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! 

Got back from my trip to Toronto for my high school's 50th anniversary (the school is 50, I did not graduate 50 years ago). ;)  I had a really good time seeing some old friends and visiting the school which I do not think I have stepped in since I left in 1982! 

Friday night was a social at a golf and curling club.  Saturday there were lots of things going on at the school and Saturday night was the big Gala at the Ontario Science Centre.  The organizers posted a note on Thursday that there was going to be a HUGE surprise on Friday night at the social and that it would mean a lot to some of the people who went to the school during a certain decade.  Well, everyone was posting that they were sure that it was going to be the Barenaked Ladies playing (Ed Roberston and Steven Page (former member) went to my high school).  Boy, we were all so disappointed when it turned out to be a bass player who was in Alice Cooper's band (and who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)  - Prakash John and The Lincolns.  Clearly not on the same scale as the BNL but still famous(ish). Anyway, there were a lot of disappointed people there.  :D

Anyway, here are some photos from the weekend. I tried to take some photos for my friend Diane who decided at the last minute not to go.  I would have loved to have seen her. And for Peter - my soul blahg reader.  :)  Click here -> My pictures

So in my last blahg post I mentioned that I was taking Cars in for the status of his incisors and to find out when he gets braces, right?  Well we arrived bright and early at the orthodontist (appointment was at 7:50am) and they call Cars back almost immediately. 

So I wait and I wait and look around and notice that the office was really crowded.  And I wait and I wait and I wait and I see one dad get up and go and ask what is taking so long for his son to come back out. Turns out that there was some issue with his son's braces and teeth and the orthodontist had to do more work than he was expecting so I figure that orthodontist is now behind because of that problem.  And I wait and I wait, wondering what is taking so long for them to look at Cars' teeth and decide if he is ready for braces or not.  And I wait and I wait. 

Finally, 40 minutes later Cars comes walking out WITH BRACES ON HIS TEETH!  WTF!

I guess he was ready.

But I was not!  I thought this appointment was to evaluate but apparently it was we will evaluate and if he is ready we will put them on!  He just has them on the 4 upper front teeth and will get more on a little later.  And I had already paid for this round of braces (and expander) way back in August '11 so the cost was not an issue.  The issue was that I was a terrible mom and did not KNOW he would be getting them and did not prepare him for them!  With the other two I dosed them up on ibuprofen before hand and we discussed how they would feel, blah blah blah and poor Cars walks in and is surprised with them.  Aargh!

Anyway, so I now have 3 kids in brace$ at the same time.

There are still 10 days left of this month but already I am thinking about the busiest time of the year - May!  What is it about that month that makes it so crazy every year?!  I have way backed off of my volunteering at school but it is still a busy month this year.

At the beginning of the month I am going home for a visit. Just me.  I will stay with my mom and she is very excited to be able to show me her apartment.  It will be the first visit home where I won't be staying in my childhood home and that makes me a little sad but knowing that my mom was more than ready to sell and move into an apartment does make me feel better.

She will fly home with me after a few days (it is my high school's 50th anniversary so I am going to the big party on the Saturday night.  Of my four siblings, only my oldest is going.  Looking forward to seeing old friends too) and stay here for about a week then I will drive her up to Vancouver where she will continue her annual "West Coast Tour" before heading to Edmonton to see my sister then head on home.

May also brings us lots of sports!  Dex is playing basketball at the club but also said that he wanted to do track at middle school so that is 4x/week with Monday being the busiest day because I have to pick him up and then take him directly to the club for basketball.  No idea when his meets are yet. 

Jax is doing track in high school and it started over a month ago and he practices 6 days each week.  I am not exactly sure when it ends but it is sometime in May.  Oh, he and Dex are still doing guitar lessons one evening a week too.

Cars is playing on a tournament hockey team so he has practice and then the tournament later in May in Canada.  He will miss 2 days of school.  Oops! 

