Visit from my parents

My parents came down for a visit as they tend to do when they are fed up with the snow up North.  Generally when they come, they plant the seed of ‘Hey, we should help renovate something in your house when we are there.”  I have to say I appreciate this because a) I appreciate their help b) it kicks me in the ass to actually get something done with the house c) it’s a little bit harder to get things done with a baby around the house!  I have these grand plans to get the rest of the renovations done before Sierra is fully mobile.  However, maybe that’s a little too ambitious!  There goes my plans for a new ceiling in the rec room again.  SPEAKING of the rec room ceiling, I thought that was the project of 2017 until my parents and Vero conspired against me and decided that the downstairs bathroom needed to be updated.  Let’s be honest here, the only thing really wrong with the bathroom downstairs was that the shower faucet sucked and that the hot and cold were reverse.  So guests were not feeling welcome.  Perhaps that was the point all along?  Mwahaha.  So the bathroom was the first renovation project of 2017.

I had ripped out the old shower to make way for a new one.  Unfortunately for us, the shower base was warped so we had to exchange it.  Kind of a pain, but at least we didn’t have to return the entire shower.  I had to borrow Rob’s truck to get that item (thanks Rob!)

The foreman inspecting our work.

Note the standard 5 ounces of wine that Dad was drinking.  We were having a good laugh at how my Fitbit app says a standard glass of wine was five ounces and we probably tripled that.

Dad teaching Sierra how to play cards.  I will finally have someone in the house that likes to play cards with me!

Intense game of cribbage.

This was not our best work.  We were putting the wainscotting up and realized around this point that there was a certain way you had to insert the groove into the other plank of wood.  So basically, we had to tear our work down and start again.  THEN we were half way done the wall again when I realized Dad wasn’t paying attention and had put the wainscotting up wrong AGAIN!  So basically we worked on this wall triple the amount of time that we should.  Clearly we are new to the job.

Pass me another piece.

This photo has me smiling in it.  It must have been taken BEFORE my dad had put a board with a nail in it on the floor in which I proceed to step onto!  Ouch!  It actually sounds way worse than it was….I pulled the board out and didn’t even see any blood on my foot.  It must have just grazed the skin.  I didn’t let Dad forget about it though.

This is a very typical photo of the entire week…Dad just overseeing the operation!

I can’t tell if Mom is smiling or not in this photo.  She had a rough morning on one of the days…in the span of 30 minutes she managed to drop a door and make a dent in it, drop her eyeglasses into a gallon of paint and then somehow get a paint roller stuck on her boob!  Dad had to help her take it off! 

Mom testing out the installation.

Mom and Vero went to the Rideau Carleton slot machines for a Saturday evening while Dad and I sat around and chatted.  I was in bed when they arrived home and Vero got me up to hear some news.  Mom showered us with $200 in twenty dollar bills.  Quite the win!

But then the real news came in the form of a cheque that she passed to Dad.  “Five thousand dollars!” we heard Dad proclaim!  What a great jackpot!  Mom and Vero said that the machine just kept ringing for 15 minutes and people all around were coming to congratulate Mom.  My favourite part about this story is when they asked if she wanted it in cash.  Thinking she would get mugged on the way out, Mom wisely asked for a cheque!

 

It’s always great seeing my parents come down for a visit and I’m glad we got to spend some time with them.  Until the next visit!