Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Another deadline has come and gone. It's a bit of a drag because we wanted to spend spring break in our cottage as a family. We were going to sit around the wood fire and sing Kumbaya. The kids are totally crushed. 

That's not quite true - they haven't even mentioned the cottage actually. We should have done this ten years ago...don't you wish that we just had more time in life? Your children grow up so lightning fast - and by the time you can actually provide something like this, it's almost too late. But I know they will love having a cottage - to enjoy with their friends.

I went to Mayne Island last Friday with the truck loaded up with Ikea cabinets and other paraphernalia. Arrived at the cottage, unloaded everything, including the solid oak counter top which nearly killed me. The cottage went from looking neat and clean to being a giant mess - boxes everywhere...

I decided to assemble the kitchen cart first. When I purchased it, I forgot that it came in two colours: white or black. Stupid me, I picked the wrong one and I was choked. I don't like black furniture. 

Much to my horror, it required that I pre-drill some holes with the electric drill. I looked over at all of Lorenzo's tool boxes and wondered where it was. Then I had to figure out how to use the darn thing...
I had to use a 1/8th drill bit and I didn't even know what that looked like. I also didn't know how to open the "chuck" to put the bit in. Luckily, Lorenzo keeps all of his instruction manuals, so I managed to figure it out...

Once the cart was assembled, I felt really disappointed. It looks so much better in white...

Here is ours...I think I'll paint it.

Then it was time to start on the kitchen cabinets. What I've learned, is that Ikea stuff is not difficult to assemble provided you follow the instructions and lay your pieces out exactly as they are in the diagram. I did the corner cabinet first...

You can see by the light outside that I was moving at a rather snail-like pace...

That night I had a nightmare that I was trapped inside a box and couldn't get out. I thrashed my left arm so hard in my sleep that I was in pain the next day. Will I ever have a decent sleep on that island?

The next day I continued, got the three base cabinets assembled including the sink cabinet, popped in the support feet...

Installed the drawer rails, then attached the slow-closing hinges...

And then I did the upper cabinets. Before long they were all done. The tall pantry cabinet was the hardest and it would have been nice to have someone there to help me. I had to lift the side panel and place it perfectly onto the screws & pegs which was a bit of a workout for my arms...

I was feeling pretty proud of myself at this point and realized that we women are too quick to leave things like this to the men. If you can cook Christmas dinner for sixteen people, you can definitely assemble cabinets and use basic tools. I am going to make a point of learning how to do more handy-man jobs. After this, I felt sufficiently confident to begin assembling the drawers...

Each drawer consisted of many parts and this proved to be the Achilles heel of my trip. I mixed up part of a drawer that belongs in the pantry cabinet with a drawer that goes into a different base cabinet...long story and I was absolutely frustrated. The front panel on the drawers lock into place with spring clip mechanism and I could not get it off for the life of me. I nearly had a melt down. Ikea drawers have these side rails, shown here...

I sat on the floor reading the instructions for these bloody side rails for over an hour. Just kept reading it, thinking it would sink into my brain. I just didn't get it. The instructions made absolutely no sense to me and I was so incredibly angry at myself for not being able to grasp something so basic that a 12-year old could probably figure out. I drove into town to call Lorenzo because I had no cell reception. When he asked how it was going I nearly broke down - all because of some stupid side rails. He said, "Stop what you're doing. Put your feet up and just relax."  Impossible. 
I was surrounded by boxes, cardboard, crap everywhere....I can't function in mess like that. So I went back to the cottage and had to resign myself that I would be leaving a huge job for Lorenzo and I felt terrible. Here's what he'll be facing...

To cheer myself, I decided to assemble a "Stenstorp" shelf that will go in our daughter's room...

This was a breeze compared to everything else...

Voila...

And then I did what I enjoy the most. I began setting up the rooms upstairs. Lorenzo told me that my brother would be coming over with him to help, so I did his room first. I vacuumed every nook and cranny, dragged over the mattress and box spring, and put fresh linens on the bed. Despite there being no furniture in the room it ended up looking very cozy...

Last summer I went to Sears on Granville St. because they were closing down and I found a lovely king-sized quilt set for super cheap. I put it on our bed. Another disappointment...

When did mattresses get so tall? Pretty soon we'll need a ladder to get into bed. I wish I had thought of this when we bought it. A quilt is supposed to drape over the mattress and cover the box spring  This barely covers the mattress! Stupid big fat mattress. My fitted sheet is straining at the seams. I shouldn't have bought it. I stood there just feeling deflated. I tend to imagine things being perfect...it's a problem.


