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Our day in pictures
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What we did today.... |
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OK Universe, I get it.
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The Universe is trying to tell me something, but I'm not entirely sure what yet. In the past two weeks, I've had my motherboard die on the main home computer, got a request for quotation on a sex-industry site, had my development server go belly-up after a routine software update, had the microwave handle break off in my hand, and had our fridge die. On top of that, I had some not great news from my family (nothing too major but nothing I want to talk about at the moment), tripled my workload at work due to a demanding product... |
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You can't handle the cute.
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(click thumbnail for full-size image) We had to get Ruby a new, warmer jacket for the winter this weekend. You can't really see it all that well in the photos, but trust me -- it's nice and warm. Yes, it has a hood, but it makes her look like a bit of a thug, so we flip it back. While we were there, K came across the other jacket, which was on clearance, and couldn't help but buy it since our Ruby is such a lady.... |
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Darren
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It's the time of year in Edmonton when people in Edmonton look to snuggle up in a warm home, away from the ever-increasing cold. It's a time when love grows fonder as the days grow shorter. Unfortunately, this applies to more than Edmonton's human population. This is also the time of year when house mice seek out shelter by entering the home. We knew we had at least one mouse a couple of weeks ago, when we were watching television in our basement. As the show we were watching went into break, we heard the sound of scurrying feet in... |
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New work around the house
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We haven't stopped working on the house, despite the lack of posts about it. This weekend, we replaced the locksets on the front and back doors. Kirsten wanted to get a handleset, and we managed to find one a week ago on sale at Rona (it's similar to this one from Home Depot). Installation was, for the most part, a breeze although there was a problem with the included doorbell. We also put together a gate for the west side of the house. We wanted to close off doggie access to that side of the house since it's more often... |
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Just take a little off the top
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This weekend was pretty nice. As I mentioned previously, I got to spend some one-on-one time with a reali live MacBook. I was a little worried about the screen glare and keyboard on the new Mac, because reports on both have been split. I was really happy with both. Though there was some screen glare, it wasn't any worse than the monitor I'm using right now. Sure you can see some reflection, but you block it out mentally pretty quickly. The keyboard was a non-issue. It was extremely comfortable to type on, and the typos I did make were typos... |
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Garden pictures
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For the three of you who are interested, I've put up some pictures of our garden on my Flickr page. You can see the set here. (I only use the Flickr page for archiving photos of the house and its renovation, etc, so don't get too excited folks).... |
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Holy property-value increase, Batman!
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We got our official property tax statement yesterday. I was shocked to see our house's value (according to the city) spike up almost $20,000 this year ($19,500 to be precise; and since we moved in three years ago it has gone up over $35,000). This is a double-edged sword, really. On the one hand, it's nice to know that we are definitely going to get our investment back on the house when we - God Forbid - have to move. On the other, it means our property taxes went up about $300 this year alone. Such is the joy of... |
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Boarder...
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So we have a boarder at our house for the next month. Kirsten's mom dropped off her little puppy Daisy Mae (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel), who is only six months old. So far she's been both a joy and a terror unleashed upon our household (overall a joy). It makes me very proud of our own dogs that they have accepted her into the house so readily and openly. Apparently back home Daisy's dogmate, Bronte, wants nothing to do with her. So the trip up here has let her learn how to play with other dogs, as well as... |
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Edmonton is waking up
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It's a very exciting time at the Harkness-U. household. The snow and ice have melted, the dogs are happy to be lying on the patio again, and some of our crocuses and irises are breaking through the soil.... |
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new arrival, monster
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Our loverly, wonderful stove came on Saturday and it is glorious! It completes our trifecta of stainless steel appliances and is the last thing we needed to do in the kitchen to make it wunnerful (though there was also a more practical reason, as our old stove was starting to limp). We've done a little cooking on it already, but we still need to get used to cooking with the new stove. Baking in the oven is fantastic with the convection - I cooked a carrot cake that almost doubled in size, and Kirsten made yorkshire puddings that rose up... |
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House porn
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I just got off the phone with Kirsten, who in turn just got off the phone with our favourite manager at Trail Appliances, and we're having our new stove delivered on Saturday! Yay! It's a 30" Kitchenaid convection oven in stainless steel (thus completing our trifecta of stainless steel appliances), with built-in conversion software (which means we don't have to figure out the rocket science of convection cooking right away), a warming drawer, and - and this is the thing that sold me completely - controls on the front of the unit. No reaching over a hot element or a... |
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New floor!
