before and after...

I am very excited that the new window has 2 panes that open (the far R and L ones) - that will provide some much needed air flow in the upstairs of our home, thus reducing the need to have the a/c on, especially in the evenings. And the 20" ledge to put plants, etc. on is wonderful! It totally changes the look of the room!

(now we just have to get rid of that lovely panelling on the wall! At least it's all hidden by floor to ceiling curtains in the meantime, but that means our lovely window is hidden too, sigh.)

progress

Well, the bathroom floor is finally tiled & grouted - now we just need to seal the grout, and it's good to go! It's taken longer than we had originally aimed for, but such is life when it comes to DIY home renos. We are very pleased with how it turned out - especially for our first try at tiling a floor. I do have to say that being on your hands and knees for any length of time when 7 months pregnant is pretty hard on the back though!

Now for the walls, then the tub and toilet can go in! The end is in sight!

can i uncross my fingers yet?

I think it is finally spring.

This morning i noticed that the grass on my front lawn was green-ish, and now i just looked out my work window, and the grass out there is green too. I think i even see bits of pale green on the trees.

yay!

i just realized this morning that i missed my half-birthday. It was on April 10.

This may not seem like a big deal, but for at least the past 10 or 15 years, every year on April 10 i say "Happy and-a-half birthday to me!" and then go on with my day. It's become a little tradition just for me, just a little something to brighten what is often a beautiful early spring day.

This year, it is long gone and i didn't even notice it! Oops!

watch your mouth, people!

So this weekend, i heard of two incidents in which public figures spouted off some pretty questionable things. Different scenarios, but both left me a bit put out.

First was Alec Baldwin - leaving a message for his 11 year old daughter when she did not answer the phone for their scheduled phone visit. Here's an excerpt via wikipedia:

"On the recording, Baldwin can be heard berating his young daughter, "You are a rude, thoughtless little pig." "You don't have the brains or the decency as a human being," he says, apparently upset that she did not answer her phone for a planned call. He further says, "I don't give a damn that you're 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you're a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone."

I don't care how much your daughter has ticked you off. That is uncalled for.

The second one is a bit closer to Sk - Saskatoon Eastview MLA (and registered obstetrical nurse) Judy Junor was interviewed for the Star Phoenix regarding the new children's hospital facility being built in S'toon, and she had this to say about how things are now if you have to take your child to emergency in the city (courtesy of the star phoenix online):

"Just picture taking your child into emergency now and somebody's come in with a stab wound or a gunshot wound and they might be drunk. Children now see all of that," said Junor. "They sit in the waiting room with all of those kinds of social failures. They're exposed to that. It's scary and they're sick already."

Um, since when can an MLA get away with calling victims of stabbings or shootings "social failures"? This one REALLY upset me, it simply wasn't necessary at ALL to comment on her perception of the "social worthiness" of these people, she could have simply said something like "they sit in the waiting room with all sorts of horrific injuries" or something like that. She is implying that everyone who comes in drunk or comes in with those injuries is a social failure. What about the woman in a news story 2 pages over in the same edition of the paper whose ex-husband came after her and attacked her with a knife? If she showed up at the ER when Judy was there, I guess Judy would label her a "social failure". Same thing if you or I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and were the victim of a street mugging or something.

I would have to say that the only way a good chunk of these people could accurately be called social failures is if we redefine the term to mean "people whom society in general, and the (NDP) government in particular, have failed to take care of". I know i'm opening a whole can of worms, i know there's people out there abusing the system and living free off taxpayer's money, but i also know there's hard working decent people out there who because of the current 'system' cannot get on their feet even though they are trying hard to do so. And these are the types of people who probably live in areas of the city where they're more likely to experience real threats of stabbings or shootings.

I think i'll be making some phone calls to the local MLA office and to the members of opposition office over this comment, and i'd encourage you to do the same if your feathers are ruffled by it.

