11 posts tagged “new house”
Ok, my internet connection is not cooperating with me right now, but here are some of the rest of the before and after pics of our house, with the breezeway done, the deck replaced, and the house repainted. It is no longer pink! And all the different shades of grey-that-was-once-white are all now the same shade of white. Take a look:
Before:
And after:
And some of the deck. Before:
And after:
More soon......
I've been waiting to write about this incident ever since we moved nearly 3 weeks ago. So I've mentioned that the former homeowners left a couch in the basement that they couldn't get out because of renovations, right? And that we had some fantastic carpenters working for us, ya? And that one of the carpenters and I had played an April Fool's joke on our realtor? OK, so. A couple days before we were going to move, I went out to the house with the measurements for our couch, since I was worried that the movers wouldn't be able to get our couch downstairs to the family room. One of the carpenters and I discussed the options, and he said he thought it was possible to get the former owners' couch out of the family room. He said he and the other carpenter would give it a try, but if it doesn't fit, we'd either have to take out the doorframe and banister on the stairs, or cut up the couch. I'm not sure exactly what I said to this, but I left with the impression that they would try to get the couch out, and then let me know if it fit or not. In the meantime, I called the former owner and asked him whether he still wanted the couch, in case we got it out of the basement, and he said yes. I told him we'd call him and let him know.
So moving day rolls around, and we're on our way out to Mississauga, when I get a call from the carpenter. He told me that they couldn't get the couch out, and had put a couple holes in the drywall trying to do it, but they would patch these up. He then said that he had gone ahead and cut up the couch, and that it was sitting in about nine pieces in the garage. I tried not to choke on my shock as I swallowed it, and said "oh, really?", while trying to recall exactly what I had asked him to do. Then it occured to me that this was just him and the realtor getting back at me, and that when we got to the house, the couch would still be in the basement. I listened calmly as he then explained that we might need some work done in the garage, but that we'd talk about it when we got there.
As we pulled into the driveway, we were greeted with the sight of the deconstructed couch sitting in our garage. I felt sick to my stomach. Then I thought that this also meant that it was unlikely that we'd get our own couch downstairs, and I felt even sicker. I had never wished for a joke to be played on me, but this time I did. I tried to not freak out when the carpenters explained that the beams in the garage were sagging, to the point where the garage doors couldn't have new openers (already purchased) put on them because the doors would hit this sagging beam. The plaster was also rotten, and when it rained, would fall in clumps on our car. My husband just said "How much? Get to work." I think this is why I married him. Decisive.
However, his decisiveness was also the reason why I needed to leave the house an hour later, when the movers realized they couldn't get our couch downstairs. This might not seem like a big deal to us, but to a man, the tragedy of this situation would be easy to recognise. You see, the TV was going downstairs, and this couch is the Man Couch from which my husband must watch it. This couch is so appealing to men, that once this dilemma dawned on everyone, the movers and carpenters started taking bids on it, rather than to try to help find a solution. When I heard my husband yell at the carpenter "Get your tools! This doorframe is coming off!" I got the car keys and left.
When I got back, part of the doorframe was gone, but that was all, and the couch was safely downstairs. In one piece. The carpenter told me that my husband had told him that he only had two possessions he loved, those being the couch and his car, and that he should take the doorframe off and just start cutting out the wall until the couch made it down the stairs. It didn't come to that, but I had prepared myself to come home to a house with a gaping hole in the middle, which is why I picked up a 2-4 of Keith's on the way home.
Over the next week or so, the carpenters fixed the garage, drywalled it, patched the holes they'd made, and fixed up the door frame. They did fantastic work, and we became good friends as they finished up our house for us.
But we never spoke of the other couch.
Wow, I can't believe how much I missed you guys! It has taken us 3 weeks to get back on-line, but here we are. Soooo, I'm loving our new house, I'm loving the peace and quiet, I'm loving having a garden to tend, and a yard to play with lil'ReRe. The carpenters ended up fixing up our garage as well, so they were around for the first week, and now I kinda miss them. I'll do a post of before-and-afters of all their work, they were absolutely fantastic. We also had lil'ReRe's first birthday party, which I'll also post about. So much to catch up on! Stay tuned........
