Category Archives: Kara and Kyle

Four years

Posted in Anniversary, Kara and Kyle, Love, Marriage, Wedding by

It’s amazing to think that four years have passed since Kyle and I tied the knot! We’ve grown and learned so much all the years we’ve been together. There’s been a bit of this:

Kara&Kyle372But mostly a lot of this:

Kara&Kyle371

We’ve been through a lot during our fourth year of marriage, from family members passing to miscarriages to the “usual” marital spats about petty things, but we’ve always managed to pull through. The good days outnumber the bad, and for that I am truly grateful. We’ve been able to laugh and be in love with each other and our growing little family.

I love the fact that I can honestly say that I married my best friend. He’s my voice of reason, my rock, my person. It’s safe to say that I’d be a little more than lost if I didn’t have him in my life. As cheesy as it sounds, Kyle completes me, and I like to think I do the same for him. If anything, he’s my calculator and I’m his spell-check.

Happy Anniversary, my love, and here’s to many, many more <3

Tearing up my heart … and carpet

Posted in House and Home, Kara and Kyle, Renovations by

Okay, mostly just carpet, but I wanted to throw a little N’SYNC reference in there and I sure hope you got it.

Kyle and I have been in this house for about 2 ½ years now, and since Day 1, we’ve been wanting to replace the carpet. It wasn’t in the greatest of shapes when we had moved in: a little dingy, snagged in a couple spots, and there were three different kinds of carpet throughout the house. Yep, three. The bedrooms were all the same colour & pile (horrible loop carpet that snagged easily), the stairs were a pile carpet, and the basement is a grey/brown loop carpet. Here’s the proof:

1. Basement carpet. 2. Stairway carpet. 3. Bedroom carpet.

Yep, it was a mess. We have a feeling that the basement and stairway carpet were original to the house and that the stuff in the bedrooms was changed out at some point by the previous owners. Anyway, after we moved in, things only got worse since we have two big dogs. Daphne and Campbell puked on the carpet a few times, leaving gross stains behind no matter how hard I scrubbed the carpet, and their nails got caught in the loops on the bedroom carpet, leaving behind little snags that just got out of control:

The worst case though? When Campbell was fairly new to the household we would crate him while we were out running errands or while I was at work. On day, he must’ve eaten something that didn’t agree with him, because when I returned home I walked into his “room” to find that he had somehow managed to push the bottom tray out of his crate, chewed a HOLE in the carpet while still trapped in his crate, and then pooped all over the place. The hole was mighty impressive, other than obviously frustrating:

That’s my foot for size comparison.

That was two years ago. Kyle and I strategically placed a nightstand over the hole and called it a win for the time being.

Finally, about a month ago, we decided to put our grown-up pants on and bite the bullet in buying new carpet. There isn’t anything wrong with the basement carpet, but we thought for better continuity we should replace both the stairs and the bedroom carpet. After shopping around, we finally decided on a pile and shade we liked, and went ahead and ordered the carpet. That’s where the frustration kind of began.

Kyle was going to tear up the old stuff himself because having the contractor do it was going to cost somewhere around $500. He did it on the weekend I was in Vancouver and Isla was having a sleepover at my mom’s, and while we had to live with bare floors and stairs of doom (see photo over there –>) for a week, it wasn’t so bad. We had to explain to Isla that the stairs were dangerous and that Mommy or Daddy had to carry her down the stairs. (She has become independent in that she insists on going down the stairs with no help.) We also told her to be careful in her room so she didn’t step on a tack strip. We managed to survive the week without having to rush to the hospital for a tetanus shot.

This past weekend, the installers (who are contractors) were supposed to come and install the new stuff. We were told by the company we bought the carpet from that the contractors would be there around 9:30-1o a.m. on Friday to start installing. They showed up around 9:45 a.m., but instead of starting on our carpet, they dropped off some of the materials and said that they had to first go finish a job just outside of town, and that it shouldn’t take to long. Okaaaaay …. So Kyle and I sat around almost all of Friday morning wondering when they’d show back up, and finally by 2 p.m. when they had yet to show up, I gave the guy a call. He said they’d be there by 4 p.m. WTH??? So 4:30 p.m. comes along and they finally show up. They managed to get one bedroom done (Isla’s new room) and said they’d be back Saturday morning around 9. They didn’t get here until 9:40 a.m. and they didn’t leave until around 8:30 p.m., and took a sweet 1 ½ hour lunch break. AND THEY STILL HADN’T FINISHED THE CARPET. Our stairs had nothing but underlay on them, so they said they’d be back Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m. to finish the stairs. FML. (Why so late? Well the guy also runs sound at his church and apparently that’s more important.)

