I'm on a diet!

Follow me as I take the long journey to loose weight and feel better! Yup, it's time to shed those winter hibernation pounds and work diligently towards my bathing suit figure... Hah, that will take some doing, but I'm determined. Already in the past 2 weeks I have lost 5.5 lbs so I'm encouraged. Today I went back on my strick regime of water, water, water and lots of walking. Oakley will certainly benefit from this! This evening Teresa and I met and we walked Oakley for the long block. It was a nice evening for walking. I'm tired now and my heel is sore, but it feels good to do this and I seriously want to maintain this and loose those unwelcomed extra pounds. Ralph has promised to keep a close eye on my eating habits and I'm sure with his help, I'll make progress. I'll report on my progress as I go along. Wish me luck!!

Creative Memories weekend

We had a wonderful time this weekend at the Creative Memories Retreat. Teresa and I shared a room and Grace and Janette were in the room next to us. We certainly got a lot of work done on our albums and I really enjoyed myself there. It was so nice to spend the weekend with Teresa and catch up, and to also share the weekend with Janette and Grace. We finished off each evening in Teresa and my room where we all enjoyed a nice glass of wine and talked about all sorts of things. I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend with my extended family. Claudia and her team did an excellent job hosting the event and the place that we stayed at was awesome. I would highly recommend this Inn for any small function that you might think of hosting. It was the Erin Country Inn. It has 8 bedrooms and is perfect for this type of get together. The food was very good, the room's pleasant and well decorated and the host's were very friendly and accommodating.

While I was away, Ralph and Ron cut out the new dining room windows. I think that will make a huge difference. I'm very happy with how this is going to look.

When I got home today, Ralph and I took Oakley for a nice long walk. I'm tired now, but I feel good because of it.

A new day

Well Friday has arrived. Not much has changed since Wednesday. No further work has taken place on the house so now it's a wait and see what happens with the weather. We were hoping that at the minimum some of the styrofoam could be added but so far nothing has happened. Ralph has pretty well caught up with the small chores (like pushing out the rest of the windows etc). Tomorrow they are going to drill through the wall and add the additional windows in the dining room. That will be nice.

I'm leaving tonight with Teresa and we're going to a Creative Memories weekend retreat. That should be a lot of fun. I'll post pictures when we return. Last night Anne and I along with Gail - Michelle's mother inlaw, worked on our albums. We also created some Art Cards. This was something that I learned at the crop last week. It was fun. We can trade them or use them in our layouts.

The work has begun!!

Today Henderson and his partner have started to apply the "bear" coat! This is a coat of sealer that protects the wood from moisture. This is the first step of the stucco'ing process. It's exciting to know that we are starting to progress. Ralph still has a few things left to do, but now he can pace himself to stay ahead of them and won't have to work nearly as hard.

Ron came by today with prices for the new door and side light. We're still a little undecided so he has gone to get us some more prices. It's so hard to pick something from a small picture in a book. I guess I'm being a little fussy, but I want to be sure that it's something we both like.

I have started to clean up the main floor. It's going to be a slow process as we still have more hammering and concrete to remove when the windows are installed, but the dust was so heavy that I had to do something. It sure feels like we are making progress all of a sudden! Ralph will need to make another trip or two to the dump before everything is finished and we have saved the aluminum for Ron to take as scrap!!

More changes

l got a phone call from Ralph today at work. What do you think if we add a light (it's called a one light), beside the front door? We need to make a decision now, because if we decide in a year or so from now, it will be more work and more costly to do... So, I'm sure you can imagine my answer.... ok go ahead and while you're at it, can you ask Ron if he'll put a window in our dining room. So Ron and Ralph went to work on removing the concrete panel to add another window. It will add more light in the front hall which will be nice and it will center the door nicely under the porch. Ron took the measurements for two new windows in the dining room as well. I'm very pleased that we have decided to do that because it always has bothered me that the room was so dark. With respect to the siding and rest of the work around the house, I'm happy to report that this is now completed. With a few more trips to the dump and some major clean up around the house, it will start looking much better again. Henderson didn't come today as planned, but Ralph said that he had committed to starting tomorrow. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings...

