December 2014 – Anything Boys Can Do…

December 31, 2014February 17, 2015

Meet Stanley

Hey friends and family! Welcome to the last day of 2014. Yup, it is December 31st and it has been a busy and productive week.

Last post, I mentioned that I was heading downstairs to try to get the washing machine hooked up. Well, a bit of advice – especially to you ladies: get a pipe wrench. This is mine.

It’s a Mastercraft (that’s a Canadian Tire brand) and I’ve had it for several years, and I couldn’t have connected the washing machine without it. First, I needed it to turn off the water. The round taps were so stiff that my little lady hands wouldn’t budge them. This isn’t good when you’re trying to disconnect a hot water supply from an old washing machine! I adjusted the wrench so that it was big enough to fit over the handle, and voila, it gave me plenty of leverage to turn the tap off. I also had to use it to loosen the connection on the hose and tighten the new ones onto the new washing machine. Done! The unfortunate thing, which really bugs me, is that only while connecting the washing machine did I notice that it actually has a dent in the front. Shame on Future Shop for delivering me a dented product. Of course, you have to sign-off that the machine was delivered with no damage, which I did, but the laundry room is so poorly lit that I couldn’t see the dent. It doesn’t impact the performance, though, so I’m just going to let it go.

Next in the update department – the stove plug. This thing was a bit of a mess, but managed to chip out the tile to expose the metal plate for the outlet, undo a few screws, and rotate the outlet 180 degrees. Then refastened the screws and done! Made Christmas Eve dinner for my family that night!

On Boxing Day, I went with my friend Brandie to our friend Jimmy’s annual Boxing Day Blow-out. Ok, it was less of a Blow-out/Drunk Fest this year, because 1) Jim moved to Burlington, so we can’t stumble home across the street anymore and 2) Brandie and I both had our family Christmas gatherings the next day. We didn’t stay too late, but it sure was nice to see Jim’s new home, meet BabyMac and see Jim’s kids, Sarah, Wil and Andrew and our friend Shawn and his son Tyler and girlfriend Elora. During the party, I firmed up plans with Jim for him to start working on my Bathroom Reno on Monday.

Here’s a picture of the bathroom before, when it was advertised in the Real Estate listing. Tile from floor to ceiling, very dated turquoise fixtures, etc. Definitely time for an overhaul. I’m happy to jump in and do construction/lifting/tearing out, etc. but I won’t touch plumbing and I won’t touch electrical, so in this case I called in someone who can do it right. Enter Jim. And Stanley. The Stanley FatMax 36″ Wrecking Bar.

I’d been to Lowe’s on Sunday, and Stanley Fat Max tools were on for 25% off, so “Stanley” was only $15. Worth every penny. On Monday Jim and I set to tearing down the bathroom. Here’s Stanley hard at work. Yes, I know, the rear photo in the Yoga pants is regrettable, but let’s move past that… removing those tiles was much easier with a strong wrecking bar! I also smashed my finger pretty good between the wall and Stanley, but it’s not broken. After removing all of those bloody tiles (that’s a plaster wall) we had to put them into contractor garbage bags and take them out into my garage. Thankfully I HAVE a garage. Now I just need to arrange to have all that crap hauled away.

After day 1, we had the tub, plumbing, toilet and vanity removed and all of the wall tiles. Day 2 was another adventure entirely: Even Stanley could not budge the floor tile, which was laid on top of about 2.5 inches of loose cement and wire mesh. Jim had to bring in the power tools – a hammer drill – and basically chisel it out chunk by awful, heavy, nasty, dusty chunk. The entire house was covered with a layer of dust afterwards. Gross. And once again, we had to pile it all into garbage bags and haul it out. Which then makes me shudder at where all of that crap will go after it is dropped at the dump. Land fill. Terrible and wasteful. It makes me want to use only wood in my house, so that at least it could be incinerated. By the end of Day 2, it was looking much better. Here are a few more photos. Now, since it is New Year’s Eve, the work is on pause until Friday. See you then.

Happy New Year!

December 23, 2014December 31, 2014

Moving In

Hi! It’s December 23rd, and I’m sitting in my new home, in my new living room, on my couch. Yesterday was moving day and I’d hired a moving company and 3 men. The company was called Mig29 Movers. Mike and his crew, Mike and Brandon, were awesome – we even enjoyed a shot together at the end of the move (mmm… Polar Bears)! On previous moves, I’ve gotten family and a U-Haul, and I’ll never do that again. The only negative about the day is that the truck was packed up and ready to roll and I was will anxiously waiting the key to the new house. They had to wait for about an hour and a half (which I was paying for, of course) before the deal was closed and the key was ready. Once we got here, to the new house, it only took them about 2 hours to offload.