EDIT: I called Judy's office (especially after realizing she is the MLA for MY constituency), and the lady there said it was a quote taken out of context by the reporter, that when she said "social failures" she was referring to the "social problems" - the fact that in society people get stabbed, get drunk, get shot, and not the people themselves. She said that if I heard the whole context of the interview I would hear what she really meant. I know that newspapers edit interviews, and that they edit them in ways that don't always accurately portray what was said, but this seems to be a big thing for the newspaper editor to miss (or not realize) that the meaning has been changed a lot if what they say was true. I suggested maybe Judy should write in to the paper to request that the transcript of that part of the interview be published for clarification if this is indeed the case. (i'm doubtful, though, sounds like some politician backpedalling to me). Her assistant also said Judy's words have been taken out of context by the media before, so I also suggested that maybe Ms. Junor would have been better off to not use those words/that label at all knowing that the media might miscontstrue it. Be more specific, talk about "social problems" instead of "social failures" - typically in this society, we use the word failures (especially social ones) to refer to people, not problems, ya know?

If puppies could talk: a one-act comedy

Scene: my backyard, yesterday morning.

Players: Caramel, Jessa & Mac


Mac: "Oooooooooooh, i miss Arleen SOOOOO much. And this rain just makes me even more sad"

Caramel: "I know, i miss her too. I wish i could go see her. She said she'd be back soon, but it's been weeks. What if she never comes back from China?"

Jessa: "Guys, i know how sad you are, and i want to cheer you up. I have an idea! I heard once that China is right across the world from where we are now, so maybe if we all put our paws together, we could dig through the earth and go see Arleen right now!!"

Caramel & Mac: "Great idea, Jessa! Let's do it! Hmmm...why don't we dig over there in that soft black rich dirt in that area Lyn never wants us to go in....that way we won't have to dig through all those roots and grass that are all over our normal play area."

Jessa: "Ok, here we go! Let's do it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now the human side of the story:

So yesterday morning, I had to stay home a bit later to let the window guys back in to do the final trim, etc. on the windows. I was all ready for work, just had to grab my lunch and eat breakfast before they came. So I figured I’d let Jessa in, then go do that, and be ready for the guys when they came. I also had some donations for the diabetes association pickup that I had to put outside and put a label on the bag so they’d know it was for them.

Well, I opened the back door, and I saw 3 dogs down to their shoulders in the garden. Butts up in the air, feet down, digging like MAD. They came running when I opened the door, and they all got a good scolding and I went to bring Jessa in. Now normally, even when she’s quite dirty, I just let her go downstairs to her area, and she dries out and only gets mud/dirt on her bed, which doesn’t matter. But she was FILTHY. She was covered in chunks of goopy black garden mud from head to toe, top and bottom. I was trying to hold on to her on the back landing so she wouldn’t go anywhere, I had her old towel out because I knew with the rain this morning that I’d have to wipe her feet when she came in. The option of leaving her out with the other two dogs all day was not possible, as they get into quite a bit of mischief when they’re out there together, so we don’t leave all 3 alone out there. Just the 2 labs are fine for the day, but the three together are trouble with a capital T. So it was bathtime for Jessa.

Normally I can pick her up ok, even though she’s over 40 pounds, but being 6 ½ months along, I didn’t think it was a good idea. Fortunately, Leon was home, and heard my pitiful cries over the din of the washing machine. So he came into the laundry room, and I asked him if he could carry Jessa into the bathtub for me. We wrapped her in the towel so he wouldn’t get his work clothes all muddy, and he threw her in the tub, much to her dismay. She HATES bathtime. I turned the shower on full tilt and shut the doors before she could escape, and took a moment to ponder the next step. Obviously, if I was to try to hold her AND clean her off at the same time, I’d get completely dirty myself, and as I was ready for work already, I wasn’t willing to have to go change, deal with my muddy clothes, etc. But she was quite frantic in the bathtub, crying and howling, and avoiding the shower stream, so I knew I had to do something. So I shut the bathroom door, stripped down to my skivvies, and opened the shower doors enough to get a hold on her. Then using a combination of the shower and filling the tub part way, I was able to get most of the mud off her (on the surface). Being part husky with a lot of her winter coat still on, it was tough. Once she was pretty clean I let her out of the tub, knowing that she was going to shake all over the bathroom. But I figured better in there with just the floor/walls and my skin to dry off than elsewhere. So she shook, and of course it was still semi-muddy water, sprayed ALL over. I grabbed whatever towels I could find and wiped things down best I could, except for the tub, which had an INCREDIBLE amount of mud in it. So much for a previously clean bathroom!
Meanwhile, the time for the window guys’ arrival had come and gone, and I still had to dry off and get dressed, and get the wet dog into her space where she could be safely muddy-damp for the day. Got that done, and was trying to clean up a bit of the dust from last night and find the proper trim boards that the guys would need for finishing their job today, and what do you know, I hadn’t shut Jessa’s door all the way, and there she comes, running up the stairs, soggy (but not dripping or shaking water off, thankfully) all over the very dusty/dirty floor. Thankfully she is trained well enough that I just had to say “ok jessa, go downstairs” and she went back down to her room. The window guys came, I got them their trim boards, I got the clothes out for the pickup, and got to work only an hour late.

