Thursday, October 29, 2009

Hello!

Another day of painting for me! I painted the inside windows/sills and re-installed the kitchen hardware. Tomorrow I get to cut shelf paper!


A labour of love!

Mom and dad worked hard on installing two new-to-us outside doors. They turned out great!


Kitchen drawers, last coat of paint!



While we waited for dad to return from the hardware store, mom installed the curtain rod holders in the back room (techincally the front room).


Tomorrow is a day of paint touch ups, curtain hanging, shelf lining, etc. Should be our last day there. The house has really come together. I'll post all the final pictures in the next day or two. I plan to put together a small album for Dave and Paula outlining our adventures in "face-lift land".
Talk to you soon!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Hello folks!

Today was a day of painting. Sure am glad we're almost done... with the three of us, its getting finished quickly. One last coat on all the walls and cupboards tomorrow! After that, we just have to install new doors on the place.





That's it for now - bed is calling.
Talk to you soon!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Hello!

We had another busy day.

This morning at church we had a 'dramatic reading' instead of a sermon. It was a real hoot! I must admit that I was skeptical but I offered my parents' video camera to record the presentation. It was Reformation Sunday so it was a three-way conversation between Martin, Calvin and the Pope as they meet in heaven and discuss the division in the church today. We borrowed costumes from the UFV Theatre department and gosh, did they ever look the part! The video I shot turned out pretty great. It would be nice to edit it a bit but my video editing software doesn't work properly. Oh well.

After church, mom and dad picked me up and we headed to Hope to do some more cleaning. Mom cleaned the stove/oven and behind it, too. Dad and I started painting - did the ceiling and trim. Mom and I removed all the hardware (curtain rods, light switch and electric socket covers, etc), too. We worked for about three hours before we called it quits. We're going up tomorrow afternoon to throw up the first coat of paint on the walls. It'll work out, I think.

This is one tired pumpkin who is going to go make some supper, eat it, and then hit the hay.

I'll take more pictures tomorrow. I wished I'd had my camera today - the difference between the white of what we were painting and the 'white' of the ceiling was huge! The ceiling almost looked brown compared to the fresh paint!

Talk to you soon.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Hello folks!

Well, we've had a busy day. But first, a bit of history.

Jill is staying with Dave and Paula, two farrier friends of hers in Saskatchewan. She's having a marvelous time out there. Dave and Paula were here last week for a Farrier competition but they were also here because they have two rental properties in Hope. One of their tenants was moving out so they were needed here to check up on the place. While Jill lived here at home, she was hired by Dave and Paula to check on the houses every so often, just to be sure they were still standing.

Anyway, Paula mentioned to me that they had a little house in Hope that was for rent "The cottage" she called it. That perked my interest and I asked a few questions while trying not to be nosey - rent, square feet, yard, etc. I went home from that supper (we were chowing down at mom and dad's) and called Jill immediately to ask her opinion of the house. Jill said it would be perfect for me! I called Dave the next day to ask him about the house. He was so stunned he didn't have any words for me besides "yes" and "no". He eventually suggested that he and Paula take me up there to have a look. And gosh, folks, I fell in love.
Here's the floor plan. Ignore the little numbers - they correspond to pictures other then the ones I posted here.
Unfortunately for me, there's quite a hike between this little house and downtown Hope. Its technically in Silver Creek which is just so darn pretty and mountainy! Downtown is about 3km from the house and I could handle that if it was a flat 3km but there's a very, very big hill between me and Hope. I could deal with that in the summer but not the winter when its covered in snow and ice (Jess, Jill's bff in Hope, said that particular hill is nasty in the winter to walk because there's no shoulder to walk on - it gets piled high with snow). So that was the dealbreaker for me.
I'm still in love with the house. Dave and Paula have asked me, Mom and Dad to clean it up (it was a bit of a disaster when we arrived). So today the three of us spent a full day cleaning, scrubbing, washing, etc. The entire house (all 500-700 square feet) got a wash with TSP! The last lady lived there for three years and she smoked inside all year round... so needless to say, everything needed a good scrubbing. It could probably handle another half dozen scrubbings but Dave and Paula have someone interested in renting it sooner rather than later. They let me pick out the paint for the house too, which was very nice of them! I picked a butter yellow for all the walls and a wind-swept blue for the cabinets and trim (darker then a sky blue with more grey).
Tomorrow we're going to paint the ceilings. Dad wants to get two coats on it tomorrow afternoon. The only thing we didn't scrub today was the stove/oven... so tomorrow we're also going to pull out the stove and wash behind it.
Just think! I could have gone from a green toilet to a pink one! ha ha. The bathroom is teeny tiny. You kinda have to scoot in sideways between the hotwater tank and the bathroom sink. The shower was disgusting. We thought it was rust but mom scrubbed it with some TSP and other bathroom cleaners... turns out it was algae! GROSS!
The fridge is now in the back room (just off the kitchen, to the right on this picture) and it lets in so much more light to the kitchen and living room (I was standing in the livingroom while taking this picture). Mom brought all the curtains home to give them a good wash. They were pretty nasty.
The living room is quite dark as there's only one window. We put in a regular bulb (instead of those energy-saving ones that give us headaches) and it sure made a difference. Also helped by the scrubbing I gave all the windows!
Dad powerwashed the outside of the 'cottage' and took a huge load of garbage to the dump. There was enough in that one small yard to fill his truck up above the sides of the box! Dad made a few friends at the dump too... mind you, dad makes friends everywhere he goes!
Mom and I scrubbed the cabinets and peeled off the wallpaper decals. They were quite ugly!

