Home Sweet Home

Our "NEW" Home

One of the original houses in Massey; we've been told it was built in the early 1900's.

If you heard the rumor about our new house, I'll just stand up right now and correct it.   NOT NEW, but we did buy a different house.  We are now in the process of turning it into a home...Last week Emma and I were reading a princess story that lays out how to be a perfect princess.  Of course, one aspect of being a princess is you must live in a castle.  When I asked Em if she lived in a castle, she replied "No, I live in a home."  Not just any house, but home sweet home.
  So now we begin this remodeling process of trying to turn a....hmmmm, let's call it a dungeon into a home.  On our to do list.
1.  Dry-walling--everything is currently covered (or in the process of being removed) in paneling.
2.  Obviously painting said walls (I am looking forward to coordinating all the colors in the house at once, rather than doing bits and pieces).
3.  New windows are a big must, and will likely be the most cost effective investment we put into the house.

4.  New bathroom in the downstairs.  As well, we will be moving the door of this bathroom so it opens to the dining/ study area rather than kitchen.
4.  New kitchen.  Right now the plan is to buy a used one off Kijiji.  Brad's sister and husband did this and scored a great deal.  As well, in our current home, we have my parents previous kitchen cupboards from before they remodeled.

5.  Redesign bedroom layout upstairs.  Currently, there are four bedrooms.  We plan to convert two into one by halving one room so it becomes a master bathroom (Tommy is standing where I think this will happen) attached to master bedroom and large (of some sort, whether it is walk in or no) closet.
6.  New flooring throughout.  Carpet will all be ripped up as it smells of smoke and cat.  VERY GROSS!  Downstairs really has no flooring left that is complete of any one thing, so luckily that will go eventually too.  Really hoping to find some useable hardwood as we begin tearing, but so far that doesn't seem to be our luck.
7.  There are a few structural elements to the house that will need to be looked at.  Kitchen portion of the house was added on, and appears to be sagging in the center.  As well the upstairs is about a foot off on one side to the other, so we will need to jack one wall and put a beam in. Also, a few walls that we will open up to add flow between rooms in the downstairs area.
8.  There are a few places that we will need to insulate, but overall the walls are in decent insulation condition and with the brick on the outside, we aren't worried about having drafts.  Basically, the attic needs to be looked after, and a few places that have gotten wet.
9.  The porch is one thing that will remain on the wish list for now.  Eventually we would like to have nice open windows, rather than the current clouded/breaking ones, but adding a french door to the front and back of the house will help with light and usage of the porch during at least 3 seasons.
10.  My wish list (I can't say the same for Brad) is to use the attic.  As you can see in the picture at the very top, there is a dormer window (another not pictured) on that floor.  It's also super icky as it looks like someone used it as a dumping grounds for anything they didn't want downstairs anymore.  (Brad and his Dad already found some great treasures, including male high heeled shoes and some scary granny-bras, plus a whole grocery sack of plastic hair curlers that Emma thinks are possibly the coolest things ever.)  I would love to have this room for TOYS!!!  The basement is only about 6 feet high, so we will only be using it for storage.  As well, as a playroom the attic would be perfect for guests to have their own space and us not be moving kids around every time someone comes to visit.  It will be great to just have all the extra space downstairs (which is about the same size as our entire house right now...about 1100sq feet), but having an extra bedroom would be amazing!  However, the obstacles to the attic are currently...no insulation in the roof, only in the floor to insulate the lower levels and no stairs.  It is accessed by a hole in the ceiling of the hallway immediately above the stairs from first to second floor.  Do you think it might be an appropriate birthday present project from my wonderful Daddy?  Hmmmmm....okay and Christmas and my next 5 birthdays?

 

[Living area, with Dining/study beyond, and kitchen beyond that.]

We are looking forward to this move, whenever it does happen.  I'm sure, as I've been reminded that there will be days it will stress our marriage and our family to live through a remodeling, but here's to having more SPACE! 

Happy Mother's Day

I've been thinking about doing a little something in honor of motherhood, so here goes...

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh

This quote is completely fitting for my thoughts on the subject.   Pre-Emma was one me (that I barely even remember now) and post-Tommy I'm something that many days, you would agree, resembles an alien-like creature.  But, it also goes without saying, that I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world.


When you are expecting you get the first sense of how this new being is going to change you and how much you love he/she already....then comes the day they are born and there is truly nothing like those first few hours.  Of course as the seconds melt into minutes, hours, days and soon years, the newness dissipates, but the love is still there strong and sure.  Moments may pass when your role as a mother is just another part of you that you don't think of a whole lot, but then a memory is made that tells you just how precious and true and real your child and love is.


I remember one of the first things I thought about after Emma was born was....wow....you mean my Mom loves me this much too?  How come I never realized how awesome that feeling was to her?  Or more aptly...how come I didn't appreciate it.  I thought I did a pretty good job of recognizing that despite our differences of opinion my mom was doing a pretty good job of raising me.  She loves me like this?  No wonder she didn't want me leaving house and country for the wilds of Northern Ontario.  I couldn't even imagine Emma being out of my sight for five minutes.  Looking back, I see the whole key.  I didn't understand my mother's love, because I hadn't been born yet as a mother.


When you are expecting their is also the whole...I know I'm going to love this child, but am I going to....you know....really love them?  Or will I just do it because they are mine?  As a mother though, can you even differentiate between those 2 kinds of love (the kind where you love them because they are amazing and incredible individuals and the type that you can't help but loving them because they are your babies)?  The love is immense and overpowering and unstoppable, but it is also still there when they are being sassy or sick or driving you crazy.  That time (some days it looks like this "FINALLY") comes when they managed to quit wiggling just enough for those long eyelashes to rest on their cheek, and you realize again how precious that little (but getting bigger every day, as Emma reminds me) bundle of joy is.


Thank you to my mother for all the mothering you gave to me and a few other lost souls along our pathway.  Thank you to my daughter for first teaching me the love of a mother.  Thank you to my son for showing me just how much room I do have in my heart.  Thank you to a mother-in-law who raised a wonderful son, but then handed him off to me.  Thank you to great aunts who love my kids like their own (especially since they don't have any of their own and if you are reading this I would really like to learn the love of an aunt for myself...please and thank you)!  And thank you to all the mother's I know who are proving an example for me as I follow you in this journey of life and mothering.


To Mother's Everywhere--Happy Mother's Day!