Friday Favourite Moments #10 2026 (On A Monday)

It’s another Friday Favourite Moments post on a Monday. I’m trying something new and blogging on my phone at our gate at the airport. If all goes according to plan, I’m waking up this morning in the Dominican Republic!!! I’m ready for a few days of sun, warmth, relaxation, water, and most importantly, no dust!!! Hahaha!!!

Here are my favourite moments from this past week.

1) Beautiful day for yard work!

This past Tuesday was the warmest day we’ve had since November and I was here for it. I was super excited to clean up our yard and Rachel was excited to help me.

2) Microwave installation 

Our microwave was installed this past week. We had fun FaceTiming my parents as we used it for the first time. We now have a vent fan in our kitchen (for the first time ever!) and Sam made popcorn for the inaugural use!

3) Virtual tours of our reno 

I gave a few tours of our reno virtually this week. I showed my parents everything new which was exciting. Then my book club, which has met virtually for over five years now, indulged me and let me give them a tour! It’s been really fun to share our reno with friends! Then I used our new living room for the first time and had book club there.

It looks all cozy if you ignore the construction materials in the background!

4) Starbucks at work

We’ve been making it through in the office these past few weeks by getting a weekly Starbucks order! These have definitely been a highlight of my work week.

 5) Sam driving 

Sam wants to get his license so, now that our gross winter is pretty much over, we’re making him practice a lot. Here he is driving us around last week.

So those were some of my favourite moments from last week. I won’t be doing a post this Friday but I think my favourite moments from this next week will be hard to pick!

Share Our Lives: Frequent Grocery Store Buys

I really wanted to write this post and link up with the Share Our Lives bloggers. So you're getting a blog post on a Sunday morning, which I rarely do. As always, when I'm late to a link up, I haven't looked at the other links in this party yet. The Share Our Lives bloggers are Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.) And this week they were talking about Frequent Grocery Store Buys.

This is the view of our new fridge, all full of food. We haven't organized it yet but that will happen.

 

In no particular order, here are things we frequently buy at the grocery store (and I thought it would be fun to put who we buy it for in parentheses so you can see who eats what!)

 

Apples (Rachel)

Grapes (me & Sam)

Blueberries (Dave)

Strawberries (Rachel, me, & Sam)

Cucumbers (me, Rachel, & Sam)

Bagged Caesar salad (Rachel) 

 

Bread (mostly Dave)

Orange Cranberry Morning Rounds (me)

Buns (Sam & me)

Plain bagels (Rachel & me)

Tortillas (all of us) 

Lunch meat -- salami, usually (Dave & Sam) 

 

Milk (all of us)

Cheese  - cheddar (all of us), marble (mostly Rachel), smoked Gouda (me & Sam) 

Yogurt - lemon or blueberry (Dave), - vanilla (Rachel) - cherry (me & Sam)

 Eggs (Sam & Dave)

Tofu (all of us)

Cream cheese - plain (Rachel), herb & garlic (me) 

 

Frozen pizzas (all of us)

 

Crispix or Shredded Wheat cereal (Dave)

Multi-grain Cheerios (Rachel)

Hot chocolate (me & sometimes the kids) 

Nacho chips (Dave) 

 

Tomato & mushroom soup (all of us)

Pasta -- mostly penne or cavatappi (all of us)

Mayonnaise (me & Rachel)

Tuna (me & Sam)

Pickles (Sam & me) 

 

Coke (me & Dave)

Ginger Ale (Sam, Rachel, & me)

Lemonade (me & Rachel)

Grapefruit juice (Rachel & Dave)

 

Salsa (Dave & Sam) 

 

Granola bars & Goldfish (Rachel)  

Here is the shelf which has been our "pantry" during the renovation. I can't wait to move all this food back into cupboards!

 

So those are the regular items on our grocery list. It's a good thing I have this all typed out as Dave and I will just refer to this for grocery shopping from now on!!!

 

What's something which is regularly on your grocery list? Is there anything I'm missing that you're surprised by? 

Renovation Report Week 18

Our renovation is progressing well (we think!) and this week saw some colourful changes -- finally!

 

On Monday the doors were all taken off and a lot of taping happened in preparation for painting the trim.

 

On Tuesday, a lot of the trim was painted...

... and they started cutting in in the powder room. (And I started freaking out about the paint colour!!!)

They also did some patching in the old office.

On Wednesday they painted all the trim again, and started adding colour to the walls. I think they outlined all the electrical switches.

They also hung the mirrors in the powder room and bathroom and the lights in the upstairs bathroom. On Tuesday, we had a conversation about what was happening with the basement railing and realized no plans had been made for that. So they quickly bought a new one to install. Just when you think you've covered all the details, a surprise pops up.

