Bugs Palace!

Summer is officially coming to a close this weekend. It’s bitter sweet. With the chaos surrounding COVID and all the fun things we had planned being cancelled, I think most of us are ready to get back into some sense of normalcy. I don’t know how we got to the point where kids being on lock down within there schools, extreme cleaning measures and masks and face shields became “normal” but here we are.

Over the summer we had a couple little hiccups. Our furnace decided to pack it in. It’s a rental so things were taken care of quickly – HA! Truth is it took Reliance 2+ weeks and countless phone calls to get the issue resolved. I love the summer heat. But not in my house. Inside – ice cooler. Hopefully that is the end of our HVAC issues for a long, long time.

The rest of our projects were nearly all completed. Bedroom swaps are basically finished. Just a handful of small tasks to complete and we will be golden. I think my next “big” task is to build a barn door for Joes room to seperate him from the washer/dryer. Other than that, some new curtains and light switch covers and I think we are going to take a break for a bit. I’d love to finish the pool deck, but with funds being tight and lumber being near impossible to get, it’s gonna have to wait.

Back onto the school topic. Abby is going into grade 8, and Joe into 5. Due to some job transfers both of my kids spent the summer not knowing WHO would be teaching them this year. This looks to be finally sorted and I’m quite happy with the end result. Some new faces to the school, but both have some experience under their belts and I am confident they will be good fits for both of our kids education going forward.

Finally I want to wish my Momma a very happy birthday! And while I’m at it, I’d like to wish Shannon a very happy anniversary. Seventeen years. Yikes! Time flies! Love you both very much!

You’d think during lock down I would have had more time to keep this blog updated eh?

The lock downs continue! Though the world is slowly getting back to “normal”. The extreme shutdowns are now relaxed. Stores are opening for the most part – albeit with safety precautions in place. Frankly it sucks. Haven’t been out to eat in a restaurant since early March. This past week is the first we’ve been able to meet up with people outside out family to socialize. Kids, despite handling it amazing for the most part are slowly getting stir crazy. Baseball season was cancelled, gymnastics, parkour, silks all cancelled. Our vacation to California for Joe’s 10th birthday was cancelled. At this point I’m just praying schools go back to normal come September. I can’t imagine doing more homeschooling after all this. Come September the kids will have been out of school for 6 full months. That isn’t good for anyone.

As I mentioned in my last post : the best way to get through this is with distractions. Boy have we had distractions! Despite having to do the deal virtually, I was finally able to pickup a new bike! I decided on a 2020 Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 “48”. Black with the Vance and Hines short shot exhaust. I’ve also picked up some trinkets to make the bike more suited to me. Slowly chipping away at installing them. Shes loud and pretty. Taking some getting used to riding it as I have only really ridden sport bikes to this point. Feet out front / cruiser style is very foreign to me, but I’m getting the hang of it. I was also able to take both kids on a couple short trips around town. They loved it!

In between rides, I have decided to trash our home. Through some conversations and planning we decided on some changes needed to be made around the house. What was the office is now a Kawasaki green bedroom for Joe. The master bedroom that Shannon and I have had since moving in is now Abbys room. Currently – being painted. Which left two empty kids rooms and a husband and wife with no bedroom. So we knocked down the wall between the kids old rooms, sanded down the popcorn ceiling, rewired the lighting to work from one switch, installed a couple new outlets, built a new closet, drywalled over one of the doors, carpeted the floor, and painted the room twice (realized after it dried that we were given the wrong paint). Finished off with a couple new dressers and all new baseboard and door trim and we finally have a bedroom. Thanks to Alex, Tom and Matt for pitching in to help when my knowledge and hands weren’t up to the tasks.

Ya, as for my hands — if anyone ever says stick your fingers in between panels of a garage door and close it — don’t do it. It frigging hurts. Two badly injured fingers and a broken one on the other hand later and I was pretty much crippled for 2 weeks. It’s been 3-4 weeks now and I am finally getting to the point where I can do most tasks but the broken one is still causing some significant discomfort when using it.

Finally (for now) the pool reno’s are also coming along. In the same time that we’ve been rebuilding the bedroom and smashing fingers, I have been busy doing the pool deck area. Dad gave me a hand framing it up and Shannon and I finished it off. The deck is now 3 times the size of the original and feels much more open. Still need to replace the fence boards all the way around and the panels that surround the pool itself but shes coming along. Time and money are making this task drag on a bit. Hoping by the end of the month I can be done with construction and get the liner installed and the pool up and running. Lots to do before we get there though!

I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of updates, and I’ll likely try and add them to the next post, but for now – that’s all I wrote!

It’s only been a pinch over a month since my last update. Holy Shit. The day after I posted – the “virus” that was a half a world away found it’s way to North America and basically shut us – and the rest of the world down. Slowly over the month more and more things have been forced to shut down. More and more people out of work. More and more isolation. It’s the right thing to do to put this thing down but it’s been a tough ride. I miss our family and friends greatly. Especially my Grandma. We are trying our damnedest to do the right thing and stay away from everyone and everything that we can. Shannon has been split between home and the office. I spent the first 2-3 weeks working exclusively from home (which I have learned looks much better on paper than it does in practice. I’m not built for this). The last couple weeks I’ve been more and more back in the schools – mostly alone – to get things ready for students home schooling. Not everyone has devices so the board is doing what we can to facilitate them and as they say “leave no student behind’. I have my doubts we will see students back in the buildings this school year. Hopefully life will be back closer to normal for September.

School shut down sucks but everyone is in the same boat. And time will be made up for and students will be brought up to speed one way or another. The part of this thing which is really bumming me out is all the things the kids can’t get back. You only have so much time to be a kid. There are only so many summers for baseball, gymnastics and other sports. There is only so much time for camps and school trips. There is only one “grade 8” year or final year of high school/college etc. These are life experiences these poor kids are being robbed of. It has to happen, but it is horrible. I just pray this stuff gets sorted soon and the kids can go back to enjoying their childhood while they still have it. Our babies are growing up far to fast.

Onto the rest of my world if for no other reason than to think of something else. Distractions are the key to getting through this in my books.

The upside of the forced home time is being home in the evenings and weekends. Since we can’t go out and do things I have been busy at home. So far I have re-done the vast majority of the fence around our pool area. Once finished I will have an extra 200sq feet of fenced in deck space around the pool. Gonna be a minute before the deck portion gets built. Hopefully my two weeks of actual holidays at the end of May will find me putting that project in the done column. Shannon and I also finished the new fenced area behind the garage for the dog. “Jabbas Palace” is a big fenced in area for her to play. Took her a couple days to realize this was her new potty, but shes got it figured out now.

Shannon and I “celebrated” our birthdays under this lock down. Hard to call it celebrating but it was nice and quiet. She made me a nice turkey dinner just before the full “stay at home” orders were issues. Mom and Dad joined us. Was very nice. Thanks babe! And I hope you had a great birthday too!

Finally after some bumps on the road I was able to sell my bike. Took a bit of effort to make it all happen. Super strange making a deal like that without being able to “shake hands”. Super awkward. Bike is gone to the new home of her loving new owner. We’ve spoke a couple times since and I think it’s in good hands. Now if I could just sort out my replacement before the weather really improves I’d be stoked. I wasn’t sure if I was going to replace it right away but with the shit going on these days – I really miss being on two wheels. Best therapist out there!