More non-reno news.

Because my life just doesn't have enough drama in it.

I had a call from Jakob's daycare yesterday saying "don't worry, he's fine (they always preface every call with that), but he's had an accident on the teeter totter and there's quite a bit of blood and I think one of his front teeth is wiggly."

I called Paul asking if there was anyway he could go get Jakey because Bob & Bill (my big brothers) were taking me out for lunch and I didn't know how to get in touch with them until meeting at our prearranged destination. Paul said sure.

It turns out what the daycare should have said was "don't worry, he's fine, he's just driven one of his teeth up into his gums and his gums are swollen and bleeding and the other tooth is really wiggly and he really should be promptly driven to the hospital or emergency dentist."

Which is what happened.

Thank goodness the dental clinic at Sick Kids was empty and took Jakob right away. While Paul sat in the dentist chair with his legs wrapped around Jakob's legs, Paul's arms pinning Jakob's arms, an attendant holding Jakob's head, Jakob screaming "FOR GOD'S SAKE, STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", they froze his mouth with needles and removed both teeth.

My first thought was "Thank God picture day was Thursday." and then I gave him his birthday present early - a Pikachu Gameboy Advance SP. He was so happy, he kept lisping "Thank you Mommy, I love it!" And then the toothfairy came and left him a neatly stacked pile of 20 quarters beside his now empty toothfairy box.

Here are a few pictures of toothless Jakey (and then the battery died on my camera). I can just imagine what his school picture is going to look like, even with teeth.







I tried, I really tried.

I have non-renovation news which will explain why I haven't been writing.

I have been diagnosed with DCIS, a non-invasive breast cancer confined to the milk ducts, and the recommendation is that I have a mastectomy. I'm still in shock having just been given the news this past Friday. Especially since less than 3 weeks ago I thought I was the vision of health - sure I wanted to lose 5-8 pounds, complained that my body always hurt when I first got up in the morning, thought about doing a few sit-ups, heading back to the gym, eating more vegetables, trying to make my stomach look more like a stomach and not something that belonged on my lower backside (you know what I mean and thank god for photoshop)...but all in all, I thought I was in pretty darn good shape.

And then the bomb dropped - what started with my going to the doctor complaining of something that felt like an infection, thinking she would hand me a prescription for antibiotics, pat me on my head and send me on my way turned into my needing a mammogram and then getting a message 15 minutes later to come back to the hospital for more tests. And so I had a deeper scan, then an ultrasound, and while still on the table dripping with the goo they use, I had a biopsy.

Overwhelmed and sore I walked home from the hospital trying to collect myself before getting the kids. And then DCIS started being bandied about and I had an appointment quickly booked with Dr. McCready last Friday morning at Princess Margaret and a breast MRI scheduled that Friday night.

Dr. McCready explained that the DCIS was so wide-spread (and I'm not that big) that it was impossible to do a lumpectomy with the traditional follow-up of radiation but would instead have to do a mastectomy. The upside is that if it is solely DCIS I will need no further treatment - after all, there's nothing left to treat. If there is a rogue cancer cell spreading in to my lymph nodes then I will need to have further surgery to remove them and go through chemo.

My emotions are all over the map. Before writing this I wanted to talk to everyone in my family personally and after speaking to my Mom last night and my brother Thomas tonight, it was time to write.

Not that timing is ever good but I really wish we were back in the house before I found out because decisions still need to made, life still needs to go on while I try to deal with something dark and scary. I also want to recover at home where I am surrounded by my wonderful friends.

I have an appointment scheduled with a plastic surgeon for next week to discuss reconstruction and am awaiting a date for surgery; probably in a month.

But I will be fine, I will get through this, and then Paul and I are going on a vacation,...without the kids.

Now, on to the house.

I will add a few pictures because since I last wrote I now have the insulation pictures as well as shots of the house with drywall. I need to go back again because now that the plastering and sanding is finished, primer has gone up and again the house is transformed. We are down to details now. John was hoping to finish up for October 15 but it's not possible and we now have a date of October 26 for having appliances delivered so I suppose we can move in any time after that. Now if I can only find someone to sublet this house for a few months (call me or email me if you know of anyone who would like to rent a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house with a finished basement and laundry room!).