When I got home from work tonight, Ron told me that Anne was coming over and she was making dinner. That was so nice of her. We had an awesome meal and I'll have to make sure that I get the recipe. It was nice to have dinner made (although I must admit that I feel guilty as I should be doing this job). They are very good friends and we really appreciate all their help and support.

What else will we find?

Well, today was certainly an interesting day! Ralph spent all day replacing wood on the back side of the house. To add to this, he fell through the deck and he was lucky he didn't break his leg. I think it's time to replace the deck! At one point, the wind was blowing so hard, it caught a piece of the plywood that he was holding that he thought for sure he would be thrown backwards off the ladder. I'm sure that it was through the grace of God that he found the strength in his legs to hold on because both his hands were full holding onto the wood. What a day he has had. Thankfully Ed came by tonight to help him and they have now moved to the 4th and final wall. We'll certainly be happy when this part of the job is done. Up near the eve's trough's, Ralph pulled off wood that was being invested by Carpenter bee's. We've known that we had this problem for a couple of years and we have faithfully been spraying to try to keep them under control. It is amazing the amount of damage that they did. As well, Ralph still see's Ant's walking up the back wall. Tomorrow I'm going to contact an exterminator and find out what we need to do. Ah, the joy's of renovating!!

Weekend Crop!

Laura and I went to a crop on Saturday to raise money for the local Christian school. I thought I would show you a couple of the pages that Laura did. They turned out awesome!!

What a mess!!

Well, I'm home again and it's looking very much like a construction zone at our house. This weekend, Ralph discovered a huge ant investation in the back wall of the house. He found 8 queen ant's (I'm sure there were more) and they had done quite a bit of damage to the window frames and supporting wood in the walls. So, all the supporting wood around the windows was replaced and so was some of the chipboard as well because of water damage. We have to bring in an exterminator to help make sure that all the ants are gone. We also found carpenter bee damage in by the eve's trough's. Boy those little bugs sure can make a mess. Every room in my house that has a window will need new trim on the inside. Ralph is moving all the windows forward by about 1 inch to make them flush with the stucco. It sure is starting to be a big job. My bedroom will need to have some drywalling done and a new paint job as well.

The dust is everywhere right now. We finally had the hydro reconnected, so at least I can use my vacume cleaner to clean things up. It is pretty messy and dirty in the house. As you can imagine, everything gets tracked inside. It will take awhile, but I'm sure that by later tonight I'll have everything back to normal.

What beautiful weather

Well it certainly has become nice these past couple of days. Great weather for working on the house! I spoke to Ralph last night and things are progressing slowly. It's difficult to work without electricity. Our neighbours have been kind enough to let them use their power so he has an extension cord from their house to ours, but during the day he is using that to help with the placement of the "rotting wood" that he is finding as he removes the siding. Some of the foam is up although Ralph as saying that they've been asked not to remove all the siding because of the fear of rain. He's not sure how he's going to manage this because he has to go back to work on Monday. I'm going to take Monday morning off, to meet with the Hydro in order to get our power restored.

It's funny how dependant you are with the power. I had to call Ralph on his cell phone because all our home phones are plugged in and I don't think they work without power. I asked him to send me some pictures :-) without thinking of course, and he can't do that either because we don't have power. Oh well, I'll post new "house" pictures on Monday when I return.

Things are going very well here. Laura had a bit of a busier night with Hailey getting up twice. Haily is a bit of spitter so we have to be careful to make sure she doesn't lay on her back. She sleeps well. She seems to have her fussy period during the day, it moves from morning to afternoon. It certainly isn't bad and it doesn't include crying. She just likes to be held.

Today I am going out at lunch time with Herma. She wants to take me to a shop that she thinks I will find interesting. I will be nice to visit with her. I've been taking lots of pictures and updating my album. I have a lot of pictues of Jordan that I can use when I go to the retreat next week. We have so much fun together. I'm looking forward to our next week together in July. The fresh air will be really good for her and she has a lot of energy that she can use up in the field behind our trailer. We spent an hour outside yesterday playing with the toy's, blowing bubbles and drawing with chalk on the driveway. She just loves to be outside and the day was so beautiful.

