More Renovation Updates - Shower and more

It's getting to be dangerously close to 2 full years since I committed to the bathroom shower project.  I think it was August 2010 to be honest.


At least in those 2 years we've replaced the counter tops, sinks, toilets, and floors in both bathrooms, as well as the many other projects that have been detailed on here.  Some them that come to mind are the: kitchen floor and kickplates, built a 9" floor cabinet, the kitchen counter tops and cabinet doors (*each with custom sizing), kitchen sink, tile, grout and seal the kitchen backsplash.  The living room ceiling fan (build and paint external mount box plus wiring) several light fixtures, all sink fixtures, all the light switch plates, remove kitchen garburator and add an additional outlet, install drinking water filter..  That's not even including all the cabin projects: carpet upstairs in the loft, front stairs, deck, and railing.  Oh yeah, wrote and defended a PhD, had a baby.  Plus all the fun trips and recreation we get up to.  It's mind boggling really.  

August 2010 Starting Demotion

Anyways, here shows the first sloped mortar bed that was finally completed today

Now I'm ready to re-install the curb, the PVC membrane, and the wall board.  Then it's time to do another mortar bed on top of the membrane, seal the wall board, and then finally tile.  Oh yeah, after I install the curb I'll have to cover it in lath as it will be covered with a layer of mortar as well before tiling.

 There was already so much work just to get to here Such as:

Re do the plumbing underneath the floor 

Install a "ledger strip" around the basin perimeter to set your slope to the drain 

Install under-layer, expanded metal "lath" and use wood filler on all raised nails and screw heads

Have the plumber come in to install plumbing for a new center single-lever fixture, (he also plumbed the water filter)

Before we had the old-school separate knobs for hot/cold and our faucet was too low.  Now it's nice and high.

Palm Springs

We were lucky enough to spend a week down in Palm Springs to visit my parents. 

It was a great time that was really really HOT!!!  Next time we'll go back earlier in the year as a few days I found to be uncomfortably hot, but regardless it was great to get 7 days in a row of sunshine.  Escaping the Vancouver weather is a very healthy thing to do.  Why do people live in Vancouver?  That's another question for another time.  Put it this way, we're actively looking for an exit strategy.

Anyways, here are some photos of some of the highlights

Amber enjoying her $5 pool on the back deck with Marg's new little puppy "Trinket", a miniature Pinscher who is a great little dog.

Kayaking out on the lake was also fun.  Luke, a great little Jack Russell, was a natural boater and he loved to hop on both the single and tandem kayaks that we borrowed and act as the maidenhead.

 We went hiking to a really cool place called Indian Canyon.  Here Kristy was underneath a small waterfall and Amber wasn't too happy about it.

 Did I mention it was hot?  This umbrella worked great to keep Kristy and Amber shaded and cool.

This shot hardly does it justice but the contrast between the lunar-like barren desert and the greenery of Palm trees where the spring water flows was stunning.  Surprisingly, the water was actually really cold and it was quite refreshing to dunk your head to cool down.

Another highlight for us was being able to pick fresh grapefruit off the trees which we either ate with spoons or one day made about 1L of fresh juice.  A real novelty for us.  Here I am developing my technique with pointers from Mom, it's actually not as easy as you might think. 

Got it!! 

Until next time....

Shelves of Opportunity - Revenge is Sweet

This is a quick story of how the douchebaggery of a new neighbour, motivated me to stoop to his level while making our apartment just a little bit better.

Preamble:
Living in an apartment complex is interesting.  I've had lots of less than stellar interactions (and some good ones too) with neighbours in the 6+ years we've been here. 


I keep a dolly down in the parkade for transporting heavy things up to our unit.  I've left it down there, unlocked, without issues for years.  One night, at about midnight, as I remembered I had to get the 250 lbs of concrete-mix out of the back of my truck, I discovered that someone had stolen my dolly.

In disbelief I cased the parking lot and the storage lockers looking for it.  I thought someone must have "borrowed" it and forgot to put it back.  As I peered into the locked van of a new neighbour, I spotted it.  Since said neighbour is a cabinet-maker-contractor, he has his phone number displayed on the side of his van.  I texted him right away to let him know I was not impressed that he had taken my dolly and that I needed it back right now.

