Currently: April 2026

Let's start April off with "Currently" as it's not only the first day of April, but it's also the first Wednesday of the month. This link up is hosted by Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa and you can find her here.

 

[Planting or hatching (literal or figurative – like planting an idea or hatching a plan)]

Are you completely shocked that I'm "hatching" a plan to buy two of these lantana tree pots and have them in our backyard this summer? I will talk more about this on Friday, but Janice and I did yoga at a greenhouse on Sunday. Afterwards, we got to wander through the growing greenhouse (nothing was for sale in it yet) and I spied these pots. I love them! I think they will add so much to our backyard this summer.

[Cleaning (spring)]

We're not "cleaning" so much right now as we're still unpacking and sorting and reorganizing after the reno. This weekend we'll hopefully be able to unload the last storage unit and empty out our neighbours' garage and then all our things will be in our house for the first time since October.

Sam's old room is becoming Dave's new office and this is the last space we will have to set up. So, for now, it's a holding place for all the things! And yes, it's gotten worse since I took this photo :)

[Eating and drinking]

I was thrilled to be "eating and drinking" at a baseball game again on Friday!!! I got my veggie hot dog, a side of poutine, and a signature drink to celebrate!

I also belatedly made Beef & Guinness Stew on Sunday so we could have one of my favourite dinners. St Patrick's Day happened while we were in the Dominican this year but I didn't want to miss out on one of my favourite meals.

[Reading and watching]

I'm not "reading" anything too exciting right now but we are "watching" a lot of baseball. Are you shocked?!?! Also, last year for his birthday, Sam asked for a beanbag chair. By then we were beginning the renovation process (meetings with contractors, etc) so we asked him if he was willing to wait until after the reno was over to get one. Earlier this month, we bought two chairs and on Monday, Sam's 17th birthday, we picked them up.

 

Sam, watching baseball, in our new rec room/family room, in his cow beanbag chair, wrapped in his burrito blanket. This kid loves a novelty pattern! Hahaha!!! 

[Loving]

I was "loving" being in the Skydome on Opening Day this year. We got to see the AL Champions banner unveiled and there were a lot of opening ceremonies as this is the start of the 50th year of the Blue Jays playing baseball. They projected videos on the diamond, as well as the Jumbotron, and it was so cool. Yes, I cried tears of happiness and pride during the ceremonies and cheered my heart out during the game. I just love baseball so much! And to be there on Opening Day was such a bucket list item for me.

The next day, Sam and I went to the Canada versus Iceland pre-World Cup friendly match. I loved watching the game, and spending time with Sam, but it was freezing out. At one point, it snowed on us. Brrrrr. But the game was so fun to watch! We're planning on going to another soccer game (but not the World Cup) when the weather is warmer.

And this past week, we ran our first load of dishes through the dishwasher and I put my Fiestaware away in my glass cupboards. This cupboard will get fuller as we unpack more boxes but I am "loving" how colourful this looks! 

So that is what's up with us "currently" -- Sam's birthday experiences, Opening Day of baseball, and more post-renovation work. Thank you to Amy for continuing to host this fun link up and I'm looking forward to reading the other posts this weekend, in between unpacking more boxes.

March Break 2026: Beach Bums

When we were talking about potential March Break plans, we had a bunch of ideas. At one point I had a trip to Europe all planned out -- a trip which would have checked a few items off of Sam's travel bucket list. However, the rest of the family seemed a little "ho hum" about it. Eventually, we settled on trying out an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic. It was the exact vacation we needed after our grey, cold winter filled with a renovation.

We enjoyed being able to wear shorts and t-shirts!

 

The resort we stayed at was not the highest end resort but it had a sister resort right next door. The two resorts were connected by a pedestrian street which guests from both resorts could access. The pedestrian street had a few small stores and all you could eat gelato and pizza, as well as a coffee shop. We spent quite a bit of time here. The first night we checked it out and got some delicious gelato. I thought this street was so dreamy at night with all the lights strung across it. 

We went to the sports bar at the sister resort to watch the Dominican Republic take on the US in the World Baseball Classic. Sadly, while they first said it was fine for us to be there, about half an hour later, they kicked us out. It was fun to watch a bit of the game in the Dominican though. 

We knew we were signing up for a room with two double beds but we didn't realize "double" would be defined as "a twin and a bit." We were extremely cozy at night! Hahahahaha!!! 

Even though our resort was not fancy, it was so pretty. The buildings each had eight rooms and they were painted in pink, green, yellow, orange, and purple. I loved that the resort was fairly spread out so I got lots of walking in each day.

The view of palm trees never got old...

...and we enjoyed all the time we got to spend on the beach. We ended up only spending a couple of hours at the pool as it was always crowded and the chairs were all reserved by 7am every day. The pool was also the centre of the entertainment so it was very loud. We were always able to find four chairs and some shade at the beach and it was much quieter. Dave and I went for a walk the first day and I got a mojito to take with me on my walk!

This was the pedestrian street during the day and the best avocado salad I've ever eaten. It was maybe my favourite food I ate all vacation. Yum!!!

The first night we enjoyed being at the beach at sunset. It was gorgeous.

 

The second day started off with us getting a new room. The previous night we had drunken karaoke going on outside our room until after 11pm. That was how we discovered our room overlooked the outdoor stage where the sister resort's evening entertainment happened. As we're not late night party people, we asked for, and were given, a quieter room.

It was no great hardship to hang out on the beach until our room was ready.