With all of these after school activities, I am behind on getting the kids in for their annual allergist appointments and eye appointments!  We are still on track for the orthodontist though.  Dex just got his braces on a couple of days ago and I take Cars this week for the status of his lateral incisors so we can get those first set of braces on for him (I paid for this over a year and half ago - it was supposed to be expander and braces but those darn teeth never grew in!).  Jax is transitioning to get his off already! I told the orthodontist that I felt that I was not getting my money's worth with Jax (kinda half joking) but was told that Dex would wear his for nearly 2 years so I will get my money's worth there.

We are enjoying the changes we made to the house last summer and now are considering updating more things.  Namely, the main bathroom.  We do not have a power room on the main floor (that is the problem with side splits, or back splits - no room!) so guests use the main bathroom which is also the "kids" bathroom.  It has never been updated except for the new faucet and lighting fixtures we put in a couple of years ago.  The tub, toilet and sink are beige and I want white.  Also, it has shower doors which trap all sorts of ickyness and are hard to keep clean.

I had a designer come by this past week and she will get back to me with a plan for the bathroom.  While I do want to upgrade the vinyl floor to tile and the acrylic tub surround to tile as well, I do not want to go broke doing it.  We really are not DIY-ers so we will be paying for the labour.

Looking forward to having a nice sparkly bath up there.  And one day we will work on the master bath/walk-in closet/dressing area.  One day...

Book List 2012

I swear I have read more books this year than this but I did not do a good job of keeping track:

1. Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin, pp 784
2. Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin, pp 1216
3. The Thirteen Tale, Diane Setterfield, pp 416
4. Beneath a Marble Sky, John Shors, pp 344
5. What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty, pp 423
6. Sing You Home, Jodi Picoult, pp 496
7. A Feast for Crows, George R. R. Martin, pp 784
8. The Rock Star’s Daughter, Caitlyn Duffy, pp 318
9. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James, pp 528
10. 50 Shades Darker, EL James, pp 546
11. 50 Shades Freed, EL James, pp 592
12.  On the Island, Tracey Garvis Graves, pp 336
13. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
14.  Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn, pp 432
15. Good Squad, Jennifer Egan pp 352
16. Wild (From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail), Cheryl Strayed, pp
17. On the Island, Tracey Garvis-Graves

Jax was having problems with his math homework today and asked me for help.  I completely BAULKED because I do not remember any math beyond very simple algebra (Dex's grade 7 math is getting difficult for me).  However, we had a busy night planned and Stephen was going to be getting home late so I decided that I would turn to the internet for help so I could help Jax.

I went to www.khanacademy.org which is a great site for math. They offer FREE lessons on just about anything and their goal is "changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere".  I first heard about the site from Ted Talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html) and thought it sounded like a good idea.  I had Dex logging on from time to time to do some extra math work but then he got busy with REAL homework.  And I wanted Cars to do some too but he has required math homework on IXL.com and his time and results are sent to his teacher.

Anyway, so tonight I went to www.khanacademy.org to learn (or relearn) how to do The Substitution Method so I could teach Jax how to do it  so he could do his homework and study for his quiz tomorrow.  I am not sure why he did not understand it during math class today but after watching the videos with me and practicing, he is completely understanding it.  I even had Stephen watch the video so he could help Jax while I went out to take Dex to his bass lesson. 

It is a wonderful resource and I highly recommend that you check it out.  Especially if you have a high school student who needs help with math.

More Resolutions

Another resolution that I have is to be more creative again.  While I am doing woodcarving, I still feel as though I haven't been creative in a long time.  I have been considering picking up the paints again as I have a couple of ideas for some paintings.  And I have even thought about knitting again.  It really has been years!

