Bathroom Renovations

After a few weeks of long days, lots of work, lots of mess and lots of cleaning, our bathroom is finally back on-line and functioning. As I mentioned before, there was no ventilation fan in there when we moved in, and although we had installed one, there was still water damage and mould issues in there which needed to be addressed. We took some pictures along the way, and I kick myself for not taking better "before" pictures, but these will have to do...

This is the bathroom as it was when we first saw the house, a few
days before we bought it. Cozy enough I guess, but it was missing
a fan, was much lacking in storage, had some nasty paint finishes,
was hiding some water damage, and had stick-on vinyl tiles that
were shifting and not looking all that great. This is move-in day, with Lauren adding in some of our bathroom
stuff to make it feel more like home. We left that wicker unit in
there for convenient storage but never really liked it. We did
replace that toilet seat, but never did any painting in there until now.
And the tearing out begins! We did this for a few days before moving to my parents... it's not exactly the most convenient thing having one bathroom and renovating it. We were very thankful to be able to stay with my Mom and Dad! My Dad also trucked back and forth to St. Catharines with Mike helping him with all the work, which was greatly appreciated.
Our home was built in 1934, and you can tell the house is old by the way it was constructed. No drywall here! It was all plaster, with mortar and lathing behind. If you look carefully at the mortar you can see horse hair in it to keep it together. And of course, no insulation anywhere.
We discovered this lovely paint colour behind the shelving unit by the tub. Sick! Probably also lead paint, so it was high time that the kids and I got out of there, and we purchased some good dust masks and filters. I think it was first painted this colour, then pink (which the bathtub also was painted at some point), then blue (which the front, visible part of the bathtub was painted) with sponge paint and very thick wallpaper. The windows were all replaced before we bought the house, but we
found four of these old window weights in the wall beside the new window.There are only two closets in our house, one in the laundry/entrance room and the other in Peter and Aaron's bedroom. Both of these jut into the bathroom... and don't go all the way to the ceiling, leaving some empty, unused space. Space = storage! We claimed these spaces for the bathroom, and it will be nice to have some extra storage in there, albeit a little inconvenient. I'll have to find a step stool. Down to the bare bones! The walls are down to the studs, the floor
tiles are off, and we're ready for the expensive stage of rebuilding. Ex-bathroom material makes a big pile of garbage outsideNew insulation was installed on the exterior wall of the bathroomMildew-resistant drywall goes up, a lovely shade of blue. Dave came to help out Mike with the work and helped
install the wainscoting and a few other thingsWainscoting installed and walls almost done mudding
Oh, my house was such a disaster! Dust on every possible
surface throughout the whole place... it took a lot of
cleaning to get it back to live-able
Dad Vander Deen came to help Mike cut and install the porcelain tiles
I came the next day to help grout the tiles and paint the bathtub
and trim. It's a little nerve-wracking to watch the grout
drying on the tile surface while it sets but we didn't have a
problem getting it off againNewly tiled and grouted floor, all cleaned up.
We are so happy with how it turned out!
The bottom of the tub, which probably won't be seen again for
a very long time. It was made in Toronto on June 10, 1930
and weighs an awful lot. It waited in the kitchen during the
renovations and got a new coat of paint.Bathroom walls and ceiling painted, a fresh cool blue colour on the walls
Oops! Mike, you forgot to put the shower curtain back up...and
do you always shower with your clothes on? There were very
few complications putting the fixtures back in, for which we were
thankful. Mike's a pretty good impromptu plumber!
Bathroom just about finished!
Medicine cabinet and shelf underneath is installed... this is how
it is now. The over-cupboard storage still needs to be finished off,
and a cabinet needs to be built for behind the tub. New medicine cabinet and sink area

Carrots!

After being away from home, with a few stop-ins, for 3 1/2 weeks, it was nice to get my hands dirty again in the garden. I harvested my carrots and onions, gathered what I could from the beans, and picked a "few" cherry tomatoes... I sure hope I can use them in salsa or something because I have a few million of them. I was happy to pull out carrots that actually looked like carrots, especially in comparison to last year's dismal harvest!

These are ALL the carrots I picked last year... some more pictures
are on a post from September 2008. A lot of these weren't useable,
as they were way too tiny or weird looking to qualify as safe to eat. These were the carrots I picked this year that are good for eating!
Thinning them out and giving them loads of manure made a huge difference!
Of course, there were still a few baby carrots in the mix but I didn't
mind quite so much this year - kind of fun to have a few carrot "jelly beans"
This carrot looks like someone mushed their finger into it... weird
Aaaand there were still a few vampire carrots. Here we have Dad Carrot, Mom Carrot, and Baby Carrot
And you can't forget about Alien Dad Carrot, Alien Mom Carrot,
and Alien Baby Carrot!