He came down, with his thick Russian accent, and proclaimed, "I have one just like that, how do you know it's yours?"  Luckily I had replaced one of two little cotter pins that are part of the dolly, and the replacement did not quite match the original, so I was able to identify it as mine.

I don't really like being directly lied to, but since living in this building I've lost respect for much of humanity and all I really cared about was getting my dolly back to save my back from carrying the concrete bags by hand.

And now the renovation-revenge part:

A couple of weeks later, I had the washer/dryer pulled out to install a water filter.  Before putting the laundry machine back beside the hot water tank, I was down in the parkade and I spotted my crime of opportunity.  In the douchebag's parking spot was a perfectly good 6-foot long piece of wire closet shelving.  I debated it for a second, but then something came over me and I blatantly stole it from him knowing I could simply say, "Oh I thought it was mine, I have one that looks just like it", in case he spotted me.  I probably would have used a Russian accent too just to mock him a bit more.


I've never been so motivated in my life to put up a couple of shelves and give us a bit more storage space. 

Here are the before and after photos showing the water filter and the new "shelves of opportunity" above the hot water tank.

 Before:

 After:

And that concludes the story; petty I know, but simple pleasures for simple minds.  I need to get my motivation for renovations wherever I can.

I should also add that this is my viewpoint of "revenge".  But in all reality I was probably just doing him another favour by saving him a dump-run as the piece of shelving is the same stuff used in all the front closets in this complex.  Most likey the situation was less sinister as he surely had ripped it out of his house and was doing some upgrades.  Still though, I like to think about it from my perspective.

Deuter Zigz

I love craigslist. This is the top of the line Deuter kid comfort III child carrier. All the reviews say that this is by far the most comfortable carrier for both the baby and the parent. MEC has it for $315+tax which in BC makes it $352.80.

If you're unemployed and not afraid to bomb out to Langley you can get a nearly new one for $100. And of course, Loca was an unwilling participant in yet another trial run of something baby related.

Wow, two posts in one day...I should get back to work.

Bunnies!!!

Amber loooooooves bunnies. It started with one particular bunny that she loved, but she loved it so aggressively that it often needed laundry. Actually she kind of helps us clean the house by using it as a swiffer as she crawls along the floor. So we got another bunny for a laundry rotation. And then like bunnies do, they replicated to the point that we now have a bunny army. There's mini-bunny (a recent addition), two regular sized bunnies (road bunnies), and one large bunny (crib bunny). All of these bunnies make our parent lives much easier. Every time I've taken the skytrain with Amber strapped to me, I've had a bunny wedged between her head and my chest. And nothing puts her to sleep faster than being plopped down onto Crib Bunny with a soother in her mouth. And up in Sechelt (where we've been going a lot lately), Grandma Jenny got Amber a MEGA-bunny which Amber loves proportionally more.

The other day, while Amber was out at daycare, they ended up at a store that sold these exact bunnies Amber loves so much and they decided to literally bury her in them. As you can see, I think she was in heaven.

Peppersprayed!!

Vancouver is really full of douchebags, it's important to always keep that in mind.

Last night I met up with Kristy downtown and we grabbed some food before heading home. I had Amber strapped to me. For some odd reason, we decided to take the elevator down to the lowest level of the skytrain rather than the 2 escalators just because we were carrying so much stuff. As the elevator door opened, this little db wearing a toque and aviators emerged rather quickly (in hindsight) and we proceeded to get in. It took about 5-10 seconds for us to notice but just after the door had shut, we realized that said db must have just discharged a pepper spray cannister. It was horrible, our eyes, noses and mouths immediately started burning and I just covered up Amber's head with my jacket and we hit the buttons to get out and fortunately got out only 1 floor down.

Poor Amber was wailing, 15 months old and already been pepper sprayed. My sinuses and eyes felt like they were on fire. Then we got to board the crowded train with a very unhappy baby and head home. Woohoo!!

Getting the whole family pepper sprayed was the LAST thing I was worried about as I stepped into that elevator. Normally the biggest risk would be a bit of BO or someone's bad fart. So next time you're in Van, be careful of getting into a closed public air space, you just never know which little anarchist loser (who I would love to run into again) might be out to cause harm to you.

We are all fine now. Rant over.