Friday Favourite Moments #3 2026 (On A Monday)

Lately, our weeks have been flying by, and no matter how much time I think I'll have to blog, it doesn't work out. Thus, you get my "favourite moments" from last week on a Monday this week. I guess I could call it "Favourite Moments Monday"!

1) Lights On Stratford and playing in the snow

One of my favourite nights in January these past few years has been going out to Stratford to see their "Lights On Stratford" festival. This year we had so much fun playing in the snow -- we actually had a family snow fight in the town square! And then on the island was a bird installation where Sam pretended that every bird was eating him! It's so rare to see the kids playing these days that I really enjoy the moments when they do.

2) Feeding birds on Dave's birthday walk

 

Dave wanted to go for a "wintry walk in the woods" on his birthday and thankfully the weather cooperated! We had a gorgeous day and walked for almost two hours at a local conservation area. And we fed chickadees! They landed on our mitts and ate seed. It was slightly terrifying, but also, really fun!!!

If you click on the photo on the right you can see a bird on Dave's left shoulder as well as the one in his hand.

3) Drywall!!!

This week on the reno, they started putting drywall up!!! When I first saw our bedroom all covered in drywall, I got tears in my eyes. What an amazing moment!!! 

 

4) Tuesday afternoon nap

I had a training on Tuesday afternoon and it ended much earlier than I expected. Since I had coverage at work, I got to go home early. As I was fighting a bit of a cold this week, I came home and had a nap. It was glorious.

5) International Olympic Committee emailed my co-worker!

My co-worker was in the office when she got a response to an email. It was from someone at the Olympic Games. She is our librarian and had asked about their mascots. I think it's so cool that someone responded to her.

6) Blue Jays Tickets went on sale!!!

Blue Jays tickets for the 2026 season went on sale on Thursday! I can't wait to get to a game! Buying tickets was definitely a highlight of my week!!! 

7) Uber Eats order with my mom & dad

Since my mom and dad live in the country they never get food delivered. We placed an UberEats order on Thursday night and had so much fun watching our driver get to our house by following them on the website! We had Thai food and it was delicious!

So those were some of my favourite moments from this past week. Come back tomorrow for an exciting renovation update!

Renovation Report Week 11

Thanks to a snow day, last week was a quieter week in renovation world.

We passed the framing inspection, and drywall and insulation arrived. And a lot of the insulation was put up.

One thing we realized is that we need to be doing more to protect our hardwood in the front entry (which is the only entry right now). So we've started hanging up the rug at night and Dave put a floor protector under the rug as well. I think the hardwood is looking a lot better than it was earlier in the week.

On Monday we came home and our back door had been installed. One thing to note about this week is that the employee who had been writing the daily updates was off this week so we don't know every thing that happened.

Mom and Dad took this picture of a lot of our supplies being delivered. 

 

Some of the drywall sat on our driveway over night. Thankfully we have somewhere else to park.

There are some random holes in our ceiling that we don't know what they're for. I think this one is for a smoke detector in our new guestroom.

  

Some of the holes in our ceiling are for new pot lights and others we're not sure why they're there. Our renovation seems to involve a lot of random holes where we're not expecting them. As long as everything gets patched, we don't care :)

Insulation was installed in the new living room...

...and in the basement. We're assuming it was installed in our new bedroom too but we don't have a way to access that right now.

 

A couple of exciting updates from this week:

 

Tim & Janice and Dave's parents both came by to see the "in progress" of the renovation. Even though we're in the "messy middle" as my blog friend, Bekah, calls it, it's still exciting to share with people.

 

We went appliance shopping on Friday! We have a new fridge (which I am in love with), a new stove and oven (with a pizza stone and pizza baking setting), a dishwasher (Dave's absolute favourite part of the whole renovation), and a microwave coming our way as soon as the kitchen is ready. I never thought I'd be so excited about appliances :) Hahahahaha!!! 

We had a slight problem on the weekend, emailed our contractor about it (we're not even sure if it was caused by the construction), and he showed up at our house within half an hour to fix it. He said that today is the "insulation inspection" and then the drywall can start going up! Also, our kitchen cabinets should be ready by the end of the month. Things are getting (even more) exciting!

Learnings from the week:

I didn't know there was a framing inspection to pass. Or an insulation inspection!

Some pieces of construction are purely visual. I had a talk with the workers about hiding the HVAC pipes in the living room, and they have to build some pieces just to keep a nice visual line, even though they will serve no purpose.

It's nice to have people on the ground (mom & dad observing throughout the day!) so we can get pictures of supplies arriving! I also appreciate the informational texts they send me once in awhile. "The truck is being unloaded onto your driveway!" "Everything on the truck is now in the house!" "I checked out the house today. Six people busy at it."

We need to actively work to preserve the hardwood under our entry rug. I think the playroom/back entry we used for years was laminate and not so delicate.

If the one employee isn't writing daily updates, we really don't know a lot of what's happening at our house. I miss being able to look through Rachel's window and spy on the new addition.

Appliances can be really exciting!!! 

Stay tuned to see what happens this week...

Friday Favourite Moments 2026 #2

I'm writing today about my favourite moments from this past week. There were a few of them!

1) Playing on the ice

It was our church's winter retreat last weekend and I went up with the kids. On Saturday morning Tim and I walked to Lake Huron. We met up with a group of young adults and we all had a lot of fun playing on, and with, the ice. There was all sorts of different textures to explore. The ice pictured here broke like glass under our feet when we walked on it. It sounded like glass breaking too! Don't worry -- we weren't actually on the lake -- just at the shore. 

