SO CLOSE ... BIRTHDAY SURPRISE ... TAKE #2

so last year j surprised n with a hot air balloon ride for her birthday ... how romantic ... and we were so close to going but a nasty cloud covered swooped right in and shut that down pretty quickly ... so we decided to wait until the spring/summer to go again ... i mean who really wants to go up in the freezing air in an open basket in the middle of an alberta winter anyways

well today was supposed to be that day ... checked the weather ... gorgeous sunny not a cloud in the sky ... so at 5:30 am we got the phone call giving us the go ahead to drag our sleepy selves down to the launch site ... well i will let the pictures do the talking

6:06 am ready with tickets to catch our ride across the cityscape

pulling into the launch site ...

see absolutely gorgeous

unloading the balloon ...

see the competition in the background ...

they arrived 30 minutes before we did

still setting up and off they go

balloon stretched out, basket attached and ready to inflate

an inflating rainbow

holding steady to fill with all that air

and it just keeps getting bigger

j plus n ready for a hot air balloon ride

i think we are good to go

nope ... a gust of wind swoops in and covers the basket and vehicle

go j ... keep holding on

(side note ... the 1 crew member was holding the rope and the wind pulled him down and he was sliding across the field holding onto the rope for dear life ... j stepped in and helped hold the balloon down ... my hero)

unhooking the balloon from the basket

one of the burners caught the balloon and ripped a gigantic hole ... so it's a no go :(

time to deflated the balloon and pack up and try again

cheers ~n

update ... so we tried 2 more times since and have been unsuccessful in our attempts ... first time the west end of the city had a huge rain storm that night and soaked the launch site and the second time it was too cloudy ... next try will be august 10 ... take #5

FRUSTRATION

some days there seems to be very little progress when renovating a house ... today is one of those days ... the happy helpers came over bearing gifts of some much needed building supplies and just as they were getting started they realized that they forgot a few things ... important things that need to be done before moving onto the new step in the basement ... they wanted to work on leveling the floor in the bathroom so the shower base will be flat ... which definitely needs to be done because from the bathroom wall to where the edge of the base will sit the floor has a inch difference in height from beginning to end!

well in order to do that the floor leveling stuff had to be bought (which j didn't have time to do this week because he has been crazy busy with work), also plumbing needed to be done so the tools had to picked up and rented for the weekend ... and if your gonna do a little plumbing and go to all the trouble to rent the tool well you might as well complete all the finishing plumbing jobs at the same time ... so that meant picking up extra water lines to move the front tap and deciding on a shower handle and shower head for the bathroom ...

that's all fine however nothing frustrates n more than having to run house errands in saturday traffic ... just by picking a weekend to drive around you automatically add at least an hour travel time to the job ... oh and add in that this isn't getting started until 1:00 pm because j and n had to parlons francais dans la matin ... well you get the picture

well n is unhappy to report that it took us a round trip of 3 hours just to pick up the tools and needed supplies ... the most disappointing part was finding the handle for the shower ...

most times n is happy to live in this particular city but there are certain times that this city doesn't feel so city it actually feels more like a small hillbilly town ... j and n drove to all 3 major hardware suppliers looking for the goods for the shower ... all we could find was tacky overpriced ugly crap and oh all of them came with a tub faucet which we don't need ... doesn't anybody make attractive stuff?

well we were about to give up because if the 3 major home improvement players can't get it together to supply this stuff who will? ... and then on our drive home we found a little bath specialty store that had the perfect handle and shower head ... so it wasn't a total waste ... it was just a little long to get a few key pieces

cheers ~n

update ... just a tad disappointed because it took so long driving around yesterday j and his happy helpers weren't able to install the new basement windows which totally would have been awesome but oh well i guess until next time

WHAT THE WHAT ... PROCRASTINATION NEVER DOES ANYBODY ANY GOOD

why is it that when you have an important deadline it always seems to get left to the last minute? usually there is no real good reason but this time i blame christmas ... n is trying to finish a proposal to get some money for schooly type things and the beast is due this friday ... she is trying to get all the pieces done and still have it sound like she knows what she is doing and is super smart and deserving of the money but it sounds so lame and rambly ... enter j to the rescue to proof and help make things un-rambly ... and she still has 4 days left until it needs to be hand delivered and left to the fate of those who do the money giving ... enough procrastination ... she needs to get back to work ... wish her luck

cheers ~n

NOT A GREAT WAY TO START A NEW MONTH

well n is still sick and hasn't had too many good nights of sleep with being feverish and achy, all the coughing and the never ending runny nose. well it seemed that all the pieces were going to come together for one magical night of rest. her nose stopped running, the coughing subsided and the fever finally broke :)

... and then halloween on a saturday night happened to ruin this ...