We have chosen the tiles for the bathroom and I love them! For the floor, a colour comparable to lagos blue limestone; for the vanity something lighter, speckly, made of limestone - and because John has the sample I can't tell you what it's called. They are beautiful together - they would be insanely stunning if we could have afforded the Water Works sink we initially looked at but are still beautiful with the wood vanity.

We have chosen doors for the bedrooms and bathroom and they look great. I want to try to achieve a french apartment look on the second floor for the room I call the "library" and the white doors with their 2 simple rectangle design will compliment the look. For the powder room and basement I wanted a darker flat panel door in keeping with the kitchen design and of course, crazy me, I thought they would be simple and less expensive to get. Something even Home Depot could provide. But no, John will have them custom made and I will be presented with yet another change order. We have very expensive taste it seems.

But seeing the rooms transform makes me so very excited that we will be going home in a month. Hopefully before the surgery happens.

On to the pictures...

For some reason this cursed blogging program has randomly thrown in the pictures which drives the incredibly anal side of me INSANE since I had plotted them quite carefully to show the transition from insulation to drywall for each room. But f**k it, it's 11:30, I want to go to bed and get this bit of news posted.

The following pictures in random order include the kitchen, Satchel's room, Jakob's room, the library, the hallway leading from the boys' room to the library, and the bathroom with the heating coils.

Much is happening in our little house. We have walls...WALLS! And not just pink fuzzy insulation, actual drywall is in place and it's being taped. I can walk through the house and see the size and shape of the physical space - the kitchen is going to be fantastic. Now becomes a time of excitement as I visualize what the rooms can be transformed in to.

And our contractor is really working hard to get us home for October...I may just have to remove a few pins from the earlier voodoo doll I created because he also has a client that he wants to try to convince to take over our rental house for a few months.

We're having a lot of problems with the inspector - for the most part it works to our advantage because his demands ensure the work is perfect though potentially delays the job and always seems to cost us more money, but he is also driving John crazy. His last directive is insane. The firebox over Jakob's bedroom window that was approved by the city, the box that was the only way to ensure we could install a window due to fire regulations, is now 1" too big according to the inspector. The firebox has also tripled in price since John installed one on an earlier job only months ago. Rather than $1,400 (the only price that John was able to put down with absolute confidence because he had just installed it) is now $5,000. Fucking manufacturer, fucking inspector. I brainstormed and thought I had found a solution; because we had removed the bathroom window on the same wall, the bedroom would be the equivalent space and therefore grandfathered the new window from any city bylaws. Hopefully the inspector wouldn't realize that the bathroom window was much smaller than the bedroom window. Unfortunately he did notice. I'm not sure if he feels we should remove the window, put the firebox on the inside of the house, tear down the entire side of the house and move it in 1". John's trying to find another manufacturer who might make them an inch smaller in size and also in line with the original quote - he also suggested we just bash the box to the right size, though it wouldn't exactly work anymore. I'd like to say fuck the box, tell the inspector we will install the correct size at the end of the reno and then tell him that it's in the process of being made which will take FOREVER. The inspector didn't even seem receptive to having William (our neighbour) sign an affidavit saying he was fine with the 1 inch - after all, it's on the second floor and barely visible unless your a contortionist. I'm feeling the need to create a new voodoo doll.

Anyway, the plan today is to torture the children and take them to Olympia Tile to choose the tiles we want in the bathroom. They are going to love us, for it was only yesterday that we bundled the darlings in to the car complete with gameboys but no snack and drove through horrible traffic to find that they are closed on Saturdays. And now we get to do it again.

This weekend we also need to choose the style of doors for the room (I don't really like any of the options, but it could be because I will miss the heavy wood doors that we had but could not be salvaged and will be replaced with hollow core masonite), the colour of flashing, the stain colour for the wood floors (we did choose the size of planking). I need to order a kitchen sink - the source of another debate - and faucet and order stone for the bathroom vanity. So many decisions that sometimes I feel like I can't breath.


