Time to focus on the gardens!!

Well now that the bulk of the work has been done on the outside of the house, it's time for me to start working on my gardens. Without my care, they continue to flourish, but the weeds are there and they need pulling. I'll start with one garden at a time and see how much I get done. It's a labour of love and I enjoy doing it. I plan to work early in the morning each day before beginning my work. It shouldn't take that long.

The final piece gets finished

Well the peak is done and essentially that's it. We've decided that we don't like the peak. It's a unanimous decision so we've talked to Henderson and we're going to get a Stucco colour that will blend in with the roof. Right now the eye is drawn to the top of the house because of the peak. It's nothing that we did wrong, but just because it's there and the roof is black so you look right up towards it. It's not an urgent thing to fix, but something on our list of to do's for the next couple of weeks...

We had a nice dinner all together last night to celebrate all the hard work.

The work is done...

Well, it felt like the day would never come.... but it has. The Stucco'ing is complete. The final touches are happening as I type. Today will most likely be the last day that the crew is here working on our house. I think we're going to miss them!! Oakley treats them as his best friends. I know he'll miss the interaction for sure.

We are really pleased with the work. Henderson is going to leave the scaffolding for Ralph to use for the next couple of days so he can complete the flashing and evestrough's. We thought that was a very nice gesture.

We're nearing the end of Phase 1

Well, it's almost finished... We can see the end... The last wall is underway. Everyone is here working today. Calvin, Jumpa and Henderson were hear early to work on the last wall. The trim is up and the mudding is underway. Next week the Stucco work will be done. It feels good. The next is getting the soffit and facia and flashing done with the aluminum. Ralph has been up on the scaffoldng putting the flashing between the roof and the wall to help keep the water away. We're expecting rain tomorrow so it's important that we get as much done as possible. I'm thankful that it' a nice day.

A race against the sun!

It's bright and early - 6:00 a.m. and I hear noise outside already... Henderson and Jumpa are here to start stucco'ing the back wall. They have to get it on before the sun gets too warm. Yesterday it was just too hot to work. They couldn't even put the concrete on the last wall because of the heat. It's funny, you hope for beautiful sunny days not realizing how difficult it is to work with all the sun shining. We in the final stages now. The back wall should be done this morning and then all that's left is the side wall and some touchup's here and there...

The transformation begins

Wow, what a difference it makes with the Stucco added. Today the wall on the driveway side and most of the front of the house received a coat of Stucco. It's amazing how it transforms the house. I'm very happy with the results.

More trim work

A fun weekend!!

What a fun weekend. On Saturday we went to Buffalo for a day of shopping with Ron and Anne and then on Sunday, Jay and Laura and girls came down. Laura and I went to the shower for Jessica on Monday. It was a nice and relaxing weekend. Today the work continues with the trim receiving another coat of the stucco...

Painted Trim

The trim is now being painted with it's first coat of Stucco. Two sides of the house are ready for this step. The back of the house is partially trimmed, but they still need to do some sanding and adding of the band that goes around the house. Ralph and Henderson are working out the details about how to trim the peak as well.

Clinical Trial Day 2

This is where I have spent the last two days!! Today, I had to have brand new IV"s inserted. The one that was left in got clogged. My arms and wrists are a little tender now after all the needles. I got to watch the ultra sound today and it was amazing!!! It was quite an experience and I feel good about contributing to science.

Trim around the door

While the picture doesn't do it justice, we think the front door looks awesome.. Right now the old door sort of takes your eyes away from the moulding. Good progress is being made. I'd say that 1/2 the house is now ready for the stucco. Maybe this will get done tomorrow...

Day 1 of the Clinical Trial

Today was the first day of the Kidney study that I am participating in. It was quite interesting actually. By the end of the day, I had 3 different IV's attached to my arms. I had 3 ultra sounds (all looking at my veins) and every 15 minutes my blood pressure was checked and my sugar results taken (that's every 15 minutes from 8:00-4:30). As well, on the 1/2 hour 2 tubes of blood were taken as well for analysis. My sugar was great all through the day. It was an average of about 5.1 which was being controlled by my pump. The doctor was very pleased and said that my results from today were the best they have had in this study. Tomorrow, as part of the test, they want my sugar's to run between 9-11 and this will be done by giving me sugar intravenously. (I would have preferred a chocolate bar, but I guess that's harder to control ;-)).
I was able to keep up with most of my emails while lying comfortably in bed. All in all it wasn't a bad day. Tomorrow will be a shorter day and they told me that if all goes well, we'll be finished by 3:00. I will then go back 8 weeks later (after being on a new Kidney medication (or placebo)) for 2 more days of tests. Hopefully this will help to introduce a new medication that will be used by Diabetics to help reduce the problem with the hardening of the veins that lead into the kidney's as a result of the presence of sugar in the blood (this is seen by traces of protein that spill into the urine - which is caused by holes in the kidney's as a result of the stiff arteries carrying the blood - a bit complicated, but it made sense to the doctors).

