A big step forward!*

Well, I know you've all been dying to know how things are going over here, and I am realizing more and more that if I don't blog every day (almost) I get WAY behind on what is happening. I think that is one of the biggest surprises in terms of time - how much organizing, moving, coordinating, and record keeping there is involved in all of this. I guess we wouldn't have to keep track of how much money we're spending - on the other hand, I think it will be worth it at the end when we can look back and see just how much pizza and beer kept this project on the move ;)

But anyway, on to the reason for this post: STAIRS!
 How it was. This is looking into the house from the side door, which is at ground level. There are stairs going down into the basement straight ahead, and the ones going off to the right go into the kitchen. Where Jake is standing used to be the pantry, with a built-in cabinet facing the stairs. Jake and I took all that down to get ready for the big switch.
 This is Dean, Jake's wonderful friend who is the epitome of a 'Jack of all trades'. He can do everything from switch a staircase to cook dinner to completely rebuild a vehicle. He is basically a genius with his hands. You may also notice in this picture that there are no more stairs from the kitchen!
 The whole crew: from the left is Kyle, who is going to hook us up with his connections to a dump trailer for the big Bash and Crash, next is Brendan who is really good at picking out steak, then Scott who as an electrician is appalled that our house hasn't burned down yet, then Jaker - the love of my life -, and then Dean. They had a lot of fun, and thankfully were also successful in their quest.
 They even signed their names to prove their existence.
 New stairs and landing! So now this is from what was the pantry looking down. You can see the side door straight ahead and the kitchen door sort of up, on the left. Don't worry - Jake put a 'safety' bar across the opening so no one falls down. We're also keeping track of how many times each of us goes the wrong way to go to the basement. I'm at 2, Jake - as of this morning - is at 10.
From the kitchen! Doesn't that look awesome! The best part is that the former pantry is way wider than we thought and it looks GREAT for a stairway. This is how the house should have been built to begin with!

So where was I during all of this, you may wonder? Especially considering my earlier musings about roles? I was packing/sorting and then leaving to go to a cabin with all my friends for Jill's birthday. While the boys worked. Sometimes the roles thing works out in my favour.

However, if I had been home, the following never would have happened, and they had quite a lot of fun, so maybe it's a good thing.



This is in the living room, by the way.

*A convenient, if not planned, pun!

Comments

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