Christmas Eve

So today we finally decided to try out the shuffleboard on our side yard. It worked pretty well once we got the corn meal sprinkled down. We played on the front yard and had some photo sessions in front of the Christmas tree.

(And yes, Sydney is wearing a summer top as it's about 76 degrees here today!!) Despite the weather, we are trying our best to get into the spirit of things...

Men of Ginger

Well this year we finally had a nice new kitchen in which to make the men of ginger. There was enough room on the counters for the cookie sheets, the cooling racks and a rolling dough spot. Then there's the convection oven which means that I was able to stack the pans and still have them cook evenly! Last year I could only bake 6 at a time!!

So, we ended up with 107 men this year, plus a few other shapes for the kids to decorate. We gave most of them away as Xmas gifts but we still have a few lingering about. It took all weekend, but it's a labour of love you see.

Here are some pics of our favorite custom ones...

Madison's Art

Madison recently got her art hung in a restaurant. She was so excited and proud of herself as were we. It's a program at her Elementary School called Hands On Art. Parent volunteers attend a workshop led by a particular artist and then come into the classroom to teach it to the children. The kids then produce a piece of artwork in the style of that artist.

Santa Photo 2007

I didn't want to be in the photo, but I could tell as soon as we neared Santa's village that Sydney was not going to have anything to do with it. At least we got a smile out of her...

My Splurge

I earned some money from my graphic design work, and spent it all on this and some shelves for the kids toys. Little did I know that by the following week I'd need that money for groceries! At least I can gaze hungrily at my new coat/shoe thingy...
The cushion is on back order.

Girls Brushing Their Teeth - The Video

The Girls

Just thought I would upload some new pics of the girls since there isn't much going on in the house. Grouted the tile, but now have to put some kind of sealant on it, then caulk around the edges, then put up the under cabinet wood to hide the lighting. Plus baseboards and window trim.

Still sorting the odd box here and there and trying to pick out window coverings. I'm surprised by how long I'm able to stand the vinyl shower curtains. But you do what you gotta do right?

Tuesday, November 13th

I really need some help here. I am totally overwhelmed and depleted by this kid. Madison never went through the "terrible twos". She was really nasty at 3 (and now again at 6 - maybe it's a 3 year cycle?), but it wasn't the same kind of mischief that a 2-year old gets into. Maddie never wondered what was in every kitchen, hallway, and bathroom closet in the whole house like Sydney does. Madison was always pretty mellow and I hate to say the word - - obedient! Sydney is in the "no" phase, and copies everything that Maddie does, which at this point is not a good plan.

Today, while she was quiet in her room, which I assumed meant "napping", actually turned out to instead be "getting into major shit". I heard her crying that she had an "owie". I opened the door quickly, wondering what she may have bumped into and what body part needed kissing - a sweet but stupid little fantasy in my head. Instead I found her covered head to toe in Desitin - you know that creamy, white, oily, sticky zinc oxide butt cream? It had gotten in her eyes, which were now red and stinging, and her eyes were the least offensive place I found that fucking cream.

She had climbed onto the change table, emptied all the drawer contents and diapers, found all the creams (and there were several varieties in there), taken off all the lids and smeared them all over the diapers, the carpet, the change table, her toys, the wipes box, her clothes, her face, her hair, etc., etc. There were also several dozen wipes all balled up that she had used to aid in her smear campaign.

I gave her one bath and two shampooings. Kevin later gave her a second bath and third shampooing as we could not get rid of the flock of seagulls hairdo that was induced by the creams.

I know that I should be able to just laugh at little things like this. I know that this is supposed to be the best time in her life and that I am supposed to be so grateful that I can afford to take this time to be at home with her. I know that I am supposed to treasure these "precious moments", blah, blah, blah... BUT WHY DOES THIS JOB HAVE TO SUCK SO BAD???!!

Yes, it's not fatal. Yes, she, her room and it's contents are in fact washable. But god dammit I am SO done with cleaning up messes constantly!!! I cannot keep her in a time out at this age. I cannot lecture her. The only way I found to teach her that what she had done was wrong was to make her help clean it up, yell alot, and not let her watch a movie with Maddie. I don't think any of those things sunk in or made any kind of impact whatsoever.

What am I supposed to do? Install those stupid child locks on every cupboard in the house? B.S.

It wouldn't be so bad if I also didn't have to deal with Madison's daily meltdowns and generally nasty and negative attitude towards pretty much everything. If she is THIS bad at 6, what am I going to do when she is a teen ager? Where did I go wrong? How can I get a handle on this before it escalates? I'm drowning. I'm sinking. I'm starting to give up.

November 10th - Tiling

So today we tackled the backsplash tiling. It was actually quite fun, but our backs are going to be SOOOO sore tomorrow!