I experienced my first MRI Friday morning; I can understand why people would opt to be sedated. I had to be at the hospital for 4:30 am and it was actually quite pleasant driving the streets of downtown Toronto at that time. It had rained earlier so the streets were wet and reflected the colours of Honest Ed's and there were very few cars on the road. I was taken in to change almost immediately and then put on the bed. The technician wrapped me in a blanket warm from a dryer, put earplugs in my ears, a weight on my hand, the device on my shoulder and in I went. I opened my eyes briefly, felt like I was in a coffin, thought this is why people freak out, quickly shut my eyes and pretended I was on a noisy beach. I should find out the results in a couple of weeks.

Time to try the brownies that Jakob and I baked this morning. I have to download the insulation pictures and then will include them.

I'm back after my 9-day hiatus.

What have I been doing these past days? Well, dear readers, I have been scuba diving in the warm waters of the South China Sea, sampling wines in southern Italy, deciphering hieroglyphics in the Valley of the Kings and working on my first novel which is destined to become a great literary hit and eventually turned into a fabulous movie staring fabulous people.

What have I really been doing?

Satchel and Jakob returned to school, grade 5 and senior kindergarten respectively and both seem to be enjoying it. Satchel usually does enjoy school, Jake...well, I'm not holding my breath, but he does quite like Ms. David. When I ask him what she's like, he says "well, she has long hair that's blonde and big and kind of goes like this (hand motions across the forehead, I think he means bangs) and she's bigger than you and daddy." I think that means she can take us.

Paul and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on the 7th of September and had a wonderful evening out together while Pat watched our boys for us.

We spoke with John about moving into our house in October but it doesn't seem likely. Though there does seem to be quite a bit of activity going on in the house and in fact they should start drywalling tomorrow. Our next decisions to make are floor stain and tiles.

Lets see what recent photos I can include.

This is a picture of the kitchen with potlights being set up. It's not an exciting picture so I will also add a picture of my little Jakob who is growing so quickly and has discovered "Crazy Frog" courtesy of his brother.





I will swing by the house today and take a picture, I understand that insulation is in place and vapour barrier so that should provide a great photo opportunity.

Look at the back of my house!



Compared to what it was (a few short stressful months ago)....

Today my Satchel turns 10!


We had a leisurely day - Satchel first waking to participate in the traditional hunt for his birthday presents, complete with obscure clues to track them down. This is Jakob's final day of recovery before returning to daycare (thank God) from his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy so we left the house for the first time since the surgery to go to the park. I was desperate to get out, I was very quickly being driven insane from being trapped in the house this past week. We spent over 2 hours hanging out, climbing, covering each other with sand - just basking in the sunshine which did us all a world of good. Then I made Satchel his dinner preference (shepherd's pie) and a big gooey chocolate birthday cake for dessert. Pat, Jake, Griffin, Sam & Ridley showed up and joined us for the cake which was really nice, especially for Satch, it felt more like a party.




Paul spoke with John today; the electrical & plumbing is finished and the Styrofoam is up at the back of the house allowing the first coat of stucco to be started possibly tomorrow. We received the sample swatch today, it looks a lot like concrete with a grainy finish - I hope it works, I feel like I question everything now. We asked John to try to get us back in the house for end of October. Our thinking is we might have a better chance subletting this place for beginning of November rather than December which would really help financially. He's going to put a timeline together and see if everything can be pulled together.

We also heard from Shirley saying that the kitchen cabinets are finished and all they need is an installation date. I had a dream about the kitchen installation this past weekend - it looked awful and was stained yellow. This reno is definitely getting to me.

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY SATCHEL! The day is done.

Jake smells. I want him to have a bath. Does he want a bath? No. And he's very vocal about it. Even without tonsils.

Paul stopped by the house last night after working out, more progress by electrician and we chose the stucco surface and colour - we should have a sample board today.

One thing we need to get our act together on is getting a kitchen sink and faucet. Supposedly the faucet we've been trying to get from Home Depot has been discontinued because it's been breaking. My sister is getting her supplier to quote on a laminate surface to see if it's a good deal and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that Kim's brother will be able to do our stainless steel island.

