Boo!

It's Halloween! I love Halloween. Unfortunately, I have been able to decorate much of the house yet this year due to budgets and most of all a lack of time.
This is the start of the decorations, my family had a little pumkin carving/painting soiree on the weekend and this is what I came up with. $3.99 for the pumpkin, and the paint I had left over from other projects.
 But I do have a few plans and I have been stealing ideas from some very crafty and creative bloggers I follow. So I will head home after work to today and see what I can come up with. Last year we had a whooping 12 kids come to our house so maybe if I make to outside say "Halloween" loud and clear then a few more kids will stop by! Wish me luck!

Happy Birfday

 I recently celebrated my birthday by hitching a ride with my mom, sister and super cute niece to visit a dear friend who has moved away to another city. I had a great time visiting with her and we got a lot of catching up done. I rambled on about married life, basement renos and future bambinos (shhh, that last one isn't info ready for our families just yet). She told me about her life in the new city and the struggles she is having. We reflected on the fact that we are now into our early thirties and how things are so much  different than we imagined.

Here is what I thought my thirties would be like when I was 22:
1) I would be married to a great guy... Check
2) I would own a house....Check
3) That house would be nicely finished and beautifully decorated..... ummm, not so much
4) I would have at least one child...hmmm, working thinking on that one still
5) I would have a great job... Check

That is as far as I got in my planning when I was 22, I guess I am not doing too badly, but isn't it funny how things and priorities change as you enter the real grown up world.

These things are never more present in my thoughts as we are contemplating a move back in with my mother. Some how it feels like a huge step back to own a house but be living with you mom at 32 years old! Sigh, but at least we have a lot of other things going for us I am really not complaining.
I wonder, did anyone end up where they thought they would be at a younger age?

The wall

We have been working hard in the backyard to get things sealed up for the winter. Well, PJ is working very hard, I was sick with the flu or flu shot reaction, so I did what I could. And then I was away visiting a friend for my birthday which was fantastic, I only wish PJ could have been there with us but he was a good home renovator and stayed home to build this!

We now have... drum roll please... a wall! A very sturdy retaining wall that will hold our backyard in and double as a lovely planter garden box for our renter (when we finally get some).

We also have three properly sealed windows! However we do need to do four more. We did another weekend blitz of stuff, mostly prep work for upcoming jobs, but still hard work.

Status Quo

We are a few weeks post wedding, post honeymoon and back in the swing of real life(sigh vacations/ honeymoons are never long enough). I can't tell if it is good thing or bad thing but I can't say anything is really that different. I am really not complaining as things were pretty good before the wedding and still are pretty darn good. Maybe slightly better because the pressure of the wedding deadline is off me now.

I wonder if this is common? PJ and I lived together before we were married, actually we bought a house together six months after we met and we had already been living together for four months. If you are math savy, that's right we lived together two months after our first meeting and if I was being honest it is probably more like one month after we met. Let's just say it felt right to us and to my surprise it made sense to everyone else too! Anyway, we lived together before marriage so I feel like a lot of the adjustment to that lifestyle was already complete. Now we have some new stuff and a piece of paper to prove it ( and a wonderful memory).

The reason I wonder is because a lot of people told me " even though you live together it will feel different..." or " things will still change" , Well not so far, and I think I am ok with it. If anyone else is reading this....did marriage change things for you? Are you worried it will?

My sheepish secret

A while ago I ripped off the band-aid that was my little blogging secret and told PJ about the blog. I not sure what made me keep quiet about it before, embarrassment, maybe? A desire to have something just for me, possibly? I think maybe a bit of both. Either way, I decided that we were about to be married and he should know about it, especially if I was going to talk about him in it.

Decision made! I was going to tell him. I told him. Unfortunately I didn't really think this decision through very well, because then he wanted to READ IT! After a few squirmy moments I handed over the address and waited while he read each post.  He was given the instructions he was not allowed to give feedback on my writing style (writing has historically been difficult for me so I have a little sensitivity to correction), content feedback was welcome.

The end of the story is a happy one, he thought it was good and was happy with some nice things I wrote about him. I don't think he has read it since that night, which is fine by me, it keeps it just for me. But I feel better knowing he knows.

Making up for lost time

Things have been a bit sparse on the blog posting front and I apologize. I will try to make up for it by filling in the gaps with a few more posts ( and posting twice today!), also I am sick so I have a lot of time to sit with my computer.

So now that the wedding and honeymoon are over, we can get back to normal life. In the last while since returning from our honeymoon we have been focusing on getting our renovation back on track. I am not sure if I alluded to this in my other reno post, but part of the reason our basement project is taking so long is we had to fire our contractor. It is a long story of poor project management, inexperience and covering his tracks. Anyway, the long story ends with him being 'let go' and us missing a large huge sum of money and our basement only halfway done. This means we have become 'do it yourselfers'!

The first order of business is to address the half completed exterior of the house. Winter is coming and I have no desire to be working outside in the cold and dark. Not to mention the possible damage to the house if there is not siding on it.

Part of the problem is the windows. They were improperly installed and have to be taken out and redone. Then we need new siding, because there is none of the old siding left to cover the exposed parts. 

And the biggest barrier, apart from no money to pay someone to do the work, is the deck was put back together and is literally blocking us from doing work on some of the windows and siding. Blah!

The good news is we have help, people who took pity on us and are professionals who will guide us, and non-professionals who will help us with the labour. In the last week/weekend, we (PJ, carpenter, PJ's mum and I) removed the old siding, partially took apart the deck, and reinstalled the three windows on the back side of the house, and put up the tar paper in preparation for the new siding. I promise to get some pictures, but I couldn't be bothered because I have the flu and today is thanksgiving. I am pretty sure PJ took some in progress photos, that I can steal.

I'm BACK and BETTER than EVER!

I am happy to report that the wedding was huge success, not only because PJ and I are now legally married but because it was amazing. Everything turned out how I envisioned and everyone had a great time. With out further ado, here are some pictures...

The ladies getting ready

My Dress

The ceremony set up

Our "first look" before the guests arrive

Some of the bridesmaids, missing my sister but it is such a nice photo I had to include it

Adorable flower girl

Walking down the isle with my mother

The ceremony

First kiss as Mr. and Mrs.

The full bridal party

Our lovely vehicle

The reception

Place cards

Guest book painted by a friend and card/gift table

Swedish lawn game to help guests relax and fill the time while we did some photos

And some sangria on the deck

Groomsman's speech

Cutting the cake

Gorgeous cake made by a friend

I loved every minute of our wedding, well not the one where I got stung by a bee, but every other minute was wonderful. I am so happy to have been lucky enough to have found someone so amazing to love and to have him love me back.