Vacation's End

All told, this was one of the best fall vacations we've had.

This time last year we had just moved in. It seems hard to believe it's been a year, so hard that until I looked it up on the blog I wasn't completely sure what day we had moved in (it was October 9th).

With the getaway at the start of the week off, we got back relaxed for the rest of our week off. We balanced some hang time with getting-stuff-done and some time with friends and family (though Thanksgiving was extra tense this year -- not sure what really was going on there...). Kiddo and I did some crafting together including a "rag doll with Coraline eyes" that she designed and we collaborated to finish:

Hubby made lots of headway on getting the new deck stairs underway (the "deathtrap stairs of doom" have to go -- the new stairs will go down the back of the deck, toward the apple trees and easier access to the bbq. It's the first step toward prepping for the addition.

Today, Hubby pulled down most of the weird carport skeleton over the driveway to reclaim the wood for the project, too. And you know what? I really wish we had pulled that sucker down earlier. After it was down, I moved and re-stacked the wood we had hastily thrown there, and our driveway looked pretty good.

We had an unseasonably warm and dry week, too; tomorrow we are expecting rain with frost forecast for this evening. We turned the gas fireplace on today for the first time in months and I decided I had best get in the last of the cucumbers (the vines were dried up anyhow) and pull out the tomato plants. There were 6 cucumbers left and I don't know how many pounds of mostly green tomatoes... I think I may try pickling them...

Back to work tomorrow. Sigh. At least it's a short (if busy) week.

unseasonably warm

Today was warm -- no, it was hot. The campus was full of (sun)burn victims, the sunny weekend having taken them by surprise. While it was partly overcast, we hit a high of 27°C this afternoon -- close to the record of 28.6°C set in 1970.

At home, the house hasn't really had a chance to cool off since we had it mostly closed up while away for the weekend. After a very challenging night of tossing and turning in the heat last night, I was inspired to finally finish off the built-in bed in the basement. Hubby was kind enough to go out in search of foam to fit the odd-sized platform -- it's 63"x70" While he was out, I put up curtains, stowed the crap we had stored there and made it as ready as possible for a night of sleep.

I trimmed and fit the foam and after some discussion, we decided to set it up sideways so that we can both get in and out of bed without climbing over one another. We'll see how it all works; there's every chance we'll end up stumbling up to our "regular" bed in the middle of the night.

Here's some before and after shots... oddly I don't seem to have photos of it all covered in boxes and stuff....

And so it begins....

staged_bedroom
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

What do you think? Does this look like one of those HGTV/TLC home makeover "after" shots? Is it generic enough without looking unlived in? (Well, the cat on the bed helps, I guess...)

So the breakdown:

We already had the sidetables, the bed, the duvet, white pillow cases, and blanket. We bought: two lamps ($99.96), sheets ($14.99), accent pillow ($10), curtains ($35.76) and art - which I wanted to do anyway - ($92). So, $252.71, plus taxes. Phew! Of course that doesn't include the cost of paint or carpet.

We should be done the rest of the staging tomorrow... hopefully. We spent most of our day today getting the deck cleared and prepared (Cthulhu is in his new temporary home -- Hubby rented a truck and toured him through town on the way; I planted $150 worth of plants...) as well as tidying things up and cleaning. The carpet, btw, was successfully installed yesterday. Hooray!

Closer to ready....

Despite yesterday's lackluster open houses (yes, the market has relaxed a little, but there's still not quite what we want in the price range we can comfortably afford), we moved ahead this weekend on some of the finer details we need to finish off before we list our place for sale.

Hubby tackled the transitional rails around the edges of our laminate flooring (e.g. wherever the laminate meets another type of flooring or doorway). This was hard work, involving a lot of drilling into concrete. (Thanks, Hubby).

Meanwhile, Kiddo helped me peel off the silicone sealant from the tub surround -- when Hubby did this during our bathroom reno earlier this year he was already suffering from though not yet diagnosed with pneumonia, so while the seal was sound, it wasn't pretty. After much scraping and scrubbing, we prepped the surround for the new seal. I applied it this afternoon, cursing surprisingly little since I used a tip I found online somewhere: apply soft soap to your finger so that the silicone doesn't stick to your skin when smoothing the bead. I also read the info on the tube which suggested masking both sides of the seam -- good plan!

