my view

The view from the back of the house is very industrial, but that doesn't mean it's not pretty sometimes. Like last night...

smoke stack, crescent moon and north star

my apartment

My brother requested some pictures and since everything is pretty clean and tidy at the moment, here they are! I really love this space but would obviously decorate differently if I was staying here. For one year, it's perfect. I'm just thinking of it like living at the cabin.

Bedroom with lovely east light. Helps me get up in the morning!

View from the kitchen to the bedroom.

View from the bedroom to the kitchen.

Cute galley kitchen with built-in head bonk.

The bathroom.

My awkward entrance.

more freakin' snow

I'm going to change the name of this blog to Catherine Complains About the Weather. Jeez, man. More snow!!! I can't take it!!!!

Maybe it should just be Catherine Complains.... leave things open for mosquito season, should it ever arrive.

In any case, we didn't get hit as bad as Dauphin. They had 20 cm as of 10 a.m. with snow continuing throughout the day and overnight.  Hehheh. Always some small joy in someone else having it worse than you.

Tomorrow (that's May 1st, folks) is the 5-year anniversary of O and I moving into our house. We celebrate every year by taking a picture of ourselves in front of our humble abode. The weather is supposed to be *sigh* snow and a high of -1. I'm going to try my very best not to look miserable. Don't want to give the impression that our home is anything but happy. Because it really, truly is the place where my heart is.

august theme song

O and I hosted our first party together last night, a house concert with the fabulous Greg MacPherson and the currently nameless band that O and Claire Therese have recently put together.

So many "wish you were here's". Tried to entice Deb to fly in from Montreal as she seemed like the most likely of my far flung friends to make an impromptu trip to Winnipeg for the weekend but she already had plans. Kana... after so many parties together in Brandon it just felt wrong not to have you here. Especially as the night wound down. You totally should have been on the patio with us, drinking one more drink than was strictly necessary. Tracy... I know you and D would have loved the performances and the cozy atmosphere. Karen... I made tarts galore! Would loved to have spent the afternoon baking with you and debating about crusts. And then watching the guests scarf them back. Danette... well, if you'd been here we probably would have taken advantage of your musical talents.

As it was, we had a good crowd. About twenty friends from both our circles who don't normally hang out but who share quite a few connections. Typical of our demographic, it wasn't a super late night. But it was a good time. My only complaint is that I felt like I didn't get to spend much time with anyone.

Went a bit crazy in the kitchen. Made two kinds of mini quiche, tzatziki, a disappointing white bean dip that needed a lot of tweaking, eggplant fritters (which I forgot to put out until almost everyone was gone), macaroons, chocolate shortbread cookies, and three kinds of tarts (with an unpleasantly chewy cream cheese crust that I won't make again). Also had garden veggies, watermelon, almond stuffed olives, crackers and sweet potato chips. Had so much fun baking. It was kind of the highlight for me, actually.

The music was fantastic. Greg, as always, put on an amazing show and was completely charming. Claire is not a seasoned performer and was a bit nervous at first, but O was rock solid. They've only been playing together for a few months and its impressive how good they are already. Claire's songs are really lovely. She thanked me for putting up with them rehearsing in our house but I honestly don't mind. It's like a free weekly concert!

By the way, if you have any band name suggestions, please leave it in the comments. :]

working weekend

The weather here has been astonishingly beautiful. Feels more like July than May. So we took advantage of the sunny days and got the yard ship shape. Mowed the lawn, weeded and mulched the front garden. O fixed the back gate and adjusted some of the stone path between the back garden beds. I made two frames for my cukes and peas to climb up and wrapped our laundry pole in chicken wire for the beans. O made a small window box for the garage and I painted it. Planted all the veggies.

Then we had beer and tacos on the patio. Followed by much needed showers. And woke up this morning feeling very much like we had worked all weekend. Next weekend.... cleaning the garage.

Took some photos of the yard. Pretty amazing compared to what we started with!

may 2012

may 2008

may 2012

may 2008

How I Spent St. Patrick's Day Weekend

In no particular order...

1. Raking the lawn in a tank top. But not raking the leaves off the perennials even though they are definitely coming up. The weather is unbelievably warm but really.... it's Manitoba. We could get a snow storm at any moment.