All I really want to do is go on endlessly about Jakob as I sit here in my pajamas (it's after 1pm) smelling of chemicals (cleaning the filth that is my rental house). He had a good night but this morning was rough. His throat hurts more after sleeping and he was very resistant to eating popsicles, drinking water, taking tylenol - preferring instead to yell and cry. Seeing that he's very strong willed, it took about an hour to finally get him to cautiously put a popsicle in his mouth. But I do see an improvement already in his sleep - he's much quieter. If only that quietness would trickle over in to the day time.

It's been a long and emotional week.

Last Thursday I went on an office retreat to Kingston, Ontario, the first in 10 years. At some time during our last night together, one of my colleagues died in her room. It still seems surreal to me and I keep expecting to see her around the coffee machine so that we can continue updating each other on our ongoing renovations. Also surreal since she seemed fine during the retreat - dancing and socializing the last night on a lake cruise, though complaining of an upset stomach and headache. I can only hope that she is in a better place and that her children will grow up keeping their wonderful memories of their Mom. Glenna's funeral will be held tomorrow.

The other emotionally exhausting event was Jakob's tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (I have no idea if that's an actual word) yesterday. The surgery went well but I didn't expect the near-violent reaction to the anesthesia and morphine cocktail. When I entered the room he was awake and being held on to by three nurses while he yelled and thrashed and tried to pull out his IV. I rushed over and held on to him, murmuring sweet nothings against his face but nothing would calm him. Thankfully more drugs inserted in to the IV had him finally knock off to sleep after about two hours of yelling. I held him tight and then lay down in the hospital bed with him. When I finally felt confident enough to get out of the bed, I had such a migraine. Thank God I still had my baggy of pills left over from the retreat so I popped a couple of extra strength advil to take the edge off and then downed cup after cup of coffee.

Today I went to work while Paul stayed home with Jake and I was exhausted, cranky and barely able to speak to anyone. And then I donated blood. Now, I'm drinking wine. Yes, yes I know, STUPID. But as the Globe & Mail so thoughtfully pointed out on Saturday: mother's of young children drink more. Of course we do, didn't have to pay for a survey to come up with that conclusion.

So on to the house. Much has happened and I love that when ever I enter I see progress. Of course as always changes are being made and the end result of the house is moving further and further away from what I envisioned. And unfortunately some last minute changes are not what I would have chosen, but not being at the house during the moments of decision (instead being home with the kids and DRINKING) I lose the vote to Paul and John.

One exciting bit of news is that the bathtub has FINALLY been installed - after what, 3-4 weeks after it was delivered. Plumping, wiring is currently being worked on. The outside colours have been chosen so the siding and stucco will begin soon. I feel like I can (almost) confidently say that we are now slightly beyond the half way point. John just stopped by with stucco samples for us to choose from, must decide TONIGHT so that he can provide a sample tomorrow. I can do that, probably one of the easier decisions to make. Now I wish we'd asked to have concrete quoted like on my office building. It looks amazing and is the look I'm desperately trying to emulate with the stucco. If I could only do this over again, knowing what I know now.

Truth be told, all I really want to do is recreate my office environment within the context of my house. I love my office building and interior, couldn't care less about the work, but the office and the espresso machine gets me in happily every morning.

The boys are home - back from 5 days visiting Paul's parents in Grand Falls.

And I have been alone in the house for that same time (which explains why nothing has been written on this blog). Time spent at work, socializing with friends and family, and living in a clean well-ordered house where I have eaten nothing but pop corn and nachos. Thank god for red wine because otherwise I'm sure I'd have scurvy.

I took a trip over to the house to see what has been done. I think I can confidently say that we are now half way through this crazy process.

Last Tuesday, a meeting had been scheduled with John, Jon (kitchen cabinets) and myself. Unfortunately Jon didn't make it in time so I had to return to work and he was left dealing with Ron the sub-contractor. But final measurements have been made and the kitchen can now be built. Unfortunately changes keep taking place - now massive changes to accomodate HVAC which impacts the design of the kitchen and the ceiling height in the powder room. The bathroom had Paul cursing because he felt it was more laziness and that we should have been told.

