Tuesday, August 17th, 2004.Hi, Honey! You're Home, again! I'm
watching Monster House, right now -- I haven't seen it before, and there's
absolutely nothing else on (ah, Summer Programming...they left the Dog in charge
of that!), but it's an interesting, albeit a bit weird, Show.
They are taking a nice, regular home and turning it into a Tropical Paradise.
Sounds great, but when they started to put the crazy foam 'stones' all over
the house -- in the Living Room and Bathroom, that's where they lost me. Yuck.
Now I'm all for unconventional looks, and I'm sure the Back Yard will be amazing
with a Lagoon Pool, but the Interior of the house looks like a complete disaster.
We often wonder with these Make-Over
Shows how much it costs the home owners to put it all back to 'normal' if
they hate their 'New Home Design'. Hmmm...
That's the thing about having a Designer come in to do your home
-- you need to get a good handle on what it is that THEY like,
because, generally, that's what you're going to get. There are some fantastic
Designers out there who actually take into consideration what their Client wants,
but perhaps not as many as the designers who run rough-shod over their Clients
and push their ideas on some poor, unsuspecting folks. There's many a Builder
or Contractor who will do the same thing, and it can be difficult to stand up
to them. I know a situation, right now, where the Home Owner wanted a Deck to
span the entire back of the house, which would have been gorgeous, but her builder
told her that SHE didn't want that, because he couldn't be bothered
building it. Happens all the time.
If you're a long-time Reader, or you've glanced through my Time-Line
for this Build, you might remember our first Finishing Carpenter, 'Rick
the Dick', I called him -- but not to his face, of course... what a jerk.
And a yuck. I designed our Kitchen and all the other rooms with Cabinetry, so
I knew exactly what I wanted, and this guy was intent on telling
me what I wanted and what I needed, and what his wife (her name was apparently
'The', since he constantly talked about 'The Wife', and how she would want it...)
wanted. Ugh. It was painful beyond belief, and just before I finally put an
end to it and fired the guy, I used to drive up to the house and just feel sick
whenever I saw his truck. Sometimes you just don't have a good match with the
people who are coming in to work and the Home Owners, so when that happens,
go ahead and see if you can find someone else, then fire their beeehind!
A Build or Renovation
is hard enough when everyone gets along, but when some one starts to run rough-shod
over you, they gots to go, right? ha,ha!
Oh, and just so you know, the rest of the Build went very smoothly
-- there's quite often one bad apple, but you can't let that spoil the whole
bunch -- there are so many terrible Contractor and Builder Stories out there,
but the reality is that the vast majority of jobs are done quickly and efficiently,
because everybody has a business to run. If a Contractor is too slow on a job,
he (or she) won't make any money, and you're never highly skilled and in business
for yourself to lose money, right? And it's that old thing that you are more
likely to hear the story of what went wrong before what went right, since when
stuff goes right, you just move on, but when there's a big problem, that's where
you get stuck...
I saw the News, last night, and it just looks disastrous in Florida
and along the Eastern States. They had a bit about Myrtle Beach in South Carolina
where I've spent many a vacation,
and many of the buildings were completely demolished. What a nightmare for all
those poor folks. My heart goes out to them. Now they will be gathering up what's
left of their Properties and trying to decide whether they should rebuild from
what's left of their home, or to tear it right down and start again. As with
many really Large Renovations, it's often less expensive to start fresh, rather
than trying to piece the old parts together, since that takes more time than
building from scratch, but it's a personal decision,and sometimes it's too hard
to let go of one more thing.
Tip of the Day:Know
what you want and stand your ground. Unless there's a really good
reason for doing a project a better way, (and not just because the person tells
you to -- it has to come with a brief explanation... those long-winded
explanations are designed to confuse you and prevent you from asking any more
questions, but that isn't right, so be sure you have a solid understanding of
something before you sign on the dotted line for it -- and hand over your check!).
And maybe put together an Emergency
Kit 'just in case'. One thing that is rarely in an Emergency Kit but might
be more precious in times of real disaster is a container that is water-tight
and fireproof where you can keep all your really important papers and some family
pictures. Those are the things that will keep you going when the Insurance
Agent comes by to Assess the Damage and ask for the Forms, and you can sit
and look at some pictures of loved ones, to remind you of what's truly important.
And maybe put some cash in there, too, since you don't always know what you'll
be faced with, and that's when cash is essential.
