New Windows

With an ownership change of the building we live in, there have been quite a few upgrades. We finally got one to our unit.  New windows.

I did like the old windows they had charm, but they were old, drafty, and dirty.  They hadn't been cleaned on the outside since forever and we didn't have access to do it ourselves.  Living on a busy street with buses going by every 5 minutes, well, they got grimy & dirty.   I literally had to wash the kitchen windowsill daily or it looked like it had a year of grime build up.  I hate to think what our lungs look like. But I digress.

These windows make a real difference to the noise level.  They are super fancy in that the can open up top as well as like an average window.  They have an easy clean feature where they open on an angle. I can also keep the top open a smidgen without fear of our water heater/radiator freezing and pipes bursting!

Now, I need to figure out curtains. I like and need light so I have to find sheers that let light in but keep nosy buggers out.

Old windows.

New windows.

I LOVE that they open at the top!

Less Than 24 Hours Notice

I stayed one hour late at work today.

Rather than leave at 4pm, I left at 5pm.

It didn't make any time difference in my commute except

for that I was lucky in that at all my transfer points, I didn't

have to wait too long.

I got home at 6:30pm.

Adam showed me a paper that had been slid under our door today;

NOTICE OF INSPECTION

A prospective purchaser of the building has requested

a complete inspection.

They'll be on our floor between

11:00 - 11:20am

This doesn't bother me, except that it is less than

24 hours notice and it is cheeky that they slid it under

the door today but it is dated Sept 22'11.

I hate that.

So, rather than spend the evening like a potato on the couch

watching Dancing With The Stars, we had a little tidy up.

Swept up the Crockett hairs and dust bunnies from the floor, took out

the recyclables and passed the swiffer duster over the shelves.

Crockett gets antsy when I move the furniture to sweep.

As soon as his bed is back in its place, he hops back in

and is again as happy as a Pug.

I am confident that whomever is to enter our apartment

tomorrow will enter a clean and tidy space.

Plus, it's always good to put away the DVDs.

I'm not too trusting anymore when strangers are in my apartment.

I've watched too many shows where people go to open houses just to steal.

Not how I'd planned to spend my Monday evening.

Time for bed.

Apartment Redecorating Frenzy

Well, that is a bit of a stretch.

I went to Canadian Tire today to purchase a $5 toilet handle

and spent a whole....gulp.....$16 on a new shower curtain.

The toilet handle was a must.  Ours has been broken

for far too long. We were flushing the toilet with a pen!

I am pleased to say that I fixed it and it is now working perfectly.

The shower curtain has fulfilled my desire to redecorate for Fall.

It also has a 70's feel.

I had curtains almost like this when I was a kid except the circles

were more pink, purple & green.

Honestly, if Adam and I had an unlimited budget, our apartment

would look like a bungalow in the Hollywood Hills in the 70's.

Shag carpet, lots of browns and oranges and mustard

with funky chrome lamps.

Sort of like these awesome pictures found on google images:

 The photos for this room above & below are from:
http://stephenparisi.blogspot.com/
There is nothing I don't love about this room!


Call me crazy, but I'd LOVE a 70's kitchen with mossy green

appliances and counter tops covered in Tupperware storage containers.

Maybe even a funky wooden spice rack on the wall and this pattern below
wallpapered on one wall.

Pattern from http://www.retrotogo.com/

Of course we'd then need an awesome basement or rec room

that has walls exactly like this!

Photo from: http://www.interiorcomplex.com/

Until we are able to execute our vision, our  $16 shower curtain

will make me very happy :)

More Crockett and Flowers

Woke up again to perfect Pug walking weather.

I put on my runners, grabbed my camera and

Crockett and I went for a walk up in the woods.

We bumped into a few other dogs and joggers.

One woman, with 2 beautiful Golden Retrievers walked

 oblivious to everything around her, even her dogs.

She was on her cell phone.

Seriously. Sad. To me anyway.

Maybe she is one of those super women that feel

the need to multitask at all times.

Once out of the woods, by the Tennis Courts and Lawn Bowling,

my camera was again drawn to flowers and color.

I don't know why, I've just come to enjoy looking at flowers close up.

