Hello friends!! It has been TOOOO long! I haven't been keeping up with the blogs I read (there are some GREAT blogs out there!!), and I definitely haven't been keeping up with my writing. Every night has been filled with cleaning after the day's construction so I haven't had much time to do anything other than survive and try to keep the dust contained. Then exhaustion tempts me to my boudoir and it's good night Irene.
Except Irene, or Violet, don't stay asleep that long it seems. Violet has, as of late, been waking about 2 times per night, crying until I feed her. I couldn't figure out this new trend. She is eating enough during the day. Why all of a sudden did she need nightly feeds? Our answer came a couple of weeks ago - she has two new teeth!! And get a load of this - they are her lower right cuspid (or canine) and her upper left cuspid (or canine). Since I started writing this on June 2nd, things have improved. Vi is back to sleeping through the night. Yay!!!!!
Okay, back to our basement. Imagine an unfinished basement - concrete walls, insulation covered with vapour barrier, a washing machine and dryer at one end, trusty IKEA sten shelving for storage at the other end, a play kitchen, and a kid's craft area. We had a vision. We desired a separate laundry room that would be large enough to accommodate my sewing possessions (cabinets and a countertop - oh la la!). We wanted a separate storage room that incorporated the storage under our stairs. We wanted a large, open play space for our kids as they grow. We wanted to incorporate a future media section for a TV and other componentry.
Well, our vision started to become a reality on April 27. After two quotes of about $20000 (including taxes), we barfed in our mouths, and thought that there must be a better way (meaning cheaper). Enter Tim Drabik, Ben's cousin. Tim is a jack-of-all-trades, most recently working for Mattamy Homes. He is a good guy and a REALLY hard worker. He is out of work so we offered him a job finishing our basement. Win-win for all of us! Tim has commuted from Kohler every day and has done a great job, mainly by himself. Thanks, Tim!
Well, 24 work days later (on June 2nd), our basement is almost finished. Tim's dad, Ben's Uncle Jim, is coming on Saturday morning (June 4) to install 3 new breakers in our electrical panel and "turn on the lights". Our carpet is being installed next week (we think). Ben's dad is going to lay the tile in the laundry room and is finishing up the built-in bookshelf and component unit. We still need door hardware. We are so close, we can taste it.....UPDATE: we have lights, we have carpet as of last Friday (June 10), we have a tiled laundry room, we have door hardware. Here what is left to do: trim 3 doors so they will now close over the carpet, paint touch-ups, some minor trim work, and installing the built-in bookshelf and component unit. SOOOOOO close.
Things have gone great at times, and at times, things have been frustrating. Tim is a great framer and drywaller. He is content with 2 Gingerales per day. Before we knew it, it was time to tape and mud the drywall and then paint. Ah, the paint. The painting started out amazingly well. Sherwin Williams had a 40% sale so we were able to purchase all the primer/paint for our basement for a great price. Our plan was to paint it ourselves. However, the job was pretty daunting considering it would have to be done on weekends, there are several bulkheads in the ceiling (so lots of cutting in), and we needed to prime the drywall and THEN paint. We needed to paint before the carpet could go in, so we wanted to paint ASAP. Ben suggested we get some quotes to see how much (or little) we could spend to have the basement painted. Our flooring guy suggested his painter whose quote was $1000. Seemed a little steep to me. Our "regular" guy wasn't available. Then Tim suggested I call his friend who had been out for a couple of days to help Tim with the drywall. He had left his business card, and it clearly stated he was a painter. I called and he told me he would paint it for $25/hour and he figured it would take 10 hours. I hired him on the spot. SCORE!!
Fast forward to Wednesday, June 1st, painting day. Said painter painted the basement in about 10 hours, just like he had thought. After he left I checked it out. How do I nicely express our disappointment? Hmmmmmm....It was unacceptable. All of it. After some tears, and a letter-sized piece of paper full of notes, Ben called him, had a very frank conversation (for those who know my hubbie, Ben is VERY frank. In fact, I heard him ask the painter if "that was his best effort"......), and he came back the next day "to make us satisfied". I spent a chunk of time sanding, prepping for him. Ben and I were both very trepidatious. Would it look worse? Could he fix it? Should we cut our loses and fix it ourselves?
Well, there was not a straightforward answer to these questions. He fixed up some of it, but I have had to cut most of it in again. Every time I look around, I see something else to touch up. Hopefully the chunks on the ceiling brush off after the paint dries just like he said they would.....better not get me started.
What about the fire you ask? Well, both Tim and the painter took smoke breaks. Tim always smoked in his van, but on Tuesday the 31st, they smoked on our front porch as it was soooo hot. This also happened on Wednesday. Some cigarette butts ended up in our flowerbeds, and said nasty things started a mulch fire. A neighbour out for a walk noticed a fire by our front walk, beside the cable box, tried to get me to answer the door (which I refused - I don't open the door for strangers as I assume they want to sell me something I can't say no to....that's another story), and then proceeded to call 911 as she didn't know what the box was for (yup, the cable box). In the meantime, I decided to open my door to see who was still standing on my porch, now talking on the phone. After pouring several large bowlfuls of water on the fire, the Oakville fire and rescue crew showed up to save us from the one licking flame. Yup, pretty embarrassing. ALTHOUGH, they did find several other little fires, and my plants got a watering. :)
I'm now sitting the other end of this all-consuming process. Some things required a lot of supervision, many errands were run, I felt not respected as a woman at times, and I feel like my children were slightly neglected. We have moved into our new space, our home is clean, and we now have new carpet up our stairs, and hardwood (beautiful natural hickory) on our 2nd and 3rd floors. I feel like a weight has been lifted and that we can start to live again. Now that everything is done (well almost, our deck is being built on Wednesday), we can enjoy our home once again. Ro is loving her new play space (as is Vi) and wants to show everyone her new basement and hardwood flooring in her bedroom. Too cute. She wants to go there first thing in the morning. This finished basement is becoming every parent's dream.
What I have learned and been reminded of through this process - women are still not listened to in the same way men are, children are very forgiving and overlook many things, my mental well-being is very tied up in my environment (read between the lines - I need my living space to be clean and organized), I.heart.my.family (thanks for coming and being with my kidlets at times so I could get stuff done in a guilt-free manner).
Missed everyone and am glad to be back. Game on!!
Until next time,
Tam
