It is live!

So I am so excited that my house is finally on the market!

The photograph did an amazing job! I was so stressed, cleaning and purging and not sleeping.

It is one thing to whip up our space up to par...but we had to motivate my stepdaughter as well!

I do understand that it is not easy and a lot of the stuff is still my Dad's because there was just too much....

 Sometimes I forget that I have some Gooseberry fridges!

I think they are lovely!

I don't think I ever saw this counter top so uncluttered!

It looks so big!

Skeleton Bob is keeping warm despite the freezing weather...

I wonder what the potential buyers will think of that....

Of course I wanted to post pictures of the house but they are not in the laptop yet!

But I figured out the secret....I need to open the laptop everyday!

October???

last 2 weeks f August flew by....and so did September.

The temps are cooler, praise the Lord!

All I did this summer was sweat....I swear!

 This is my kitchen wall, the only one without cabinets.

My Dad had knife magnets installed, more than 20 years ago.

For some reason, I always have been skittish about using theThis m....

but after 3 years, I guess i am used to them...

This mug made me crack up...

I wish I pooped glitter!

 One of the last things I sold ....it makes room in the yard and fattened a bit the vacate fund.

 Bob Ross has a game named after him!

Who knew the guy was such an icon???

 On my way back to work from a doctor's appointment

I snapped this beautiful and intriguing fountain.

that sight really made my day!

                                Cleaning the carport, I opened a box and spotted these Pyrex treasures....
                                I am not ashamed to proclaim that I brought them back inside!
                                They appeared at my one and only garage sale in 2016.....
                                 They did not sell.....



So far the water feature is closed, the front steps have been repainted and I removed the weeds from the front of the house....

Next weekend it is Canadian Thanksgiving...and we plan to close both fountains and plant the perennials I purchased. And slowly closing the flower borders for the winter.

Maybe we feast and give thanks with oysters...or a roast...I have no idea yet

Stay safe,warm and happy my faithful readers

See you soon!

lemons and lemonade

Since I last posted a lot of things happened.....

I got my back stairs and railing grinder and repainted. I looks so clean!

I invited a company specializing in crawl spaces to fix mine! no more humidity, mold and saggy floors....

and we had the kitchen and main bathroom repainted and agin it looks so clean. In retrospect Dad had neglected interior paint and was a fan of the color dingy!

The kitchen is not finished yet and I can't wait to share with you all. There will be a lot of Pyrex and vintage goodies!

We got a graffiti on the stone in front of the house about a year ago...and I
thought the city was supposed to remove it....

this week someone glued eyes on it WHAT??? we laughed so hard! To think someone saw the graffiti and said oh it needs goggly eyes!

so we are pretty much done for the rents for the time being...Dan is always tired because of the meds and I can't do everything and work full time so things are taking a lot of time to get done....

Last Thursday my employer announced  a 700 job cut in Canada (except Nova Scotia)...Since then it has been pandemonium in the office! every body is speculating and freaking out generally from 7 am to about 11 am.

it makes it very difficult to concentrate and work. I am not worried because I have been through this before twice with the big telecom company and I think it is a waste of energy to be flopping like a fish out of the aquarium. The first stage is voluntary departure with incentives....

I am not even considering this....I am too young and like I told my boss I am here for the long haul and if they fire me they will have to pry the laptop from my dead cold hands....and that I am willing to learn anything.

by the way...my boss is a new boss , she is charming and lives in Nova Scotia. Lucky girl!
having a leader in another province is quite weird....but like everything I will get used to it!

well that was a lot of information all squeezed in that post!

One last thing...one of my neighbors installed a help yourself

herb garden! How sweet is that?

Hello 2018!

So I've had my New Year breakfast (egg, hash brown and bacon).

I made the traditional New Year lunch...Hoppin' John (black eyed peas and rice)...I know it is not a Quebec thing but I enjoy and endorse most traditions that involve prosperity and food....

Like eating pancakes on Friday the 13th which is suppose to ensure that you get enough money to pay your bills...Who doesn't like that? Really?

I was lying in bed and wondering what word would give my year direction. The last 2 years have been taking care of business (TCB).

This year my word is OWNERSHIP. Taking ownership of my house. Taking care of this great old lady, drafty old lady. I have already purchased new front doors and the difference is unbelievable!

And just in time before Winter too. So far winter is whooping our asses...It is unbelievably cold for December.....This night the mercury will dip to -15 F (-26C) brrrrrrr

The house had settled and the old doors did not fit quite right and putting draft stoppers would not cut it anymore.....

