The hardest part is over

Yes I am still talking about my damn house.  You can't stop me!! 

The dining room has been the hardest part to decorate.....only because there were no window coverings in there...and today I got em up...I got that done...and after that I could see what the room needed.  It only took me three hours and a trip to the store to figure it out.  So tomorrow I will be ironing them and probably shortening them as well.  By the weekend I should have almost every room in this house done. 

Then I can sit down ... and take a little rest.  Then it's back to bookwork....Income tax time is coming again and I will have to head for the office.  Fortunately that is just a room in the back of the house!!

I swear pictures will come...but everything always seems to be in such a mess around here.  I buy so much stuff and keep it around to see what it might look like in here...and take most of it back until I know what I want.    I kick my ass for giving some stuff away when we moved...because I could have used some of it....but hindsite? 

I will carry on......

Hey blog you are getting a workout here...

I just made the best joanie balonie...full of macaroni beef casserole dish evar.  I don't know how I did it, but I hope I can figure it out again. 

I had an epiphany today.  I now know how I am going to decorate the rest of my house. Those lamps in the living room  were the best thing that ever happened to me.  I haven't put a decent pic of them up here yet but have been struggling....with a contemporary style .. and it just doesn't work here...even with the high ceilings.  I have decided it needs understated eloquence...I think I just made that  style up....but that is where I am going.  I don't know how I didn't see it before.  All the beautiful light fixtures seem to beg for it.  But I guess I was so used to the old house which was very modern  but didn't have any charm at all.  I can't believe when I saw those lamps in the store...and just had a feeling that this might be the way to go...and when I got home and put them on the tables and saw how they changed the house.  Now I know what to do with the windows coverings in my dining room....this has changed everything.  My house will now be charming.  I love that word. 

I am on my way my friends... I know what I got to do .... and make it happen. 

I lost a day this week

I thought today was Thursday. 

Jack ass.... I don't know where in the hell that extra day went.  I want it back.

I bought a pair of PJ's  yesterday....balonie doesn't wear PJ's as a rule...well these were fleece PJ's ...and soft as a babies ass....and were on sale for 10 bucks.  So I took the plunge.  I melted into them all night...along with our new electric blanket which was made from the same material and our sheets.  I was sleeping the dream man. 

Until....ummmm I am stuck I can't turn around because now my PJ's won't let me turn around in this mass of fleece.  I normally wear a silky nightgown....yeah...because I am a sex kitten...or a person who likes to be able to turn around in bed without getting a hernia.   So I struggled all night between the electric blanket, my sheets and my arsehole PJ's.    I had me a headache in the morning.

l blame the 70's.  I just want my mudder trucking water bed back.  And yeah those PJ bottoms rode up my ass all night....I did not need that entertainment.  Back to the nightgown tonight...a girl needs her rest from all the fuzzy stuff.

Lamps...I love em

Give me a lamp and I will eat for seven days.  I love lamps.  Some people collect purses, shoes, etc...mine downfall is lamps.  I bought two lamps for the living room yesterday....they look like Liberace should have them sitting on his piano...remember him?    I fell hook line and sinker in love the moment I saw them.  Let's remember that I have a very contemporary home...which I was going to decorate that way....at first.  Then Gord wanted furniture that was not that contemporary...because his little feet could not touch the floor on all those fancy sectional furniture you see. The seats in them are so long.  We sat on a hundred sofa's and seriously both of us could not reach the floor with our feet.  Did we get shorter with age?...or are we shrinking..the latter I believe....anyhooooo.... we bought stuff that is cozy and comfy...feck the contemporary... so now I have licence to bring in all the the cool stuff that I love.  Our furniture and kitchen cabinets are dark and I intend to make this place look like  you just walked into a really comfortable place you can call home.  I'm not there yet ....but I will get there.  The lamps were the catalyst.....now I now where I am going. 

Unfortunately you can't ignore technology...and you have to have the big screen TV's in the way...but hey...it's going to be a little of the old and a little of the new.  I will try to make the two meet.  This is so much fun right now. 

I don't know where this came from...but I feel like posting again

I really do. 

This last year or two have been so scrambled I haven't had a minute to myself....it was "always something".....life for me has changed so much ...first with retiring when it WAS not my idea...let's not go there...and then the HOUSE.. and all it's challenges.  This afternoon I emptied the last of 10 boxes stored in different closets.  All the stuff was there that I was looking for...my stuff..stuff to put on shelves and pictures to put on the wall...tacky nick knacks...that make a home a home.. I found them all.  They smell like home.  All my books and photo albums.  They all have a brand new home.  The best part is that I don't have to go down two flights of stairs to enjoy them...they are now at my fingertips.

