Ping-Pong

Today was a good day. I didn't get anything done on the house, but I did some research on correct techniques for repairing the basement. For instance, a vapour barrier on an outside wall will trap moisture and create condensation which will eventually cause mould. The best way to insulate is to use foam board and then apply the studs. Since my basement already has its studs in place, I think I will leave things as they are. Not the best approach, but certainly the simplest.
Emma and I joined our local YMCA today. We walked on the walking track and then played a little ping-pong.
Well, that's all for now.

DMC

Sugar Shack

We had another day of family fun today. We went up to a Maple Syrup farm, toured the sugar bush, tried some maple taffy in the sugar shack and ate some sweet maple sugar treats.

As for my jobs and work, I haven't had a chance to do anything lately, but I am still researching what I need to know about contractors and basement repair, and I'm planning out how I will get everything done, etc.

That's all for now.

DMC

"If you are away, they will play."

I am doing a bit of research by watching a season of Mike Holmes on Homes. Mike is a contractor in my area who goes into peoples houses to repair renovation work that is done incorrectly, etc. Some of the stories are very sad and some are just scary.

These are some of the helpful hints and advice I have acquired.
1. Don't leave the jobsite. "If you are away, they will play."
2. If you do it right the first time, it will last.
3. Get it in writing.
4. If in doubt, call in a consultant.

I guess I will have to be careful when hiring a contractor. I should also find out what the requirements are for materials in basements. I have been told by several contractors that vapour barrier is not required, and the the insulation is fine on just half the wall.

This also brings to mind my daughter's room which had a leak when we moved in, but which was eventually repaired. I think she may have mold in her wall.

DMC

I found a perfect shelf today and the price was right, but I didn't get anything done on the house. Instead we took the afternoon off and went swimming and did a bit of shopping. This was necessary as we (my daughter and I) are still a bit upset about the test and the fall and we really thought, after my final radiation this summer, I'd be done with cancer and I could finally don my badge: a ribbon I got 2 years ago at a Terry Fox Marathon that reads "survivor."

Right now I am at my local library. We (my daughter and I) just finished a seminar on blogging and Internet safety. It was very informative and I think I learned some useful information.

Today I decided to finish redoing my daughter's bedroom for her birthday. I was reading today about it, and learned that allowing her to make her own choices and decisions is a good idea, especially since she will be becoming a teen soon. She'll have to stick to a shoestring budget of course, but I think we can do lots with a little. Originally when we moved into our condo, her favorite colour was blue, so she has blue walls, carpet and comforter. Now, however, her colour is purple; so some changes are necessary. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with. I can't wait.

DMC

A Better Day

Today was a better day. I was able to do some sorting in the basement, and in the evening I went out to price some storage shelves. I have decided that I need a shelf for smaller items, like my portable bbq and fish tanks.

My washing machine is now completely broken. It no longer agitates the laundry at all, and leaks tons of water. I will have to purchase a new one.

I heard back about my test today (test = mammogram). You really don't want to 'hear back' about one of those. So next week I will have a follow up appointment. My outlook, after Monday's fall and some other negative setbacks, has gone from really quite rosy and optimistic, to desperate and weepy. But chin up, life goes on....

DMC

A Bad Day

I have not done a thing in the house this week, thus far. I am not feeling well.

Ok, I had a test this week and I guess I am kind of thinking about it, and, I hate to say, worrying about it a bit.

Then after the test yesterday I came home and tripped on the walkway outside my home and fell hard on the cement (which is not good when you have been hit by a truck already and your body is already messed up).

Now this makes me sound like an old lady but I am in my early 40's, and falling like that was really bizarre, and certainly not what I needed on the day I was being tested to see if, once again, I'm going to be fighting cancer.

Already upset, and then the fall, and my daughter running to me and kissing me because she too is upset by the test, and the fall doesn't help. And now I am really sore, and had to sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon. Life...ahhh...Life.

I am going to go to bed. Maybe have a bit of a cry. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I think it probably has to be.

DMC

Things I Have To Do...................

Today I took the day off and had some family time with my daughter. We went to Black Creek Pioneer Village. Here is a picture.

Now I am ready for some more repairs, organizing, decluttering and fixing. I am ready to make a list of all of the jobs and projects I have to complete.

