Window coverings..... wheeeeeee

No longer do I live in a gold fish bowl with plastic and green tape crosses on the windows to try to save the birdies....I did take off one side a few weeks ago and a tiny thrush tried to come in right away.  He must have seen my plants on the inside and just flew straight out of the big spruce and right into the window...trying to get to the plant I think.  Poor little guy.  I put green tape crosses on it right away and left the other plastic on.... but,  now...it can come off on the first day above zero ...and the outsides can be washed.....

Please excuse the oven in the dining room.  New opening on it's way.....

Ever closer to being back to normal..... although the kitchen won't be in total action for several weeks yet from the sounds of it.... but, tomorrow...  maybe the fridge will be hooked up.  That'll be nice...the other one is out in the garage...and it is getting pretty cold to dart in and out for things.... I just want to stay in where it is toasty and warm.

Furniture movers are supposed to be coming today.... but are already over an hour and a half late..... so I hope they still do show up.....

The roads are slippery and they could be just running late.....

Fingers crossed.....

Oh, and ...forgot to say the little thrush was fine.... if slightly dazed for a bit.  I saw him staggering around on the ground under the spruce...then hopping..then he flew up into the tree and gave me what for.... as I was quickly tearing off tape and getting in the windows.....

There's a snow warning...

...and it's happening ...... big fluffy flakies..... falling steadily.... accumulating rapidly....
Can't believe winter came this soon and is definitely hanging around. Yesterday it was -8C, but with the wind ...darn, it felt more like -15C.... brrrrr...

my ribbon grass again... drooping now ...

And, look what's blooming in the house?  Not very many blooms this year, but, I'm surprised it survived at all.  It has been moved from here to there and back again and totally covered in dust and grime and not even watered most weeks since July.  I cleaned it up and voila... flowers....
My American Thanksgiving Cactus....it refuses to wait for Christmas.... hahahha...

I'm washing down all the plants .... real and artificial .... they are all filthy and covered in dust...of varying types.... drywall, sawdust and just plain ol' dirty dust from living in the garage for months and then moving into the basement when it got too cold for them outside... somehow they too, survived.  They must be tougher than I gave them credit for.
This one is tall enough I have to sit on the ladder to get the top branches...

"Serenity NOW!!'

Remember that ?   George's Dad on Seinfeld ... while undergoing anger management or something.  Only he didn't say it serenely... of course.  He yelled it out loud in line-ups or wherever he was getting frustrated.  I loved it and laughed my head off.

Not laughing now... just saying it.  Every day.

But, today... for you....... I'm just going to show you something cute and interesting.

At first I was taken aback when they put on the new cold air vents... painted the trim colour... because it seemed to me they made huge holes for the screws.  So, then ...of course, the holes must be filled.  With little mushroom shaped dowel thingies.... which need painting the same colour and with the same enamel paint as the vents.

I learned a painter's trick.

He stuck them all on a piece of masking tape and dipped them, like chocolates, into the big bucket of paint.  Then just let them dry.

See how nice and shiny they look?  No brush strokes or taking ages to paint them individually..... like our contractor admitted he had just done at the previous house he was finishing.  Hahahah.....  we all learn something every day around here.  Sadly .... not all of it good.

Not much  happening this week yet...except a lot of cleaning ...and a lot of waiting....

My new bedroom ... all cleaned .... washed myself into a corner ...

But, I also dry after washing...so was able to walk on it straight away.

.....and... yesterday we forced the big mattress up the steps...with some help from the plumber... whew...thank goodness he was there...I was definitely failing on my end of the queen size.

New digs.... all clean, shiny, and freshly painted..... now where is the rest of that bed?   Doesn't even look that big from the angle does it? ... ..and with the extra length of the bedroom now that we moved walls back about 3 feet.

More cleaning today....it all seems to look worse before it looks better....

And...no stove top hooked up...no fan hooked up and trim on yet..... no oven opening fixed yet....no dishwasher panel on....no fridge panels ready yet...oh,....and ...no microwave opening fixed yet.... and nobody will be doing anything til end of week (maybe) and then hopefully..... the rest ...Dec 4.   It's well past the time we were supposed to be moving back in.  And.. not the contractor's fault.  The cabinet guys are dragging their feet and making life miserable for everybody else.  Several things got put on hold.

 Wonder if I will be using anything in my kitchen by December 25th?

Oh, well....I still have lots to keep me busy.  The plumber finished up yesterday and I have lots of nice hot water for cleaning.

Onward with buckets of soapy water and several cleaning cloths....  my poor hands are like Velcro...and I am useless with rubber gloves.  They seem to be off more than on. ...  unless I get some surgical gloves...just too darn bulky....

Second cuppa coffee...here I come.....

something fun ....

These are the tiles I found for the new en suite bathroom..... just one course of mainly field tiles the same background colour with a few of these interspersed here and there.  There are other little characters...but, these two are the nicest of the grouping.  Maybe a row of little "liner" tiles above them... I've never heard that term before ..I've always thought of them as trim ... but, there are some with tiny bumps on them that remind me of bubbles.... they could work great.

I especially love the lily pad one ...  aren't they cute?