2. Multitasking in the lounge chair. That is: knitting, eating crackers and cheese, listening to an audio book, cuddling with the cats, noticing a butterfly, watching the sparrows scrap, enjoying the reggae drifting over from my pot smokin' neighbour's house and trying not to fall asleep.

3. Drinking coffee on the stoop with O and Lexi.

4. Drinking coffee on the patio at the Neighbourhood Cafe with Elizabeth and Lexi. Lots of coffee drinking this weekend though technically Elizabeth and I were doing MALT work.

5. Unearthing ladybugs.

6. Hanging laundry on the line. And then blissfully sleeping in sun dried sheets.

7. Riding my bike. Woo hoo!

8. Gazing at the planets. Three of them, anyway. Have yet to spot Mercury and Saturn but hoping my sister and her telescope will help out with that on Easter weekend.

9. Listening to my favourite birds singing. Just the common white-throated sparrow. Excellent video below.

the forecast in september

Was for a "classic Canadian winter." And that is exactly what we are getting. Has been a frigid January and we have piles of snow. So much, in fact, that we are running out of room in our tiny yard to put it. We really need to get some of the weight off the garage roof and we are having the snow taken off our house roof (hopefully soon!) but where is it all going to go?!? Spring forecast, unsurprisingly, is for flooding.

T - if you're still missing snow, I'd be happy to send you some. We've got plenty to spare!

And for comparison....

The back yard in December

The back yard today (fence is 6'6")

home sweet home update

Back in May 2008, I posted about the things we wanted to do to the house we just bought in order to make it more energy efficient, to indulge my gardening addiction, and just to make it all round nice to live in.

From our original list, we have accomplished:

• 5 new windows, including the one that is basically our whole living room wall. After much research and deliberation, we went with fibreglass over PVC. The choice seemed simple, but fibreglass windows are quite a lot more expensive. Very happy with our choice, though, and will replace the rest as well are able.
• New front and back door. Steel & insulated = more secure & warmer. Also new storm doors.
• Insulation in all the walls and attic. Our house was built in 1912. You'd think even back then insulating the walls would be something builders would just do. But no. We have gone from no insulation to fully insulated and are noticing a huge difference in our comfort level. Hoping to notice a huge difference in the heat bill as well!
• Fence & raised garden beds in the back. The summer sucked, so gardening was frustrating. Loads of rain and cool weather through July & August, then hot in September. Everything was leggy. Nothing fruited well. We got loads of small tomatoes, but many of the skins split. Being a gardener, I've already put it behind me and I'm planning for this season. We're a hardy bunch, even when the plants aren't.
• We also painted the trim on the house and the whole garage, using Benjamin Moore's Aura paint. Seemed very thick but was actually great on the trim, especially when we were reaching up, as it doesn't drip. It's self priming, so two coats were enough. Has no smell, and as proof... we were painting under a wasp nest and they completely ignored us.

Oddly, the easiest and cheapest things that we could have done, we haven't gotten around to yet. Next on the list: low flow shower head and programmable thermostat!

A few pics of our progress:

When we moved in...

Summer 2009...

The after pics were taken prior to painting the garage and getting insulation. The garage is now the same burnt orange as the trim, and our house is pretty polka dots from where the insulation was blown in. Will repair and paint the stucco this summer, and then, I dunno... maybe just enjoy it for a while!

Marvin, R.I.P.

Since I haven't made my blog public, anyone reading this should be someone who knows me. And if you know me, then you are probably well aware that I'm a super huge suck. If you haven't seen that side of me, then I offer this as proof: I actually felt sorry for the old lamp.

And so, it is with a heavy heart, that I announce the passing of my toaster, Marvin.

Marvin's death has been long anticipated. About two years ago, he stopped properly toasting one side, so the bread needed to be flipped half way through the process. And then about six months ago, he would only work if he was plugged into the top socket. And then the plug had to be in the "right way." And finally, his cord started heating up alarmingly. Death was imminent. Fortunately, he died peacefully on the counter before O. had a chance to insist he be put down.