Sunday they got here around 3 p.m. (I’m more than certain he dicked around at his parent’s house before deciding to show up for work on time.) It was about 6 o’clock by the time they were all done. FINALLY. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see someone leave my house and never have to return.

Don’t get me wrong – the carpet looks great. Other than a couple of dings they put in my walls (which will be brought up with the company who hired the contractors, as well as their tardiness), Kyle and I are super happy with the actual installation. And our house is back to normal!! The new carpet has brightened up the bedrooms SO much, and it feels so wonderful on my feet. Kyle even added some end tables that we never use to our bedroom as nightstands, so now we don’t have to use old cardboard boxes anymore ;)

The master bedroom before we brought the furniture back in.

The master bedroom all put back together.

Like I said before, we also moved Isla over to what was the spare room and is now her “big girl” room. We were eventually going to move her there whenever we decide to have baby #2, but since the furniture was already out of there, we moved it over now. I plan to paint it a bit more “girly” in the future, but she seems to be liking her new space so far! It’s a little big bigger than her old room and the layout is a little better too, so she has more room to actually play in there!

I’m working on refinishing a bigger bookshelf for her as well, which will replace the one that’s in there and will match her new furniture whenever I decide to get that. (Probably not until we have another munchkin.)

So there you have it. We are SO glad the weekend is over with and the carpet is installed. I love the look of my floors now and couldn’t be happier! While the price of the carpet wasn’t the lowest, it was definitely worth every penny, IMHO ;) No more mis-matched carpets, no more snags, no more holes in the floor! (And if either one of the dogs ruins that for us in less than a month, they’ll be in deeeeeeep trouble.) We did decide to leave the basement carpet as-is since it was in decent shape, and I’m glad we did considering how long it took to install just the bedrooms and the stairs …

What’s the most hellish house reno you’ve endured? Was it worth it in the end?

 

 

I <3 Summer

Posted in Family, Isla, Kara and Kyle, Life, Summer by

First of all, I’d like to just give a little fist bump for my first official blog post here at my new space!! I had some issues moving my posts from Chatter over, but I’m more or less all there. Most of my trackbacks to other posts are still jumping back to my Chatter blog, but since I don’t plan on deleting it completely, it shouldn’t bother me too much. (I’m just letting the domain expire, and it will then just become chowschatter.wordpress.com.) Maybe one day I’ll get ambitious and change everything.

Anyway – this past week has been a fun-filled and busy one! Kyle has been on holidays and it’s been absolutely amazing spending time together as a family.

First of all – Isla’s birthday was on Sunday! We had originally planned on having her birthday at the splash park but we were unfortunately rained out. Luckily, we were able to get ahold of all her guests ad redirect them to our house. We fired up our barbecue for a little hot dog cookout and Isla had such a fun time with all her family and friends. She was certainly spoiled rotten and I’m so glad that she had so many people in her life who seem to love her as much as we do! Amazingly, she even blew out her birthday candle without spitting all over her cupcake – Go Isla!!

On Monday we made out way out to Little Shuswap Lake to visit one of Kyle’s oldest friends. We try to make it out every summer to see him when he and his wife (and now little girl!) are visiting from Alberta, and almost every year we have been graced with amazing summer weather! We puttered across the lake on his dad’s boat to a beachy area and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun! Isla had a blast playing in the sand, and while the water was a little chilly it was the perfect refresher when the sun got too hot. Every time we’re at the lake if just makes Kyle and I dream harder about owning a recreational property some day. For now, we just feel so fortunate that we have such great friends who allow us to come out and be at the lake with them for the day!

Then on Tuesday it was Canada Day!! We didn’t have any grand plans for the day since we had spent the previous day at the lake and were a little worn out still. Since Isla had received a few fun outdoor toys for the yard, we decided to hang out at home in the yard. Isla played with her new t-ball set and sprinkler, which she loved.

On Wednesday we had originally planned on going towards Kelowna to visit the kangaroo farm (you can pet kangaroos!!!) but I wasn’t feeling so great so we decided to stick close to home. Instead, we decided to visit the local wildlife park just outside of town and Isla had just as much fun! She loved seeing the grizzly bears and petting the goats.

Thursday consisted of appointments and an afternoon at Kyle’s mom’s pool and today is about the same. We’re winding down our “staycation” and getting ready for Kyle to go back to work on Monday. It’s amazing how fast the week has gone by but it’s been so much fun spending time together. Kyle’s vacation time off of work certainly doesn’t mean that our “fun” time is over though; next weekend friends are coming to stay with us because the Highland Games are taking place, and then the weekend after that I’m off to Vancouver for my friend’s bachelorette party. Whew! Jam-packed indeed :)

How is your summer going? Tell me, tell me! :D (And Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!)