ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END

Well, it's less than a week until school starts again. What that really means is that we have been on holidays for 11 weeks and the last week is now upon us. I always start to feel some mixed emotions at this time of year. Part of me wants to get back to the routine and begin another year. A very large part of me is ready for the paychecks to start again. But I could seriously handle a lifestyle consisting mainly of holidays. I guess when it comes down to it I'm not too far off the holiday lifestyle. We only work from September to June and during that time we get every weekend off and two weeks at Christmas and spring break. We really couldn't ask for better jobs.

Today we are taking a day off from working on the house. Yesterday was a very hard day. As you know we are waiting for the septic tank to be installed. A few weeks ago we talked to Clifford and he said he was just waiting for the permit. He said the guy in Whitehorse was having some problem with the sand they were using and wouldn't just give them the permit. So yesterday we phoned the permit people in Whitehorse and found out that Clifford has not even put in the application yet and all he wanted with the sand was a percolation test. So, he was going to phone Clifford and try to get things moving for us. Meanwhile, Clifford phoned us and is now mad at us because we questioned him about when this septic will get put in. Brian tried telling him that we were happy with the work he has done so far and that we weren't complaining. But I don't think he believed Brian. Let's just say I was ready to give up on the whole thing yesterday. I hate it when people are petty. Anyways, that's my rant for today. As I said, we are taking a much needed day off of working on the house. Instead we are going to the school to get some things prepared for the start of the year.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

"You can't always get what you want...", however sometimes you get more than you imagined.

I just finished laying the floor in our house. It was so easy - it just clicked together. Then we had some cheap flooring that we were using for the back porch. This was also supposed to just click together. However the clicking action obviously wasn't nearly as good. Let's just say that after one plank went flying out the door (not of its own volition), and much yelling and hammering, it doesn't look very professional (nothing a rug by the door can't hide). You really do get what you pay for. So, if you are ever planning to do laminate flooring, go for the good stuff, it's definitely worth the extra cost.

Here is another example of getting what you pay for. Brian and I planned to take the kids to Whitehorse this weekend. We had tons of shopping to do for the house and we had to get school supplies. However on Friday all the kids informed us that they didn't want to go. O.K. that works for us. Brian looked at me and said "jacuzzi room???" Of course I didn't wait even a fraction of a second before picking up the phone to change our hotel reservations. We were no longer in need of a room for 5 people and a dog. I was a little skeptical because last time we tried this we ended up with a regular room that boasted only a bath tub with jets. I guess we didn't spend enough $$$. Imagine our pleasant surprise when we entered this room and found a nice large room with a giant 2-person jacuzzi tub. We were exhausted from a long day of driving and shopping so this was more than welcome. And to top it off, and make me feel very luxurious, there were 2 white bathrobes hanging in the closet just waiting for us. I have always wanted to get a room with all these things, it just seemed so classy. It was like a dream come true. I was wishing that I had my camera so I could share it with you. Then I wanted my camera even more to take the obligatory picture of my food - this was one you really had to see to believe. I ordered "planked salmon". I guess I didn't read the menu very well. My food came and I had a baked potato, vegetables and salmon which had been baked on a plank of cedar. It actually came on the cedar plank with a delicious sauce. It was amazing! Too bad I didn't have my camera! Oh well, just another reason to return and repeat the adventure. Now for the rest of the trip... We left here at 6 am, so we were tired already when we reached Whitehorse. But we were very exhausted by 5:00 because just as we pulled in to town our brakes started grinding really bad. We had no warning before hand that this was coming. So we went straight to Canadian Tire and had to leave our truck with them while we walked all over town to shop for furniture. The good news is that they were able to fix our emergency brake on the truck which had been seized up and was on just slightly but wouldn't budge. The other good news is that we found the furniture we wanted (a black leather couch and love seat - pictures in a couple of weeks). We also found the fridge we wanted (all fridge, no freezer section) and a stove that we got a great deal on because it was a discontinued item. So, all in all the trip was a success and we were very glad to arrive home this evening with our truck loaded as usual.

HOLIDAYS???WHAT ARE THEY???

I was just reading other people's blogs and discovered that people are actually out there enjoying their summer while we are busy slaving away on our house. But all is not in vain - today Dad completed all that he has to do here. He installed our wood stove, plumbing and electricity. He was such an incredible help - we couldn't have done all this without him. Mom was also a great help - she was the cooking and cleaning lady. It was like having a servant in the house - I could get used to the idea. Thank you Mom and Dad. We really appreciate all your help.

Now we are just waiting for the septic to be installed and the electrical to be finished. Meanwhile we are heading to Whitehorse on Saturday to shop for back to school and for the house. If we are really lucky we will find some furniture that we like. We just have to finish the trim and build the porches then we are on to the fun stuff - decorating! Brian is turning out to be a great interior decorator. He comes up with some really good ideas. My ideas are too haphazard for nice decorating. Oh well, at least one of us has some decorating talents.

MORE WORK BEING DONE

Just when you thought we should be coming to an end of the work, there's more! Brian has spent the last few days working on the skirting for the house. This is very hard physical work, so he is getting pretty tired. The pieces are long and heavy to move around into place. I help when I can, but it is pretty hard on the back so I am only useful for a day here and there.

I have been working hard on installing the flooring. It is extremely easy to install, but it does take some time. No glueing though, just click them together. It is a little difficult to see it here, but it is a grey slate laminate. It was definitely the right flooring choice. I am sitting on the pad for our wood stove.

Things are definitely coming together. It's really starting to look good.

WHAT'S UP????

What could it be up there?

Aha! Dad is hard at work.

We have been so busy at the house, working on the addition. The water tank came and I was very relieved to see that it fit into the room. It won't hold much other than the water tank and the pump, but that's what it was built for. For those of you that may not know - we have our water trucked in. They come and fill our tank 3 times a week. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's not bad.

Here is what I did today. I put on the insulation on both walls of the addition. (This shows it half done.) All the kids helped some and then Mom was a great help with putting on the 1X4's on top. Needless to say, after a 13 hour day we are all exhausted. Tomorrow is more of the same.

Dad's been hard at work on the electricity. I think he is planning to start the plumbing very soon. We had a visit from our building inspector today. That's always fun. LOL! He came at about 11:15, when he was done we went for lunch. Then it was back to correct the things he came up with for us. All in all it was relatively painless.