California.....here we come!!!

Well, we're booked for our trip next year with Teresa and Lawrence. We saw a great deal come up on Expedia and it was too good to pass up. We're flying to Las Vegas for the weekend (Thursday to Sunday) and then going from there to Los Angeles. We'll rent a car in LA and then travel up the coast to San Francisco... It's right in the middle of the whale migration so we hope to see plenty of them while we're there. We have almost a whole year now to plan and find hotels for our travels up the coast. We're leaving on March 20 and returning on April 5. Lawrence and I will be able to celebrate our birthdays along the way...

New Window's and more trim

I'm so happy!!! Ron came last night and installed the glass in the windows. It's amazing how much light they let into the house. I wish we had done this years ago, but that's ok - it's done now and they look great!!! You wouldn't believe how much you can see out of these windows. When I'm old and grey and want to spy on my neighbours, I'll have an awesome view ;-). I can see the back door, into the neighbours backyard, and all the way to the front sidewalk from the side windows. It's awesome.

As well, more trim went up today. While the pictures don't do it justice, the side columns look very much like pillars. It's quite the work of art. We're very impressed. As well, the front window has also been trimmed and it looks great. The trim work is very meticulous and time consuming. I guess our house was quite the job, as we have lots of windows (5 on the back plus a door) so the focus has been on getting that work done. It's nice to see the progress being made. Today was a hot day to be working up against the concrete all day!!!

Diet news!

Well, I'm down a consistent 7 lbs. It's been up and down a little bit over the last week or so, but I feel confident that I have shed at least 7 lbs. I'll feel much better when I get past this hump so to speak. Part of the problem is that I think I'm building muscle because I'm doing long walks each day and maybe I'm drinking too much tea and the water isn't able to have the same effect. So, thanks to some good information from Debbie, I've changed to decaf tea and I'll keep up the water consumption and see if that helps.

On Wednesday I'm going into Toronto General Hospital to participate in a Clinical trial for a new medication for your kidney's. I'm pretty excited about it actually since it's part of a study that will help reduce the problems that Diabetic's experience with the hardening of the arteries and thinning of the kidney walls as a result of sugar in the blood stream. In total I'll be in the hospital for tests for 4 days. Two days this week and then 8 weeks later I'll be in for another 2 days. It's non evasive and apparantely very relaxing. So what I have got to loose right? Also, one of the fringe benefits is that they pay me for my time. I'll receive $100.00 per day plus expenses (meals, parking etc.). I'll let you know how it goes later this week.

The Pillars are up!!

Wow, they look awesome!!! Today was spent cutting and measuring to get ready to put up trim. The pillars were put up by the front entrance. It's quite a job with all the measuring that needs to be done..

Hailey's Baptism

We woke up to a crisp and cool morning. I was worried that it might be too cool to sit outside after church this morning. Well, I was wrong!! The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day today and we were able to enjoy a wonderful lunch together with most of the family after the baptism.

Hailey was so good during the baptism. The minister had commented that Hailey doesn't like water and she demonstrated that by waving her arms when he sprinkled the water on her forehead. She didn't cry though. We had Jordan with us in church as well. She was quite busy checking out everything that was going on so Ralph gave her a drink from her sippy cup to keep her quiet. She was also very good while the baptism was taking place.

It was nice to be all together as a family. We are so blessed in this way. Unfortunately Ed, Mom and Dad Helmus didn't stay because they had luncheon plans with Christine. Christine wasn't able to join us because of school commitments. Just as we were all getting ready to leave, Ed called us to tell us that there was a bad accident on the highway and they were still stuck in traffic!!! This was after 3:00 p.m. In the end they didn't get home to Christine until 5:00ish (which is the same time we got home). Fortunately for us Ed's phone call saved us a long trip home and we took a detour over highway 403. It took us less than 2 hours to get home. See Ed, you could have had a sandwich, cake and coffee and still made it home at the same time... I hope your bladder wasn't too full from coffee at church!!!

All in all, it was a nice afternoon. We are so thankful to God for the commitment that Laura and Jay have made to raise Hailey to love and obey him.

Catch up!!!

I was gently reminded today that I have to keep my blog up to date. Sorry Ed, I'll try to do a better job :-) Here is the most current pictures of our house. Pretty good eh! Good progress was made on Friday. The pillars are here - Henderson delivered them late Friday evening. The plan is to continue putting up trim this week and finishing off the rest of the styrofoam on the back of the house. They only need to do 1 more row. Ralph has put up the roof jacks with a wooden board across the top so that they can work on the peak of the house as well.