Kitchen Kountdown Kommences

Mark January 4th on your calendars. I expect you to all celebrate this day in your own kitchens. On January 4th our new cabinets, countertop, etc are being installed. At long last...
Expect photos on January 5.

Post-Xmas Wrap up (follows the unwrapping)

We are not braving the Boxing Day sales. I don't think I've ever been shopping on boxing day. There's no need when "boxing day" sales last at least a week. Plus, who needs more stuff after Xmas?? We've got plenty of Booty already thanks. See :


We received many fondue items from my grandparents and aunt - including fondue plates - yay!! Time for a fondue party!!!!! We already had one fondue pot from the wedding, but we actually wanted a second. Josie things she got boxes for Yule. Darla got a new ball (see picture 3) and a tin of treats. She was afraid of the ball at first, which annoyed me because I spent good money on that toy - again! - and I was certain she would like it. Turns out she's afraid of the bell that was inside. Once I popped that out she loved it! Good to know - no noisy toys for Darla - which means Robin can't be tempted to get her a squeeky toy just to annoy me.

We hope you all had a fabulous Holiday and have exciting New Years plans (any suggestions for us? we've got no plans yet.)

Holiday Blessings

Fenwick has been celebrating a little too much

Gryphon's been helping Santa make toys.
Monkey oversees things in the elf-shop.

Darla runs errands for Santa. Don't we have great little elves.

Yule Blessings - the secret is revealed

What lies behind door number one?
Did you guess already?
I did.
And I guessed right!
Robin lied. He lied! Damn he's good at that. I'm jealous. I can never hide that stuff from him.
I am impressed that I actually guessed correctly.
Figured it out yet?
That's right. My Yule gift is a beautiful wooden rocking chair.
Just like I guessed.

Robin received PJ pants and a t-shirt. Not nearly so exciting. But I do have an official UN patch to sew on the T for him :) I just wanted to make sure the T fit before sewing.
When I was in Washington I bought him an emroidered CIA t-shirt.

And of course, we're both getting a Monkey this year :D

Solstice Blessings from Sunny, Snow-free, Blue-skies Kitchener!!

Well, I'm off to re-fill my delicious fair-trade coffee (finally got a new bag of beans recently after running out a month ago) and spend time with Robin.
Probably watch some Angel...
(shh, don't tell mom - mom stop reading - but we were anxiously waiting for the Christmas gifts to arrive so we could open a season of Angel early! We've been desperate!! So... yeah... that season was actually a Yule gift... and I only opened it 2 days early... and we're half-way through the season. I said desperate.)

Early Yule Gifts

It's official.
We're adopting Monkey. (Josie)

:D

I'm trying to get photos of her with the other cats now. So far I've caught her sleeping near Gryphon. I could get some fun action shots with Fenwick, but it's dark on that side of the basement so I don't think they would turn out well.

I still don't know what's hiding in the spare room.
Aren't I a good curious-cat? I've not peeked at all!!!
What's wrong with me????

Or maybe the question you are all asking yourself is "what's wrong with Robin?" Three cats? The things you do for love :) Oh, I'm not saying he did this for me (well, not totally). He is very fond of Monkey. He takes great pleasure in playing ("torturing" - nothing that ever hurts them of course, just what he likes to call it to justify his actions as a (former) anti-cat person) with the cats.

Bloggy Goodness

I'm just full of bloggy goodness lately.
That is, I've been blogging a lot. I don't always/only blog here. I have one for school stuff elsewhere.
(Is bloggy a word? Well, if it isn't yet I'm sure it will be - and not because I said it, but because blogging is a rapidly expanding phenomenon and will develop its own vocabulary.)

So, for bloggy fun:
My driveway is now clear of my former linoleum floor that had been tossed out there long ago... It finally found its way to a dumpster. Cleared driveway - check.

Josie's potential adopter decided not to adopt another cat before even meeting her. Silly fool doesn't know what he's missing.
His loss, my gain.
Maybe it's just meant to be... ... ...

