The Big Day Arrived

We had rented a moving truck from Ryder Truck Rental—the same one we had used when we moved from London to our apartment. It had a hydraulic lift gate on the back. The truck was big enough to hold all our furniture. One of the men who worked for us has a commercial license. Quite a bit of stuff was still in storage on the upper floor at our shop. We did drop by and picked up some things, but the bulk of it stayed there.

We had them load the bedroom furniture last, because it would be the first to come off. Haydn had given me strict instructions that no furniture was to be placed until the rooms were finished. He despises working around furniture.

Did I tell you about the system that I had developed when we moved from our house in London? I carefully made lists of "everything" we packed into boxes. Then I gave the boxes unique sequential numbers. I typed all my written lists into Excel. My thinking was that if I needed to locate something, by using the Find feature in Excel, I wouldn’t have to search through boxes to find things. The first time I had the occasion to try out my system, in seconds I found what I was looking for and knew exactly which number box where an item was located. This particular box was at our shop. I drove there. I knew exactly which box I needed, but much to my chagrin, the boxes were haphazardly piled on top of each other and the numbers weren’t visible. Additionally, heavy stuff had been piled on top of the boxes that had no connection with the stuff from our house that I had so carefully labelled.

What’s that they say about, “The Best Laid Plans O' Mice and Men?” Or in my case, “The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Women!" :)

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I hate to say this, but there still are boxes at that location coming up more than four years later. I do know what’s in them, but they still have tons of crapola on them. There’s a small possibility the boxes could be exposed this Spring. Most of the stuff that’s in those boxes will probably be good for a garage sale. :)

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I did repeat the same procedure that I had used for making lists and labelling boxes when we moved from our apartment into our new house. This time I would monitor how the boxes were stacked and where they were put. :) The ones that contained our clothing and linens, I had the men put in the truck at the very last. They and the bedroom furniture would come off first.

There’s a set of very narrow stairs leading up to our apartment. Those stairs had to be reinforced for the men to come up and get our furniture. Even after they reinforced the stairs, I had visions of the stairs collapsing when they were carrying stuff down. Thankfully, it didn’t happen. They truck took only two hours to load and not much more to empty.

The boxes were stacked inside the garage. The stack of boxes at the sides was about 6’ high…the one at the back was a daunting 12'. I made them turn the boxes so I could see the numbers. No point numbering boxes unless you can see what the numbers are on the boxes. The experience of the boxes at the shop had taught me that lesson all too well. All the furniture was piled into the middle of the garage.

I didn’t dare take my eyes off to set up the bedroom furniture before all the furniture and boxes were in the garage.

When that was complete, two of the men helped me to put the frames on the bed and lift the queen-sized box spring and mattress onto the frames. I had known exactly where I wanted each piece that came into the master bedroom. Our clothing boxes were stacked in the study as well as the linens. There were no shelves yet in the linen closet nor had there been enough time for priming and painting. The only completed rooms were the master bedroom, dressing area and the 3-piece bathroom.

I made the bed and found some towels and face cloths we could use. How stunning and inviting it looked. Added some wild flowers I found outside in the backyard and put them in a vase that I had kept in the car, because I knew I would want at least one accessory for us to enjoy.

The men and the truck left about 3:00 o’clock and we were now alone in our new house. What an enchanting day it was. Our dinner that night was prepared on the BBQ and I used one burner on my new gas stove to prepare the vegetables.

Our daughter and her family dropped by that evening – they didn’t come empty-handed. They gave us a house warming gift – four gorgeous big Hosta plants for our garden, a couple of flowering bushes, a bottle of wine, and a very thoughtful card they had all signed with hugs and kisses. The card read, “Congratulations on your new home!” We were very touched by their generosity, their love for us and their heartfelt message. Christine agreed that the rooms that were finished were nothing short of ‘stunning’. Her choice of adjective to describe them echoed our thoughts.

She helped me put up the curtains for our bedroom. Then we went into the garage and found and hung some pictures that completed the room. One was a big framed mirror above the bed, with two framed needlepoint pictures, one above the other to add balance to the large mirror. Haydn’s Dad had crafted those pictures and given them to us as Christmas presents years ago. He’s dead now, but we always appreciated the amount of work he had put into those needlepoint canvases. One was an old lady in a rocking chair with a colourful blanket on her lap. The other was an old man with a cane. It was an unusual hobby for a man who had worked in steel construction all his life beginning that career in Sheffield, England. His engineering background gave him the patience to do needlework that was 18 stitches to the inch. He often individualized the patterns he bought. The back of his work was almost indistinguishable from the front. He was a master at needlepoint. Not a mistake was to be found in any of his work. Like Haydn, he was a perfectionist.

One year he and Haydn’s sister, Susan, combined their talents and made both Christine and I crocheted and knitted Afghans. Dad did the knitting and Susan the crochet. Ours were crocheted baskets of flowers with our last initial worked into the design. Dad knitted the off-white wool squares and Susan had added the crochet work and joined the squares together with a border in olive green. Christine’s was similar without the initial. It was another floral design on off-white wool squares combined with a deep red border. Both were magnificent—-a family heirloom to take care of that would last the two of us for the rest of our lives. Dad and Susan are very talented. Their gifts are family treasures, given and received with love. Each year they accompanied their gifts with hand-made Christmas ornaments for the tree. After Dad died, Susan carried on what had become a family tradition by continuing to make the ornaments. Her daughter helped her to make some of them. I have one small tree that I dedicated to those Christmas gifts. It’s now full after receiving them for more than 40 years. Christine too has a very handsome collection that she puts on her trees every year.