Thanks for popping in for
a little visit! I'll go grab you some new pictures -- be right back!
Here's my lovely kitchen where
all the fighting went on with that first crazy Carpenter! It was well worth
the fight, though, because this is the best kitchen I've ever had -- it's fantastic!
**
**
See that area that is open under the Countertop toward the Front
Entry? I left that open to use as a desk, in case we wanted to have a Computer
Station in the Kitchen. Turned out that no one wanted to work in the Kitchen,
so we use that for al those papers that come into a household, and underneath
that area I kep my Recyclable 'Bins' for Newspapers and Tin Cans (okay, mostly
pop cans!). Works for me!
Aidan is all over me trying
to get me to play Scrabble with him -- it's always fun to play a Spelling Game
with a Four-year old! ha,ha!
See you tomorrow! Later, Baby!
Ailsa!!
Well, after al the stress of building and renovating, you might
have noticed a few brand new wrinkles! Or maybe that's just me! ha,ha,ha! Ah,
well, however they might have gotten there, or if you have no wrinkles whatsoever,
maybe you'd like to look like Angelina Jolie for a day...! Hey, maybe you'll
get a better price on your Construction Job! har, har!
And these Designer Aquarium Tables are the coolest things I've
seen in a long time, so I had to go find a link for you -- perfect if you're
into Feng Shui, too, since they don't take up space that you wouldn't already
have set aside for a Coffee Tabe, anyway, and you take care of the Water, Metal,
Wood and Goldfish Factor ... all at once! Plus, they're just cool
and your friends will all be very, very jealous! ha,ha,ha!
Monday, August 16th, 2004.Hey, Sugar! Sugar Cake! But not Sugar CUBE (although,
I used to love those when I was a kid!) -- see how some Greetings work and some
'not so much'?! ha,ha! We had kind of a weird weekend -- one of tose
times when nothing works out quite the way you thought it would go... that's
why Life seems to be a whole lot easier when you just let things happen, since
when it's all carefully planned out, then doesn't work, it's very disappointing.
Not that you shouldn't plan at all -- then we'd be living like monkeys...
although, I've gotta say that I've hardly ever seen an unhappy monkey...! ha,ha!
Ah, well. I spent a good portion of the weekend trying to remember that 'What's
for you will not go by you'... sometimes you need that phrase more
than others!
It's funny when you look back over your life at all the things
you might have desperately hoped for that either didn't happen
(Thank God, because your Life turned out much better by going in a different
direction, anyway...) or DID turn out and it didn't go well at
all... you just never know how things will unfold. When that comes to
Real Estate, there was an Acreage up the road from here that we had put an Offer
on before we went for a Trip
to California (to get married...), and we didn't get the house. At the time,
we were really disappointed, but in the long run, it was one of the best things
that happened for us, because it introduced us to this area just outside of
Calgary, and it eventually led us to build this house, which we would never
have thought of way back then. Some of the best things that happen to you in
your life are things that you didn't even consider for you future,
then once you're in it, you can't believe your luck.
Have you been watching the Olympics?
They're on every channel, it seems... I can't get into it, this time around,
because I heard some idiot saying that only 1% of Athletes test positive for
Drugs, which is just silly. You know Ben
Johnson is my old Boyfriend, and he's a really good guy, so it drives
me craaazy when I hear that load of crap. You could give a regular
person a whole crate full of 'enhancement drugs' and if they don't have the
bottom-line skills and ability, it won't do them any good, anyway. Why not just
let them Race, and we'll enjoy the outcome? And why are the Athletes treated
like Criminals, but Real Criminals are dealt with in the most
gentle way? (Especially in Canada) I'm not saying in any way that it's great
that these Athletes do this, but we might as well live in reality, and go with
it.
Cara just came downstairs,
and guess what she turned on to watch? That's right -- the Olympics! ha,ha!
I just hate when they take a livelihood away from one person in all their smug
self-righteousness, and let others who are doing (or had done) the same thing
continue on ... now that's no spirit of Fair Play. And really, you can say that
all sorts of things could lead to unequal opportunities. This person was born
with an inherent ability, so that's not fair to the folks who were born NOT
to run... and then there are the situations where an Athlete is transgender
-- they go from Male to Female, but continue in the same sport ... how to deal
with that?? I say, live and let live. Run as fast as you can.
