Twenty Years!

This post is all about the numbers...

Chad & I are celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary today, so I thought I'd compile some of the things we have done in the second half of my life!

We have had a few pets
2 cats
2 dogs
4 fish

plus lots of farm cats, some with names, some not.

 We've owned quite a few vehicles, & not one of them was wrecked!
1 SUV
2 Trucks
6 Cars
13 Motorbikes

Now, considering when I met Chad he was planning on being a farmer, which was perfect since I didn't want to move a lot, our life has not gone according to plan in that department!

We have lived in
1 State
3 Countries
4 Provinces

Many types of homes

1 Parsonage
1 Housesit
2 Co-Housing
4 Apartments

5 Houses

Which required
13 Change of Address Forms
10 Home phone numbers
8 Cell Phone Numbers

We have travelled quite a bit, & made it to
13 countries
19 Passports (including the kids')
11 years of documenting every trip outside of Canada for immigration (there were 28)

We have completed
4 Degrees
2 Certificates
(though none are mine, I still get to count them!)

We have had a total of
10 job titles
and worked for
14 Employers

We have hosted
5 homestay students
and we made
2 kids (We doubled the size of our family!)

Our life is certainly much different from what we had planned, but there's no one I'd rather be on this journey with! During one of the first major life-changing moves we were embarking on, one of my co-workers asked, "So, Chad's going to do that, but are you going to go with him?"

I answered, "Yes, of course I am. We're married!"

When my co-worker replied, "But that's not what you signed up for when you married him."

When we got married, I literally signed up for him. I never signed a contract to be a farmer's wife, or live in a certain place, but I did sign a vow that I'd be married to Chad for whatever comes in life, good or bad. We're not the same people we were when we got married 20 years ago (thankfully!), but all our experiences have brought us closer, since the only thing that has stayed the same through all of this is that we are in it together.

It will be interesting to see how the numbers will change in the next 20 years...

Yard Improvements

Our garage was getting too crowded for PChad to be able to have enough room to work on his car, so it was time to look into getting a shed in our backyard.

First we scoped out a spot.  With a long narrow yard the options were few, so the lone tree had to go.

We discovered 36 hours before our shed was being delivered that we had to prep the ground ourselves, or there would be grass underneath it!  So before dropping the kids at school I called for a load of gravel while PChad worked on tree removal.  After I dropped the kids off I ran into the garden store for a tarp, landscaping fabric & a wheelbarrow.  I had to hurry, the gravel was on it's way!

PChad got to work & after he had taken all the grass out I told him, "that wasn't where I thought we were putting the shed," but apparently I was mistaken, he wasn't going to move it, ha!

The gravel was all put in place & ready for the shed which would arrive the next morning!

Our shed arrived!

I tried not to be in the way while I took pictures, so you'll have to excuse all the reflections in the window...

Walls are up!

Roof on!

Decorative trim, this thing is fancy!

Doors going on!

In 3 hours our shed was built, now it's time to put some stuff in it!  The price was right, & Rainforest Sheds did a great job!

House Tour -Basement Main Bedroom

Welcome to the main bedroom in the basement!  We're almost done our house tour!

We've put the futon in here as a bed with the intent of eventually getting a bed for this room & putting the futon in the living area of the basement.  We also put the desk that was in Asher's bedroom in PEI in this room since it did not fit in either of the kids' rooms in this house.  Also, since Asher has a loft bed he didn't need a nightstand, so it ended up in this room as well! 

My brothers' old dresser & a closet ready for clothes!  Small but functional!

House Tour -Basement Kitchen & Living Area

After you have survived walking through the storage room you enter the basement suite!

From the storage room door you enter the hallway.  Straight ahead is the door to the main bedroom, & you can see the living area to your left.

There is a separate entrance to the suite as well. 

I had been searching for a small rectangular table for this area & happened to stop into a charity shop.  I found this table in the back corner priced for $25, & figured that was a good price. When I got to the register there was a sign that said all furniture was 1/2 price that day!  What an awesome deal! 

There is a full kitchen... 

complete with washer & dryer!

We are hosting an international student, so she will be living in this area during the school year, but joining our family for meals & family interaction.  Furnishing this area for her has been really fun!

House Tour -Storage Room

Welcome to my basement!

  As you descend the stairs you have a direct view of the furnace since it seems they decided not to put a door on that area.  I was not a fan of that view, so I placed our photo screen in front of the furnace instead.  I never seem to be able to find a good place for the photo screen, so I was really happy to have found one!