Beware Paul's wrath I tell you.

What will be interesting to me is how different the final result will be from the original concept. Everything has changed and what the cost became for our project was a rude awakening. It turns out we had very expensive taste and have been humbled considerably. I worry most that after this entire process, the place won't be as nice as it could have been. I liken it to planning a wedding; you have a vision, work out all the details, make commitments to people, almost in the abstraction and definitely a leap of faith that they will come through for you - yet the day arrives, it all comes together and is perfect. Well, except for our photographer, he was terrible.

But I tend to get caught up far too much in the details. What is helpful to me is parading friends and family through the reno so that they can drink in the entire picture and not worry about how the HVAC is wrecking the perfect symmetry and screwing up my plans for a light fixture in the bathroom. Or how I don't like the positioning of the closets in the boys' rooms. The french doors looking out in to the backyard are beautiful, and the kitchen will be fantastic. The boys will have their own rooms, the main bathroom will be great and for the first time in many, many years I'll be able to have a relaxing bath because THERE WILL BE A LOCK ON THE BATHROOM DOOR.

My brother Thomas drove in from Edmonton for a few days - here's a picture of the him during the free tour.




And also a picture of the new windows installed in Satchel's room.

Another frustrating day of fruitless running around.

There is a faucet we want to buy from Home Depot on page 55 of their Dream Book for Spring/Summer 2006. But can anyone get us this faucet. No. Not the people at the two Home Depots we have tried, not the useless people on the other end of the 1-800 number marked in the catalogue, not their web site. No one. Well, not true, one person can for 15% more than advertised price in the catalogue. Bastard. But we'll be returning to him tomorrow to order it and I'm hoping I get hit with a huge wave of PMS so that I can frighten him into giving it to us for the advertised priced and forcing him into short-term disability.

Why is this such an exercise in frustration? Is it a conspiracy? Does the world really want me to become an alcoholic (3 glass of wine so far tonight)? Is there some sadistic male god out there pulling the strings of my life while laughing hysterically?

Probably though, it would be just my luck.

I wrote out two cheques today to John. One massive one, one the size of the stove I want. He said he couldn't continue with the HVAC changes without it.

So more changes to my original plan have been made. Today my pocket door is being sacrificed (which John never wanted to install in the first place, I remember these initial meetings) and instead a barn door set up will be installed. Fortunately for John and Paul I did see it used in an old House & Home magazine and it looked fantastic, so will find that issue. Now, I know that the barn door set up is cheaper than the pocket door and also requires a thinner wall, but I'm sure that the fact it's changing will counter any cost savings it might have presented and Paul has said there's no way they're going to reframe for a thinner wall. I'm also told that I'm losing further inches in the library.

Fortunately windows have been installed. Paul had to go over and meet up with John again so I handed him the digital camera with instructions to take pictures. Here's the ONE picture he took. It does look nice.


Before our useless trip to Home Depot, we took the kids to movies. I took Satchel to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and Paul took Jakob to Haunted House. Jakob lasted 10 minutes before Paul came searching us out in our theatre to get my debit card for a refund. They spent the rest of the time eating ice cream and then sitting in the car for AN HOUR. Crazy. I'd have been shopping, dragging Jakob along explaining the merits of buying pretty new clothes.

We also went to Costco for a snack (I'd skipped lunch). That's how low we've fallen, we're eating at Costco. But really, for $10 we had two hotdogs, unlimited drinks, pizza and the best french fries in the entire world. And then I bought a down-filled winter coat for $69 designed by Perry Ellis! God I love Costco.

No comment necessary - just a delightful sense of retribution.

John called at 9:00 this morning pushing Paul to get up, get dressed and get out.

I hate this. I really hate this. Things just keep coming up and then John expects decisions to be made immediately even though the changes impact hugely on the design of the kitchen/bathroom and I have to figure out a way to accommodate them and still try to make the place look okay.

Which I'm beginning to think is impossible. And it's really bothering me that I don't think the place is going to look as good as it should, especially after all of this time and money being spent.