I was in charge of the cutting. I love that wet tile saw!

It is looking good - rustic, but modern at the same time. Now we have to let it set for 48 hours, then scrub with a brush to clean the glass and get the mortar out, and then we can do the grout which will be an off-white colour.

I think that the kitchen is ALMOST done now, except for some paint touch-ups, the baseboard/window trim, and the final part of the tiling. But of course, now that we have moved in, we have found many more projects to do.

I just had to throw in a before shot composite at the bottom....

Thursday November 8th

The Scotts left this morning. I have a paying project to work on (yes, my boss called me two days after I moved to tell me about it!). And Kevin fiddled with the phones and now our phone doesn't work, so if anyone at all out there is reading this, and you want to reach me, make it email or cell...

Tuesday, November 6th

Well let's see, what have we accomplished in the last few days? Well, we got the garage mostly cleaned up - a giant task, but still haven't parked a car in there yet. We sorted some more boxes, installed the anti-slam devices on the cabinets, Papa Scott did the kick plates around the floor cabinets, and installed some dimmer switches. Mama Scott organized our fridge so now I can actually see what's in there!

We can't quite seem to find a floor transition piece that works well between the carpet and kitchen flooring and the back splash tiling is a big job looming over our heads! Then there's all the baseboards and window trim, and installing new doors... Ugh.

But we did get all new windows installed yesterday. They look fabulous!

Saturday, November 3rd

Well the plumber came yesterday to get the faucet, garbage disposal and dishwasher started. He then came again to fix a leak in what he did yesterday. At least he didn't have the typical plumber "butt crack" problem.

Today Kevin put a bunch more empty boxes up in the attic and began cutting the base for what will be our "office desk" in the kitchen. Once Papa Scott arrives today he will be put immediately to work!

Here is a pic of what I now call "The Reynolds Room"...

The Countertop Is Here!!!

Well, after several days of living with plywood, the beautiful new Quartz countertop was installed today. The Armenian men came and spent about 8 hours installing it. They truly are artists. They cut, lugged, tweaked, and perfected the whole thing. The seams are almost invisible! It turned out great and we are very pleased with it. Plus, it will be easy to maintain. No special cleaners, and you can even put a hot pot on it!

The sink and cooktop are now in place, but we still need the plumber to come tomorrow and hook up the sink and dishwasher.

I can't wait for a functioning sink!! Washing dishes in the bathroom sink is truly disgusting! Ever since Vashti's Seinfeld comment, I just can't get the image of Kramer in the shower holding the head of lettuce over the in-tub erator!

The Scott folks will arrive on Saturday just in time for a fully functioning, but not-quite-yet-complete kitchen. Still need to tweak cabinet doors, install some interior shelves and hardware, install the kick plates and panels that hide the under-cabinet lighting as well as the soon-to-be-beautiful glass back splash. Grandpa Scott will be kept VERY busy!!!

p.s. Please scroll down for two additional new posts with photo updates...

House Updates

Here's some new photos from around the new house. They were taken on Halloween, and we have actually cleared away most of the boxes by the end of today (November 1st). When I say "cleared away", I mean, I stuffed things into cupboards haphazardly, but now I still have to organize all the cupboards and closets. But at least it doesn't look as messy now.

Photo Line-Up: Kitchen Mess 1 and 2 / Kid's Play Room 1 and 2 / Kids Room 1 and 2 / Master / Office / Laundry

Notice the giant TV in the master? What was wrong with the old one I ask? It worked great and fit in the wardrobe. Now I'm told that the wardrobe, which holds the perfectly good TV AND all of my clothes must go and the new giant TV will eventually be hung on the wall! Gee, thanks for the heads up A/V boy! p.s. Another giant TV will also adorn the wall in the living room finally fulfilling a long time dream of A/V boy! There was nothing I could do. This matter was NOT up for discussion.
(But neither will my Pottery Barn Kids shopping spree! Ha ha!)

Notice also that the washer/dryer now fit into the hallway closet, but the doors will not close and had to be removed altogether - so now we will have to come up with something for that eye sore!

Photo Catch-Up

First I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Anna! Glad you got the card. I gave it one week to get to New Zealand hoping that it wouldn't take two!

Things are progressing in the new house and the Scott girls seem to be enjoying their new neighbourhood. Trick-or-treating was a big success, except for Sydney's large wipe out. We didn't see the blood or the giant bump on her head until we got into the bright bathroom at bedtime. She was such a trooper. She said "Happy Halloween" to everyone when they gave her candy. She insisted on carrying her own treat bag (actually Maddie switched with her when Syd's broke in the wipe-out) even though it was WAY too heavy for her. She only got into the stroller once (compared to Maddie's several times). We only went on three streets (all so short that you can see from end to end) yet our bags were full.

