UFMH – An update

This is not an update I wanted to make. About two weeks ago, shortly after my last post, Pat and I heard from a mortgage broker that we had contacted concerning a second opinion. She broke the news that we were not in a great position to move and would honestly be better off waiting until we were in a better financial position. Shortly after that phone call, we found out our real estate agent (who we LOVE), left his firm (We were informed by the team lead that they had restructured). This cemented things for us. We weren’t ready to start over with someone new, or to force ourselves into a bad financial situation.

So, here we are. Stuck in a home that we don’t love and don’t trust. At very least, I’m trying to remain positive about the situation. We have done a ton of work and now have a much more livable space.

As you can imagine, though, the work came to a grinding halt. There’s still a lot to do. A lot of clutter to conquer. I’m trying to stay motivated, but it’s hard. We did get some news today that put the fire under my ass to do some house work. We may have a house guest staying with us for a bit. We’ll know more next week. In the mean time, I plug away!

Today I:

-Tidied the main floor, including the kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom and front hall.

-Vacuumed the main floor

-Washed all the floors on the main floor (Love the shark mop!)

-Clean the main floor bathroom

-Did a load of dishes

-Tidied the basement, including the laundry room.

-Did 4 loads of laundry

-Vacuumed and washed the floors in the basement

-Tidied upstairs, including all three bedrooms and the main bathroom

-Vacuumed upstairs

-Washed the floors, sinks, counter and toilet in the main bathroom

-Put away newly cleaned clothing

-Got all garbage and recycling out on the curb

 

I also:

-Made smoothie popcicles (first time this summer! Such a shame I waited so long! Can’t wait to try them)

-Signed us up for a CSA, Bryson Farms. Our first basket arrives Wednesday!

-Put a bag together for donation (pick up next week)

 

It’s been a productive day! It’s going to be a busy week, so I’m glad to get as much done as possible. We’re going to be making a trip to the Experimental Farm/Agriculture Museum sometime with Jan, Beth, Cassidy and Brenda. Cassidy’s birthday party is Saturday and we’re having a family bbq at my SIL’s on Monday. Good times ahead!

 

UFYH – Master Bedroom

I wish I had some before pictures for you. Maybe it was the shame I felt about the room that made made me “forget”. Our room hadn’t been touched since we moved in, unless you count the addition of the crib to the space (and even then, it didn’t really change the layout)

How it used to look (pre-baby)

Dresser with TV, dresser with snake and master closet

Little nook beside the bed

Bed

Window nook

Walk in closet, full of clothes

Since then, we have done:

• Brought in crib
• Replaced bed linens
• Removed white dresser
• Moved small dresser to closet
• Got rid of snakes
• New chair
• Added another bookcase
• Added another light
• Organized walk in closet (7 bags of clothes donated, 3 bags thrown away)
• Changed curtains (twice. They were an awful teal, then brown black out, now a light leafy pattern)

Gone!

Crib by the window

Co-sleeping messy bed, new light and dresser

Closet and Crib

Closet organized

Closet organization

Closet organized

Left to do:

• Cleaning (dusting, washing walls)
• Touching up trim
• Replace night stands
• Remove bookcases
• Clean up bedding for crib
• Hang artwork
• Hide the last bit of clutter on dresser and crib before showing
• Steam clean carpet

UFYH – Basement Update

It’s been a busy and difficult couple of weeks. Liam seems to have developed a mystery rash which has been diagnosed as anything from hives, to chicken pox to some random viral reaction. I had a hard time with Melissa’s disappearance, death and her husband being charged with the crime. To deal, I’ve been trying to refocus on getting our house done and ready for market.

Here’s the basement update. Done since my last post:

• Major dent in laundry
• Installed bookshelves and moved DVD collection there
• Put together coffee table
• Put in area rug
• Hung painting
• Printed and Framed artwork for laundry room

Left to do:

• Finish laundry
• Clean laundry room top to bottom
• Hang Laundry Room Art
• Store remaining clutter
• Post items on freecycle
• Clear desks for showing

Basement stairs. Must vacuum and declutter

Hallway – to be decluttered and freecycled

Almost there! Laundry room

Clutter and bookcases

Couch and Painting

My desk – diploma and degree hung

Unfucking My Habitat

The past few years have been tough. Anyone who has read my blog will know that. I won’t rehash everything again, but I will say that we hit another bump in the road a couple months ago.

