Laura and Kevin (and baby) at the CNE

This weekend was the weekend chosen for the annual McCran visit to the CNE.  So everyone (except Joanne and myself) headed down to take advantage of the free passes that Mary was able to hornswaggle from her work.

Joanne didn’t show up because she is in Vancouver, and I wasn’t going to show up because (surprise surprise) I had to get some drywalling done.

Laura went to her parent’s house on Friday night, but on Saturday morning I decided that I didn’t want to miss out on the action.

So I jumped on the motorcycle and headed down to the CNE and parked on someone’s front lawn for $5, and headed accross the Dufferin St bridge into the CNE.

By pure random chance I just happened to run into everyone as soon as I walked in!  So we wandered around and I had a great time in the food court.

Everyone else stayed pretty late, but I headed home to get back to the drywalling.  Laura did pretty well with being on her feet all day.

For the last few months, I’ve gotten down and dirty and begun finishing the  basement apartment at one of our rental properties.  It’s soon to be a basement bachelor apartment, with a walkout main entrance and a little private patio.

I think it’s going to be a great little apartment–but I have to finish the thing before I can really say that.  So to that end, I’ve finally gotten all of the framing, wiring and plumbing done, as well as moved the hotwater heater and all of the laundry.   So now it’s time for drywall.

A mess of drywall

Thankfully I’ve had lots of practice!  So things are moving pretty quickly.  I hope to have it all up by the end of this week.  We had to do a lot of boxing around ducts and tricky modifications to that far wall with the window so that the drywall would be perfectly flush with the window, but it all seems to have gone according to plan.

Drywalling is a cathartic process because it forces you to stop mucking about with things in the walls and ensures that you move on to other things.

Thankfully it’s not winter, so the furnace is off and the fans aren’t blowing drywall dust into the rest of the house, which wouldn’t be much fun for the tenants upstairs.

You know it’s bad when I’m blogging about drywall, and I’m actually a little excited about it!

Laura and I both had our 30th birthdays over the last couple of months.  A lot has happened in those 30 years, and we’re expecting equally exciting years to come.

We don't look a day over 29!

Here we are at my parent’s house with a chocolate fudge cake celebrating Laura’s birthday.

Dad drilling in the drywall

Recently my dad enclosed the carport at their house into a garage/workshop.  After insulating and putting in the vapour barrier, he had a load of drywall delivered.  With the help of a drywall lifter from Home Depot, we put up the ceiling and walls.

After some taping and plastering, things now look pretty good.  We managed to wrestle out his table saw from the back room, and once he gets a band saw, we’re going to put together a rockable cradle for the baby.

We have to get cracking though, the baby will be here soon!

The budding nursery and Laura's budding belly

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been slowly getting the house, and our psyche prepared for the coming of our new baby.

We have a change table/hutch, crib and rocking chair thanks to Josie, Brian and Nonna.  We also have sheets, blankets, bibs and knitted hats, all home made by Nonna and Zia Lina.

Stroller, car seat and vibrating baby chair were given to us by Nadia’s sister and husband Anna and Vince, and another car seat from the couple who we are buying our latest house from.  The green animal curtains in this picture were made by Nonna and Zia Lina.

Thanks very much to everyone!

Here are more pictures of Laura and her belly.