Now it's bulk heads and duct work that we weren't counting on replacing (hence the extra $3,600+ that John wants NOW and also the next big installment) but needs to be replaced and I just think it's a big conspiracy to drain us even more money to make up for the loss he's taking on how much the kitchen cabinets cost. I'm definitely getting myself a contractor voodoo doll and if I can't find one, I'm making them and selling them and funding my renovation with them.

The windows are finally being installed today - a week late. Turns out John doesn't need the bathroom stuff quite as quickly as he demanded, nor the bathroom vanity, and probably not even the kitchen stuff because everything is just falling behind. And maybe it wouldn't be if they were actually working on the house.

Yes, I'm bitter and maybe I'm PMSing, I don't know. But I'm working on the voodoo doll TODAY.

I haven't stopped by the house today but assume not much happened.

I have received two emails from John today: the first, a request for the next payment installment, and stating that windows and doors will be installed starting tomorrow and to pick out stucco, siding and eaves trough colours; the second that his hvac quote was way under (surprise) necessitating a change order for an extra $3,565.58, and when can he pick up the cheques.

I have been home today with my 2 lovely sons who hate the outdoors. Who would rather hole up in the dark playing gamecube all day. I had to drag them out in to the burning sunshine so that Satchel could be taken to his orthodontist appointment. You would think I was the worst mother in the world, exposing them to "fresh" Toronto air and light. And yet their skin didn't melt off, their eyes didn't pop out, bits and pieces didn't fall off...they were fine!

Nice thing is that Satchel no longer needs to wear a retainer - thank god, because his no longer fits and I really didn't feel like shelling out another $250. Also we don't have to go back for six months, which is great because as nice as Dr. Venditelli is, his blindingly unnatural bright white smile and spray-on tan completely unnerve me. He's one step away from turning in to George Hamilton. One other nice thing, it took roughly 25 minutes to drive home (normally a 7-minute drive) and Jakob fell asleep - and is still asleep!

When Paul goes to work out tonight, I'll have him check the house out for any improvements made and will dutifully report back.

I went to the house today, mainly to walk through in solitude before Paul and the kids showed up and take a few pictures. Outside of the bathroom stuff showing up I really don't think much was done this past week. The plumber didn't show up as scheduled, the electrician didn't show up... so what did the guys do outside of framing the stairs leading to the basement?


(A contentious point (but then aren't all the points contentious?) between Paul and myself as I think they were finished the week before, not yesterday.) I'll take a shot in the dark on this one and say NOTHING.

Paul, Jakob and I went to Home Depot Friday night after dropping off Satchel at his friend's for a sleep-over. We have picked out a sink and a faucet. Crazily the sink is just a bit more than what John allocated and the faucet is a lot less! This makes me so happy because outside of the kitchen cabinets (and this is only because Shirley is my sister and gave me a great price), everything has been quite a bit over.

I would like to interject that I will never renovate at this scale again for many reasons...the main one being that I would probably end up in jail for manslaughter and I don't think my keen criminal attorney brother would be able to get me off. Especially since he just dropped his tractor like lawn mower on his foot resulting in 10 stitches. But then again, if the judge was a woman, who was married to a man, who went through a major renovation herself...

Yesterday we went to a stone place to check out pieces of limestone for the bathroom vanity. It would come in roughly at $1,300 - let's see what John has allocated: $400. Stupid plastic laminate. I think we bite the bullet on this one and buy the cheap stupid plastic laminate for the kitchen so we don't owe John more money in fees. In fact, I'm thinking cheap wood wrapped in tinfoil would make quite a statement.

Paul keeps burping. And not excusing himself. What is he teaching the children?


On to the pictures:

Jakob's bedroom





















A view of the second floor














The back of our house and some of our Pella windows (why are the outside? We're wondering the same thing.)











The basement, still dark but look how much bigger it is!










Satchel's room.










What will one day be a fabulous 3rd floor deck!

It has been a while since I last wrote. But trust me, my life is only about the house. We do have the roof and according to sources there has been progress in the basement. My trusty neighbours swear that piles of gravel have been tossed in but I will have to take that at their word because I am not in the mood to climb down a rickety old ladder into a darkened basement to find out for myself. When I wander the floors I will access, I see nothing new.

