Blogs

I'm a fan of blogs, that's what made me want to start my own. Otherwise, I think I'd feel like a dork writing knowing pretty sure not many people read them (yet! - have to stay positive). I'd discovered two blogs today that made me feel like I'd discovered rare gems, and I believe they are. I don't know how to describe it.

First up is Nie Nie found via Oh Happy Day. Stephanie survives a near fatal plane crash and writes about her recovery. The blog was started before the accident. Her posts are full of humor and yet so touching and real.

A search on Google for 'vintage industrial cabinets' led me to another Vancouver based blog To Be Inspired. I'd thought I'd found my soulmates! Great posts on hunting for vintage and antique pieces by Ryan and Naomi. Doing exactly what I'd love to do if -
1. Hubby was more interested in these ventures
2. We don't have children yet
3. We have more money perhaps?
At least with the house we'll have more space. Hopefully we'll be able to go on similar trips when we settle into our new home. Meanwhile I'll just enjoy the free music on Tune Tuesday's.

Goodbye for now with love and GOD BLESS!

84 sq. ft House

Found via Apartment Therapy's Re-nest. Sometimes I feel like I can live this way too. With two small children though, I think many can attest that could be a bit of a challenge. Perhaps some day... Small spaces are so interesting, cozy yet it gives a sense of efficiency rather than deficiency. Smallworks is working to get Vancouver cities to pass initiatives that will allow home owners to set up small living quarters in their backyard. This is the first example I've seen in person a few years ago at the EPIC sustainability show.

Step One

Step One: install vanity for the sink - check!


If it were that easy... but this is the antique vanity I picked up for $150 including tax at Wholesale Antiques at 4373 Main St. in Vancouver. I met a self-proclaimed junk collector who tells me that he buys junk wholesale and then sells them online. He bought a whole lot of stuff there so that was a good sign.

Doddi's work of Art

Doddi's rendition of "Go Bananas in the Dishwasher" -



Other artwork worth noting - "Play-Do in Mommy's Shampoo".

M-O-L-D

One reason that won us over to pick our general contractor is that he is also a certified mold inspector. Since we've now determined that we have mold in the house we are certainly glad with our choice.

Here is a picture of the outside of one corner of our house. At one time the old gutter drain probably broke off causing water coming down from the roof gutters to splash onto this wall. Upon close inspection you can see that some parts of the stucco is smoother, indicating that repair had been done and done well.


Here a picture of the inside of this corner with the drywall and insulation removed to reveal what's lurking behind. The mold is white and the dark parts are rotted wood. This is medium grade mold.


The laundry room also has mold. This is the wall adjacent to most of the funny plumbing up in the ceiling. In all likelihood, the old pipes busted causing water damage to the wall. This is considered low grade mold.


It is important to have a professional remove mold so the fungal spores are not released into the air. If left untreated the fungus will grow and turn black in color which is high grade mold. Mold can cause serious brain damage and cancer. Not fun at all.


A peek at our tiles. This part was fun. (Click on picture to see close up of textures)

Before Pics Gone Forever

If memory serves me correctly, years ago when the Designer Guys on HGTV was hosted by Steven and Chris they did an episode on a coworker's apartment. The lady's job for the show was to make sure they take all the "before" pictures needed. I thought hm... what an interesting job, I didn't think that such a position exists and what would be an accurate, short but descriptive title? "Before Photographer"?

If I were a "Before Photographer" today I would be fired. Most of the funny looking plumbing at the house is gone, which I think perhaps may be the most amusing part of this house. I will be posting a separate blog about the plumbing, but I will have to draw some diagrams instead to illustrate my point. I had three months, and now they're gone forever - for the better I guess, except for this poor blog. Well, I don't always remember to bring the camera and it doesn't help to have two screaming children waiting for me in the car.

Here are some pics to show the progress from one and half days of demolition.

Front basement room - insulation on the walls on upper half, concrete foundation on lower half. The concrete part was only insulated with thin styrofoam boards.

The basement ceiling was a t-bar ceiling and some odd looking metal sheets. We feared there might be some serious electrical malpractice hidden in there but thankfully we see no scary monsters here. We did discover that one of the beams is broken in two parts. I wonder how much this will cost us to replace as it is a supporting beam that extends out to support the front porch as well.

This wood burner in the basement was not properly install and a major hazard. It was plucked in and surrounded with wall panelling. It needs to be taken directly to the dump so nobody tries to use it.

Our naked bathroom. The toilet will be gone too. More about the toilet in plumbing post. Wow this was fast. And no mold discovered!!! Relief.

Cold War

Doddi and Sonny got the cold first, now I have it too. I've been miserable for the past few days, taking Immunity shots by Happy Planet to boost my immune system so I can take care of the kids. Hubby will be taking a work trip to Edmonton tomorrow evening and returning Sunday evening. An entire weekend all by myself with the kids. So, we loaded up on natural cold medicine for the kids and I. For Hubby we got him oregano oil for prevention, Stinger energy gummy candy, and Bach Rescue Remedy drops for stress management. Sonny was on antibiotics for 10 days so this week I've started giving him Bio K. Ultima (natural electrolyte mix) is on sale at Whole Foods on 8th Ave. (cross street Cambie St.) so I got that too.

Demolition Has Begun

This past Saturday we gave our key to our general contractor (chosen three months after possession date). He's started demolition today! My goodness, I can't believe the house will be forever different than the way we've known it for the past three months it has been in our lives!!! Very exciting, because the ball has finally start rolling and in about a month we should be able to move in. Here are some "before pics". I'm planning to drop by the house tomorrow to see its progress.

