Not A Hospital Anymore

After 6 months of living in our new house, we decided to do a weekend blitz to paint the walls. From right after work on Friday evening to 11:30 pm on Sunday, it was tape, paint and pizza. We're pretty proud of our new house (because that's what it seems like). It was a huge amount of work but we had a fun time doing it. Here are a few pics of the process.

The day we moved in, August 29, 2008. The living room.

6 months later:



Now

The dining room. Before it was even ours. That's our real estate agent, and our inspector.

6 months later



Now


Our bedroom, sometime last August. So excited!

6 months later, enthusiasm waning.

Now. (Enthusiasm Renewed)
What a difference some colour makes.

T & K

A Greener Winter

Home ownership comes with some great perks.  Our new home is in really good shape, and really doesn't need anything done to it, but as it seems to go, every new home owner wants to change a few things.  We've been planning on doing a few renovations but at the moment that seems like biting off more than we can chew, SO we started small.  

Project #1: Light bulbs.

By switching from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent, we've reduced our total light bulb wattage from 2330 Watts to 367 Watts!!   It took a few tries to find that we like 'warm white' in most places, and we even found a 3-way bulb for those 'mood lamps'...  The whole experience was way more therapeutic than it probably should have been.

Project #2: Fix the toilet.  I'm embarrassed that I didn't fix it sooner, but our toilet has been leaking more and more, to the point where there was a steady stream running into the bowl.  For the last couple weeks we resorted to shutting the valve off when we left the house, but now it's sweet watertight GLORY!  The new flapper cost $5.67.

Project #3: Stop the draughty windows.  Once again, a bit late, but better than not at all.  We picked up a bunch of this stuff in the bargain bin at Canadian Tire and sealed up most of the main floor.  It makes a huge difference.  If you haven't seen this stuff before, it's pretty cool.  It goes on all floppy and wrinkly and then you use a hair dryer to heat it up and it tightens up like a snare drum.  Maybe one day we'll make the real investment for better windows.
Project #4: Turn the broom closet into a pantry.  I wish we had a 'before' picture, but it probably wouldn't be as exciting to our readers as it is to us.  This project was started in October, 2008, believe it or not.  Unfortunately it sat dormant for many weeks after I made the rookie mistake of measuring once, cutting three times.  Now that it's done, it makes a big difference in our whole kitchen situation.
Project #5: Install a scarf rack.  This was such a good idea.  Since I've become a scarf wearer during the trip last year, it seemed vital to have a good place to keep our scarves.  Check it out!  There have been a few other minor improvements we've made around the house, like installing LED lights in dark closets, assembling a couple pieces of new furniture, hanging a few pictures and things like that.  Next up: installing my climbing trainer in the basement ceiling.

I know it's late, but we haven't put up any Christmas photos.  Out of our luxurious 2 week holiday, we only spent 3 days at home.  The rest of the time was spent relaxing with our families.

Baby Mya and Uncle Ty.  Check out this sweet toy box we gave her.  She loves it.
Getting some help from my skip in a family game of floor curling.  Grandpa is a pro!
And of course, giving and receiving.  Everybody loves that part.  This was my first Christmas with Kelsey's family and it was a really great time.   I know I have to say that, but really, it was great.

Until next time, stay warm!

T.

Was Canada always this COLD?!?

It was a balmy - 34 degrees Celsius this weekend in Edmonton.  Only the brave venture outdoors on a day like today.  We did so only because we were headed to the doctor to try and fix Kelsey.  She has been hit hard with Strep throat and a couple different ear infections.  So far Tyrn is holding strong.  We are decorating our house with it's Christmas trimming and we have realized that we have some truly ugly Christmas decorations.  It's fun when you pull out things and wonder how you ever came to own such an item and who would actually create something of this calibre in the first place.  We are trying to keep warm and trying to get healthy again.  Those 2 objectives, as well as find special presents for everyone on our list, are our main goals right now.  Once we get our Christmas stuff up, ugly or not, we will take you for a long overdue tour of our house.

Yes, our eye balls are frozen in this picture, in case you were wondering.  It took hours before we could move them again.  Frigid!

A year later...

Wow, what a difference a year makes!  We thought that we had an amazing trip last year and now we are appreciating more and more just how unreal it was.  We are now sitting in Edmonton in our comfy, cozy house and watching the news stories from many of the places we visited a year ago or less.  First Mumbai, we were only in Mumbai for a couple of hours to switch trains last year, but it still seems surreal that it is now in chaos.  Second, Bangkok's airports.  We went through the International Airport in Bangkok a total of 7 times.  That's right SEVEN!  Now, not even a year later, people in the hundreds of thousands are stuck.  Last, Venice is under water.  The water levels raised in the sea and there has been stormy weather which flooded the city.  Looking at pictures on CBC is crazy.  Almost exactly a year ago we were enjoying the floating city and some of the neatest people and experiences that we had on our trip were in Venice.  Now, the pictures show St. Mark's in waist high water and people carrying their luggage over their heads and out of the water as they try to make their way out of the city.  YIKES!! 

We find ourselves often talking and dreaming about what we were doing last year. Well, exactly a year ago we were in one of our absolute favourite countries- Egypt. Thanks to Josh, Marc & Kylie, Jody, Auntie Joan and Uncle Brian, it was truly an amazing time. Brian and Joan are back in Egypt with Jody and their oldest daughter Allison. It definitely makes us want to be there as well. If you want to remember what Egypt was like please feel free to check out such posts as "Superheroes and Day & Night" in the Egypt section.

Last night, Tyrn and I had a great time with my little bro and his fiance. Kevin and Lori are getting married in June this year. Congratulations!


Yep, a year can make a huge difference. This Christmas season we are surrounded by our first white snow coat, and Christmas music is seeping in through the seams. The thing we missed most on our trip was of course our family, and it feels good this year to be able to make plans that involve more than a borrowed laptop and bad connection for Christmas.
K

Proud Parents

For all our friends and family that still check the blog- thanks for sticking with us.
We are embarking on a new adventure with a house, new jobs, married and "settled" for now. There was only one thing that seemed to be missing. Yes, you guessed it, we bought a new laptop! We are proud to say that we have a beautiful, bouncing 15" MacBook Pro. It is amazing! It smells VERY good and we feel so much more connected already. Tyrn is at parent-teacher interviews tonight or I am sure he would want to give you all the P's, Q's and wonderful features of his favourite new toy.

Our Mac commercial.  Isn't he cute!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I LOVE fall.  We really have missed fall and are trying to soak it all up.    

Tyrn and I hosted Thanksgiving for my family.  Of course it was a GREAT time.  Here you see my Dad, brother Kevin & Craig and Ty, trying to get the EXTREMELY heavy freezer out of our basement.
After some deliberation, they were able to move it to the garage.  This was the pre-workout to make room for all that Turkey!

How many Lawson's does it take to make gravy?

My Bro's in the kitchen.

My family.

Armstrong Thanksgiving

Next we headed to Armstrong acres for another amazing day of family and food.

Here we are trying to free up some space for more of Deb's cookin'
The country around Elk Island where Ty's family lives is SPECTACULAR.
This is our leftover tower that we got to take home!  MMMMM... I love Canadian Thanksgiving!
Our apples are still holding strong.  They look like bulbs all hung with care.
We finally feel like we have settled back into home!  I hope that everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and please feel free to drop by anytime.

K