I forgot to mention that we went out last weekend and bought a baby crib (convertible) and dresser/change table. We're calling it a change table, but it's more of a dresser due to it's height and size (nice and high for us).
So, this whole thing is starting to feel more real for me now that we're actually DOING the baby's room and getting things for it.
Dad also bought us a jogging stroller a while ago, so that was the very first piece of baby gear at our house. It's still waiting to be put together, but will be soon. Since then, and before this furniture, we've been inundated with clothing and other "stuff" that Candace has been keeping since Braeden was born. We literally have more than a years worth of clothing for a boy, and will soon get stuff from Sadie as well, I'm sure. Marn's gone through it all and separated/organized the clothes already so in that department, we should be good!
Anyway, we pick up the crib tomorrow (it was a floor model, so they had to disassemble it first), and the dresser had to be ordered, so it will be another month or so before that gets here. hopefully by then, I've gotten the room painted and carpet cleaned.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
US-Bound
What a more fitting way to spend Canada's birthday weekend than to head south and spend money in the US instead of here? :)
Yes, we're going shopping in the US again this weekend, mostly for Marn to get some Maternity clothing, and I'm sure some baby things. We're going with Candace and Dave on Saturday morning, and coming back Sunday, so we won't be gone the obligatory 2 nights 3 days to get the tax break... It's still usually worth it.
There weren't very good deals on hotels this time either, so that'll cost us $112, which when figuring the cost of gas, it's probably NOT such a great deal to go to the US anymore, but it's still fun, and really depends on the deals to be had and how much you're willing to spend.
Yes, we're going shopping in the US again this weekend, mostly for Marn to get some Maternity clothing, and I'm sure some baby things. We're going with Candace and Dave on Saturday morning, and coming back Sunday, so we won't be gone the obligatory 2 nights 3 days to get the tax break... It's still usually worth it.
There weren't very good deals on hotels this time either, so that'll cost us $112, which when figuring the cost of gas, it's probably NOT such a great deal to go to the US anymore, but it's still fun, and really depends on the deals to be had and how much you're willing to spend.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Schmittheads 2
Well this weekend was the 2nd annual slo-pitch tourney here in Baden to benefit the Baden Volunteer Firefighters, and once again we put in a street team, although this year it was only 50% George Schmitt court residents...
It was a fun weekend again, although it rained a lot and again we didn't win a game. :-/
0-6 record for The Schmittheads over 2 years is not great, and one would wonder why we continue to inflict pain upon ourselves with such a sorry record. We had 2 major injuries this year as well. One (Marn guesses broken) hand, when Heidi barehanded a hard hit ball in self defence, and another where Eddie sprained his ankle running down a ball and slipped on some soft gravel. Good thing we had 12 players! I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of non-ball players together....
There's always next year, eh?
It was a fun weekend again, although it rained a lot and again we didn't win a game. :-/
0-6 record for The Schmittheads over 2 years is not great, and one would wonder why we continue to inflict pain upon ourselves with such a sorry record. We had 2 major injuries this year as well. One (Marn guesses broken) hand, when Heidi barehanded a hard hit ball in self defence, and another where Eddie sprained his ankle running down a ball and slipped on some soft gravel. Good thing we had 12 players! I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of non-ball players together....
There's always next year, eh?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Shed
Forgot to add, "shed" to the list in my other post about "things that we wanted to do before the baby comes". We were tossing around buying a pre-built one, or ready-to-assemble "kit" (everything cut and ready to go), or building from scratch with raw lumber. Building from scratch is the cheapest way to go, but most labour intensive (Hey, kind of like our kitchen floor!), while the pre-build ones are obviously more expensive (2-3x or more), but no hassle at all and done in 1-to-2 days.
I've been reading up on "shed building" as it's always been something that I wanted to do myself - There's nothing like the feeling of a completed project that you built (if it looks good!). It honestly doesn't seem *that* hard to do - it's just the time to DO it, really. And a little bit about the know-how.... There is a lot of information on the web about such projects, and I am a little bit handy with wood and tools (my deck!), and I'm cheap... so I'm leaning towards doing it myself.
I know what you're thinking - finish the kitchen first! Well, I am. It's nearly done. I just have to trim the cabinet pieces and figure out the kitchen sweep dilemma (the floor is too high for it now...)
We want an 8x12 (or 8x10) foot shed, with one door on the 8 foot side, and double doors flanked by two windows on the 12 foot side. I wanted to do a concrete pad for it, but will likely put it on concrete blocks instead. If we knew we'd be staying in that house for a while, I'd do the concrete. It will be going in the back right corner of the yard, kind of square to the back fence which is on a funny, less than square, angle...
