Category Archives: Blablabla

Improve the value of your home by remodeling

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If you are considering remodeling your home, the concerns are always the same. Will it increase the value of the home? Can I afford it? Will it look as good in my home as it does in the magazine? These are just a few of the questions you’re probably asking yourself.

Remodeling isn’t an easy task, it’s time consuming, noisy and inconvenient. Once you make the decision to go for it, it’s time to jump in feet first, but before you do, here are a few tips to help you get started.

Does it Make Sense Financially?

Currently, about 1 in 4 homeowners in America are underwater on their mortgages, which means they owe more on their house than its current market value. If you are anywhere near being underwater on your mortgage, then a remodel will definitely not help. Ideally, you want to be sitting on at least 20% equity in your home in order for a remodel to make sense financially.

Which Room?

Different rooms tend to have different payoffs. The kitchen tends to be the most popular remodel option for most people, and HGTV estimates that homeowners tend to recoup 60% to 120% of their investment on a kitchen remodel. Now, this, of course, is quite a wide range. The amount of money you are able to recoup from your remodeling project depends on how long you stay in the home after the remodel. Of course, the longer you stay, the more you can leverage the remodel as the value of the home rises over time.

Cash may be a deciding factor when choosing which room to remodel. The kitchen will generally be twice as much, or more, expensive than a bathroom remodel. Therefore, if your home only has one bathroom, adding a second is a great way to recoup your investment, since a second bathroom is typically a common demand for new homebuyers. Applying for a home equity line is often a better decision than using credit card services.

Saving Money on the Job

If you will be living in your home for an extended period of time after the remodel, you may want to consider making the remodel a project. If you are not pressed for time, you may want to buy a few tools, pull up Youtube, and give it a go yourself. If you have any measure of carpentry skills, you can save thousands of dollars by doing the project yourself. Unless you are doing a complete renovation job, you may be able to handle much of the work yourself.

We are also in the midst of the greatest employment crisis in modern history, so there are scores of talented carpenters out of work, and finding quality work is cheaper now than it usually is. In fact, while searching for plane tickets and information on airports to fly out of, I ran across a mechanic using Google Ads to make his pitch to hire him. While you probably aren’t in need of a mechanic to update your home, it shows just how far people are going to find employment in these times.

Remember, you do often get what you pay for, but if you negotiate wisely and get several estimates, you can save yourself money. You can also use a Crate and Barrel coupon code to save some cash, because let’s be honest, a coupon can push just about anyone over the edge when it comes to shopping at Crate and Barrel.

Remodeling your home is a big decision. Never rush into a big decision. Take your time, make sure the finances are in order, and you will soon be enjoying a new home!

Moments on a Sunday

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Today ended up being a relatively pleasant day considering the fact that we had no great plans in store and that Sundays are often low-key anyway what with easing back into school and work. Moments that contributed to my Sunday:

  • I did my third day in a row of the current BexLife challenge, doing ten burpees followed by a two-minute plank. Day one was easy. Day two and three were a bit harder now that soreness has helped me identify the exact location of every single abdominal muscle in my body. Ow.
  • I went to my favourite thrift shop and bought myself a tank top (to wear under low-cut shirts), five shirts, a pair of name-brand jeans, and two My Little Ponies for the kids. Grand total? Just over $28. Yes, I do love thrifting, thank you very much.
  • I finally found kale at a semi-decent price. I don’t know if there’s a better season for kale but every time I wanted to get some it was a tiny little wad of green leaves, often somewhat limp, and cost close to four bucks. Today it was still a bit on the pricey side at $3.49 but at least it was a HUGE bunch and it looked perfect.
  • Related to the above, I therefore was able to FINALLY try kale after hearing its benefits sung from the rooftops from most of the health blogging population. I sauteed half of my bunch with some onion and garlic, and it was quite tasty. I need to find more recipes to try out, so please feel free to share. I’m planning to use the other half tomorrow after work to try out kale chips.
  • Along with the kale – which was a HUGE hit with Hayley, by the way, and she even had two servings and asked for some with her lunch tomorrow – I made chili that I served on brown rice, and I cooked up a small pot of quinoa to take with the leftover chili for my supper tomorrow.
  • I saw a robin today. A robin! In February! That’s insane and practically unheard of. I wonder if that means an early spring after all or if a flock of robins are going to get screwed over.
  • After putting the kids to bed I enjoyed a fairly terrifying episode of The Walking Dead. While I always love this show, it’s been awhile since I’ve had to fight off the urge to climb up onto the back of my couch and hide my eyes. Good stuff!
  • After having taken Friday off, I’ve enjoyed a nice long three-day weekend. Much needed, oh yes.

How was your weekend?

My attempt at the 7-day BexLife Burpee & Plank challenge:

And apropos of nothing in particular, last week I took my favourite of George’s cover songs, Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” and I put it up on YouTube. It’s been years since he recorded it and I still love it.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, let me know what you did!

TGIF – time for a little relaxation, please!

