Kitchen Reno: Day 28

It's 28 days later and the kitchen reno is in full swing!

How is it going? Well, let's just say when you buy a century home you get century old problems. Basically, we're undoing 100 years of bad decisions and amateur building. When we tore down our walls and ceiling (back around day 5) the contractor found that the beams (the pieces of wood that hold up the ceiling) were much too far apart. This is why the floor on our second floor is a bit bouncy (it's literally not supported by anything in a few places). To fix all this our contractor has installed temporary walls throughout the kitchen until everything is shored up with additional beams and joists.

Temporary walls to hold up the ceiling

  Other pleasant surprises:

• At one point there was a window looking out to the backyard. The owners got sick of it and decided to build a wall. But instead of taking out the window they just covered it up (glass pane and all)! Why?!
• One wall was randomly built with cement blocks.
• Another interior wall, which we've torn down, was built with no supporting beams. Horizontal planks were supporting the ceiling in that area. Super dangerous!
• And of course there is asbestos paper here and there which we've been pulling out. 

This photo was actually taken back on Day 3 but shows the hidden window we found in the wall!

We're about a month behind schedule and my original optimistic estimate of a 2-month project is looking like 3-months right now.

The good news is that I see the light at the end of the tunnel of the make-sure-the-ceiling-doesn't-collapse-stage.  Once the ceiling is fully supported we can take out all these temporary walls and start moving to the install-new-tiles-and-build-cabinets-and-other-stuff-we-can-see-stage.

We've filled and trucked away two dumpsters worth of wall junk (plaster, etc.). Now our driveway is a workshop for the contractor.

Fingers crossed!

Luskville Falls Trail

Woo hoo! This past weekend I finally hiked the Luskville Falls trail, which has been one of my local bucket-list things to do for awhile.

Not for the faint of heart, it's a 290 metre vertical climb that goes up...

"It's building character honey"

...up and more up!

Those first two photos are a bit deceiving because while it looks like we were all alone, that's just my ace cropping skills at work. In reality there must have been a thousand people climbing the trail at the same time as us. Now you would think that the steepness of the trail would discourage others from hiking it, but perhaps due to the beautiful weather we've been having, or perhaps because it was a long weekend, we found the trail very crowded.

Margot cutting the horde off at the pass

While I like how so many people choose to enjoy the great outdoors, I have to admit it would have been nice if just this one day they chose to binge watch some Game of Thrones instead and leave the trail to us.

Still, even with the crowds, there is no denying the beauty of the area. It has a different feel than the other trails in Gatineau Park as it marks the literal dividing line between the Canadian Shield and the flat lowlands that make up much of southern Ontario. Because of its southerly facing direction, it also is warmer than a lot of the surrounding region and supports a lot of rare plant species and wildlife.

Fortunately, Glosette Girl, Margot and I managed to find a few quieter moments where we were able to enjoy this cool micro-climate, dip our fingers into the falls that give the trail its name, and munch on a few M&Ms. Not a bad adventure all things considered!

Tooth and Nail Brewing Company

Let's be honest, there are annoying things about every generation. Take Millennials for example. Their narcissistic obsession with selfies and the faux social media protesting can be pretty tiresome.

But on the flip side, their taste in beer is pretty awesome. I don't know if Millennials are driving the craft brew industry but it certainty seems that the current crop of twenty somethings has inspired an explosion of craft brew pubs in Ottawa.

The closest craft brewery to my house is the Tooth and Nail Brewing Company. You can buy beers to go in the store or chill out in the brew pub. I've been to the pub a few times since I moved to Hintonburg and it hasn't disappointed. Their menu is sparse but the atmosphere is great (think long rustic wooden tables and edison bulbs [which is almost becoming a cliche at this point but it works here]), nice waiting staff and a great selection of beers with varying degrees of hoppy-ness.

My most recent visit was with the Hintonburg Dad's club.

Serious.

It's not really a club...more like a random gathering of dudes who all happen to have kids and live in the area. A local dad found out my email address, added me to the list and now every month or two I meet up with a bunch of guys for a beer or two to discuss Hintonburg-type-stuff.

What do we talk about you ask? Are you from Hintonburg? No? Then you wouldn't understand.

Haha just kidding. Anyways, it's an interesting way to meet new people in the area... over a cold craft  beer. For some reason I can't picture myself doing this with a Bud Light. So thank you Millenials. Thank you for helping me to come out of my shell and share your awesome taste in beers!

Parenting Lessons for Daddy

So, this past weekend, I attended a parenting class for the first time since Margot was born.

Margot is almost eight.

"Little late in the game, Cheech!" You may be thinking. "Why now?" I dunno. When it comes to parenting I have always placed more value on experience than books and formal training. I trust my instincts, or the wisdom of people around me. Parenting books just seem so...rigid..so...not me.

I really have no regrets. Margot is turning out to be a pretty cool kid.

But when an opportunity arose this past weekend to sit down with some other parents, I thought "what do I have to lose?" and decided to try it out (at the very least it would make for an interesting blog post!).

And guess what? Miracle of miracles, I learned something!

For example, I learned about this "wonder" technique, where I ask Margot questions after I read her bedtime story to make her think about what she has heard. Pretty obvious in hindsight to be honest. But actually as I listened to the teacher what really struck a chord was the fact that I don't spend enough time just listening and talking to Margot before she goes to bed. She can be a frustrating little rascal and often my thoughts are full of the days events and grrrrr I just want her to sleep. I need to fight the urge to rush my moments with her.

Another cool thing I learned was about silence: playing a game where you don't talk for a long period of time and simply draw or read or do crafts with your kid. Supposedly children love this. I tried this out on Sunday and it totally worked. Margot, Glosette Girl and I coloured some mandalas in silence for a good 30 minutes and Margot didn't want it to end. It was so relaxing hearing the scratch of the pencil crayons.