Life in August

Well, time keeps on ticking, and here we find ourselves at the end of August already. How did the summer get to be almost over? Mike has two short weeks left until school begins again. He has a new classroom and a new grade, Grade 7 this year, which will be a fun challenge. It has been a busy summer "off"... I think people are mislead when they think teachers have the whole summer as a big vacation, because, as far as our experience has been, that's definitely not the case! However, we have had a chance to do some fun things and enjoy life at a different pace for a little while... none of those 5 am till midnight exhausting days and wild marking frenzies during the summer, and we can say they are not missed.
Peter and Aaron are growing so quickly! Peter is talking more and more, and it is so fun to watch him learn! He can point out some letters of the alphabet, he constantly wants us to read to him, he's starting to "play" with things for more than a minute at a time, and he surprises us with the big words he's able to say... bananana, motorcycle, helicopter... very very fun. He's developing quite the little mind of his own, and we can see the "terrible twos" creeping in already. It is encouraging to see him picking up the things we are teaching him though, from cleaning up his toys to saying "please" and "thank-you" for things (and sometimes even "you're welcome!" :)
Aaron has somehow gotten older than 4 months, and he's getting so big! He has his four month apointment tomorrow and it's hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly. He is such a happy little guy, smiling from ear to ear so easily, and generally content as long as he gets lots of cuddles, which I don't mind at all. Can you ever get enough of snuggling with a little cutie? Well, maybe at 4 am when he's wide awake and ready to go... can't say I'm overly eager to be up with him at that time, but I have to remember that before I know it, these kids will be all grown up and they won't want to sit on my lap and snuggle, or hold my hand walking into church. Gotta enjoy these time while they last!
Anways, on to some pictures of the last little while :)

Mike and I went to a Blue Jays/Yankees game with some friends
at the beginning of August. They had a good start but ended up losing,
but we still enjoyed the game. Jodi, me, Hannah and Jill
Simon, Mike, Gary and Corey
Aaron out like a light on a hot summer night
Peter and Mom goofing around with the camera
Aaron didn't have quite as much fun with the camera but oh well!
And out comes the Jolly Jumper again!
I think he likes it! Not too much jumping yet but he liked standing around
Hmmmm maybe he's just a little too big for it Mike?
Oddly enough though, he LOVED it
Driving on the QEW... anything look strange to you in this picture?
Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Karen and "Unco Dafe" came for a visit
Big boy underwear? Well, he tried them on but it'll be a while
before that becomes a normal thing! He didn't really care about
them at all... no toilet training here yet
Having fun at the park
Apparently, it's hilarious if the stairs are wetAaron and Uncle DaveI LOVE this picture! I'll have to do some fiddling in Photoshop!

Later days of Summer

Aaaaand it's August already. I'm not sure how that happened, other than the obvious explanation of the earth's rotation and time and all that, but no one ever asked me if the time could go by that fast... Here we are, home from vacation and looking ahead to the last month of summer, which will be filled with busyness of its own. The last week of July we spent at a cottage near Port Severn with Mike's family. We were right on the water and had a gorgeous view of the lake, and the many boats passing by on the Trent-Severn waterway. We had fun watching the 4 little boys play together, we played lots of games ourselves, there were some fish caught, and I read a few sentences of my book. We were thankful that the trips up and back home went as well with the kids as they did, as a map-quested 2 hour 45 min drive took 4 hours on the way there, and 4.5 on the way back. We managed not to stop at all, although this meant quite a bit of non-seat-belted time for me in the back of the van with the boys. Oh did I say "Van"? Yup, we bought a new van and got it a few days before we left. We loved having all the extra space, and it was quite comfortable to drive as well. If you're interested in a 2003 Olds Alero, we've got it listed on Kijiji, just let me know.
We started demolishing our bathroom just about as soon as we got back, and as a result my house is turning into a disaster zone. When we moved in there was no ventilation fan in the bathroom and I have a feeling it wasn't used to the moisture from two daily showers. In any case, it needed some fixing up and that's what it's going to get. Unfortunately, having only one bathroom presents a bit of a problem when you're ripping out the fixtures, so I am going to stay with the kids at my parents for a little while until things are a bit more liveable.
Aaaaand now for some pictures.

Kids seem to automatically know how to jump in puddles :DI must have been a little too absorbed in something or other the
other day to notice Peter toddling back and forth across the house
from my potato bag to the sunroomWhat a cheerful little guy!!Peter got to hang out with Dad and Opa at the Warplane Heritage
Museum two weeks ago. The thing he was most fascinated with
was the fire extinguisher, but he enjoyed this airplane as well.How many kids (or adults for that matter) have been on one of the
world's two flying Lancaster Bombers? It's nice to have some
inside connections... Peter's waaaay in the back thereOops! We dressed them up like twins! Peter and Robert at the cottage.
I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot of cottage pics, sorry about that.Michael driving the boat and possibly enjoying himself a whole lotWhen we got home, the garden had gone crazy! I'm a little afraid
those tomatoes are going to take over the house! Maybe next
year we should spread things out a little more... I've
completely lost the broccoliHere are some of the things I harvested from the garden on Monday...
red and green leaf lettuce, celery, green peppers, jalepeno peppers,
beets, carrots, bush beans, climber beans, and cherry tomatoes.
It feels good to eat your own food!Stay tuned for more of these shots! This is our bathroom in early
stages of demolition