I've been delinquent in writing, I know, but it's been an incredibly busy time in our lives. We met up with John on Sunday to confirm the windows (Pella) and go over the budget to see if there is anywhere we can save money. We found that there is in fact no where to cut back and we will instead have to take a zen-like approach to this reno and accept what will be will be. At the end of the project we will beg the bank to renegotiate our mortgage AGAIN to pay the extra.

On Saturday, Paul, Jake & I took a trip back to hell, I mean Taps, to completely throw away our marriage, I mean look at bathroom/kitchen fixtures. Nothing pushes Paul over the edge more than shopping with children. And Jake is not easy. He's cute, but not easy. Especially when he's systematically dismantling all of the floor displays. So we did what all good parents do, we bribed him with candy from the vending machines conveniently situated at the front of the store. As we looked at all the wonderful things Taps had to offer, we realized that NOTHING was within the budget that John prepared. I have no idea where we're supposed to find the toilets, tubs, sinks, fixtures for the amount that he has listed. May as well bite the bullet and buy what we like, what's a couple thousand more when you're already $30,000 over budget.

Monday, Paul had his tonsils removed. We left the house at 6:15 am to drive to Newmarket with the kids. The surgery went very well and Paul is recovering nicely. I hung out for part of the day in a large mall and let the kids go wild in various toy stores. I nearly broke my nose in Zellers while reaching for a toy on the top shelf. I misjudged the reach and the box came crashing down on to the bridge of my nose. The pain was incredible. While holding my nose together, bent over, seeing stars, I could hear the sound of my children screaming "Mom, look at this transformer isn't it cool watch what it does in its other form look mom come on isn't it the coolest look at the back it's only $20
jakob could have the green one I want the red one don't you think it's the cooler of the two? mom Mom MOM MOM MOM MOM!!!!!!!"

My nose isn't broken though still very tender. My state of mind on the other hand...

Back to the house. The footings have been poured and the new foundation is being put up in the existing basement. It looks great, very sturdy and dry. It's incredible how small the existing basement looks now, it's really hard to believe that the space used to contain a laundry room and another room filled with all of our treasures/junk. We also found out today that the surveyor has advised John that our house has to be pushed back 3" because it needs to be a certain distance from the property line and that our neighbour's deck actually encroaches 10" over the property line. Fortunately we can leave their deck as is and think about shaving a bit off in the spring and as much as I hate to lose even 3" of space, have conceded to moving the wall in. After writing this little bit, it seems so innocent now, but I can't tell you how much stress it caused me and my neighbour Kim. I am fairly confident that this encouraged another pound lost today. Well maybe not quite a pound since I drank 1/2 bottle of wine at Kim's. A few ounces anyway.

I really miss my house, my neighbours and my street.

The other upside is that after spending $600 at Costco on the weekend, (very dangerous place to go in to) we now have a memory foam for our bed and what a difference it makes!