I'm in love!!!

View from the Kitchen

Tomorrow is Easter which is a great time to celebrate spring and new beginnings. In the religious sense, it is a time to celebrate the resurrection. Tonight, Gilles family is coming over and we will be celebrating our own new beginning. Our new house is finally livable and absolutely beautiful. There are still some finishing touches, the basement and the exterior to finish. Overall, we are extremely satisfied with all the hard work and labour that Gilles has put into making our dream become a reality. Thank you as well to Steve, Sara, Marc, Papi and all those who helped physically or with words of encouragement.

View of the kitchen from the living room

We have been living in the house for a little over a week. It is hard to describe the feelings and emotions that we are experiencing. There is a mix of joy and peacefulness with our surroundings.  I have never had so much fun cooking and cleaning.  That feeling may pass, but for now,  it is great to have this feeling!

Entrance with coat racks

In just a few hours, the Barbeau clan will be here. We will be drinking and eating and having a great time. They too are part of our dream. The reason we moved was to be closer to family. We built our house with the dream that it would be a great place to all get together. Tonight, that is what we will celebrate. We are still awaiting the dining table that will be large enough to accommodate us all. Until then, we will make do with what we have.

Bedroom

Reading Corner

Craft / Work room

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Spring is a time for Maple Syrup and Finishing Touches

Maple Trees - tapped for their syrup at the Catholic Cemetery in Sutton

So much has been going on here in Sutton. March is really a great time here in Sutton. As the days get warmer and the nights remain cold, the trees get tapped for their bountiful syrup. All along the roadside, the trees have buckets hanging from them to gather the sap. This year, we have had our own excitement to contend with. We are very close to being able to move in which means a part from purchasing more cans of fresh maple syrup, we haven't had time to think of much else.

Now for the cool stuff: the house!!

• The Kitchen: The cabinets are in. The countertops are in and the sink is in place. All we are missing now is running water. It is a slight detail, but we have been able to manage without reasonably well. Since last Monday, most of our meals are at the new house. I have been using up our plentiful supply of homemade frozen meals and a little creativity. It is like luxurious camping. We bring home the dishes to wash, but otherwise it feels like a functioning kitchen

White quartz countertops

•  The downstairs bathroom: Gilles finally installed the sink in the bathroom. The space is a bit limited so we call it the Boeing 747 bathroom - Please do not tamper with the smoke alarm devices ;-) Actually, the bathroom is not that small, but due to the doorway location, we had to get a bit clever on  the sink we chose.

•  Visitors: We have also been very lucky to have some West Coast visitors. While Chulita is always happy to see lots of our visitors. This one had to be by far the best. Eshan, one of her best buddies, got to run around like mad outside in the snow with her. She was quite tired the next day. Eshan enjoyed his visit and loved learning all about raclette. I think Thomas and Neeta will either have to get him a dog or a raclette set ;-)

• Bedroom Lights: Gilles has been busy installing our lights and other fixtures. It is looking great. Tonight, we finished putting the bed together. Now all we need are the slats and the mattress. Last Friday, we had a sleepover on a blowup mattress. It was so exciting!! We were barely able to sleep.

All in all, there is so much to say, but so little time and lots of satisfied exhaustion. Once we are officially moved in, I hope to have the time to write a bit more. While everything is beautiful, what surprises me most is about realizing our dream is how peaceful and satisfying it can be. So much serenity in the woods with the chickadees welcoming us in the morning and the coyotes howling before bedtime.

Stay tuned for more....