Thursday was also the day the powder room was painted (with some more patching done, I guess) and the dishwasher electrical was installed. They also installed the plug for the fridge so it was no longer plugged in with an extension cord across our kitchen!!!

Thursday was also the day we came home and discovered all our kitchen lights work!!! 

And the upstairs bathroom lights work, as does the fan!!! 

 

On Friday they did the first coat of paint in our bedroom...

 

... and the powder room inside and outside wall. Now that there's more colour on the wall, I love it as much as I originally thought I would! Also all the lights in these rooms work now.

 

They also primed the rest of the office... 

 

...and got a coat done in the living room and the "hallway" between the living room/kitchen/basement.

 

They painted the windowsill behind the tap, where they had to cut some off to get the tap to fit.

The new handrail got painted and trim was completed in the basement.

More completed trim in Sam's room and the basement bathroom had the light installed, but it doesn't work yet.

So it was an exciting week of painting and finishing up some small details which needed to be completed.

 

Learnings from the week:

 

Preparing to paint (especially the trim) takes a REALLY LONG TIME. Every day we came home wondering, "Did they get to the colour yet?" and the answer was almost always, "No."

The paint smells a bit like bananas.

There are still pieces of the renovation we're not all clear on -- see, for example, the basement railing. There are so many moving pieces that this isn't surprising to us.

Some of the rooms, which are mostly completed, don't feel like they belong to our house anymore! For instance, the upstairs bathroom and kitchen feel really classy!

 

In some rooms we're getting down to final touches, and in other rooms, there's still a bit to do. However, we really do think this renovation will be done sooner rather than later, which is really exciting!!!

Friday Favourite Moments #9 2026 (On A Monday)

On Thursday, I experienced one of the more stressful days at work that I've had in a long time. In a SnapChat group on Wednesday night, two students (not from our school) issued a significant threat against our school, complete with pictures. Thankfully, it was reported to the police, and the two students were arrested by Thursday morning. However, all day Thursday we were fielding calls from families, wondering if it was safe for their student to be at school, as well as dealing with the reactions of the students who had come to school. It was a very weird day.

In Canada, we don't often experience the fear around school violence that I sense there is in the US. However, after the school shooting in British Columbia last month, we're all a little more aware that we're not immune to this sort of violence.

Thursday night I spent dealing with the aftereffects of my day on Thursday and wasn't in the space to write about my favourite moments from the week. However, I do still want to share them so you get this post today.

1) Rachel cooks supper

Last Friday night, we were trying to figure out what to eat, and Rachel announced, "Let me cook something." So she found a recipe online, she and Dave went to pick up a few items, and she threw together this pasta/spinach/meatball dish. And with that, Rachel became the first person to officially cook a meal in our new kitchen!

 

2) Church and a potluck

Between Rachel's dance and our health, we haven't been to church much lately. However, we were able to attend last Sunday and it was so good. There was an excellent sermon, preached by our friend and his son, and then there was a church potluck. It was so good to be with our church family again.

 3) Coffee at work

The Traumatic Events Administrator for our board came to meet with my principal on Thursday morning. She brought coffee for both of us as an appreciation for dealing with the situation. I didn't feel like I did much, other than fielding calls from families, but I was really touched that she thought to include me.

4) The nice weather

We had some gorgeous weather this past week and I appreciated every minute of the sun shining, the snow melting, and the fact that I could ditch my winter jacket a few days! Yay Spring!!!

 

5) Thursday night errands

 

Dave and I dropped the kids off at their evening activities and then did some "the reno might be done soon" errands. We looked at some furniture, some closet organizers, and more paint samples. As I've mentioned before, I want to paint Rachel's current room which will be my new office, so I want to be prepared to move on that once the reno is finished. Then we picked Rachel up from dance early and had supper out. Rachel and I shared poutine which was a warm treat on a rainy evening.

6) Lights in the kitchen!

 

I will share a thorough renovation update tomorrow but we came home on Thursday night to installed, working, pot lights in our kitchen!!! This was especially exciting for Dave as the day before they had removed the only working light in the kitchen so he was rushing to do dishes before dark!

So those were my favourite moments from this past week. As always, this week held some stress but it helps to remember there were good moments too.

Currently: March 2026

It's the first Wednesday in March and time for Currently. This blog party is hosted by Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. You can find Amy here.

[saving your life right now]

What is "saving my life right now" are the construction lights we can plug in, especially in our bathroom. We still don't have the lights installed in the bathroom, powder room, kitchen, or most of the basement. I really think it will be one of the last things to get finished.

Another thing is that Rachel's dance is slowing down a bit. She doesn't have rehearsals every Sunday at this point and it's so helpful to have a bit more time together as a family.

And legit -- Dave being willing to dust the piano every day is "saving my life." People keep saying how amazing we're doing with living through our renovation but you all don't see/hear my daily meltdowns over all the dust! I am losing my mind and the fact that Dave is willing to dust the piano every day is so helpful. I don't mind sweeping the floors every day or wiping off the stove and dining room table but the piano is what sends me over the edge!

