Sorry...

Hi there, everyone...

I have to applogize for being so "silent" over the last few months. We bought a wreck of a house and have been "working with it" for three months now. I have been quite maxed out with this and, when I do get online, I have only enough energy to lurk. So, I am sorry I have been so silent. I have been a member of this board for two and a half years, and I should reintroduce myself to those new here. There are so many new members, which is FANTASTIC!!!

I am Janet, SAHM to four-year old twin girls, and the wife of a radiologist three years out of residency. We live in Canada, near the Rocky Mountain parks of Banff and Jasper. I am a writer/editor by trade (I never edit my posts, so expect typos, please!), having worked mostly in the software development sector. Lately I've been delving into jewellery design, and I've been selling my work in two galleries in Canada. Busy, busy, busy. Story of everyone else on this board as well!

Welcome all those new here, and sorry I've been such a dud to my old buddies here...

Janet

[Meenah]

Janet,
Pace yourself with the house. We have been in ours for two years and two months, and still have much to do. Everthing is so expensive, even if I had the time I wouldn't have the $$$. Nice to have you back and posting!!
Luanne

[DCJenn]

Welcome back!

I was wondering how the poodle poo was!

Jenn

[houseelf]

Janet,

Welcome back! It is great to hear from you.

Best of luck with the house. If you are anything like us, I'm sure that you all need a constant supply of Malox to get through the house repairs.

Do you have pics of the jewelry that you design? I would love to see. I'm very uncreative and am in awe.

Kelly

[SueC]

I totally can relate with the house stuff--we've been in ours 4 years (its a fixer-upper) and it can definitely consume all of your time. We recently gutted and remodeled our kitchen and for 4 months ate take out and sandwiches--tough with a baby and a toddler in the house!

[PrincessFiona]

Janet

Good Grief...don't APOLOGIZE!!! We are all in and out from time to time...

If anyone should apologize, it's me...I've been wrapped up in school and the holidays and still haven't called you!

Kris

[Phoebe]

Janet-

Glad to see you. You were missed! I can relate to the house repairs. We have lots to do to get our house ready for the resale this coming year. I cringe at the thought of it.

Your jewelry design sounds really neat. Post some pictures for us, would love to see what you have done.

Jennifer

Hi everyone! Well, thanks for well wishes on renovating. Actually, we can't live there yet. The walls are ripped out and we redid the wiring. We took up all the flooring and are repairing the subfloor. Now for more insulation. Next is drywall, then flooring, then new plumbing fixtures and faucets, then kitchen cabinets. After that is done and I have a functioning kitchen and no wires hanging out of the walls to electrocute the kids, THEN we can live there while the rest of the renovations "happen over time". I grew up in a house like that, with my dad ripping and tearing out walls all over the place, so I am used to it...

I am glad we went this far with the ripping and tearing though. We found five live wires connecting to nothing in the walls. We also discovered some wacky ducting, like the dryer duct that lead into the wall to a supposed vent... only the vent was not there! The wall was full of dryer lint! Then, we found that the ducting for heating was not done quite right, so we redid that to make the upstairs bedrooms warmer. I'm really glad we ripped off the panelling and were able to see the walls, or we wouldn't have been able to see that these things needed fixing.

What did Luanne say in another post... we are making... memories!

It is exciting, though. Being able to pick out everything. Picking out plumbing fixtures was a blast, faucets even more fun. Now I am LOVING picking out lighting... The poodle poo is gone, as is the buffalo head. Now the fun starts, and we hope to be in by January 31, my birthday. We---shall---see!

About my jewellery, I work with handmade metal work in sterling and gold that I commission from other artists, hand made art glass, and gemstones. My bracelets seem to be the big seller. It's pricey stuff, but my materials are really costly. I am thinking about taking a silversmithing course at an art college close by. They have master goldsmiths teaching sessions in the summer. We shall see...

[houseelf]

The jewelry making sounds really neat--sort of a lost art.

By the way, I have to ask, when we wimps whine about the weather here, do you just laugh at us? I always think about you when I'm bemoaning the latest three feet of snow here on the boards.

Good luck with your renovations!

Kelly

No, Kelly, I don't laugh at all you Southerners! In fact, today we had such warm weather that it was melting all over the place. Being just East of the Rocky Mountains, we get "chinooks" here, which means we either have some normal weather, really cold weather (minus 40 Celsius was the coldest last March in the three years I've been here), or warm chinook winds that bring melting and warm weather. Today it was plus 9 Celcius, which might be around 45 Ferinheit... so...

