Archive for Home
December 6, 2007 at 10:26 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Home, Montreal
This is going to be a rambling mish-mash kind of post, but it’s my blog and I can do what I want.
After around thirty eight centimetres of snow in three days, Montreal is in recovery mode. The streets are still a mess but the snow clearers are out spending seventeen million dollars on the cleanup operation. The fact that I almost never drive anywhere means I’ve been loving it. Truly a winter wonderland, and even now that the snow has started getting dirty it’s still prettier than bare streets. Even digging the car out twice was enjoyable in a very strenuous way. I must confess that I haven’t been walking to work though, mostly because I’ve had a cold but also because it’s very difficult to walk on uncleared sidewalks. Maybe I should get snowshoes…
For my wife, the snow came at a bad time, she had to take Aidan to two doctors’ appointments yesterday. I knew after driving in that mess she would be completely frazzled when she got home so I tidied the place up a bit, got the teacups ready and prepared Aidan a snacky supper. I also built a fire.
I love living in a place with a fireplace, and having a father-in-law who generously provides us with wood is an added bonus. The only problem is that unless we have the windows open, the smoke from the fire refuses to go up the chimney. This means we have a nice toasty fire going, but the cold air coming in through the windows negates it. We could close the doors on the fireplace but that sort of defeats the purpose. I obviously need to study the physics of chimneys.
So we spent the evening sitting in front of a nice fire, feeling slightly chilly and eating sushi. We should’ve been getting the house ready for Aidan’s birthday party at the weekend, but procrastination won yet again.
July 12, 2007 at 9:00 am · Filed under Conservation, Home
After my bike was stolen at the start of the biking season, I decided the best thing to do would be to buy a cheap and crappy looking bike that nobody would want to steal. It’s sad that I have to choose that option but I didn’t see any other way.
So, while on vacation I walked down to Recycle Bicycle and asked them to sell me a cheap bike. I came out with a Raleigh “Tarantula” which, although boasting a very cool name, looks like crap. Perfect. The brakes needed a little adjusting (the back one is still almost useless without some help from the front) and the seat was loose but other than that the ride is good.
I started riding to work again last week, and I’m loving it. I get to work faster than if I take public transport and the ride to work is about 80% downhill. Of course that means the ride home is mostly uphill which kills me but at least I can collapse in a sweaty heap on the sofa when I get home.
There are things I had forgotten about cycling though:
- Having long laces on your shoes is a bad thing.
- Having flappy trouser legs is too.
- Bike seats are never comfortable.
- Taxi drivers will do all they can to knock you off the road.
- I still don’t understand bike gears.
- Stopping at red lights is always optional (yes, I’m an evil lawbreaker and I just don’t care.)
- Did I mention it’s faster (and cheaper) than public transport?
July 9, 2007 at 10:30 am · Filed under Home
While I was on vacation we went shopping for a dining room table, as our dining room has been empty since we moved in four months ago. We came back with two display cabinets and a buffet, but no table.
This weekend we drove out to Cornwall to visit an antiques place, determined to find ourselves a table. I wasn’t too optimistic as our requirements are very specific but as it turned out they had almost exactly what we’ve been looking for. The tabletops were not as thick as I like but the finish was perfect. I decided on my favourite almost immediately but Jen spent a lot longer choosing between three possibilities before finally picking the one I picked (although she’s still not 100% certain).
So we finally have a dining room table. It’s a rustic harvest table made from reclaimed wood with shaker style legs and extensions which allow it to seat up to 14 people (although 14 would be squished).
Now all we need are some chairs…
May 31, 2007 at 9:34 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Home
On Friday night we snuck over to P and J’s while P took J out to “get a movie” so that we could give J a surprise birthday party. As she was coming up the stairs she said something like “sometimes when I come up these stairs it sounds like there are voices coming from our apartment”. Well this time there were. We spent the evening eating, drinking and watching Aidan show off for his audience.
On Sunday we invited P and J over for “tea” with J and K. They were ushered into an empty living room with six tea cups waiting on the coffee table. What they didn’t know was that 20+ of their friends and family were waiting in the parking lot to surprise them with a baby shower. I went off to “make the tea” and came back with the crowd. We spent the afternoon eating, drinking, and watching P and J open a mountain of baby gifts.
On Sunday night we heard a rhythmic “plink plink” on the baby monitor and went to investigate. We discovered water dripping from Aidan’s ceiling about two feet from his crib. That wasn’t such a nice surprise.
May 22, 2007 at 2:18 pm · Filed under Home
Despite the lovely weather, we spent most of the long weekend indoors. The reason? Ikea. Last week Jen went out and purchased four bookcases and a kitchen island to add to the shelves and medicine cabinet we already had at home awaiting installation. Over the past three days I’ve been assembling the furniture, re-arranging rooms so that the furniture can be installed, drilling holes in walls for shelves and medicine cabinets and generally being IkeaMan.
On the plus side, we did get to go out for breakfast on Sunday morning, I do have a lovely shiny new kitchen island, and we did watch a very cool movie last night.