The piano was dusted 24 hours ago. Seriously.

 

[cleaning/purging]

As for "cleaning" right now we're dusting, sweeping, and wiping things down almost every day. Once we start unpacking I'm guessing we'll be "purging" a bit more. But for now, we're not purging anything. We did a lot of purging back in the fall as we prepared for this reno.

[loving]

I am "loving" the bits of the renovation which have been revealed to us. I am so excited about the back splash in our kitchen and I love my blue cupboards. I am especially "loving" my yellow tulips on our counters. I am also "loving" that our renovation might be done sooner than we thought! Eeeeks! I can't wait!!!

 

Oh, I'm also "loving" having a shower in our house again. It is such a treat to be able to shower whenever we want without having to plan ahead!!!

This was before we added the shower curtain and before the bathroom was painted.

[planning (trip wise)]

We are "planning" easy trips for this year! We were talking about doing a European vacation over March Break but ultimately decided on something simpler. I'm so thankful because this renovation has taken up all our energy and we need to relax on our trips this year. Our March Break trip is something we've never done with the kids before so I'm so curious to see how it works out. Fingers crossed we all love it!

[taking a break from (since it's Spring Break month)]

I'm so happy we're going to be "taking a break from" the cold weather. Our highs are all over freezing for the foreseeable future and I can't wait!!! It's been a long, cold, snowy, winter around here. I'm also looking forward to "taking a break from" shovelling snow! The only precipitation in the seven day forecast is rain and I am so here for it!!! Whoo hoo spring!!!

Well, this ended up being a very renovation focused "currently" but that is an accurate picture of our lives these days. By next month's "currently" I will hopefully be able to focus more on spring and other exciting things will be happening in our lives but for now, we'll keep dusting! Hahaha!

Renovation Report Week 17

This last week our renovation involved a lot more priming, mudding and sanding, and fixing up of small areas. However, there were a few bigger things which happened so I ended up having a lot to share.

Part of the new living room was primed...

...and a door was installed between Sam's room and the basement bathroom, as well as on the other side of our current living room/new guest room.

The outside wall of the powder room was primed, as was the rest of the living room.

The upstairs bathroom got painted!!! It's kind of hard to see the colour because we still only have the construction light but it's Sherwin Williams Olympus White, which is actually a light grey.

We now have fans in the powder room and upstairs bathroom, although they aren't hooked up yet. Yes, our main bathroom never had a fan!

Our new appliances were delivered!!!!!! Remember how I showed you the stove hookup last week. Well, they discovered that they'd never finished the fridge outlet so it's currently plugged in with an extension cord stretching across the kitchen! Hahaha!!!

The dishwasher and microwave also arrived but they won't get hooked up until later this week, I think.

Here's all the paint! It's exciting to have it in our house!

This is where our aprons hung in the hall on the way to the basement. I'd never noticed there was a second wood strip above where the hooks were hung. It was removed and the wall was fixed.

The whole basement was primed -- both our family room and Sam's new room.

In other exciting news of the week, the plastic was taken off our kitchen cupboards and the cardboard was removed from our counters so our kitchen was much more usable this past weekend!!! The painting is mostly done with a few small touch ups. The kitchen is Sherwin Williams Rhinestone -- it's a blue-white.

More touch ups and priming happened in the powder room and the hallway to the basement.

My mug cupboard got painted!!! Rachel thinks it's ridiculous that I'm so excited about this!!!

The vents in Sam's room got primed and they drilled a hole for our drinking water tap.

I came home one day and noticed that our crew had taken all the hooks and nails out of Rachel's wall and patched the holes. I asked one of the crew, "I didn't think that wall was on the list of things to do." They responded, "It wasn't. We just had some extra patch material and knew you wanted to paint that wall so fixed it for you." Our crew is seriously the best! They saved us a bunch of work here and I am so grateful.

 

Learnings from the week:

We were so excited to have our dishwasher delivered. However, it still needs to be hooked up to work! And in case you don't follow me on Instagram, Dave and I have been together since the fall of 2006 and this is the very first time we've ever had a dishwasher in our house! Dave can't wait to use it!!!

We ending up picking whiter colours for paint. I thought we were picking paint chips with colour and the walls would show a little more colour. I still really like how the walls that have been painted so far have turned out but it wasn't what I was anticipating. I also realize that different lighting might help as, thus far, none of the lighting has been installed.

How had I never noticed the extra strip of wood in our basement hallway before?!?! It's wild to me.

Preparing to paint takes much longer than we had imagined. We're eagerly awaiting the next big transformations!

 

So that's what happened last week -- some kitchen reveal, some painting, and more priming.