 

So those were our first two days. We enjoyed the gelato and pizza and drinks and beach and having not very much to do at all. It was a very relaxing start to our vacation.

Renovation Report: Weeks 20 & 21

It's time for another renovation report and I am combining week 20 (the week we were away) and week 21, last week. The report for Week 20 is a little odd because we left on the Sunday with some things left to be done and arrived home on Friday to an empty, clean house.

They hung the mirror in Sam's bathroom.

They put the topper on the last stair.

They finished painting in the (old) office, the hallway, and the basement stairwell.

The dumpster was out of our driveway, and, most importantly, all of the construction supplies were cleared out of all of our rooms. And the cleaners had come through so everything was clean!!!

Last Monday, we came home and they had started to build the back porch. Additionally, Sam had used his new shower for the first time on the weekend and we discovered that they had forgotten to seal a piece of the door so it leaked all over the bathroom. So that got fixed!

More railing supports have been added here.

There were clearly still supplies in our driveway. However, at some point in the week, I came home and helped the workers identify the last few things they had stored in our garage so that was cleared out.

Sam's towel bars got hung...

...and the light bulbs for our basement light finally arrived! Whooo hooo!!!

And on Wednesday, the back stairs were completed...

...and our backyard and driveway got cleaned up.

 

There are still three small things left to do but on Thursday, for the first time in months, no one was working at our house. One thing left is to pick up a mirror which was ordered for us but was too big for the space. Another thing is to deal with the piles of dirt from digging the windows, but the piles are currently frozen so they have to wait for them to thaw. The last thing is to install a deadbolt in our back door.

 

Then later in the spring, the workers will come back to finish one final piece of weather dependent work.

 

Learnings from the past weeks:

 

We shouldn't have actually been sleeping in the new rooms until the city officially allowed it. Ooops. We didn't know that :)

 

What defines "done"? The main question we've been asked (and we are asking it too) is "Is the renovation actually done?" We thought that would be easy to answer but here's the thing. What defines "done"?

Are they done working on our house? Mostly. There are just a few small tasks left.

Is our building permit still up? Yes.

Are the workers coming every day? No, nor do they need to.

Did we pass our final house inspection with the city? Yes.

Do we have full use of our house? Almost.

 

Is the contractors' sign still on our front yard? Yes.

 

As I said above, what defines "done"? So with that, I declare the renovation done. Allow me to paraphrase TS Eliot's "The Hollow Men" as this is what has been running through my mind the past week:

 

This is the way the [renovation] ends 
Not with a bang but a whimper.

This will be the last "renovation report" I'm writing for the blog (although I reserve the right to change my mind on that!). I will write a few "post-renovation reports" but not weekly. Thank you for cheering us on through this process, being excited with us, and reading all the nitty gritty (dusty!) details of our house renovation.

Friday Favourite Moments #12 2026

Woot! Woot! It's finally Friday! And the Jays play their first game of the official MLB season today! You can count on our family watching the game tonight and we can't wait!!! Until then, here are some of my favourite moments from this past week. Spoiler alert: It's a lot of "post-renovation work."

1) Tulips

Yes, the tulip love is still going strong. These bring a bright spot of sunshine to our otherwise grey, early spring. I will probably stop buying tulips soon but until I have some flowers outside to brighten my days, I will continue to enjoy them :)

2) My yellow office

 

Painting my new office a bright yellow was a favourite this week! As I've said before, there is very little natural lighting in this room so I wanted it very bright. This yellow was the perfect fit. It looks very empty still as we haven't yet emptied out our storage unit but imagine it with a desk, a cozy place to sit, and a rug, and I think it will be perfect.

 3) Rachel working on her room

I've mentioned this before too but Rachel fixing holes in her walls and painting her new room with her bestie, S, was a definite favourite this week. These two girls were so proud of all their hard work. Dave and I did the second coat of paint but other than that, these two taped, primed, and painted the first coat. They did an awesome job!

 

4) Sam and Rachel's new rooms

Both Sam and Rachel are now partly moved into their new rooms. While there is still some setting up to do, and some furniture to acquire, the fact that they can both sleep there is awesome!!! Since Sam's room is brand new, he got to choose his paint colour but didn't have to do the work of painting it! Hahaha!!!

 

5) CAN-Struction

We took a small renovation break and went to check out CAN-Struction last weekend. It was fun as always! All these structures are built out of food which is then donated to the Food Bank.

left: Mario Kart; middle: sushi; right: Stitch from Lilo & Stitch

 

6) Our friends rock!

 

On Saturday, our friends and their son came over and helped us move furniture, helped us move Sam down into his new bedroom, and helped us move all our boxes from our neighbours' basement.

 

A few evenings ago, Janice came over and helped me dust for a few hours -- we cleaned off the rest of Sam's shelf, a shelf of books in the living room, and the shelf of canned food and boxes in the dining room. Janice even helped me fold a couple of loads of laundry. Our friends have been so supportive and helpful throughout this whole renovation process and I am so thankful for them. 

7) Coffee at work

One of my co-workers had won ten free coffees through the Tim Horton's Roll Up The Rim to Win promotion. Yesterday she brought coffees for a few of us. I've been so tired this week from working and unpacking/cleaning after the reno, that I very much appreciated the extra caffeine boost. 

So those were my favourite moments from this week. It's Thursday evening as I'm writing this and I know another favourite moment will be in a couple of hours when I can crawl into bed really early. I'm tired.

 

How has your week been? Do you have a favourite moment?