Well, one rat, in the form of a carpenter. He snitches on the other trades guys, and I love it. Today, when I arrived, he told me that the painters (sub-contractors, not the guy with whom I signed a contract) were flicking their cigarette butts out into our front garden. Nice. He also told me that they hadn't taken the switch plates off, and sure enough, they hadn't, and had even gotten paint on them. It looked a mess, and I told the guy (with whom I did sign the contract) that these needed to be cleaned up, and that they needed to pick up their butts and stop flicking them into my garden. He went and dealt with the painters, but we'll see the finished job before we sign the contract for the exterior paint.
I think the carpenter just takes such pride in his work that he hates to see other people doing a half-assed job. Since I can't be out there every day, it's nice to know someone is keeping an eye on things for me.
What's the best April Fool's Day prank you've pulled off or been fooled by?
I JUST played a joke on our realtor, who recommended the carpenter to us. It was the carpenter's idea. I sent our realtor an e-mail telling him that the carpenter had his biker friends over to our place without us knowing, and that his work was ok, if you like hillbilly chic. He sent an e-mail saying he would follow-up with him, and then he just called to chat. I couldn't keep a straight face, and told him it was a joke right away. He laughed pretty hard and said he'd been had. I think he was just happy to hear it was a joke.
GOTCHA!
Ok, I know I'm now asking too much of you, but what do you think of this sconce? I'm thinking of getting 2 to put over the fireplace:
Why am I asking you for your opinion? Because I'm getting no real input from those around me, and I trust your taste. My husband doesn't care, so long as I don't use those dull energy-efficient bulbs again (not likely, since these will be on dimmers), and my parents-in-law seem a little mystified by the question. I picked it out with the help of my electrician, who recommended the store to me, and just happened to be there today when I went by. That was very lucky, since the store owners let us leave with this one without paying for it, so I could check it out in the living room before buying it. My electrician likes them. I like the thick glass shade, since it goes with both the white mantel and the cream walls, and it doesn't look like it belongs in a bathroom. I'm sorry, I've just never done this before, and I need the input of others before I commit....to sconces....maybe it's time to commit myself to something else, like an institution. I know. I'll stop soon......
I was out at the house yesterday, and the carpenters have been working like crazy (actually sleeping at our house overnight to cut out travel time) and they've already got the fireplace done. Here's the before shot:
and the after shot:
I know there was nothing really wrong with the fireplace before, except esthetically. There were four different materials (5, if you count the dark glass) going on, all different colours, none complimentary. I also thought the size of the opening and the mantel were in the wrong proportions, so I wanted a dark material around it to give the illusion of the larger opening. I also love the built-in bookcases. What do you think?
....by us! Yesterday was our handover date, so we got the keys from the lawyer, and headed out to the house to share a bottle of champagne with our real estate agent. While we were there, the former owner showed up to explain that there was still a sofa in the basement rec room cuz they couldn't get it out. They'd come back another day to try again, but we may be getting a free sofa with the house. I just wish it was a sofa bed, since we're likely going to get one so we can have guests come stay with us. Now we're a little concerned about our ability to get our own sofa into the rec room now....
I spent today out at the house with the carpenter we've hired to start making plans for some upgrades. Now that all the snow is gone, we got a better look at the deck, and we're going to need to replace pretty much all the floor boards and railings. That sucks, but the carpenter is willing to try to get it done before we move in in the middle of April, along with the other stuff we want done. I really hope we can get it done before then. I've asked him to write up all the things he's going to do, and for how much, in a contract, and we're going to sign it on Monday so he can get it started right away. He said he usually doesn't do that, but I really want everything itemized, and prices written down, before we pay him for anything. I'll make sure to take the camera, so that we can get lots of before and after shots.
I'm actually starting to get excited about moving. Just being in a full sized kitchen felt so nice, as did imagining lil'ReRe having the run of the place, rather than the five square feet he had in our living room right now. Better call the baby proofers!