Today's the big day!

So this is it! Today the work on the house starts! While the front overhang isn't finished, it is well underway. Ralph and Ed were planning on starting very early this morning and Ron and Jade were coming back today to continue work on the overhang. The Stucco work will start on the right hand side of the house. What a difference the front looks like already. I'm thankful to Anne for taking these pictures for me so I can keep up with the work that is taking place. I think it will be really nice once it's finished.

Another day of firsts!

This morning I thought it would be nice to sleep in. That wasn't in Jordan's plan! At 7:10 she called to me from her crib to get up. She wasn't in the mood for snuggling, she wanted to play with Oakley. So, off we went. I tried as best as I could to keep the noise down, but she is so full of energy and was happily chasing Oakley around the house. After a busy morning, she easily went down for a nap. I think she wore herself out! While Laura and I were busy with other things, Jordan climbed up into her high chair. This was a first and we were both very surprised. All we heard was "stuck"! This is Jordan's way of telling you that something is wrong and we need to investigate. We looked around and there she was, sitting in her chair with both legs caught on the left hand side of the chair. It was so cute. Yesterday afternoon and in the evening Laura and I worked on our Memory albums. We had a lot of fun. I made copies of some pictures and put them into a children's album that she had received as a gift when Hailey was born. This morning Jordan and I sat down and looked at the pictures. She was quick to point out Hailey and "Ama" (my new name). When we finished looking at the album I asked Jordan if I could have a kiss. She promptly flipped the page to the one with my picture on it and kissed the picture. I couldn't stop laughing. It was just so natural and innocent.

Today the weather here is overcast and dull. It's also pretty cool outside. We have Hailey quietly sleeping by the window in an effort to give her some sunshine. She has a mild case of jaundice and needs the light to help make it go away. She is a very squirmy little girl. Laura and Jay are going to have to watch her closely because she already moves on her own to her side when she is on her back. She also watches everything very closely and her eyes follow you. Laura is really fortunate. She only has to get up once during the evening and this is around 4:30. Not bad! When I get up in the morning, if Hailey is starting to fuss, I change her diaper and cuddle her to allow Laura to get some extra sleep.

Ralph is busy working away at home. He made good progress last night and today Ron is working on the front porch. Ralph plans to take a half day off and help Ron. We are extending the porch overhang to cover the entire landing. While it's not that big, it certainly will be a big job. I hope that the work goes well. Our new front window was installed yesterday. Ralph plans to send me some pictures soon so I can see what it looks like. Tomorrow is the big day!! Henderson will start the actual work on the Stucco. Tomorrow morning the Hydro will come and disconnect our service. They are saying they won't come back until Monday! I hope Ralph has some success in convincing them to come back late on Friday or at the minimum on Saturday morning. Teresa is going to help us by looking after my plants. I'm not too worried about some of them, but I certainly would be disappointed if I lost my orchids and Christmas cactus's.

More rain in the forecast

Well, once again, spring is bringing with it lots of rain. Yesterday was a windy and rainy day here in St. Thomas. Ralph is also disappointed that the weather is noat co-operating and allowing him to complete his work. Last night he focused his attention on extending the outside taps and it was a frustrating experience for him. He worked until 11:00 p.m. trying to get the work done and now he says he has to do more again tonight. I hope that it won't be quite as difficult as last night.

I enjoyed a wonderful day with Laura, Jordan and Hailey. Hailey spent the bulk of it sleeping. She hardly makes a sound. I'm amazed at how content she is. Laura gave her a bath last night - that was something! She doesn't like the bath and she cried at the top of her lungs. It was amazing that as soon as Laura took her out of the bath, she immediately stopped crying and promptly fell asleep. She already is sleeping between 4 and 5 hours at night time and her awake time seems to be in the morning. Laura is pretty blessed with this little one as she is then able to get enough sleep for herself as well. Jordan enjoys pulling out all the toys and then chases Oakley around the room with them. Poor Oakley, I think he's exhausted by the end of the day and looks forward to his crate where he can get some rest.