1. Laundry Room (repair or replace washing machine; paint floor; arrange;)
2. Storage Room (declutter and organize; paint and rearrange; flooring; redo workbench area)
3. Recreation Room (move boxes to storage room; get estimates on repairs; clean floor; have repairs done - drywall and subfloor; buy paint, primer and supplies; prime and paint; have flooring installed; move in furniture and unpack boxes)
4. Basement Bathroom (paint)
5. Homeschool Area in Kitchen (build a table; buy shelving; organize materials)
6. Homeschool Closet (box curriculum for sale; remove irrelevant items to basement; ...)
7. Upstairs Bathroom (remove grout; remove hand rails; repair holes from handrails; re-apply caulking; caulk around toilet; (?maybe) paint or replace vanity; replace mirror; remove sliding bathtub doors
8. Daughter's Bedroom (declutter closet; add accents in purple; hang shelves; )
9. Garden, Yard (to be determined)
10. Living Room (repair ugly holes which are the result of hanging a floating shelf that drooped and had to be removed again; paint an accent wall; make curtains and sheers)
11. Kitchen (*repair drain; replace sink stoppers; repaint windowsill)

That's my list. Not too bad. Now I can add to it if I need to.

DMC

Thursday

Here I am will Bella and Blackie painting the storage area. (Blackie stuck her nose in the paint, and, in an effort to help, put her paws on the painted wall.)

I'm not feeling great today. Yesterday I went to the doctor. I have to go for more tests then back to my doctor regardless of the results. I've been through this before. Hopefully, the result will be better. Until then I wait....

Here is the finished storage area. Definitely not a professional job, but complete.

Unfortunately my washing machine is leaking much worse than before and the agitator doesn't agitate anymore.

I also looked at some floor paint. It was a nice beige colour. That could work. Or there are these tiles I saw at the dollar store that are raised and have a design. That way the water runs down to the drain without getting our feet wet. Then we could put flooring in the rest of the room. At least there are possibilities.

Have a nice first day of spring tomorrow.

DMC

Wednesday

Today I finally laid the tile which took about 20 minutes. I spent more time talking about it than it took to actually do it. Now I have decided to also paint the storage area, since the walls are a bit dingy.

I didn't manage any spring cleaning today, but I had a doctor's appointment first thing and that threw me off. It's funny how when we get news from the doctor ordinary concerns suddenly seem quite unimportant.

Also, I had the washing machine repair person out, if you can call him that. He was more of a take-apart-put-together-so-the-spin-cycle-doesn't-work-right-anymore-tell-me-it's-a-piece-of-junk-collect-$40-for-nothing-and-leave, kind of person. I am frustrated because I STILL have a washing machine that sloshes water all over my basement floor, but I am $40 poorer!!! Ugh!

DMC

Tuesday

This was not a very productive day in the basement, but I was able to re-organize my linen closet and spring clean the bathroom. Yesterday I did a bit of spring cleaning in my bedroom.

I went to the library today and got some books on colour and design. These should help with paint colour choices and making my narrow rec room look bigger.

This is my rec room the way it looks right now. It is discouraging, but I am hopeful that soon it will look nice again.

DMC

Monday

I feel so optomistic today. I have the washing machine repair person coming out tomorrow afternoon, and hope to lay the tile tonight and tomorrow morning. I ran into a bit of a snag with the floor again, because when I tried to wash it, I soon realized that someone had painted it with grey latex paint (I think). Oh well, that saved me from having to wash it! Here's a photo of the floor. That's the paint at the top.

Here is a photo of the storage space. It is that alcove at the back. That is my shelf, in the middle of the room still. I can't wait to get it in there and load it up! What am I going to load it up with?

I think I'll start with this pile.

Enjoy this spring weather.

DMC

Saturday

I didn't complete all of my planned tasks for Saturday, but I did purchase 2 more bins -- really big ones and I looked at the paint and have picked out my primer for the new drywall in the main part of the basement.



I also measured the shelf and the bins and decided that purchasing an inexpensive shelving unit might provide extra storage and fit really well in the space. I have decided not to paint the storage area walls or trim the shelf.

At this point perfection is not my goal......I just have to GET IT DONE!