Yeah, I know, I was anti-kitten for a while. I was good and strong - loving yet detached. And now I'm failing Fostering 101 yet again.
But not because she's a kitten.
It's because Josie fits here. She matches the other kitties - she could be their daughter, if kittens looked like their parents (which they often do not).
She's not a cuddle bum, and for once that works for me. I've got enough cuddle-kitties and a big suck of a dog.
Plus, she's good for Fenwick. I've mentioned already how they play together - and I see Fenwick out of her hidey hole far more often now.

Potentially increasing the household cat population to three - check.
(This is still under consideration.
I had 3 cats for a while after Jenny was born and while Snuggles was still around. Snugs, Ren and Molly made a cute family.)

I met with Barlee's Angels volunteers the other day. It's a great group of people and I am happy to be involved. Then I rushed to pick up Robin from work, home to change, and off to a Yule ritual I was planning.

Oh, gotta go. Watching Elf on TV.

Yule Torture

Robin is evil.
He has "hidden" some large gift for me in the spare room. And by "hide" I mean he closed the door and told me not to look inside because my gift is there. He says he can't even wrap it.
So... too big to wrap, but light enough to carry up the stairs...
Hmmm...
I already guessed a rocking chair. Sadly, that wasn't it.

For those who know me, you know how torturous this is!
What if I needed to get one of his presents out that is also hidden in that room? (Granted, I wrap my gifts as soon as I get home!) What if... well, okay, there's nothing I can't fetch Robin to get out of that room for me...

In other news, I had half-holiday cookies today. As I lamented earlier, without an oven we've had absolutely no holiday baking yet this year. It's terrible. My department's Holiday Party is in late January. Robin had a work lunch today. And nobody else I know is having a party. Usually we have the party. I decided that I had to have *something* so I picked up some holiday-themed sugar cookies, ginger bread, and almond-flavoured cookies at the grocery store, but they are not homemade (Voortman cookies) and thus I can't really call it holiday baking.
Yes, it's pathetic. You can pity me all you want - and then send baking!

Also, Yule cards have all been sent (assuming I have your snail mail address). Yay me. Check.
As far as I know, I'm also done all my shopping and package shipping. Check and check.

Now *you* are jealous of me! I know it.

Farewell Foster Kitties

Ginger is happily in her new home and loving it.
Now Josie has a local application in process. I'll be curious to learn how he heard about Josie/Barlee's. That's two local applications for these two. Of course, that's not surprising if they search with PetFinder.ca since Barlee's is at the top of the list when I search with my area code. Last Saturday after I dropped Ginger at her new home, Josie and I spent 4 hours hanging out at PetValu to attract attention for Barlee's Angels. Sadly, people generally were not interested - had to pick up pet food and run. Of course they cooed over Josie, but always with the follow-up phrase "I already have too many; My partner would kill me." I can appreciate that - I'd be doing the same. Still, I didn't expect them to take her home (not that they would be allowed to) but I did think they might pick up literature about Barlee's.
Josie's application was only just received, but I'm assuming they will want her before Christmas and I am happy to oblige since we were wondering what to do with her when we go to my grandparents' for the holidays.

She's at least well integrated into the household, so we could just leave her with the other two cats, a pile of food, and water. Still... I'm sure she would have gotten into trouble.

She's been growing on me. Heck, she's like a shoulder growth :) Always here on my shoulder while I work. When she's not unwrapping Yule gifts or climbing things (like my leg!) she's adorable. [In the photo below, I don't know if you can tell that she was chewing the plant.]

She has also been very good for Fenwick. Josie is the only other animal Fenwick will hang out with (or tolerate for that matter). They like to play in the sink together. They also play tag in the basement. As a result, Fenwick has been coming out her shell more. There were recent thoughts of adopting Josie (mostly on my part, but Robin was definitely convincible since he really likes her) to stay here... but now there is an application in process :( Still, we didn't really want 3 cats... and I am happy if she can find a great home. If the current application doesn't work out...

I still think it odd that I've got 3 brown tabbies (for now). I was never particularly attracted to tabby cats. Usually I admired a calico or tortoishell or solid coloured cat. Now that I have 3 beautiful tabbies I don't understand how I never noticed the beauty of the stripes before :)

Sing "Taking Care of Christmas, everyday..."

...Taking Care of Christmas everyway
I've been taking care of Christmas, it's alright
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

This is what I heard yesterday in the car. Randy Bachman ripping off his own song for a Christmas "hit". It was catchy...

Yesterday the large flakes of snow (snowball snow) started to fall, and fall, and fall. YAY! Looks like it will be a white Yule. Finally the snow caught up with my neighbours' decorations. There've been inflated snowmen and Santa Claus cutouts (not to mention houselights and Christmas trees indoors) for weeks now (well over a month for some!!!)
I don't understand why some people decorate starting Novemeber 1st - no joke, I saw Christmas trees up in houses that early.
Mom and dad even started earlier than usual this year (for a house party, so I guess that's a good reason.)
Me, I finally said "screw it" to the mess, cleared some space, and hauled out some Winter decorations yesterday.

I dug out the Yule CDs to help me decorate. Between little tasks I graded assignments, which was a refreshing way to grade. It kept me from getting frustrated with students and the slow computer.


This table was covered in junk, but I managed to tidy it. And then add more stuff :) But this is festive stuff.

Ah, the festiveness of it all... I really need to do something more with that wall. It's just so plain. Some huge piece of artwork would be great! Usually there is a round sun-moon plaque where the wreath is. (Ericka decorated that for me, thanks Ericka.) Where the star is hanging is where we would normally put the Yule tree... so let's pretend there is a full tree beneath the star (this is also the start I put atop the tree last year, so it's easy to imagine.)

This is the only tree beneath the star. I used my mini-decorations that usually adorn a fake mini-tree.

After snapping these photos I headed back upstairs to notice

It seems I forgot to put away all the previous decorations.

In other exciting news:

Saturday will be a busy Barlee's Angels Day for me!!

In the morning I take Ginger on a home visit to what will most likely be her new forever home. YAY for Ginger!!!! She is very lucky because many of her feline friends fostered by Barlees have been in foster care for a long time. Lately there has been an increase in adoption applications for the cats though, which is great. And almost all the dogs have forever homes now too. I guess we'll start taking in new dogs again soon once the adoptions are settled.

Surprisingly, Josie still remains. So, Saturday afternoon I have arranged with my local petstore to go in with Josie and some Barlees literature to raise awareness about our animals and the organization. I'm hoping someone will fall in love with Josie and submit an adoption application for her!! I am also going to bring a binder with information about the other animals currently seeking homes, and hopefully some of them might receive applications as a result. Yes, it's a lot to expect from a few hours at a pet store, but I figure every small piece of exposure is good for Barlee's Angels.

Wish me and Barlee's Angels all luck on Saturday.

Ginger, Josie and other sillies

Great news today - Ginger was in for her spay and while under they did a biopsy on her skin lesions to determine the exact problem. The results indicate that she has an auto-immune difficiency. This is good news in a way because we knew something was clearly wrong and might require daily medication. This would make her difficult to place in a forever-home. Fortunately though, she only needs shots 2 or 3 times a year and provided her new family is on good terms with their vet (and the vet is nice), these can cost as little as $20. It is a relief to know exactly what is wrong and how we can treat it. PLUS, a potential new family did come meet her (and Josie) a couple days ago and they really like Ginger (though at the time I thought they were favouring Josie with her kittenish-charm), but while they awaited her spay and results, plus the application process, they've met another of Barlee's Angels' cats, so I don't know what they will choose.
Josie has another application in progress, which will hopefully go well also. She's such a cutie - who (besides me!) wouldn't want to adopt her? And the sooner the better - she won't be a kitten forever!

