Still no photos...

I left my camera in Kristina's car. Doh. I guess pictures will have to wait a while. On the bright side, the longer it takes, the more updated the photo's will be!

This weekend is Brent's mom's side family reunion. It happens every 4 years. We are also having our first house guests. ack. This week is being spent getting the house somewhat presentable and with a functional kitchen (running water mostly).

I didn't want to do a lip sync this year. But, we are doing one with Burd and Brian so it should be fun. If only we can find the time to practice.

And

Congratulations to Dee and Jon on their new baby daughter!! Samantha Dionne Batchelor. She is perfect and soooo little.



And

Congratulations Casey and Jaelynn on getting married last weekend. We had so much fun at your wedding.

I love Lucy

Last night we went to visit Stacey and Marty. They just got engaged, bought a house and got a super cute puppy named Lucy. (Congratulations on everything you guys). They are thinking of Hawaii for a wedding. It took about 1/2 a second for Brent to invite himself :)

Their house is beautiful!! It is in Killarney and has nice high ceilings and an ultra fancy steam shower. Brent and I got to see that we are on track with our modern reno, as we had quite a few similar fixtures as they did.

We brought along Paul, who got along great with Lucy. He likes an agressive woman. haha



Lucy Modelling her fashions:




As for our house, I have a zillion pictures to post. I am waiting for Russell to hang the kitchen door before I take pictures, but he keeps delaying it. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to post everything.

Seriously people!

So, I have to vent.

I have been scouring the city for tile for our kitchen backspash. I finally found "the one" at City tile. A store that I really like and have found all of the other tile for our house there.

I was going to go order the tile today, when Russell, the contractor who helps us out, suggested that I check out Ames Brothers tile. He said the price might be better. So, low and behold, Ames Bros has the exact same tile for $6/sq foot less than City tile.

Now being that this would be my 3rd tile purchase at City tile, I called them and asked if they would price match Ames Bros. You would think that they would, as I'm a pretty frequent customer there and they recognize me when I come in the store. Anways, the I asked the girl I ususally deal with and she said no!! She even said that it's not the same tile, and that she knew which one I was talking about at Ames.

So, I double checked and the Ames Bros tile even has the same stock number.

Needless to say I am quite annoyed. I was happy with my service at City tile, and would have purchased it from them. BUT, I have to buy it wherever the price is best. I just don't understand sometimes, why companies are so stupid. If I was the manager there, I would want to keep my clients. Oh well, that's just me.

Ok...rant is over.

When it rains, it pours

Today has been great! Many of the things we have been waiting for have been happening.

I heard from the french door people to come fix the door. There are a few issues with it and we have been waiting for a month to get it fixed. They are coming tomorrow first thing to fix it. What is the best about that is that the guy who installed it is NOT coming. He was a tool, so I'm very happy it will be someone else.

The countertop people called and they are installing it on Monday!?! I think that is Calgary's fastest countertop since they just templated last Monday. We are their first client through Merit Kitchens, so I think they are trying to make a good first impression. Works for me.

Melinda came over and we signed the contract for the bathrooms. The next step for her is to do up some design drawings for Brent and I to approve.

Russel came over to finalize everything for the trim. He is starting to put it up on Saturday.

Cartwright called and our lighting is in. Whoo hoo. Still waiting on Robinson lighting stuff though.

And...the house is being painted as we speak. Right now the color is not what I imagined, but I think it is because the old paint color is showing through since they are only on coat number 1. We'll see!

On a bad note, we have a wasp next in the back yard somewhere. That is Brent's deparment for sure!!

Pics of the new paint and trim to come by the end of the weekend :)

Whats new?

Since our meltdown last week, we have made some good decisions. We have hired Melinda from Premise Design to take on our bathroom renovations. She will design it, shop for all of the supplies, and hire all the trades. I told her I would paint, but, that is it!!