I'm a little on edge. My TAPS order was supposed to be delivered today at the insistence of John the contractor but was there anyone there to receive it? No. Is John returning my calls? No. Is the house progressing as it should be? I'm not sure. Having now spoken to a guy at TAPs, they cannot reship the order until Wednesday at earliest or Thursday with the bathtub.

Paul and I are filled with questions like why are the windows not installed? where are the windows? where is John? why is John not responding to our messages? why is there no one working on our house? where is the plumber?

Of course, when we are asking these questions, we're not speaking as cleanly as I'm writing. Fuck seems to be our/my favourite word of the moment. I am finding myself so irritated and stressed and financially strapped that the word is slipping out like melted butter and in all contexts. I am finding it handy to use as an adjective, an objective, a noun... Some car boxed me in at the school while I was picking up Jakob and I couldn't get my car out so the word "fucker" just poured out of me. Unfortunate that Satchel's new friend was sitting beside me, coming home with us for his first and probably last play-date.

Satchel and I spent the weekend in London working with my sister Shirley and her husband Jon to finalize the details on the kitchen and the bathroom vanity. All I need to do is find a kitchen sink and pick the hardware and counter top. I am told that laminate is not the horrible product I had always thought it as so I may have to check in to it - which irks me to no end because from the beginning of this project, John the contractor was always saying to me "Meg, you have to give up on the stone for your countertops, you can't afford it, you have to take laminate." No fucking way I would think to myself. But now that everything seems to be costing a hell of a lot more than expected, bring on the laminate samples.

Here's the link to Shirley and Jon's shop, Artisan Interiors. Jon does fantastic mill work and it is definitely worth working with them even if they are based in London: http://www.artisaninteriorsinc.com.

I will list my friend Eve's email address because she has been so wonderful; patiently answering my never-ending list of questions on counter tops, hardware, appliances and she has such a fantastic modern flair to her sense of design: hillcrestdesign@sympatico.ca.

Satchel has a friend over, they are driving me insane. No, they are driving me fucking insane. I'm going to have to finish up later.

After receiving an urgent email from my contractor reminding me that we need a bathtub and fixtures at the house by July 24, I packed my sick son into the car and drove to his favourite place this afternoon - TAPS. Second, I should say, only to the dentist or the doctor when it's time for him to have a needle.

After screaming "I HATE THIS PLACE" over and over, and then hiding behind a bathtub display making guttural noises (finally realizing he was stuck and began screaming to be freed), we managed to find a brave soul who would help us.

St. Peter (I've elevated him to Sainthood for having to contend with Jakob) was fabulous and helped me make very quick but good choices while alternately staring at Jakob like he was from another planet, or perhaps a science experiment gone wrong. What I also really liked about Peter is that Jim Caruk from Real Reno's was competing for his attention and Peter didn't make me feel like he was blowing me off. Even though we were in the presence of a superstar contractor with his own TV show, he was very devoted to me. I must add that Jim looks better in person and slimmer then he does on TV (where I think he looks charmingly goofy).



So Jakob and I left TAPS having ordered every single bit of bathroom hardware for both the main bathroom and powder room for less than a fortune and I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

I think it's time for a beverage.

I've been home with Jakob this week - he has hand foot mouth disease. Something right out of a Dickens' novel. Next it will be Scarlet Fever and then he'll be talking with a British accent, saying "please sir, I'd like some more."

We've had a rough few days with Jakob's mouth covered in sores. He can't eat, drinking hurts and he's taken to shrieking every 20 minutes at night so I'm completely exhausted too. But having said that, last night he woke up every hour and has only shrieked a couple of times today...I think we've finally turned the corner!

Monday night, after Paul came home from work, I escaped for a couple of hours to Kim's and gave her and William a tour of the house. It was raining and the floors were soaked. But we're soldiers of sort so we climbed up to the third floor and out the window to enjoy what will one day be a fantastic deck with a south-facing view of the Toronto skyline. I didn't bring my camera since it was so wet but will take pictures on the weekend.