Today was a jam-packed day of deliveries. First, the new washer and dryer were delivered. I bought Samsung top-load High Efficiency machines this time. The guys who delivered them arrived just after 8am, but they didn’t connect the appliances – the old washing machine was still connected so they wouldn’t touch it. I said to just leave them, I’d look after it, but so I haven’t been able to get the hot water turned off – the tap is really stuck – so I might need to actually find my pipe wrench and see what I can do.

Next, after the appliance guy, the Bell guy came to install my 15 mbps Internet. He worked at it for probably almost 2 hours because there were issues – not at my house, but at the source – but all is well now, and he was really nice.

While that was still underway, my beautiful new GE Slate Kitchen Appliances were delivered. I swear… I would have been afraid to even try the range that came with the house. It was an Eaton Viking. I believe that Eaton’s went out of business in 2002 in Canada. According to what I can find online, this line of appliances was likely manufactured in the 80s. The fridge was from before the Energuide days. My home inspector said it would likely cost about 200 a year to run. The new one is estimated at $18 a year. Anyway… these appliances look great. The dishwasher and over the range microwave will be installed after the kitchen reno, but the Fridge and Stove are here. BUT… yes, you knew there had to be a BUT… the plug for the stove is a problem. See in the photo on the right – that’s the outlet that the ancient stove was plugged into. It sits only about 1″ off the ground (and that’s some really nice grout work around it, isn’t it?? On the left is the plug from the new stove, which needs probably 3 inches of clearance below the outlet in order to be installed properly. By all accounts, I can rotate the outlet… that’s the first project, tomorrow.

Next, the custom vanity that I ordered was delivered. I’ll save that for a post about the bathroom… it is quite lovely!

Finally, the fool from Rogers arrived. I currently pay $118 a month for Rogers TV and Home Phone. They arrived to install the cable, and the current cable hook-up is on the wall opposite to where I’ve placed my Television. When I spoke with the Rogers rep on the phone, he recommended that I get them to install 4 outlets while they’re here and I agreed. Well, this man arrives and after discussing the relocation in the living room, and checking out the basement where he’d have to add service, etc. he decided that he couldn’t do the job upstairs without having the cable fished through the walls, so he couldn’t/wouldn’t do ANYTHING. I’d have to call Rogers and have the service rebooked. I told him to leave. Are you kidding me? You can’t get some of it done so that I can actually use the services in some places? Nope, apparently it is all or nothing. Bell has a thing where you can do the “whole home” PVR and use other receivers wirelessly in the house. I’m seriously considering just cancelling my Rogers account.

Ok… that’s it for now. Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) is going to be a busy day with a few projects and my Mom, my Brother, and his Girlfriend are coming for dinner. I’m going to try again to get the washing machine connected now. Will let you know how that goes!

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014

Multi-Tasking

So here we are, December 14th. It is a Sunday, and I move a week from tomorrow. This photo pretty much sums up what my life is like right now: some wrapped up gifts for Christmas, which is coming very soon, some packed boxes, and my laptop bag – because I still have to work all week before moving. Yes, it is a lot going on right now!

Last week, I spent most of the week in Texas for the Dallas Digital Summit. It was a great conference with some high profile speakers. The content, which focused a lot on Search Optimization and Content Marketing was very relevant to my job right now. My impression of Dallas was that it was just another big city – it reminded me a lot of Buffalo, actually, but what struck me was the sense of Southern Hospitality. Yes, I was eating in restaurants and staying at a hotel, and that is the service industry, but honestly most of the people that I met and spoke with were very friendly and polite. We got to spend some time exploring the Fort Worth Stockyards, and I really enjoyed that. I bought a couple of souvenirs, and got a great deal on some Steve Madden boots, and flew back into a crazy snowstorm.

This week will be a lot of last minute work and wrapping up projects at my job before I take 3 weeks off to move and get into the renos. My work and commute usually has me out of the house for about 11 hours/day, so I’ll probably be able to spend an hour or two per day, at most, getting ready for the move. In all honesty though, I’m not terribly worried – I’ve gotten a lot done in advance in order to avoid a last minute panic, so I’m sure that it will come together just fine.

I’m excited. I’m looking forward to being in my new home, to starting my renovations and to making it a space that I can be really proud of!