Do what you have to do. There. Now let me go get a chocolate bar while we watch
the Olympics, together! ha,ha,ha!
I have to go find out some information about Aidan
going to School, this Fall, and what my options really are. I was hoping to
get a Bite on this House over the Weekend, so I would have a better handle on
how long we're going to be here, since there's not much point in Aidan starting
a new school for only a month before a move, but now I don't know how long that
will take, so that changes everything. And Cara has stated that she isn't going
back to her regular School -- one of the reasons we moved out here was for Cara
to attend this Fine Arts School -- so I'm not happy about that. She wants to
attend an Alternative Program, which I'm all for in special circumstances, but
those 'special circumstances' shouldn't be 'I don't feel like getting up in
the morning...' I'm sure there's more to the story, but it's frustrating to
deal with as a parent. If I knew when we were moving, it would all be a whole
lot easier, but it's out of my hands, right now. We'll see what great thing
God has in store for us next, right?? ha,ha!
Tip of the Day: Keep your
kids (and yourself) relatively regimented. Not regimented up the waazoo,
like in the 'old days', but regimented enough that they don't forget how to
get up at a certain time, do regular activites that have to be done... things
that make them Active Participants in Life. It's easy to fall into a pattern
of not doing anything, and thinking that there must be some easy way to get
through life like that, but there isn't. There's not a job out there that doesn't
require any work... it's just a matter of what type of work. Are you ever surprised
by the sheer number of people wo don't seem to care whether they do a good job
or not? I don't get that. Why wouldn't you do the best job you could wherever
you are? And if you don't like it, get some new skills and move on... That seems
so simple, but I think we have a big problem on our hands of too many folks
thinking it's a choice not to do anything. When on earth did that
start? It's not even fun not to do anything, and they are the first
people to tell you how bored they are... hmmmm.
Okay, thus ends the lecture part of the course! ha,ha! Whatevah'
-- think I really will go get a chocolate, and see if that doesn't cheer me
up a bit! Man, two children at home, fighting, for a whole year -- no wonder
I'm not all that happy, today! Must figure out a way to get them both into School!
I'll go get you some nice new pictures!
There's my Office over there in the
Corner, then the Lower Living Room (this is the Walk-Out Level), then the Big
Screen where Cara has been watching the Olympics
all day...
**
**
So here's what I'm thinking -- if I could stop making life so
easy and cushy for Cara, maybe she'd want to go back to school...
must go find some 'chores' for her to do! Wish me luck! ha,ha,ha! Oh, and the
Ceilings in the Lower Level are all 9 foot ceilings, with a California Knockdown
Finish -- and I highly recommend both!
Thanks for stopping in -- it's always
nice to see you, and did I tell you that I think the Dog-Collar really looks
good on you? Yep. I say, keep it, until about the Fifth
Job Interview, then maybe lose it...unless you are in that 'particular'
line of work, in which case, I'm sure you're already highly skilled --
maybe a little stoned, but what to I know?? I only know what I've learned on
TV, mostly on The
Casino, which is pretty much the only thing on Sunday Nights, so the only
thing I can remember this morning! ha,ha,ha!
Okay, I'll see ya', Baby!
Don't work too, too hard! Ailsa!!
<><Earn
CASH for Taking Online Surveys! GoZing Cash Surveys is a great FREE opportunity
to earn cash and be entered into sweepstakes for completing online surveys.
Join today for FREE!><GoZing
Surveys>
It's The Weekend! WooHoo! Sat. &
Sun., Aug. 14th & 15th, 2004.Hey
there, Good Lookin'! Man, I'm up early, this morning -- it's
just a little before 6:00 a.m. -- highly unusual for me! Ah, the life of the
underemployed, eh? ha,ha,ha! No, no. Dwight
had to go into the Casino to oversee a Welding Job, this morning, so I had to
get up, too, to make sure he actually left on time. You can only do certain
jobs in the middle of the night, and this was one of them. I figured that since
I was up, anyway, and the Open
House is at 1:00 p.m., so this seemed like a good time to write my Weekend
Update.
