bathroom Remodel

Today was day 1 of the bathroom renovations. Kids complained bitterly that they could not sleep in. Contractor showed up and tore the two bathrooms apart. Good news is that there were no surprises (ie mould or termites. Don't ask me why I was imagining that there would be. I guess because I am a worst case scenario type person).   Well there was one surprise...  No insulation in the exterior walls of either bathroom!  Nice. So Stephen picked up a couple of rolls f insulation and the contractor installed it before he left for the day.

Next up is the plumber and carpenter due in Monday. 

We've had a nice, quiet Memorial Day weekend which is nice because starting next Saturday, our house will be torn apart for two weeks while the two big bathrooms are remodeled.

I will take before/after shots and post them.  Wish me luck!

Have you heard of Greentoe.com?  It is this site where you can shop for items like electronics, appliances and baby gear but the neat thing about it is that you can submit the price you want to pay for an item and then see if someone accepts it.  Kind of like priceline for stuff! 

One of the cool things about the site is that there is a little meter when you submit your price and it tells you what the chances of getting the item for the price you are willing to pay.  So if you submit a really low-ball offer, it will tell you right away so you can up it and try again. 

Another cool thing is that tax and shipping are included in the price so there are no surprises if you submit an offer on an item and it is accepted.  That price is the price you pay and no more.

There is a video on their home page that explains it much better than I have. Check it out! :)

Blogher and Greentoe are offering discounts if you would like to give it a try.  They have given me my own special discount code to pass onto you so here it is:

pez25 ($25 off)

pez50 ($50 off purchase of $300 or more)

 

So check out the site - www.greentoe.com and if you see something you want to buy, use the codes provided!