When we got home, Crockett had a bit of a sore back so I sat

with him and gave him a dog massage.

He felt better and so did I.

Then it was off to clean my kitchen.

It is cleaner, I think, than it has ever been.

I am so proud of it I've posted it as today's photo

for my Project 365.

Now to keep it this way........

Hello Same Old (But Newer) Kitchen Floor

I let my expectations get the better of me.

We did not get a tile floor.

We got vinyl.

Another big huge cut out piece of vinyl.

The best way to explain it is that it is the most durable,

basic and cheapest option.

Ahhhh apartment life.

I will say the workmanship of the installer

is top notch & he is a good guy.

It is not smooth. Not only will it need sweeping

daily (twice on the weekends) it'll need washing more often as the dust

and street grime will get trapped in the lumpy

bumpy surface.

It does feel nice to know that my kitchen no longer

has rips and tears in the floor and duct-taped up holes in

the wall.  I'm living like fancy folk now!

Tomorrow, I get my gas stove reconnected and the counter/cabinet

and fridge put back in place.  A quick mop & clean and it'll

be fit for Adam to destroy.

I clean as I go.

Adam, not so much.

I write this post Thursday night and will publish Friday morning

as I've set my alarm for 4:30am. I need to be ready for work

to call my Mom at 5:30am and I can watch the wedding until 6:45am.

I hope Kate's dress is classy a la Grace Kelly.

I'll soon find out!

Goodbye Old Kitchen Floor

We've had quite a bit of work done in our apartment since the

new management company took over and I'm

overjoyed about it.

The current kitchen floor was installed, I think,

in the 70's.  It is one large vinyl cut-out.

I like retro, this however, has to go.

When we moved in there was a tear on the floor

near the front feet of the fridge.

When I tried to move the fridge to clean a spill,

it made the tear worse.

The cabinet between the fridge and stove is not attached.

I moved it out one day, again to clean, only to see an awful

hole at the base of the wall that ran behind the cabinet

and stove.  This was when we couldn't get anything done

by the Superintendent so I taped it up myself.

Last week and again yesterday, the dry wall/paint

guy was here and he fixed and repainted the wall.

Today as I am at work, there are men in our apartment

installing a new floor.

  I had made some suggestions and requests based on my

personal taste and also what would be easiest to keep clean.

See, our kitchen window faces Yonge Street and we're

almost at street level. Open windows result in a fine

layer of dust/street grime.

Adam spoke to the guy yesterday to try and get an idea

of what they're putting in.

Adam told me in a very heavy Italian accent that

" It's a gonna be a nice floor. "

Fingers crossed.

Small Spaces

When it's rainy and miserable and damp outside, I just want

to get into flannel jammies, grab a blanket, a book and a lamp

and find a nice corner or nook to get comfortable in

and pass the time.

Sort of bundled up like Crockett is behind me now.

He was out in the rain this afternoon so I cocooned

him up so he could get cozy and warm.

He is snoring so loud and is in a deep sleep.

I grew up in a bungalow in the bedroom between the kitchen

and the bathroom.  The result was that my bedroom had 2 doors.

One door accessed the kitchen, the back door and the stairs

going down to the basement.

The other door led to the hallway by the loo, the other bedrooms

and the end of the living room.

My room was a thoroughfare.

Why walk around when you can walk through in 5 seconds?

My Mother did teach us about personal space and

boundaries and not taking each others belongings without

asking, but still, privacy in my room was all but non existent during

the waking hours.

The result was I'd escape to my closet.  It was very deep

with an elevated floor as it was built over the stairs to the basement.

I would have to step up into it.

I would take in a lamp, books or a radio and spend hours.

Luckily it had a bi-fold door with slats so I could

close it and still breathe.

I think I read all of Judy Blume's

Are You There God It's Me Margaret

in one afternoon comfortably in my closet.

I remember when I read the first Harry Potter book, I loved that

he stayed in the cupboard under the stairs.

When I saw the film, I knew that if we had a closet like that

when I was a kid, that's where I'd be found.

My current time-suckage activity is going on virtual home tours

of teeny tiny living spaces on Apartment Therapy.