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Oh my goodness, it’s Friday, hooray! This week was wonderful, I had one of my best weeks at work thus far and other than the craziness of the commute during Snowpocalypse Part One, there was nothing particularly awful or annoying. That being said I have been pretty tired lately.

It’s probably because with the time that I get home I find it difficult to get to bed before midnight. Even when I’m tired I need time to unwind. I get in at 9:30, check on the kids (one of whom is always sleeping and one of whom is usually not), get changed, make their lunches, and then the next thing I know it’s already 10 pm.

Once I get into bed somewhere between midnight and 12:30, I tend to fall asleep within a few minutes – sleep is rarely a problem once my head is on the pillow – but then 7:15 comes before I know it and my alarm is ringing to tell me that I have to get the kids up shortly to get them ready for school.

It’s enough sleep that I’m not exhausted but I’m frequently vaguely tired. As a result I’m looking forward to two whole days of relaxing, or at least as much as you can get with two young kids. They didn’t go to bed until after 10 tonight, waiting up for me to get home, so they’ll sleep in a little bit at least, and even if I get up sooner than I’d like at least I can stay in my pajamas.

We have tentative plans for Saturday evening but overall it’s not supposed to be a crazily busy weekend. We may put up the tree this weekend and start decorating, and I have some Christmas crafts for the kids to do, but in general I’m planning on a whole lot of rejuvenation.

What are your weekend plans?

Making me smile

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Here are things that have brought a smile to my face today in no particular order:

1. Coming home from work and finding that three hours after supper, the whole main floor still smells like George’s delicious curried beef.

2. Knowing I have a huge container of the aforementioned curried beef for lunch tomorrow.

3. A glass of wine post-work.

4. While taking the bus home with my friend after work, I closed my eyes “for a moment” and promptly fell asleep; I then nearly jumped out of my seat when my cell phone rang, scaring the crap out of me, which brought her and I to convulsion-esque laughter.

5. Stopping by a clinic at 11:45 today and being back out less than 20 minutes later – with no appointment. What speed!

6. Having been working (properly working, as opposed to the weeks and weeks of training we had) only one month, possibly a little less than that, and already getting a customer commendation, where the client spoke to my manager to tell her how awesome I am. THAT felt good.

What made you smile today?

Things that make a Saturday awesome

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1. Sleeping in until 9 am.

2. Thinking it’s Sunday but then realizing that it’s only Saturday and the weekend is really only just beginning.

3. Some good Tabata workouts followed by a bit of yoga.

4. Having cold temps but sunny weather and therefore enjoying a day out at the Dingle by the water.

5. Going to Bulk Barn and getting healthy stuff like organic red quinoa (which was delicious with our steak and salad dinner), flax seeds, and maca powder.

6. Spending the evening watching a movie as a family.

7. Having family/friends over for some seriously good hard laughs that night.

8. Knowing that you can still lay low tomorrow.

Halfway there

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Although it’s only Tuesday night I’m already halfway through my week which is strange. I keep thinking that it must be Wednesday. It’s because we all have a day off on Friday and that’s something that I’m not used to as an ex-Montrealer. Friday, which is the 11th, is Remembrance Day. In the province of Quebec it’s not considered a holiday. We always did the minute of silence at 11 am but that was pretty much it. Kids had school, people worked, and you hoped that you’d remember to stop at 11 and, well, remember.

Here in Nova Scotia and everywhere else across the country it’s a bigger deal. It’s considered a bank holiday and as a result many companies are indeed closed that day so I won’t be at work. All the schools are closed; any Remembrance Day services in the schools are on the 10th because the kids will be at home on Friday.

I like it. I mean, I like it for all the obvious reasons like having a short work week and a longer weekend, but it’s more than that. I like that a day meant to celebrate all of those who have served in wars and to remember their sacrifices is a day that doesn’t require us to cram all of that gratitude into 60 seconds of silence.

I do plan on sleeping in on Friday but I’ll definitely be up in time to pay proper respects.

Impromptu Saturday plans

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One thing that I love about living in a house instead of our old apartment is that it’s much more conducive to entertaining. In our old place we used to have people over for birthday parties and once in a blue moon we’d have one person over for supper, but that was about it. We’ve already entertained more here in the past five months than we did in five years.

Something that I’ve always loved is impromptu plans. I loved having nothing in particular to do and then suddenly being invited over for dinner and laughs with good friends. This weekend George’s sister is in town and we picked her up from the airport with the intention of just hanging out, having some tacos, and maybe having a couple of people over for a couple of hours.

Instead we ended up having a houseful of people, including two kids for Hayley and Breanna to play with, we all ate supper, and nearly cried from laughing so hard at all the joking around that was going on. Had I planned ahead I probably would have been mildly stressed (not too much, but a little bit I’m sure), but since it was all an impromptu afternoon and evening it just ended up being a good time without any worrying.

The rest of my weekend involves a little more of the same; some brunch with my family tomorrow morning, relaxing in the early afternoon (maybe some yoga?), introducing my sister-in-law to the carrot-apple-celery-ginger juice, and then having some people over for a good old Sunday night roasted something or other dinner.

