Repurposed

This posting is about retirement. Two different types of retirement actually. The first is for a colleague at work who is retiring tomorrow after 34 years of service. Al started at BC Hydro in 1977 which was the same year I was born. I'd like to wish him well in his next career which for BC Hydro personnel often involves working for BC Hydro in some fashion. I've learned that for most people retiring doesn't usually stick the first time and it takes a few tries to get the hang of it. I'm hoping to learn these lessons and apply them in 20 years to ensure I get it right.

The second kind of retirement has to do with the pictures shown here. A few months ago Al gave me an old mahogany bed that had seen better days. Someone in his family had made it for his son Nathan. I was happy to take it as it was 5/4 mahogany and had some very wide boards. After a bit of disassembly I had enough wood for two side tables with plenty to spare. I made the box on the left as a thank-you. The sides were all resurfaced but the top was from the head board and was left original. The bed has been retired but will live on in it's second career.

A Trip to Home Depot

For those of you that have used our guest room recently and noticed an unpleasant odour, my apologies. With four dogs operating as a pack there was only so much that Febreze could handle. But I'll get back to that. This started as a simple trip to Home Depot. I had received a $30.00 gift card for my birthday and I mistakenly took the family with me. The intention was to check out products for some 'potential' home renovations in the future, but $300.00 later I was left with a new project and nothing of my original gift card.

I wasn't interested in drawing this particular project out too long as it required removing all of the furniture so it turned our upstairs into a bit of a disaster zone. We brought home the materials on Sunday and I got to work on Tuesday evening. We took the old carpet out and then let the room air out a bit before getting started on Thursday evening. It's good that the kids are still young as they were quite agreeable to helping. They both helped hammer down the staples for the subfloor and Callie helped move materials. Even though we were just putting in an hour or so each night we had all the floor down and some of the new baseboard in by Friday evening.

Saturday morning was spent finishing off the baseboard and putting on a coat of paint. The walls got a wipe down and the furniture was all back in place by Saturday afternoon. (Much quicker than the 2 years it took to finish off the laundry room.) It's now much cleaner and any little 'accidents' are easily taken care of. I should mention it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds. We did get the carpets cleaned regularly but there was simply a mustiness that we couldn't shake. Hotel Schwab has now completed it's renovations and is open for business again.

Tea Parties, Sugar Cookies and Baseball

I haven't done too many blog entries this year. Out weekends are filled with soccer, dance and recovering from the week. It doesn't mean we aren't busy, we've just been spending most of the time at home with the kids. This sunday started with a trip to Home Depot. Much of the flooring in our 20 year old home is original and we decided the next room to get a make over would be the guest room. When we returned home it was after lunch and rather than something quick, Callie decided a tea party would be a better idea. Crab and peanut butter sandwiches (separately), cookies, strawberries and tea. All on Kerry's grandmother's china.

After lunch it was time for Carter and Mommy to bake sugar cookies for Carter's daycare class. (This is one of  Carter's many 'Picture Smiles'. I'm not really sure why he squints since it wasn't bright in the kitchen.) Callie doesn't get to bake sugar cookies for her class. The Surrey school district has instituted some strict food safe rules so all food has to be store bought. Not all teachers follow it but it appears Callie's class is. I really don't think we lose that many kids each year to food poisoning.

After cookie baking we all headed outside for some baseball in the back yard. I decided I wanted a baseball bat and ball for my birthday. (Kids sized.) Tools are the ultimate gift but it's easier if I buy that for myself. We got a small metal bat and a bright yellow softball. It's still a bit heavy for Carter but it appears perfect for Callie. She's getting pretty good at throwing and she's surprisingly good at hitting. She's not just swinging wildly. She's timing it perfectly. I think I'l try to get a hold of a T for t-ball and spend some time playing ball at the park this summer.

A Trip to Steveston

If you were hanging out in Steveston last week and a wailing child interrupted your afternoon coffee, then my apologies.  I'll get to that a bit later. My birthday ended up on a Thursday this year so we decided to wait until the weekend before going out for dinner. The weather on the Saturday was amazing so we decided we'd head to Steveston for lunch on Sunday. The weather was nice but down by the water was quite a bit cooler then we were expecting. Steveston has quite a bit of history with several buildings being preserved. One of my daydreams involves retiring and taking up boat building. There are a few buildings that would make great shops for working and teaching.

For lunch we ended up at Pajos. It's a great fish and chip place on a barge in the harbour. They've been there for 27 years and they serve everything in cones of newspaper. (Special food safe news paper. I don't see places using real newspaper anymore.) The cones fit in holes in the picnic tables and chairs. We had to eat up top on the dock in the wind because we brought Wilson. "No dogs allowed!" After lunch we stopped off at Starbucks for hot chocolate and were planning on going for a walk on the dike but Carter had other ideas.

Carter's usually pretty good at holding hands when walking across the street but today he decided he had a bit of an independent streak in him. Sometimes I'll let him walk on his own as long as he stays right beside me but this time he wanted to be as far away from me as possible and with a busy intersection it wasn't working out very well. Big Mean Daddy decided he would force Carter to hold hand and get across the street. This didn't work out too well and Carter decided he had to 'redo' the intersection. No matter what we tried he wasn't moving forward until he had a chance to walk across the street without holding hands. Kerry tried to go with him and got across one street but then he tried the running away thing again and it was Big Mean Mommy's turn to force him across the street. We didn't get our walk and ended up having to force him into the car seat. He managed to cry about crossing the street the entire 45 minutes home. It wasn't until I explained to him that I needed his help so that I could be safe that he decided things were okay. Now whenever we cross the street it's so that he can keep me safe.