I have impressed myself with my ability to foster. After we fostered Darla and then fell totally in love with her, I wasn't certain I could do this... I have discovered that I can love these kitties, and still help them find another home.

In non-feline news, the floor progresses. I haven't shared a photo in a while because I'm hoping to wait now until the floor is done. Maybe even until the cabinets are in the base trim is installed. Okay, maybe not the last part, because who knows how long that will take!

Back home in Winnipeg, dad is hanging his balls on the ceiling. lol Sorry, old family joke. But really, the brightly coloured, glass balls are now dangling from the ceiling. Robin and I have started collecting glass balls for this purpose (and yes, one day I will joke about Robin hanging his balls), but they are definitely not going up this year! I'll be lucky if we can clear space in time to get the tree up! Oh, I'll make space!! Even if it has to go in the bedroom... actually... not such a bad idea... It would make a pretty nightlight! And it's not as if anyone will be visiting here to see it, seeing as how the house is a DISASTER and utterly un-guestworthy.

In other Winnipeg news, V and her partner are moving back! December 24th is their arrival date. She really seems to like moving during the holiday season (or taking off to Europe). Mom and dad are thrilled of course because they'll be close to their first grandchild (due February). V will probably be living with them for a while, and I envision mom will be spending a lot of time with the baby.
Now that V is moving home, I of course am being asked when we are returning to Winnipeg. To live? Maybe never. Sorry friends and family. Not that we wouldn't - provided we could find a place in Wolsley or Wildwood - those are my conditions - oh, and a job at UW.
But that future seems far far away right now.
First things first - I have a degree to finish.
Right after I finish this darn baby blanket for V... why did I create this elaborate design?? I'd share photos, but I want it to be a surprise for V.

Thinking of the blanket, and Yule package mailings (one of which is delayed by knitting)... I've yet to start cards AGAIN. I'm still debating if I even want to do cards... I used to be great at it. And I think of how much I love receiving cards...
Oh, okay, I'll get on it!

Super Quick update

Back from Washington DC. Had a good time.

Flooring progress is still slow. *almost* done.
It seems that grouting tiles is very difficult and messy and the grout gets everywhere and dries and then has to be removed with stinky acidic chemical when Mandy returns from DC.
Anyhow - soon can seal the grout, then Robin can finish painting, then we can *finally* move stuff back into regular places.
One more thing to show you - isn't Darla just the cutest with her new Canadian hockey bandana?

The Last Tile

Here it is. The last tile being installed last night!!

Grouting begins Tuesday.

So close to having the floors done...

Next step - finish painting the walls (perhaps while I am away in Washington this will be done...)

Then install floor moulding before the cabinets arrive in late December.

In other news, Robin's shifts have changed again :( No more weekends off.

The foster cats are doing well, although they are couped up in the spare room right now while me and the other 4-legged ones are couped up in the basement. We have to keep everyone off the main floor until the tiles are set (mortar dries). While tiles were loose I could cover over the open floor vents, but I can see The Monkey (kitten) trying to crawl down one...
Ah, kittens, so annoying. I've been letting her run around (before the last stage of tiling this weekend), but sheesh she's gets into everything! A good reminder of why I prefer to adopt adult cats. Not that I can be mad at the cute Monkey. She's really sweet, but a typical kitten.



Ginger is great. She hangs out in the spare room. She's looking much better now and her coat is silkier. She had a dry and bleeding nose for a few days - because she had recently finished treatment for a respiratory infection and I suspect the house was too dry for her sensitive nose. Under the advice of our most trusted vet I treated her with a steamy room whenever we showered. It worked. I am lucky to have access to great veterinary advice for the animals in my life. Between the local vet, my cousin Tasha, and Dr. Corey Bartley I have many resources when I am worried about our little ones.

If you know anyone in southern Ontario who has room in their home for a cat or two... direct them to Barlee's Angels www.barlees.org and they can adopt Ginger and/or Josie and free them from my spare room!

Ooh Aah Spacers

Is this progress?
This is as far as we got last weekend. No mortar. Okay, well the progress is that tiles were cut.

