THE THINGS WE DO BEFORE MOVING…

The first thing we do is go to a par-tay! The party for Grandma H was fantastic and went off without a hitch. It was a great opportunity for story telling and, with about 120 people in attendance at the birthday reception on Saturday, March 31, we certainly heard a few stories. Grandma was a great sport and offered comment throughout the speeches. Congratulatory letters were read from the Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Premier, the local MLA and, the best one of all, was read from Creston’s Mayor. It was very touching and included a heartfelt thank you to a woman who helped deliver most of the current residents of the Creston valley! Even the ‘youngsters’ who used to live around Grandma’s family growing up, not only showed up for the big event but also got up to talk about all the trouble they used to get into and how Grandma H was there to help out in her capacity as a nurse! It turns out you have to turn 90 for some of these confessions to come out! DH’s mother and aunt put a lot of time and effort into each of the events and it really showed.

We had a great visit with as many of DH’s relatives on his mother’s side as we could. The weekend was something similar to a wedding in that you get to see everyone but hardly have the chance for a real heart to heart chat. On Sunday morning, the immediate family (about 20) went out for a birthday brunch before some of the travellers had to head back to their homesteads.

DH and I also took the opportunity to visit with some other folks in that mountainous part of Canada during the week: a retired CF couple that we know who have settled into their gorgeous home in Cranbrook; DH’s aunt and uncle on his father’s side in Summerland, BC; both of his cousins and their families as well as other friends in Calgary. Altogether, it was a great trip. My ankles swelled moderately but I was still able to get my ‘fancies’ on for the birthday event so the feet weren’t too bad.

And, since we’ve been home, the second thing we do before moving is put in new flooring. Here is our house's original carpet (the house is 23 years old) in the living room:

You’d think that when you hire people to come in and replace your flooring that they come in, do it, and leave. However, DH and I are cheap. This means some ‘sweat equity’ had to be put into the whole experience (saving us $ by doing some things ourselves). Therefore, DH moved all of the furniture out of the living room, (I pushed and advised) including a piano! Here is all of that furniture stuffed into the dining room (which has become a new cat playground...):

He also pulled up all the old carpet, screwed down the original sub-floor to get rid of the squeaks, and put down new sub-floor in the living room.

The same, less a new sub-floor, had to be done with the main to second floor stair case.

The basement staircase had a vinyl covering so he only had to remove the toe pieces and the carpet could be laid over the vinyl.

And here is the finished, carpet project.

Nope, I'm not showing you the finished stairs. See that vacuum? It's on it's last legs and I think the living room killed it before I could attack the stairs...

Next, we move all of our living room furniture back into the living room – and fill up the living room with the rest of the stuff from the main floor before the new vinyl flooring people get here on Monday!

More on other renovations, a new bump picture and knitting content to follow later this week. Whew! Blogging dedication takes effort!