Me, getting more wash water. That TSP stuff likely isn't good for the environment but it sure works like a hot damn to scrub away years of tabacco smoke and gross-ness.
Dad did all of the yard work today. He went great guns on the piles of garbage and then pressure washed the house. If its dry again tomorrow, dad's going to mow the law, too.
The white in this picture is the part mom washed with the TSP water and the beige in the middle is the unwashed part! gross!

I'll take more pictures as we continue our clean-up and will post them here.

Talk to you soon!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Good Evening folks!



I've been busy sewing again! Tonight I made up footsie PJs for Shea. They turned out pretty good. :o) Had a bit of an issue with the hood but ended up scraping that for just a regular collar. It turned out not bad. I am worried about the legs and arms being too long but I know Jenny can fix that if need be. What I'm most proud of is the Zipper! I didn't ruin it or the fabric while putting it in. The PJs are made out of sweatpant material - cotton fleece. I still have to make Eli's PJs plus his birthday quilt and then I'll get their Christmas parcel in the mail.

I bought supplies for my mass-present making. Every year I make something small to give as gifts for my friends. I can't tell you what this is because friends read this blog and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. tee hee.

Ok. My brick is probably nice and warm. Time for bed.

Talk to you soon!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Hello folks!

I've been busy crafting! This is Rowan's Christmas present. :o)

I had a hell of a time with the collar and the back but I think I made both work (even though the buttons aren't straight!). The dress is actually a pale pink linen with decorative flowers in darker pink. The light makes it look orange in the pictures.

My next project is two pairs of footsie PJs for Shea and Eli.


Things have been good. I've been working once a week with A, volunteering at Parkholm, volunteering big-time at church and practicing my guitar.
Dave and Paula were just here for a visit. They're the people whom Jill is staying with. Really rad folks, very very funny and good story tellers. It was nice to hear people discuss horse hooves... I can't believe how much I missed that! Dave and Paula were here for a competition and to look at their rental properties in Hope. I had supper with them at mom and dad's twice. Such a hoot!
Jill is doing well. I spoke with her today while Sue was here (Sue is one of her two BFFs). She's pretty much had a week off but has been making shoes and pickin poop out of the field. Our cousin Chad went and visited her last week and they had a good time.
I should get to bed.
Talk to you soon!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Hey there folks!

As many of you know, I've been busy crocheting butterflies for my next yarn bombing expidition. Today I kidnapped dad and he and I went around town to put them up.

My 'basket of wonders'... everything I needed - camera, tacks and about 60 butteflies.


I popped over to Katie's and left her two butteflies.


We went to Edward's Park (corner of Edwards and Princess by the Armouries). Pinned up a lot of butteflies there, including on the play park.
Dad and I also went to Central Community Park and pinned up a bunch of butteflies there. Dad was surprised by a lady who shouted "Is that Yarn graffiti?!" ha ha! He said it was so she hopped over the fence and grabbed one of the butteflies. Apparently she heard about yarn bombing on the CBC and by the way she jumped and waved at me (Dad told her I was the one who crocheted them all), she was pretty darned excited about it!

Dad pinning up a buttefly in Edwards Park.

We also hit up five-corners here in Chilliwack and pinned up a dozen butteflies on the trees around there. One guy, clearly drunk, asked me what I was doing. When I told him it was yarn graffiti butteflies, he said "well... I'm a butterfly!" Uh... ooookaaaay. Bizzare.
It was a lot of fun. I plan on crocheting a few more and will be going yarnbombing with Jill's friends Sue and Jess. Woot!
Talk to you soon!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Hello folks!

Had a good day today.

Went over to A's today. We baked brownies, got her showered and did some of her laundry. She's really quite awesome and her mom said she asked a dozen times all morning long if her mom is going to go pick me up yet. tee hee. We get on so well! I got her mom laughing pretty good today, too, so that was rad in its own right.

Things otherwise are pretty good. Did a big grocery shop with mom this evening. I really needed to stock-up on canned goods, various veggies that we didn't grow ourselves, and meat. We went to Superstore which isn't mom's first choice but... what can I say? Its just less expensive. I'm used to keeping a running total in my head based on Pricesmart prices and what I would have gotten there for $140, I got at Superstore for $92! I even had to clean out my cupboards and reorganize so that I have room for fresh stock!

Am grooving to a little Caedmon's Call right now... "Sacred", one of my top three favourite songs by them. I couldn't find a youtube video of that song. Its really quite pretty... guess you'll just have to take my word for it. tee hee.

Time for bed.

Talk to you soon!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009


Hello folks.

Another picture from Jill! She shod this horse with a former member of the National Farrier Team and is quite proud of herself. She got lots of positive comments from the other farriers who were at this clinic... there were 20 of them and only 5 could hot shoe and of those five, Jill was the only one who was up to the challenge of shoeing with this former team member. She did the hoof that's closest to the camera. She had criticisms of her work but it looks beautiful to me!

I'm off to bed but wanted to share this picture!

Talk to you soon!

Saturday, October 3, 2009


Hello folks!

Had quite the day today. I worked with A... her mom was having an open house so I got to hang out with A and keep the two of us out of mischief! It worked well. We made paper decorations from construction paper (horses, a big tree, some grass) and put them up on her door. She was really into it, so that was good! I'm pretty tuckered now.

Here are two pictures Jill sent from Saskatchewan. Enjoy!


Talk to you soon!