So I’ve been a bit busy and it was due to a little bit of renovating for the girlfriend. The kitchen was looking a little drab and she decided that it was time for a change but instead of letting her swap out all that real wood for some fake wood I convinced her to refinish instead. It would prove to be a challenge for her but she plowed on through and the end result is fantastic. She learned a few things in the process but she can honestly say that she partook in refinishing and remodeling her kitchen. It wasn’t instant and there were some headaches but overall the transformation looks great.

I built her a bottom cabinet to extend the countertop on the left side of the stove, you can tell in the pics how much counter real-estate she now has compared to before. I also split apart the pantry and the corner display to make room for a workstation space, she loved that idea. Everything in the kitchen was re-done, floor tile, backsplash, paint, stain and counter top. So there you go, I was busy and so was she but the place looks great.

Left side stove view, a new countertop and bottom cabinet will be put in place

Another pre-reno shot of stove side, it won't look the same again.

Pre-reno shot of fridge side

Wider shot of kitchen

What the old stain and varnish looked like

The doors come off

Removed the doors and relocated the corner display

A few things removed so that the tiles can be changed

Wall will soon have new workstation and restored corner display

Will add another bottom cabinet and longer countertop next to stove

One of the cabinet doors after sanding and new stain applied

Corner display case in the process of being restored and refinished

Workstation made and put into place, note the red stool.

Red stool and red framed bulletin board

The old range hood was replaced with a new Allure model, nice and quiet

Everything back in place and being used

Another view of everything back in place and being used

This used to be open for a dishwasher, now it's a new cabinet

The workstation in all its glory

Remember that small countertop and non existent bottom cabinet, well...

Ah ha! One thing I love about my job is being able to research things and while researching some computer technology I stumbled upon this, I don’t know what this has to do with computers but it was there. I have had my share of ice dams and yes I am up there on the roof at least twice a year shoveling, pushing, throwing snow to avoid those blasted dams but they eventually form. More vents will be installed this year but I will get the Avalanche just in case the venting is not a 100 percent fix. My neighbor in front has venting but he too falls victim to the dreaded ice dam.

Spring is around the corner! But it’s a really long corner.

I remember looking out the window last March and thinking to myself, “Wow, that’s some serious snow out there.” There was about 5 feet of the white stuff on the lawn and it was quite the site. I remember being in the kitchen and hearing the rumble of the snow clearing crew trying to do their best clearing the sides of the street, making enough room so that 2 cars could pass. Winter of 2008 would be unforgettable but winter 2009 would also be unforgettable.

This winter we had some serious cold spells, cold enough to probably freeze the balls on a brass monkey. If you never heard that term then look it up, it’s not what you would think. If you have heard it before then great, we’re on the same page. But the freezing temperatures weren’t the only thing I had to deal with this winter.

Like the past four winters, I ended up clearing the roof of snow. I remember the neighbors looking at me funny the first year doing it. But I do remember a while back, a friends neighbor had their roof collapse due to excessive snow build up and I really did not want that to happen to me. No one ever bothered me but last year when the reports of roofs collapsing hit the news, well let’s just say that last year I wasn’t the only person to be up and clearing. The one thing I did not clear this year was the car shelter and after some heavy snowfall followed by some heavy rain, the poor metal and plastic  just couldn’t handle the load and it collapsed. Luckily I was not underneath or else I would have been in real trouble. My own stupidity really, I had seen the amount of snow building up but delayed it for another day and another and another until it couldn’t take another day. It took a bit of time to clean up and a lesson was learned that day.