Priming the Drywall

I finally got around to priming the new drywall in the basement today. I have already learned so much about hiring contractors (the hard way) and priming new drywall (the easy way).

Priming new drywall:

- use a good quality primer specially made to cover new drywall, otherwise, your new drywall will suck up the ordinary primer and you will end up using twice as much. Luckily, I did not have learn this the hard way, I learned it from a helpful salesperson in the paint department at Home Depot.

Hiring contractors:

- Don't choose the contractor with the cheapest quote--usually you are not getting a deal. Get the estimate and all promises of work quality and materials in writing. Make sure you hire a reputable contractor who has references which you check. Keep an eye on the work while it is being done, no matter how awkward you feel. Be careful that your contractor isn't hiring another contractor to do part of the work. It will be hard to decide who is responsible when the work is not done properly. These things I learned the hard way. I find myself saying "I wish I had done this differently" or "if I only had it to do over again" you get the idea.

To finish the room I still need to install quarter round at the ceiling to fill the gap, and baseboards at the floor, to cover the gap and to cover where there are screws that are not covered and some globs of mud.

One of their guys offered to do this work for me.....for another $175 plus materials.

Ah well, live and learn.

DMC

Three Mom's are Better Than One

We had four of our cats fixed. It has been about 10 days now, and my house no longer smells stinky from the boys marking their territory. I am so pleased. There has been another aspect of this that is just so amazing and adorable that I must share it.

We had two female cats fixed (and two males). At the same time, their mom, Miss Mew, was nursing a batch of kittens that were born April 23rd. This is the amazing thing....The day after we brought the newly fixed kitties home, Miss Mew allowed Bella (mostly white kitty in above photo) to come into her box with the kittens. A few days later, we found the kittens under my dresser with Blackie, our other female kitty.

Now the three moms care for the kittens together. All sleep in the box, watch out for the kittens, and even allow the kittens to suckle. It is so touching.

And then there's William. Here he is in the box with the babies, Bella and Blackie. I think this is adorable and very unusual. This is the cat who, two weeks ago, was spraying all over my house. What a sweetie.

DMC

Baby Caterpillars

These baby caterpillars are about .5 cm in size.

A while back I mentioned that we saw a butterfly laying eggs while we were walking in a natural area. We picked a small section of one plant on which the butterfly alighted and brought it (very carefully) home. There were 3 tiny balls on the sprig, each one a tiny butterfly egg.

About a week later, we looked and the tiny balls were split, and there were tiny grey/black things on the leaves of the sprig. They were so tiny we could only see them with a magnifying glass (I also needed my reading glasses).

Now, about a week later, you can discern what they are with the naked eye. Aren't they cute?

DMC

First Horse Show

On Mother's Day my daughter was in her first horse show. This is her, just before entering the arena. She had a great ride, and looked very sharp in her new outfit. She won one ribbon.
In the end we were somewhat disappointed in the way the show was run and judged, but overall it was a good experience.


DMC

McMichael Gallery

We have just been so busy. The day after DD's horse show, we were scheduled to take our 4 kittens (10 months old) to the SPCA to have them all spayed/neutered. We had to take them in at 8 am (1.5 hour drive from home) and pick them up at 5pm. So we spent the day at an amazing art gallery in Toronto.

Here I am with a beautiful carved boulder.

During a nature walk we observed a butterfly laying her eggs, and took home a piece of plant with 3 eggs on it. If this turns out to be something wonderful (like baby caterpillars) I will post it here.

It was a good day, but it turned out that getting the cats fixed entailed more than just an operation....but that's another post.

DMC

Taming the Beast

Finally this messy monster of a pantry turned school closet is all neat and tidy. I am so relieved and it makes homeschooling run much more smoothly.

Before....




After....

Marvelous Mother's Day

I got spoiled for Mother's Day. Because D.D.'s horse show was on the real Mother's Day, I got spoiled with a morning movie and breakfast in p.j.'s on the couch one week early. My wonderful daughter made this yummy breakfast.

I feel so special...

DMC

Note: I have been extremely busy, so this post is from an earlier date.

Drywall Installation

Suddenly it was time to drywall the basement. We had to rush to get the panelling off. There were two layers of panelling, so it was a bit tricky to remove. We had to get everything ready for the drywallers to come the next morning. The drywallers had all the drywall up in 2 hours. Seriously. It was amazing. I can't wait until it is all done.
You can see the drywall dust in the air.
The guys came back another day to tape and mud it. That was the messy part, because they
had to sand the plaster. I will be priming it this week (another post about this soon, to let you know what I learned about priming new drywall), and that is when I will be able to tell if it was a good job. Pray, pray, pray....

DMC

Nice Clean Tub

Let me just say that we moved into this condo some time ago, and had to redo everything. We took possession about two weeks before Christmas, and rush, rush, rush to clean, paint, replace carpets, etc. So the drain on the bathtub got overlooked (I didn't do the bathroom, so I didn't know.) Over time the black stuff just started to spread around the tub.

I was able to pull off the old caulking without the use of chemicals, just using a razor.

After I cleaned it with soap and water and dried it, I applied the caulking, which was really fun.

This is the finished product. What an improvement!
I can't believe the difference, or how easy it was. I enjoyed this job so much that I also caulked around the toilet, and am planning to redo all of the caulking in the bathroom.

DMC