Happy Labour Day!

Hola amigos!

Happy Labour Day!  I started the celebrations off by sleeping in until 7... But at least the cats are enjoying the day off and are still in bed.

The kitchen ceiling is installed!  Mom and I rocked it for 5 hours on Saturday but it's done!

'kay - apologies for the sideways pics - they saved on my laptop the correct view ie. landscape and I don't know how to rotate them (if I even can) in the post. :-(

Anyhoo, you get the gist.  They are tongue and groove pine - super labour intensive but look great with the vintage of the house.  I just need to lightly sand the butt joints, put up finish trim and then paint the ceiling. Then we can get on with finishing this effing project.  I've given myself till Thanksgiving.

I don't know where the summer went but good lawd!  It feels like it passed by so quickly.

Aislinn starts school on the 3rd and is looking forward to seeing her friends again.   I'm good with the positive attitude.

My task for this upcoming week is to start the new job hunt in earnest - kinda looking forward to it and kinda not.  But the end goal is a full-time job (the label- I work full time hours) doing project and facilities management/project management with paid vacay and hopefully benefits and pension.

Mentally, in a better place and just taking it day by day.  We all get into dark places but it's the getting out that tests your mettle.

Some money minding tips I've put in place for myself (just finished reading Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Money Rules):
I borrow my mags I want to read from my local library - free and no clutter!
Same with books
Borrow bigger tools that I don't need all the time instead of buying
Do what repairs I can and renos (with 'rents help - God love 'em!) myself

That's it for now gang - have a great Monday off!

SHE LIVES!!!

Yep - I don't EVEN want to look at the date of my last post.

But the important thing is I'm here now merrily typing away.

Wow - where to start?

This will be a pic-free post - just sayin'.

I get so caught up in the slow reno progress of my house that I get embarrassed to update the blog.  Then I remind myself that this isn't a home reno blog - it's just an update of my life. :-)

So, in no particular order:

The kitchen ceiling - tongue and groove pine is going in slowllllllyyyyy but surely.  It looks kick-ass.
Not sure if I mentioned before that my work buddy Franco came and did his drywall compound magic on my walls - not once but 3 times folks and well, it's a thing of beauty.  A light sanding and priming and BOOM!  We're ready for paint.
I started the closet at the top of the stairs that will be mine - it's stalled at the moment. The nice weather came and honestly, I lost interest in renovating cause I wanted to enjoy the weather.
Girlfriend did a Roller Derby Crash Course - pretty sure I was in the upper age limits of all of us there and PASSED AND was invited to proceed to level 2 as well as join the league.  All very cool and flattering until I found out the huge time and money commitment - neither of which I have. Boo.
Passed my M2 test and am ready to go.

Aislinn, my beautiful girl, turned 8 at the beginning of the month and I just don't know where the f!@# time went.  She is smart, funny, sassy and makes me laugh.  Lots of attitude in that little body... She's growing up so fast that I'm so proud of her and yet, it's so damn poignant.

The love life or more aptly, lack-of-love life is a joke.  It can only improve right? Right?

I gotta confess - I've been in a shittay place for the last few months.  It's not every day - more during the times when Aislinn isn't with me but holy shit when the day is dark - it's dark.  Too many times lately the only thing that keeps me on this earthly plane is my little boo.  Hard typing this cause that's not how I roll.  I'm using to being strong and now that I'm feeling kinda vulnerable and fragile - dealing with the dark ain't easy.  This isn't a 'poor me, feel sorry for me' rant - just stating where I've been.

I've also kinda hermitted myself away and not seeing a lot of my friends in the city - that's going to change cause I miss my peeps.

Anyhoo, no need to worry as I will bounce back - always do.  Just being honest and typing about how things are.

I hope you're all enjoying this summer - I'm enjoying the hot weather cause gawd knows, we don't get much of it for long.

Until next time, keep calm and sangria on.

Besos

Trip Back To The South Shore and Demo

I KNOW! An update in less than a month never mind two - can you stand it?  Tho - this means I'm setting the bar higher and thus have to live up to these self-imposed standards. *holds head with hands*

So, I'd mentioned on FB a couple of months ago that I took a trip down memory lane by bringing Aislinn to where I grew up in the south shore and up to Mont St. Hilaire for a hike.  Surprisingly, I didn't run home screaming to a therapist.  Or getting absolutely sh!tfaced.  Progress I think.

Aislinn LOVED Mont St. Hiliare and I quote "Mommy - can we come back in the winter, the spring and the summer?"  Not sure if it was the hike or staying in the motel with the purple toilet and tub......

When I was a kid in elementary school, we always had a couple of class trips a year to hike on the mountain up to the lake, look for wild flowers and birds.  It was awesome and I loved it even more bringing my girl there.  It's owned by McGill and worth taking a trip too if  you haven't.  The surrounding area at the base of the mountain is quaint with apple orchards and artisans.  Hope to get to explore more as it was chilly, damp and misty when we went at the end of September.