Happy New Year

My New Year's Resolutions

1. Regain an active lifestyle.  I have become quiet sedentary over the past year and half and it is showing on my body and my attitude of life in general.  Time to step to it!
2. Stop procrastinating.  I realize know that at least 50% of the anxiety I feel at any given time is due to me putting off things that I am either afraid to do, don't want to do or cannot be bothered to do when it should be done. 
3. File important items away NOW (see above)
4. Realize that it is ok to not be friends with everyone or friends forever.  I had a friend who moved away a few years ago (not too far) and we have stayed in contact via facebook but before she moved I realized she was a toxic person so it was a relief when she moved, quite honestly.  A few months ago she called me and wanted to stop by because she was in town.  She came for tea and I realized that I did not enjoy her company at all.  I do not need to stay friends with people just because we have a history.
5. Cut carbs.  I feel so much better when I stay away from bread and pasta.
6. Do one fun family activity each month.  I realize that my kids are not young anymore and soon they will not want to be doing family activities so I want to make sure that we make some more great memories before they up and move away. That time is rapidly approaching!

A good start, I think. 

The kids are out on Christmas vacation.  Today we did our annual "day of giving".  We took tons of clothing and household items to Goodwill.  We donated 101 pounds of food to the food bank and Stephen gave blood.  :)  I do not give blood because I did it twice in my life and I fainted once and nearly fainted the second time.

I had a goal to be finished Christmas shopping by the 5th of December (some random date that I have no idea how I came up with) and I failed miserably.  Most of it is done and there has not been a lot of scrambling around to get it done.  I just have a few more stocking stuffers for Stephen and to get something for the mail lady.  Stephen always takes care of the kids because he loves rushing around the last week and getting it all.  And he loves to spoil the kids so I let him do it.

We won't be having anyone over for Christmas dinner for the first time in 10 years or so.  So it will be a nice, quiet day with no mad dash to stash the opened boxes and get all of the wrapping in the recycle bin immediately.  I am looking forward to having a quiet day.

O Tannenbaum

Christmas trees in our house always manage to be quite an ordeal. We always seem to have issues with stands and I cannot tell you the number of Christmas tree stands we have purchased in the past 10 years.

A few years ago, after our Christmas tree had fallen down, we bought one of those swivel stands which we thought was pretty great but the next year out Christmas tree was too big (the trunk was thick!) to fit in the stand so we had to buy another stand. Of course the tree fell down again that year too! I think we have had trees fall 4 or 5 times in the past 8 years!

This year we managed to have to go buy yet another stand after buying what we thought was an awesome tree. It was tall and very full with branches that swept right to the ground. Of course the trunk was thick and there was a knot in it so it did not fit in either of the two stands that we had so I ran out to buy yet another stand. We struggled and strained to get the tree up (it is 8 and a half feet tall and very heavy). Stephen kept askin if I were sure that it was straight (he was under the tree tightening the screws on the stand ) and I was staring at the top of the tree which was perfectly straight. Then it was a up - voila!

Stephen then trimmed off some of the bottom branches an I put on the tree topper the sat down on the couch to admire our lovely tree.

Then I saw it. Can you see it?

 

Our tree has scoliosis! OMG how could we not have seen this?  Of course we had not seen it - the branches went straight to the ground and all we did was admire the height and fullness of the tree.  So, this tree is balancing precaiously in the new stand.  It managed to stay standing while I strung lights and while the kids and I hung the ornaments.  I guess those are good signs.   We hope that it does not fall over sometime over the next two weeks. Mostly I am worried about any water ruining the new wood floors but of course I am concerned about broken ornaments. 

 

And for Christmas I have added this tree stand to my Christmas list.  I hope it is the last one I will ever have to buy:

 

http://www.premierchristmastreestand.com/

 

 

The Reveal

Here is a photo of our newly redone living room. We had the walls painted, the fireplace painted, hardwood floors installed, bought a new floor lamp, couch and chair. We also had shelving installed on either side of the fireplace. Oh and a new area rug. I am very pleased with it!

We also had a console and shelf custom made for the front hall/foyer. This hallway and the kitchen already had hardwood floors so we just had them stripped, stained and finished.