Such a sweet baby

Ralph and I headed to St. Thomas on Sunday morning. We had a wonderful day with Jay and Laura, Jordan and Hailey. Jay's family visited as well. Little Hailey spent most of the day sleeping. She is a very content little girl. Jordan and I took Oakley out for a nice long walk this morning. It sure is cold outside. Laura and Hailey are at the doctors this morning for their first week appointment. Hopefully all goes well. They are so blessed. Hailey sleeps 4-5 hours between feedings.

The kitchen looks great!

Well, all the coats of paint are done! I'm happy with the results. I still have some touchup's that need to be done, but that can wait till I return from my visit with Laura and Jay. I've hung up the curtains and placed all the plates and bowls on top of the kitchen cabinets. With a little fresh paint on the trim, we'll be all set. It was a long day and my feet are sore and I'm tired, but it feels good to see some progress. I hope by the time I come back next week Sunday that I'll be able to show you pictures from the outside.

Painting the kitchen

Since the weather hasn't been on our side to do work on the outside, I decided to work on the inside. Last Saturday Ralph and I picked up some colour swatches from Benjamin Moore and decided to paint our kitchen Raintree Green. It's a nice warm colour. It was a toss up between the green and a dark brown colour that Ralph liked, but I thought that might be just a bit too dark for our kitchen. I started priming the walls on Thursday evening. What a job. There certainly is a lot of cutting in around the windows and cabinets. Friday evening I put on the first coat of paint and today I hope to finish with a 2nd and if needed 3rd coat. I really like the results so far.

Will this weather ever get any better?

Rain, snow, rain, snow..... when will the weather settle down and allow spring in all's its glory arrive? This weather that we are having sure is frustrating. You simply cannot get any of the work done around the house to prepare for the Stucco. Once again the work has been delayed, however, weather permitting it is only a few days. The big problem is if it rains, we can't remove the siding because you don't want the wood to get wet. Sigh.... I'm happy we decided to do this work now and not in May or June, when the gardens will start to grow vigorously. I have purposely left my front garden bare with the exception of the rose bushes because I'm sure everything will get trampled once the work starts. By having the work done in April, there should be enough time for the plants to recover and still give a nice showing in the summer. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we'll have the house finished by the end of April or early May. So for now, my focus will be inward and I've decided to paint my kitchen. I've cleaned off all the tops of the cupboards and tonight I plan to tape off the ceiling and start priming. We've selected a green paint, that isn't too dark and it isn't too light. It's just in between. I hope that it turns out well. Time will tell. My goal is to have the entire kitchen finished by Saturday. If I prime tonight and tomorrow, I can paint the rest on Saturday. At the very least I can get 1 coat on and then put the 2nd coat on when I return from Laura's. We'll see how far I get. I really was hoping that the outside of the house would be finished in two week so we could start designing the new deck. I guess that will be May's project.

Our first visit

We drove to St. Thomas today after work to visit with Jason, Laura, Jordan and Hailey. It felt so nice to hold the new baby in our arms. She is so small. Her bone structure seems so fine and she hardly weighs anything. I'm not so sure that she looks like Jordan anymore. She has her own look and certainly has a lot of Jason in her. Her fingers are nice and long and I'm sure that she will take after her mother and enjoy playing the piano. She has pretty big feet as well. I wonder if this means that she will grow up to be tall like her Oma? We enjoyed a nice "short" visit and then headed for home. Four hours of driving was certainly worth the experience of holding our new grandchild, if only for a short little while. Jordan was home again and she doesn't seem to be cognizant at all about the new baby. She happily plays away, but we noticed that she keeps an eye on where Laura is and likes to stay close. I'm really looking forward to my extended visit next week. It will be a wonderful time to bond with Laura and Jason and spend more time with Jordan and Hailey.

What a beauty!!

Here are Hailey's first pictures. Isn't she beautiful. She looks just like Jordan. It's so amazing. Laura is doing well and she is already home. She came home this evening and is looking forward to sleeping in her own bed. Jordan is currently staying at Herma and Jerry's house (Jasons parents) and she will come home tomorrow. Ralph and I plan to head down to St. Thomas for a quick visit. I can't wait!!