You may have noticed that in my last post I mentioned my Son's name - Walter. And there's a new photo at the end of the page showing Walter swimming.
Up to now I've kept our personal information private. After all, it's a blog. Who knows what type of people come to your site. But I've been visiting a lot of sites lately to get ideas on how I want my blog to look & feel, and I've noticed that the ones I really enjoy are the ones where I know where the people live, what they do. The ones that mention family by name. The ones that I feel like I know who they are. I don't want to be a hypocrite - if my tendency is towards blogs that are open I should be open with mine. Yes, it's a gamble, but walking out the door is a gamble.
So, although I might not be listing my home address or giving you my cell number I'm going to be a bit more open with personal information.
Hi, I'm Louise and I'm learning to Blog better!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Slightly Interrupted!
Slightly interrupted you say? (Probably with a smirk and a chuckle!) Yes, it's been awhile. I've wanted to blog, I really have ... but carving out time + feeling inspired + having photos ready? Nah, hasn't happened. But I'm reading a new book "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel that is inspiring me to push myself to do the things I want to do! So ...
Are the reno's completed? Have we bought a house with my Mom? Have we moved? No. No. No.
Let's answer the last one first. The start of this blog had me saying that we were going to be buying a house with my Mom. We had full intentions of doing this. We looked long and hard ... and in the end ... we just couldn't find something that all of us would be happy with. Perhaps if we'd had millions of dollars, bought a large property, and built a custom home we could have done it. As it was, we just couldn't do it. My Mom sold her home last Summer and was basically homeless. She and I talked and agreed that she should start looking on her own. What happened? Well, she bought herself some land and is ... building a house! It's nearing completion and she should be moving into it by the end of August / beginning of September!
On to the reno's ... we are about 18 hours away from being complete. That sounds like just a few days ... but they seem to be the longest 18 hours ever. It's things like hanging closet doors, sealing the grout in the kitchen, touching up paint. Of course, after those things are done it will be de-cluttering followed by staging so that we can put the townhouse on the market. We already have a storage locker that has given us more space to move around while we've been renovating, but we are going to need to clear out all DH's tools, excess toys from Walter, and just generally culling and thinning out of things so that the place looks spacious. We'll need to decide which pictures to re-hang and where. And did I mention ... clutter control? Here's what I've been doing already towards that:
Now, times that by a thousand different areas in the townhouse. It seems to be never-ending.
In the meantime, I still look at real estate (I must confess, I'm addicted to viewing real estate!). Recently, two separate properties came up that I really wanted. They would have been perfect. The first sold before DH could even see it. The second, we viewed, put an offer in, but there were multiple bids and it went for well over asking. So depressing. There is another one now. We are waiting for our Real Estate Agent to set up a viewing.
OK - today I should empty out some boxes and re-re-organize the hall closet (I've done this a couple of times now - argh!). We have so many shoes, but I'm scared to pack those away. I did that with our coats last summer thinking we'd unpack them in a new home by Winter. Except, of course, we're still in the townhouse. Which meant that over the cold months we were missing some coats, mitts, hats, that would have been so nice. And cookbooks. I packed all but three and now I am SO missing them! I am learning what's really important though, and, in general, we've gotten by.
Are the reno's completed? Have we bought a house with my Mom? Have we moved? No. No. No.
Let's answer the last one first. The start of this blog had me saying that we were going to be buying a house with my Mom. We had full intentions of doing this. We looked long and hard ... and in the end ... we just couldn't find something that all of us would be happy with. Perhaps if we'd had millions of dollars, bought a large property, and built a custom home we could have done it. As it was, we just couldn't do it. My Mom sold her home last Summer and was basically homeless. She and I talked and agreed that she should start looking on her own. What happened? Well, she bought herself some land and is ... building a house! It's nearing completion and she should be moving into it by the end of August / beginning of September!
On to the reno's ... we are about 18 hours away from being complete. That sounds like just a few days ... but they seem to be the longest 18 hours ever. It's things like hanging closet doors, sealing the grout in the kitchen, touching up paint. Of course, after those things are done it will be de-cluttering followed by staging so that we can put the townhouse on the market. We already have a storage locker that has given us more space to move around while we've been renovating, but we are going to need to clear out all DH's tools, excess toys from Walter, and just generally culling and thinning out of things so that the place looks spacious. We'll need to decide which pictures to re-hang and where. And did I mention ... clutter control? Here's what I've been doing already towards that:
Now, times that by a thousand different areas in the townhouse. It seems to be never-ending.
In the meantime, I still look at real estate (I must confess, I'm addicted to viewing real estate!). Recently, two separate properties came up that I really wanted. They would have been perfect. The first sold before DH could even see it. The second, we viewed, put an offer in, but there were multiple bids and it went for well over asking. So depressing. There is another one now. We are waiting for our Real Estate Agent to set up a viewing.
OK - today I should empty out some boxes and re-re-organize the hall closet (I've done this a couple of times now - argh!). We have so many shoes, but I'm scared to pack those away. I did that with our coats last summer thinking we'd unpack them in a new home by Winter. Except, of course, we're still in the townhouse. Which meant that over the cold months we were missing some coats, mitts, hats, that would have been so nice. And cookbooks. I packed all but three and now I am SO missing them! I am learning what's really important though, and, in general, we've gotten by.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Will It Ever Be Done?