We'll see!
I've been reading up on "shed building" as it's always been something that I wanted to do myself - There's nothing like the feeling of a completed project that you built (if it looks good!). It honestly doesn't seem *that* hard to do - it's just the time to DO it, really. And a little bit about the know-how.... There is a lot of information on the web about such projects, and I am a little bit handy with wood and tools (my deck!), and I'm cheap... so I'm leaning towards doing it myself.
I know what you're thinking - finish the kitchen first! Well, I am. It's nearly done. I just have to trim the cabinet pieces and figure out the kitchen sweep dilemma (the floor is too high for it now...)
We want an 8x12 (or 8x10) foot shed, with one door on the 8 foot side, and double doors flanked by two windows on the 12 foot side. I wanted to do a concrete pad for it, but will likely put it on concrete blocks instead. If we knew we'd be staying in that house for a while, I'd do the concrete. It will be going in the back right corner of the yard, kind of square to the back fence which is on a funny, less than square, angle...
We'll see!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Fathers Day Weekend
Saturday we went to Teresa's house for a fathers day BBQ, but we weren't sure that Dad and Barb were going to make it! Dad had a big 1-day sale with Princess Cruises so he was busy with that, but they came a little after we got there.
It was a fun afternoon and the weather was amazing. We ate on their patio and learned about (illegal) Croatian Walnut Trees, and ate some sort of sausage made from pork, lamb and beef. (Cevapcici?) Delicious! I will be making these some time....maybe.
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast with Marn's family and then everyone came back to our house for latte's. It was also a nice visit, although short because Dave and Candace had to head out to his parents place that afternoon. Marn's parent's stayed a little while longer and visited.
When they left, I received an "almost-father's-day" gift from Marn. :) It was a little electric shaver and the Blu-Ray movie, "V For Vendetta", which I LOVED. We were looking for it for Christmas, but it wasn't out on Blu-Ray yet. I'm looking forward to watching that again, this time in HD!
7 months ago we bought a PS3 using our Air Miles points, and at the time, when you bought any Blu-Ray player, you qualified for 5 free Blu-Ray movies (you got to pick 5 from a weak list). Well, we filled the form out and sent it off, expecting them to come in a few weeks. Weeks turned to months, months turned to many months, and I pretty much wrote it off as it wasn't going to happen, as with MOST mail-in rebates. Well, Thursday night of last week, we got a notice on the door from Canada Post. We couldn't think of what it would be (totally forgot about the movies), so I went to the post office (/variety store/bakery/restaurant/ice cream shop - gotta love small towns...), and sure enough, it was them! I picked, The Prestige, Full Metal Jacket, Stir of Echoes, S.W.A.T., and Flight of the Phoenix. Like I said the picks weren't stellar, but they were free and I'm not complaining!
We also rearranged our bedroom Sunday night. The bed now comes out from the window in the middle of the room, and the dresser was moved out (not sure where that's going yet). We had two smaller dressers from Marn's old house/room that are now along the shared wall where the bed was, and have only one night table on Marn's side of the bed. Echo's bed is along the wall beside the entrance now along with the TV (sitting on a sewing table which is temporary).
It makes the room feel and look so much bigger, although, it seems more cramped to get at the dresser drawers since they're alongside the bed.
I'm not sure how this new arrangement is going to go because the air vent for heating and air conditioning is under that window - now under the bed. We haven't had to use the AC for a few days now, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough if it blocks too much air. I also don't like how the curtains now get hung up on the bed when trying to open or close them. Marn likes the new arrangement because she now has a direct line to the bathroom and doesn't have to walk over Echo in the middle of the night.
The baby's room is coming along OK. We are nearly done clearing out the old crap that has piled up over the years. Marn's gone into purge mode on most of things that were cluttering up that room (like university notes and text books!). I still have to clean the carpet (from "the Incident") and move the storage containers into the basement. We're thinking about taking the doors off the closet, because the way they open is awkward in that small room, and replace them with a cloth curtain. When Teresa is over this weekend, she's going to help us with some of the painting idea's that Marn has. We still need to buy a change table and crib, but other than that, we're OK.
We'll both feel better when this room is done. I had grandeur plans of having the back splash, foyer and mud room tiled before the baby came as well, but that likely won't happen. Maybe the back splash and/or foyer because those are small areas and shouldn't take too long... famous last words. I think we need to get the back splash done before anything else. It was supposed to be done before the floor...
It was a fun afternoon and the weather was amazing. We ate on their patio and learned about (illegal) Croatian Walnut Trees, and ate some sort of sausage made from pork, lamb and beef. (Cevapcici?) Delicious! I will be making these some time....maybe.