We will probably be in for one more set back with the flooring...but I'm looking at the big picture and if something drastic has to be done....I can get past that too.  Everything else is almost in place.  We got the coffee and end tables last week, so I rearranged the living room to accommodate it...

Sometimes I feel guilty for having so much.  I know it took our life time to get to this point. We never spent any money on anything at the old house because we knew at one point we would be moving.  Now that we are here it feels a little decadent....or maybe I will just enjoy the fruits of our labour.

I will get some pictures up soon.

PS.... I still can't talk.....the voice is gone...that balonie is still making house calls.

I still can no talk

The voice she be gone.  I can say four words...and then garble.  The world will rejoice.

I bought a little blackboard for my desk here in the kitchen.  It's cute.  It has a place for chalk and a little teeney weenie eraser.    I put up notes for myself and Gord.  On the top I put up what we are having for supper...eg. NOTHING YOU WERE LATE....and other mental notes:

..buy coffee
...clean up dog shit on the deck
...do something about the hair on your upper lip...you look like a man
...get a hair cut and get your roots done.. you look like shit

That is all the room I have on my blackboard. But I had so much more to say and try to remember for next week.  We have flooring issues as I mentioned on facebook..so hopefully that will be resolved.  I can't believe we will have to remove all of this...and start again.  If so, I will request carpeting be installed because I have just had just about enough about this.  I am so freaking tired of this floor and the way it is lifting...plus the smudging...you can't even walk in here with sock feet...and it shows every foot print. I call  Bull Shit....  And the company knows...they tried to screw us  around.  We paid for this...and we  want it right....

Opps got a little mad there...heh....but hey sometimes you just want to sit down and not worry what the next disaster willl be.

Now it is time for me and mister to go and eat soup!!!

Knock knock ... anybody home?

Who is the schlepper that owns this here blog?  Yeah you know the one who didn't even wish everyone Merry Christmas because she was too busy with her damn house.  Self absorbed beotch... that's all I can say.

The house and Christmas almost did me in.  So, I apologize for my bad manners.

We almost have everything in place except for the coffee and end table .. and a TV stand.  Now comes the putting up of pictures and decorating.  I have bought a few new pieces, but still have a lot of stuff from the other house that will work well in here.  I need some plants too.  Soon it will look like home and be cozy and have all my stuff around me again.

I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas so today I am going to try to make bread.  Shut up and quit laughing .. it could happen.  I have no idea where my loaf pans are..probably in the 3rd. garage behind the lawn mower.

I almost got killed this morning.  I think Gord had something to do with it, as a matter of  fact I know he did.  She got this stupid rain shower head .. THAT..turns different colours when the water is on.  I know...a disco shower ball if you will!!!  He has been showing it to everyone who walks in here.  It's gaudy as hell, anyway this morning I turned the water on to let it get hot before I got in and BANGGGGGG... the whole thing fell off the spout and on the floor.  Don't tell me that wasn't intentional. He muttered something about the clips had come apart.  Yeah... That's what you get when you buy shit that has "As see on TV" on the package.  That would have left a nasty gash on my head had it not been shiny plastic instead of real metal like most people have in there bathrooms.  Classy eh? We have 5,790 lbs. of metal stoves and fridges in the kitchen and in our bathroom we have a plastic disco ball rain shower head.

I just started feeding the birds and squirrels around here.  Poor Penny...she has a dent in her forehead from banging it up against the window.

I call him fat ass he is here everyday now.

We had Gord's family over on boxing day for dinner.  We actually all got to sit around the table at one time.  Usually I just do it buffet style, so this was a treat.  Gord's 96 year old Tanta Tina was once again in attendance. She slays me.  She is as funny as she always was.  She has a little trouble walking but other than that she can still hold her own.  I helped her to the bathroom after dinner and when she came out she said " Joan"...as she turned around bent over and said look at my slacks....haaaa she had them on backwards!  The pockets were in the back.  She said they had felt funny all evening and after she came out the bathroom she went to put a kleenex in her pocket and couldn't find her pockets!!  and realized she had them on backwards all evening.  We had a good laugh along with her.  This Christmas will be remembered as the one when Tanta wore her slacks on backwards!