 The rain and the snow actually would go under this door.

 One of the new doors

 Some yahoo at the workshop cut to mail holes!

I am still waiting for after sales to bring me the new one!

this particular door was so crooked that you could see outside

and not from the windows.

Most of the things I plan to fix are more labour intensive than 

expensive.

repaint the kitchen, fix a couple of cracked window panes,

grind and repaint the iron staircase outside....

Fix some plaster.

In an ideal world where money grows on trees...

gutting the kitchen and redoing everything would've been my fantasy

but realisticly it is not worth it. I can't make it bigger and the cub bards

are mostly ok, so paint it will be

 I went to The Nutcracker with friends and I really enjoyed it.

It is always a strange feeling to see my Dad's work.

 Some Xmas peeps, you know I love my blow molds!

 The mantle all dressed up.

my tree a little lopsided....
I felt the same way.

I am right side up now.

and I will be extra careful with money.

no cray-cray spending!

Be well faithful readers!

Win Win !

another kitchen post!

I believe I complained a couple of times about my cooktop.....

It is a 1979 Jenn-air. The vent works perfectly and I loooove it!

After the repairman came and told me parts for this model don't exist anymore....I installed the grill.

So I had 2 burners and a grill. when you use the grill the vent turns itself on at the highest setting, it makes a lot of racket and the grill never really gets hot enough....

So I have 2 burners....

sometimes meal planning is really hard because of only 2 burners...

 

 I got the idea to buy a stand alone burner.....

I found out that Canadian Tire sells those....

 So we gathered all our Canadian Tire money,

$18.25 in total

and I bought myself this...

 I only paid $4.35 !

I am so happy, it works really well!

Yeah! Until we find parts for the cook top or save money to get a new one...

Those are expensive!

So I'll take my little extra burner any day!

Stay thrifty!

The rack

It occurred to me that it was about time I shared some pictures of my apartment.

I have a lot of custom quirky details....

Like the rack

 There isn't really a lot of cabinets to put pots

and pans, so Dad had this installed when he was living there.

We lowered it and now this is where the pots,

pans and strainers hang out (get it?)

 In the background you can see my Turquoise and Butterprint Pyrex

and yes that is Pyrex in the cabinet!

At one point the kitchen was yellow...but Dad got sick of it

and had some faux finish done on all the wall and cabinets.....

I am not a big fan! lol

Oh well one thing at a time!

Be well!

Deep Breath please....

So now that the oven is working fine and that Xmas prep is well under way...

The hot water heater decided to spring a leak on Friday night.  I was running like a chicken without a head!

Finally to calm my nerves I wrapped a couple of Xmas gifts and with a clear head I was able to attend to the mess.

I filled buckets, pitchers and bottles and then I brought out the ladder ,closed the breaker and the valves.

When the water stopped it was 11:30 pm.

 This ol'girl was built in 1998.

 It was running from around the valve.

 That didn't stop me from baking the traditional Quebec

meatpies, just in time for Xmas

 Of course the kitchen was a mess after...and I had to bring 

all the dishes down to my Dad's to wash.

In the meantime.....

 Yoda was lounging in the cat grass.

Here's the new hot water heater.

All bright spanking new

 The installation was over at 1:30 pm.

I was to get hot water by 3:00 pm.

Guess what?

NO HOT WATER!!!

it is 10:39 pm and no hot water....

I just want to scream and cry

They are coming back tomorrow.....

50 cents

When I dropped off 2 boxes of goodies at Brockville's Sally Ann I found these delicious jiggers/shot glasses.

                                          They remind me of Fred Press items and they will be great in the new bar!

                                          Old drippy faucet....it took 2 hours to remove! OMG!
                                           All corroded under and screwed on way too tight!
                                           Surprise! I was the one who installed it!

                                          New non drippy faucet! LOVE!
                                          For me. drippy faucets are the same as holley socks....
                                          very poor looking....In Quebec I would say BS (bien etre social translated to wellfare) .....

                                          The cubbard doors are removed and in the basement waiting for some paint.

                                          But we do need to take a hint from the kitties....and take a nap once in a while!
                                           Take care!

Update

Just so you know...

We took a decision on the bread in a can! We will keep it unopened and add it as decoration to the kitchen.

Can you believe the great Dan was unaware of that funky can? Shows he opens the pantry only once in a blue moon

Next time I see one in a grocery store I will get it and eat it with some baked beans!

No word yet on the shelf life...

Chandelier

It is by no means grand but it looks great in the bathroom....