I would LOVE to have this in my bedroom.

Cool sleeping pod.

SOURCE

Under New Management

Our building is under new management.

There has been no change in ownership...yet.

We don't have a live-in Superintendant.

We had an old guy who basically came by to

take out the garbage & collect the rent.

It is a beautiful building.

It has so much potential.

Sadly, it hasn't been loved or cared for as

much as it should.

Front entrance.



We have very cool sconces in the halls.



Wide hallway with high ceilings.  Just not the
average boring apartment buidling hallway.

We had to provide a list of all the things in the apartment that we feel

needed to be fixed or replaced.

Our list had quite a few items on it.

We'd had a leak in the shower for awhile

that resulted in the floor flooding on a regular basis.

Water had pooled under the sink/vanity and

I was on them to replace it for fear of mold.

I talked about this HERE on October 5, 2010.

I was told we'd get a new....tomorrow.

It took new management & 6 months for us

to get a new sink & vainty.

I feared it would be basic cheapest apartment crap.

It is not top of the line but it is an improvement.

The cabinet doesn't stick out as far so

it's made our teeny tiny bathroom feel a little bit bigger.



The floor guy is coming Wednesday.

The Electrician has already done some work in the

kitchen & will be coming back to change 4 of our light fixtures.

The only guy yet to contact us is the dry wall guy.

I fear that when it comes time to renew our lease, there'll be

a big bump in our rent.

We'll see.

Clean Apartment = Happy Wife

Adam and I spent our Family Day Holiday Monday

cleaning our apartment.

I did the kitchen.

Cleaned out & reorganized our cupboards.

Matched up all our containers with their lids.

Tackled our cutlery drawer which really is too big

and becomes our cutlery/junk drawer.

Adam has his own junk drawer in his Man Cave &

I have mine in the bedroom.

The last thing we need is a junk drawer in the kitchen.

Adam was my DJ, putting CD's in my radio that would

keep me moving.  Usually I have Classical music

on in the kitchen, but I needed something different

for a day of scrubbing and cleaning..

I did all the corners, the tops of the cupboard doors

and in between the counter & stove.

Our kitchen is clean.

Adam took care of his Man Cave, the living room,

the bathroom and all the garbage/recycling.

What a dear.

Once he's got his earphones on a music going, he

goes from start to finish without a break.

The only room we've got left to do is our bedroom.

The only thing to do really is the laundry, so we're all good.

It is amazing how a clean & tidy house makes me

over the moon happy.

It really is odd what makes me happy.

I went into the living room & stood on the treadmill to enjoy the view.

Looking down the hall into my lovely clean kitchen :)

I think our hallway needs an area rug.

February Funk

I had a tough week this past week.

I continue to fight with fatigue.

This Family Day long weekend is just what I need to recharge.

Thursday night I fell asleep on the couch after watching

The Big Bang Theory.

Last night I was fighting to stay awake at 7:30pm.

After a nice long chat with my Mom on the phone, I went

to bed & fell fast asleep. That was at about 9:30pm.

Mind you, I have been waking up super early the last 2 weeks.

I'd had so many delay issues with the TTC that I was arriving at work

sometimes 10-15 minutes late. I hate that. I really do.

I play the math/alarm clock trick on myself.

I set my alarm clock ahead by 17 or 32 or 27 minutes fast.

As I hate math, the last thing I want to do when I hear

WAH WAH WAH is try to figure out what the real time

is, so I just get up.

Last week, I'd taken Crockett out, had a shower, dressed, made my lunch,

checked the weather network and a few e-mails all before 5:30am.

Mental.

I tried to sleep in this morning, but I have an awful sensitivity to the light.

I literally have to pull the cover up over my head to cover my eyes.

We've lived in this apartment for 4 year now  I still can't figure out

what to do about curtains for our bedroom windows.

The middle window doesn't open.

The outer two open like doors.

They are pretty big at 53" top to bottom

and each frame is 28" wide.

We're on Yonge Street so along with wanting curtains that work for

both light & privacy, there is also noise.

I want to be able to also have an open window.

My cheap bamboo blinds attached to each frame were

supposed to be a short term thing.