March 26, 2007 at 11:58 am · Filed under Home
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I dread trips to Ikea. Trips to Ikea mean much work for me. Being the man of the house means my wife cooks and cleans and takes care of the boy while I put together flatpack furniture.
But there are more things to dread before the actual assembly of said furniture. I’ll use this weekend as an example. We purchased three whimisical and eclectic bookcases for our office/playroom/junkroom/library/spareroom. These came flatpacked in boxes about the size of a door and weighing 75 pounds each.
My first job was to struggle with them up two flights of stairs. I made it up the first flight ok, but had to make Jen pause in her cooking and cleaning and looking after the boy to help me with them up the final flight.
Step two involves completely reorganizing the destination room to make space for the new furniture. Bear in mind that this is the room we’ve been putting stuff in that we didn’t have a place for, which is about 80% of everything we own. I emptied the room and reloaded it before I had a wall clear to put the new bookcases against.
Now it was time for the assembly. I unpacked the first box and carefully read the instructions. I inserted dowels in the right places. I tightened screws in the right spots. I installed funky widgets as instructed. For once (and I’ve done this many many many times) it all came together almost perfectly. I even managed to nail the backboard in place without exposing any nails on the other side. The second case went together equally well, and the third was going just fine until I couldn’t get the pretty bit at the top to go on right. I huffed and I puffed and I struggled and I hammered but no joy, the third case will never look as good as the other two. Sorry Jen.
But the ordeal wasn’t over yet. Oh no. Now we had three empty bookcases sitting in our spare room just begging to be filled. The rest of the afternoon was spent emptying boxes and installing their contents on our shiny new shelves. The shelves are now full, but not as full as they could be because Jen insists on having the junk interspersed with little decorative vignettes. I blame Changing Rooms.
March 1, 2007 at 12:26 pm · Filed under Home
On Thursday we were still casually packing stuff in a fairly calm and organised manner. On Friday we realised that moving day was fast approaching and things got a little more panicky. On Saturday we were running around throwing stuff in boxes and making a couple of trips to the new place to free up space (and reclaim some boxes for repacking). By Sunday we were packing like maniacs, throwing anything into whatever box we could find with no more thought to organisation or labelling.
On Monday the movers arrived. We were still packing. We made some piles of stuff “we would take care of” and told them to take the rest. They were loaded up in 3 hours and unloaded at the other end just as quickly. We went back to the house to finish packing. Another trip with three cars and we still didn’t have everything out.
Tuesday, Jen went and cleaned and picked up more stuff. Richard filled his truck once more. There were still the plants left.
Wednesday, Jen got the plants, the house was finally empty. Not as clean as we would’ve liked but at least it was empty.
Now we have an apartment full of boxes, filled with stuff that we have no idea what we’re going to do with. Half the boxes are either unlabelled or labelled wrongly. I think we’ll be unpacking for a while…
But we have a useable living room and kitchen and a place to sleep, so life is good. Walking to work is a joy (walking home again, not so much) and being able to walk to the supermarket is equally joyous.
We’re never moving again (just like we said three years ago).
February 23, 2007 at 8:50 am · Filed under Home
This morning I took my last train ride to work. This evening I will take my last train ride home from work.
On Monday we quit being suburbanites and return to being city dwellers. We are moving to the NDG/Westmount area where I will get more exercise (if I stick to my pledge to walk to and from work every day whatever the weather), I will get more sleep (Aidan permitting), we will have more money (if we don’t spend it all on gadgetry and home decor) and we will have more of a life (once again, Aidan permitting).
I will miss doing the crosswords on the train every day (and throwing away the NYT crossword in disgust on Thursdays and Fridays). I will miss the overheard conversations of spotty teenagers. I will miss our back garden (yard if you insist). I will miss my workshop basement. I will miss Homestyle Bakery.
I will not miss tax bills, heating bills, home maintenance or getting up at 6am every morning.
February 5, 2007 at 9:51 am · Filed under Home
We completed the sale on our house on Friday; we are no longer homeowners. Some people were dismayed by our decision to return to renting, but I think it’s the right thing to do, providing we invest wisely and don’t spend all our released equity on new TVs and ipods. Hmm…
We are now busy packing up all the stuff we want to take, selling the stuff we don’t and throwing out all the stuff that nobody will want. We collected an impressive amount of clutter considering we only had the house for three years.
October 18, 2006 at 9:02 am · Filed under Home
We sold our house.
I’m still a little freaked out by that, as it happened so fast.
We’ve been talking about selling for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to putting it on the market. Someone we knew knew someone who was on the lookout for a new house, so they came over and had a look. Four days later they made us an offer and we accepted it. No agent means no commission, although we gave the buyers most of that benefit.
So we’re moving. The sale closes on February 1st after which we have 28 days to get out. Anyone have a gorgeous Westmount apartment available for rent on March 1st? It must meet our requirements:
- At least a 6 1/2.
- As spacious as possible.
- Must have a fireplace.
- Must have a dishwasher.
- Must have laundry facilities
- Must have a room appropriate for a big screen TV.
- Must have a good shower.
- A garden would be nice, communal or otherwise
- High ceilings are a bonus
- Less than $1900 per month
That’s not too much to ask, is it??