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast with Marn's family and then everyone came back to our house for latte's. It was also a nice visit, although short because Dave and Candace had to head out to his parents place that afternoon. Marn's parent's stayed a little while longer and visited.
When they left, I received an "almost-father's-day" gift from Marn. :) It was a little electric shaver and the Blu-Ray movie, "V For Vendetta", which I LOVED. We were looking for it for Christmas, but it wasn't out on Blu-Ray yet. I'm looking forward to watching that again, this time in HD!
7 months ago we bought a PS3 using our Air Miles points, and at the time, when you bought any Blu-Ray player, you qualified for 5 free Blu-Ray movies (you got to pick 5 from a weak list). Well, we filled the form out and sent it off, expecting them to come in a few weeks. Weeks turned to months, months turned to many months, and I pretty much wrote it off as it wasn't going to happen, as with MOST mail-in rebates. Well, Thursday night of last week, we got a notice on the door from Canada Post. We couldn't think of what it would be (totally forgot about the movies), so I went to the post office (/variety store/bakery/restaurant/ice cream shop - gotta love small towns...), and sure enough, it was them! I picked, The Prestige, Full Metal Jacket, Stir of Echoes, S.W.A.T., and Flight of the Phoenix. Like I said the picks weren't stellar, but they were free and I'm not complaining!
We also rearranged our bedroom Sunday night. The bed now comes out from the window in the middle of the room, and the dresser was moved out (not sure where that's going yet). We had two smaller dressers from Marn's old house/room that are now along the shared wall where the bed was, and have only one night table on Marn's side of the bed. Echo's bed is along the wall beside the entrance now along with the TV (sitting on a sewing table which is temporary).
It makes the room feel and look so much bigger, although, it seems more cramped to get at the dresser drawers since they're alongside the bed.
I'm not sure how this new arrangement is going to go because the air vent for heating and air conditioning is under that window - now under the bed. We haven't had to use the AC for a few days now, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough if it blocks too much air. I also don't like how the curtains now get hung up on the bed when trying to open or close them. Marn likes the new arrangement because she now has a direct line to the bathroom and doesn't have to walk over Echo in the middle of the night.
The baby's room is coming along OK. We are nearly done clearing out the old crap that has piled up over the years. Marn's gone into purge mode on most of things that were cluttering up that room (like university notes and text books!). I still have to clean the carpet (from "the Incident") and move the storage containers into the basement. We're thinking about taking the doors off the closet, because the way they open is awkward in that small room, and replace them with a cloth curtain. When Teresa is over this weekend, she's going to help us with some of the painting idea's that Marn has. We still need to buy a change table and crib, but other than that, we're OK.
We'll both feel better when this room is done. I had grandeur plans of having the back splash, foyer and mud room tiled before the baby came as well, but that likely won't happen. Maybe the back splash and/or foyer because those are small areas and shouldn't take too long... famous last words. I think we need to get the back splash done before anything else. It was supposed to be done before the floor...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
New Floor Pics
I suppose I should post some pics of the (basically finished) kitchen floor since I've been talking about it for so long... So here they are!
Sorry about the messy counter top...
This is the living room/kitchen border that I still need to finish. There is a bit of a lip (drop) that is hidden because of the over-lapping carpet, but that was intentional as the (eventual) hardwood will come pretty close to even as the porcelain.
And a reminder of how the floor used to look vs. the new one:
We think it looks MUCH better, and even more so in person.
The only thing missing in these pics now is the awesome island/cupboard that we got from Marn's parents. That sits out from the little bit of counter to the right of the stove. I'll try and get a picture of that when everything is done. Other than the rug transition, the "kick plates" under the counters need to be trimmed to account for the shorter space/higher floor, and I haven't yet sealed the grout.
Next up, backsplash!
Goodbye, crappy floor:
Sorry about the messy counter top...
This is the living room/kitchen border that I still need to finish. There is a bit of a lip (drop) that is hidden because of the over-lapping carpet, but that was intentional as the (eventual) hardwood will come pretty close to even as the porcelain.
And a reminder of how the floor used to look vs. the new one:
We think it looks MUCH better, and even more so in person.
The only thing missing in these pics now is the awesome island/cupboard that we got from Marn's parents. That sits out from the little bit of counter to the right of the stove. I'll try and get a picture of that when everything is done. Other than the rug transition, the "kick plates" under the counters need to be trimmed to account for the shorter space/higher floor, and I haven't yet sealed the grout.
Next up, backsplash!
Goodbye, crappy floor:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)