It has been hot here, but this last week has cooled down considerably – I’m back to sleeping under the covers without the fan blowing directly at me. It is a nice change.
I’ve been dealing with getting the household under control without mom around. And have the occasional breakdown, particularly when people bring up mom without warning in conversation.
I’m starting a new day job on Monday which I am really looking forward to! I needed a change of everything to get my mind occupied learning new things and changing routines.
I am thinking about renting out my house so decided to get some cracks in the foundation checked again (I had them looked at a few years ago). So I booked a company to come and check for me – I decided to move the shelves in the basement bedroom against the wall that had cracks showing. The shelves had mould on them against the wall – the question of whether the cracks were leaking was answered even before they were professionally checked.
Long story short – massive amount of cracks in the west wall of the foundation, only a couple along the south. Repairs now done. But they will have to come back to possibly do more once I get the utility room clear as I had to store most of my stuff in there while they did the work. But luckily no mould problem in the walls, thank god.
I had no idea how much staff/crap I have. When I started having to empty shelves so they could be moved I filled up about 9 paper boxes with books, 20 large plastic bins with photo albums and ornaments, small bins with make-up supplies, etc. etc. I am planning a garage sale, maybe two, in August to get rid of so much stuff – appliances (a dryer and a dishwasher), small appliances (blenders, deep fryer, panini press, electric frying pan, etc.), kitchen stuff (dishes, pans, baking pans, cutlery), ornaments and decorative things like cookie jars and glass canisters, framed things, craft and art supplies, some furniture… there is so much of it. And the thing is, it wasn’t cluttered or piled up. I have 18 bookcases in this house… and they all were full.
Just so you know, this is what the repaired foundation looks like before the wall is rebuilt – cracks filled with epoxy and Kevlar strapping attached to hold it all together.
Now I am awaiting the quote from a contractor to rebuild my walls, gut and rebuild the basement bathroom (it is very wet and needs ripping out and fixing of the problem which we think is the shower drain), replace all the flooring (the carpet has to go as it has been wet and there is some mould), paint, trim, etc.
I am going to be counting every penny in order to pay for the repairs, but they have to be done to ensure the house is sound. Once this is finished we will have completely replaced everything – I am pretty sure we spent more fixing and replacing things than we paid for it 10 years ago. Last fall the roof was replaced. The main floor was completely redone 2010-11. First month we were in the house the sewer line had to be replaced, then all the windows, every appliance, hot water tank… well, you get the idea.
Canada Day was busy and hot as always! My crew of ten (eight painters and two cleaning crew) worked steady at the big event at Muskoseepi Park. As always we limited the choices and colours were red, white, and black. And rainbow.
I did a My Little Pony themed birthday party – my first one – last month. After some research (and sharing by fellow painters) came up with these two designs:
Only two ponies got painted – both were Rainbow Dash. There are sure a lot of them to choose from.
On June 20th I taught a workshop in Tumbler Ridge, and will be back there on the long weekend for Grizfest. And I will be at the Debolt Fair on August 15 and the Hythe Fair on August 16 too. Along with other events and birthday parties to keep me busy and earning money to pay for my basement repairs!
Shannon Fennell's Blog 
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