Thursday, September 29, 2022

πŸŽ¨πŸ˜‹ Thursday Art and Dinner Date: Hair

First Potato Harvest of 2022!

This is a scheduled post - see you next Thursday!!! 

Welcome my Friends, to Thursday's Art and Dinner Date! 😊😊

🎨For our 🎨 Art Date 🎨, today's optional prompt is Hair. Please feel free to share any art you've created, we would love to see it!



Here is a renovation update. This is a photo of the spray foam that's now on my basement walls. It's an insulating spray foam, vapour barrier and fire retardant all in one. Another plus is that it plugs up all holes, so that insects (eek) can't get in! It almost looks like stucco for those who know what that is.


We spent weeks preparing the basement for this, I think the entire month of August was dedicated to that task. We were lucky to have pretty much a blank canvas down there. After my carpenter friend Doug rebuilt the wall and put the new door and window in, we were ready for the spray foam company to do the job.


The basement was unusable for weeks because it took a long time for the spray foam to "cure" and dry. The smell was a bit overwhelming! The basement is now ready for a floor and walls, but we had to put that on hold because we got a shockingly high plumbing bill - three times the estimate at $1600 plus taxes. After some argument they knocked off $350 but we are still over budget, so continuing the basement renovation will have to wait until next year. 😟 We'd planned to do the entire basement build ourselves, which will save us lots of money, but that plumbing bill put a quick stop to that!

Disappointment: The spray foam company sprayed over all of those new expensive plumbing fixtures, including a valve that turns the outdoor spigot on and off. I nearly cried when I saw this. This isn't something that easily comes off. It's going to take a lot of work to clean these fixtures and pipes.

Here's the thing. Beggars can't be choosers; and I say this because I qualified for a low income housing program from New Brunswick Power. The basement was done at no charge to me. It's a wonderful program and even though they messed it up a bit, my power bill will definitely be reduced. When the inspector came I showed him the fixtures and he said he'd try to fight for us, but we may just have to live with it. But you know what? I got my basement insulated for free! If I had to pay for it, it would have cost about $5000. I'm trying to focus on feeling grateful instead of the plumbing fixtures!

On the video front:



For Rain Frances Art, I recorded a short, How To Draw Speedy Gonzales! (A "short" is a video recorded vertically and under 1 minute)

For Rain Frances Art For Kids, I have How To Draw An Octopus!

For Rain's Kitchen and Garden, I'm sharing How To Make Homemade Croutons.

I'm also sharing How To Make French Crepes.



That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more 🎨 artistic πŸŽ¨ and πŸ˜‹ delicious πŸ˜‹ creations! See you soon!!! πŸ’— πŸ’— 

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Upcoming Art Prompts For Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date: click on the links below for a description of the prompt and inspiring images! (Prompts are optional!)

October 6th: Masks
October 13th: Lost
October 20th: Haunted House
October 27th: Trick? Or Treat?

This art and dinner date date is all about creating. For the art date, you can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, poetry...whatever you like! You can follow the weekly themes or post any art you like! 🎨

And for the dinner date, please feel free to link up your foodie post! πŸ˜‹

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! Please revisit to make sure you don't miss those who join in a little late! All spam and non-related links will be removed! The link gadget will be available until the following Wednesday!

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27 comments:

  1. Sorry costs go through the roof, but weee that foam... as if they did it on purpose.
    In very, very small we had that here, too, sometimes you wonder. If you hate your job so much, do something else!

    Speedy is cute. And fast ;-) And hmmmm, croutons!

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  2. Home renovation is always a lot of work and no matter how much you try, something always goes wrong. Hopefully it will all be behind you soon so you can enjoy the space. On the brighter side, the crepes and the croutons look delicious. I might just have to make crepes this weekend for breakfast. Thanks so much for hosting!

    -Soma

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  3. Sigh at the damage, but getting the insulation free is a HUGE plus.

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  4. Now I know why I use reputable, licensed contractors with a skilled work force! Then again, I pay for my own repairs! It seems to me the spray foam installers were inept at best.

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  5. It seems any house project is always more money than you expect, doesn't it? I think in the long run you'll be happy with the basement being sprayed, but too darn bad they sprayed over a lot of your plumbing. That could be an issue. But anything to save on power costs this winter. And eventually you'll have a nice usable basement area. We had to have a hot water heat installed when we were gone on our vacation. That was a big ouch too!!! I hope otherwise all is well with you Rain. Hugs-Erika

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  6. So happy your renovation has gone so well! My daughter has a friend who finished his basement using youtube videos it looks professional!

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  7. Oh pity, dear Rain!
    I understand your disappointment, because even if you get something for free, you still hope for a job well done. But apparently it is difficult in every country to find good and careful craftsmen. (We've had a few problems on this point, too...) And the fact that the plumbing work was so expensive is definitely bad. I admire you all the more for trying to focus on the positives of the story. I hope you're soon over the worst of the renovation. I had to grin at your remark that the spray foam looks like stucco - you can also see stucco in my current post, but it's the baroque and somewhat more artistic version of it ;-DDD
    All the best and hugs from Austria
    Traude
    https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/09/strudlhofstiege-gartenpalais.html

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  8. I don't care if it was a free program or not. There is no excuse for shoddy work. If you can spray wD=40 around the edges of the foam then get something to move away the foam. Also try a PVCu Solvent Cleaner. I know you showed the inspector but I would also send photos to the actual company that did the work. We have an insulation program here in the states. A friend of mine husband worked for them. If something was wrong home owners made sure they were notified. So sorry about this. I know how hard you are working to get your house in the best possible shape. Much love, Sis.

