Making It Our Own

We are still ploughing away at getting the house ready for us to move in. At first, we thought it would just require a small amount of cleaning and some possible cosmetic surgery (it contains some wallpaper we could really live without). When we noticed a leak under the sink, we called in a plumber. We got a new kitchen tap and a bit of the under the sink plumbing replaced. We have also decided to get a new washer and dryer set. It actually had a function called 'Soap Saver'. Mid-cycle, a long black tube would deposit your sudsy wash water into the adjacent laundry tub. It would then suck in back into the machine to use on the next load. Since we don't have a manual (3 of the appliance manuals were not left) we are not sure how to ensure that during a cycle, sudsy water does not come shooting from said black tube into our non-existent laundry basin.

We have also been stripping the wallpaper. Since it is vinyl, this involves tearing off the plastic surface first. The bedroom offered the most satisfying large sheets coming off at once. The process in the kitchen has been more arduous, requiring a lot more putty knife scraping. Once the vinyl surface has been removed, we have then been able to moisten the remaining paper backing and scrape off the softened remainder with putty knives. So far, the only painted and semi-finished room has been the bedroom. We used some paint my brother Jason had left over from when he and Stacey got there house painted.

Since nearly every possible light fixture in the house is a chandelier, we wanted some more simple and modern lighting. We went to Ikea, 'the crack cocaine of the home decor sector' (as I have recently seen it described). We went in around 3:30pm. We didn't leave until closing and even then, not until we had grabbed a bag of Swedish meatballs. You know you have spent too long in a store when you come home with the email address of a sales assistant. :)

Mom has been helping us with loads of things, including the kitchen clean-up. Dad has been our resident electrician, installing light fixtures, navigating the sometimes unusual product of a do-it-yourselfer's attempt at wiring, and restore power to the garage (woo hoo!).

Also in the last couple of days, Calgary has seen it's first significant snowfall of the season. Col has been a real trooper, considering bad weather in Ireland in days of rain. We shoveled our sidewalks (darn corner lot with it's darn double sidewalks), and have been enjoying the few bits of wildlife coming by the place (birds and squirrels and rabbits, oh my!). Dad has taken us out in the car to a local mall parking lot for what he calls 'Skid School'. This is basically gunning it, then slamming on the brakes and feeling the anti-lock breaking system (ABS) kicking in. Instead of having to pump the brakes when skidding, this feature kicks in to pump the automatically for you. You only have to keep your foot depressed on the brake. He also showed us how to steer in a skid when ABS is working (by walking out into the road, having us slam on the brakes and steer around him... chancer!).

Anywho, that's enough for today. We haven't even carved our pumpkin and Halloween is tonight!