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As you may have seen in the photoblog, we put new flooring in the basement this weekend. About a month and a half ago, Kirsten and I were in Windsor Plywood on the south side. We knew that we were going to be putting a new floor in the basement, so we were just starting to look around and see what was available. We stopped at Windsor, after looking at a few other places, and noticed that they had some really nice laminate flooring. Even better, it was $1.50 per sq. ft., marked down from $3.50 per sq. ft. Kirsten... |
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Domesticated blind
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I'm currently lusting after either this, or this right now, as our oven is close to its last legs... Something about having the cooktop controls on the front is immensely appealing to me. Note: It should be mentioned that we wouldn't be buying either of these ranges at MSRP... we have a contact at a local appliance store that doesn't work on commission, and is looking into 'scratch & dent' models for us.... |
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Tulips!
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Rona had bulbs on sale, so K and I went down to get some.... we came back with lots of crocus, tulips, and daffodils! I can't wait until spring when they start popping out of the ground! (I'm such a geek)... |
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Day of unfortunate excitement
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Sewage backs up into laundry room. Kirsten and Darren crack. |
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Better pictures of Ruby
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Thanks to John lending me the camera, here's a couple new pictures of Ruby... |
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Expensive weekend!
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New roof! Pants that fit! |
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Ruby
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Extremely poor picture of Ruby from the cereal-box camera.... |
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Update on Kennel Training
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Update on the ruby-throated one. |
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Kennel Training: Day 2
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Excitement in the household! |
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Addition to the family
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New dog in the house. |
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Love the garden!
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Happily munching on potato salad made with chives from our garden. Yum!... |
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So. Much. Gardening!
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We've done so much gardening since Monday that we actually all lost a day. We spent all day thinking it was Wednesday, and in fact went out to the Second Cup, because chilled lattes were on sale that day. When we went to order "the special", the girl told us it was, in fact, Thursday. We asked her if she was sure, and she asked one of her coworkers who confirmed that yes, it was, in fact, Thursday.... |
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Green thumb
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Very tired, so short entry. Spent the last two days working in our garden... we have rehabilitated three flower beds, planted herbs, fruit bushes, lilies, irises, begonias, jasmine, wooly thyme, daisies, vinka, grapes, cinnamon basil, lemon balm, cat mint, and much, much more. Some of the irises we planted were eking out an existence in the weed-infested front garden, and we relocated them to happier locations. Much of the plants came from a wicked sale at, of all places, Wal*Mart. All of their perennials were reduced to $1.00 or $3.00, so we stocked up.... |
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The office is together!
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Kirsten and I did a big push last night to get the downstairs office finished. We slapped the last coat of white paint on the old pine wallboard in the living room, and moved everything from my old office (and her new reading room) to my new office, which used to be part of the living room. Kirsten's folks brought up my old desk from BC with them last time they were here, and we combined that with the desk I have been using up to this point to make a weirdish L-shaped desk (weird in that the 'new' desk... |
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You pansy.
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Weekend gardening |
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Spring has sprung
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Is my thumb turning green? |
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We have great friends
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While Kirsten was out... |
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Who da man?
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This weekend, we finally got our new over-the-range microwave. We originally found it at Trail Appliances, in their clearance/floor model section. Essentially, it was a floor model that was missing some parts. Other than that, it was a great deal - $130 off the regular price. As it turns out, Trail is one hell of a good company, and won't actually sell you the product until they order the parts in... so we basically were going to get a brand new microwave, with full warranty and all the benefits of buying it brand new... at a discount. When we went... |
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A room of one's own
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Dad came up this weekend to help us build a new wall downstairs...... |
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The kitchen...
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Here's a picture of the 'new' kitchen. Click on the image to go to flickr, where I've added some notes. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: center; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } kitchennew, originally uploaded by staticred. BTW, note to Pam - you should switch from Fotolog to Flickr - it's a much nicer service.... |
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Remember...
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I want you to remember this photo of the kitchen, because in a few days I'll be posting pictures of the new, improved, snazzy kitchen we now have. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } kitchen1, originally uploaded by staticred. This is the old kitchen (updated this entry to use Flickr, so you can see some notes on the photo).... |
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"Poor people don't get new kitchens"
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We worked on the kitchen this weekend... |
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In other news....
