Some things done!
So, Mack and I are back in our bedroom, finally. Over the last few weeks, we finished drywalling and priming, then painting (it's a lovely colour now!). And this last weekend (which was a long weekend), we built all the IKEA wardrobes, which took a couple of days. We thanked Owen for his assistance and his patience, but he was away to his art class for some of it, and away on a play date for some of it too.
Monday was a holiday called Family Day, so we'd promised Owen that we'd spend the day with him (ie, not work on the renovation!). We played board games, card games, and video games (it was too cold to go outside!), but then when he left in the afternoon for the playdate, Mack and I were able to get back to the renovation work, and wrapped up the last few things so that we could return to sleeping in that room. We cleaned the floors, put our clothes in the new wardrobe, rearranged the furniture and made the bed. Such a relief. And the way we've rearranged the room is a nice change. Poor Mack is a little squished in the back corner on his side of the bed, but he says he's OK with it. And there's now a huge area at the foot of the bed in front of the window - I'm thinking yoga space, and eventually a reading nook for me. :-)
Owen is doing well, fairly happy most of the time, sleeping well (no more night terrors, knock on wood!) and fairly amenable to helping out around the house. His memory for things seems to be getting better too. He's eating very well, I'm pretty sure he's eating more than I do. He asked for seconds last night (pasta et fasule, a longtime family favourite meal, though I'm not sure I was as much of a fan when I was his age!). He had been out playing on the snow piles for an hour, so had worked up quite an appetite.
Speaking of snow - you may have heard that we had a big snowstorm. Tuesday was kind of a write-off for most people. Work and schools were open, and city buses were running, though school buses weren't. My office closed at noon so people could get home before the big crush of people tried to get buses out to the suburbs, and Mack worked at home all day (as did many others at his work). Sidewalks in our neighbourhood still aren't cleared so walking is quite a workout, but we're back to business as usual. As I said above, Owen loves the huge mounds of snow in the corner of our courtyard! They're as high as the walls around our complex.
Not much else going on. Mack's band has a show this weekend, so I'm looking forward to a quiet night to myself, and maybe a movie with Owen as we let Mack sleep in. And in another week, it'll be Mack's birthday, so we've got a reservation for dinner at one of our favourite places. It's actually going to be a double date with our neighbours/friends Simon and Christina, who are the parents of Owen's buddy Oliver. Simon's birthday is the day after Mack's. And they've been a big help on the renovation, plus boosting our car one day when the battery died in the cold. So, we'll buy them a round of drinks when we're out for dinner.
I've recently made a concerted effort to clear out old yarn, as my stash of yarn was getting out of control, and attracting moths! I've finished off 5 or 6 balls, and made like 10 scarves, and one vest. Now I'm in the middle of a baby blanket (with no baby around to give it to!), and am on the look-out for smaller projects to help use up the rest of the yarn.
And all three of us worked on a puzzle recently, which I bought while Owen was at his art class. It's got all the flags of the world, and it was difficult to get started - so much red and white! And 1500 pieces! It was eventually fun, though it did take us a week to finish.
There's been some interesting (and sometimes upsetting) drama at work this week. We've had a big project release (a new website launch), and I barged my way into the project, insisting that there be additional testing and documentation done prior to launch. I got agreement that it was a good idea, but when I tried to create a testing plan, no one followed through, even after repeated emails, face to face conversations, and meetings. The website went live yesterday, with very little testing done, and virtually no documentation of the efforts to fix issues. I don't know when I became the "Process Dictator" - at my past job, I was always the "cowboy" - the one who just started doing things without following a process. But over the years there, I learned the wisdom of documenting these things. And I'm dealing with a cowboy (or two!) here, let me tell you! Sigh. I've got some support in my other co-workers, who agree that things weren't dealt with in a good way, so we'll try to write down some suggestions for next time. Whether they're taken in the right way remains to be seen.
I had a baking fail on the weekend. I'd pulled some pureed pumpkin out of the freezer (from our farm basket last year!) and tried to make some pumpkin loaves. Sadly, I forgot the baking soda - I had just put them in the oven, and Mack suggested I pour the batter back into the bowl to mix it it. I just sprinkled the baking soda on top and tried to sort of stir it in. In the end, the top half baked up nicely, but tasted of baking soda, and the bottom half didn't rise at all. :-( Such a waste of some lovely pureed pumpkin. Next time, I won't try to cut corners to fix a mistake like that. (See, that's why it's important to follow a plan! LOL!)