Part of why his death is so sad is because, like Philippe, he had a name. (Something I must stop doing with my appliances!) But mainly, like Philippe, it is because Marvin came into my life at a difficult time and is associated with someone I adore. In Marvin's case, I was just getting back on track post break-up, I was buying my first house and making a big financial investment even though my money situation was precarious, and I was super stressed out with school, jobs and finding roommates. And then Robert gave me Marvin. This toaster was on Rob's counter the first time I met him, and meaning this in the best way, it gave me a lot of insight into his personality. Rob knew that I loved Marvin, that I thought this was the funniest damn toaster ever. And I knew that Rob felt the same way. So it meant a lot that this was my housewarming gift (along with a bunch of tools, because Rob knew that Bruce would have taken all the good ones.)

For now, Marvin sits in our basement, but I have plans for him. Once I find the appropriate plant, he will join Philippe on the top of our fridge, where he can continue to make me smile every morning.

fence post

May 2008

May 2009

Big, huge, gigantic thanks to:

1. Adam, for busting his scrawny ass for two very full days
2. Ayva, for giving up her daddy for two days, and for making us "sushi"
3. Robert, for loaning us his truck and his big toy (bang! bang!)
4. Marilee, for bringing us lunch and my favorite yoghurt
5. Sheila, er, I mean Santa, for stuffing our stockings with work gloves
6. Lexi, kinda, because she had a hard weekend being left out of all the action (though she made some action of her own... flip flop killer... grrr...)


Now I just need to get rid of some of the excess soil in the back yard and finish making my veggie beds. More pics to come!

Progress!!!

After a summer of waiting, waiting, waiting.... finally, and just in time for winter, work is being done on the house.

1. The back yard has been dug out (ya.... just in time for winter)


2. The doors... one in, one to go. If anyone knows a good, cheap contractor in Winnipeg (other than the most amazing Robert, who is actually booked until January and is just doing us a huge favour), then send them my way.


3. The windows. Fiberglass. Five of 'em, including the brute in the living room.


Cats have spent far too much time locked in either the bathroom or the kitchen window. Rufus is getting pretty tired of it, but Cleo's a trooper, as usual.


So, we'll be safe (ask me how easy it was to break into the house when I locked myself out earlier this week!), toasty warm and broke this winter. Which means I'll be amusing myself by dreaming of my garden to be, rather than jetting to exotic locales.

we're in, but we're not out

So... in our new house. Boxes and clutter everywhere. To be expected and we're all so happy to be living here that we're not stressing about the mess. Have a pile of things we want to do on the house, but apart from a couple of essentials, we're not stressing about those either. Now we just have to work up the energy to actually finish moving out of our apartment, and cleaning the damn place!

To all of those who I promised a picture of the wet bar, ain't she a beauty?!?


And a few other random shots...

home sweet home

The love of my life and I have finally bought a house, after six months of searching in the stupidly tight and crazy Winnipeg market. I asked for only three things: 1) if there was a garage, I wanted it detached; 2) a shower we can stand up in (it's been 4 1/2 years since we've had that luxury); and 3) a reasonable distance to work, so we could bike. He was more fussy, but in the end, we're both satisfied and have a place we can (semi) afford.

Now to start "greening" it...

To start, we had an ecoEnergy Evaluation done. This means that we will be eligible for rebates on the energy efficiency improvements we make. The list is long! These are the things we could/should upgrade:

• windows (all but one)
• doors (they are wooden, old and not sealed properly)
• insulation (basically, there isn't any, and we live in Winterpeg, Manisnowba)
• hot water heater (ours has reached it's life span, so we want to switch from gas to electric)
• shower head (much as I love the torrential downpour we currently have)
• window frames (need to be caulked)
• programmable thermostat

On the want list are:

• new fridge
• fence for the back yard
• ceiling fans
  
• painting the exterior of the house
  

Add to this, we have old wooden soffits with a hole in them, and therefore "tenants." So new soffits, fascia and eaves troughs, though not eco, are essential. Since we aren't swimming in money, we may go a bit deeper in debt and get a Power Smart loan for some of the work.

And then there is the yard. I have started 5 types of native prairie plants from seed, but let's just say, it's going to need a bit more than that...