We also splurged on a new appliance this weekend -- a much dreamed-of compact, portable dishwasher. This meant that I spent about an hour last night re-arranging the kitchen so that we had room to store the dishwasher during the hours it won't be used.

But let me tell you, we are so looking forward to loading that sucker after our next round of entertaining.

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Crisis (narrowly) averted!

Last night, we rented a small auger from Home Depot and picked up the replacement faucet parts. We also bought a big bottle of chemical drain cleaner and priced the pieces we would need for the renovation.

The replacement faucet parts took about 5 minutes to install so we have hot water service to the tub again. While I was in the plumbing parts aisle at Home Depot, I did also ask about the coverplate for the shutoff valve. (The fixtures were probably made in the mid-70s; our townhouse was built in 1977 and I am certain this is the original plumbing). They'd never heard of such a part, but did suggest I go directly to EMCO, the manufacturer, who have a "showroom" in Victoria (who knew?), near the Town and Country mall. I have emailed them to ask if the part is still available.

The auger? Totally worth the $9.00 rental price (that was a "4 hour rental" which was due back by 9 a.m. today). Hubby ran it in through the sink drain and, thanks to the auger's drilling ability, was able to clear a very disgusting clog with about 20 minutes of hard work. While he cleaned the auger, I replaced the trap under the sink and wiped-down the tub. Then we each had a shower. Ahhhhhhhhh.

The drain cleaner, unopened and unused, is now in the cupboard, for emergency use only, but I am happy we were able to clear the drain without the use of harsh chemicals.

We are still determined to replace the bathroom fixtures very soon... so expect more to come on this subject.

Plumbing Crisitunity**....

Sigh. So, remember the debate about the bathroom reno? It might be a necessity now. Like, right now.

To catch up: our bathroom sink had been really clogged for a while, so on Saturday I finally emptied the cabinet under the sink, pulled it all apart, and voilà, we had functional indoor plumbing again!

... for about 24 hours
... when it started backing up into the tub.

Sigh.

Post-shower yesterday the tub took about 90 minutes to drain, so there was no question we had to find the rest of the blockage. The kitchen sink still drains fine and is getting no backup, so we figured it was just below the tub.

Then while we were trying to clear the clog, we found that the cleanout plug for the main drain line (which is, naturally, located in Kiddo's closet, behind a solid wood dresser) was rusted solid and could not be opened. Then the hot water faucet in the tub would no longer turn off. Faaaaaantastic. After shutting off the hot water supply to the tub, I removed the cartridge to find all the rubber portions degraded and/or completely missing. I tried to fix it using some spare parts I had in my plumbing toolbox, but none were quite right.

By the time we finally gave up and went to bed, there was still an inch or so of water (and detritus) standing in the tub. It was still there this morning. We'll be visiting Home Depot tonight.

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**From Wikipedia:

The neologism crisitunity was mentioned in the Fear of Flying episode of The Simpsons^[5], see Culturally significant neologisms from The Simpsons. Lisa says, "Look on the bright side, Dad. Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for 'crisis' as they do for 'opportunity'?" Homer replies, "Yes! Cris-atunity." Although The Simpsons Archive spells this portmanteau "cris-atunity",^[6] "crisitunity" is more commonly used.

Of Bad Days, Roofers and Small Celebrations

Yesterday was a bad day. Along with aches and pains (the usual) came dizziness and nausea (random). Eventually, it sorted itself out, but I spent a chunk of the afternoon dozing off just to avoid the spinning room.

Part of the problem may have been the [insert expletive here] air compressor that the simian roofers fired up at 7:20 a.m. and kept running for most of the day. Ugh. I thought they were going to finish our roof yesterday but they only did part of it. Ugh squared.

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Meantime, we'll be seeing the Blue Man Group perform locally -- we bought the tickets in April!! -- but I have to call the Arena to find out how to get to and from of our seats on crutches, given that I really can't do stairs (esp. arena stairs without railings). Hmm.

I am also pondering options for our fast-approaching anniversary (it's our tenth!!). Before the passport delay, we had considered going to Vegas... under the circumstances, though, it's just as well we never booked it. So, the scaled-down plan is a night out in a cushy local hotel with dinner out or maybe even room service. Now my job is to narrow down hotels (FYI, I have ruled out the Empress; I really don't think it's good value). I'll then call the shortlist and ask if their amenities are accessible before we decide where to book.

Got a favourite Victoria-area getaway (that's low on stairs) -- leave me a comment and I'll check them out.

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