Currently: February 2026

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for "Currently" with Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. You can find Amy here. Honestly, this has been a bit of a hard week. Our car had some sort of "electronic system malfunction" and it took Dave eight hours, and four tow trucks, to even get it out of our driveway. I was up for about three and a half hours in the middle of the night on Sunday into Monday, and we still don't have a shower in our house. With our car being out of commission, we're making do with washing our hair in the laundry sink and wearing extra deodorant. <-- This is renovation life people. (Thankfully, the car dealership said our car should be ready by Friday and yesterday at 4pm, offered us a loaner car to use until then. Phew.)

The thing that was hardest about this week though is that on Monday I found out that a young kid in our extended neighbourhood community was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. My heart dropped when I heard the news, and I am aching for their family. That news put everything else into perspective for me -- our car not working is an inconvenience, having no access to a shower right now is an inconvenience, not sleeping well is an inconvenience. We're all relatively healthy and trying to laugh through the inconveniences. I can only imagine that having a child diagnosed with brain cancer is devastating. So that is where I am at "currently."

 

[loving]

I am "loving" my most recent bouquet of tulips. I really am partial to the orange-yellow ones.

I am "loving" that Tim and Janice offered to let us completely take over their basement bathroom to shower. We can keep our towels, soap, and shampoo there. They have an extra space for us all to hang out in while others of us shower, and we can come and go as we need. I'm so thankful for our friends who are supporting us in this way.

And I am "loving" coming home every day and seeing more progress on our renovation. More flooring has been happening this week and it's exciting! 

[baking/cooking]

 We are not "baking" anything these days and our "cooking" is everything easy. We've had grilled cheese, frozen lasagne, and takeout this week. Frozen pizza (with bagged salads) is on the menu for tonight and then we'll be eating out for a few nights. However, we now have an date for appliances to be delivered so this is going to be a very temporary situation.

Our current "kitchen"/dining room setup is on the left. Our current dishes (and hair washing) setup in the laundry room is on the right.

[watching/reading]

The other day I was "watching" the sunrise, and stopping every minute or so to take pictures. The trees were covered in frost (which you can't really see here) and the sun was reflecting on them. It was incredible!

 

As for "reading" I've been reading about everything cozy/resilience! I read The Finnish Way: Finding Courage, Wellness, and Happiness Through the Power of Sisu by Katja Pantzar and Christmas Island: A Very Hygge Holiday by Natalie Normann. I've decided to try and enjoy winter by embracing cozy and my inner perseverance. It might be (kind of) working. Maybe.

[planning]

I'm not "planning" much of anything right now. Getting through this renovation, and the other minor challenges life is throwing at us this week, is taking all of my energy right now. I have nothing left over for "planning."

[savouring]

I've been "savouring" my quiet mornings, with a cup of coffee-hot chocolate, wrapped up in my blanket, and with my twinkle lights turned on. I'm warm, it's quiet, and I have some peace before the intensity of the day hits.

So that's where we're at this first week of February -- making it through despite some inconveniences and remembering that our frustrations are just temporary blips in the grand scheme of things. Here's hoping I can keep my perspective as winter, our car, and our renovation, keep throwing challenges at us...!

Renovation Report Week 13

Well we've just finished Week 13 of our renovation and we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We've received a very tentative completion date and it's much sooner than we anticipated. But we also know it could change.

There were a lot of exciting happenings this week, some of them very unexpected!

Most of the drywall is now up! There are a few small spaces which need to be completed but the bulk of the work is done.

They started the siding on the addition this week which we weren't expecting! We picked brown to match the darker colours in our brick. When we picked siding we realized how many colours are actually in our brick so we had a lot of options to choose from.

They built a wall to close in our basement stairwell. This makes the stairwell darker but gives us more usable space in this room in the basement. 

They started mudding in our bedroom. And by the end of the week they had started in our upstairs bathroom and the new living room as well.

The siding got finished! Whooo hooo!!! 