Well, I did get the Lawn all cut -- oi, what a hot
day! Our weather has been really screwy this summer, so you never know what
it will be like, and I thought it might be a bit cooler if I waited until after
5: p.m. to go out to mow the lawn, but it was just stifling. (No,
not like Edith on Archie Bunker...) Now here's the weird thing I actually gave
some serious consideration to while I was out on the Riding Lawn Mower -- that
it would be a good idea to have some strings attached to my hat
to tie under my chin, since every time I turned the Lawn Mower East, my hat
would just about fly off... luckily, I haven't entered that level of geekdom,
yet (I hope never to get that far in! ha,ha,ha!), so I ruled it out as a generally
bad idea...! But the Garden looks great, now, and I finished cleaning the house
last night, so we're all set for a couple of relaxing days with the Open House.
It is still a sad state of affairs that the only time I have all
to myself is when I'm out on the Riding Lawn Mower -- that's probably not a
good sign, is it? It'll be strange when Aidan heads off to school, then I suppose
I would have a fair bit of time to myself -- then I would be tempted to immediately
go out and find a 'regular job'! I haven't figured out what to do with Aidan,
yet, for Kindergarten this year. So much is dependent on when we get a house
deal (when the House sells), since it doesn't seem all that necessary to enroll
Aidan in a school in Okotoks (the nearest Town)
for only a month, if we were to have a deal with an October Possession Date...
and I used to Teach Kindergarten, so it's not like I couldn't
just do his work with him At Home... hmmmm. There's a lot to consider.
Must find out my options!
You know, there was a time when I seriously considered opening
up my very own School. I had been teaching in the Regular System for many, many
years, and could see where there were some much-needed improvements, and I thought
(I could have been crazy -- who knows?? ha,ha,ha!) I could just start my own
school and that would solve a myriad of problems... I even drew up some Plans
for Building the School! Of course, I'm obsessed with Building Plans, so it's
not like that was the only thing I drew up at that (or any other) time! Even
as I'm writing this, I'm looking at some new House
Plans that I totally loooove! I have a House
Plan Book open bside me to the house I would most like to build, next.
I think I've mentioned before that I would really like to build
a Two-Storey House, next. Oh, and according to my new House Plans Book, it looks
like the American spelling of 'Two-Storey' is 'Two-Story' -- who knew? Not me,
apparently! Anyway, I wrote to the Company who carry this House
Plan to see if I can send you in to se it, so I'll let you know when I hear
back from them. It's a beautiful Two-Story, though, with an Attached Triple
Garage (of course, and if room permitted, I would make that into a 5-car garage,
since that seems very functional to me...). It's a gorgeous house but has a
fairly straight-forward Roof-line, so that's good for Pricing... the Steeper
and Fancier the Roof, the more 'Tens of Thousands' the House will cost, so that's
good to keep in mind.
Tip of the Day: Don't wear
a hat with strings you can tie under your chin, no matter how
practical that might seem... ha,ha,ha! Just kiddink! No, no. Here's
your much better Tip -- if you live in a Home that is over
Ten Years Old, or you are considering Buying a Home in this Age Range, a quick
way to update the Look of the Home is to Replace the Exterior Doors. Quite
often, the Garage Doors can look too Dated for the number of years old they
are (or is that me?? ha,ha,ha! Can you tell I should have gotten
a little more sleep?? ha,ha! Now I'm giddy! Just what you want in a Writer,
no??).
Garage
Doors are not terribly expensive, anymore, and they come in a wide variety,
so I'm sure you could find something very nice to update the overall look of
the house. And increase it's Market Value. The Metal Ones and the Wooden Ones
are the best -- metal is the most common choice, since it's Maintenance-Free.
And you'll get a nice new set of Garage Door Openers, too, which is always nice.
Watch when they are stting the Remote Openers, though, since when you have a
Triple Garage (or, lucky you, more than a Triple...!), the Sensors
can get crossed, and then none of them work. Guess how I
know that? Took us months to figure that one out!
I'll get some new pictures when I'm not so bleary-eyed!
See you in a bit!
Okay, now I really am sleepy, so I'm
heading off to bed... is it Good Morning or Good Night when it's morning but
still dark outside?? Anyhoooo, I'm glad you swung by for a wee visit!
Have a Fabulous Weekend, and if you know anyone who wants to buy a beautiful
big house, send 'em over to my Open
House! ha,ha!
Later, Baby! Ailsa!!
This is my favorite New Deal -- not just because Maxim
is Dwight's favorite new Magazine, but because think of all the great Home Magazines
you can get! What a Deal!