That works for me as far as weekend plans go.

Five(s) by four

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While catching up on some blog reading I found Angella’s list of fives. Today is one of those days where it’s beautifully sunny but it’s only about 5C (35F) outside, so I feel like doing things around the house. I have plans to start pulling out the warmer clothing while packing away summer clothes, doing inspections of winter gear so I know what still fits everyone and what needs replacing, cleaning the guinea pig cage, and watching a movie on Netflix (The Secret of NIMH) with the kids. I figured doing my own list would be a nice fit for a half-lazy, half-productive Saturday at home.

Five things you don’t know about me:

This is kind of hard, really. I’ve been writing online for so long I’m not sure what great revelations I can give you but since not everyone has been reading since day one (which is good because some of my old writing makes me cringe), I’ll throw out five random tidbits.

1. On my commute to work I keep anxiety at bay by listening to guided meditation on my iPod.

2. I really enjoy gospel music and if I’m not in the mood for meditation I listen to my Kirk Franklin playlist, particularly this one:

3. I have a huge burning desire to go to Prague. I wouldn’t mind seeing other parts of Europe if I had a chance but Prague is absolutely on my bucket list. I’ve had several dreams about being there and whenever I wake up I always feel a strange and vague homesickness.

4. I have a conversation with myself at least once a week about how I’m going to give up my daily cup of coffee. This conversation is usually followed by sitting down with my daily cup of coffee.

5. My celebrity claim to fame is hanging out with Corey Haim back in 1999 (maybe 2000? I forget which year). He was in Montreal to do some work on a movie (that went straight to DVD, alas) and he had an urge to record a song. A mutual contact suggested coming to the studio where George and I worked and I ended up sitting in the studio while he recorded it, and had pizza with him and his mom/manager. His singing was not particularly great and he didn’t really know what he wanted to do so George and Dino pretty much did it all for him, but I didn’t care. I’d spent my teenage years with his posters all over my wall and his movies on my “must see repeatedly” list, and it was NUTS to me that I was hanging out with him. He was incredibly nice, super polite, and a chatty person. I was so incredibly sad when I heard that he had died, he was way too young.

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The Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax Nova Scotia

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Exciting for both tourists and locals are the great events that are held in Halifax throughout the year. One such event that is especially popular is the Atlantic Film Festival. Held over 10 days, the event recognises films from local provinces, as well as from all over the world.

This is considered to be one of the top four film festivals that are held in Canada and it is a great event to attend. If it gets to the time when this festival will be held, those involved bustle around to make sure everything is ready. All the while attendees amuse themselves by going shopping or playing Foxy Bingo, while eagerly awaiting the opening day.

The series of outdoor screenings, alFresco filmFesto, was started in 2001 and has quickly grown into a hotly-anticipated event. Held in the summer on the Halifax waterfront, hundreds of movie fans flock to each screening and it is always a resounding success.

A year after the launch of alFresco filmFesto, ViewFinders: International Film Festival for Youth was started. It is geared towards children of school age, their families and teachers. Held during April and lasting for five days, the festival consists of screenings, panels, workshops and even a ViewFinders Movie Challenge.

The role that the Atlantic Film Festival plays in the world of film and television in Atlantic Canada is a significant one. The wide range of master-classes, panels and workshops help to raise people’s awareness of the way the industry is developing, and allow them to practice and learn the skills that are essential to making it in the film industry today.

Furthermore, the Inspired Script program allows people to pitch their scripts to potential buyers and others can dissect documentaries in order to learn how to make the best of their ideas. The Atlantic Film Festival’s Industry Session will help attendees to develop their skills further, meet people and make valuable connections.

Oh my aching head…

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Work is going very well but at the same time I still haven’t fully adjusted to getting up early in the morning and engaging myself in something as rigorous as a full day of training so I find myself tired a lot, especially by the time evening rolls around. This week we’re learning a lot of computer systems that we need to know and as a result I’m amazed that I’m sitting here in front of a computer at all, simply because I’ve had enough of monitors by the time I get home.

It doesn’t help that I didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night and have had a dull headache on and off throughout the day. I don’t think I’ll be up much longer. An hour tops (that will be 11 pm my time) and I’ll be in bed, but it’s highly likely that I’ll crash earlier than that.

Fatigue and feeling slightly overwhelmed aside, I do love what I’m learning and the place in which I am learning it.

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I must say though, I am very much looking forward to the weekend. I’m not entirely sure why that is since I don’t have any big, spectacular plans at the moment but what I do know is that right now the forecast says it will be nice weather for both Saturday and Sunday and now that I’m working I can actually appreciate weekends again. I am anticipating being outside at least a little bit. I foresee drinking coffee on the back deck, breakfasts where I make home fries and George makes bacon and french toast, and maybe an outing or two to enjoy the beautiful weather while we still can.

Who knows, maybe we’ll even make it to the beach. And if we don’t, that’s okay too. As long as we can all relax and take some time to bask in the joy of the weekend, I’ll be happy.