the neighbors kids decided to bless the street with a large gathering of obnoxious, loud and crude partygoers. instead of keeping the party indoors they took their "merriment" to the front lawn and street complete with fist fighting, dropping the f-bomb every 2 seconds and hooting and hollering, littering the street with bottles and cigarette butts and some aspiring dj who played techno music from his car for the whole neighborhood's listening pleasure

well the party went into the wee hours of the morning and the real fun for us began around 4 am when some inebriated and stupid fellow decided to run up to our house and throw a big chunk of pumpkin at our bedroom window. it nearly gave j and n a heart attack. and to top off all the festivities they awoke in the morning to find this on their murano that was parked in the street ...

all n wants to know is why? why are people so rude and disrespectful especially to stuff that isn't even theirs?

p.s. yes the ugly house in the background belongs to us and the big chunk of black is where the old door use to be and we still have got a ton of work to do on the exterior but we're trying to finish the inside first

cheers ~ from a not so cheerful n

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE ... TAKE #1

n loves the fall because the leaves change color, pumpkin spice lattes are being made, the air gets crisper and that means layering clothes and wearing jackets (anyone who knows me knows that i love jackets). fall is also n's birthday and in both j and n's opinion it is the best time for a birthday

well n turned 29 this september and she wasn't sure what j's surprise was this year for her birthday even though for the whole year he'd been saying that he'd been waiting a whole year to give n her present. apparently j had this idea the day after n's birthday last year

well n was surprised with a hot air balloon ride over the city and she had to wait a month for the flight. so exciting and definitely one of the things on her life's list of things to do or accomplish

how sweet and thoughtful and so perfectly wonderful :)

so this morning we got the phone call at 6:40 am that we would be taking off from the ground for a bit at 8 am. we got ready and hurried ourselves to the meeting spot, were given our instructions and watched as they inflated the balloon in the field.

while they were inflating the balloon a few other couples were talking and asked us "so how many times have you tried to take your flight?" puzzled we replied "oh this is our first time" and much to our surprise they proceeded to tell us that for 4 of them this was their 8th attempt in 2 years and another couple this was their 15th attempt in 3 years! we looked at each other and both whispered to each other "i never really thought we wouldn't go today"

so not even 30 seconds after this conversation the guy in charge states "i regret to inform you that air traffic control just phoned and a low cloud cover is rolling in and planes flying in the area won't be able to see us so the flight is cancelled

well here is proof of our first attempt at a hot air balloon ride, we at least got to see it being inflated and then deflated and then we got to help put the balloon back and pack up the trailer

n hopes there aren't too many more times like this although it was super cool to see the balloon getting ready and j and n got a bottle of champagne ... so happy birthday and we can't wait to try again someday

so without further adieu some pics of our almost flight:

and so it began, i guess barely started and then went right back to packing up

so close

cheers ~n

IT'S ALL IN THE INCHES

argh!!!! ... some days having an old house to renovate can be awesome because you get to do these amazing things to make it totally you and other days it is such a frustrating process much like today. lately it feels like j and n are having more of the later days and we are questioning why we even bought this house in the first place ... oh right back to the dream of the totally personal finished house ... i don't even think that the towering trees on the street will help n feel better today.

how did all this frustration start? it's saturday and it is finally sunny out and the temperature is absolutely perfect - it should be an awesome day ... it started off with n being able to sleep in (one of my last saturdays before i have to go back to work with the kidlets) and then n being woken up by puppy zoe with kisses (my fav) and then n joining j on the new deck and having tea (for n) and coffee (for j) and pastries for breakfast ... a discussion of riding our bikes to the nearby farmer's market to get some delicious veggies so we can make delicious meals this week and then a quick mention of measuring in the dungeon (aka the basement) to get ready for the new laundry room and bathroom that the plumber will be roughing in this week before we go to the market - who knew such an innocent comment would lead to such frustration

and now n sits at the computer 3 hours later veggie-less because there was no bike ride to the market ... instead time was spent measuring and remeasuring this tiny space to try and fit a shower, toilet, sink, washer, dryer and optimistically a freezer into the world's smallest space made even smaller by water lines and hvac pipes and wires and oh an electrical panel!

j and n have finally come up with a solution that we think will work but not after every possible scenario. we think we will separate the laundry room from the bathroom but to get to the laundry room you will go through a passage way under the stairs (don't forget your fee to pay the troll on the way by), the freezer will be stuffed under the stairs and somehow we will also fit some shelves for storage cuz goodness knows we are sorely lacking in that department.

the bathroom will have an angled shower and the toilet and sink will be on the opposite wall which is actually better because we will now be able to get a bigger sink and that is a good thing because the old way of having everything in a line would allow us to get a sink which is 14 inches and we are trying to do this bathroom on a budget and ikea simply doesn't make sinks that small

so now that n's head is spinning she is going to try and salvage the rest of her day and try to get to the market but the day is looking up because we have family dinner tonight and n heard the menu has steak, potatoes and corn and the evening will be filled with laughter and fun with the family so that is good news :)

cheers ~n