What I've been up to lately

This is one of my favourite meals to make. My parents, sister, brother-in-law and neice were over for dinner and I had bought this really cool plate at Winners so I decided to put the whole meal on it. And it worked out great! It's oven-roasted sweet potatos, pork tenderloin and broccoli with bacon.

Below are the pictures of our latest efforts in our house. We've been living with that patched wall for more than half a year and it was very satisfying to get some paint on it, finally.

And we both absolutely love the Rhubarb colour. It's very warm and inviting. You can see that we also got a pendent light for the pass-through into the kitchen. We still haven't put pictures up anywhere in our living room so that's on the list too.

This is a little sweater I knit for my sister, Diana's baby. Although, I did take it out once to start over, it was a very easy piece to knit and because of the thickness of the yarn, it was very quick. The buttons are my only concern. I used some that I had in my button box...which is basically buttons I've stashed from the clothes I bought where they give you extra buttons. So they don't match. I think it looks kinda unique but I hope Diana does too.

Cute Kids

Elyssa (niece, 23 months)

Jacob (cousin once removed, 10 months)

Reuben (husband, 25 years)

Kitchen Reno UPDATE

Instead of duplicating Reuben, you can check out his blog for updated pics of the kitchen!!!

Days 24-27

I've been in Winnipeg since Friday afternoon so I haven't been able to see the progress in the kitchen. On Friday and Saturday, they worked on the ceiling. Reuben sent me some pictures and it looks amazing! I was going to post the pictures but I think we'll wait until it's more finished because you will all be blown away! The ceiling is totally different than anything you've ever seen! I'm so excited to come home and see it.
I think today they are going to do some painting and then putting the dinette/office area together.
I'll be heading home tomorrow.

Day 23 - the floor

 

 

 

Day 22

Mudding of drywall joints and laying down of plywood subfloor was accomplished yesterday. Along with scraping off the last of the wallpaper border in the dinette area.

Day 21 - cabinets

Our living room is stuffed with Ikea boxes and put together cabinets.

Day 21 - Drywall

Here's some pictures of the drywalling being done in the kitchen. The opening is into the dinette area.

Photo recap

In case you're curious as to the progress; these are the photos after the plumbing and electrical work was done last week. You can see all the nice new wire snaking around the room as well as the clean capping off of the sink pipes.



You can also see the new ductwork near the ceiling that we had to do because we widened the doorway into the diningroom.

Here's the ductwork that we put in to vent our hood fan to the exterior wall since our stove is being relocated to the interior wall. We had a recirculating hood fan before (which we never used) so we had to punch a hole in the outside wall and put in the vent ourselves. Well, actually another friend of ours, Reuben VP, did it. Thanks Reubs!

Day 17- 20

DAY 20 without a kitchen. It hasn't felt too long but that's mainly because my mom has graciously provided us with dinner most nights. On Saturday, we tried our hand at bbqing pizza and french fries. They had a slightly smokey flavour (ie. a bit charred):)

On Friday, our friend, Brian came over and helped Reuben wire some things. Then on Saturday, Reuben managed to get the floors spotless of dust and garbage and I managed to give the rest of the house a "thorough going over" (I think that's a quote from Anne of Green Gables but I'm not sure which part).

Reuben's dad arrived this morning and Reuben was up early moving the phone jack and prepping some more. I think there is some drywalling happening today. Also, my brother is helping Reuben to pick up the cabinets from the Ikea warehouse this afternoon. I'm so excited to see all the boxes. Although, I'm not looking forward to having them all in the living room. I think breakfast is going to be interesting tomorrow morning.

I'll keep you posted.
ps. My brave 35-week pregnant sister, Diana, is driving here from Fergus today with her 2 kiddies (Hadassah, age 2 and 9 months and Nethaneil, age 15 months). They are staying the week.

Day 10-16

Since my last update, not much has been done on the kitchen. We went to Sandbanks for the long weekend and left the mess behind.
But today, we got the call that our cabinets are ready to be picked up! And Reuben's dad is busy cutting the slats for our ceiling.
Our countertop, sink and faucet are also in. Reuben's dad will be bringing it all with him on Monday when he comes to install everything.
Tomorrow, our friend is coming to help Reuben finish up the wiring and tonight we are going to buy our hood fan.
Many pieces slowly coming together to form the jigsaw puzzle that is our kitchen.

Camping: Sanbanks

Beams from our living room ceiling ready to be burned.

Celebrating Reuben's birthday!

Our shady spot.

Karin and her brother.

Gorgeous sunsets.

My crazy husband doing a jig on the beach.

Our accompanist.

The long road home.

Day 9

New window.

Day 8

Day 6 was a Sunday so we rested from our labours. Day 7 saw nothing accomplished as we were at a meeting all evening. Day 8 was yesterday and while I went to the movies (Julie and Julia, very cute!) Reuben and Carl got down to business on the plumbing. They removed our sink and tap and installed some piping. Apparently, the venting was in the wrong place.

Day 5

On Saturday, Reuben and his dad made the pass-through opening in our kitchen. They also widened the doorway into the diningroom. There is so much more light that gets let into the livingroom now. There are windows in the diningroom and livingroom but there is a big maple tree that blocks a lot of the light so it can be quite dark in there.

Tonight, our friend, Carl, is coming over to help Reuben redo some of the plumbing in the kitchen. Apparently, the venting for the sink was done wrong, originally. Did you know that it is critically important for your drains to be vented to the outside so that none of the smells come into your house? Something about a build up of gases...blah, blah, blah. You learn a lot when you own your own home. At least I have been. Reuben knows all this stuff already.

Day 4

Reuben's dad came yesterday around noon. When I got home from work, this is what our kitchen looked like!


The beginning of the pass-through opening.

Day 3

Last night, I made fish sticks and bruschetta in the toaster oven. We still have a counter and a sink and it was still frustrating just to make that small dinner. I don't think we'll be having many more dinners here for awhile.
While I went to a baby shower, Reuben ripped out the upper cabinets by himself. I didn't get to take any pictures, though.
Today, Reuben's dad is driving down and will be helping Reuben get the rest of the floor off and the dishwasher and sink cabinet out. We will be widening the doorway into the dining room and putting a pass-through in.
They will also be running the electrical for the new pot lights and repositioning of the stove.
Thanks in advance, Dad!

Day 2

Last night our good friend, Andrew, came over to help Reuben continue the demolition.


While trying to find the appropriate tool to take up a layer of plywood, they tried out my hammer. Consequently, it broke in half. My sister, Diana, bought me this hammer as part of a toolkit when I moved out on my own.
Behind the cabinet, Reuben found this doggy kibble. Gross.
And I thought our dining room/living room was crowded yesterday.
This is what it looks like this morning.

They brought the one set of lower cabinets down to the basement to use for storage.