I have been painting trim in the mornings and evenings. It is just way to hot to be painting outside during the day. Trim gets installed this weekend, so I still have a lot to do. Hardwood in the office should be finished tonight! There is some minor drywall repair to do in there as well.

The kitchen has been delayed yet again. They needed to order more parts so final installation is scheduled for August 7th. The good thing is that the remaining work doesn't have to interfere with countertops, so at least they won't be delayed!

I'm waiting on Russell to do some cement work on our fireplace, and then I hope to tile it next week. Next week is also my last week off. Boo hoo. I can't believe it.

MELTDOWN!!!!!

Well, it was inevitable. We had a mega meltdown. Brent was trying to install the bathroom door, which was really frustrating. It just would not cooperate. I think working all day, then coming home and working all night has finally taken it's toll. My poor hubby was so upset and declared that he is finishing the hardwood in the office, finishing any electrical and do the landscaping (which he enjoys). Nothing else. I will finish any painting, and tile the fireplace, but I'm pretty sick of renovating as well.

We will hire someone to finish our bathrooms upstairs. It was fun while it lasted, but I think we worked hard enough, and saved enough by doing it ourselves, to justify hiring someone for the last 2 rooms upstairs.

So hopefully, this decision will help with our sanity going forward! I'll of course still keep posting all the progress, even if it is someone elses work!

Sayonara Bushes

Sunday was bush removal day. I picture at one point, 20 years ago, someone planted 3 nice small junipers at the front of the house. Fast forward to 2007 and they were 3 giant bushes that blocked 1/3 of our front window. The house is being painted next week so we wanted to get rid of all the excess plants so that they could do a nice paint job.

Before:


After:



Brent and Kevin tossing bushes, Brent has the infamous Clematis:



Thank you so much to Kevin and Amanda, who helped out on Sunday. You guys are awesome!

Winston was not feeling well on Sunday. He was curled in the tightest little ball:


Today they templated the countertops. T minus 30 days before our kitchen is complete! Tomorrow we are getting our foundation cored, so that we can vent the new stove out to the outside.

I'm so happy I have the month off. How on earth would all this stuff get done if I was at work ??

Kitchen pictures

I would have posted pictures earlier, but my dear husband took the batteries out of the camera and put them into the Wii remote controls. So, now, with new batteries, here are some pics. Now, remember, it's not finished. They are coming back on the 18th to finish. One cabinet got lost between Vancouver and Calgary, so it should be shipped by then. They will also be putting in the trim along the top , and the kick plate in the grey cabinets. I'm going to call the countertop place tomorrow to schedule templating. Exciting! I would say we are a month away from a finished kitchen still.

The "built in's" - we are still waiting for the glass for the uppers:



The ginormous island - the stove goes in that hole on the left, a mini sink in the corner, and our wine cooler on the hole on the right:


Wall cabinets - The door to the basement will be the same color as these cabinets with glass too. And, the fridge goes to the left of the door with a cabinet on top. I'm leaning towards mosaic tile for the backsplash. I want a splash of color there. I think I'll tile all around the big window as well:


A close up:


View from the living room, "built in's" are to the left of this pic:


Our appliances are just itching to be used!!!


Cabinet's in action, they have a soft close mechanism, so you never slam them shut:


Hello Louie, We got summer hair cuts too!


And in other breaking news, Brent and I FINALLY agreed on, and have put the order in for a new car. For those of you who don't know, I think we have been talking about it for 2 years. Here's an example pic (but ours will be white) , it's a Nissan Altima. I'm seriously missing air conditioning these days! We should get it in a month, just when our kitchen is finishing up!



Oh, and thanks to Cynthia for identifying the mystery bush as a Clematis.

Finally :)

Well, the kitchen is mostly in and we love it!! There were a few snags along the way including a cabinet that has apparently vanished and a heating vent that needs to be moved. It's so exciting to see it installed. We have so much more cabinet space than the old kitchen.

Pics coming soon...