Expecting: July 2008

Monday, July 28, 2008

Birthday and Anniversary

July 17th I turned 26 years old

Charlie and I spent the day together as I had the day off and everyone else was at work. At 4:00 Stef and Raveigh picked me up and were taking me to a secret location. It ended up being a nail salon for pedicures - my first.

Then we picked up Logan and went for dinner to Moxie's (with a gift certificate from our realtor).

Friday we decided to have a BBQ to celebrate my birthday as well as Jenn's and Raveigh's (which we didn't do anything for the week before).
The weather didn't co-operate with my BBQ plans, so I did the roast in the oven and everyone else brought something to complete the meal; Stef the potatoes, Jen the salad, Tyler the garlic bread, and Raveigh brought the dessert.

Dessert was chocolate cupcakes with blue whip cream icing and teddy grahams on the beach.

Teddy Grahams by the fire, with their fruit roll-ups towels close by.

Teddy Grahams lounging under an umbrella with the treasure they discovered.

This Teddy is drowning in the waves, and the other teddy is swimming out to save him with his rescue tube.

Teddy bloating in an inner tube with an umbrella.

And this is the bridesmaid dress that I bought for Kendra's Wedding.

July 23rd was our 3rd Anniversary

I worked until 4pm. We had a glamorous dinner of McDonalds, watched our Wedding video and then wanted to have a fire in our new pit. The problem was that it started to rain almost as soon as we got the fire going. But we were troopers and stuck out the light right for a little while. It was when it started to pick up that we packed it in.

As an anniversary gift Logan bought Wii Mario Cart. So after our rained out fire we played our new game. Nice.

Jen's Grad & Company

Jennifer Kymberly Oliver

graduated from Police Training on the 25th.

I am very proud of her.

On the weekend we also had visitors. Brad and Patrick drove to town from BC for Ozzy Ozborne. We had a great time chatting, over Dairy Queen and Wii Mario Cart.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Garden Update

My little garden is going really well. We planted on the long weekend in May (garden) . That weekend was the beginning of nearly a month straight of rain. I was worried that my little garden was going to get washed out. And really, it has still been raining at least every other day. But look at it go!

Parsley (the chives and basil didn't make it outside, but did well in my window sill garden and the parsley didn't make it)

Carrots

Peas - growing like crazy

There are tons of little pods - still really small peas within

We haven't had a picture of Charlie in a while.

And a little video of him running around in the yard.

Appliance decisions

I think I have the appliances figured out.

The range was the decision maker. I was looking for convection that had a conversion system. That system should convert the temp and the time - not just take the temp down 25 degrees and leave you guessing. The Kitchenaid was the only brand that gave an updated time. So that made that decision.
YKERA205PW Range

My only complaint is the black glass has white on it. Some other brands have all black glass which I think looks much sleeker. But the look of the glass is less important than the conversion system.

The dishwasher is right beside the stove so I decided that we should stick with Kitchenaid so they match.

KUDK03CTWH Dishwasher

The fridge. It is on a different wall than the stove and dishwasher so I felt it didn't to be the same brand as them. That and Sears didn't have a Kitchenaid fridge in stock to look at. So we are looking at a GE Profile.

PDS22SISRSS Fridge

This image is in stainless steel and it will be white. This model is discontinued so I imagine that is why we are able to get a deal of a price with some additional features we were not planning on. There is an ice maker within the freezer and a water dispenser on the inside wall. I am also pleased that there are three pull out drawers in the freezer and plenty of great storage in the fridge.

With the prices we have been given (15% off if you buy three appliances) we should be able to purchase all three appliances and the flooring and only go over our budget by $200-$300.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Appliances

We have been looking at appliances. I have done a ton of research and have been passively looking at stores since I was in Regina. Both moms and I headed out to different stores in Regina and learned a bunch.

I have been back and forth with different brands. First it was GE Profile (I recommend their website. The host from Iron Chef America used to have a science cooking show on the food network. He hosts a series of ten or fifteen minute commercials about the technologies in their appliances but it teaches about some basic principles of all appliances). Anyway, I was so impressed with their website that I was sure we were going to go with them. After looking at a bunch of different stores we realized that many stores would show us two options LG and another brand. I took this to mean that they must be good. I was all over the map.

After feeling very confused we approached things from a "what do we know we don't want" instead of what do we want. This helped a ton. We were able to figure out what features were important to us and which we would not pay extra for. In the end these were the things that were requirements.

Fridge - bottom mount freezer, not french doors.
Dishwasher - Stainless steel interior, nylon racks, some sort of adjust-ability, delay and under $800.
Range - convection, element at the convection fan, convection converter that converts the temperature and the time - not just one that adjusts the temp down 25 degrees and leaves you guessing how much shorter the cook time will be.

We also had a great debate about stainless steel vs. white. Stainless steel is very sexy. But white is very practical. And now that I work in the kitchen department I see how easily the stainless scratches and looks like crap easily. We were also tipped of by the man at Trail appliances that white is on the way back in - and that he figures he sells equal white to stainless now - which is a new trend away from stainless.

I think we have made a decision but nothing is final until we sign the papers. We have until the 20th for the sale at Sears. I will keep you posted.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Dura Ceramic

We are looking at flooring for our kitchen. The current lino is as old as the house and looks terrible.

We had ceramic tile in our last apartment and I hated it. We were on the 12th floor and it was cold. But worse than that it is so porous that if you dropped spaghetti sauce on it, it would suck it up and be impossible to clean.

I have found the solution. Dura Ceramic. It is an engineered stone product made from lime stone and resin. The lime stone absorbs the heat in the room to match the room temp making it warmer under your feet. And you grout it with an acrylic grout that is not porous. Now it is just a colour choice.

Of course the colours are going to be off because of the camera and the internet - but you get the idea.

I am almost certain that we will go with the second one. The first is called blush and it does look very pink. The third is too yellow and the fourth is also too pink. The second has a bit of sage in it and the brown is more of a chocolate milk colour. The pattern is also not as bold as some of the others and repeated through the room I think it will be a little more subdued.