Man, am I glad that weekend is over. First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone who called or sent e-mails, it actually really helped me feel better. So let me roll it out for you....
First of all, I got a call at 3pm on Friday that the knitting workshop I was going to go to that night was cancelled. I was quite upset because my babysitter was already on her way to our place, and she has like a 48 hour cancellation policy, so here I was with a babysitter, a husband at work until midnight, friends who had other plans, and no where to go. I was especially upset because I was going to start a knitting project that night for someone's birthday at the end of the month, and now I doubt I'll have it done by then. Even tho they are going to re-schedule, I doubt they will be paying for my babysitter, so just for that, Lettuce Knit gets no link love. I used the time I wasn't knitting to prepare for the talk I was going to give for my old organization on Saturday night. Since ReRe went down to sleep with no problem, I was paying a babysitter to sit in my living room while I typed in the bedroom, and my baby slept. Excellent use of funds.
So Saturday rolled around, and we headed out to the new house to meet with a painter and a carpenter about some work we wanted done. My husband and I disagree on how much work needs to be done; he thinks we'll only be in the house for a short while, so why spend any extra money on it? I, on the other hand, am esthetically offended by a few things, and I thought we had agreed that we were going to get some work done and some painting done. This caused some tension when we got home that I just didn't need. The biggest thing was that the deck is truly rotten, the carpenter was literally pulling chunks of wood out of the supporting 4x4 posts, and he could push the railings down so that they bowed by about 6 inches. So rather than just getting the deck re-stained, it's going to have to be pretty much replaced. The husband was not happy about this at all.
My in-laws also came out to see the new place, and came home with us to take care of ReRe while I got ready and went to give my speech. I drove up to the university campus and found the building where the conference was supposed to be, but I couldn't find the person I was looking for. Then I noticed quite a number of earnest-looking undergrads with name tags on, and thought this must be it. It turned out that I was actually presenting at one of those "hunger dinners" where 15% of the participants get to sit at a table with linens and silverware and get waited on, another 35% get to sit at a table but only get forks, and have to serve themselves, and everyone else got to sit on the floor and only get rice. It is supposed to give people a feeling for how most of the world subsists. I remember doing this sort of thing when I was in high school or undergrad, so I went along with these very serious, but awfully cute, students. I love it when people get AWARE.
I was wearing the only outfit I have that fits, and even then it's a little tight, and I really didn't want to sit on the floor, and lucky me, I pulled a number that put me in the 15% that got to sit at the table. SWEET. I know, I shouldn't have been happy, but come on, I've eaten on floors in too many countries to count, I know how it feels. The first speaker was a professor who lectured about the evils of trade like he was reading a bedtime story. The second speaker was a man from Rwanda who had been a refugee and had gone to Malawi, and then came to Canada through WUSC. He talked about getting chicken feed as food aid. I didn't know how I was going to top that, but I didn't have time to think about it, because they announced me as a speaker before telling me. It wasn't an ideal situation, I didn't have a podium or anything to rest my speech on, and I had to hold the mike in my hand which led to a juggling act every time I had to turn the page, but in the end, it went well. I talked about the work that my organization had done in Ethiopia with farmers to help them conserve the genetic diversity of their seeds during the famine, and how that program had spread around the world. Then I talked about how seed privatization laws were threatening the rights of farmers to save their own seed, and how Terminator Seed Technology could sterilize all seed as we know it, and make us all beholden to the international seed/agrochemical corporations. And you know, it felt good to get worked up about issues like this again. After the speech, a few people came up and said they really enjoyed the talk and learned a lot from it. I left feeling like I hadn't actually lost my intellectual capacity over the past year, and that I can still communicate meaningfully with people about topics other than baby food and sleeping through the night.
