As the title says, site got hacked! I was pissed. Happened back in November. I has simply been too busy with house stuff and work to sit down and fix the issues. Finally did that – stupid 5 minute fix and I was up and going! I then did a full system update, secured it best I could and did a full backup. Happy with myself I typed up a long over due update that many of you may have seen. Then the stupid site went down again! This time someone cracked the SQL database. My guess is residual from first issue. I decided enough is enough and finally moved bugs78.ca to a cloud hosted server. No more home serving for me! I was fortunate that the back up I did a few weeks ago made for a real quick and easy migration. Down side is that it was done prior to my last post, so it’s gone so this is my piss poor attempt to recreate the post. I’m sure I’m missing stuff, but here will be the quick version:
Christmas has come and went! As always it was a whirlwind of family craziness. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The typical marathon of dinners and parties was such a welcome change from working what feels like non-stop getting our new house the way we want it. Thank you so much to everyone for making the holidays as amazing always!
As for the house — wow — we’ve been busy. I’ll attempt to break it down room by room.
- Kids rooms – Painted and nearly complete. Abby needs a desk, Joes bed needs painting
- Master bedroom – Nothing to report. Likely last room to get touched
- Upper bathroom – Washer/dryer/shower removed. New closet built and deep tub installed. Fresh coat of the original paint to freshen it up. Will be redone eventually
- Kitchen – border is nearly removed. Once finished, fresh paint and that’s it for now
- Dining/sitting room – Fresh paint everywhere, including the hallways and upstairs hall
- Lower bathroom – Nothing done at all. Eventual painting likely
- Family room – Complete rebuild. New ceilings, wallpaper removed, AV boxes cut into the wall and mounted flush with drywall. Wood installed behind drywall to securely mount tv. Surround sound roughed in. New carpet. Basically complete, just need curtains and some small receptacle covers. Love how its turning out.
- Laundry/Office – Wallpaper removed, fresh paint throughout. Bulkheads trimmed in pine as well as a box built behind the AV from the adjoining room to make them “disappear”. Wall trimmed back to allow washer/dryer install in former walk-in closet. Wiring ran for washer/dryer. Desk installed. Very happy with the pine trimming so far. Just need to build a bulkhead and barn door to allow the washer area to be covered when we want it more finished looking.
- Kids room – Far more work then expected. For a room that simply needed paint we’ve had a lot to do. Faucet in kitchen above leaked – alot and ruined pretty much entire east wall. Thankfully that was the cause. Removed all ruined drywall and refinished the wall. While I was at it I framed in to new closest on the north end to mirror the ones at the south side. The closets “frame” the tv area. TV mounted in between them and currently I’m re-building old drawers into a bench to house the AV and Gamer consoles. This is gonna be great when it’s finished!
- Utility area – Currently a dumping ground for everything we haven’t found homes for yet. Oh, and we replaced the 35 year old electric furnace and central air unit. They were still working fine, but certainly not cheap to run. Not to mention they are 35 years old. Decided to replace them before the crapped the bed in middle of a polar vortex.
Finally some great news and some terrible news. With Chewies passing a little over a year ago the house has felt quiet with just our little Bekka. Shannon and the kids have been not so subtley letting me know they wanted another dog. I did too if I’m honest, but I was the hold out. I didn’t want to do it until the spring when the snow is gone and the weather is nice and the construction is complete. Well, as I always hunt for stuff on Kijiji, I stumbled across a breeder who had English/French Bulldog mixed pups available. I found an excuse to be away for the day. and surprised the family with our newest addition – Jabba the Mutt. She is beyond adorable and has really changed the house for the better (most days). Other days shes a little bugger and I wonder WTF did I do, but we love her dearly and shes here to stay. Bekka wasn’t too sure what to make of this much larger puppy coming into her house, but never so much as growled at her. Jabba was fairly gentle with her as well. It’s like she knew how frail she was. We have some great photos of our girls together. I’m so happy they were able to spend some time together and Jabba was able to meet her.
Not long after Jabba moved in Bekka was having some issues. We had made her an appointment to be checked out by the vet after work. Shannon thought she needed cuddles while she was getting ready for work. Since I get up after her, and was still warm in bed, she put her in bed with me. She went under the blankets and cuddled up to my hip like she always does. 20 minutes later when Shannon came to say goodbye and tell me it’s my turn to get in the shower we realized the our poor girl had passed away while snuggling me in the bed. We were heart broken. This old girl had been with us for nearly 17 years. She and Chewie had been with us when we got engaged, married, moved to our first house, brought home the kids, and every other life event since. She had been there for the good, the bad and everything in between. They were our constants in this otherwise crazy life and just like that – she was gone. I so happy to have had her in our lives. She came to us with one ear up, and the other down. Months of nibbling by Chewie and she had two floppy ears. Only a few months old we realized she had two sets of teeth and looked like a 3 pound furry piranha. Stark contrast to her senior years when she had no teeth and her tongue always hanging out the side of her little face. My dearest Bekka Boo, you will always been in our hearts and thoughts. We love you so much and hope you can finally rest in peace. Say hi to Chewie for us.