All the windows in our apartment are like this, it's just the bedroom

I'm having a tough time trying to figure out.

Fatigue and inconsistent sleep has contributed to my February Funk.

It is just that time of year that, as much as I like the winter,

I look forward to the Spring.

There is a lack of color.

No more Christmas Lights.

Everything is grey.

Plus I feel very Sloth-like and sedentary.

I need to get myself moving.

My boss has a personal trainer that goes to her

home Tuesdays & Thursdays for an hour.

I think that's awesome.

She says it tough & that she sweats.

I need that. I need to sweat. I need to have sore

muscles from more than just sitting crooked!

Hopefully this cold spell we've been having will be over soon

and I can get outside to walk more.

I'm so NOT complaining.

This has been a great winter.

Yes, it's been bitterly windy cold, but there's been

clean streets and dry sidewalks more often than not.

I won't even go into the flash freeze we had

Thursday morning. Let's just say it was the worst ice

I've seen my whole life & I just thank the Ice Gods

that I didn't fall & break something.

Today's walk in the park with Crockett was nice.

It was lasted a bit longer than the past few weeks.

It was Apollo vs. Aeolus today.

It was also lightly snowing.

It was a nice day.

I've also posted some other photos from today's walk over on my Tumblr page.

I'm going to go cuddle on the couch with my Adam & watch

the movie " Michael Clayton ".

A little George Clooney is a good thing ;)

Our Day In Photos and a 9pm Update

It was a cool, crisp, sunny and windy day today.

If the rest of the winter stays like this...who am I kidding.

Here is our day in photos.

We had another light snow overnight. It's the wet stairs that
frighten me.  You can't tell what's water and what's ice.
I take at least 2 tumbles a season on the ice.

It was so windy you could hear the flag flapping.

I got Crockett mid-scratch after a tinkle. I let him do this as
it's the only way his nails get filed. He's too squirmy for me to do them.

A Pug and his shadow.

With the leaves off the trees we can again see our building
from the park entrance.

Our after supper walk in the Parkette across the street.
Don't worry honey, at night I don't go past the first lamp post.

The building across the street has put up their twinkle lights.
One small candle with the lights gives our bedroom
a great cozy Christmas glow.

Another perfect day that I am grateful for.

Update 9:00pm

Too funny.
I spoke to my Mom on the phone this morning for about a half hour.
We just chit chatted about nothing in particular.
Earlier I asked Adam to pick a movie for me &
I was watching Interview With The Vampire in my room enjoying
the candle light & the twinkle lights.
I was almost asleep when Adam advised my parents
had called & left a message.
I asked him to play it. I didn't get to the mute button fast enough
and I could hear my Mom's voice but not clearly.
Then Adam said, " Oh ya, Happy Anniversary Honey"

We both forgot.

I called my Mom back, thanked her for the call
and told her our funny predicament.

I admit, I am AWFUL with dates.
Also I don't think I'm a typical girl when it comes
to things like Birthdays & Valentines Day.

It also has to do with the fact I think, that I have a husband
who tells me every day that he loves me.
I am lucky girl & I know it.
As Adam says, " You won." I did.
I am lucky in that I don't need a special day on a
calendar to know I am loved.

6 years today.
It feels like it was yesterday and at the same time
it feels like it was forever ago.

Happy Anniversary Adam.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

Crazy Hot Heat

In our apartment building we pay our Hydro & Gas directly to the utility companies.

Heat is built into our (crazy high Toronto) rent.

Thing is, we have no control of the heat, no unit control.

We have radiators heated with hot water.

They've been on since Labour Day Weekend.

Even these past few weeks of lovely weather they've been on.

It is currently 6 degrees Celsius outside at 11pm.

Inside, it is as hot as a Chilean Mine.

It is so hot Adam needs the fan on in the office and I

need to crack the window open in the bedroom.

I need to search some DIY sites and figure what kind of radiator covers there are

that we can purchase or make that will stop this crazy heat.

The pashmina and stuffed bulldog aren't blocking enough heat.



Heater, cracked open window & Gandalf fighting a Balrog of Morgoth.