Before & After

I just spent time catching up with my friends blog and one of her postings reminded me of something that I was going to post quite sometime ago.  The trouble was I wasn't happy with the pictures after they were taken. 

I have just looked at them again and decided well this is me, this is what I do six out of seven days a week sometimes all seven.  Now most times we don't look at people as close as these pictures are, but this is me.

Those that know me will know that I am self conscious of my receded lower jaw line, due to bad dentistry when I was in my early teens.  The dentist said I should have my back permanent molars removed to give me room in my mouth.  The only thing that did was to stop my jaw from growing in proportion to the rest of my face.  My teeth are crooked due to my jaw problems and wearing a lower splint 24/7 for a couple of years to save my mandibular joint, as I have TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder).  I now only wear a splint at night just in case I grind my teeth.  I also now have very noticeable tilt to my head due to being rear ended twice in one week in 1989.

This is me when I first get up in the morning (my hair is not layered now) at least my hair was like this a few months ago.  My face always looks like this.  No eyelashes to talk off, spidery blood vessels around my nose and the shadows under my eyes.  I must say though my hair is my own colour, it does not come out of a bottle.  It does look darker than actually is in this picture but the grey doesn't really show, what grey I have.  I don't like this look so every morning depending on what I am wearing I use a selection of these product.

The three products at the back I use after washing my face; a toner, eye serum and moisturiser.  The others are the ones used on this particular day, it looks like I was wearing purple that day. The only item I never wear is lipstick, I may in the winter, wear a coloured lip gloss.

 

 Now I could have chosen any other one of these products, it depends on the clothes that I wear.  I've changed a few items and added some other items, but not much has changed since these pictures were taken.

This is me now ready for work or Church or just to go out.  A few years ago Evette told me I wore too much make up.  Maybe she is right.  But my nose is not red, the shadows under my eyes are gone, I have eyelashes and my hair has a small curl to it.

Laura you reminded me that I had done these pictures months ago.

Out with the old! In with the new!

OK, so I've talked on Facebook a lot about our new boiler system, but it's one thing for me to talk about it but if you don't know what I'm on about, it is hard to grasp the concept of what is involved, the cost and the difference from the old to the new.  That being said I thought I should post pictures of the old system that was, yes was, in the house when we moved in and the new system.

Now we had hoped the boiler would last at least for this winter if not next.  As it is a costly endeavour to replace, but when we called for a service on the boiler the repair man informed us the system was not worth paying to have it cleaned and serviced, at least two sets of burners were no longer working and the others did not look much better.  Actually when they moved the old boiler the burners were disintegrating to say nothing of the rest of the machine.

Now remember we want to try and keep the house as authentic as we are able and can afford, that meant taking out baseboard (skirting board) hot water fin heaters and putting back radiators that are almost or are 100 years old, no way we can afford to purchase reconditioned ones or new cast iron radiators.

This is the old boiler, now it is small considering what is the norm for these older houses.  This unit was built in 1956 (the plumbers found a date on the unit) and was installed in 1957 (we found the original tag tied to one of the pipes).  As you can see the bottom section where the burners are is pretty grungy, and very sooty and mucky. 

The red item is the pump that circulates the hot water, as you can see it is really mucky with lots of oil leakage onto the basement floor.

This round section and another one further down is where they need to connect the new system, because it depends on where they could tie in as to how much the final bill will be (we don't have it yet as they haven't finished).  You will see later that they did manage to tie in the new system to these areas.

This is the hot water tank which really didn't need to be replaced, but we understood that if we were putting a new boiler in then we should put in a dual system.  One that heated the hot water heating system and would also give us hot water on demand and save on our gas bills because we would not be keeping this large tank constantly hot.

This is what the hot water heating pipes look like in the ceiling of the basement.  Where you see the blue pipe connecting to the copper is where the plumber replaced the last piece (at least we believe it is the last piece) of galvanised household water piping that was still in use.  The plumber had run out of red pipe for hot water but said it was just the colour that was different so he used what he had, blue, we just have to remember that that is a hot water connection. 

This, for anyone who is interested, is an old Hillman gas space heater that heated the basement.  All the radiator pipes are in the ceiling and as heat rises you end up with cold feet, when we are down where our TV is located.  This heater is also being disconnected and removed and we are putting a radiator on it's own line in the TV room.