When they poured the new concrete in the basement, to fill in the holes from plumbing, I was sad that we never signed it. However, there was a small bit of concrete put in upstairs so I asked if we could leave our mark. The workers were fine with it so now we're a small, permanent, part of the work.

Part of the shower was installed in the basement bathroom, and the rest was moved, so we have our laundry room back again! This is exciting because we needed to start doing laundry, and dishes, here this past weekend.

Sam's shower base, and walls, were installed. We may have a usable shower in the near future.

More drywall was added to the powder room -- on the outside wall and above the sink.

 

They started laying flooring in our bedroom. By the end of the week, they were finished with this!

And in the most unexpected happening of the week, our new kitchen cupboards were installed!!! My mom was sad that she wouldn't see our kitchen finished before she left but she did get to see the cupboards. As you can see, we went for a blue/grey on the bottom and white on the top. I love it so much!!!

I'm glad I got pictures because these will all be covered in plastic this week so they can work on the walls and floor in the kitchen. The empty shelves in the picture on the right are where my two glass doors are going to be!!!

A small main bathroom update -- mudding was started and flooring will be going in.

 

Learnings from this week:

 

We picked paint colours on Wednesday and I discovered I really like blues and greens! Also, it is extremely hard to pick a paint colour for an entire room from a one inch swatch. We may be doing some repainting in the next year. Oh well.

 

I love that the workers are protecting our floors as they lay them but I haven't gotten to experience, and enjoy, the full effect of them yet. They're all covered in cardboard as there is still painting to be done. Again, I understand and appreciate why they're being covered, but I'm eager to see them too! Dave mentioned that flooring is more exciting than he realized!!!

 

Our back splash tiles are sitting in boxes in our new living room waiting to be installed and I am so excited to see what they look like on the wall!!! Eeeeks! Can't wait!

 

The kitchen cabinet installation went extremely quickly. I think it took about four hours from start to finish.

We're going to be fully living in our half-renovated house this month as my parents have left and our neighbours are returning. Wish us luck and immense amounts of patience as we adjust to our smaller, space (without a shower or kitchen sink) again.

Friday Favourite Moments #4 2026

It's hard to believe this week is over. In some ways, it's gone way too fast. Here are my favourite moments from this past week.

1) Time with Mom & Dad

Honestly, this month has been so special to have Mom & Dad living so close to us. They've completely spoiled us by cooking us all our meals, doing all our laundry, and just giving us a "home away from home" during our renovation. We're still staying at our house but we've had so much time with them. I'm just so incredibly thankful that my parents have been here for the past five weeks.

 

2) Nostalgic movies

Last weekend we went down a rabbit hole of some old favourite movies. We started off with Dead Poet's Society. Dave and the kids had never seen it. Then we watched Calendar Girls and Hidden Figures. It was such a great weekend of movie watching. We'll have to see what we can find to watch tonight!

 

3) Puzzle Time

I declared I needed a down day last Saturday and I wore my pjs all day, did some laundry, and did a puzzle. I loved it! Then I had the chance to do two more (with Mom, Dad, and Rachel) on Monday. I never thought I would love puzzles so much!

 

4) SNOW DAY

I was just getting ready for bed on Sunday night when my phone started dinging. I checked my texts and discovered that our board had called a snow day for the next day! This rarely happens (we usually only find out at 6am) so we gathered all our stuff and went to Mom & Dad's for the night so we could sleep in the next day. I spent the day doing puzzles and shovelling and it was so great! It was the perfect start to the week :) 

5) Clear laundry room!

Our renovation has taken over parts of our house which aren't being renovated, like our laundry room. And we get it. However, we need to be able to do our own laundry and use the laundry sink for dishes starting sooner than I want to think about as Mom & Dad are leaving. So I was super happy to see that the laundry room had been cleared out towards the end of this week. It just needs a good wash/dusting and we can use it again.

