Date Nights

Well, we've been married now for 1 & 1/2 years and the honeymoon blish has long passed us. To rekindle our romance in our lives, we both decided that it was time to take "Date Nights" seriously. If we can't do this now, how will we do it when there are little ones running around like chickens without their heads?!? Oh sorry, that would be me.
Well, we started last week and our plans are to use up our many gift certificates that have been piling up in our drawer. Last week we went out for sushi at Mikado which is always so good. But thank goodness for the gift certificate... Thanks Joe. Then this week, Norm surprised me and bought me this stuff animal Elephant that I named "Junior". If you know me, I love stuff animals. What's so special about Junior is that I had saw him over a month ago while I was browsing through Chapters and I instantly loved this animal. But I didn't buy him knowing that I already had 4 sitting on our bed (lets keep that between us). Anyway, Norm remembered and on our way to dinner, he surprised me by pulling into Chapters and buying me Junior. Cute huh? Not only that, after supper, we hit good ol' Costco and I always stop at the flower section just to smell the flowers. I love flowers. Anyway, Norm tells me that he would like to buy me flowers so I got 14 light purple tulips - one of my favorite flowers. Am I spoiled or am I spoiled?
I can't wait for the many more date nights to come. It's been a great time just talking and learning more about each other.
Now if only I can get him to open the doors for me again...

Will It Ever End!

Ahhh, it's a never ending cycle...first, thanks to all who helped the first time with the demo of the basement. We were finally able to get the rest of it done little by little during the week. Finally the bin was taken away last Friday.

Here's the good news (yeah right)...we had the contractor come yesterday and take a look at the plans again. Wacky and I decided we wanted a change in the floor plan (after multiple dicussions with others about it) and open it up even more. Now it's a little different than the original and may cost a little more because we are going to be dealing with three areas of the load bearing walls. We want to put french doors in the main tv room and connect it to the "rumpus room", remove a bearing wall all together, and then beam another one so we can get our washroom to fit a little better and give the other room some more space there. (I know it's hard to imagine it)
In short we will no longer have any hallways in the basement, which is good, no wasted space!

Oh another thing, ATCO came and checked out hot water tank and furnace out and it turns out that our heat exchanger in the furnace is cracked. I called around and was told it cost about 2K to fix it...so ...might as well replace it. Same with the hot water tank...16 years old but it's still running well...for now!

Hmm guess I have another one....CRACKS!!! In short five cracks in the foundations!!!!ARRGGGHHH!

Happy Birthday LittleH

Hey Little H, Happy Birthday!
I sure hope that BChan took very good care of you. He'd better had, or he'll taste a little of what Wacky can do! BaaHahaha!
I wish we all could be there to bring this wonderful day in with you, but since we are way over here, I can only wish you all the best.
May this year bring you many fun adventures, laughs and warm hugs. God Bless!
Wacky

Huge Thank You

What a day!
Well, it appears that Mother Nature truly loves to play with us. Of all the days that we plan, we tend to always get snow or rain. You see, on our wedding day, we got a huge surprise of fresh white snow. On our moving day, we got plenty of rain in the morning. Today, our demolishing day, we got snow, and more snow! Crazy.
Anyway, what amazing friends we have. Firstly, I want to thank all of you that came out today to help us rip apart our basement. Special thanks goes to Superstar's Monsieur for bringing all his handy tools and his expertise! Merci! And then of course to Superstar Jo, boy our Superstar Jo and Wacky combo worked great in demolishing too. Man, we are truly naturals. Then a thank you to Dr. d, good job with everything, I'll invite you next time too! Also a thank you goes to Vanilla Con and Vienster who did tones of carrying, lifting and throwing! Strong arms sisters. Finally a thank you to the K.Y. / Peacock combo for everything you did and staying till the very last minute. True troopers!
Without all of you, Wackie and I would probably still be working on our basement till next year... either that, or we would of already killed each other! LOL
But today is a day of major Thank Yous. I want to also thank Dr. Wong, our famous friend Pokee and Peacock for literally pushing my car all the way to Dr. Wong's driveway. I think I would still be sitting on the streets if it weren't for you strong men!
And finally a Thank You goes out to a friendly neighbor who helped me push my car into the alley to get to my driveway. It was incredibly nice of you and your son to pull over for a stranger to help me out of my rut... literally and spend the time pushing me back and forth till I finally made it into my driveway. I never got to shake your hand, but know that I said a thank you prayer for you. Thank you. It's people like you that makes this world so much more nicer to live in.
So, God Bless to all of you. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.
Thank You! Merci!

Finally!

Well, it finally happened... Wackie finally made the choice and here we are needing to demolish like crazy. You see, ever since we gotten back from our trip Downunder, we've been talking about renovating our basement. In January we took an active approach and had various contractors come through our house taking measurements and giving estimates on the cost. I have always decided to go with a contractor knowing that those who decide to renovate their own basement, never actually finish. But Wackie on the otherhand thought that he could take on this whole project on his own. From thinking that he would build from scratch himself to subcontracting. After many discussions and pushing, Wackie finally came into reality and here we are signing with a contractor. Yes, I like to say, I won! Firstly, why would I want to do work that I hate doing, and why would I waste my very needed weekends and evenings to a basement that is way too large for 2 of us to do?!? No thank you.
Well, we are having a demo party on Saturday. Please help! I know there are many of you out there needing to vent some fustrations, and if not, come for the fun of smashing things to pieces!

Weekend Warriors

Well, we decided or more so I decided that we needed to do some more changes to our house. After watching so many home decorating shows and such, I noticed that our house did not flow well (in color). So, we went paint shopping and here we are painting the nights away. We both decided to paint our "dining room" the same color as our living room to make it appear to be larger than it is. Then we painted out our built in cabinet the same color as our walls so that it stood out less, but decided to paint the inside shelves a dark chocolate brown to add some accent to it. I have also always wanted a wine red wall so we painted out wall behind our island this deep wine red. But we aren't finished. We still want to paint our main floor bathroom as it is currently really awkward with colors. With cream color tiles, terra cotta floors, a black and white vanity and light grey walls, it just doesn't work. So we will eventually paint that out to "parchment paper". Interesting huh? Well, we sure got our work set out for us, now if only I can get Wackie to make a final decision about our basement!

Happy birthday Wackie!

Well, it's Wackie's big Birthday tomorrow. I don't know if I'm allowed to disclose his age, so I won't, but hey, we are all getting older each year. I find it very hard to buy Wackie gifts whether it is his Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary or anything else. You see, if you know him, he is one practical and picky guy when it comes to buying things. It takes him years to decide whether he wants to buy something weighing in, do I really need this, can I live without it? He sometimes gives me hints but it usually all fails anyways. I remember last Christmas he asked for new clothes, so I went out bought him 2 new pair of pants and shirts and he returned them all! "They didn't fit right". Then this year in HK he was looking for a new electrical razor and didn't get one, so I got him one for Christmas. Well, it's still sitting in our closet waiting for us to return it because apparently, his old razor, the one he is using now, is still good enough. Can I ever win?!?
I'll have to keep you posted on whether he'll return my birthday gift. I can't tell you what I got him in case he reads this post before tomorrow. But he told me he wanted this for his Birthday. I just had to find him the right one.
Wish me luck!
P.S. Happy 32nd Birthday Wackie! Ha ha ha. :)