We miss Dad and have continued to get together every year at Christmas to mark the occasion and celebrate as a family. The family has grown, with each of our children having their own families to swell the number of the chairs that are needed for the seating of all of us. Susan’s son hasn't married yet, but one day he will and then he and his bride will add their progeny too.

Breanna, our granddaughter, will be 17 this June. Tory, our grandson, will be 16 in December. Soon they will complete high school, be off to College or University and get married. The number of chairs will increase in relation to the number of children they have. Will there be a talented crafter among them that will make the ornaments?

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Another thing that was remarkable about our moving day was, the date -- June 1st -— it marks Breanna and my birthday. She was 13 and I turned 60. It was a very happy day for all. Christine had made a cake —- we light the candles. Breanna and I blew them out.

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The next day was Sunday and we would be getting up to complete more on the house. I had priming and painting left to do. Haydn had begun to mill the rough cherry wood for the floor in the hall and beyond the foyer.

His next task was the replace the temporary construction stairs he had put in place with cherry and walnut stairs. He had completed them at the shop and would be bringing them home later in the week to install. He’ll bring one of his men to give him some assistance putting them in. The stairs are far too heavy for me to give him assistance.

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What will be on our agenda over the coming months:

Install the permanent cherry and walnut stairs
Replace the temporary lighting above the stairs with a hanging fixture
Light between the two closets on the landing from the garage
Lights in both closets

Finish the priming and painting in each of the rooms
Put interior doors on and fit knobs
Finish the varnishing of the wood trim and put it in place in each room

Shelves in the Linen Closet
Door for the linen Closet
Light in the Linen Closet

Ceramic tile in the laundry area
Dryer vent and electrical box for the washer
Bi-fold doors on the laundry area
Shelving above the washer and dryer
Light above the washer and dryer

Put the bathtub and shower in my bathroom, the toilet and the vanity.
Install a fibreglass tub surround
Install the 3-way mirror I had bought to go over the vanity
Make and install a cabinet under the vanity
Install the sink into the vanity
Install ceramic tile on the vanity
Small ceramic border above the vanity
Light over the mirror
Ceramic flooring

Ceramic flooring in the foyer
Light in the foyer
Light in the foyer closet

Install the cherry flooring between the foyer and kitchen extending into the hallway area
Light fixture in the foyer
Varnish the flooring—they would take several coats
Give the stairs a final varnish coat:
Haydn had pre-varnished the stairs with a couple of coats while he has building it at the shop, but it would need a final coat

Install a light fixture in the dining room
Install an overhead fluorescent light in the kitchen
Install a light fixture above the sink
Install a switch that lights up the stained glass window in the dining room. (The design for the stained glass window was one that I copied that had hung in Mark Twain's house)

Continue making the kitchen cupboards at the shop (Hickory with small Walnut squares in the corners of the cabinet doors) Haydn would finish all the varnish that was necessary for the cupboards at the shop where they can dry, free of dust, and have additional coats as needed
Install the bottom cupboards when they are finished
Install the kitchen sink and the faucet
Install the top cupboards when they are finished
Install the knobs on the kitchen doors
Paint the legs and the backs of the kitchen stools chocolate brown to approximate the dark walnut of the squares in the cabinet doors
Install cork flooring in the kitchen

Have carpeting laid in the spare bedroom and in the living/dining room

Think of some way to finish the cables
Put a railing and spindles above the stairs
Varnish the railing and spindles above the stairs

Finish the columns out front with fieldstone. One each side of the garage complete with planters and two without planters for the porch as per the plans
Install steps faced with flagstone for the front steps
Install a railing and spindles between the pillars at the front to finish the porch
Install a hose bib on the front porch
Place the cedar arch we owned that we had in the backyard at the base of what will be a curved walkway
Build a flagstone, curving walkway to the front door from the driveway
Define garden beds at the front with stone
Possibly put a small flagstone path in front of the bed below the porch

Landscape the front and rear by planting an alternative to grass

Build a deck at the rear off the dining room

Define the garden beds that butt up to the house with railway ties
Build a small railway tie wall out the front to hold back the dirt

Insulate the basement walls
Complete a Craft Room in the basement
Complete a Spare Bedroom in the basement
Decide if there will be plumbing below grade
Build a second Fireplace in the basement
Complete a Games Room in the basement
Complete a Work Room in the basement
Complete a Cold Storage Room in the basement
Complete a Gardening Area in the basement for growing and starting plants indoors

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All these things are not going to get done in one year! We’ll just take our time and work away at it. We’ll have to see how co-operative the building inspector is and how much time the Village of Grand Bend will allow us to complete the house to their satisfaction. Like several municipalities, we weren’t supposed to move in ‘til it was complete. Let’s hope it takes less than 13 years for us to finalize this last house we’ll ever build.