EAST VAN BY HAND: Boring!

What's been happening for the last few weeks has been really boring, unphotogenic and other things. We found an electrician who was able to help us get the electricity up to code and also wired things for future upgrades to the house, like having a deck. It's really great to have had this done. He tore out a lot of stuff that was badly done and now the house wont blow up if we plug in the toaster and use it. There are going to be smoke and CO2 detectors, he hardwired them in. We are trying to take care of everything before we close up the walls.
One thing that is baffling me is figuring out the amount and placement of the pot lights we are putting in the basement. The height is pretty good but if we did track lighting the tenant would probably hit their head on them so we decided to spring for pot lights and a couple of other fixtures. There we a bunch of nipple light fixtures which Peter absolutely Hates with a capital H. So we ripped them out.
Been looking at a lot of magazines and I find them both addictive and frustrating. Nobody wants to do a story on a just a normal everyday size house with a small budget. It's all aspirational. I look at these places and they are huge and these people seem to be loaded as far what they have done and bought to decorate. Are they maxed out? I just wonder. I just don't see myself represented in these pages. I aspire to a life that looks like that but it's never going to happen.
On the main floor we have been prepping for painting for ever and ever, fixing squeaks in the floor, mind numbingly boring. We did start to paint and we seemed to be chugging along but Peter's Mum had her varicose veins lasered and so we lost our only source of child care because she is not allowed to lift anything over 10 pounds for two weeks. Keaton just weighed in at 26 and a 1/4 pounds yesterday at her Dr's appointment.
So in a nutshell, boring. Do you really want to see painting in progress? It's about as interesting as watching it dry. I can't wait to show it to you when we have taken the tape and the paper off and it's ready to be moved in. But for now, it's just a messy empty house.
We are getting dicked around by the flooring people a bit. Long story and a common one where they subcontract the installation out to a guy who has a bad memory, doesn't call or show up when he says he's going to. If he doesn't show up tomorrow we go with someone else and that may take a bit.
We have a big deadline at the end of the month, we gave notice at the storage space and also I am moving out of my studio space in Chinatown. It's great to be living with out our stuff. But soon we will have to confront our stuff and the amount of it. Right now I have filled about half of the garage with my studio stuff save for the big bulky furniture, shelves, tables, sewing machine etc. I know I have a lot of junk that I need to get rid of but I just had to get it out of the space so we are going to have one hell of a garage sale, I tell you.
I haven't enjoyed this process as much as I thought I would. I'll enjoy the result but it's not exactly HGTV. I wish I could just Jeanie Blink and have it done. But the reality is that it is painstakingly slow and tedious. It's been really difficult and hard on our relationship. I thought having a baby was hard! Well this is right up there. Peter has been working on his own for the most part and he can't be having as much fun either. We have to go through with the drudgery of moving and we probably don't have enough room for everything. I know it's a bit Debbie Downer right now.
So all I have to show you are some photos of the garden progress and some wanderings around town.
Thanks for reading.