Our new Bathroom

So below are the before and after pictures of our bathroom Renovation. It looks awesome now, and feels like a completely different bathroom. The pictures of the bathroom before don't really show how bad it really was- it was really disgusting, so take a look.

The bathroom before the renovation had a very disgusting dirty bath liner, which was just held on by just glue basically. The tub was old but wasn't in horrible shape, the toilet was gross and old as well, and all around the bathroom were teal and black tiles on the wall, which were done very poorly and were also very dirty and disgusting. Before the renovation the walls would always get this brownish stuff on the walls- Joe says it is because the man who lived in the house before us most likely smoked in there, and the walls were just horrible because of that. There was an ugly mirror/medicine cabinet in there, as well as an ugly light fixture and an old cheap cabinet. I don't have a picture of the floors but they were the cheap peel and stick flooring type of thing. The worst thing about the bathroom was the plumbing the electrical- Joe had to replace all the plumbing and all the electrical in the bathroom. Nothing was done to code and Joe was shocked of how bad it really was. There was also no fan in the bathroom which was a real pain. Now take a look of what the bathroom looks as of today.

As you can see there is quite the difference. We started by ripping everything out, and I mean everything. Joe replaced all the plumbing and electrical like I said before, he installed a fan to vent outside, and we put all new drywall up. After that we installed a brand new bath tub, we tiled around the bath which we both love- and considering it was Joe and my self's first time tiling we did an excellent job. I found the tiles at Rona- and Iam so happy of how they turned out. After that we installed the laminate hard wood flooring- which is almost the exact colour as our real hard wood in the rest of the house. We did tile originally however we hated how it looked so we ripped it up. It looks so much better with the laminate, and very clean looking. We then got the toilet installed, as well as the vanity and medicine cabinet- they are all in a nice dark chocolate brown. Joe then installed the fixtures for the shower and vanity. We went with quality Moen fixtures - the shower head it amazing...amazing water pressure and water coverage. We then painted the walls a nice lavender like colour- it's call winter coco. I then bought a nice shower curtain, flower hooks, a bathmat, to go with the colours of the room.

An update...

Good Afternoon,

Mother and myself just came back from an appointment with Dr.Bhyana. I just needed to see her briefly to get a requisition for blood work before I see Dr.Spence (Heart specialist) early in January, and also get her to write a note for my work to say I may miss a few days due to my pregnancy. My work has been extremely unreasonable and I got spoken to about missing a day and a half in November...even though I was doing very well at work, and collected the company $16 500.00. Dr.Bhyana's office wasn't busy at all which was a very nice surprise, it's awful when that little waiting room is packed with a bunch of sick people. I really do like Dr.Bhyana, she is a very caring nice lady. Not like most doctors I have seen. She is soft spoken and not intimidating like alot of men doctors, I feel like I could tell her anything, which is a nice feeling to have with a doctor. She wrote out a note and put exactly what I needed it to say, she also mentioned sick leave, and that whenever I felt I needed to go on it she would fill out the paperwork. She said because Iam considered a higher risk pregnancy that I would have no problem going on sick leave before my maternity leave.

So my plan as of now is to work until the end of February and then go on sick leave until closer to the due date and then from there go on mat leave. I think I can last that long at work, At the end of February I'll be 26 weeks, so I think I will be ready to leave Aktiv Kapital and take it easy at home...however I'm sure I will be kept busy with the doggies. It will be nice when Ellen and the boys come at the end of March, so we can have little outings, as well as Talize trips...lol.