6) Making our mark

We came home one day this week and there was a little piece of wet cement. After checking with our workers, we were able to sign it! Just a little way to remember The Great House Project of 25-26! Hahaha! 

 

7) Text conversation with Rachel

 

I saw these texts between Rachel and Dave over a couple of days at work this week and laughed so hard! Sometimes our kids are so funny!!! (Also, Rachel said it was okay to share these.)

 

 

 8) New kitchen cupboards!!!

I came home from work yesterday and our kitchen cupboards were being installed!!! I was so excited to see them in person and I LOVE THEM!!! It was so fun to have Mom & Dad come over and see them too.

So those were my favourite moments from this past week -- family time and exciting renovation happenings. What's something good that happened for you this week?

Monthly Musings: Winter Fun/Valentine's Day

It's the first Monthly Musings of 2026. I'm so excited that Holly, who blogs at Pink Lady, and Patty, who blogs at Good, Better, Best, are continuing this in 2026. I really love this link up. Thanks for hosting such a fun blog party each month Holly and Patty!

Edited to add: I didn't realize Holly was no longer hosting. Thank you for the time you gave to this link party. Patty -- thank you for continuing to host it. I love this round up. 

 1) Describe your winter so far in one word.

Intense. We've already surpassed our regular annual snowfall for the year. We're in a extremely cold spell (going down to -30C (-22F) with windchill) which is unusual for Ontario. We've had two full school closure days in the past three weeks -- it's just been an "intense" winter thus far. And I know it's far from over. *deep breaths, deep breaths*

 

2) What winter activities have you never tried but want to.

Winter swimming. I've been reading about this practice in places like Norway and Finland and I am intrigued. Living in Canada, and the parts of Canada where I've lived, I've had the opportunity to do so many things. I'm taking the time with this question to talk about some of them.

 

Feeding birds on a forest walk and going in a sauna (or hot tub) and then jumping straight into the snow!

 

Kick sledding, downhill skiing, and tobogganing.

 

Skating (both on regular rinks and through a forest) and snow shoeing.

I've also played on a hockey team, gone curling, and been on a snowmobile. 

But I've never gone "winter swimming" and I feel like I'm missing out! 

3) Favourite winter beverage.

Coffee-hot chocolate with Kahlua and whipped cream!

4) Least favourite winter chore.

Shoveling the driveway after the snow plow has gone by. The snow is super heavy and my arms hurt for a few days afterwards. Yuck.

 

5) Soup or chili? Share a recipe if you would like.

My favourite soup ever is Cream of Carrot-Cheddar Soup. Bonus: the kids like it too and it makes excellent leftovers. You can find the recipe here.  

 

6) Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, both or neither.

I do like both kinds of chocolate but, except for rare occurrences, I just don't love chocolate as much as I used to. I'm usually always up for a Lindt ball though and the dark chocolate ones are my favourite! 

 

7) Share your galentine's or Valentine's Day plans.

I should probably make some. We're getting more low key about Valentine's Day as the kids get older and it might be even moreso this year. 

 

8) Do you dress festive for Valentine's Day?

I don't. I always think I want the heart sweater I see on other blogs but I still haven't bought myself one and there must be a reason why... 

 

9) Do you make any sweet treats for Valentine's Day?

No, and we especially won't this year as we still won't have a kitchen. (I sound like a real Valentine's Day downer, don't I? I think I just really don't have the energy for it this year and I'd rather show love consistently all year round.)

I'm sure there's a Valentine's metaphor in the photo with droopy, unwatered tulips on my heart tablecloth, but this also sums up how I feel about Valentine's Day this year!  

 

10) What is your love language?

 Probably acts of service. I love when people do something kind or nice for me and I love being able to show my love in this way.

So those are my thoughts on the first Monthly Musings of 2026. I never thought I'd be more into winter than Valentine's Day but it looks like I'm still learning and growing! Hahaha!!!

 

If you didn't link up, share one winter activity that you'd like to try. Maybe you'll inspire me to have a new "winter activity dream"!