I guess I'll leave it there .. hope you're all doing well, and keeping warm.
Monday was a holiday called Family Day, so we'd promised Owen that we'd spend the day with him (ie, not work on the renovation!). We played board games, card games, and video games (it was too cold to go outside!), but then when he left in the afternoon for the playdate, Mack and I were able to get back to the renovation work, and wrapped up the last few things so that we could return to sleeping in that room. We cleaned the floors, put our clothes in the new wardrobe, rearranged the furniture and made the bed. Such a relief. And the way we've rearranged the room is a nice change. Poor Mack is a little squished in the back corner on his side of the bed, but he says he's OK with it. And there's now a huge area at the foot of the bed in front of the window - I'm thinking yoga space, and eventually a reading nook for me. :-)
Owen is doing well, fairly happy most of the time, sleeping well (no more night terrors, knock on wood!) and fairly amenable to helping out around the house. His memory for things seems to be getting better too. He's eating very well, I'm pretty sure he's eating more than I do. He asked for seconds last night (pasta et fasule, a longtime family favourite meal, though I'm not sure I was as much of a fan when I was his age!). He had been out playing on the snow piles for an hour, so had worked up quite an appetite.
Speaking of snow - you may have heard that we had a big snowstorm. Tuesday was kind of a write-off for most people. Work and schools were open, and city buses were running, though school buses weren't. My office closed at noon so people could get home before the big crush of people tried to get buses out to the suburbs, and Mack worked at home all day (as did many others at his work). Sidewalks in our neighbourhood still aren't cleared so walking is quite a workout, but we're back to business as usual. As I said above, Owen loves the huge mounds of snow in the corner of our courtyard! They're as high as the walls around our complex.
Not much else going on. Mack's band has a show this weekend, so I'm looking forward to a quiet night to myself, and maybe a movie with Owen as we let Mack sleep in. And in another week, it'll be Mack's birthday, so we've got a reservation for dinner at one of our favourite places. It's actually going to be a double date with our neighbours/friends Simon and Christina, who are the parents of Owen's buddy Oliver. Simon's birthday is the day after Mack's. And they've been a big help on the renovation, plus boosting our car one day when the battery died in the cold. So, we'll buy them a round of drinks when we're out for dinner.
I've recently made a concerted effort to clear out old yarn, as my stash of yarn was getting out of control, and attracting moths! I've finished off 5 or 6 balls, and made like 10 scarves, and one vest. Now I'm in the middle of a baby blanket (with no baby around to give it to!), and am on the look-out for smaller projects to help use up the rest of the yarn.
And all three of us worked on a puzzle recently, which I bought while Owen was at his art class. It's got all the flags of the world, and it was difficult to get started - so much red and white! And 1500 pieces! It was eventually fun, though it did take us a week to finish.
There's been some interesting (and sometimes upsetting) drama at work this week. We've had a big project release (a new website launch), and I barged my way into the project, insisting that there be additional testing and documentation done prior to launch. I got agreement that it was a good idea, but when I tried to create a testing plan, no one followed through, even after repeated emails, face to face conversations, and meetings. The website went live yesterday, with very little testing done, and virtually no documentation of the efforts to fix issues. I don't know when I became the "Process Dictator" - at my past job, I was always the "cowboy" - the one who just started doing things without following a process. But over the years there, I learned the wisdom of documenting these things. And I'm dealing with a cowboy (or two!) here, let me tell you! Sigh. I've got some support in my other co-workers, who agree that things weren't dealt with in a good way, so we'll try to write down some suggestions for next time. Whether they're taken in the right way remains to be seen.
I had a baking fail on the weekend. I'd pulled some pureed pumpkin out of the freezer (from our farm basket last year!) and tried to make some pumpkin loaves. Sadly, I forgot the baking soda - I had just put them in the oven, and Mack suggested I pour the batter back into the bowl to mix it it. I just sprinkled the baking soda on top and tried to sort of stir it in. In the end, the top half baked up nicely, but tasted of baking soda, and the bottom half didn't rise at all. :-( Such a waste of some lovely pureed pumpkin. Next time, I won't try to cut corners to fix a mistake like that. (See, that's why it's important to follow a plan! LOL!)
I guess I'll leave it there .. hope you're all doing well, and keeping warm.