Speaking of Talize I went there yesterday to look for some new pants because I have grown out of all my pants, except for my black yoga pants which I wear everyday ahah, however I can't really wear them to work so I needed to find some work pants that are comfortable and don't cause me pain while I sit for hours at a time at work. So I went and looked in the small maternity section and it was quite the joke...hahah, I couldn't not laugh when I looked at the jeans. They were huge, There was no way I was fitting into any of them, They were all made for very large women and they look so funny with the front pouch, so unattractive it's hilarious. I just pictured Joe's face if I ever put jeans like that on, he would laugh his ass of...haha. The only thing I found was a pair of black work pants that are alot like my yoga pants and fold over..I think this alot better then the front pouch going over the belly...I don't like covering my belly and feeling so kept in, I find it uncomfortable. So I did buy the black very comfortable work pants and I also bought another pair of work pants that are just in a bigger size and are not maternity pants. These should do for abit at least. Once I'm done work it's moo moos for me...hahah. No probably not unfortunately because it will still be cold but I think I will stick to yoga pants. Practical and so comfortable.

I don't need many shirts at this point, I already really like showing off my little tummy so I like tighter shirts compared to the maternity shirts you buy that are really loose... but again the bigger I get the more room I will need. So of course I went and looked in the baby section in Talize for maybe a little to long...an hour of so hahah. And wow! so many cute things! If I already knew the sex I would have bought alot already. I must say though the boys section was very weak compared to the amount of girls baby clothes. They had the cutest baby girl clothes ever!! so many cute summer dresses my god... I had a couple in my cart because they are so cheap that why not buy them in case we do have a girl...however they were all around the size 6 months range and by that time it will be cold here so there was no point of buying little summer dresses, which was unfortunate because they were beautiful. I told Joe that when I got home, and he said
"Why are you buying dresses?? where having a boy" He is pretty convinced were having a boy, which worries me because I have a feeling were having a girl...hahah. We will see soon.
I did end up buying Osh Kosh short overalls, in a very nice washed out denim, which are for Baby Strong when he or she is 3 months. They were brand new with all the Osh Kosh tags still on it and only cost a couple $$ so why wouldn't I buy them. They had so much nice stuff, alot of stuff for when they are older so I will just have to wait. I told Joe I want to know the sex by Boxing day because Talize is having a store wide 50% sale on everything so I could go and buy all the cute things.

Tomorrow I have a cardiac ultrasound to make sure there is nothing seriously wrong with me, and then on Wednesday I have an appointment with Dr.Gratton (My OB) Iam going to try and see if they can do an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby, but I doubt they will do it before 18 weeks, but I will try my best. Lots of appointments this week but by Friday at 3pm I will be done work for 9 days and then I work for 3 days and then off for another 4 days. I can't wait for the much needed break and Sister Jane will be here, so that's very exciting.

I have to go home now though, Take Care!!

A ridiculous article..

I read this ridiculous article on aggressive dogs and this is what the moron had to say about german shepherds :

German Shepherds can be really dangerous dogs because they are aggressive guard dogs that would actually attack an intruder, even worse killing the person. German Shepherds are sometimes used as police dogs because they are trained to kill or injure. If owned by a normal citizen, they can be very dangerous. Like, suppose that one of your family members came in to visit and the dog was not tied somewhere. What would happen, the dog would bark or attack. Even worse, kill. These dogs can be trained to aim for arms and legs.

This man is just ridiculous. First of all a dog is aggressive if they are trained to be aggressive, you don't get a german shepherd puppy that is already trained to be a guard dog. A human trains a dog to be aggressive, whether it's beating the dog, not feeding the dog...there are many ways a human can make a dog aggressive, and yes a german shepherd can make an excellent guard dog for many reasons, they have the power and strength to harm someone, intimidate intruders, they are easily trained to do whatever their owner says, and they will do whatever it is the owner wants because german shepherds are extremely loyal and will do anything to please their owners. This guy cracks me up also because he says " they are aggressive guard dogs that would actually attack an intruder" he says that like it's a surprise a guard dog would attack an intruder....what kind of guard dog doesn't attack intruders?! that is what they are trained to do you idiot.

I consider myself and Joe normal citizens I guess....and we own a german shepherd. In what way can Marley be dangerous? This man clearly knows nothing about the breed. The only way Marley would be dangerous to anyone is if someone was harming Joe, myself or even family members of ours....in this case I would expect Marley or any dog for this matter to do whatever they could to protect their owners...also I would imagine he would be dangerous to intruders, which in my opinion is one of their duties. I feel good that if Joe was ever away and I was by myself at home I would have Marley to protect me, its a nice feeling really. Most dog breeds would be dangerous in both of these examples.