Today we put in the order for our cabinets and our deposit.
They're going to looks SO GOOD!!
Hopefully in by Christmas... hmmm... we'll see.








In other news, this is my friend's new baby boy.
I selected a photo that shows off his fuzzy hair. I'm off to eat dinner and then go visit.

Putting the pieces together

The floors will begin to be tiled tomorrow.
In the meantime, see what the pieces will look like!



Blue walls (the photo doesn't adequately capture the real colour), dark brown tiles with blue highlights (I *heart* our tiles), terra coloured maple cabinet doors (oh so warm and beautiful) and "cotta stone" formica countertop.

So what do you think?

Here's a preview of the floors to be. Darla approves.




Now, it will be a long while before the cabinets are in. But once the tiles are done we can get the oven hooked up again at least. We'll still be without sink of course. But it's progress.

The Saga of Kitchen Renovations

We watch enough home renovation shows that we should have known better. How many times have I laughed at the homeowner on In A Fix who is forced to wear the “It’s all my fault” t-shirt. Where would I buy one of those for Robin??

A couple of weekends ago (just after R’s birthday), Robin and Jay began the process of preparing to refloor the kitchen. As you know, we’ve had beautiful tiles sitting in my living room since the spring. A couple of days prior to this, we removed all the appliances etc from the kitchen. We’ve been without a stove/oven and sink ever since…



They gleefully demolished the base cabinet. The countertop already had to be replaced (previous installers didn’t bother sealing the sink around the counter!) and I’ve always hated the cabinet to begin with. Jay has grand visions of remodelling our home! We tell him he needs to get his own house!! Of course, I was in full agreement and helped him convince Robin that the easiest way to remove the base cabinet so that they can refloor is to demolish it. Otherwise a plumber would be needed, pipes would have been cut, etc.



Darla watches on, wondering what all the ruckus is about.



Robin patches and begins painting the walls.



A couple weeks go by without progress. Note: no sink, no stove! Dishes are being washed in a washbasin in the bathtub. Food must be raw, microwaved or BBQ’d (or take-out). It’s like living in a dorm…



We primed over the leaf stencil. The only leaves in the new kitchen will be potted.



At long last the linoleum and ¼” plywood is removed! This was after 2 weeks of Robin agonizing over the subfloor. Turns out the subfloor is OSB and it is not advisable to tile over OSB for many reasons. We almost reverted to new linoleum or wood-laminate throughout the main floor (damn, so close to getting rid of the carpet!) and said ‘screw it’ to the tiles. Replacing the entire subfloor would have required hiring someone to do it, particularly with a fully-finished basement beneath. In the end, however, we learned of ways in which OSB can be tiled over successfully. It may not be the optimal choice – but we’re not building a floor to last forever. With proper care there shouldn’t be any problems.



Here we are today. Look what we woke to on the day Robin needs to begin working with powertools outside…



At long last, preparation for the tiling has begun. Here is our first panel of cement backerboard. This was as far as they had gotten when I last took photos this afternoon.



Here is a sneak peak at the future. Blue walls (we went with a lighter blue than we’d previously chosen – thank goodness) and a tile.



And here you can see what I’ve been living with for the last several weeks…



“It’s all my fault” – maybe I’ll just paint that onto a t-shirt for Robin.



Good thing I have an office to get away to.



Not even the basement is safe. (I think I need to clean my camera lens!)



To add to the fun, I was a last resort for taking in two kitties whose foster mom is in hospital. They’re upstairs in the spare room, while my kitties are locked in the basement for the duration of the construction. Darla is locked with me in my office for the time being…

Beer-Day Birthday

Robin's birthday celebration was beer-ful.

It all began at the Brick Brewery at noon... [awaiting photo I took with a friend's phone-cam]

Following the Brewery samplings we returned home for the BBQ (with beer).

Robin joyfully filled his beer-steine. Have I mentioned there was a lot of beer involved?