At the bottom of the stairs directly to your left is the storage room.  It's quite a bit smaller than our storage room in PEI was, & I have gotten rid of lots of things.  It looks scary, but it's organized!

We put the deep freeze down here to free up space in the garage for PChad to work on his projects.  We also store our Christmas decorations, extra dining chairs, camping stuff, board games, & my collection of vintage Fisher Price among other things in here. 

 I love my storage racks.  Without them this room would be hopeless!  I made a curly-q out of the racks, so you can walk into the center area & access more of the shelves without them taking up all of the outside walls! 

Front Room Revisited!

Well, things have changed in the front room since I showed it to you last week...

 We got a piano!  I found a good deal on a used piano, & hired piano movers to pick it up & deliver it to my house.  Apparently this is not a 'normal upright piano'.  This is an 'extra heavy upright piano' as I was informed by the piano movers, but how was I to know that?

So I had to do a bit of rearranging, but the piano fits perfectly between the light switches & the dog kennel! 

I have also purchased a new bench for the front area that the kids can put their backpack in.  They kept leaving them in front of the door, & then when PChad came home he couldn't get in the house!  I am not sure what is happening with the other bench that is in this photo.  It might get moved somewhere else if I find a good spot for it...

House Tour -Kitchen & Living Room

Just past the front room, you enter the kitchen/dining/living room.  To the right is the kitchen.

It has a nice, big island with outlets!  There's also a water tap over the stove to fill your large pots.  The door to the left of the stove leads to the 'spice kitchen'.

Beside the fridge is the wall-oven & built-in microwave.  The cupboards in the kitchen are so high that the kids can barely reach the bottom shelf, so in order to allow them the opportunity to empty the dishwasher, we opted to put all our dishes in the lower cabinets of the island.  It's strange, but it works!

Here's a peak into the 'spice kitchen'.  It has a double sink, & a gas stove & oven.  The idea of this is for when you make smelly foods, you can shut the door & turn on the industrial strength fan so you don't smell up the rest of the house.  I don't really use this room for anything other than a big pantry!  Right now it also is where I am storing more broken things that I need to keep until the moving company insurance comes through.

This picture is from the kitchen looking into the rest of the room.  It's one great big open room which is what we were looking for in a house.  We don't make use of a formal living room or dining room, so we wanted it all as one room.

The living room has a built-in TV unit which is perfect to hold all of our video game systems!

These bookshelves hold all of our DVDs, & girly fiction books.  PChad built me spacers so some of the shelves can hold twice as many books (it's hard to find shelf space for them all!)  The doors to the left are the laundry area doors...

...with a washroom beside them

Behind the couch in the living room are the shelves which had been in PChad's office in PEI, but now they are filled with general fiction & non-fiction on the left, & Christian fiction on the right.

Thanks for joining us on this tour, come back next week for the basement!
(Yes, there's MORE!)

House Tour -Front Room

Welcome to the main floor!  PChad & I are still disagreeing on what we call this space.  He calls it the front room.  I tend to describe it by what's in there (or what will be in there).  So, I call it the fireplace room, or the piano room (despite there not being a piano at this point)*

This is the front entrance!  This house strangely has no hall closets, so we installed a shelf with hooks behind the door.  A nice find on kijiji (Canadian CraigsList) which matched the decor perfectly.

As you walk in, just to your right is a nice fireplace & sitting area...

and a wall waiting for a piano!

*if you, or someone you know in the area is looking to get rid of a piano for cheap, or even free, we are in the market for one!

House Tour -Master Bedroom

Today we are exploring the Master bedroom, which as the largest room, tends to also end up storing some random things, & this time is no exception!

Bed, nightstands, dog crate...

At the end of the bed resides the Hope Chest which holds all the spare bedding for all the beds upstairs.  The large wardrobe to the left of the door holds all the blankets for the beds, & beach towels (we have a lot since living on PEI) since there is no linen closet, it ended up in our bedroom.  The door leads to my favourite washroom...

Between the window & the closet is my dressing table.  It holds all of the hair ties for Chancery & I.  Right now it is covered with all my jewelry since the moving company has not gotten back to me about my broken jewelry cabinet.  Just imagine the top of the desk is cleaned off.  That's what I do!

PChad & I have a walk-in closet in which I hang my plethora of hoodies, & he has all his nice clothes.  Hidden behind the door is our laundry sorter.

Now for the washroom!

To the left is the toilet room, two sinks & two more mirrors to clean...

Here we have his & her shower & bath!  Now you see why the kids want to come use my bathtub!  The shower has an adjustable head, as well as 6 jets, & a rain head!  This bathroom is insanely awesome!