This is the new system it has (I believe) three pumps and pipes galore.  You don't know when it is running as it is very quiet.  At lease it is now, the old radiators introduced some crud into one of the pumps so it was making a bit of noise the other night, I woke Richard up to go and check it for me.

Just another view to show you that that ugly big pump is now gone.  So this small unit not only heats the house but also gives us hot water on demand.

And yes they did manage to hook it up to those round sections that the old boiler was hooked too which is great.

This is just one of the radiators we managed to find and purchase.  It weighs a lot, I can't move it, I watched one of the young plumbers moving it and he had to walk it on those little legs that you see.  This is the one in the basement.  Now it appears to be hooked up but it is not working yet.  This one will have its own thermostat control, especially for when I am down here working or watching TV.  The radiators are dirty, didn't dawn on Richard to use the power washer to clean them off, but they are authentic with the age of the house.  We are hoping this one does not leak.  The largest of the four is in the master bedroom and I noticed today writing on the side which states 'leaks'.  It will mean it will have to be disconnected and taken back to our source and hopefully she still has all the others and will let us pick a different one.  Because these radiators have been taken out of another house, just a couple of blocks away from our own, we do not know until they are hooked up if they leak or not.

These four radiators we paid $700 for them.  Richard went and got them, one at a time, in our vehicle and brought them into the house placing them in the rooms where they would be hooked up; at least three of them.  The fourth one, which is the one that leaks, he strapped to the appliance dolly and walked home with it, that one he had to get help with getting it upstairs, needless to say he is a bit, no, very upset that that is the one that leaks.  So if you are reading this and have one of these radiators and would like to give it to us, please let us know.  I'm not sure if the lady we purchased them from will let us choose a different one once we tell her the reason why we want a different one.

I'm sure this saga of our radiators is not over yet.

Our Home (3)

I believe it is about time I added some more pictures of our home.  Where did we stop, I believe it was at the bottom of the stairs.

We have added the family pictures on the walls as you climb the stairs you will see our children and grandchildren.  It really is time I had some updated pictures of not only the grandchildren but also our children.  The last one I have of Ian is when he graduated from the RCMP and even that I had to print for myself, what is it with boys that they do not consider it important to have pictures taken? 

This is our spare room, ready for visitors.  Actually at this point in time the bed and floor are full of presents that need to be wrapped and sent out to the children for Christmas and various birthdays that we are rather late sending gifts for or early if we get things packed up before Dec 3rd, actually my guess is we will be late for Evette's birthday too.  It's a good job our children are used to us always being late with gifts, it was so much easier the year they came to visit.  On the wall you will see the crewel picture I made when my children were little and Creative Circle was the house party of the day. The smaller picture is one of my Mum's needle point scenes.  And of course we still have Ian's rocking chair and his monkey, the other soft toy is Kegan's, a bit too big for Lynda to take home with her on the train.

Here we have Richards collection of singing and talking stuffed animals, a story behind each one and as you probably would guess a grandchild was thought of for each one.  They can play with them when they visit\
.

 Books and games, Evette I'm sure you recognize the mat on the floor.  My ornament teddy bear collection is also in the spare room on that bookcase.

The view of the room from the door.  This rug I designed and made when the children were young, as they would say, in the orange house.

And the light fixture in the spare room.  I love all the old light fixtures that are still in the house.

 

Oops!  I forgot to adjust the curtains.  This is Richard's room.  The picture on the wall is one of his Aunt Ger's it always reminds us of our stay in MacNutt.

 While cleaning up the left overs from the prior owners Richard found this chair in the basement.  After giving it a good clean and scraping of the splattered paint we ended up with a lovely green chair with a varnished seat.  It goes great in this alcove that is the dormer window.
 

 This is the built in dresser, it is great fun each draw is bigger that the one above it, it is built into the slop of the roof.  The picture on the wall is one of my favourites that Landestreu and MacNutt congregations gave us, it reminds us of Landestreu church in the winter, this picture has a church in a field just like Landestreu.  Richard has a walk in closet on the right.

 On the left of the alcove is a cupboard also built under the roof line.  There is no picture of the light fixture in this room as it is fairly modern, about 1980'ish.

This is the master bedroom, or suite as Richard calls it.  The jug and bowl we found at a garage sale and thought it would go great in this house.  The picture above the fireplace is called 'The Spider Web' which I've put copies on my blog in the past.