[These are the goofs I am trusting to tile the floors...]

Following an afternoon and evening of fun at the house (including another viweing of SuperTroopers!) we headed out to downtown Kitchener looking for Oktoberfest fun. Turns out, Oktoberfest isn't like festivals in Winnipeg. This was not a street festoval (despite being a lovely long-weekend Saturday night) and downtown was empty. The single downtown Oktoberfest tent was half empty so we decided to save the $6 cover for more beer. We wandered downtown looking for some fun and found ourselves at The Still, our usual hangout for beer and a fitting end to a day that began at The Brewery.

Thus concluded Robin's birthday.

He received many great movies for his birthday too! Yay for more movies to watch. (Except for the Star Wars movies... I don't watch Star Wars movies... but I do play Lego Star Wars video games!)

October Celebrations

Only a few more days until Robin's birthday and then Thanksgiving.
We have few plans. Robin wants to visit the Brick Brewery in town again and we are having his cousins over for Turkey Dinner. (Less the whole Turkey)
However, we just realized that Octoberfest begins this weekend as well, so birthday celebration plans may change - perhaps an upgrade :)

I think I already mentioned that Robin has a great 8-4 M-F shift now.
My fall TA job is (compared with the past few TA jobs) quite simple this term - grade about 50 short reflection papers a week.
Plus, this job pays me monthly. I'll save you the dramatic story of how pissed I am about my summer TA and how they screwed me out of ~$500 this month... (Money I had to give to the government instead, so at least it is retrievable for me next spring. I already sent letters to human resources and the college that hired me about this. I don't expect anything will be rectified.)

Fenwick is officially ours now. She is still in hiding from Darla much of the time, although she has no reason to hide. She'll let me bring her from her 'bed' in the storage area, and will cuddle with us on the couch, with Darla at my feet, but eventually Fenwick runs back to the other side of the basement.

My sister finally sent me photos of her preggo-bump. She looks so cute :) They think I will have a nephew... but in BC the nurses cannot tell you. I made her a wrap for baby carrying.

I have a lot of gifts to start (and finish) making...

But first I have to finish my grant applications...
Right after I make myself some coffee...

OMGs - I almost forgot to post photos. It's been so long since i posted pictures for you.

This was my Japanese Quince in full bloom this summer.
Occassionally these also bear fruit. The conditions must have been right this year.
The fruit look like small ugly apples. Eventually they ripened.
I picked them and plan on making Quince jelly. Quince already have a lot of natural pectin, so all you need to do is boil them, mush 'em up, strain the pulp, boil the juice, and seal it in a jar.
I can do that...
Also doing well this fall are my morning glories. These are my favourite flowers and I was lucky to be gifted with seeds from a friend in the summer. I hadn't thought of planting any because I do not have a trellis for them. The flowers loved their spot on the deck in the sun. Next year I will get a long planter along the deck and would like to attach a trellis atop the railing for added privacy. Now that the tree is gone, the view to the next street is very open.
Indoors plants have also been doing well. Here is the Shamrock(s) a friend gave me in August. Here they are about a month later!
Look how full and blooming! My first indoor plant to bloom with flowers!! (Baby Rubber has grown its "flowers" several times, but they're just pollen covered sticks.)
awww. Look - like Mimi, the Shamrock sleeps.
Goldfish are about to bloom also! Yay!!
Didn't I tell you about the Goldfish plant? Yep, goldfish grow on plants. I'll show you when it has finished growing. There are two other buds. I've been feeding it extra vermicompost fertilizer.
Have you seen the Vermicompost? Well I took a picture the other day.
Freshly fed worms. All the brown is compost - it is like rich brown earth. No, it is not smelly at all. Yes, I need to give them new beddings and remove all that compost... I told you I am a poor vermicompost keeper. But the worms don't seem too upset. Their mini ecostsystem is functioning just fine.
Look how simple the bin is too... Rubbermaid witha few holes in bottom, boot rack beneath it for excess water, and lid (with holes).