Didn't deter us from going for the walk through. Excuse the less than stellar quality of the following photos - Blackberrys just don't capture the colours that well.

What hike wouldn't be complete without a picture of a chippy I ask you? 

So we'll see when we'll make it back in the winter.  Stay tuned.

Onto the scintillating subject of my kitchen demo.  I know you're waiting with bated breath - 

My parents (God love them - seriously.  I wouldn't be able to do this sh!t without them - very hard to reno by yourself) came over Saturday afternoon to help with the final phase of the demo.  My stepdad (we'll just refer to him as "Dad" from hereon in cause truthfully - it's the handle he deserves. Respect y'all) really ripped out the sink and base cabinet on his own with very little help from Mom and I.  We removed nails and pitched the stuff out of the kitchen window into the yard behind my garage.

My parents have REALLY gotten into the redneck sport of pitching demo waste out of your kitchen window.  Gotta confess - I love it too.  But I really love it when we haul that eyesore to the dump. 

Ah yes - the dump.  Another country pastime that can't be missed.......*rolls eyes*  I always want to stick a hot poker in my eye and drop a Valium when I think of what I've contributed to land fill.  That and I pray the ex's tire (he has a trailer and was kind enough to bring me and my junk) doesn't get nailed by a nail (see what I did there - clever no?). The load only cost us $ 5 but a new tire would've been stupid.

Photographic evidence of my nekkid kitchen - look at that poor lonely dishwasher - just pitiful.

Notice my sexy shop-vac?  Love it! 

But it wasn't all demo - nope - built the cabinet for the sink.

K - chippy made another appearance.  Cheeky bugger.  Anyhoo, there's some building going on people!  Too bad it wasn't exactly as it needed to be for the farmhouse sink..... Was lying thinking about that at about 4:30 Saturday morning and tackled it Sunday.  No photo yet.

More to come gang - pushing to have most of the kitchen done by Christmas.  Giddy up and peace out till next update.

Fall, Halloween and Kitchen Demo Continued

Howda y'all - it's the bi-monthly update *rolls eyes* moving on.......

Fall was gorgeous this year as the below views can attest from the enclosed sunporch off my room (yes, I'm that lucky)

Now, had I been smart and taken it with my camera instead of my BB, you would have seen the phenomal glowing gold of the leaves - instead it's kind of blah but use your imagination. 

It's a good thing I took these photos because a few short days later - I had a nekkid tree in my front yard.  Apparently that the ONLY thing getting nekkid on my premises lately.......

But I digress (again).......

Aislinn decided to be a Vampire Queen - natch.  Why would she simply be a vampire? Go big or go home little girl - thank goodness she's learning young.  Here she is in all her vampy glory.

Her missing top 2 front teeth with her pointy little canines were perfect.  She rocked  it.

And be still your beating hearts my friends, sit down -as the title states - kitchen demo has continued.  I know, I know - it only took my sorry a$$ 8 months to do it but hey, who's counting?

My parents (god love them) came over Saturday to help me demolish the majority of the rest of the kitchen from what Rhonda and I started in March.  Only one base cabinet to go then we can start the rebuild.  Thank gawd - I want this thing done before Christmas. I have the new cabinets in my back room fer @#$%^&  sakes - they have been since February. 

Here's how it looks now

Pretty ghetto but still a vast improvement over the previous incarnation.  A few gory details - my stepdad found a bigass mouse nest in the bottom of my pantry (underneath panty bottom) ew ; I had 2 mouse skeletons came flying down at me from the ceiling tiles I was removing (surprised my lunch didn't follow suit) and last but not least, you haven't lived until you are nearly pinned in the head with a mummified mouse carcass.  Yummy.

I'll close out the update with pics of the boys just cause they're cute.  Peace out.

Blog Anniversaire

Wow - can't believe it's almost been a year since I started this blog.  Time flies when you're having fun apparently.  Happy birthday little blog!

Let bring you up todate on the excitement that is my life is Spencervegas - shall we?

House stuff - had bats in mi casa this summer - not cool at all.  So, spent a week's salary having it bat-proofed on the exterior.  My house looks ghetto what with plastic taped across big holes in the ceiling and walls from last year's electrical work and screening over vents, etc.  Yes, I'm waiting for Style at Home to come knocking any day now.......  Still had a couple of the little f*ckers in here so called my boy Keith to get the little b@st@rds out.  Knock on wood - seem to be bat free. 

Ah the drama and excitement of single motherhood in the country.  Can you stand it?  You know you so want to be living my life.

Next, had a couple of local fellas in to give me quote for tearing out said ghetto ceilings on the ground floor to replace with more presentable drywall and wall up the ductwork to upstairs. Waiting to hear back on that.  No one wants to take my money?!

