Treasure!!!

Today has been filled with lots of work and an exciting finds! Let's start with Ryan, today he insulated the hallway with Styrofoam, installed the kitchen cabinets and the fan for the stove (which we will someday buy!), drywalled and insulated the bathroom and did a little bit of plumbing.

I continued my work in the back room. I sorted through a bunch of junk, took apart half of the work bench (which was built like a tank and could have withstood any war. Unfortunately for the bench it could not withstand the wrath of Kristina accompanied by a good crow bar, hammer and sledge hammer!) and took off the back splash, if you can call it that!

Then Ryan and I drove to the dump twice to dispose of our waste and recycling.

What an exciting day!

But wait, I forgot to tell you about the treasure! Oh the suspense! Unfortunately it wasn't money.

Awww :(

But it was a really cool picture probably from the 1960's with a woman who had caught a big fish. I'll attach the picture, but I found it under one of the back splash cardboard type tiles which was covering a section of the rafters! I love a good find. Everything else I've been finding is bugs, cobwebs and mineral deposits, oohh how exciting!

The cupboards are going up! It's shocking to see something on the wall!

And look, there is wall board behind the tub!!! And currently the left side of the wall has been boarded and insulated!

Here goes the styrafoam...

Down the steps...

And into the hallway!!

Now here is my project.

I was actually able to get rid of stuff rather than just placing it in another area of the basement.

See how I took off that nasty backdrop?

And here is the treasure! Cool eh?!

Ryan said he is going to put it into his shadow box of very old lures!

And here is where I found it.

Look! No workbench, well, half of it is gone!

Odds and Sods

So yesterday was a day of all kinds of things. So basically what Ryan did was more plumbing and setting the downstairs tub into concrete.

And I decided to tackle the storage area of the basement. I took one area of storage out. Today I plan to try and take out the workshop bench. First I'll have to find somewhere to put everything. Anyway, here are some pictures from my demolition project yesterday.

So here is the shelving I plan on removing.

Now all clean and ready to demolish!

Because it was built so securely I had Ryan give me some help. He's cutting the boards in half.

All gone!!! My sister said it sounded like a war zone in the basement when I was using the sledge hammer to knock things down! I guess I got rid of some frustration!!!

Bathroom Break!

We started with wanting to re-seal around the tub,

But, Kristina scraped too hard!

Paint and silicone won't cover that!

So, we may as well clean under the tub, with a crowbar...

Here is me contemplating what I've got into...

Up and out!

Kristina loves to remodel!

Down it goes...

A perfect fit!

Me happy with me!

We might as well fininsh the demolition and get it ready for an insulated wall.

" I claim this room in the name of the Demolition Nation!"

Take that!

A well anchored piece of plywood for the grab handle...

Exterior wall is now ready for insulating...

and a tub!

Or a cat!

Clean and the toilet and sink are usable again!

Time to take a bath......

OUT!!!

Goodbye bathtub. You know I thought something looked a little different in the bathroom!!!
So we got our camera to work, it was the USB hub that was having problems. Anyway, worked that one out.

So today we had a wonderful helper join us for a few hours. I'll give you one hint as to who it was... hint: we were doing demolition. Any idea?! It was Sabrina my sister! It's like demolition and Sabrina go together like wine and cheese...actually probably more like.... well, I can't really think of something.

Anyway, as I sit here listening to the hum of the shop vac I'll give a brief summary of what was done.

So Sabrina showed up and we found some hammers and crow bars and started whacking the heck out of all the tiles in the shower. We whacked, whacked and whacked some more until the tub was ready to be removed. Then we brought the tub into the basement (for the in-law suite bathroom), the tub was really light, or it's just the power I have acquired from the gym in the last little while!!! Then Ryan tore out the plumbing and more of the tiles and in the end Trixie and Chance inspected the job.

That's about it! I've just returned from the gym after attending a brutal kick boxercise class for the first time and now it's almost 11pm and Ryan and I have to bring a load of the bathroom to the dump, so please excuse my lack of writing creativity!

Have a good evening and who knows, Ryan may even want to add something but until then here are some long awaited pictures...

My grandmothers patio done over 40 years ago.

Time to be done again.

Let's remove those weeds and level out the playing area!

Now time to wait for the screenings...

Here they are! I think they were very generous in the amount given!

Put it into the back...

level that out

Tamp it



Put the patio stones back with a few additional stones pulled from our own backyard.