I know that Minnesota is very cold, being in the Midwest. My relatives are all from there. They used to call us when we lived in the Toronto area and say "how's the weather up there". We'd say "you mean down here". Toronto is at the same latitude as Northern California, I think. Canada's weather is so variable, depending on where you are. If you go to Vancouver, it rains almost all winter, with the flowers coming out in February!

So we're not all that frozen up here, depending on where you are.

How's it down there today? Melting like here?

Janet

[houseelf]

Actually, I'm sure that I'm going to jinx us...but this is the warmest winter that we've had in the almost three years that we've been here. We barely had a white Christmas and it is supposed to get up to 47 on Wednesday. 8O I haven't been on my treadmill once which I could dance a happy jig about. (I know that I'm a convert when I'm happy that it is "only" 20 degrees outside....jeesh!)

Most Minnesotans are spitting chips over the lack of snow because they love their ice fishing, skiing, snow boarding, snowmobiling, sledding, and outdoor ice hockey. In fact, several events have already been canceled. I guess that it just goes to show that you can't please everyone.

I have noticed that there are a lot of Canadians living here in Minnesota. I would tease that y'all must be hail and hearty if you think boarding up in Minnesota for winter is "snow birds" but I know that it is probably the economy that draws people here.

Anyway, I hope that you get the winter that you want...snow if that is your thing or mild if that is your thing. Although I am the world's biggest whiner about the weather, I really do love all the beautiful pine trees and lakes here. It really is pretty here. (See how much I've grown.)

Kelly

We've had no snow either... or at least not much to speak of. In fact, for the thrid winter in a row, it's looking a bit too light on the precipitation. So, that means we might get another really dry summer next year. Around here, we were in drought emergency. This dry stretch is the dryest in 50 years, and we had official drought for most of Alberta. Farmers were sending hay from the East to help farmers, etc. Many farmers went bankrupt, and many other had to slaughter their herds of cattle because they didn't have enough grass in their pasture, and not enough money to buy feed. And feed prices went through the roof. Hay went from $75 a bale to $150! So the poor farmers around here are dying for snow and rain....

What's going on with our weather? It makes me very suspicious of global warming.

Janet

[houseelf]

Janet-- I agree, how can we not have snow in January in Minnesota? There is definitely something to this global warming. As I mature, I'm definitely more aware of these environmental issues. My next car will probably be a Toyota Prius and as I finished using all my normal cleaning products I'm replacing them with environmentally safe options (at a much higher price. ). This global warming thing seems to be happening quicker than what we thought would happen.

Kelly

Actually, Kelly, this opens up a whole big interesting topic that my dh and I are currently dealing with. With this log house we are renovating, we wanted to make it as energy efficient as possible. So we looked into geothermal heating. That's where they drill a well-depth core to recover heat from the earth and then heat from 50 degrees to what you want, rather than from minus whatever to something sane. Only problem was that it's cost prohibitive, costing almost ten times what normal furnaces cost. So we put our money into high-tech high R-value insulation (we were ripping the walls down to the studs anyway to redo wiring), and triple glazed windows with low-e and argon. Then we're putting in a tankless hot water heater, so that should save a bunch on our energy costs. Alberta (our province) is the strongest objector to the Kyoto accord, which makes me feel ill living here. Alberta is opposed because it might impact our strong oil and gas industry (we sell oodles of petro products to the US and abroad).

I've also tried to only support companies that are better in their environmental practices. For example, I spent three days on the phone calling around to ensure that the hardwood flooring I bought was sustainably logged. The companies acted like nobody had ever asked them that question before. And we are buying our hardwood doors from a company in Ontario that is very involved with sustainable logging and has a good track record with a reputable national environmental organization. I think it does make a difference. I have to hope so, anyway...

It's scary how much we can or can't do as individuals. And it does make a difference... if only on a micro level.

[houseelf]

Wow, I'm very impressed. We definitely have to look out for our children's future by acting today. Really, I was the farthest thing from a "greenie" until I had my baby.

You hit the nail on the head. The problem is that environmentally sound products and services are near cost prohibitive for a lower or middle class family. That in turns creates a quasi elite environmentalist set. Ugh.

I guess that we can all just do our best and let companies and governments know that we want more options to do the right thing. Very sad commentary on how short-sited we all can be.

Kelly