2) Sleigh ride

On Saturday afternoon there was an optional sleigh ride which Rachel and I took advantage of. I really enjoyed visiting with my friend and the ride through the wintry woods.  

 

3) Report from the street

I really enjoyed getting texts and photos from my parents during the day this week as they reported on what was happening with our renovation. This was the truck arriving with the insulation and dry wall!

4) Our new back door

Our new back door was installed this week and I love it!!! I'm so excited to see bits and pieces of what we've picked out arrive at our house!

5) Snowblowing neighbour

This is our neighbour who has a snowblower and was extremely generous to clear not only our sidewalk but the end of our driveway, a path to our front door, my parents sidewalk, the path to their front door, and their driveway. Oh my word -- he saved us hours of shovelling yesterday. We thanked him with some baking.

6) Snow day baking

We actually got a full on snow day yesterday as we received over a foot of snow! Not only were the schools completely closed but also the universities and some work places. Ontario was a mess yesterday. The kids decided to put their day to good use and Rachel baked chocolate chip orange muffins and Sam made Nanaimo bars. My mom baked buns. We ate a lot of really great food yesterday!

So those were some of my favourite moments from this past week. Tell me something good about your week!

Share Our Lives: Staying Warm In Winter

This month the Share Our Lives bloggers picked the timely subject of "staying warm in winter." Although I am linking up a few days late, I have not read the other posts in the series so these are all my own ideas! The Share Our Lives bloggers are Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.)

Since I grew up in a province where winter sometimes got as cold as -40 (which is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit) and since I currently live in a province where it also gets fairly cold (-10 to -20C (14 to -4F)) in the winter, I have a lot of ways to stay warm. And I will have to use many of them this week as we head into some of the coldest weather we've had yet this winter. Brrrr.

1) Flannel bedding and a comfort bag

Although we haven't pulled out the flannel bedding yet this year (hello hot flashes - ugh), we often have flannel on our bed in winter. And I often fall asleep with a comfort bag (heat bag?) on my feet at night. Even though we don't have flannel sheets on yet, I do sleep with an extra blanket right now. 

 

2) Socks and slippers

While I despise wearing socks, in winter I give in and wear socks (the Kirkland brand from Costco) and slippers. Can you tell I really need my feet to be warm in winter?!?!?!  

3) Layers when outdoors

 I get so tired of how long it takes me to get ready in winter -- wind pants, jacket, toque, mitts, scarf, boots -- it all takes so long to put on and take off. However, all those layers do keep me warm when I'm outside.

left: bundled for a walk in the woods; right: how to dress when you're outside in -40 

4) Exercise

It's very hard to remain cold when you're shovelling snow. Or skating. Or walking. Or moving your body at all when you're outside. I'm always shedding layers when I have to shovel.

5) Tea

I love a cup of tea in winter, especially if I'm feeling chilled. A hot cup of tea warms me up right away.

6) Blankets and fleecy clothing

I wear my super fleecy owl pajama pants a lot in winter. In fact, I'm wearing them as I type this post! Hahaha! And I'm also often under a blanket. I love the one Janice crocheted for me, which Sam is using in the picture on the right.

So those are some of my tips for staying warm in winter -- wrap yourself up in a few fuzzy layers and drink a cup of hot tea. And be super thankful for indoor heating :)

Renovation Report Week 10

Last week was the tenth week of our renovation and our house underwent a lot of change!

On Monday we came home and kitchen demolition had begun! It went really fast! 

 

Some drywall was added, and plumbing was done, for the sink in the powder room.

Rachel moved into our room on Monday night. We're cozy for a few months :) 

Main bathroom demolition started on Tuesday. They got rid of the window and the door.

  

Thankfully the sink and toilet were installed in the powder room on Tuesday morning! But, as we discovered, not a light :)

 

The wood panelling came out of the kitchen! Whooo hooo!!! 

 

We had planned to take apart Rachel's bed on Tuesday night, but they just put up a plastic barrier around it, and her dresser, so that was one less thing to do. Phew.

We also got a hole cut in the plastic so we could turn on the dining room light. It's small things that can make a big difference. This meant we no longer had to walk through four rooms (half of them under construction) to turn on the light!

By Wednesday when I got home, I hardly recognized the bathroom. It looked so different!

They also cut away the ceiling in the powder room on Wednesday...

...so they could install the ceiling fan on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, the tub and plumbing for the sink were installed in the main bathroom.

And they cut the door from Rachel's room (my new office) to the upstairs addition (our new bedroom).

I was brushing my teeth on Thursday night when I saw that our new back door had arrived!!! 

On Friday, the sun tunnels were installed in the bathroom and my new office. And some more insulation was added in places (not pictured).

 

Learnings for this week:

 

You don't need a light to pee! Hahaha! Nope, we still don't have one in the powder room.

 

To manage the lack of a bathroom, we all got bathroom caddies to carry our toiletries from our bedrooms to the powder room. Rachel needed two, but it all balanced out because Sam said, "All my toiletries are at Oma and Opa's!" so he didn't need any :) Just don't ask how often he's brushing his teeth.

I think all the demolition is done! Whooo hooo!!!

 

I think Rachel is a pretty good roommate but she really doesn't like rooming with Dave! Oh well...

 

I haven't been in our basement in over a week. Guess we don't really need to go down there right now...? This is mostly thanks to my mom for doing all our laundry. 

So as I mentioned, last week was a big week with lots of changes. I'm curious to see what this week brings!