Moving onto the really good stuff - I finally bought my Harley. Yes, you read right interwebs, I bought my damn Harley. Only took 20 years but I got'er done! I'd like to introduce you to Eddie - my 2004 Sportster. I look like crap in the pic but it's a great profile shot of Eddie. Eddie as in Vedder - my Pearl Jam crush. How many girls can say "I'm going to take Eddie for a ride!" Sure as hell wasn't giving my bike a gals name.

Can't wait to bring him home!  I had butterflies in my tummy and folks, can't say that about any men lately so I'm going with it.  It's all about my little girl, the house and Eddie.  Giddy up.

Hellloooooo - is anyone out there? I'm baaaacckk

Hola mi amigas and amigos!  It's been 2 months so I figured I'd update y'all.

Still haven't downloaded the pics from Disney - I know, lame. <shrugs shoulders>.  Had a fantastic time, Aislinn loved it and met every princess except for Jasmine because of a 3 hour wait. Not.  She's ready for me to take her to France now - yes, you read right - princess wants to go to France.  I told her in 10 years 'cause that's how long it's going to take me to save up.

Dating - well, taking a short break because I have yet to meet anyone who is actually honest and straight up.  Not going to say anymore on the subject because apparently I have a ninja soapbox that appears out of no where and I don't want to turn this into a rant about single male a$$holes. 'k? Cool.  Moving on......

So, a couple of weeks ago the chain came of the inside of my ceiling light in the kitchen (cue dramatic music) - couldn't be fixed without tearing said light fixture apart and frankly, not putting the effort into it - know what I'm sayin'?  Figured it's the Reno gods telling me to get off my a$$ and finish the damn kitchen already. Said dating break will be good time for this fun.

Aislinn will be with her dad for 2 weeks starting Sunday so the plan is haul a$$ and get as much done as possible with help of my awesome 'rents (huge shout out to Mom and Garth).  My next step is prepare the construction schedule and get confirmation and buy-in.  I'm actually psyched about getting it done as I'd lost momentum and the excitement. 

Excited the following projects too - bathroom, closet then Aislinn's room and so on and so on.  Let's put it this way - from the front of my property to the back of my property and everything in between needs to be worked on.  I will never ever ever be bored again.........  I will also be broke but that's another subject. 

Scored a free (Gawd I love that word1) pine console and mirror today.  Whoop whoop.  I'm going to paint it and put it in my foyer on the wall facing the bottom of the stairs. 

BTW - I am selling my fab retro 50's waterfall front bedroom set - beautiful wood and it's in good shape.  Double bed head, foot and side boards, 2 night stands, dresser with mirror and  vanity with mirror and bench. Quality solid furniture, dovetail joints and made locally in Brockville back in the day.  If you're interested or know anyone who would be, give me a holla. Please share this people - thanks in advance!  Pics of bedroom set to come soon and will be posting on Kijiji.  The reason I'm selling it is it's too big for my room I have now and honestly, I need a change.

That's it for now - gotta get my tired tush to bed.

Ciao!

St. Patrick Shenanigans and Easter

G'day!  I'm not going to bother apologizing any more - it is what it is. :-)

Okay - so this post is more about what's been going on than house stuff because my kitchen has come to a grinding halt - yes, in the half-ass state that it is.  I'll start up again after we get back from hangin' with Mickey, Minnie and the princess in FLA.

So, has some good times for St. Patty's Day - we both got in the spirit of it as the pics will attest.

She's rockin shamrock specs with mardi gras beads with a light up shamrock.  That's my girl!  I had a blast wearing the green Betty Page wig - people actually asked me if that was my hair that I dyed.  You betcha - keep drinkin!

Then before we knew it, Easter was here.  We coloured some eggs - the sparkly PAAS kit of course.  My girl likes her bling.

I Martha'd them up nicely in my milk glass dishes - 3 of them with shred on a huge pink platter.  Just now realized I didn't get a picture.  Sigh.

Then, because I was really getting into it - we made cupcakes.

And you wonder why my kitchen is where it's at?

BUT I have a happy peanut and really, that's all that matters.

Easter was spent with my parents - the traditional egg hunt was held at their place again because frankly, my yard is not egg hunt-safe at this point.  She had a blast and of course, wore her Easter finery with her Hello Kitty hat because that's how she rolls.

That's about it in a nutshell.  Started the dating process if you will.  Joined POF - not sure how that will work out.  Hoping it goes well - if not, I'll go onto eHarmony and match.com.  It's like a catalogue - more people than I'll meet going out 'cause I don't much.  First experience left me hurting 'cause I followed his lead which seemed very interested in me and going wonderfully until he pulled the rug out from under me.  Not ready to date yadda, yadda.  Should thought of that 2 weeks ago when you asked me out for coffee and progressed to great kissing.  Not so great for my ego, ya know?  Just putting it out there - if you know a nice guy who wants to meet someone like me- I'm open. 

Well, gotta go rinse the red outta my hair.

Peace out y'all.