His example is what cracks me up the most. He says if family members were to come in the house what would happen if the dog wasn't tied up. He goes on saying that they would bark, attack or maybe even kill...WHAT!? Is this guy for real. First of all german shepherds that aren't used as guard dogs are family pets..and make excellent family dogs. In the UK they are the 4th most popular breed of dog, and in the US they are 3rd most popular. They are very loyal and protective of the members of the family so for this guy to say they would attack a family member walking in the house is just simply ridiculous, and he can't be taken seriously.

People like this just kill me, and make it hard for people that own the breed to have to hear this kind of garbage. Dad took Marley and the clan to the ravine today and he said everyone that saw Marley put their dog on a leash...Joe and I have been experiencing this since he was very young. The other day in the ravine when Joe, dad and myself took the dogs out a women turned around when she saw us and then said " My dog doesn't like german shepherds" You may be surprised that Joe and I have heard this from many people. At the dog park it is the same thing, people always get nervous when Marley plays with their dog. It's sad really. It will only get worse in my opinion...so many parents today make their children scared of everything, especially dogs, and especially certain breeds. I always see parents with their children cross the road when were walking Marley, and I can just imagine what they are telling their kids. Joe's cousins cried when they saw Marley, and were absolutely terrified of him, it was like a tiger was standing in front of them. They wouldn't even pet him. The one time we took Marley to Komoka Park and some women said to us " My child is afraid of dogs" First let me tell you this "child" was probably 9 years old. My first thought was , why do you take your loser of a kid to Komoka Park where there are dogs everywhere...then I said "That's great your child in scared of dogs...what's your point? " Marley didn't go close to where the kid was, I wish he did though. I'm so sick of these people...basically saying my kid is afraid of dogs so please leave...Me and this lady had a few words for eachother and eventually Joe started giving his opinion to this cow after she called me a witch. She was mad Marley was off leash, and if he ran up to them, jumped on them or did anything like that I would understand....but he didn't do anything...So I told her my dog needs freedom just as much as her horrible rat like child, and why can't we all just get along. He did nothing, nothing at all...but she was one of those people that always has to make an issue of things and try to take people down...and guess what I have no time for people like this, and I will do as much as I can to put them in there place.

Anyways It's time for me to go home...Joe is finally work off.
Bye bye for now! Pics of the bathroom to come...it looks awesome!!

Megan

Kate...my opinion

So Kate...I wouldn't call myself an experienced person however Iam one to think I live by some routine.

Work is work and there isn't much way around that, so we just accept that so we can get our paycheck and pay the bills...however some time in your life wheather it's now or when you have children, or even when you get a dog your going to have to accept that routine is part of life, which isn't a bad thing...It doesn't mean you have to do the exact same thing everyday, it just means you have structure in your life.

First of all you should have the feeling of "I can't wait to come home". Now, I know my job is abit different, but the minuet I sit down at work I think to myself "I can't wait to go home". The number one reason is of course to see Joe. You need to love who your coming home to, or else this will make routine alot harder for you. If your excited about spending time with Lucas, then it doesn't really matter what you guys are doing.

But in all seriousness I don't really get why your even mentioning routine. You work and then you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. You have no pets, no children, no house (I say this because a house does take some time and work) no huge bills or anything...so I don't really know why your stressing about this.

Just because you work and have an apartment doesn't mean you can't go out and do fun things. Joe and I go out all the time, go on adventures with the dogs, and do projects aroung the house. Anything we do together is fun and exciting to us...and I think that is how it should be.

Unfortunatly your not a celebrity, you don't have endless money, you aren't going to be doing different and exciting things each and everyday. The key is to be around people that really make you happy.

Thats all I have for now, I got to go. I hope you get what I'm saying.