This morning I've been scoping out crystals on Etsy....

Here it is!

 

It was the pic I could get with the bathroom's poor lighting.

 

And we installed the new kitchen fan and in a calm and orderly fashion!

No yelling!

 

 

                                        All shinny and bright. I think it will actually make a difference when I cook.

This my new cooking buddy.

My old one went to the big appliance heaven in late September.

 

It is the oven that died and since I didn't want to have it repaired (again)....

Off to the store we went.

Yes there was the really basic white like I had with coils....but it wasn't really cheaper than the one with the flat top.

And one exactly like the one in the picture but with coils was only $20 less.

It is really hard to keep clean, but I definitely LOVE all the bells and whistles on it.

The timer, the bip when it's ready, the keep warm zone, the expendable element, the auto clean feature, but I have to admit that one scares me....  

Well I'm off to fawn over the fan....lol!

If you don't like it...Spray paint it!!!

I'm a BIG fan of spray paint! It can change the whole look of something for a couple of cents (what's not to like???) and I love recycling things arond the house so....It's a match made in reno heaven!

Still in the topic of the kitchen...Most of the doors are installed, so all that is left is the drawer fronts and the moldings.

My paper towel holder was bright red (It came with the house and the kitchen was all white with red accents), my milk bag holder was tired white and so was the plastic bag dispenser (to be frank it was beyond tired and dingy...). Even a good scrub couldn't freshen those too! So enter Rust-Oleum specialty paint for plastic. I love that stuff! True you have to be patient and apply a gazillion thin coats...but look on the first picture, black accessories....Just enough black for the new kitchen!

Second picture: The super vintage

tissue holder I found at Salvation army gets a new life and a new home with a couple of coats of bright white!

Super cool in the bathroom (just enough vintagey!)

I'm trying to have a garage sale at the end of May so I'm still busy, cleaning,tagging and boxing stuff. I will post some pictures of new finds soon as well as some from my garden.

Be happy and safe!

Here it is!

Okay readers...drumroll please! This is the finished product! My old,ratty,banged up microwave shelf transformed!

I tell you it looks brand new! Another pat on the shoulder to moi!

The recipe box on the left belonged to my grandma. I had to throw out a lot of recipe books...don't worry nothing gets thrown out here! they all went into a box for my up coming garage sale....So the kitchen is really nearly done....The remaining doors should be installed tomorrow as well as the new hardware!

Also (I didn't mentionned this....) but 2 of the cupboards will be converted to showcases to display...Pyrex (what else????lol) I can't wait!

The back will be covered in bead board painted green, and the rest will remain white. Oooooh! It looks amazing in my head (I hope it will look good live too). I can't wait to take pictures to show you all!

Last night I went to a happy hour for one of my friends (who was canned by my ex-employer). It was nice to see some old acquaintances, friends,ex-coworkers and people who give you a peck on the cheek, but you see in their eyes that they're just phony baloney and don't give a %$#@ about you ( To think I used to work with them....). I didn't stay too long because to tell you the truth I was overwhelmed...the heat, the noise, tons of people in a small space. I did make a couple of phone calls (and emails) today to apologize for not saying goodbye...Oh well!

I hope to post again over the weekend....We're expecting a heat wave tomorrow, sunday and monday.... It's just too soon!

Tired I am....

Not the most beautiful pictures.....So we decided to paint the kitchen...and started by going to get all the materials at Home Depot on good friday. Saturday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed (I love that expression!) we began slowly but surely....One of my jobs was tackling the microwave stand. It's not used to carry the microwave but a tv stands on it and the rest id full of my cookbooks. Of course I would've prefered a hoosier, but not right now...lol

As you can see on the first pic, the scheme the kitchen was before. We had some khaki sand (on the wall) a lighter vserion of it on the top cabinets and the molding, the bottom of the cabinets was this dark indian blood-whew let me tell you it was time we changed those colors!!!

The red turned a kind of fushia and the other colors a kind of yellow ( could it be because of the smoke??? We smoked like chimneys before) 4 years smoke free in September 09!!! YAY!

Back to the program....And we had some funky faux finishes and varnish on a lot of surfaces. Dan is certainly the grand poobah of faux finish....On the top of the microwave stand was aluminum foil,all textured with some dark stain and varnish on it...quite nice at the time!

Suffice to say the kitchen is not done yet! LOL

I must go and give the last coat on some cabinet doors...It's gonna be GORGEOUS! Corn husk green and snow fall white (Behr paints).

I want to welcome the new followers, I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog!

Salut!