Time to make bread...haaaa this should be funny.

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year!  Thanks for putting up with my tardiness.

Just once more for old times sake:)))

Isn't this the cutest xmas template?

I like it. 

I am still in the midst of getting this house together.  I know... you are tired of hearing this, but that's all I got these days.

Everyday is a surprise.  So many different things to see outside the big windows...

I am still trying to adjust to the new hood.  I lived out in this area in an apartment before we got married and I know the ropes .. like shopping etc.  but because we are situated back in the woods about a mile away makes it so different.  We are close to everything....hospitals..malls etc.  It's like coming home sometimes when I shop in the old malls that I shopped in before we were married.  I forgot how different it is here because the University of Manitoba is just down the road. When you shop in the stores you encounter a whole different mindset than where I lived before.  It is so diverse...and interesting.  It reminds me of when I lived here before when I was 28 years old.  The old Zeller's department store is still there ....only thing that has changed is now... I can order the Seniors Special in the restaurant...without them telling me to take a hike..heh....tomorrow I am getting my "roots" done in the hair stylist shop that has been there forever.  They now do tat's and ear piercing... so I might go for the whole package...because my ear piercing have been giving me problems of late...I don't wear my ear rings enough to make dem holes stay open.  And the tat...hmmm

I love the small town feel of this area.  We actually are on the tip of two areas..the one I just described and another older area called St Norbert.  This area is mainly French Canadian...this is where I go to buy food you can't buy at Safeway...and the former owners were Mennonite.... and I can still get my farmer sausage fix.

Sometimes I walk in the living room and see the woods...and wonder .....how the hell did I get so lucky.....  but I guess we spent a lifetime working for this moment.

Changed my template again

Just popped in to put up a few pic's and test this template.

  bbl

My Christmas Moose is up

My ole friend Jaye was getting tired of looking at my lame furniture, so I though I might actually POST.

It's kind of hard to post in a unfamiliar place.... I used to post in my office at my desk in the old house, but here I am in the kitchen at my new little office space built for me.  I no like.  Creative juices just don't flow here.  It's all too big in here, I am used to a small cozy space.  My old office stuff is in the back company office ... and is where I will go back to once we get the new computer.  Everything still echoes with these huge ceilings....I need a place that is cozy.

Life is moving on.  Our new bed is hard as a freaking rock.  But I guess that is to be expected after coming off the water bed.  Everyday it feels a little better.  It has a nice soft pad on top and I guess we just aren't used to it yet ... it will come.  We are still waiting for our furniture and that should be here in a few weeks ... I cannot wait.

I hate dark hardwood floors....now aren't you sorry you tuned in..heh...just to hear me bitch.  With all the big windows in here you can see every dang dog hair, dust, crumbs.. I loved living in denial when I had carpeting. Had I known that there was so much crap in my carpet I would have been crazy.  Ahhh so what ..we lived.  It was okay.  I would like it again...because I can't take much more of cleaning this shit up. Special cleaners for everything here.  You can't even walk on the hardwood floor barefoot because if leaves a imprint from the oil and sweat on your feet. What kind of shit is that?  Let's not even get into doggy footprints from coming in and out of the house in winter.....feck.....  When we had the first hardwood floor installed here it failed...and got too wet from the humidity of the house...and I had a choice then to go with another hardwood or carpet.  I chose carpet....and our rep told me I was nuts....she said you have such a beautiful house ...why would you spoil it with carpet?   Well guess what....I can vacuum the crap off...and don't have to see it when the sun shines...that's why.  I will find a way to get rid of this...yes it is pretty...pretty annoying.  I am so sorry I chose hardwood.  Maybe once we get all the furniture in here it might not be so noticeable ...especially in the living room.  We will have a huge area carpet in there...but I don't know. I'm thinking of sewing the dog a micro fiber type of cape that will reach the floor and she can schlep all the hair she loses and it will stick to the bottom of the cape.  Pure genius, another problem solved.

Another solution might be is getting window covering.  But the windows are one million feet high.  And are angled...blah blah blah.  And it would spoil the view in the forest. I pray for cloudy days because you can't see the dog hair and dust then.

I finally was able to take a shower this morning and get wet!  Everything around here has some kind of energy saving device attached to it.  The shower head has a water restrictor in it and the water barely trickles out of it, so Gord took it out and man do we have a powerful shower now.  Where their is a will there is a way!  We will beat those "go green" nutnicks at their own game.

