The Lost Summer

Summer is over.  Harvest and school time (as if life couldn't get busier).  I haven't posted all summer mostly because... <insert believable excuse here>.  Well, we haven't been entirely idle, but most of the projects have been little ones.  You know, those type of things that need to get done but never really do.  This whole summer of painstakingly simple and eye-twitchingly annoying jobs began in late spring.  We were sitting outside having morning coffee under the tree when "The Deck" conversation came up.  You know the one...  "We could wrap it around here, under this tree, the bbq could go here, and we can leave a space here for a hot tub."  "Oh, but the railing has to be perfect beer height for evenings (or afternoons)."  "Yeah, and the planters could go here, here, and here."  So with much arm waving and endless enthusiasm we had a plan.  Jeremy priced out materials and called me a day or so later from work with his estimate for the most awesome deck EVER!  After I got off the phone, I started to tidy up the house... and the glaring unfinished-ness of this renovation nightmare became starkly real.  We have been living here for almost a year and a half, and I swear not one room or job is actually "finished".  So with a heavy heart (and a little snicker) I sent him "The List" via email.  It contained everything from base boards to unfinished plumbing, touch-up paint to uninstalled doors; all of which we have most of the materials to complete, just perhaps not the motivation.  Jeremy took it like a champ and came home with the printed out list (still hanging on the fridge) and some paint.

I kicked it off by breaking out some power tools and a pile of 2x4s, and fixed the front and back steps of the studio.  I also painted the steps and all the outside window trim.  Much more work has to go into the curb appeal of the studio (flowers and all the frilly crap) but it looks a lot cleaner and you won't trip and die if you try and knock on the door.

Last Fall

 While I was working so diligently to get the studio looking nice I had a number of neighbors come by commenting on how much nicer it looked, and also how ugly our other house was...  I'm not even kidding! One guy actually said we had the ugly house on the street!  So, with my biggest polite smile, and my sarcasm-free tone of voice, I said that maybe he was right.  Then I took a look, it wasn't even a long or hard look... he really WAS right.  Ugh.

Yeah it's a jungle.

 Well that just wouldn't do.  So I called Jeremy at work and told him to bring home a chainsaw... Great minds think alike, or perhaps he was already aware of the ugly stamp we had, the chainsaw was already in the truck (he bought a BC chainsaw... way overkill for any wood we'll find here in the prairies)

 So with much manic laughter Jeremy got er' done.

Oh, hey look, there is a house!  I promptly ran out and bought curtains.  Turns out we don't need a deck to get morning sunshine! Yeah, it's not the same, but "The List" reigns supreme around here.

Other bits and pieces have been started and some finished.  Jeremy finally plumbed in the sink and toilet in the studio, but the water still isn't on... waiting on a tub so hopefully next week.

Baseboards for one of the kids rooms are painted and almost installed (ahem).

Jeremy buckled down to his most hated job, finishing carpentry.  He can do it but he just likes sledge hammers and chainsaws better... don't we all.  So the inside of the upstairs windows are done as are other tedious jobs hardly worth mentioning.  The types of jobs where it takes longer to assemble your tools than to actually do the work.

But summer wasn't all just hair raising deck battles and paint spattered bikinis.

Sam: "Should there be a caption here?"
Jeremy: " I don't know what you could possibly say..."

It was also an amazing trip home to Prince George, B.C.  Rivers and lakes galore, with beer, great friends and family.

But why not check out a great B.C. music festival?  Like the one my brother puts together just outside of Chetwynd, B.C.
Awaking Music Festival 

 Jeremy had an accident in B.C. He and his brother took a plunge into the lake off a tube and Jeremy's brother ended up putting his front teeth through his lip and into Jeremy's elbow.  10 days later Jeremy is on a take home IV drip for a fairly massive infection... hahaha.  I told him to go to the hospital... it was a great "I told you so" moment! (Jeremy still swears it was the most "wickedest-awesome-tubing-wreck" ever).


But now it's fall, and life begins to pick up it's pace again.  We didn't quite finish "The List" actually we didn't even get close (Jeremy figures I'm sabotaging him by scribbling more chores onto it daily).  But once Harvest is over we will get right into it again.  Winter renovation sucks, but at least you don't get distracted by sunshine and camping.

Payton (7) grade 2 and Jordan (8) grade 3 first day of school photo.