Christmas 2007

Despite a sad start it turned out to be a good Christmas this year. I even managed to finish my knitting before Christmas (well for-the-most-part anyway).
Here's a photo of the sweater (the first one I've ever made) I made for my niece, and the hat I made for my nephew.

To everyone, have a Happy New Year.

Round 2

A homemade zoo

I felt like making something today, so I went to the craft store and bought some polymer clay.

After a slight mishap (although many people on the internet seem to recommend using a toaster oven for baking the clay, it didn't seem to work well for me), I managed to make a few cute little animals.

Toasted Pig (It kind of looks like he just rolled around in the mud.):

Slightly toasted monkey (I managed to rescue him before he was too badly burned):

Second attempt at a pig (I switched to the real oven, this seems to have worked better):

Purple puppy:

Group shot:

Peaches

I decided that I was tired of my view being blocked (while trying to back out of the driveway) by the over-grown pyramid cedar that was in my front garden. I now have a peach tree in it's place (thanks to a lot of work by my dad).

Before:


After:

Lilies

Random Photos

Tada

Presenting Caroline's New Bathroom:



Oh wait. . . . that was the before photo ;) Here's what it looks like now:




Ok, it's not completely finished, but it's close enough that I can use it now :)
Once I get the kitchen done and put the house back into some order, I'll throw a party to celebrate and everyone can have a chance to test out the new room for themselves :P

catching up . . .

When were finished tearing everything out (of the bathroom and basement) it pretty much filled the 20 cubic yard dumpster that I had rented. (I tried to rent a 20 cubic foot dumpster, but the guy at the dumpster place laughed at me, and then I realized what I had said :P )

The kitchen before the drywall was installed:

The bathroom before the tub or drywall was installed:

The bathroom after the tub was installed (more complicated than you'd think), still no walls though:

The fan/light, this was the first thing that was installed and hooked up, I don't think the wires are hooked up in the basement, but it still made me feel better that something was actually done:

The kitchen after the drywall was installed (apparently there is still more to mud, and some sanding to do before I can paint. . . . grrrr . . . .):

The drywall installers decided that they should fix the irregularities in the wall, much to my chagrin, but alas, I was at work and wasn't home to prevent the extra work from occurring:

The bathroom (drywall also not finished apparently):


I'm worried about how the door frame will turn out, it doesn't look nearly as scary in this photo as it does in person, I guess I'll just have to wait and hope for the best:

the drywall hiding the fan:

I don't think I posted anything about this feature before; this is my new laundry room (previously a bedroom). It just needs some trim (and some paint) and this part will be done.
If all goes well, the dry wall will be all done tomorrow, and I can finish up everything else, and then I'm going to have a nice hot relaxing bath ;)

Insulation?

We found some interesting insulation stuffed in around the light switches in the kitchen during the construction.

Vacation

I decided to take this week off from work as vacation; however, it's turning out to be lots of work. I'm going to have to go back in the office for a holiday soon ;)

I decided to redo my bathroom, (and do some clean up while the dumpster was there).

We started by removing the shed that was in the backyard. The yard now looks significantly larger, in my opinion anyway.


We ripped everything out of the bathroom, took down the kitchen ceiling, and as an added bonus un-finished the basement (it sounds like a weird thing to do, but the basement was damp and I find the smell of mold unpleasant :P )

Here are some photos of the progress so far:

The Bathroom Before:

Bye-bye Bath tub (That's my brother carrying the tub, he is an excellent demolisher):


Hello New Bathtub (Ok, so it's not installed yet, but soon, hopefully):
Bathroom with most of the demolition done (The stack pipe broke when touched :( Hence the rag stuffed in the side):

Bathroom with the new waste plumbing roughed in (we only replaced the bad part of the stack to save some work):

The kitchen before (well, we had done a few things, I don't usually have plastic sheeting over everything, and dad replaced the ceiling fan with something called a pigtail socket, basically a light socket with two wires and that's it. That's my new tub in the big box.)


The kitchen after the demolition (the strapping of the ceiling for the drywall is almost done too):

View of the bathroom through the kitchen ceiling:

The basement stairs (after carpet removal):

The basement (after paneling, ceiling, carpet, and dead mouse (at least a 10 were found) removal)

The other room in the basement after everything was removed:

Flowers

My flowers have started to bloom. Here are some photos.

An iris, my new irises out the front already flowered, but I didn't get a photo. This one is out the back.

A columbine, I don't think I had actually ever seen a columbine before. I've decided that I like them:
Another columbine:

Blue perennial geranium:

Some sort of daisy like plant. The flowers close up at night: