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While I rarely get around to blogging, I always mean to. That counts for something, right?

So let's go back a bit and talk about the fall. You know, when snow was just wishful thinking and we all walked around with toques on in anticipation.

Since Carrie had some time off, she took it upon herself to get some painting done. And I happily let her do it; painting is the absolute worst. I helped with fun things like removing shelving or hardware, but that's about it; she got to do the actual painting. Oh, and all the removal of old paint from existing trim. The inconsiderate louts who'd painted inside this house last didn't put much stock in finesse. Or second coats, for that matter.

Anyway, the dust and fumes have long settled, and Lily is the proud new resident of a pink bedroom, my office is freshly redone, and the guest room and master bedroom have been revived. Even the hallway and stairway upstairs got a repaint when Carrie's parents came over for Christmas. All that's left to do upstairs is the bathrooms.

How lucky is this kid? She gets her own bathroom.

One thing I have learned: paint is ridiculously expensive. Or at least it can be, and the kind that Carrie has decided works for her is not cheap. So it was with great joy that we learned of the mis-tint pile: some paint stores have steeply discounted gallons of paint that were returned for one reason or another. There may not be much variety for colours, but we found two reds for the guest room that happened to fit well. She mixed them together and had two gallons for $15. Sure beats $130!

After the move Lily's room started without a bed, but we eventually found a used one for her to fall out of, uh, I mean enjoy. She did fall out a fair bit at first (THUD! ...and she'd just climb back in without really waking up) but that has mostly ended.

A bit of pink.

We found an old church pew that fits very nicely in our entrance hall. It's very solid and has nice details; it could use a bit of work (notice the water stain) but we're in no rush to refinish it.

Carrie and Lily made it out to BC twice in 2015, making Lily much better travelled than myself lately. It was the first year in many that I didn't visit BC at all. (Buying a house didn't help.)

We put Lily in ballet a couple of months ago. It's a class offered by the city and costs a whopping $27 for 10 classes or so. She loves it! We haven't bothered to get her the legit ballet garb, but we make do.

While she's at ballet on Saturdays we tend to whip over to Costco. Yes, as suburban dwellers we've joined the obligatory craziness. Hard to get in and out of there in half an hour, but we manage... although doing this every week is getting expensive. Turns out ballet classes aren't as cheap as we thought!

Lily likes Costco, but her all-time favourite store is Ikea. The post-shopping ice cream probably doesn't hurt!

Winter did arrive, albeit a tad late. It came in with a bang and has since forgotten to keep up the pace. Not much snow left here, but we take advantage when possible.