Well To-Do

I am waiting while the Well Guys drop our pump.
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Ha, ha, doesn’t it sound like I actually know what I’m talking about??

And isn’t it self-deprecatingly great that I called myself on it, so now I don’t sound like I know what I’m talking about at all??

Isn’t it almost as though I am rambling aimlessly in a hopeless attempt to avoid anything acreage-related right now??

Sigh…

My bathrooms are primed, and I am SO happy! I had my last shower-at-Sherrie’s today! I’m painting the ceilings tonight!!

I really wish I knew where my micro-SD adapter was so that I could regale you with the photos of the missing parts of our reno project, instead of boring you with this mindless blather.

BUT! Here are 2 pieces of randomness that have been bonking around inside my head this afternoon:

1. I really, really, really want an iPhone now. Damn you, Cameron for flaunting your MacTree! I am weak. And I also know that Leith’s current contract is up, and that it is only $320 to get out of mine. Boooooo. But oh, do I ever want an iPhone now!

2. I can’t remember what #2 was supposed to be.

Oh wait! It was about gentle, natural hardwood floor cleaners. Suffice to say that sanding drywall has been less than pleasant on my $14,000 floors. I threw up a little when I wrote that price down! But boy, are they ever pretty!

Now, I am becoming very anti-chemical cleaner. I don’t like what it does to my skin, or my lungs, or my children, or the environment. I am becoming an anti-bleach agent!! I may even stop dyeing my hair (HA!)

So, so far I have found that to clean one’s hardwood floors naturally, you should use a smidge of vinegar, a smidge of vegetable oil, and hot water. What I want to know is this: any other ideas out there? Is that really going to do the job?

And is there ANY way to refill my Swiffer WetJet bottle? Like I said, I am becoming anti-chemical-cleaner, but I loooover my WetJet for washing floors.

Any solutions (ba ha ha…pun) would be welcome 🙂

Ta!

PS – Gratitude list of the month on its way (4-week combo style!) and an 18-month update of the bugz as soon as I take their pictures! What a bad momma! But I thought my camera was broken, so I couldn’t take them on their actual birthday, and now it’s a week late.

Renos Day 18 and on…

After Day 18, my photos become a little patchy. This might have something to do with 2 little bugz dropping my beloved camera off a stack of hardwood boxes … although C-boo thinks otherwise:

Regardless, I do have many, many grainy BlackBerry photos to share with you, but they will have to wait until I unpack my external hard drive and find the adapter for my micro-SD card!

SO!

Day 18:

The bugz were very good girls. I cannot stress enough how well they have managed this transition. I am so very proud of them.

On Day 18, our floors were being installed, so the bugz had lunch outside. Thank goodness for beautiful weather on August 31!

The hardwood was supposed to be installed on Friday and Monday, but they had to pour over $1000 of leveler before they could start. Why this wasn’t done prior to Friday is beyond me, but whatever. The installers were kind enough to come on the Saturday to check on it, which was nice.

Anyway, by Monday night, the bugz’ room, office and hallway were finished, and the master bedroom and living room were half-finished:

I went to find some bathroom decor. I have decided to paint the ensuite the same blue as our bedroom, with the blue from the bugz’ room as an accent color. I was torn on the main bath, so I decided to find a shower curtain first and go from there. After digging through $80 curtains at Home Outfitters, I found one that I liked at Superstore for only $25! It is white with stripes: grey and a greyer-blue than my bedroom, but blue nonetheless. I am going to take it and have it matched at Rona.

Our bathrooms were grouted and looking sharp!! I have to give a shout-out to Z and Ben at Splash Tub & Tile in north Edmonton. Wow, wow, wow!!

While the boys worked inside, I took off one of our pantry doors and tried sanding it by hand. I failed miserably, but I borrowed my dad’s palm sander and will try again later…

Day 19-ish:

I tore out that ugly breakfast bar!!! Yaaa!

I also found my sweet baby in a box:

And Z finished our bathrooms!!!

I’ve only just primed the walls today. There was a long stretch of sanding, re-mudding, re-sanding and washing before we got to that point. Grainy BB pictures to come!

Day 2,374:

After far, far, far, far, far too long, we got internet! Sweet, blessed rural internet. I’ve never been so happy to pay $90 a month!!!

My dear husband climbed our light post and tippy-toed at the top of the ladder to install it. I’ve only ever watched him work one other time, and I was too busy taking landscape photos for a course. It makes me absolutely nauseous, and he was only 40′ in the air (if that):

I also discovered, after 10 days, that my camera still works!! Woo-hoo! I went to put my supa-zoom on, and everything was fine. I think something must have been knocked around when it fell, and that it righted itself when I changed lenses. Both lenses worked perfectly and I saved myself $850!

Although I am a little sad that I won’t be upgrading as soon as I’d hoped…

Anyway, today marks ONE MONTH in the acreage!! We are nearly done, with more updates to come 🙂

Renos Day 16 & 17 – Moving Day recap

Well, many things have been happening on The Acreage since August 29, but I haven’t been able to blog until this past Thursday evening!

