We've taken on a lot, and somehow managed to stay in tact. Living life now as a family of 4!

There are four fans (5 if you count the ceiling fan, but it's pretty silent) in my house that have been running 24 hours a day since Sunday, and they will continue to do so for another week. This is what it takes to dry drywall mud during a Manitoba summer with the humidity and all. It is loud in here. It's like a constant ringing in your ears. I ask Jake to repeat pretty much everything he says. I feel like my ears are plugged with water, the noise is so constant and unrelenting. Here is the thing about this stage. Actually, there are several things. 1. It is dirty. There is mud and dust everywhere. I'm tempted to give the floors a good washing, but they are just going to get dirty again tomorrow. On the other hand, having to put on your shoes to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night is a little bit ridiculous. I may be driven to do it on Friday. We'll see. 2. There is no rushing it. In every other part of the renovation, it was all about how hard you wan

Part 1 The woman who is altering my wedding dress is wonderful. She is a a tiny woman who runs her own dress shop/tailoring and is very skilled. She also has a good memory and knows my whole family and my sister-in-law's whole family. Every time I go in there she asks how everyone is. She doesn't let her rather strong accent get in the way of her conversations, and although I think I'm pretty good at discerning accents and what people are saying, sometimes I struggle to keep up with her. I first took my dress to her in May, and she pinned it to fit. She asked if I was going to lose weight before the wedding, and I thought I should just be honest with myself right from the get-go and say 'no' - why set up ridiculous expectations for myself? Well, when I went there a few weeks ago, I got quite a shock - it was too big! Everywhere! Here's the thing - I really have not lost even one pound. I weighed myself yesterday and I am the same as I was in January. No jok

My dear Aunt Norma commented on my fb that I am not going to know what to do with myself when this is all over, although there is a wedding coming up I should probably put some thought into. She freakishly predicted the very subject matter of this post! Last weekend Jake's dad and step-mom were here visiting from Ontario. They are just delightful people - I love them both very much. Sue was speechless for a full minute (at least) when she saw the house for the first time - they had last seen it a full year ago when it was in tact. I have to admit, that reaction was pretty gratifying. It's nice when others notice all the hard work you've done. Anyway, on Monday (the 23rd, in case you're wondering which Monday) they came over to help us with the last few things. Sue, what a hero, cleaned the sink AND the toilet in the Hooligan which is our temporary 'kitchen' until our new one is done. Frank helped with some last framing projects including a tricky angle piece

I am sitting upstairs in the mostly-finished part of the house, listening to those special drywall drills go crazy with screws. It is incredible to watch - they lift a 12 foot board, get it into position and start drilling in - takes less than one second per screw and not a single one goes bouncing out from under the drill and across the floor. THIS is why we hired out this job. They are going to be finished in 5 or 6 days, whereas it probably would have taken us the better part of a month. The ceiling for the living/dining room is already up - it took an hour. I am blown away. Bonus: the two guys doing it are funny and friendly. I am also ecstatic - and experiencing a bit of disbelief, to be honest. I can't believe we are here, at this stage. In some ways, it's the most inconvenient - there is no sink on the main floor now and I have to fill my water bottle in the tub and wash dishes in a sink next to a toilet in the basement - it will be at least a month till we have a sink

I'd like to report that I have tons to write for the blog, but the truth is, I am too tired. We are so close to being ready for drywall I can taste it (literally - I was installing soundproof insulation in the ceiling today and more than a little got all over me - it was itchy and gross)... I know there will still be a lot to do after the drywall is up, but it's all finishing work after that. CAN'T WAIT! Anyway, maybe next weekend while drywall is going up I'll get clever and post pictures and anecdotes, but for now know that we are working our butts off - Jake works usually 10ish hours a day, and I usually work 8-9 (mostly because by then I get tired and then annoyed and it's better for everyone if I just stop). We haven't had a day off from this kind of schedule yet, and I am pooped. SO CLOSE! SOOOOOO CLOSE!

I'm noticing a trend: bitchy, whiny post followed up by extremely positive days. Interesting. Today I spent most of the morning cleaning and tidying the upstairs. 5 buckets of water later, we can walk around in bare feet. I also did a number on the spare room, so it no longer looks like this: Where's the bed? Instead, it is ready to receive a visitor this weekend - Kristy, we will squeeze you in, by hook or crook! Not bad, eh?  Perfectly acceptable, no? My mood has rebounded 1000% because of the reduced chaos up here. Renovation tip #2305: take the time to CLEAN UP! Sometimes (and this happened to us over the past couple of days) it seems like all there is time for are the big messy projects, and of course they take longer than you think but if you don't take some time to stay on top of the chaos, there is no relaxing at the end of the day. Just more stress. You can't sit anywhere and not see insanity - brutal. I also tidied up the computer room and

I have so much to say about all of the following tid bits, but I'm afraid that if I don't do this little blurb, I'm going to forget all of it. Also, I don't know if/when there will be time to write the post I WANT to write, which will be about 10,000 words long. 1. I am old. Proof: At camping last weekend, me (along with most of the other people there) went to bed at 10:30 and got up at 7. Further Proof: While in Vancouver, we went on a hike. What may be my last hike ever, because my knees and hips pretty much gave up functioning on the descent. 2. Old Friends - there is nothing like them: Spent a most amazing weekend with incredible women. We went to high school together, sort of went our separate ways, maintaining various amounts of contact with each other, and now 13 years later we are better friends than ever. 3 days in a 1 bedroom apt with 3 and sometimes 4 people would test any relationship. Ours all thrived. I am blessed to know such wonderful, strong, honest

There is nothing like a project with major impact to get you out of a renovation funk. As promised, I am feeling a lot better about things today. Back to business as usual. Today there was huge progress on two fronts: 1. 3 out of 4 openings are beamed! We couldn't do the fourth one because the chimney is still in the way, but that one will be a piece of cake. 2. The old hot water tank was disconnected today and we are officially running on the NEW SYSTEM! I had a shower with just a touch of hot water to cut the cold a little, and it was pretty good. The heat guys still aren't 100% done - they will be back Monday or Tuesday to finish up their job, but now that the hot water is disconnected, we can adios the chimney. And now for pictures! One of our 'small' jobs yesterday was to frame in this window, since it will be covered with upper cabinets in the near future. We figured it was ok to lose one window, considering there are 35 in the house + one patio do

A few days ago an old friend emailed me asking for renovation advice, and also how long it was till we put the walls back up and what it looks like now. Obviously she doesn't read the blog ;) To be honest, I'm feeling a myriad of things regarding the reno right now. In no particular order: 1. Excited! We have tentatively booked spray foam for July 24 (ish), and drywall to start (hopefully!) on July 26th or 27th. That means there are about 3ish weeks till we're FINISHING things up! And the kitchen can go in! Also, just to add to the exclamation points, Kyle just dropped off some beaming tools that will make tomorrow's jobs of putting up the beams so much easier and faster. That will be big progress. 2. Frustrated. It is REALLY hot right now, and with no insulation, the house is basically an oven. Everything gets more annoying in this kind of heat. The only thing this weather is good for is laying around with your feet in cold water, which I love to do, but can'