On the right of the bed is my 'walk in closet'.  Richard found, at another garage sale, the really cute brass hook for my housecoat, it is a lady taking a bath.  I think the print above the bed was a Value Village purchase, but it goes great in this room.

And of course the lovely old light fixture, I think this is my favourite one, well at least one of my favourites the other being in the media room.

This is me trying to work artistically with drapes that are too long.  This room we generally call the 'boudoir room", (in the old fashioned meaning of the word), but at you see it's my ironing room.  My dresser and the desk which I use to store my hair dryer etc, and my makeup.  I now have a place for Evettes bronzed baby shoes and Ian's blue and white checkered baby shoes.  Oh, and the sewing machine is in here because the desk is where I use it.

 This is the 2nd room of the master bedroom, as you see it is the catch-all room.  The cushions are from the parsons bench which I need to recover, I do have the material, now I need the time.  In the left hand corner are items that belong to Evette and then there are various and sundry boxes with my craft stuff in them.

 I think this light is in that last room, it is plastic but looks like glass.

 Above this dresser is another of my Mum's needlepoint pictures.  These are the ones she didn't want on her walls and I guess no one else in the family wanted them so I have them.

 This little hall is outside the bathroom (on the right), great place to keep our supply of towels and the laundry hamper.

And of course this is the bathroom, the smallest room in the house, it is smaller than the bathroom in the basement.

And now we head back down stairs.  Not sure I mentioned that all the floors on this level are pine.  The original floor boards have been covered over, not sure if thier condition, so I doubt we will take the pine up, at least not for a good number of years.

 I believe at one time there were probably three windows on that wall, but a door was added as the house was once a boarding home, or housing for nuns, it depends who you are talking too.

These are the pictures of Richards and my parents, grandparents and various other family members who happen to be in the pictures we have inherited from our families.

And the bottom of the stairs.  One of Richards grandmother's dried flower pictures, a picture of him holding Kegan and Chase, and a 1905 German Confirmation certificate.

I'll have to check to see what's left to show you, I'm guessing just the basement.  Soon I will post the rest.

Our Home (2)

A few more pictures to show you all.

Isn't this lovely?  Richard spent a good part of a day cleaning all the light fixtures and brought out the beauty of all the old light fixtures

We are now in the room off the Parlour, this is the far corner; two handy chairs and Grandpa Steene's piano bench ready and waiting for people to start playing games

Some family treasures on the shelves between the chairs; top shelf Lynda's early craft project and last years Christmas gift from her two boys;  3rd shelf contains gifts from Evette and Ian when they were youngsters.

This is the other end of the room and of course our nativity collection with the picture of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Bruce, Alberta where Richard was a Vicar.

The hall looking towards the parsons bench and a book-case with our photograph albums.

Richard's collection of Uncle John's Readers

The oil painting that Aunt Monica gave Richard and the shell animals made my his Grandma Emma Mensch

The vanity which will eventually be removed as will the sunken bath tub.

Oops... that's the wall in the hall again; three of my petit point pictures that I kept

Time I headed for bed.  We'll take the stairs another day.  I hope you enjoy seeing the items that make this house our home.

 

Our Home

I know you have all been waiting for picture of how the house looks now we are settled so a few pictures to start with... just a few though I have to keep you in suspense.  Actually there are loads of pictures so I will post a few at a time... I promise.  All the picture were taken the evening before our Congregations Progressive supper and Home Blessings.

These first ones are the dining room

Finally my china is on display, Richard had never actually seen it.

We changed out the wall sconces and are so happy with these and our three miniature oil on wood paintings from Lithuania

Our Front Parlor

As you can see Wyneken likes our rustic coffee table with it's end cushions Katie will quite often take the other cushion

I was hoping the wood inlay picture above the fireplace would show but the flash reflected, we removed that awful fire screen and cleaned the old electric fire, which has no where to plug into.

My piano after a good clean and the water colour by Sir Wm Boxall, and of course Richard's container ready with his stuff for church in the morning.

The Kitchen hasn't changed much other than it's tidy and a bit more of the wallpaper has been pulled off.

The Old Jam Cupboard where it is meant to be.

The replacement light fixture which I like so much more than the other one that was in here.

And of course Katie's favourite place asking for food as usual, she isn't as fat anymore.

So there you are a few of the main floor rooms.  I must say though we don't spend much time in them we are more often down in the basement where our actual 'living room' is.  So I am hoping that all these pictures stay here on the download page they still show as downloading.