Now before we move we need to get rid of lots of crap lovely stuff that won’t fit in to our apartment living lifestyle; so we’re having a huge garage sale this Sunday, weather permitting. We will have furniture, books, bags, kitchen stuff, cards and stationery and who knows what else. We will also have “loot bags” and special prizes. Fun for all the family! Email me if you want more details.
September 18, 2006 at 8:19 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Home
Saturday was some kind of international recycling day, so our neighbourhood had a “community treasure hunt” which involved people dumping stuff they don’t want at their kerb and other people coming along and taking it for free. We put out a futon mattress, a couch, a box of cards, some blinds, a broken shutter, an old lamp, some plastic platters and a backpack. Everything got taken except for the backpack. I was expecting everything to be grabbed by greedy dealers, but for the most part they looked like normal folk.
Yesterday we went to a BBQ with friends. It was Aidan’s first real social engagement, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself, as did we. Good food (if you want to make broccoli taste good, just add bacon), too much beer, and I even managed to get a game of Magic in. I got thoroughly beaten, but it was still fun.
The trouble with doing stuff at the weekend is that the weekend flies by so much faster. I can’t believe it’s Monday morning already.
September 14, 2006 at 7:37 am · Filed under Home
When I heard the description of yesterday’s gunman, I knew the guy was a walking cliche. I knew he would classify himself as goth (even though CBC insisted on calling him punk); I knew he would listen to Marilyn Manson, watch Quentin Tarantino and play Postal. I guessed the media would find his blog on MySpace or VampireFreaks. I guessed he was 18 or 19.
He turned out to be 25, acting like an angst-ridden goth teen. He did indeed have a blog on VampireFreaks, which was still up until about 6:30 this morning. On it he had pictures of himself in his black trench coat, wielding his gun and knife. His last blog post was yesterday at 10:30, when he told us he was drinking whiskey. His blog contained a dozen or more quizzes, polls and surveys all demonstrating how suicidal, depressed and generally fucked up he was. One survey question asked “How do you want to die?”; his answer was “In a hail of gunfire”.
Over the coming days and weeks I expect various factions to focus on gun control, censorship of violent games and movies, and the role of the internet in events like this. I expect VampireFreaks will suffer some serious backlash, with the usual calls to have it shut down. The site has generally stayed under the radar, thanks mostly to the overwhelming popularity of MySpace but now it will be in the spotlight. The goth sub-culture will suffer another blow to its already tarnished reputation.
Throughout all these knee-jerk reactions, soul-searching and public outcry it will be virtually forgotten that this was just one sick individual. Just another Michael Ryan, Thomas Hamilton, Eric Harris, Marc Lepine.
August 10, 2006 at 9:52 am · Filed under Canada, Home
Here are some of Montreal’s best:
- Best Sushi - The Sushi Shop (various locations)
- Best Indian Food - Ganges (NDG)
- Best Carrot Cake and Bread - Homestyle Bakery (Beaurepaire Village)
- Best “Family Dining” Restaurant - Baton Rouge (various locations)
- Best Steakhouse - The Keg (Old Montreal)
- Best Irish Pub - Hurley’s (Crescent) especially when Dusty is on duty, the Best Waitress
- Best Pain Au Chocolat - Veggirama (tunnel from 688 Sherbrooke to McGill Metro)
- Best General Tao Chicken - Hot and Spicy (the Faubourg)
- Best Breakfast - Eggspectation (various locations)
- Best Fine Dining - Le Trois Soeurs (Beaurepaire Village)
- Best Smoothies - Jus Booster (Sherbrooke and McGill)
November 22, 2005 at 10:44 am · Filed under Home
The Xmas lights started going up around town the day after Halloween. McGill College is now decked out in all it’s Xmas finery and the campus is looking just as pretty.
Sadly my camera doesn’t do a good job in twilight conditions, but it still looks quite festive.
I tried to put our outdoor Xmas lights up last week, but sadly every single string of lights has stopped working. How does this happen? They were working fine when I took them off the trees last year and carefully stored them away. A few months later I get them out again and plug them in. Nothing. Not even a glimmer. After spending an hour or more wiggling and testing bulbs I threw in the towel. We may not have festive Xmas lights this year, unless we go out and buy more.
August 15, 2005 at 7:56 am · Filed under Food, Games, Home, Movies + TV
Days off: 3.
Cleaned: Bathroom, Bedroom, Guest room, Landing, Hall, Living room.
Harvested: Many tomatoes, some basil and a few chiles.
Watched: Stepford Wives; one very funny moment and a whole bunch of mediocre ones. Wilby Wonderful; a cute but slightly slow Canadian movie with Paul Gross and Ellen Page. A whole bunch of old Dr Whos.
Read: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Cooked: My first made-from-scratch pizza: tomato sauce, cheese, sausage, bacon, onion and chiles, inspired by the pizza-meister Blork even though I didn’t have the quarry tiles. And a joint of pork slow-cooked on the BBQ.
Won: 2 games of euchre and 1 round of Magic.
Lost: 1 game of euchre and 2 rounds of Magic.
Ate: A delicious garlic risotto made by Cara.
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