Anyway, the previous owners left us this dresser which Lorenzo wanted to throw into the dust bin. I was shocked because I think it's absolutely charming and very suitable for a cottage. I bought two vintage lamps on Craigslist and I was pleased by the down-light they create...

When it was done I stood in the doorway staring at my bedroom. The wall colour is so beautiful, the wainscoting on the ceiling glowed, the new hardwood looked fantastic...I found myself looking forward to going to bed for the very first time...

And then I brought in all the stuff for the bathroom and got to work. Here is that laundry hamper I found at Homesense...

I set up the bathroom and I'm pretty happy with the results. Here's a before and after...

So let's take an inventory, shall we:
Console table from the Sears clearance centre
The mirror is an Ikea cabinet door with a mirror glued in that I had specially cut, then I distressed it to make it look a little more rustic.
Sink & taps: Home Depot
Jars/soap dispenser: Homesense
Towels, bath mat: Homesense

The mirror will be hung with the proper hinges on the next trip. 

I had to place a small plate under the pipe because there was a slight leak. The plumber came by the cottage and fixed it but I left it there just in case. The slide-in baskets hold much more than I thought - very handy. So with these drawers and the two medicine cabinets, we won't require any additional storage. 

So I arrived on Friday morning and by Saturday night all of this was done. I thought about coming home on the Sunday morning ferry but I slept in. So I spent the day sitting by the fire listening to music and making lists of things that still need to be done;  played the piano, puttered around, gathered fire wood, etc.  

I caught the 5-pm ferry home...

When I showed Lorenzo the pictures his jaw dropped. It isn't until you see a room decorated that you realize how lovely it is. It just changes everything...


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My younger son has strep throat - he had me up at 2-am last night. He was so drenched in sweat I had to put his head under the cold water tap. He looked terrible but he did manage to eat a giant bowl of ice cream, so I think he's going to pull through. My older son is also under the weather. In light of this, and the fact that it's St. Patrick's Day on Sunday, I think Lorenzo should stay home this weekend. We can't miss all of the festivities!

                         Our girl - St. Patrick's Day - 2005. 

We have a new Pope!

Notice how so many male-dominated clubs tend to favour interesting head-wear....?

I know this is supposed to be a cottage blog but the appointment of the latest Pope cannot go unmentioned. It has been all over the media throughout the week; crowds have gathered around the world waiting with bated breath to see who will become the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church. 

A few critics have said, "Who cares?"  That is not my feeling at all. We should care. We should care that this "church" - this powerful organized crime ring - is still able to generate media respect. Despite the fraud, despite the corruption, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars paid to victims of abuse, somehow the Catholic Church is still granted world-wide acknowledgement. It is still deemed a legitimate entity that deserves courtesy and consideration. All the major news stations have been reporting on this story - not with cynicism, not with incredulity - but with something akin to reverence. As if it actually matters.

As a former Catholic, I feel that the best thing the church can do at this point is implode. It is corrupt from the top down and from within. If evil truly exists, it is personified by the Catholic Church.

This is a church that has long functioned in a state of criminality - aiding and abetting pedophile priests and clergy for over a century. A bunch of men who disdain women, who dare to condemn homosexuality, and who enjoy the protection of "infallibility," have been allowed to commit rampant and continued atrocities. And the media always refers to it as "abuse." 

Let's call it what it really is: the systematic rape and torture of children. Parents bring their innocent sons and daughters into a church that has no regard for them, despite being champions of "human life." The hypocrisy. This church not only fails to be outraged by these crimes, but makes every effort to protect the abuser, transfer the abuser to another location, deny the accusations, undermine the victim, and close rank in order to protect the entire fetid dung-heap that it is.

But the media is saying, "Maybe this will be a new chapter in the Catholic church." Would we say this if the Ku Klux Klan were appointing a new Grand Wizard? What possible difference can a new Pope make when the entire system is rotten to the core? It's like having a dish of festering diseased meat and pondering whether a garnish of parsley may somehow turn it all around. Maybe if the Nazis had ousted Hitler and instead appointed Himmler or Goering, everyone could have breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

Recently, the archdiocese of Los Angeles paid out ten million dollars in claims to yet another group of victims. Ten million dollars. Who gave them this money? The parishioners. They enjoy tax-free status and until recently, their books were closed to revenue agencies. They have long been exempt from the kinds of legal investigations to which any other group would be subjected. They are the Untouchables. 