So, rather than subjecting you to an immensely long and photo-filled post, I thought I would break it up into several long and photo-filled posts! The problem is, they post from the most recent down, so all I’m really doing is inconveniencing my readers by making them scroll down and read back up.

Oh well. My blog, my way 😉

Saturday, August 29 was Moving Day. It was a hard weekend for me. But you can read more about that here. My parents were at our duplex bright and early. Some of us were more prepared than others:

My mom wore bad shoes. I wore flip flops, because my mother-in-law had Constance, who was housing my runners. On a total side note, my mom gets really bad blisters no matter what shoes she wears. I think it’s because she has weird feets…

Anyway, we loaded up the one-ton truck, which holds a lot of junk! It only took 2 trips (between the one-ton and 2 pickups) to transport most of our stuff. Leith and his dad came back for one half load on Sunday morning with a pick up and that was that.

Gramma played with the bugz and kept them happy 🙂

And our worldly possessions all fit into our huge garage-plus-workshop. Which, subsequently, became home to a skunk. More on that fun later. Stupid skunk.

Oh ya, and C-boo was thrilled about everything:

On Sunday morning, I took time out from cleaning to reflect (& cry…) in the bugz room. It was so, so hard to leave their nursery behind. I’ve found my closure, etc etc., but it was still very hard.

I made sure to walk through and take one last picture of every room. Except the basement! I realized that as soon as I started loading the pictures today! Oh well…

Bye bye duplex!!
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Do the Do

While I work on the nerve to start the Mother of All Renovation Posts, I find myself daydreaming…
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Er, procrastinating…

Is it bad to procrastinate over something voluntary??

Probably.

ANYWAY, now that I’m done procrastinating about procrastinating, I want to ask all of you a simple question:

“What is your WHY?”

Hmmm….

I know what mine is. I know what I want to accomplish in my life and in my career, and it gives me clarity. It also allows me to find the strength to push blindly through the immense challenges that I have faced in the past 6 months. It’s what keeps me going.

I won’t delve deeper into what exactly my “Why” is – it is complex and personal. But as I have developed and refined it, it has had the strangest effect of leaving me wanting more. I started this blog in 2008 as a chronicle of my 101 in 1001 Challenge. It has kept me accountable, much in the same way that my “Why” has kept me motivated. I’m nowhere near completing my 101 Things, but I am already thinking of 101 more things that I want to accomplish.

So, let me ask you another question:

“What DO you want?”

I heard this question phrased in such a way a few weeks ago that it was quite like having someone flick me right between the eyes. What DO I want??

Well, I know what I don’t want: I don’t want this renovation to last another day, let alone another week. I don’t want to fight with Leith and snap at the bugz over the littlest things. I don’t want to lose my temper so easily. I don’t want to lay awake at night. I don’t want to be in debt. I don’t want my work to slow down. I don’t want to be a personal trainer anymore. I don’t want to live a life of missed opportunities.

The secret to learning your WHY is this, dear friends: think of all the things that you DON’T want. Make a list. Then, change each Don’t into something that you DO want. Then, you will have the beginnings of your WHY:

I want to be finished the bulk of my renovations by September 17.

I want to learn to control my temper, and to act in a calm and rational manner under stress.

I want to nurture my relationship with my husband so that it grows stronger, so that we can meet any obstacle as a united front.

I want to have patience and understanding, especially with my children.

I want to relax and enjoy a restful night’s sleep.

I want to pay off all my creditors, except those whose credit makes me more money.

I want to grow my business so that it is always busy, whether actively, passively or residually.

I want to enjoy many opportunities in my life to travel, socialize, learn and enjoy life starting today.

Make a list. Stop telling people what you don’t want. Start telling yourself what you DO want.

Then, maybe I will post about my renos 🙂

Hello, world

Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think I had forgotten about you?
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Well, I didn’t.

I’ve been trapped in a vortex of internet-less hell for the past 12 days. It sucky-sucky-sucked. My life had no purpose.

I jest. It had lots of purpose. It just didn’t sparkle with my morning coffee the way it used to.

But now, for only $90 a month, I HAVE INTERNET PEOPLE.

Me and the internets?? We’re like this.

(Tight, peeps. We’re tight)

Feels good. Soooooooooooo good.

I need a new camera! The bugz done gone and busted mine while we were on this internet hiatus. It’s okay though, for many reasons:

1. I get to upgrade to the D5000. Long, drawn-out decision between the D5000 and the D90, but short story is that D5000 is cheaper, equally qualified, and feels better in my hands. I’m buying it sometime this weekend

2. No camera meant less of a blog-updating itch, which meant less of an internet itch

3. No internet itch meant more renovating got done

I love my acreage. It’s not done, but it’s done-ish, and tomorrow I will update with pictures (up to and including August 31, after which point my BlackBerry took over as primary photographic journalling tool). Meanwhile, I am exhausted and am quickly realizing that my typing skills have gone to peupe during the internet hiatus.

So good night, dear blogger friends 🙂