This has got to be my longest post ever. Sunday morning we got up, and were going to go shopping at some more upscale furniture stores, but the husband was still in a funk about the deck and how much it would cost. So instead we went to Sears, and actually got some really good deals on patio furniture and a dining room set. I had wanted to get a couple casual chairs for the kitchen, since there is space enough to have a little sitting area, but the patio furniture is actually nice enough to have inside, so we won't have to buy those either. We topped off our bargain hunting with a new set of sheets from HomeSense (Canada's TJ Maxx).
So I had our babysitter come over on Monday during the day so I could prepare for my interview, and then watch ReRe while I was gone. So let's get to the point: the interview was obviously just a screening interview, in order to short-list. Set questions, half hour, no real conversation. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the job ad asked for someone with much less experience than me, and pays less than I've ever made, but it's in my field, and it's stuff I've done for years, so the transition wouldn't be bad. Anyway, I don't think my experience worked in my favour - the woman who would be my supervisor would barely make eye contact, gave no follow-up questions, and sounded just a little sarcastic when she mentioned my "vast experience" and whether this job would be challenging enough for me. Whatever.
Since the interview hadn't exactly gone swimmingly, I had no problem telling them at the end that the salary they offered would barely cover child care, so I would either need flexible hours or more pay. If they use that as a reason to screen me out, fine. I know that being a mom of a young baby is going to make it more difficult to find a new job, or even apply for jobs where I know they'll need me to work more than 40 hours a week and travel, etc., but honestly, on my way home, I simply couldn't reconcile taking this job, as is, with leaving lil'ReRe in child care that is going to need every single penny I make. So we'll see if they offer me a second interview; if they do, I hope it is with the Executive Director, then I'll be able to see whether there is really a place for me in that organization. If I feel tension there too, forget it.
So here I am, without a knitting project, a sleeping baby, and no job interview or speech to prepare. Wait, aren't I taking a course right now?! Where is that textbook......
Ya, nice title. Sounds like I'm writing a briefing note. Anyway, I've had a habit in the past of writing a letter to myself at the end of each year, summarizing what I've accomplished the year before, and what I'd like to accomplish the next year. I've found this has been better than just writing resolutions, since it has given me some perspective that I don't just have a list of things to work on, but that I may have actually gotten something done in the meantime. And it's not hard to recount this past year - I've got a smiling bouncing baby, who is rapidly turning into a little boy, to show for it. The dice we threw with this move to Toronto has come up sevens - my husband got exactly the job he was looking for, so we can finally settle down. We've finally been able to buy a house, which will get us out of highrises forever (inshallah). On the other hand, my career has really been put on hold, but I'll blog about that another day. As any new (or veteran) mom will tell you, motherhood exposes highs and depths you never knew you could find in yourself - from truly believing that you have indeed lost your mind and will never recover it, to discovering a purity of love that brings tears to your eyes. That is what this year has mostly been about for me. Who needs mental stability when you have that shining little face smiling at you?
So, onto the new year's resolutions. I'm guessing that this will be the QotD tomorrow, but I've got time to write, so here goes:
1. Raise a son who is healthy and happy. I'm going to try to do this by setting a good example. This will start with eating my vegetables. Now that he is eating peas, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and green beans on a regular basis, I think I better start doing the same. I also need to keep the exercise up, and show him that it is part of every day. And on the happiness side, at the moment he seems happy to just have something to chew on, and this is something we can accomodate.
2. Recognise the kindnesses of my husband. I don't know if there is something deep seated that makes me assume his actions are not going to start with kindness, but there have been far too many times when I've assumed he has acted in his own interest, when in fact he's done something nice for me and he gets sarcasm in return. Remind me to blog about the Christmas potatoes. This has to stop.
3. Do what I can to recoup some of the collateral damage of motherhood. I have a goal of losing the rest of my pregnancy weight by my birthday. I have a hard time spending money on new clothes; losing weight is cheaper. Howevern, I've spent far too much time in stretch-pant-pergatory - the weight has to go. I also resolve to restart my career outside of raising my son, but this is a little daunting to think about at the moment. I'll think about it in the new year.
Alright, that's good for now. I want to wish everyone a happy, peaceful and joyous 2007!