Well that's all the complaining I have to do for now... and oh yeah...my new dryer broke.  It is a month and a half old.  It's one of those computerized jobs.  I had my old one for 15 years!!! and it never ever broke.  I sound like an old granny don't I?  heh ... I guess I am. 

Phew...I'm still trying to get my shit together

It's been a long and winding road.  We still haven't seen the end of it yet, but I can see the forest from the trees today.  Speaking of which, I saw two young deer today, and later the daddy deer ...mit da antlers on...taking them for a walk in the forest later in the evening.  I love when they start to run and their tails go up and you see the white fur underneath...it is so cool. They sprint.  They jump.  So darn nice.

Is this all we expected it to be?  Yes and no.  We expected the house to be completed before we took possession but that did not happen.  It was 99 percent done...but all the little stuff that still needed to be done takes time to complete.  So, I still have trades coming and going working out the little bugs.  It's not really a big deal as I still don't have any furniture and we don't feel connected as much as we would if everything was in place.

I spent the first two weeks doing waaay to much. But...boxes opened...things put away and out of sight...even if that was not the permanent home gave me some peace of mind.  So, that's where it is.  We will be ordering our furniture tomorrow.  I am a luck duck as my nephew is the manager of one of the best furniture stores here....and we will be getting a good deal. I picked out the sofa, love seat, chair, dining room and dinette tables yesterday.  We also have ordered the bedroom suite I showed earlier....but my nephew sold us the ultimate mattress....remote controlled...soft as a babies bum...you go up...or down...or around..maybe not...but fudge....this is better than sex...seriously.  Nephew said...auntie Joan...I knew you were coming down from a water bed...and this is what you need!  YES.  Anything would be better than the airbed we are sleeping in now.   The sofa,  love seat, and chair  has a remote controlled chaise lounger thing that pulls out from underneath them for your feets.  How decadent. 

We choose a different dining room table....than before...but it is still glass.  I will post it but just so you know the chairs are not white...I took it off the web site...they are almost an almond colour in real life.And the wood is a warm brown.

I found the neatest coffee table.  It has four nesting chairs in it, so when you have guests coming around and don't have enough seating...this is great. 

I don't have a pic for the dinette suite...but it is glass and round.  You will understand when you see the area it has to fit in. 

 Our driveway is just being put in today.  This has nothing to do with the house, it's our own project. It has been a huge project...as it is partially heated.  They have just finished pouring the concrete and it's getting a little cold out there....they might need to get some heaters going.

Penny Loafer Martin...has been such a trooper though all this change.  She hardly blinks an eye at all the goings on.  She just loves to sit with trades and watch them work. 

The wedding:  It was wonderful.  My bro lived to see it and participate in it like a dad should.  That makes me so happy. 

I will try to get on here more often....so hang on here with me.....

We don't have much in place

 TV is still sitting on the floor....

 Penny is making here debut.

 Only one counter chair has been built because we need sleep more that we need them dang chairs.

Windows were clean until a huge wind storm hit us last week...fudge...

One day at a time... I know...but I can't wait!!!

I went shopping yesterday and picked out the living room sofa....so that is done.  All that is left is the kitchen dinette and the dining room.  I already did the bedroom before we moved.  But we haven't ordered it yet....because someone around here likes to second guess me....but it will be.


Thanks for hanging around this ole blog site.  I know I am not half as amusing as I once was...but this building a new home and moving takes away from the funny.  This is serious stuff....especially when your dog can't get out of any of your three doors to take a shit because of the mud.  I bought 4 pieces of grass sod today.  I lined part of my porch with plastic and topped it with real grass.  No, she can't go running until they finish the driveway and we can't get out of here the easy way to the street....but she has missed grass so much since we moved and has had to shit on dry mud in the back ... until it rained and now everything is stinking ole red river clay.  Until the rain we did a lot of walks through the woods...it was great...but not so much now that we can't seem to get off the property.  So, I built her a porch lawn/doggie outhouse. 

I hope I don't have to mow it.haaaaaaa

More pic's to come....

Hello

I have not gone away. 

I remember when we moved into our old house some 26 years ago and I had so much energy and great ideas and hey I am the queen of the castle....not so much right now...but I have been overdoing it.  Surprise.  heh

I need order.  In order to have order ... you need to know where shit is.  This is where the problem lies.  If we would have our new furniture I could put stuff where it belongs...but I don't just yet. 

