Vacation
This past month Brian has been on vacation. With no place to go as Easton is not yet vaccinated from Covid, and the number of cases are still higher than we would like, we decided to do some things around the house.
We created a project list and whittled away at the list. While we thought we were going to tackle stone work in the house, that was quickly put on the back burner when delivery times for stone due to Covid made it impossible.
So we moved on to other things that also needed to be done. I am very thankful that Brian is quite handy.
We started with the installation of the upstairs bathroom pedestal sink. This has been in a box since we moved in seven years ago and it was time to install it. Neither one of us had done this before but we were determined. It is funny how it feels like it has always been there, now that it is installed.
We installed the wood framing around the large mirror upstairs. It looks so nice. It really puts a fresh look around the mirror.
We had a few mini outdoor things to take care of. We mounted a monkey grab handle for our hammock on the swingset. This makes it so much easier to get in and out of the hammock. We also put up no trespassing signs on the north side of the property in hopes that the horses won't put huge holes in our walking paths. We love seeing the horses but they leave crazy large holes in the ground.
After doing some stone picking we collected some large rocks which we carried to the front of the house and created a new flower bed. Adding flowers to this new bed will be next spring but the bones are there.
We spent a few hours outside trimming unwanted trees around the property and stacking wood for future fires. Speaking of which, we now have a wood storage built near the campfire in the backyard. It is so nice to have.
A few years ago we had our stonework done on the outside of the house, and there were three spots that still needed cocking. So, this was the time to take care of it. We noticed that bees were making their way behind the stone, so this became more urgent. I think we did a good job if I do say so myself. The key is to use water and a dish soap mix for smoothing the cocking.
Brian did so much electrical work. He installed more lighting in the basement office, including a grow light for a plant, and a new light in the utility room. Plus we now have lights for the backyard rink and both the front and backyard lights are set up to our Amazon Alexa. Voice control is amazing!
We ordered a storage shelf for the basement, and a wood storage solution as well and then spent many, many days organizing, sorting and purging a huge part of the basement which had become a catch all / lumber yard. We still have two rooms that we are calling the garage at the moment, as we don't have a garage, but they will be organized more in the future.
Brian constructed a new workbench in the utility room. This felt a little like cleaning a closet as the entire room was emptied into other rooms in the basement to construct this. We now have a peg board wall to house our tools as well.
While we are still working on putting it all back, or finding new homes for some of the things, it is important to note that the basement clean up did include us throwing out 16 garbage bags, 4 bags of styrofoam, 8 bins of recycling, and a load of e-waste. I also spent a few days mixing up 7 year old paint and touching up a few places around the house before tossing it as it really wasn't fun to use. However, I did take samples of the paint should we need to get touch up paint made.
Brian also sanded a table that had been in the basement, and I put a few coats of tongue oil on it. For now, this will be used in the playroom for the kids to play lego on.
The fishtank which became an indoor plant starter area and then storage for the indoor plant starter stuff, took some elbow grease to get clean, but it is now clean, maybe fish will be in our future?
Some pictures made it onto walls including the article about Brian and Steve at Gateway and my Georgian College diploma. Brian's article from Gateway was from 1996, and I graduated in 1999, so that took some time to get onto a wall. :)
We were busy everyday and often went to bed super tired and sometimes sore. We used every day of the vacation to tackle things, even the weekend days. It is in both of our blood to not waste vacation time, even if it is just doing stuff around the house. This was dedicated time.
The list is still long, which is lovely as we have a lifetime to fulfill it. However, it does feel nice to have some of the things on our list taken care of.
We ended our vacation with Thanksgiving weekend. This is the first weekend that some got together with family. We aren't there yet as Easton still isn't vaccinated, but hopefully his age group will be approved soon. I can't wait until our entire family is vaccinated. However, we did have turkey, and stuffing and pie and enjoyed the beauty of the trees changing colour around us in our backyard as we tackled one last project of putting up the walls and supports for the ice rink which will be used later, but is much nicer to put up in good weather.
We both felt satisfied with the work accomplished. All in all, a good home vacation.