Little by Little

Here's "during" and "almost done" photos of our mudroom. I told the girls they could have some say in the colour we painted it so they quickly decided on blue. I like it. It's bright and very easy to look at. Crisp and clean. Kevin is learning the dos and don'ts of tiling. We put a heating pad under part of the floor and are now wishing we had done the whole thing. Oh well...it's called budgeting. Kevin put a closet organizer in the closet on Wednesday night so now everyone can hang up their coats. It sure is nice to walk out to the van in the confines of the garage.

Little by little we are getting done.

Poinsettia Festival

Here is just a taste of some of the interesting ways to dress up a poinsettia. Notice the names on the cards. Kevin in our innovative namer. The sunset picture I took around 4:30. It had been snowing lightly all day, sometimes with the sun shining, sometimes cloudy, but at 4:30 the sun shot out from behind the clouds and shone golden in through the side of the greenhouse. The camera didn't really do it justice to what it was really like but still pretty.

I wish I could show you how pretty the candlelight night we had last night was. It's really hard to film that. Everything is serene and soft with a touch of sparkle. We are holding it again tonight, Saturday night, so you can still come out. It was amazing... a couple we talked to came all the way from Orangeville to see our "Poinsettias by Candlelight"!

more house

This picture is not the latest but I haven't taken any since. There have been some changes but the picture with all of us was our first breakfast eating in our new kitchen! We are all enjoying it very much. We love the roominess and counterspace. Kev and I are still working on finishing up some other stuff and have a friend who volunteered to come help install baseboard. That's happening this week. It's definitely livable but there's still stuff to do. Yesterday I was able to park in the garage for the first time! That was so wonderful as it was raining and I had to head over to the school. The bikes are in too....no more wet butts in the morning! Hopefully our eavestrough will get done this week and our builder will come back soon and finish the door frames in the hallway so we can get the flooring put down. Hmmm...maybe I should call and remind him....

Stinky water!

Well, we are on our way to Christmas. Every year I am surprised at how early the stores get christmas product out and yet here I am on the verge of christmas here at work. My brain seems to be a little slow in thinking about this, I do no like the round robin of the retail business. I know it should be a challenge and maybe someday it will be, but my heart doesn't seem to be in it lately. Now that the kids are older, it almost seems busier. I'm working more too, which I didn't when they were little so was able to get stuff done at home. I'm not trying to whine, I just find it frustrating when I can't keep up with the housework the way I want to. Then extra stuff like this happens....I went downstairs to tuck Samantha in a couple of nights ago and stepped on a wet spot on her carpet. Started to investigate and realized that the old fridge I was defrosting had leaked onto the floor and under the wall, into her bedroom and soaked probably a fifth of her carpet and underlay. It was a mess. The box I had put in the fridge to catch the water had holes in it (stupid me for not catching this!) so the water had just kept dripping out. So I ran for some towels and got that under control. Sam and I started clearing out her room and moving her bed so we could yank the carpet up. I put a fan and the dehumidifier in her room, tucked her in, and hoped for the best. Well, it's Friday now and yesterday, the basement stunk! But this morning the carpet and underlay are almost dry so I will Febreeze them tonight and then tomorrow morning Sam and I will tackle her room. It's needed cleaning for some time but I didn't plan on cleaning it this way! Oh well, it could've been worse...it was just a pain in the "patoot".
Our renovations are coming along slowly but tonight the kids will be able to come in the garage door and use the mudroom! Just in time as it is raining and muddy today.

I will post more pictures when I get a chance. Soon we will have a faster computer at home so I will be able to it there and not at work on my break.