Before Liam was born, we started a massive re-haul of the basement. We wanted more livable space. It ended up being quite the fiasco (water damage, mold, our contractors going out of business, the work being delayed by months, the work that was done failing).

Part-way through the renovations in 2012

After the renos in 2012, pre-flood

A couple months ago, we had our windows and doors replaced. I then hired a contractor to paint our garage door to match out new doors. When they were cleaning up, I offered them the use of our back hose. 6 hours later, Pat came home and we discovered the pipe to that hose burst. The basement had been filling with water for 6 hours. Our new couch, our floors, the walls, soaked. Luckily the floor wasn’t level so our media center and computers were fine, but there was still massive damage.

The damage, after we tore out the floor and walls

We went through insurance and finally got it cleaned up and redone. While this process was starting, Pat and I had a sit down and decided that we were done with this crap. We were done with always wondering what was going to happen next. We were done feeling betrayed by this house and needed a fresh start. We’ve decided to list and move on.

What this means is that we have to, in a very short time, declutter, clean and decorate this place to make it sellable. All while house hunting and living with a very active toddler. It hasn’t been going well. So, I’ve been doing some reading.

I came across Unfuck Your Habitat and this great post on Decluttering. We are going to tackle this one room at a time, and to keep me motivated, I’m going to post our progress here. First up, we’ll be finishing the basement, seeing as how it’s been the project that doesn’t seem to want to end.

Done:

• Couch replaced
• Rug purchased
• Floors replaced
• Walls repaired and painted
• Media Center reorganized
• Storage built
• Gone through all files and paperwork, shredded and tossed old stuff.

New freezer installed and shelves hung. Cleaning and art to come

The current state of affairs in the basement

New couch, new rug and new coffee table

TV, TV stand, desks and computers as of July 22

Shelves installed and all keepsakes put in boxes

To Do:

• Clean Laundry Room
• Finish massive mounds of laundry
• Frame free laundry art and hang
• Hang painting
• Clear out garbage
• Final Repairs

Meanwhile, while I’m off doing all that, check out my friend Phil’s youtube series called “Out of the Doghouse“. He hasn’t updated in a while (3 years), but it’s a series that’s essentially about unfucking your life, starting with your habitat. That, and Phil is awesome. Go give him some love.

Holiday Whirlwind

As I approach the holidays, I find time almost seems to speed up, picking everything and everyone up as it goes, getting more and more intense and busy as we near the centre.

Firstly, Happy Yule to everyone!

Seasons: Winter - Silence of Wings by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

We’re not doing anything specific to celebrate, though I did throw the fixin’s in for a beef stew for tonight, so I think that’s a great feast dinner. We also have some left over holiday baking, so we’ll have some tasty mint brownies for afterwards.

Today is my last day of work before the holidays. The college is closed until the 2nd, so I’m looking forward to a week of sleeping in, decluttering, preparing for baby and getting things done that are often forgotten (for instance, changing my name in all of my official documents!)

This weekend is going to be busy for sure. Tomorrow I’m baking for gifts and parties. Saturday we’re celebrating Christmas with some family, Sunday we’re celebrating Christmas with my girlfriend S and her family, and then on the 27th we’re getting together with my in-laws for a casual holiday celebration.

Pat and I aren’t doing much in way of gifts this year, as we just can’t afford it. I have a secret planned for him, and he got me some things that I’ve been eyeing for ever:

Urban Decay's Naked Palette

Clinique Black Honey lip gloss

So excited! :D I don’t talk about it much, but I love make up. Love it. Especially eyeshadow. I have a really hard time justifying the cost of good quality makeup, so its not often that I go out and buy something for myself. I will make due on most things. I’ve wanted the Naked Palette for as long as I’ve known about it. Black Honey was brought into my world by the amazing Pixie, and I was finally able to have one for myself! :D

We also splurged and got him some pampering at a barber shop (he always shaves his head, and while it’s not very fancy, he loved the attention to detail that this barber gave him) and got my eyebrows waxed by one of the specialists at Visage.  It was awesome! Again, such a little thing, but I always feel so much better about myself when I have that sort of thing done by a professional.