Sonny's First Birthday

Last Friday we went to Tenhachi on 12th Ave. to celebrate Sonny's very first birthday. Mom and I had the Mackerel fish dinner with teishoku combo, Hubby had the fried oysters with teishoku combo, and Bro had the healthy bento box. I thought they were all very good. We also shared some live uni and assorted sashimi. For dessert we had a hazelnut/chocolate ice cream cake mom picked up from Mondo Gelato on Robson St. Sonny grabbed one of the lady fingers on the side and consumed it in minutes. When we got home I took out the 3-D Impression kits I'd purchased at Crocodile Baby. I did Doddi's print first and it turned out perfectly. I screwed up on Sonny's because I was stirring the plaster too long trying to get all the lumps out. I added more water to soften it but it didn't work so I poured the pourable part of the plaster onto the modelling clay. It's been a week now and it's still not quite harden. Darn it! It would have been more helpful if the instructions gave a warning. For more than $20 each, I was a little surprised that besides the modelling clay and plaster mix it only came with a styrofoam plate and a paperclip for the hanger. I suppose the 3-D impression is all that counts really, but it would be nice if the plate was more eco friendly. It's kind of funny 'cause the first thought that crossed my mind was - I paid $20 for a styrofoam plate!

Sonny's rash cream

Sonny's diaper rash got worse over the last few months and we finally found out it's a fungal rash. It took me a while to make the trip to our family doctor, whose office is in another city, and afterward I took out the prescription for the steroid containing cream from the pharmacy next door. I don't feel good putting a steroid cream on Sonny but I was too tired to try and figure out an alternative. Doddi got her hands on Sonny's cream and emptied it (I hope she didn't eat it, I'll never know) so that day when we were grocery shopping, it occurred to me that I should ask the vitamin lady for advice (why didn't I think of this before?). So here I've got the DermaMed formula A fungal cream. It seems to keep the rash from growing but it's not going away. I suspect since we'd been applying steroid cream on Sonny for more than a week before it might be a factor. At least, I'm glad I found a natural alternative now.

Fabulous Finds

Last Tuesday I showed up at YOUR Fabulous Find on Main St. to purchase Groovy Space-age brass 5 ball hanging light I saw on THE Fabulous Find website thinking that YOUR Fabulous Find is THE Fabulous Find. Phillip at YOUR Fabulous Find was kind enough to explain and it turns out he's buddies with the owners of THE Fabulous Find in Victoria. Greg of THE Fabulous Find was coming over to the mainland the next day so I gave them a call and he brought the lamp over to my place and I bought it for 20% off. YAY! Nevertheless my trip to YOUR Fabulous Find was not wasted as I got the yellow Brother typewriter (made in Japan) on the left for $55, $10 off of $65. Phillip also provided the contact info of Polson's who can tune up my typewriter to work as new. Later that week I was at Value Village getting annoyed at Doddi for repeatedly wandering off by herself, but little did I know she brought to my attention the Olympia typewriter (made in Germany) on the right. It was only $20! It doesn't work as well as the Brother typewriter (prints lightly) but I'm hoping after a tune up it'll be better. I've been wanting a vintage typewriter for a long time. I thought to get a good one I'll have to buy one from Mr. Typewriter, but I'm not ready to spend hundreds of dollars on one and I never got around to research in depth about old typewriters. So, I'm satisfied to just have a vintage looking typer that works, sort of.


We also found the guitar at Value Village which Doddi fell in love with immediately. She sat herself in one of the couches and started playing. Then I saw the hat and it goes so well with the guitar, although Doddi didn't even want to try it on I bought it anyway. It seems like a good quality hat with a nice velvet material on top and a label that says Paris inside. At the cashier, Doddi didn't want to let go of the 'tar' and she ripped the price sticker off for us to scan instead. How clever!

A Highchair Story

When Doddi started solids we had her sit in the swing on the left to feed her. The swing was given to us for free and it plays music and swings but I find that since it's not padded much both Doddi and Sonny are more interested to escaped to do other things than sit by the time they're actually big enough to fill out the chair.

So it was time we get a proper highchair for Doddi to save my back from bending over to feed her. I'd kept a look out for wooden highchairs at thrift stores and I'd heard of a mom scoring one for a good price, but we never did. We got the highchair in the middle at Crocodile Baby on W 4th Ave. with a slight discount for it being the floor model although it was being discontinued anyways. It was the cheapest of the wood models and I like that it will last us through Doddi's childhood 'til forever if any one of us still want to sit in it by the time Doddi is grown up because the seat and feet rest are adjustable. It just makes better sense to me that I won't have to look for another product to serve as a booster seat for my child.

Finally, now that Sonny is turning 1 year old this Friday he's getting very mobile and difficult to feed. At first I'd figure Doddi and Sonny can share a chair by taking turns but Doddi is going through phases of possessiveness depending on her mood and it's just simply much easier if I have both children strapped into their chairs so we can all enjoy a meal at the table together. Hence today I picked up the floor model (again) of the Stokke on the right. It's sage green, which was a color I didn't consider, but I was smitten at first sight. Of course the seat and feet rest are adjustable just like Doddi's. Considering that I got this highchair unused for less then what's presently posted on Craigslist I'm pretty darn satisfied. We'd used it tonight and it was great!

Ottoman from Fullhouse

Today I picked up an ottoman that we'd purchased at Fullhouse on W 8th Ave. this Saturday. It was originally $375 marked down to $195 and I love it because its pattern is all the retro colors I love mushed together.

Hubby and I both have our eye on this sectional -
but I think we will have to wait for it to go on sale and see if we can afford it then. I'm holding my breath already.