Hello everyone - we are still alive That's nice, isn't it!
The last month or so has been a whirlwind of action - whilst we try to improve the house the kids try to destroy it. Whilst we try to sort out our messed up heads, the kids try to fuck with us even more and while we wonder when the winter will eventually end, the snow keeps on falling!
Let's start with the house.....
So Buffy has a website for her business - It's a good website - take a look here. https://www.buffydavey.com/
People go to her website often and send her messages and ask her to do things for them - Whether it be about marketing, writing or building websites. One such person was our new mate Adam. He has a website too, which I will post a link to in a few minutes. He also had a problem with his online presence and needed his SEO sorted out (Seo is not a disease) So he contacted the Buffster and together they worked out what he needed and then Buffy had a brain wave - Adam does renovations and restorations around the Winnipeg area and we had a few things we needed restoring pr renovation around our house - So they made a deal - Buffy would do her stuff and sort out Adams online things and Adam would do some work at our house in payment. Brill - everyone wins.
Until...
Adam started to remove the tiles in our Kitchen - a simple afternoon job - before putting on new tiles - But the old tiles had been laid over 2 layers of older tiles and the old shiplap - from 1947. The wall and the kitchen were by now a mess, but instead of telling us it's a bigger job and asking for more money - Adam stuck to his work and got it all sorted out, putting up new drywall after removing the old walls and then finishing off the retiling.
He also painted the horrible old cupboards in the upstairs bathroom and after removing the old vinyl flooring and cleaning, flattening and sorting out the dampness in the old floor he laid some new vinyl flooring for us down there. All in all Adam and his mate Brooks were at our house for a couple of hours on weekdays for about a week. It was great having them around - they were fun to chat with, hard-working and also didn't mind the kids hanging around! Here are a few photos of the old rooms, the st mess that they found inside the walls and the fantastic results.
Before pics
During Pics
After pics
To be honest we were a little sad when it was all done and they packed up to leave. We really enjoyed having Adam and Brooks around eth house and they did a great job. We will definitely be back in touch when we need any more work done. We also ended up with a new toilet and taps for the washing machine water in the basement as the old ones were worn out - we did pay a plumber friend of Adams to do that but it waa worth it.
If anyone in Winnipeg or nearby does need someone to do this kind of work or any refurb, renovation or restoration - take a look here - http://www.restoramb.ca/
Its Adams website - after being rebuilt by Buffy. Obviously, if you also need your website rebuilt or online marketing done - look at Buffy's website - buffydavey, com and give her a call!!
Anyway, that's enough of the advertising! On with the rest of the bumph...
We have also been continuing our ongoing treatment after Hannahs's dog bite. It's hard to believe that it happened nearly 3 months ago now. I think we are all recovering well and getting used to what happened and looking forward to a time when we can stop thinking about it. But it is hard. Just yesterday as I went out the front door for a run, I had to stop and wait as a woman passed by our front yard with a big dog who was barking and snarling at the postman across the street. It once again brought everything back into my mind and for the next 30 minutes, as I ran, I couldn't get the image and the memories of that evening out of my head. Hannah seems to be coping pretty well with it all and has even invited Cuddy along (Jon and Susan's remaining dog) to her birthday party which we are planning for July. But she also still has much worse night terrors than before it happened 0 thank goodness these are now happening less than a few weeks ago.
We also do two lots of cream that we must apply - one for scar reduction and one for massage - to break down the scar tissue. We do twice daily massage on her lip, up to her nose and on her cheek as well as having to actually put fingers into her mouth and massage her scars from the inside too. She is really well behaved as we do this which is mainly down to watching kids' youtube as it happens. We also have to stretch her mouth - pulling at her lips and cheek to try to make her lips and mouth as full-sized as possible - again part of this involves putting our fingers into her mouth and stretching from the inside.
It has now become part of our normal daily life - a part which I wish didn't exist - but it does so we get on with it. Oliver shows a lot of interest - he is too young to know what happened and why we are doing what we do - so he also went to have a lip massage and plays along by putting fingers in his own mouth, to do this same stretching that Hannah is doing. He also likes to sit next to Hannah and watch the videos over her shoulder. It's actually really sweet and has helped them to start getting along much better than before. It is, however, the only positive that has come from any of this trauma.
We are due back at the hospital with Hannah next week, where they will take photos and actually measure her mouth and lips again to see if eth stretching is making any real difference. This will go on for at least a year until early 2023, at which point we should learn what kinds of surgery she will need to fix the deformation around her mouth.
To add to that we have been getting phone counselling from several sources and are awaiting dates for more personal counselling to help us deal with the memories, the current place we find ourselves and how to deal with anything that happens in the future - such and bullying or teaing for Hannah which is probably going to be an issue as she grows up.
I look at Hannah sometimes and we see the scars - wishing we could just wipe them away - but we can't so we have to deal with it/. It is part of who she is now. Apparently, the 3-4 month period after the injury is when the scars will look at their worst - as the scar tissue is at its thickest and darkest before the skin begins to cover it a bit - so hopefully, we are nearly the worst place now. Sometimes in the worst light, the scars look huge and frightening - other times, especially when Hannah smiles you can hardly notice them. She is so full of energy though that often she is just a blur - running around the house chasing Oliver like a crazy person - just like she should be doing!
Ollie and Hanny are definitely growing closer now - They play much more together. Hannah generally pushes him over less and they can actually communicate - which is amazing to watch. Just the other day, at the library Hannah gave him a big hug and a kiss - just because she wanted to and she often passes him food or a drink when he reaches out for it. I think they are going to be best buddies as soon as Oliver begins to really talk properly - which looks like it will be quite soon!
They also helped me out when I was fitting a new tap on the kitchen sink last week..... well they thought they were helping...
Ollie himself is growing into a proper little boy - He is great at walking and running, says so many words, helps with the shopping and has also learnt to ride the red rocket!
The last part of this update involves shit - white, cold shit - because that os what snow is!
I am not going to go on for long but here are a couple of photos from 21st March last year., showing the back and front yards of our house..
Here is what they ook like today - not on March 21st but April 8th, nearly 3 weeks later in the year.
The daytime high is actually going to be lower than the Historical average Nighttme low!
Also take a peek at this....
Yep - next week, mother fucking nature, is going to dump another 30cm or so of snow on us - Brilliant! Just what we need. A few centimetres aren't a problem, but 30cm, with the cold weather and the already not cleared up mess of winter, is going to be a nightmare!
Even long in the tooth Winnipeggers are highly pissed off with the weather and the ever-continuing winter. It's been a bad one and it looks set to continue for at least another week to ten days. One cool thing about the snow is what happens to all the snow that's removed from the city....Take a look at this video which shows one of the four snow piles that houses all the removed snow. It is expected to last well into August this year before it finally all melts away.
No comments:
Post a Comment