They had a few tough nights sleeping in the new house and Sydney is still adjusting but I think the transition was fairly smooth since we have spent so much time here over the past month.

Photo Line Up: Moving Day / Good Bye to old bedroom / Sydney's School Costume / Frankie the Pumpkin / Super Kids

Monday, October 29th

We are all moved in. Lots of boxes. Lots of mess. Unable to find things. And, no kitchen. But all is well.
Only one glitch with the washer / dryer. Had to remove some shelving and MacGyver the dryer vent to get it to fit.

DirectTV had FIVE guys over here last night installing our satellite dish. I think they were trying to make contact with the international space station!

Gotta get the kids to school so I can go over to the old house and do some touch-up painting and supervise the house cleaners.

Bye for now!

MOVING DAY! Saturday, October 27th

It's 9:30 am. The movers will be here in half an hour and we are right on schedule. Kevin is doing some last minute TV disconnects, and I am loading the car and entertaining the kids. Actually, the TV is doing that, I'm just supervising. Wish us luck!

Friday, October 26th

Sorry, I can't upload any photos because my computer is almost completely packed away except for the monitor, keyboard and mouse. Anyway, the only thing I have to show are piles of boxes and Sydney in her Halloween costume.

The kitchen has been packed so I guess it's dinner out tonight, and for the next week since our kitchen will not be done in time. Surprise, surprise. Had we known that the countertop would take two weeks, we would have worked harder and later to get the cabinetry done on time.

The countertop guys will come on Thursday November 1st so we will have no counter, and therefore, no sink with garbage disposal, no cooktop - and I doubt that we can use the stove or dishwasher until it's all done. So we only really have a fridge, microwave, and a bbq. We can always wash dishes in the bathroom sink right? Yuk.

Did I say yet that moving sucks?

Wednesday and Thursday

Were a blur. I don't even remember what I did. Must have been more packing...

Kevin has given up on the kitchen until we move in. It's just too exhausting.

We move in on Saturday and then our counter top (plus sink, garbage disposal and cook top) will be installed on Thursday November 1st. Suckfest, but it could be worse I guess.

Tomorrow, final packing and our last night in the old house.

Tuesday, October 23rd

Kevin went to work. I stayed home with Syd, watched the fires burn on TV, and did some more packing. Madison went to school, then the dentist, and finally to the pediatrician for her flu shot.

I am so tired of packing. It never stops. The household goods are replicating when I turn my head. There is no end in sight....

Kitchen Remodel Day 39 - October 22

Well, I'm still sick today so I had to cancel my volunteer work in Madison's classroom which really bummed me out. My only trip to the house was to pick up the 4 lazy susans for the corner cabinets and all the Ikea rubber drawer liner rolls so I could measure and cut them from the comfort of my old house. Only down side was that my soap opera was not on today because some place called California was on fire.

I also spent a lot of time on the phone calling various companies to give out our new address and doing some more packing.

When I arrived at the house I found Martin there bright and early and apparently he was there all day as he reported at dinner time that he had completed all of the in-cabinet AND under cabinet lighting! So all he has left to do is the large main panel at the back of the house which is scheduled for tomorrow.

Kevin headed over there after dinner to work on some more spacers between the cabinets. Not much we can do until the counter top comes except keep working on installing the doohickies inside the various cupboards which Kevin doesn't seem very keen on doing and is totally beyond my brain power at this time.

That's all I have to say at this time...

Kitchen Remodel Day 38 - October 21

So we got more done today than on previous days. I doped up on cold medicine and just pushed myself - I'll be paying for that tomorrow!

We replaced the knobs on the hallway cupboards, and installed all the handles on the kitchen cabinetry (looks really sharp). Kevin, with the help of Martin, MacGyvered the hood. We will have to live with a channel of screws on one side, but after all the shit we've been through, I think I can handle that.

I cut and inserted all the rubbery shelf liner stuff in the bottoms of the drawers but am still working on the curvy pieces for the four lazy susans (pain in the ASS!).

Martin installed the living room lights, which look exactly like the kitchen ones but in white instead of silver. NIce.




Kevin cut the oven panel which proved to be very difficult, and then used the spare oven panel to make the spacers as the product they provided us with looked like shit. It's a little wonky, but we don't know how else to do it and Ikea just dropped the ball so we will have to live with it I guess.



The ice cream truck came by, and Sydney enjoyed her Spiderman popsicle. And the new neighbours "Boo"'d us. I have never been Boo'd before, and I'd like to be Boo'd again. The neighbours anonymously left a sweet little pail full of Halloween treats and toys for the girls with a little poem that explains that you should then Boo someone else. Kind of like tag, or what is that concept called? Chain mail? But much better.



One more week 'till we move in, and the countertop/sink/garbage disposal/stove may not be in place by the time we do....