Friday, May 22, 2009

The house update


Unsexy reno #2, done.

That would be my $8k-roof. Ya, when you're working your butt off to save money while still making your house liveable, it feels pretty frickin awesome to spend way too much money on something like that. Something most people will never see.

So the roof is done. And the back extension ceiling is insulated.

And my deck is back on. With some mismatched wood, but on, nonetheless. It just needs cleaning and painting. Just. Ha. So does my front step. And I need to clean up the backyard again.

But unsexy reno #1, replacing the rotten wood and insulating the extension crawl space, is still underway. You might not notice it's not done because it's basically summer and you can't feel how cold the floor is and you'll probably never go down into that crawl space. At least, I hope for your sake that you never go down there. I, on the other hand, will probably be in there tomorrow morning putting away some of the construction materials that are otherwise lying about.

And I had my friends Sarah and Sharon come over and help me prep for painting. One room down - my front room ceiling and walls are primed white. All the walls need is a light sand, a whipe and they're ready for some Oyster Bay (grey-green).

I realized yet again how lucky I am. I have really great people who will help me with things. All sorts of things. And they're often really good at those things. Even when they're not, they're willing to learn and just do it. I'm so lucky. I hope that one day I can repay all of the favours that come my way.

And now on to bed so I can continue the Great House Clean-Up for the company arriving tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New phone


Last night I got my new phone so that I could take advantage of the new plan offered by Telus. Now, I thought that the plan was super awesome, but it turns out that it's just pretty good.

However, I will say that it's a huge difference from my last phone, which was pretty bare-bones. And I've had it for about three years and the battery was starting to suck a lot. And I thought: what would I like with this new phone? I'd like email.

So I asked for it.
So they gave me unlimited browsing. Which I thought meant great email. But there's no application for email on this thing that can access my email unless I pay $5/mo which wasn't what I'd asked for. So I figured out that I have mobile email from my hosting provider and now I'm all stoked that I can do that.

So now I've become sort-of mobile-cool.

It's not a blackberry, it's not an iPhone. But it has a keyboard to type on. And it's NOT a million dollars. It's a free phone with a $17.50/mo plan. Which really is the best part.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

My week of home-owning bliss


So what did you do for your mom on Mother's Day?

Did you make her strip the paint off your stairs? No? Clean your basement? Hm, not a popular one, huh?

Well, I did.

In fact, I made it Family Day. I brought my WHOLE family over to work hunched over amidst the spiderwebs and crawlies and in the pouring rain in order to get the crawl space under my extension insulated. I'm the Queen of Fun Activities For the Whole Family!

In my defense, I did provide a fairly regular supply of beer, coffee, tea and food. And I also pitched in to help when I wasn't water-treating my patio furniture, sealing the tile grout in my kitchen, cleaning up, installing a new tap or picking up supplies from Home Depot. But the boys pretty much did it all.

Saturday morning, we were digging up the soil, fastening the cement board in place, breaking up bits of cement and tossing them into the hole before filling in the spaces with the remaining soil. All in the pouring rain. Then came the vapour barrier and the insulation when I pretty much became a third wheel in process. So I undertook the aforementioned other projects and made some meals.

My brother, Will, stayed overnight. And everyone else left for the night (when my niece got a little too tired to be staying up with the adults). Sunday morning, I took my brother and my wonderful boyfiend (who seriously must hate my house by this point) out for breakfast. We got back just in time to catch my parents' arrival. And in went the second layer of rigid insulation.

And my mom WANTED a task. I mean, I'd bought her the shrimp ring and her egg tarts and even the bagels and lox. And since I'd already given her the purple scarf, I figured it was OK to give her ANOTHER present. And so I let her strip the paint off my staircase. And it's already looking better!

It was a BIG weekend for the house, thanks to my wonderful, giving, helpful family. I am so ridiculously lucky to have them.