When I got here, I called anthony and proposed a deal….we found out with the last round of windows that the only way to get rid of all the dust from the window install on the hardwood and other surfaces is to get down and hand wash it all. And it’s a big floor! So before even telling him about my morning, I said to him “Honey, I’ll wash the entire floor by hand and clean up all the dust from the window install tonight when I get home, and all you have to do is clean the tub and shower downstairs.” His immediate reaction was “ok, what happened?”

I really can’t complain, it was pretty humorous and really, one incident like this doesn’t touch the benefits of having a dog, we love her despite this stuff.

Renos: the continuing saga

Well, i think it's been at least 2 months, and we're still in the midst of a bunch of house renovations.

The last two windows are being installed right now - a beautiful new bow window in our living room, and the downstairs bedroom window that was ordered incorrectly the first time around. So hopefully all goes well with that today, we did learn a lesson from the last round of window installs and have covered all the furniture with drop cloths to avoid having to clean incredible amounts of dust off it after the install is done.

I am looking forward to the bow window - the front of our house was previously pretty much flat across, and now it will have some more dimension to it. Besides, i'll have an 18" sill on which to put plants, etc., and we'll be able to look over to the driveway to see who's there more easily.

The bathroom is coming along slowly but surely. On Easter weekend, i installed ceramic floor tile for the first time. Other than the achiness of spending 7 1/2 hours on my hands and knees with the extra baby belly weight to boot, it was a great experience. I think it turned out very well (so far)... we ran into some problems when it came to the last 6 tiles - we need to do 90 degree angle cuts in them, and do not have the proper equipment to do this. We had bought a saw blade for our circular saw that was supposed to do the job, but the tiles were just breaking, so we gave up on that and have not decided on another solution yet. Anthony wants to buy a big tile saw, but for just six tiles when we never plan to do another tile floor in our house ever it would be a bit of overkill...i know you can rent them, but does anyone know how much they are? Or is there a place that will cut the tiles for us if we bring them in marked to the cuts we need?

So those last 6 tiles are waiting to be cut and installed, then we still have to grout and seal the floor. Then we just need to put the toilet back (i will be VERY excited to have a toilet on the main floor again), install the new plumbing for the shower, put the tub in (yes i know this is normally done before tiling the floor, but it's all good), new taps, patch and seal and paint the walls, and install a shower surround. We still haven't ordered the taps, so hopefully those don't take too long to come in, otherwise we may just put in a cheap set for the tub/shower until the good ones come. Then lighting, towel bars, etc. and voila!

I'm looking forward to having this all done so we can start on what will be the new office, and then do the baby room, but i'm actually not that impatient or frustrated with the length of time it's taken so far and the setbacks. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

the stash

so, this may just be a trait of our household members, but in the last few days, i have realized that each one of us three (Leon included) has a secret stash of our own junk food/treat food.

I have a yummy bag of Hawkins cheezies, and a hazelnut chocolate bar that i'm currently working on, they're tucked away in safe places (and no, i'm not going to disclose my hiding places online...who knows who is reading this??).

I asked Leon if he had eaten all his Easter chocolate yet, and he said "Yeah, kinda.....well, actually it's in my secret hiding place, but we'll just say it's all gone."

Then this morning when I was getting ready for work, i saw a cupboard that we rarely use with the door wide open, and inside was Tony's stash of Dad's cookies, a bag of chips, and other little treats.

I've heard that secret food stashes are somehow related to eating disorders, but i kinda think that in our house, it has to do with the fact that we have a general "all food is fair game" rule, so when one of us does have a special treat just for ourselves, it needs to be out of sight and unknown to the other household members in order to actually be there when we want to eat it.

