Early August - Basement Almost Done!

We’ve had a nice mix of work and play these last few months.  The basement is nearly finished.  Stephen finished the framing, electrical was run, Roger & Randy the drywallers came out while I was on holidays, and the painters have already come for both priming and finish coat.  Kitchenette was finalized, been delivered and is set to be installed next Tuesday. 

 

The usual hiccups that by now I take in stride, the biggest being a back-ordered sub-floor that I had to drive 45 minutes away to get more.  We are using a unique basement sub-floor “Tyroc” that is made of a layer of magnesium oxide on the surface and recycled tires on the bottom.  The “tread” lets any condensation or water drain away – or at least that’s the theory!  But key for us is that this solution has a lower profile.  The other alternatives were higher, and we would not have been able to open our garden doors in the walkout basement!

 

We also found a nice laminate floor at Costco of all places.  Extra thick and extra wide planks, and the only laminate floor I’ve seen that has handscraping & distressing.  The guys are finishing laying the floors as I type.  We anticipate the walkout basement will get a lot of use, so didn’t want anything too pristine looking.  16 boxes of flooring in each of both mine and Ibby’s cars and we made it home!  I spent my birthday making 2 trips back & forth bringing up baseboards and interior doors – 4 hours in the car on a hot day with stuff hanging out the windows.  Just a lot of chasing it seems like.  Our cars both deserve a day at the spa when this is done!

The "Captain Morgan" pose!

 

Late June I took a week off and drove down to Wisconsin.  Was able to catch up with some family for a few days, including a great visit with cousin Judie and her horse Reuben.  Then Ibby flew in on Friday and joined me at my cousin’s wedding in Chicago.  Congratulations to Mark & Monica!  So great to also see the rest of the family, including Banners all the way up from Kansas.  And Henry the most adorable ring bearer in the world - his Daddy Matt was the ring bearer in our wedding! 

 

Matt, Becky & Henry, Mark & Monica, Aunt Linda & Uncle Peter

 

It was the long Canada Day weekend, so we took an extra day there.  Ibby & I spent Sunday at Navy Pier in Chicago.  We took an architectural boat tour and had a nice dinner at Bubba Gump’s to celebrate our 30^th anniversary that was earlier in the week.  Maybe that’s why we’ve managed to stay married so long – we were in 2 different countries on our actual anniversary!

July saw us helping Maritza move into her first little apartment at Yonge & Eglinton.  Everybody should do the downtown thing when they are young!  She starts a 1-year post-grad program in September in Children’s Media.  And Jaime participated in an adorable end-of-school-year program in which he sang karaoke to Winnie the Pooh. 

 

      

 

And we’ve also taken some time to just sit a bit and drink a beer or sangria!  Or two!  I brought back some Mike’s Hard Lemonade from the States, only to find out it’s a frickin’ MALT BEVERAGE.  Where is my vodka???  In Canada, all cooler beverages are made with vodka.  I swear it’s a Monsanto plot to now DRINK their GMO products!  Americans beware!!!

 

Enjoy the summer everyone!