a few thoughts....
A proper visual update is coming, with photos and everything, but I have a few minutes now while the potatoes are bbqing (sidebar: the bbq is AMAZING for some surprising things - even perhaps better than the stove. Pizza! Baked Potatoes! I'm thinking about bbqing perogies next.), so I will write a little.
Wedding Nay-sayers. What is up with them? There are several people in my life who take every opportunity to warn me against my upcoming marriage, and who are quite sure that this renovation will be the death of our relationship. I just don't get it. What is gained in life by such negativity? And why is it that some people seem to think that being a downer all the time is cool or fun? Jake and I worked on 2 friends' houses and our own this weekend, and there was nary an unkind word between us. I'm kind of worried what we will do with ourselves when this renovation is done, actually. We're going to be bored! (just kidding. We'll just keep going. Basement! Downstairs bathroom! Upstairs bathroom! Back yard! Exterior! Front yard! See? It never ends. And then we'll buy another rental property and renovate that. No joke. We're addicted.) Sometimes I want to really tell them why I'm getting married, but they don't want to hear it. To them, I am making a terrible mistake and there is nothing I can say to convince them otherwise. I do understand that marriage won't be easy, we won't always be in such a good space, and there may be times when one or both of us is tempted to call it quits. However, we are committed (already, regardless of ceremony) to choosing each other, over and over.
Kitchen. We have had many many discussions with HJ about the kitchen lately. A few inches there, a few here. Insulate with spray foam to save 2 inches? ABSOLUTELY. Bump the counter down a little? No way. Angle the corner? YES! All of it has me even more glad that he is the one building the kitchen, not a professional company. We are able to be really involved with the design process to make sure we are getting exactly what we want and what is good for the space, rather than something being installed that doesn't quite work. I'm sure we would be driving a regular builder insane with our constant updates.
Heat quote. It finally arrived, and although the bill is hefty, it is not as bad as I thought. $26,000 including installation and taxes! I know that sounds like a lot, but the boiler alone (hi-efficiency, crazy-awesome boiler) is $13,000, plus another $3000 for the hot water heater that goes with it and is also crazy-awesome. So then it's about $10,000 for all the other supplies plus the labour to install it. At one point we thought we would do some of the installing, as not all of it is highly skilled labour, but now we're just going to get it done. So much quicker, and then if something is wrong, we call them and say 'FIX IT!' whereas if we did it, it would be our fault. So this is very exciting. Next steps are to demolish the old boiler and get out all the cast iron pipes out of the floors and basement.
Framing Nails. When we were kids dad told us about how when he was a framer for new houses in Calgary, he was good enough and strong enough to hoist himself up to the top of the wall and could drive in a framing nail with one tap, one swing. I have never been good at driving nails with a hammer. Power drills and air nailers have definitely spoiled me. However, part of our job this weekend required spiral framing nails, and I decided that if I'm ever going to get better at that skills, practice is necessary. So, despite the fact that sometimes only 1 out of 3 swings hit the nail head, I kept working at it, thinking of the power required to do it in a few swings. I also did not crunch my thumb even ONE TIME! I consider that a success.
You know what's really good? Slicing your potatoes and putting slices of onion between the potato pieces, plus a little salt and pepper, before wrapping up the whole thing in tinfoil and putting it on the bbq. I'm going to enjoy some right now!
Wedding Nay-sayers. What is up with them? There are several people in my life who take every opportunity to warn me against my upcoming marriage, and who are quite sure that this renovation will be the death of our relationship. I just don't get it. What is gained in life by such negativity? And why is it that some people seem to think that being a downer all the time is cool or fun? Jake and I worked on 2 friends' houses and our own this weekend, and there was nary an unkind word between us. I'm kind of worried what we will do with ourselves when this renovation is done, actually. We're going to be bored! (just kidding. We'll just keep going. Basement! Downstairs bathroom! Upstairs bathroom! Back yard! Exterior! Front yard! See? It never ends. And then we'll buy another rental property and renovate that. No joke. We're addicted.) Sometimes I want to really tell them why I'm getting married, but they don't want to hear it. To them, I am making a terrible mistake and there is nothing I can say to convince them otherwise. I do understand that marriage won't be easy, we won't always be in such a good space, and there may be times when one or both of us is tempted to call it quits. However, we are committed (already, regardless of ceremony) to choosing each other, over and over.
Kitchen. We have had many many discussions with HJ about the kitchen lately. A few inches there, a few here. Insulate with spray foam to save 2 inches? ABSOLUTELY. Bump the counter down a little? No way. Angle the corner? YES! All of it has me even more glad that he is the one building the kitchen, not a professional company. We are able to be really involved with the design process to make sure we are getting exactly what we want and what is good for the space, rather than something being installed that doesn't quite work. I'm sure we would be driving a regular builder insane with our constant updates.
Heat quote. It finally arrived, and although the bill is hefty, it is not as bad as I thought. $26,000 including installation and taxes! I know that sounds like a lot, but the boiler alone (hi-efficiency, crazy-awesome boiler) is $13,000, plus another $3000 for the hot water heater that goes with it and is also crazy-awesome. So then it's about $10,000 for all the other supplies plus the labour to install it. At one point we thought we would do some of the installing, as not all of it is highly skilled labour, but now we're just going to get it done. So much quicker, and then if something is wrong, we call them and say 'FIX IT!' whereas if we did it, it would be our fault. So this is very exciting. Next steps are to demolish the old boiler and get out all the cast iron pipes out of the floors and basement.
Framing Nails. When we were kids dad told us about how when he was a framer for new houses in Calgary, he was good enough and strong enough to hoist himself up to the top of the wall and could drive in a framing nail with one tap, one swing. I have never been good at driving nails with a hammer. Power drills and air nailers have definitely spoiled me. However, part of our job this weekend required spiral framing nails, and I decided that if I'm ever going to get better at that skills, practice is necessary. So, despite the fact that sometimes only 1 out of 3 swings hit the nail head, I kept working at it, thinking of the power required to do it in a few swings. I also did not crunch my thumb even ONE TIME! I consider that a success.
You know what's really good? Slicing your potatoes and putting slices of onion between the potato pieces, plus a little salt and pepper, before wrapping up the whole thing in tinfoil and putting it on the bbq. I'm going to enjoy some right now!
Good job Elisabth!! It is surprising what you remember! Spiral nails are much harder to drive into wood. They are bendy, especially when the wood is 100 years old and rock hard. The air nailer is a nice invention.
ReplyDeleteWe had a great bbq today too, add some fresh pressed garlic to the potatoes, yum.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the reno is coming along nicely. We too are planning on having a custom kitchen made for our house. It's much nicer, and you get exactly what you want. A little more costly, but well worth it.
Don't let other people's nasty remarks get you down. They are probably unhappy with their own life and taking it out on you. As long as you guys are happy, that's what matters most.
You know what's also good...shoving slivers of cloves of garlic in between those potatoes with a little olive oil.....yum:) Happy BBQing friend!!!! -Kristy
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