Aside from shopping, I also recently had an appointment with my midwife and I can’t believe how quickly this pregnancy is flying by! Seriously, we’re already talking about what to do when we get to the hospital, what to pack, circumcision and what tests and scans I have left before baby. In fact, I only have one more appointment at our monthly intervals before switching to every two weeks! Eeep! And we start prenatal classes on the 3rd! It’s super baby time all the time now!

Meanwhile, because, you know, life isn’t busy enough, I’ve fallen in love with the idea of learning to quilt. I’m thinking I might try to take a class after Liam is born to get me out of the house every so often. I’ve been sewing for most of my life and I LOVE quilts, so it’s a natural progression for me. I have to scope out some of the class options in town.

Anyway, whatever you celebrate, may it be awesome and full of love and laughter!

 

The Big Secret Craft Project

Something about the change in the season that inspires me to create, craft and clean. I’ve picked up the needles again, FINALLY, and completely started a project over again (specifically, a hat for my husband, who has been suffering through the winter without a proper toque for the last couple of years). Here is the Rav Pattern page for those interested. And a picture of a completed version:

A picture from the Rav pattern page

We’ve started going through boxes at home and have grand plans to seriously purge a ton of stuff. Both Pat and I inherited a ton of stuff from our parents and now that we have a bit of a separation from the emotional time that brought those items to us, we feel like we can start going through it all and sorting out what we love from what we held on to out of habit.

There’s something else that we’ve been working on for a little while now that I’ve hinted at a couple times. My big secret craft project.  Pat and I have started sharing the news, so I feel it’s time that I can write about it here. Here’s a hint from my rav queue:

Yeah, you can probably guess it now….

Pat and I are expecting our first child! 

It’s been an incredible journey so far, with lots of ups and downs. These days I’m exhausted ALL THE TIME, with a fluctuating appetite and all-freaking-day sickness that comes and goes (the first month was brutal, let me tell you.). Luckily, I’ve only gained a couple lbs, but I definitely have the beginning of a baby bump and am starting to wear maternity clothes more and more often.  We’ve had our first ultrasound and now that we know that everything looks good, we’re slowly telling our friends and loved ones. I’m due in April :)

My bump, as texted to my little sister, a little while ago.

As you can imagine, this has had a huge impact on us. I’ve been tired for the last three months and, for most of that, I’ve also felt like vomiting. We’ve started talking about what we need to do to the house before we can bring Baby home, so we’ve started focusing on that. (For instance, Baby is taking over my craft room, so I need to find a place to relocate that). I’ve even started to think about what baby things I want to knit and sew :D

So, that’s our big news! We’re really really excited and feel so blessed. Expect more pregnancy related posts now that I can talk about it :)

Rainy Day

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Honestly, I haven’t had much to say. I’ve been feeling like crap lately, and am absolutely exhausted by the time I get home from work. To top that off, with the beginning of the new school year, things are crazy here at the college, which means that I’ve been having my schedule change almost daily.

This past weekend, my lovely friend Leigh came to town to hang out and for a work thing. We chatted, snarked at bad movies, ate lots of comfort food and basically enjoyed each other’s company. Sunday, I crashed at her hotel downtown. We wandered my old neighbourhood (just after University, I moved downtown with a friend for about 8 months), and did some shopping. We had dinner at our regular place (Zak’s, a cute 24 hour diner) and then grabbed some dessert at Oh So Good (I had the Pink Velvet cake. SO AMAZING. OMG, delicious.). We retired back to the hotel to bum around while she worked on her work stuff. It was a great time.

This coming weekend I’ll be taking the train to Montreal as part of my Maid of Honour duties for her. We’re going dress shopping on Saturday and a bridesmaid brunch on Sunday. The following Monday is my nephew’s birthday, so it’s a very busy weekend! I’m glad I have the Friday off.

Another big thing going on right now is that we’ve discovered that we’re going to have to tear out our finished basement. There’s a leak, somewhere, and some mould has been growing along the baseboards. I’m really really upset about this, as it’s going to be a very expensive fix, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Over the next couple of weeks we’re going to have some contractors in for estimates and then we’ll meet with the bank and discuss our options. So not good timing at all.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Again, sorry for the meh updates. Been way too busy and tired to write much.