The house is beautiful....but it is far away from being a home.  It echoes.  It has no character yet.  It's like living in a vault.  I get a little misty some nights.  Penny is looking for a place she can call her own...just like me.  We don't fit in.  Just yet.  Gord... he doesn't give a shit...because this was his dream.

Last post from this address

I'm tired, but not sad anymore.  I'm there.  I'm ready.

Poor Penny Loafer is a little confused with all the going ons.  All the stuff is gone!  Well, not exactly gone, because we have sold a lot to the new owners (which I think is actually keeping her sane) because if it would be totally empty before we go tomorrow she would be a little cranky. But, she knows something is up.  Even Gord and I found it a little odd tonight because we could not sit on our comfy chairs after supper and watch the news.  We sat at the kitchen table (which is staying in the house) and didn't know where to go from there.  Dog sat in the barren TV room waiting for some ear scratching time. Gord had a shower went to bed...I sat down at my makeshift desk to type to this post. Dog is still waiting. 

We were 90 percent done yesterday, we would have been 100 percent done if my husband was not a hoarder...even the moving people could not believe the shit he keeps.  Sure I kept some stuff....but OMG...a garage and two sheds of "what ifs"... he promised to go through it at the new house and purge, but once a tool junkie always a tool junkie.  How many tools do you need?  How many tool boxes do you need?  Gawd.  He loves throwing my shit away. I don't even have much anymore, I have done the purge.  Every year in fall he goes through the garage (full of his shit) and his two sheds and re-arranges them.  Because if they look neat you might not realize he has a problem.  Snow blowers, snow plows, roto tillers, motorcycles...etc. the list never ends.  But, it never fails....never ever....he comes across my old fishing kit and rod and says...well you never fish anymore let's chuck this!  Seriously that is the only thing I store in the garage.  The rod and kit takes about 12 inches of space.   And every year I explain it means something to me because my dad and I always fished together and maybe one day I may or may not take it up again, but if I do I have the tools I need to do it. This has gone on for years and years.  Today, as the movers were moving the last bits out of the garage...Gord called me into the garage and asked if I wanted to keep my old rod and fishing kit. WELL FUCK.... sometimes you want to take a bat and smack him.  What part of what I have said over twenty years did he not understand.  I guess he thought I would get over  using 12 inches of his real estate.  I just gave him the "look".... no talking was necessary... and on the truck it went. Sometimes I just have to shake my head.  But...at least he build a 4 car garage to store the stuff he had in a double garage and two sheds.  I'm wondering if there will be enough room for my rod and kit....or hey...maybe my car!!!

I am having a little fun at his expense to be sure...I will let you know when it's all done and said.

Looking forward to tomorrow and a new beginning in a new neighbourhood. 

hey ho

No whining here today. Papers all signed....it's a go. 

I will have to admit that I have been a bit of a dink about this house.  I was so scared we wouldn't be able to afford it and didn't trust my husband enough when he told me ... it was going to all work out.  Well it worked out ... and more.....we will be just fine.  

As you probably know we are leaving most of our vintage 1970's furniture here for the new owners, I went shopping for a new bedroom set.  Yeah....no more water bed for us old hippies... this is one I choose.

 

This is the electric fireplace/TV stand that goes with it.

 

I think I can live with this.  Plus we will get a chest of drawers to match....because we are cool. But if I can get a waterbed mattress for this set ... I WILL. 

We will be living without a lot furniture for a few months, but I don't care.  Our first priority is to put in a fence for Penny Loafer.  I don't want to loose her.  We have had a few visits to the house but I don't think she gets it yet.  So I will have to make her feel like it's her home. 

I am so pumped tonight after all has been said and done....and on Wednesday the movers are coming for what we have left.....then I have until Friday to actually move our office stuff...just stuff you don't want movers to move unless they lose it. That will be all in the back of my truck with my computers etc.  Also I will be moving the stuff from our fridge and freezer...and all the dishes etc. I didn't pack.  I bought an air bed so we will have something to sleep in until we get the the new one. 

Phew... 4 more sleeps until we finally settle in.

balonie....making a new home.

ha

I bet this the longest I have ever kept a template on my blog.  This must be serious business we are plowing through.  It is.  It's hard and stupid.  I would never do this again.  But I never wanted it in the first place, but if I am stuck living in the bush in a beautiful house...so be it...heh.