It's been a long time since my last post (June 2011), and I wish I could say "We're done!" ... but, sadly, that's not the case. [I think the main reason for such an absence has been a very old laptop at home which made doing a blog almost impossible (who knew six years old was old?!) ... I just got myself a lovely new laptop and feel much better about working on this blog from home now. Yeah!! :)]
We are still renovating. Oh, lots of things have happened - in reno land and in our lifes. But even though it's been five months we still have a fair bit to go. DH's Father had a stroke and after 3 and 1/2 weeks in hospital he died. So, lot's of stress, sadness, and time away from reno's to be with family.
So what HAS happened? The upstairs floors are all in. The downstairs floors have just been installed. About three weeks ago I lost my kitchen to the Reno Monster. DH said it would be a week, but the kitchen is still missing. He would say it was all my fault because I pressed for the old backsplash tiles to be removed as I thought they were old-fashioned and didn't suit the changes we were implementing (I still think I'm right). When he took them off half the drywall went with them ... and he was forced to cut out and put in new drywall ... which meant mudding, sanding, more mudding, and more sanding. That's finally done. The painter we hired started Wednesday, was sick most of Thursday, but back in good form on Friday and Saturday. So far, lot's of mudding to fill nicks in the walls, followed by the obligatory sanding. To date, the kitchen looks to be painted. The upstairs guest room and hallway ceillings are painted and the hallway walls, including the stairs have been painted. Left? Upstairs, our bedroom, the main bathroom and our ensuite. Downstairs, the ceillings, the living and dining room, and the powder room.
Since the kitchen looks to be painted I'm hoping the kitchen cabinets that are currently sitting in my living room will move to their permanent homes. That would give us back the living and dining rooms. Of course, once the cabinets have vacated their current squat the painter will move in forcing my four year old and I to retreat to the upstairs where DH will likely be nailing in baseboards.
I'm going to stop my whining now (there is a very definite goal in mind here which I am party to), and include some photos of what's been happening. Here's my temporary kitchen (located in the dining area - two feet of counter with the microwave and toaster oven on top ... and opposite my "kitchen" is the bookcase turned china cabinet that holds all our plates, bowls, cups, cans of food, sauces, spices (very much edited for now):
It's a good thing I've camped a lot, and in the last few years cooked many a meal in an RV kitchentte! Here's what the old kitchen looked like:
Right now, the kitchen ... lacks something ...
Yes, those cabinets that are the big, wooden elephants in the living room. Sigh. Patience. I must practice patience.
Next time, I hope to have pictures of a complete kitchen. I'm not sure I'll know how to use it any longer :). In the meantime, I fantasize by shopping for appliances. Lovely, shiny, new appliances. Hmmm ...
We are still renovating. Oh, lots of things have happened - in reno land and in our lifes. But even though it's been five months we still have a fair bit to go. DH's Father had a stroke and after 3 and 1/2 weeks in hospital he died. So, lot's of stress, sadness, and time away from reno's to be with family.
So what HAS happened? The upstairs floors are all in. The downstairs floors have just been installed. About three weeks ago I lost my kitchen to the Reno Monster. DH said it would be a week, but the kitchen is still missing. He would say it was all my fault because I pressed for the old backsplash tiles to be removed as I thought they were old-fashioned and didn't suit the changes we were implementing (I still think I'm right). When he took them off half the drywall went with them ... and he was forced to cut out and put in new drywall ... which meant mudding, sanding, more mudding, and more sanding. That's finally done. The painter we hired started Wednesday, was sick most of Thursday, but back in good form on Friday and Saturday. So far, lot's of mudding to fill nicks in the walls, followed by the obligatory sanding. To date, the kitchen looks to be painted. The upstairs guest room and hallway ceillings are painted and the hallway walls, including the stairs have been painted. Left? Upstairs, our bedroom, the main bathroom and our ensuite. Downstairs, the ceillings, the living and dining room, and the powder room.
Since the kitchen looks to be painted I'm hoping the kitchen cabinets that are currently sitting in my living room will move to their permanent homes. That would give us back the living and dining rooms. Of course, once the cabinets have vacated their current squat the painter will move in forcing my four year old and I to retreat to the upstairs where DH will likely be nailing in baseboards.
I'm going to stop my whining now (there is a very definite goal in mind here which I am party to), and include some photos of what's been happening. Here's my temporary kitchen (located in the dining area - two feet of counter with the microwave and toaster oven on top ... and opposite my "kitchen" is the bookcase turned china cabinet that holds all our plates, bowls, cups, cans of food, sauces, spices (very much edited for now):
It's a good thing I've camped a lot, and in the last few years cooked many a meal in an RV kitchentte! Here's what the old kitchen looked like:
Right now, the kitchen ... lacks something ...
Yes, those cabinets that are the big, wooden elephants in the living room. Sigh. Patience. I must practice patience.
Next time, I hope to have pictures of a complete kitchen. I'm not sure I'll know how to use it any longer :). In the meantime, I fantasize by shopping for appliances. Lovely, shiny, new appliances. Hmmm ...
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