We are now in a crunch to order all our fixtures and appliances, I hope we can get a bathtub in time...cursed bathtub. Who knew there was such mind-numbing selection out there. All I want is a soaker tub that will allow me to escape my life periodically. I'm hoping to make it over to Taps tomorrow and pretty much order everything. Then head to Appliance Canada to find a stove, dishwasher and range hood. And then finally I shall have peace for a little while. I also had to make out a gigantic cheque tonight to John the Contractor for the replacement foundation. A cheque that brings out the battle call in me (and raises my blood pressure, has me seeing red, makes me want to drink more, etc.) whenever Paul and I talk about it.

Since this is such a sorry little posting, I will leave you with some eye candy courtesy of Kim.

Presenting....Tommy!

No house news today.

Jakob has hand foot mouth disease so will devote all my attention to his misery.

And man, is he miserable. The mouth sores are really bothering him and I'm struggling to figure out what to give him. The sugars in popsicles and ice cream seem to aggravate it so he's sucking on cold cloths and I'm giving him lots of ice water as well as dosing him with advil.

If any one has any advice, please feel free to pass it on...and no, I can't sedate him or give him alcohol. That's only for me.

Paul, the kids and I stopped by the house today to meet up with John the contractor.

We have a roof! And the framing has been put in place for the boys' rooms so I was able to stand with the boys and say "Jakob, this is YOUR bedroom, isn't it amazing!" and then hop through the framing and say "Satchel, this is YOUR room, isn't it great!"

The boys once again rolled their eyes and Jakob said "Mommy can we go home, I really want to go home."

It turns out some of the framing for the bathroom is warped and rotting so needs to be replaced (which pretty much sums up everything that has been discovered in the house).

We are reconfiguring the bathroom to maximize the use of the space. Pushing the toilet over to the side of the wall with vanity and allowing for a long bathtub without encroaching on to Jakob's bedroom space. I believe this was my original design for the bathroom which had been vetoed by Paul because it involves moving the toileet stack. But I won't comment. No sirree. But I digressed, the boys' rooms look great - even Jake's is a good size with a huge window overlooking...the neighbour's wall.

Shirley and Jon are building our vanity for us from an Italian line (see http://www.artebagnoveneta.com Golf 22). I love it. I love that it's floating, even though I can already visualize the size of the dust balls that will take over the space. I also am THRILLED that there will be two sinks! I've sourced out the sinks and taps so outside of picking out a 66" bathtub, that room is finished.

We found the carpenter was shut down again today by a woman who lives across the laneway. I was royally pissed off, mainly because I don't know who she is and people who exhibit what I consider god complexes make me want to scream. This woman doesn't live beside us, the carpenters by law are allowed to work from 9 until 6, this is just preventing another attempt to catch up and now pushes the project's end time further into the year. I would be far more respectful if B/W or K/S had issues because they are right beside us, impacted the most.

I kind of want to find this woman.

I asked John if there was any chance the project could be finished by end of September because I know someone who would be happy to rent our place, but disappointingly he said no.

I have no pictures from today but I will enclose a picture of the new addition to our family. Haemish will arrive next Friday.

Another boy.

I have lost my mind!

My apologies for the delay, I've been distracted with everything else...but there has been great progress!

We went to the house on the weekend to confirm where we wanted the dividing walls on the second floor - the boys' rooms. We also went armed with duct tape to mask out the kitchen cabinets - mainly to see how much family room space will be left. We think we have an idea for the east wall design which is a great relief, the west wall and island are finished.

I spent time at Taps on Monday afternoon trying to nail down all the details but failed miserably. Still need confirm a few things.

According to Ron, the roof will be up on Thursday and then it's all indoor work for the next few months.

Would you consider me insane to adopt a kitten during all this upheaval? I look forward to comments.

Here at long last are the pictures.

2nd floor (soon to be the boys' rooms).














Good bye window, you were never much use anyway.















Satchel in the kitchen.













The boys' new bedroom (just kidding - maybe).










View from the backyard.













Jakob in the kitchen.