<>Take
5 Best Seller Magazines for $30! Select from titles such as Maxim,
Details, FHM, Woman's Day, Time and more! We have all the Best Selling
Magazines! Select your 5 magazines now!<NetMagazines>
Friday, August 13th, 2004. Friday
the 13th! My Lucky Day!! I hope it turns out to be a lucky day for you, too
-- change your thinking on it to make it into a lucky day, and you'll
be all set! Oh, I forgot to say 'Hello'... so, "Hey,
Baaaby! How you doin'??" There, now back to the Friday the
13th thing -- that's the day I finally got my old Divorce -- waaaay
back in '95, but I waited for sooo long for that stoopid
thing, and I finally got it on a Friday the 13th, so ever since then it's been
my big lucky day! Now who would have foreseen that as a source of luck, hmmmm?
Not the sort of thing you dream about as a lucky occasion when you're a kid!
Well, just after I wrote that, it occurred to me that if I were
to get another Divorce, and that happened in 2005, that would
make a Divorce every 10 years... now there's a habit I'll need
to be careful to get into, right?? And yes, those are the sorts of cheery things
I think about in the morning -- what does that mean? ha,ha! Whatevah...
I'm sure I'm not the only one out there whose mind wanders into those depths
every now and then ... you just have to watch it when that's ALL
you think about, 'cause that ain't a good sign! And God Knows I
don't want to be 80, headin' down to the Courthouse to File yet
another set of Divorce Papers! And then you get there and they all know your
name, like Norm on Cheers! ha,ha!
Man, I hardly got anything done, yesterday, in terms of tidying
up for the Open House on
the Weekend. The house never gets all that messy (according to me, but
Dwight thinks the house should always look like a Show Home, which
I strongly disagree with... but I digress, once again, down a
path that's only gonna make me well-known in certain offices I'm trying to stay
out of! ha,ha!), since it's so big, but still, I like to make it extra-neat
when there's an Open House. When I'm done writng this, I think I'll head out
and jump on the Riding Lawn Mower -- it seems like Mowing the Lawn (it's an
Acreage, so it takes hours and hours...) has become MY job...
hey, what happened to the 'You do the outside and I'll do the inside' rule?
Apparently, it's gone right out the window.
Tip of the Day: Speaking of
'going right out the window', we have a running 'debate' or 'discussion' (it drives me crazy..!) about 'Window Safety'. Every so often on
the News you'll hear yet another case of a small child falling through a Screen
Window. So scary. And easily preventable. We have those little screw-on locks
on all the Windows to keep Aidan in, but Dwight keeps removing the lock on the
Window on his side of the bed (every couple has 'their side of the bed', not
to be intruded upon by the other -- after you're married, anyway...
ha,ha,ha!) so he can open the window right up. This is insane because
there's at least a 15 foot drop out that window, and every single time that
window is open, Aidan seems to make his way over to it -- must be some homing
device set into children to see how much stress their parents can withstand.
Anyway, I have tried to get Dwight to agree to putting the
Lock 4" or 5" above the opening, so he can still open the window,
but Aidan wouldn't be able to fall out. This is critical in any window that
is well above Ground Level, but I think it's practical to do in all windows
that are relatively easy to open that a child could gain access to. You hardly
ever hear much about that. Now, I don't know why Dwight even needs
to open a window, at all, because he has this house Air Conditioned up the waazoo, so it's not like he needs a breeze, or anything... but if
you can get everyone in your house to agree to putting and leaving
those little screw-locks
on your windows, then you'll be less-stressed than I am, and your kids will
be a whole lot safer. I'll see if I can find them on the Net, and get you a
link.
Let me go get you some nice new pictures
-- be right back!
Okay, so here's a Window in the Sunroom,
which is adjacent to the Master
Bedroom, so the Windows are at the same height. See how far it is to the
ground? And I see I better take a few minutes and clean all the Window Sills,
too! Ah, well!
**
**
**
I just ran upstairs to take these pictures, so I'll go clean
them, later -- after I'm done with the Mowing! And that's what the little Window
Locks look like. You can get them in most Home
Improvement Stores.
Thanks for popping in for a little
visit! I better 'get-to-mowin'!
See you on The Weekend
-- and I hope you get lucky on Friday the 13th!! ha,ha! Ailsa!!
/Kitchen4lg.jpg)
/Kitchen5lg.jpg)
/Kitchen3lg.jpg)