So if you're ever at our place and you hear a crunch when you sit down on the couch, or find food items in strange locations, just bear with us. And maybe you could even start your own stash! But beware - finders keepers!

in the shadow of another

So this morning, my 3 1/2 year old goddaughter found a picture of Anthony & I, took it to her mom and said "I miss Uncle Tony".

Her mom said "What about Auntie Lyn? Do you miss her too?"

to which she replied "yeah...." (in an indifferent tone of voice) "....but I miss Uncle Tony"

Sigh.

(mind you, i should be used to it, as this is the kid who comes up to me when she sees me and the first thing she says is "Where's Uncle Tony?" if he's not with me....no "Hi Auntie Lyn", just gets right to the important stuff).

well, another restaurant we don't have to go to again.

Sunday after church, we went to Doc Hollandaise (central ave, s'toon) with some friends, as none of us had Easter plans until later in the day (or had already completed our easter celebrations).

I have to say i was quite disappointed. For the atmosphere and the prices on the menu, i expected a reasonably nice, middle-of-the-road meal. Nothing gourmet or top chef, but something good.

Now don't get me wrong, the food was pretty good. The problem is, none of it was actually freshly made - it was all prepackaged stuff that gets thrown in the deep fryer or oven to cook/heat.

Anthony had the fish & chips, and it honestly looked like something out of a highliner box. I had dry ribs, which were tasty and meaty, but were definitely from a bag in their freezer. Another friend had a burger, which i believe he enjoyed, but it reminded me of the $2 burgers you can get outside Canadian Tire every saturday in summer.

If you're going to serve that kind of food, go for it. But your prices should reflect that, not run $10 per lunch. And really, an extra $1 for a side of dressing to dip my ribs in, and $2.50 for a pop? I don't think so.

So if you're planning to go out and are considering Doc Hollandaise, i'd say don't bother.

bear with me while I rant (and feel free to disagree)

I think it's time for a change.

A change of premiers and party in power in this province.

I am VERY thankful that it is an election year.

They should have been ousted last election, but they used a good 'ol scare campaign that consisted of convincing people that their closest opponent was going to privatize every crown corporation in the province (for those non-SK people out there, in Sk, our telephone service, car insurance, and most major utilities are owned by the Government, as well as a bunch of other smaller corporations that make the province run, and some people are VERY opposed to privatizing these services).

Yesterday, i heard that the government is trying to get a bunch of health care workers to pay back some money that they were overpaid as a result of what some say was a rash promise during the 2003 election....here's some of the story from cbc.ca:

Just before the 2003 provincial election, the government signed a job evaluation agreement with unions representing health care workers. The agreement was part of a lengthy process aimed at providing employees with equal pay for work of equal value and involved rejigging pay scales. However, after the process started, about 700 workers were allegedly paid more than they should have been — about $4.5 million more. Some workers have been told they owe the government up to $25,000. Taylor said the government is willing to work out flexible terms of repayment, but it wants the money back. "There's about $4.5 million that's outstanding that's owed to the people of Saskatchewan," he said.

The Saskatchewan Party says the government overpaid the workers because the deal was done in a hurry. The NDP was trying to buy votes on the eve of the 2003 election, the Opposition says.
During question period in the legislature Thursday, Saskatchewan Party MLA Ken Krawetz called it a "politically motivated and completely flawed process," and said some of the health care workers who owe money are worried about being thrown into bankruptcy.
"People are being punished and it's all because of politics," he said.
(http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/03/29/taylor-payments.html)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now i'm not sure about you, but this just makes me sick. Imagine if you were one of those workers, who was excited to finally be getting the equity pay you fought long and hard for, only to be told a couple years later that you were given too much (oops, Government mistake!) and had to pay it back?

It's not like these people swindled the government to get more than their fair share, they were given the money by the government! I can't imagine being told i have to pay back $25,000 of money that i believed was mine, and was incorporated into my budget/income accordingly. Even if they were willing to let me pay over a period of years.

I see this as yet ANOTHER example of how this current government is screwing our province around, and i sure hope that they do NOT get another chance in power. Enough is enough.