Home Holiday
I am home alone for the next week. Heather and Ben have taken Dylan down to the Bragg Creek area to attend the Take Action Academy, a seven-day leadership camp put on by the Me to We and Free the Children organizations. While my older son goes through this incredible experience, my wife and younger son will do some camping and mountain climbing.
My choice to stay back was rooted in two things. First of all, I am serving as Deputy Mayor for the next quarter, and I think it's important that I'm available as much as possible. Secondly, I didn't want to miss the interPLAY Festival and all of its assorted attractions.
Seven days in the house on my own also has afforded me the optimal time to do a much needed bathroom renovation. Heather and I had worked on this project many years ago ago and it is time to change out the baseboards - which had become water-logged, especially in the corner by the shower - and give the room a new coat of paint.
I started the dismantling of the IKEA cabinets almost immediately after the gang shuffled off for Edmonton yesterday morning. A full day of taking things down, ripping out the existing baseboards, and washing all the walls, and all that is left is the base of the toilet and a lot of painting to do. I'm also going to do a new tile baseboard (thanks to great instruction from a YouTube video series) and re-caulk everything.
In the middle of yesterday's fervent activity, a solution to my lighting issue presented itself. Our existing lighting set-up included a halogen light about the sink and a small lamp up on top of the cupboard (you can see its blue base in the photo on the left). The problem in this aspect of the renovation is that I suck as an electrician. I don't have the capacity to wire up a traditional lighting solution like a recessed fixture or the like. So, I'm going to try something a little different using another halogen light fixture in place of the lamp. We'll see how it goes.
In between phases of deconstruction I watched a few episodes of Survivors (a BBC series about a post-pandemic world) and put my line in the water. I didn't catch anything, but it was a stunning day and just nice to spend an hour or two in my happy place.
Waiting for things to dry in the bathroom in the evening, I tackled another project I had committed to in the front yard, installing some 8" patio stones to provide a home for our precious recycling containers - thinking ahead to the winter months when we'll need unfettered access to garage.
The sweat was pouring off my brow as I dug down the required inches, installed and leveled the nine stones. The containers nicely tucked away in their spot, I could cross off another item from my to-do list.
Throughout the entire day, I've been ruminating on a design for a desk that Ben would like me to build for him while they are gone. He did a great drawing of what he had in mind, complete with spots for a future laptop, paint supplies and paper. I'll do a fair amount of research and a number of sketches before diving into this one, likely after the bathroom project is nearing completion mid-next week.
Mix into the week a couple of excellent visits and a delightfully comic literary romp with Christopher Buckley's They Eat Puppies, Don't They? and I have all the elements necessary for a productive, restorative and entertaining week.
My choice to stay back was rooted in two things. First of all, I am serving as Deputy Mayor for the next quarter, and I think it's important that I'm available as much as possible. Secondly, I didn't want to miss the interPLAY Festival and all of its assorted attractions.
Seven days in the house on my own also has afforded me the optimal time to do a much needed bathroom renovation. Heather and I had worked on this project many years ago ago and it is time to change out the baseboards - which had become water-logged, especially in the corner by the shower - and give the room a new coat of paint.
I started the dismantling of the IKEA cabinets almost immediately after the gang shuffled off for Edmonton yesterday morning. A full day of taking things down, ripping out the existing baseboards, and washing all the walls, and all that is left is the base of the toilet and a lot of painting to do. I'm also going to do a new tile baseboard (thanks to great instruction from a YouTube video series) and re-caulk everything.
In the middle of yesterday's fervent activity, a solution to my lighting issue presented itself. Our existing lighting set-up included a halogen light about the sink and a small lamp up on top of the cupboard (you can see its blue base in the photo on the left). The problem in this aspect of the renovation is that I suck as an electrician. I don't have the capacity to wire up a traditional lighting solution like a recessed fixture or the like. So, I'm going to try something a little different using another halogen light fixture in place of the lamp. We'll see how it goes.
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| Survivors Ensemble |
In between phases of deconstruction I watched a few episodes of Survivors (a BBC series about a post-pandemic world) and put my line in the water. I didn't catch anything, but it was a stunning day and just nice to spend an hour or two in my happy place.
Waiting for things to dry in the bathroom in the evening, I tackled another project I had committed to in the front yard, installing some 8" patio stones to provide a home for our precious recycling containers - thinking ahead to the winter months when we'll need unfettered access to garage.
The sweat was pouring off my brow as I dug down the required inches, installed and leveled the nine stones. The containers nicely tucked away in their spot, I could cross off another item from my to-do list.
Throughout the entire day, I've been ruminating on a design for a desk that Ben would like me to build for him while they are gone. He did a great drawing of what he had in mind, complete with spots for a future laptop, paint supplies and paper. I'll do a fair amount of research and a number of sketches before diving into this one, likely after the bathroom project is nearing completion mid-next week.
Mix into the week a couple of excellent visits and a delightfully comic literary romp with Christopher Buckley's They Eat Puppies, Don't They? and I have all the elements necessary for a productive, restorative and entertaining week.
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