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They actually were crack monkeys. |
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Frustrating Weekend
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One thing after another! |
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And other things done this weekend
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Other things I did this weekend. |
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Tinkering
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Yesterday was the day of things not working. |
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Pictures from the deckathon
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Pictures from the weekend build |
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Since you asked...
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Here's a photo of the ceiling being painted. Note the yellow-hued patina of the old ceiling and the white brilliance of the new. Also, here's a shot of the wainscot in the staircase. Some new photos in photoredux too.... |
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A personal note to those we've ignored...
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Yes, we're ignoring you... but not for the reasons you think. |
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Super bonus extra entry
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cute dog. |
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A diversion
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More stuff done on the house! With pictures! |
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She's growing up!
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Oh my... the "little dog" grew! |
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Now, with pictures!
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Here's some pictures of our weekend activities... |
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Damn the illusion of motion!
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What we did on the weekend... |
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*zzzzzzzzzzz*
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dog with an alarm clock, and other household oddities. |
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Dog training
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Teaching an old dog a new trick... |
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What a busy week!
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Things to do this week. |
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Another addition to the family...
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Or how Cayce ("case") came to be in our family. |
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Edmonton Consumer Alert
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DO NOT USE A-DRAIN AID! |
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The pink and teal are gone!
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The Pink and The Teal are GONE, and the bathroom has the first coat of paint on the walls. Life is good. We've painted the living room in Shortgrass Prairie, and now it looks nothing like this photo (though the color is close): We're going to bring the Shortgrass Prairie colour up onto the ceiling to hide the sin of the teal that was there before, as well as a bit of a warp in the ceiling that the dark colour on the walls will no doubt accentuate. In the bathroom, we painted the wainscoting a mahogany brown color, and... |
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The bathroom
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The bathroom is done. We still have to paint the walls, but the bulk of the bathroom is done. Last night, Kirsten and I recaulked a bad part of the tub surround, installed the last of the wainscoting, and installed the new pedestal sink. There were a couple of plumbing snafus with the sink (new drain was 1 1/4" pipe, where drain going into the wall was 1 1/2" pipe), but overall the entire process was pretty painless. We also installed trim for the window in the shower. There's no way any water's getting in to damage THAT puppy. I'll... |
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What a weekend!
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Oi, what a weekend. We spent all weekend working on the bathroom and STILL haven't finished! On Friday night, I came home and finished putting the backer board around the tub in the main bathroom. The jury was still out on whether to get a tub surround, or to tile. In the meantime, Kirsten had rented a wallpaper steamer, and rid the house of most of the ugly, 1989 wallpaper (we still have to remove it from the kitchen and the stairwell). On Saturday, at the hardware store, we decided to put in a tub surround; Kirsten was a little... |
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The Window install
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OK, so I finally got the pictures off the camera. Here are some photos from the Window install. The old window, in all its non-energy efficient, drafty, water-retaining splendour. Me, halfway through the window installation. Yes, it's snowing. Yes, I'm cold as hell. And the final product - a nice new window!... |
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Ed Siffledeen
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Do not, I repeat, do not use Ed Siffledeen as your realtor if you live in Edmonton and you want to buy or sell a house. I know I've complained about him before, but the events of the last day really were the icing on the cake. When we bought the house, we had negotiated a credit from the seller to be given back to use after closing to help pay for deficiencies in the house (the foundation, etc); the idea was - and it was Ed's suggestion, which he strongly pushed - that we have liquid cash to help... |
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Update on the broken house
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Still no pictures - we're getting a new cable jack installed on Wednesday, and I'll update then... One of our many projects in this house is to refinish the main floor bathroom. Yesterday, we started by ripping out the tub surround, to see how much damage there was from the previous owner (who'd let the thing leak for over 3 months). The damage wasn't near as bad as it could have been: we did have to take off 2' of drywall and plaster to get to the wood underneath (2' is a nice safe height to take off), but the... |
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Ugh.
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Welcome to the "House" category... So, since we talked last, we've done the following to the house:Put in weeping tile and sealed the foundation. No major cracks found (and no structural problems). We'd highly recommend Kuyper's if you need weeping tile in Edmonton. They're great people, FAST and leave the yard looking clean when they're done. They also treat their workers extremely well (paid lunches, coffee breaks, etc). Replaced the furnace. The furnace that was in the house was a 35 year old Flamemaster. We now - thanks to nepotism - have a nice high-efficiency Keep-Right furnace, running at 92%... |