DMC

The Plan

It is impossible to proceed with the repairwork to my basement after the flood of 08' without preparing the storage area first. Since I cannot lay the subfloor myslef as I don't have the tools, I will lay the tile. The subfloor can then be installed by a contractor when the rest of the basement is completed....and I can get on with clearing out the basement to prepare for the real work to begin.

Here are my goals as well as my proposed agenda for the coming week.

Goals:
1. Completed To create a storage area in the basement.
2. Completed To purchase bins and containers to place all of our stuff in
3. To sort basement storage items into bins and containers.
4. To stop the washing machine from leaking and making noise.


Saturday: Done
-measure storage containers to see if they fit properly (10 min)
-size up storage shelf and trim if necessary. Clean up (10 - 40 min)
-purchase storage bins and supplies for painting
-prepare for painting
-wash floor in storage area (30 min)
-call washing machine repair person

Monday: Done
-paint storage area
-lay tile in storage area and closet
-washing machine repair

Tuesday: Done, except packing
-place shelf in storage area and have a PARTY that this area is finally done!!!!!
-begin packing bins with storage items.

Wednesday:
-continue with repacking of storage items

Thursday:
-complete repacking storage items

Friday: Done on Saturday not Friday
no work today because of family outing

Setbacks

I was not able to do anything on the basement today. I woke up feeling terrible, and spent most of the day resting on the couch.

I have chronic illnesses. I started out just having PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), but now I have a bunch of things, including thyroid cancer, fibromyalgia, inflamation of my spine due to a car accident, and a weakened immune system, made worse by radioactive iodine treatment, which I just had last June.

But of course that's not why I am sick. Today I came down with the flu my daughter has had all week. I wouldn't mind if I could take some medication, but because I lost my thyroid to cancer, most, if not all over the counter cold medications are out of the question. That means that when I come into contact with cold or flu germs, I take every precaution. Lots of hand washing, I stay away from public places, even and especially church, and if I feel like I'm getting sick, I try to sleep to give my body the time it needs to deal with it.

I feel hopeless, like I will never get the jobs around my house done. Like I will never be able to be "on top" of things, instead of "under" them.

DMC

Flooring Issues

I thought I would have the tile down in my storage area by now, but after doing some research on the net, I found out that basement concrete floors are a)moist and b) alkaline. These two factors make self adhesive tile a bad idea because they don't stick for long.

So I went to Home Depot and checked out a sub-floor, which will be perfect. In the meantime, I also got two big storage bins, one extra large and one big to put on my newly shortened shelf. If they are a good fit, I will buy more and then start the big job of sorting out the many many mismached, cardboard boxes in my basement.

That's all for now.

DMC

Me the Handywoman

So tonight I pulled up the tile in the new storage area of the basement (right behind me in the picture). Last July (2008)there was terrential rainfall where I live, and it ran down the front of my 3 story townhouse (including basement) and in all the windows, creating a lovely waterfall effect in the basement, and leaving about 3 inches of water saturating my carpet, and inching its way up the walls.

This led to having nice people come in and to pack up some of our stuff, and then gutting my nice newly painted and recarpeted rec room. Followed by them trying to extricate the rest of the moisture by bringing in 5 enormous fans and one giant dehumidifier (in July when it was 90 degrees and so humid! And I woke in the night and couldn't breath because there is mold in my basement - not the part that was flooded of course).

Then we redid the bathroom down there as that is where the mold was. We cut the tile down there and now there is a nice layer of red dust over everything. Plus, I was right in the middle of decluttering the storage area of the basement so there was stuff everywhere.

So I am fixing up a part of the basement to store our stuff. I bought a jig-saw tool and it was actually really fun to use. I shortened a storage shelf -- twice, because the first time it wasn't short enough to fit under the stairs. And then I decided to redo the flooring in that area before I put everything in there.

DMC

Time for a Change

The time change has given me an extra hour to kill before bed. How violent. Killing time. What happens to the time we waste? Can we ever get it back. If we work twice as hard, stay up all night, cut out extravagances, maybe that time will be found again. But if it's dead, if we've killed it, can it return?

Ok, enough.

I am frustrated because I have a million things to do and never seem to get them done.

DMC