Welcome!


So here we go. Approximately 364 days from now, Jake and I will be getting hitched, after spending the better part of 3ish months gutting and rebuilding the main floor of our house. It promises to be a bit insane, so I thought I'd document the process for others' enjoyment.

I'm sure I will write on here about subjects other than renovation and wedding, but these topics already dominate our daily conversations and brain space.

Some background for you, just to get us started off right here.


The Renovation
View from the Sunroom - facing west.
- Jake owns a beautiful house that was built in 1922 and which backs on to a kids' park and greenspace. This breathing room is especially nice because we live in a neighborhood (Wolseley, Winnipeg) where the term 'yard' is usually synonymous with the word 'parking spot'. Also, my favourite feature of the house is my second-story sun room which looks out into the park, but more about that later.

Upstairs: Bedrooms and Oak Trim from the mainfloor
The plan, in short, is to completely gut the main floor and turn it into an open-concept kitchen/dining/living room. This involves moving a staircase, replacing more than one load bearing wall with a beam, installing infloor heat, replacing the original boiler, removing rads, redoing wiring and plumbing, building kitchen cabinets, refinishing floors, insulating and perhaps installing two new windows, as well as a patio door.

We are both teachers, and handy, and we have a lot of friends so this should be no problem, right?

The Wedding

Is planned for October 2012, approximately a year from now (as stated above). It will involve all of the usually wedding stuff, except that we are pretty set on doing most of it ourselves (or with our friends' help - feel free to sign up/offer your services!)


In addition to these events, of course, we have our regular lives. We are both Jr high teachers - Jake in the North End and me in the Inner City, both 'high needs' neighborhoods which demand much time and energy from us.

Sounds like a fun year, eh? Glad you're along for the ride!

Comments

  1. densaskOctober 10, 2011 at 8:33 PM

    Glad to see/read your back on the blogs! Maybe I will keep up with your life now...ps you sound happy.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bill 64: The Public School Modernization Act is Racist

Image
 * This is a slightly edited version of the original post, which didn't have complete math in the stats section. In my original research, I changed the term 'visible minority' to 'BIPOC' because I wanted to use the most current language, but without realizing that Stats Canada collects separate stats for people who identify as Indigenous. The stats portion now reflects these new numbers, but the overall message is the same.'            One of the books I ordered after George Floyd was killed is called ‘Anti-Racist Baby’, by Ibram X. Kendi. It is a list of actions parents can take to teach their kids to be anti-racist. The third point in the book is ‘Point at policies as the problem, not people’. So, here we go. Let’s point at a proposed policy.        It’s easy to get lost in all the problematic aspects of Bill 64, especially as a teacher. It becomes a ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ situation. We need to step back and look at the forest.       I’m very c
Read more

A Sibling for Rudi?

Image
There's no delicate way to start this, so I'm just going to jump right in. We are looking for someone who is interested in being a gestational carrier to help us add one more baby to complete our family. Yes, that's right - I'm writing a blog post and putting it out into the world in the hopes that someone will email me or message me saying they would be excited and happy to get pregnant with our baby. Long shot? Absolutely. But this is the thing about infertility: Long shots are all we have. Watching Rudi grow and learn and develop has been the greatest joy of our lives these past 9 months. There are no words to describe just how fun it is when he tries something new or smiles and leans in for a hug. Parenthood so far hasn't been without its challenges, but for the most part it's been a gratifying and joyful experience. For me in particular, it has filled an aching hole and made me feel wholly myself again. I unabashedly love it. Before we knew tha
Read more
I don't really know how to write about this, but it has become more clear to me that I have to. Keeping it inside is causing all kinds of angst in my soul that has come to a bit of a head this holiday; a time when emotions tend to run high and coping skills are maxed out anyway. It's hard to write about and talk about for a several reasons: 1. It's personal. So deeply deeply personal. But at some point, the personal private nature of it becomes a burden that only adds to the stress of the situation. 2. No one wants to hear about my sex life (nor do I really want to write about it), no matter how inadvertently. Especially considering a lot of my family members read this little blog (although I have not decided if I will post the link to fb - if I don't, traffic will be quite limited). 3. The last thing anyone wants is to be the object of pity. I also am not a huge fan of sympathy (bizarre, I know): it makes me cry, and I don't want to cry. I don't like being
Read more