I seem to lose momentum when we have been away. We were in Saskatoon from the 4th till the 9th of September. Our kids with Heather as the driving force organized an anniversary celebration for us. We spent a wonderful evening at Zachary and Heather's with family and friends enjoying their company, a beautiful evening and fantastic food. Carmen and Heather even had peach roses for us, both a bouquet and on the cake. To be politically correct I use us, but I am sure if Pat ever knew the significance he wouldn't have remembered. They were my choice for my bridal bouquet, but due to an airline strike they didn't arrive, I was lucky to even have flowers.
Their gift to us was a family photo shoot. A party and family photos what a fantastic memory of our 35th anniversary, what fantastic adults our kids have become.
We spent Saturday morning with the girls at the Broadway Street Fair, what fun. By 10:00 we were eating ice-cream and the girls were having their faces painted by a very talented young women.
Sunday Pat helped Ian with a couple of house owner projects and Carmen and I did one of our favourite activities - Lunch and browsing at McNally's. We also took the girls to a park on Sunday. There is a play space by Lathey Pool. Wow have they changed from our kids day. Climbing, running and swinging seems to be the focus. Plus, this whole play structure is on a spongy rubbery kind of base. Much softer and safer than sand and perhaps more important unsuitable for animals.
I must bring you up to date on the baseboards/trim. They are in our garage. Delivered two weeks plus a day from the day they were ordered. The problem now is that we have moved into the rooms, we are not in a rush to get the trim on and have decided that there is outside work that needs doing and will do the trim work when the ground is frozen. So now, after waiting so long for them to come, we have to store them. Each time we clear floor space in the garage with the idea that we will park both the car and the skid steer in there; something interferes.
I am including a couple of photos of my studio. It still needs some more storage and I need a more sturdy table for my machine, which a trip to Ikea should take care of. We received an Ikea gift certificate because we ordered our cabinets during their kitchen event. It is burning a hole in my pocket.
Today is the full moon and the autumn solstice is Saturday. When the equinox and the full moon are close together you get a harvest moon. That means there will be a huge golden orange orb rising over our ravine tonight. That is if the clouds clear off. The forecast is for clearing and of course low temperature's. We can deal with the cold I just hope it clears. We have half of our Slow Book Club arriving this afternoon to spend the weekend and watch the moon rise with us. We also have a little work lined up for them, because as you know, why just visit, when you can work and visit. They did offer, although perhaps we should make work bees a part of the Twin Oaks experience.
I couldn't decide whether to call this post A Long Weekend 4 or Watershed. I decided on watershed because we have had a number of trickle down events.
First the bathroom counter top that has been in the works since mid July. It came, with a backsplash. My order specified no backsplash. The vanity is an old organ that Tom and Val refurbished and is narrower than a standard counter. A back splash makes it tight for the sink. Another 4-6 weeks, I'll let you know when the next and hopefully final new one comes.
Our contractor measured the house for baseboards sometime in June and placed the order. Once the mudder started his work we started to think about them again. We wanted to install the baseboards upstairs before we moved everything in. Pat called the local lumber yard to see where we were at with them. The baseboards/trim would be delivered the next day. He phoned on a Monday, they would be delivered the next day. They didn't come. They were supposed to come everyday that week. When he phoned on the Friday of that week he found out that they hadn't actually placed the order, which they would do and they would come on the truck the next Friday. ( It only comes once a week). He called the next Friday, the truck hadn't come. (Yes, I do have bald patches on my head). Monday still no truck, we asked would they please try and find out when the truck was coming, they assured us it would come. We have now been waiting three weeks. To sum up this dismal tale, Pat went into Esterhazy on Thursday the 28th of August. THE BASEBOARDS HAD NEVER EVER BEEN ORDERED! We told them not to bother. By now I am sure you are asking yourself why they let this go on so long. We wanted 14 foot lengths, it makes installation quicker and looks better. Fourteen foot lengths are hard to haul in a little utility trailer. So going to a larger centre and bringing them home ourselves didn't seem like a reasonable option. Esterhazy only has the one lumber yard and we are told the other close one (Whitewood) is just as slow or worse. Maybe they would have at least placed the order. There is a light in this window. I was in Big Lou's to see if they could order sheets of laminate to make the kitchen counters. While I was there I found out they could order baseboards. They are not really a lumber yard but will order most items. They gave us the websites of the two places they order from. We chose a profile and have sent a email about placing the order. We will followup with a phone call Tuesday! We plan to use the same material to trim the doors and windows so we are talking about an order of about 2000 board feet. I am hoping Big Lou's will be interested in making some money. We have successfully ordered material from them in the past so I am hopeful. This is a first world struggle but I am used to being able to look at my options in person and if the service is not reasonable at one location you can just go down the street to the next. I am starting to understand why people just go to Regina. A conundrum for people who try to support local business. I will end with the paragraph with the thought that if you are here visiting sometime in the future and there is no trim you will know we have been beaten.
There is always an upside. Knowing that your baseboards are in fact not coming tomorrow can be liberating. You might as well start the moving process. I had started filling my studio a good week ago deciding that I didn't really care when the trim went in. By Wednesday the 27th I was humming in tune with my sewing machine. I was so happy! It was a bit of a revelation for me. I know creating with fibre is important to me but I hadn't realized how much I was missing it and how important it is. I have a beautiful spot and it makes me so happy.
This is going to be a pictureless post (almost). The whole house is turned upside down while we move and reorganize so I will include pictures later.
We moved ourselves into the bedroom upstairs Friday. We now have a closet, such luxury. We spent yesterday setting up the guest room. We also pulled many boxes out of their resting place and unpacked them. That gave us a place to store an extra bed. By the end of today there will not be any beds in the veranda.
Both the electrician and the plumber came last week so there is electricity and water upstairs. Water upstairs means we have a bathtub. I had a bath last evening for the first time in 4 months too tired to really appreciate it but come winter it will be wonderful. I must say I have been enjoying the shower on the main floor but options are nice.
Pat started his day with the brush cutter on one of our trails below the house and encountered wasps. Ten stings later he was unhappy for awhile. Hot cloths, antihistamines, Advil and topical corticosteroids have done their bit. He is feeling pretty good now, thank goodness, Long Weekend 4 is not over yet, more shifting of goods and a range hood to install.
Thirty-five years ago today Pat and I were married, those years that have gone by in the blink of an eye.