Add some top fill to level out the ground and fill in low areas
of the garden which are next to the house.

and...

Viola!!!!

And because of the extra screenings we were able to use some in our yard.

see our tomato plants?!

Eventually we will be laying some nice patio stones but that a project for next year or later.

I threw the stuff off the truck and Ryan leveled everything. Goodbye mud pit!

Reno Time!

So today is the first official day of restarting renos to our own house!

The camera still doesn't seem to want to cooperate with me and I still can't get any pictures off of it. I changed the memory card and now it won't even let me view the pictures on the computer. What gives?!

Anyway, so yesterday we put on another load of screenings into the backyard. Funny how an area looks bigger once you finish it!

And today we plan on removing the bathroom tub from the upstairs bathroom and re-locating it in the in law suite. That and other stuff which I will update you on later this evening. I'm going to start posting again in the evening so that I can tell you what I have done and not what we are planning on doing.

Keep posted!

Problems Downloading

We are back! But we haven't started with our own house yet. My grandmother is returning from Europe with a couple of visitors and we have been working on her house the entire weekend. One more day and then we are done!

We have however used the leftover screenings (we re-did my grandmothers patio) in our backyard where we will one day install interlock bricks....one day.

I would like to share some pictures with you but my camera, or should I specify my new memory card has a different idea. So it seems I have to go to Costco to get my pictures downloaded onto a CD before I can share them with you. Maybe I'll revert back to my other memory card. I wonder if I did something to re-format my camera when I accidentally pressed some button to make it beep wildly?!

So here we are, another morning, one more day at grandma's and then back to our own house!

Have a great day!

Kristina

Tag, I'm it.

So it seems in the world of bloggers there is this game called tag.

Quoting my dear friend Rita, "The rules of being tagged state that I have to let you folks out in bloggerville 7 things about me that you don’t know and then at the end of this post provide you with the names of seven other people whose blogs I’ve tagged. Sound like fun? Sure it is, let’s get started:"

Seven things you may not have known about Kristina...

1. I am a coordinator of a children's water festival which over six days caters to over 5,000 school children between the grades of 2-5 on the weekdays and over 3,000-4,000 participants on the family fun day. The point of the festival is to educate children and the public about the importance of water conservation and the environment through various hands on games and activities.

2. Because of this festival which runs from May 24-May 30, I haven't been able to help Ryan with the reno's as much which explains the lack of posts within the last month or so. Don't worry, soon the festival will be done and the posts will begin!

3. Let's move onto something from the past... my very first word was "Itah" (Estonian) which in English means "thank you". Such a polite kid!

4. Now in the present... Ryan and I just had our 6 year anniversary!

5. And the future.... one of my life goals is to own a lake front family cottage where I can entertain all my family and friends for years to come!

6. Something shocking... When I was approximately 9 years old I decided to go water skiing on a rough and windy day. Unfortunately I wasn't an expert at the time and the waves toppled me into the water. Unfortunately for me my spotter was talking to their friend and didn't notice that I had fallen. What everyone didn't know was that the rope wrapped around my leg and was dragging me under the water. Fortunately for me it wasn't too late before they noticed, stopped the boat and pulled me out of the water. What I didn't notice was that the rope had cut into my leg and I was bleeding badly. Good thing my grandmother was around to slobber a bunch of ointment onto the large gash, I was thinking the hospital may have been more appropriate but atlas, I am fine and I barely have a scar to show for it! It's a miracle I'm alive!

7. Something funny..... I talk in my sleep. One time at camp I woke up and noticed the person next to me was already awake reading a book, I had asked her why she was up so early and she said she couldn't sleep since I had woken her up and talked to her about snakes.... I don't remember anything! Another time one of my friends said I was yelling that I had to go pee and she kept telling me to go but again, I didn't remember anything because I was asleep. At least I don't walk in my sleep anymore because I used to walk to the end of my parents bed and lie down where they usually kept their feet, and my mother found milk on the counter once, she also found the front door of the cottage unlocked. I wonder what places in the world I had been?!

I like this so much I'll give you a number eight.

8. Right now, holiday Monday, I should be working yet I am procrastinating by writing this blog. I guess that stops now! Back to work I go....maybe after a game of goldminer!

Have a great day and check back next month for more regular posts! Oh, and Ryan may be posting something on here soon too!

As for other bloggers to tag, I can't think of any off hand, well maybe one but I will procrastinate and tag her later, I have work to do!