Musings on a Small Life

The kitchen was finished yesterday (Monday June 3), the grouting being the last thing. We are done. Done like dinner. Done, done, done . That's not all the work, of course, though the electrical is now finished too. But this BIG reno is DONE. I would do a couple of things differently, if I had it to do all over again, but even so, I'm pleased.  If you need a reminder as to what I started with, and lived with for 20+ years, here it is: There's no contest, IMO. And no, the "winner" isn't the original.  😁 Thank you, Mom. Love you, miss you, wish you could see it.  ❤️

George this morning, on his SECOND visit for treats. 😸     Right now I have three electrical guys here and the tiling/installer fellow doing the grouting. It's kind of hard to focus on work at the moment! I spent almost a solid 11 hours yesterday (Sunday) patching, sanding, painting, painting and painting, but I finished the living room and did two coats in the hall closet too. I reclaimed my couch at last (!) and even got the curtain panels and sheers up (double rod in the living room). That took FOREVER, as I had to fiddle, fiddle and fiddle again, up and down, up and down, up and down on the step ladder.    Pic from Friday... So close !    Have a calm day, everyone! (I'm scattered and "crazy" enough right now!)

The countertop went in yesterday afternoon, though not without kerfuffle, a few snafus. I won't bother going into those. LOL. Just par for the course, given the week! It's very neutral and unobtrusive, not what I would have chosen in a "forever" home, but it will go with anything and shouldn't offend anyone. Plus it's better than the hideous green painted counter that was there before (that was my doing...my big mistake years ago).   The floor doesn't look that dark in person.   Today the backsplash should be done, and then that's it! 🤞 I thought the entryway floor would be done today too, the installer had told me a couple of weeks ago that he'd do it today, but yesterday he said he'd be in next week to do that. Instead, he's going to do the entry closet (new rod, two shelves going in, coat hooks)...I hope. (This is work I'm paying him for separately.) I have one wall left to paint in the living room, hopefully on Sunday, and then I c...

Hi all, I'm still around, just with nothing to "say."   The lilacs have peaked and are on the way out now.   The kitchen could have been finished this week, but I had a work conflict, had to be on campus for the day the counter people wanted to come in. So they  will be here on the 30th and the backsplash tiling will be done on the 31st, along with the entryway floor. The irises are also at their peak now.   After that, it's just the extra work I'm having the cabinet installer do for me privately, and the painting I need to do. (I wanted to hire that out, but I haven't called anyone yet.) Then I can start to clean up and put things back to rights. It's been so hot lately that my bleeding heart is just about done, very early this year. George (not Leonard , Leonard is the name of the missing brother!) still comes almost daily for treats, sometimes multiple times (because he knows what a soft touch I am). The grey and white cat with the protruding tongue s...

The first is Stewie, whom I didn't even recognize, the store cat at one of the Pet Valu locations. I had stopped in yesterday to get Leonard's treats, saw this fellow and thought it was a new store cat. Stewie has lost a LOT of weight and looks great! (Intentional, not because he has a medical issue.) He was keeping his distance from a woman and her dog. The second mancat is Leonard, obviously, from this morning. He's such a sweet boy. What a mooch!   As for the kitchen, it's coming along. The cabinets are in, the door pulls are all on, and the fridge and stove have been moved back into place. I spent Friday evening and both Saturday and Sunday afternoons organizing my most-used items, which did require a run to Dollarama for storage bins. I still have quite a few things to find a home for, things I rarely use but don't want to donate (wine glasses, glass cookware, etc.)   The pics are from Friday when the installer was still here, before the fridge and stove were p...

I spent a good chunk of time in Home Depot on Saturday morning, and the rest of the day putting a couple of coats of paint on the kitchen ceiling and on the areas behind the fridge and stove.  In between the coats, I puttered out in the little garden, trying to tidy things up. Does anyone else out there know how hard it is to dig up ferns that have taken hold and are spreading like wildfire, choking everything else out?  Anyway, this morning the countertop guy came to measure...at 7 AM! I had NO idea what time he would be showing up, he was lucky I was even dressed. As it was, I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet, and when the knock came at the door, I was leaning half out my bedroom window, cleaning the outside of the window. Jeepers. Anyway, he told me it'll be three weeks (though it could be sooner). I get it, it's a quartz counter and they have plenty of other clients lined up before my little job! At 8AM the installer showed up to do the baseboard trim and the crown moul...

This is where things stood at the end of Thursday, reno day 2: That little separate cabinet, second pic, isn't quite what I thought it would be, I was expecting a wider pullout and narrower drawers, but I think this will work better. I like that the drawer unit has more room than I anticipated, and the narrow pullout is intended for cutting boards, cookie sheets, etc.  The upper corner cabinet is wider and deeper than I expected, too, so I'll need to figure out what to do with that. They can install a two-tier lazy Susan, and I'll look at that option. I thought I would lose all the upper part of the cabinet for storage, but the installer (who has just arrived) told me that there would still be a top shelf, as the lazy Susan unit is only 30-inches high. So that actually might be workable, having two tiers of that, plus the upper shelf. The salesperson is ordering it in for me to look at, and will keep it in the showroom if I choose not to go with it. The countertop template ...

A couple of weeks ago the university posted info on voluntary early retirement for eligible faculty and librarians.   On Tuesday they posted an exit incentive for (only) Faculty of Arts and Science staff. (Four weeks pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 52 weeks pay. Those who are eligible for retirement would be able to take it.) A&S has the biggest deficit, so that's why this is limited to their staff right now. The article stated that if successful, and needed, the admin would consider rolling it out more broadly. I'm not sure they would roll it out to us as well, even if they did extend it to other faculties (we're not an academic department), but let's just say that things are becoming a bit more interesting now! Sunrise on Tuesday     As for other things, I'm getting ready to head west to visit Dad; the trip is coming up very quickly! My travel anxiety is ratcheting up, but on the flip side, I'm so over-tired that perhaps by the time I go,...

I'm happy to report I have a bit more progress on the kitchen reno now. I'm also happy to see the snowdrops and crocuses in bloom! (Pics from a lunchtime walk last week.) With regard to the kitchen, the planner and the installer came out Friday AM (rescheduled from Thursday due to an emergency down at St. George's Cathedral involving sewage backup and having to tear up a good portion of the beautiful old hardwood flooring in a large back room). The planner brought the additional samples and I made a snap decision on both the counter and the floor. The pic of the quartz countertop, below, is snagged from the web. It's very subtle and has both grey and beige running through it, so I hope will be fine with either warm or cool tones, depending on the next person's preferences. I prefer beige tones, or at least greige, so this is not what I would have chosen were I in my "forever" home. The floor is too, as it's a "marble" (vinyl tile) that is gre...

First, look who's back!  I've seen Leonard's kitty prints in the frost and snow on my step through the winter (the little snow we did get), but other than once (maybe twice), I've not actually seen him face-to-face until this morning. It's nice to see that he's as food motivated as ever. LOL. As for the reno...Arrgh, it's so much harder than I thought to choose countertops and flooring! I had gone up to their showroom last Friday over lunch, brought back a few samples of each, but while I really liked them in the showroom, I wasn't happy with how they looked in the house. So yesterday I popped up over lunch again (all those taxis are NOT cheap, but buses don't go out that far) and, with the help of one of the staff, found a few more possibilities. The designer and installer are coming to the house on Thursday morning for final measurements and will bring the samples then, so I really hope I can come to a decision. I don't want this place to be my...