A slap in the face...

I guess the guy doing the hardwood didn't like it when I noticed a repair job he did.  There seemed to be a big sliver of wood missing on one piece of the floor right near the doorway to the master bedroom.   I have no idea how it got damaged in the first place, because our floor was in pristine condition before any of this renovation began.  However, there it was...and he had repaired it by using some gummy dark brown putty.  Not only did it look ridiculous, but, it had sharp edges and was dangerous.  I told him it was not going to do and he would have to replace the piece instead of the tacky repair job.

This is what he did.

To me it is like a slap in the face.  He cut out a five inch piece and replaced it with this.  As far as I am concerned, he did it on purpose.  I didn't notice til after he left the house.... and then he was gone on holiday for 3 weeks.  So...it will remain like it is for another week or so.  The contractor said..well, now it looks worse than it did before.  Gee, ya think?   And, I know for a fact it won't be staying like that.

Why would a professional hardwood person do something like this?  A rookie wouldn't even try a trick like this.  How dare they call themselves professional at all?  This is not professional.  This is just downright ridiculous.  And infuriating.

I could slap him all the way around the block.

The stupidity continues.

No word from the cabinet people when the panels will be ready for the dishwasher or the fridge .. ..or when the other drawer will be done..or when we can expect any work to be completed on the too large opening for the oven or the too large opening for the microwave.
So...we wait.  In the basement.  Except for when I am cleaning upstairs...in anticipation of moving some furniture up sometime soon.  One room is now ready for occupancy.  The small bedroom.  The painters finished some touch-ups today.  I got the floor washed in that room yesterday and also the windows... there was an area on the ceiling they forgot after drywall repairs and sanding..but, that got done today.  Better do it now than have them jumping on the bed doing the painting.  They would.

The floors must be washed on hands and knees...in order to get all the stubborn, sticky, fine drywall dust from beneath the baseboards.  It is not as easy as sliding a mop around..... and my knees will only take one room at a time.  So... today I just did a few cupboards and drawers instead... baked a batch of muffins in my little toaster oven and thought about digging out some small furniture to move in......

A winter wonderland...

It continued to snow .... and now.... too early, we have this much.  It's a crazy winter already.

We had snow by Hallowe'en....which hardly ever happens ...... and then this big marshmallowing ..... about 8 inches of beauty.

I hope it is not a sign of things to come though ... ...or we could be snowed in til May ... sheesh...  oh, well, I'll stay inside (after shovelling.... hahahh)  and be cozy and make little fuzzy bears.

And... look....I have a new door and new door colour.  It is called Sun Dried Tomato ...but, in real life, is a bit more burgundy undertone than this ....
It will still have one more coat of paint...when the painters return to do "touch-ups" ....
Which better be soon...I want to get moved back upstairs ...I want to be all organized to put up my sparkly Christmas tree.....

The cabinetry shop is not on my Christmas card list..... we are awaiting some fixes and no word yet on when..... can't put in appliances til they are complete.

Pearls in the snow...

So, if you were out there shovelling snow in -10C with a 20 kph wind whipping the big fluffy flakes around .....and you looked in your mailbox and saw such a pretty envelope.... wouldn't you stop immediately?










 Run in the house....tear it open and say..... oh, ..... how beautiful!!....

Of course, I knew they were en route....but, a person never knows exactly when ....and it is always such fun to get a goody in the mail, isn't it?

 On her blog, Gwen was recently showing several pairs of earrings that she had made .... I loved this pair, but, the ones on the blog were already sold.  No problem.... she can make more .....

She and her husband John are artists ..... and they do all sorts of things.  They make some lovely jewellery ...  check out her blog and her beautiful photos of her area.  She lives many miles away from me..on the total other end of Canada....

I can't remember exactly how I came across her blog ...but, I think it was something to do with renovating or building ..... she and her husband even built their own house!  And not just any house either... it's pretty amazing. Check that out too...

She sent me one of her cards....

Thanks so much Gwen for my lovely pearls..... beautiful!

That made my snow day.... If the white stuff keeps up.... tomorrow will be a 'snow day' for a lot of folks....it won't be worth trying to get to the office or the mall or anywhere .... there must be about 8 inches already. We don't usually get snow this early... I wonder if it is a sign of a long winter? ..or just a glitch in the weather....

It is pretty ...but....... look at it all .....already.....

Brushaloffalus

Buried in the ice for eons.... a smallish, colourful subspecies of dinosaur.  Perhaps a precursor of a type of bluebird.  Wild display of spiky crest at the head...strange turquoise colour presented excellent camouflage for botanicals of the day.

oh, alright...it's just my old toothbrush.  Got caught off guard with an unusual cold snap and forgot to empty my bucket.  It froze solid and is still lying in a solid lump on the ground in the backyard.  I was trying to wash off the drywall dust around my vacuum cleaner exhaust on the outside of the house...it makes my new stucco look messy.  White against a lovely milk chocolate brown... look like fuzzy whiskers or something... must think of a way to hide that if it continues.  I can't run out to wish *(make that 'wash') the wall every time I vacuum.  Maybe I'll draw a cat face on the opening...