Reno Update #2

Well it has been an embarrasingly long time since I have updated the progress at our house. This is mainly for two reasons:The first is that I have been a bit busy, with everything going on during the holidays I just didn't take that many pictures and who wants to read a renovation update with no pictures! The second reason is that there really wasn't a lot going on to make an update. Stuff has happened but it was mostly work that needed to be redone or fixed from the ex-contractor doing it poorly.

But it is now time so here are some udated photos!

The framing in of the wall for the master bedroom

New driveway in the back of the house

Wedding mulligans...

I had a lovely visit last night with a friend who is in the process of planning her own wedding and I got to thinking about our wedding and what I would have done differently. I will preface this with the statement "I really enjoyed our wedding and am thrilled with how it all turned out."

Having said that I would be lying if I said I wouldn't change anything or do anything different. There is only one biggy and and couple of minor things that are really fine tuning of any major event for smoothness and comfort.

Here is the Biggy! We did not hire a videographer and I am happy with that plan. However I do wish I had asked someone to videotape the ceremony. I am an auditory person and certain songs trigger strong emotions in me, with that in mind, I selected songs for our ceremony that really set a mood or embodied the way I feel about PJ. Lovely! Except, once the ceremony began I was in a different world all together and I didn't even hear the songs or the words the marriage commisionaire was saying. I couldn't look PJ in the eye for fear of losing my graceful teary eyed bride status for a blubbering mess of silk and tissues. So basically I have some beautiful pictures but nothing to take me back to the feeling of the day.

Some of the littles!

• Have PJ and I switch sides during the ceremony. No one could see my face because the side swept hairstyle I chose blocked my face.
• Asked the photographer to get more guest photos. We didn't give the photographer much guidance and let him do what him felt was right. What did we know, we've never done this before, but it did mean we have some guest photos, but they are mostly of a few specific people, one of which is the only person who neither PJ and I knew.
• I would have had a reception dress ready. I loved my wedding gown and didn't want to wear anything else, but being strapped in that thing for 10 hours and having been born in a century without corsets as daily wear meant my ribs were killing me by the end of the night. Having a nice little comfortable dress would have meant I could have enjoyed the party a little longer and eaten a little more of the wonderful food!

That is about it, so really not too much to regret. But I, like most brides am only planning to do this once so these are bit and pieces to pass on to other brides as things to consider. If you have planned a wedding, what would you do differently? If not I hope these thoughts are helpful to you.

Oh, in case you are wondering here are the songs I chose for our ceremony:

Bridal party walking down the isle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0uItd-nL6U

And me walking down the isle ( not quite this version, but you get the idea)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXPDnMnWF1k

Otis the oddball

Sometimes I take the boys with me to work on Wednesdays. We have a little hump day routine and friend to walk with at lunchtime. After work, I drove most of the way home with Otis sitting like this:

Safety first Otis!

Four Months!

I just wanted to say that PJ and I have now been married for 4 months! Yippee! I couldn't be happier about it. We have been through a lot in the last year. Somehow we managed to plan and host a wedding, deal with a house reno gone bad and make some pretty hard decisions, during that time not once have we fought, lost it on each other. We have not always wanted to deal with things in the same way but we have been able to get through together.

I am so happy to have found PJ and been welcomed into his family and have him welcomed into mine. I love him more now because I really do feel like I have a partner in life, someone to help me get through the lows in life and someone to celebrate the highs in life.

Holiday Happenings

We spent last year's holiday season in the UK, but this year I was really looking forward to a quiet holiday at home. In addition to begin at home, my niece is almost 3 years old! To me there is nothing that creates more christmas spirit than a child. It has been a while since there have been kids around for christmas, next to my niece I am the youngest in our family.

Helping her daddy hand out gifts

So excited about her "santa" gift she didn't know what to do



My niece, myself and my sister riding the mini trains at a local hertitage site



She was so much fun to have around, just watching her eyes light up with every new package and activity was really wonderful. And unfortunately for PJ, kicked my baby fever in high gear!

The sun is out

Well I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was pretty down for a while about the prospect of leaving our house and I was pretty screaming mad at our ex-contractor for putting us in this horrible financial situation! I am still mad, but I am  getting over it. We have a plan now. I am impaitient to get things moving and I really want to start seeing some progress, but at least I know hat direction we are going in. PJ's parents have been great and really helped us get some much needed yard clean up done, my mom has been kind enough to offer us her house while we get things sorted.

In the mean time I am looking forward to enjoying our house for Christmas and enjoying this season of joy and thankfulness. Despite all the the other "stuff", we have a lot to be happy about this year. We got married, we are still very happy about being together, we are tired but healthy, we have good jobs and families who are there for us. It is really not so bad.

I am looking forward to the holiday parties (5th one this weekend) and relaxing on my holidays! One more week before back to work!

To move or to move farther...

We have decided that in order to complete our reno faster, we need to move and rent out the upper floor of our house. It isn't really something I want to do, in fact it is the thing I least want to do. It feels so much like a step backwards. If I were really honest it is because it means letting go of the dream life where everything goes according to plan. I get my house, we get married, we have babies and I have money to buy them things and decorate a room for them and I happily have fun lunch dates with friends while on maternity leave.

celimitevertical.com

My brain seems to work in extremes, so because of the money situation that is requiring us to move out of our house means my brain thinks we will never have enough money to have a child, it will always be hard and blah blah blah. I need a money tree!

Right, Back to reality! It is not the end of the world. We are very fortunate that both PJ's parents and my mother  have offered to have us in their homes while we get things sorted out in the basement. Logistically my mother has more space and privacy to offer, and we have already lived there so we know it works. I also am willing to let go of the dream and realize things may not be how I planned but it will all work out.