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  9. Sorry a few things with south with your renovation, Rain.
    So nice though that you've already saved money.
    I love the cute octopus. And those crepes look divine!
    Thank you for hosting.

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  10. Congratulations on winterizing your home Rain

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  11. Why do the bills are always so much higher than the estimates? I'm sorry that you ran into such a high plumbing bill, but good that the spray foam was done free of charge, even though they messed up in part. It is still annoying. A little more attention to detail (like NOT spraying fixtures) is not too much to ask in my opinion.

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  12. Hi Rain
    we have grants from the USADA in our country My Mom and I got some work done on her house the floor was sagging and they repaired that and put down a new Laminate floor they I too would take advantage of such a program...I think its a smarty choice.

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  13. I am a homeowner so i know the renovating headaches.
    Best wishes.

    MuchπŸ’›love

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  14. Shame about the damage, but getting the insulation free is a definite plus.

    All the best Jan

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  15. You have the right attitude about free vs. $5,000 and how much one can actually complain! But what a terrific thing to be insulated down there. Well done.

    Everything looks big and busy and I'm sure it's taken a lot out of you. And that potato harvest looks great!

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  16. I haven't draw anything for a while but when I saw what the prompt is this week, I just started working on my piece. Thanks for the inspiration.

    Have a lovely day.

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  17. Oh my goodness. I would have cried seeing that, too. You still inspire me with your spirit and gumption doing home projects.

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  18. the house spray job looks good, shame about the pipes but if you can clear any spray that obstructs their function, you could box the pipes in and nobody will ever know - all this costs money I know. Doing things a bit at a time though is fun, makes it manageable and enables your budget to provide for the more urgent things in life so I hope it works out :) On the plus side at least it provides insulation so your fuel bills might reduce :) In the UK we are bracing ourselves for huge energy hikes, We were caught sleeping on the job by Putin and were far too dependent on fuel, grain and just about everything else from Ukraine and Russia and now their war is restricting our access to these vital commodities we are going to suffer the consequences. I doubt we will experience the kind of cold Winters your part of the World knuckles down for so I am grateful for that! Betty the wood fairy

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  19. Oh wouldn't you know ... there always seems to be a fly in the ointment, especially with home remodeling projects. So if you have to wait until next year, you will have plenty of time to get the foam off of the fixtures. Isn't there some way you can hold the foam people responsible ... they surely have a technique for removing it, right? Anyway the foam walls look cool ... almost a shame to cover them up. I jumped right on your French crepes. I love crepes, but I only eat them when I go out. If I make them at home I will make a pig of myself, no doubt. That said, I think I may do it anyway ... you make it look easy :) Here's hoping :P Your potato crop looks fantastic. You are a farmer for sure. I see a lot of good meals at your house again, as usual :) Looking forward to your return. Still don't know how you manage to get so much done ... you must be very organized. See you next week :)

    Andrea @ From the Sol

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  20. Did you come through the storm okay? I saw the terrible damage on the Eastern Area?

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  21. I'm finally up! I'll be back later.

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  22. Your basement has been quite the project. so sorry you won't be able to get it finished now. years ago our state had a program that we qualified for-to get blown in insulation for our attic, and a few other projects to help seal in the house. that was a huge savings for us back then too-it really helped allot-back then we were only using our two wood stoves to heat the house.
    I enjoy all your videos-thank you hugs from the lake

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  23. There must be alias

    ______ hope

    That's necessary for looking in the future, I believe truly.

    Have a wonderful weekend, dear Rain in this good faith.

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  24. Thanks for your comments Friends! I agree that just because it's free insulation, it shouldn't have been done poorly. The tin roof that was installed last spring was also a free government program for low income houses like mine...and there is water leaking through from a crack. They are coming back to fix it, but the insulation people are avoiding my phone calls. I'm ready to just give in and count my blessings!

    Nancy thank you for asking! We had very high winds during Fiona, and lost power for the entire day, lots of downed trees...but nowhere near what P.E.I., Newfoundland and Nova Scotia went through. I'm more inland thankfully! ♥♥

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  25. I'm finally back. Blogging and Vegas at the same time are challenging ~ lol! Jack looks like he wants out the door. You've come so far, and you'll get there in the end. I think you have accomplished so much already. You are an inspiration to me! Take care. Hugs to you!

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  26. Catching up after our road trip to visit family and friends, Rain, and just read the good and bad news updates on the basement renovations. As others have said, free is good but shoddy workmanship is not. It’s no surprise that the foam company is avoiding your calls after seeing the photos. Hopefully, the roofing company will make the repairs. While it’s unfortunate that the basement work is now on hold, it will be done eventually as we all know.

    The homemade croutons looked good and my own, and breadcrumbs, are usually made with leftovers from homemade bread.

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❤ Thanks for your comment, I love hearing from everyone! ❤ Why not join me and my fellow artists every Thursday for TADD? That's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! It's a lot of fun!
Love,
Rain