Watching the news coverage of this appalling spectacle I wonder what's happened to journalistic teeth. Another geriatric Pope with one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel shuffles to the podium in a ridiculous hat...to say what? 

I wonder how the millions of people who have been harmed by this church are feeling when they turn on the news and see this celebration unfolding.

I'll talk about what I did at the cottage tomorrow...

Lorenzo stayed until Monday this time around...he didn't want to leave until all the hardwood flooring was finished. It is done, and it looks fantastic. Here is our bedroom...

Here's how it looked when we bought the cottage...

The bed looks much better against the slanted wall...

Here is the hallway...

Here's a before and after...

Notice the transition pieces - this looks so nice...

Here is the hallway looking in the other direction...

I haven't found a light fixture for the stairwell, yet. This ugly thing needs to go...

The boy's room...

Looking in the other direction...

Heading down the stairs...

No railings yet! We need to be careful....

I like that our staircase has this turn with the little landing - it reminds me of an old farmhouse...

Look at our beautiful stairs! Lorenzo couldn't find any proper bull-nosing at Home Hardware, so he just used strips of fir and made sure there was the necessary overhang...

What I am so impressed by, is the fact that Lorenzo chose to do this hard way instead of taking the easy way out. If he had laid the wood horizontally on the risers, he would have been finished on Sunday. But he chose to install it vertically which was incredibly time consuming; each riser required seven cuts. Visually, the difference is remarkable; it mimics the direction of the wall paneling...

I'm going to stain the fir stripping and then you won't even notice it...well done, eh? I am so proud of him.

What a change from before...

Lorenzo has done such a beautiful job - and the worst is officially over.  All the big jobs are done!
Today, I took advantage of the Ikea Kitchen Event and bought our cabinets. I was so worried that I wouldn't get them all in my vehicle, but it worked out in the end. Unfortunately, part of our counter-top was out-of-stock, so we have to go back next week. I did find a cute kitchen cart which will come in really handy as we're really limited for space...

Lorenzo & I planned to head over on Friday morning and install the kitchen together. We were really looking forward to it as we desperately need some time alone. But then my daughter said, "It sucks when you guys aren't here." Maynus Interruptus. Lorenzo is staying home, I'm going over by myself. 

I'm so tired right now, I can hardly type...anyway. You know what I love? Braided rugs! And are they ever expensive. The ONLY place I've been able to find any is Sears - and only on their website. I have braided rugs in my house and they are fantastic; incredibly durable and they never pill or unravel. I like these ones...

I check Craigslist on a regular basis for braided rugs to no avail. Couldn't find anything at Homesense or Home Depot. The ones above are a bit pricey, but Sears has these ones which are a bit cheaper - not surprisingly, they're not quite as charming...

However, these are strong enough to use indoors and out, and they can withstand being hosed off when they get dirty. What I love about braided rugs, is they never bunch up. Also, with hardwood flooring you can't lay down rugs that have latex backing - it can ruin your floors. And latex never washes up properly anyway - I don't buy any rugs that have latex. Eventually, it cracks and flakes and you're left with a mess. A well-made braided rug will last your whole life - you'll be able to pass it down to your kids. But they probably won't want them..!

It's a drag that I'm going to Mayne Island alone. Lorenzo & I were going to hitch our little trailer to the truck and bring over some of the furniture. We were going to work together all day and then have a nice dinner at the Springwater. And I wanted to set up our bedroom and bathroom - I have no room in the truck for anything else right now. I don't trust myself driving the trailer over - too nerve wracking. If I have to go in reverse for any reason I'm afraid I'll jack-knife it. 


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Have you ever been reading a book that is so enjoyable you don't want to keep reading? Because you don't want it to end? I mentioned awhile back about an author I discovered named Elizabeth Jenkins. I made it my mission to track down her out-of-print books and I am just enthralled with her writing. I'm currently reading "Robert and Helen" and it's as good as anything I've ever read by E.M. Forster, Somerset Maugham, or Jane Austen. Just brilliant...shocking that her books have been allowed to moulder into obscurity. This book arrived in the mail from Australia. The pages are yellowed and the print is ridiculously small, but I'm enjoying it more than anything I've read in years...

Is anyone watching "Downton Abbey" on PBS? I've read so many great reviews of this mini-series that I borrowed Season One from the library. I'll watch it on Mayne Island - I love all that upstairs-downstairs English drama. Apparently, if you liked "Gosford Park" you'll like this...

Ciao for now...