Community Carshare

We have officially been a car-free family for about a week! And so far, so good. It is very liberating.
That being said, we are also now officially members of Community Carshare. Joe and I went on our first Carshare outing this past weekend (sans Henry), and it was super easy and pretty fun!

The best part: We got to drive this gem:

Yep- That is a fully electric vehicle. Pretty nifty! And very quiet to drive! You could sneak up on people in that thing it is so quiet. It holds a decent charge, too. We drove about 60km and it still had quite a bit of juice left. Apparently it gets less km in the winter, though (about 50km). Still, I will definitely use this car again.

Using Community Carshare is super simple. We booked our car online (about 30 minutes before we left, but you can book up to a year in advance), and used our key-card to unlock the car, and lock it once we got to our destination. The keys are attached under the steering wheel. 

We went to Dryden Tract/ Alps Woods near Cambridge for a great fall hike. I recommend checking it out if you've never been. It is a gorgeous area, especially in the fall. And without Henry, Joe and I got some great chats in. It was a really great afternoon.

All said and done, we are really happy with our decision to go car-free. I'm not going to lie - I had my doubts and almost wanted to renege my commitment to go car-free the day we sold our car, but I'm glad I didn't. Of course, Joe and I are aware that *most* families would not be able to do this. We are in a perfect situation to do so (living within walking distance to work/groceries/some family/etc, only needing a car once every week or so, AND living close to a bunch of Community Carshare cars). We would recommend Community Carshare at this point to anyone in a similar situation as us, or anyone wanting a second car the odd time (or who wants to go down to one car but still have access to a second). It is a pretty great set-up.

Some other benefits that we've thought up so far on being car-free:
- It makes you really aware of your car-use and the cost of driving
- It is environmentally friendlier than owning our own car
- It helps us to consider alternative transportation when possible (walking, biking, bus, train, etc)
- It helps Joe and I to live in alignment with our values
- It helps us to be more active: We walk a lot!
- It is much cheaper than the alternative
- And so on.

If you are at all interested in joining, talk to me!

Life Lately

Since we have put our house up for sale, blogging has kind of taken the back burner. Obviously, I'm not currently doing any house projects (beyond constantly cleaning and wiping bathrooms, kitchens and floors!) and life has just been busy with showings.

Selling our house is exciting, don't get me wrong. But it is already getting old needing to have a squeaky clean home at all times. We have had showings, usually more than one, every day since we put our house up except one. Yes, this is a good thing. Not so good? The fact that we still don't have an offer in our hands. While I originally wasn't going to talk about the selling process at all, I think I need to be real here: selling a house kind of sucks! That being said, there has been some interest in the home as of late... So I will keep you posted. And send your good vibes our way.... Because cleaning and leaving home with a 3 1/2 month old on a daily basis is less than fun and definitely throws off any kind of routine. (Parents... You know the importance of a routine!)

Anyway, I thought I would share a few other things about life as of late. Just because.

1. This past weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend. Despite being busy with the house, Joe and I got out for a couple good hikes. We also bought (and used!) a new carrier for Henry called the Onya Baby. It is from MEC. So far, so good. It is much better for our backs than the Baby Bjorn... Which was great until Henry weighed, oh, 10 pounds, and then it was just lacking support. Our new carrier has a waist belt that takes most of his weight. It also makes sure that the baby's hips and legs are aligned  properly. Plus, it is good up to 45 pounds. (although I wouldnt be caught dead carrying a 45 pound child in there... Just sayin'!) Here are a few photos from our hike in Dundas this weekend.

Tired Henry

2. And on the topic of Henry...dare I say it out loud? He has started sleeping through the night! Amazing! Joe and I have also been sleeping much better, obviously. That was sooooo needed. I am very aware that this could change at any time. We are enjoying it while we can, and so far it has been a whole week. Before you get too jealous, let me tell you that along with it has come a bit of colic. Yep, with every battle won appears a new one. But it's easier to take on when you've had enough sleep :)

3. I have started doing Yoga! Joe and I bought a WagJag as a way for the two of us to get out without Henry. The great news is that there is also a postnatal yoga class at the studio, where I can actually bring Henry! Pretty awesome. Also... Yoga is hard. But I think I like it!

4. I've just started following this blog. It. Is. Hilarious.

5. We have been attempting to use the BBQ as vegans lately. Of course, grilled veggies and kebab's are a given. We even found this recipe, which makes the best veggie burgers (lentil bulgur burgers) that we've ever made. The best part is that they stick together reeeeally well, so they don't fall apart on the barbie. I didn't take a picture of them... but let me seduce you with some other vegan BBQ visual treats!

Joe's chickpea burgers

Tofu kebabs

Yum!

6. We are still on the fence about whether we want our next house to be completely or mostly finished (aka needing little work and move-in ready), or whether we want to tackle another fixer-upper. The new fixer-upper at Young House Love and all of their upcoming projects have me inspired. Perhaps we do have another one in us! I guess it really depends on what comes up in our desired location.

7. Lastly, let me leave you with a few photos of our backyard. Isn't it glorious this time of year? We have been loving the nice weather and eating outside. I will definitely miss this... if only we could take our house and yard and plunk it downtown.

Fall Soups and Stews

Fall is my favourite season. I LOVE the cooler weather and the fall colours.
I'll let these pictures of our weekend hike speak for themselves. Could it be any more beautiful?!

Another one of my favourite things about fall is that it is cold enough to justify making soups and stews. Which I love.

I have an amazing cookbook called "Simply in Season", which has been a go-to for me when it comes to recipes. It's great because it has it's recipes laid out by seasonal fruits and veggies and herbs, so it's easy to find recipes for our Saturday market purchases.

One soup we made this weekend from this cookbook was the butternut bisque (a creamy butternut squash soup). We ate it with some delicious City Café Bakery bread. It was yummy!

Butternut Bisque

We've also made the vegetarian chili recipe twice this month, altering the veggies and beans each time to mix it up. Scrumptious! Another recipe we enjoyed was the stuffed acorn squash using turkey sausage. It was also quite delicious, and very filling! I recommend this cookbook to everyone... I have enjoyed so many of it's great recipes. Let me know if you would like more suggestions :)

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Another recipe, which I found online here, was a beef stew. This recipe was a-mazing. Although we altered it by letting it simmer for a full 2 hours to make the beef even more tender! It was so good I started eating it before I could take a picture...

It has been yummy! I would love to hear about any of your favourite fall soups and stews!

March Break

I thought that during March Break I would have time to do many projects and write about them as well. It ends up we've been having summer-like weather here in Kitchener, and I have been out enjoying it too much to get much done! Joe and I have been out and about every day. It's been hard to even think about being in the house!

The past few days have been in the low 20's and sunny and beautiful. Joe and I were able to get up to Eugenia, where my Mum and her partner have recently moved. We spent the weekend hiking and checking out the local trails. Here are pictures of mysef, Joe and my Mum on the trails which are a small taste of the many beautiful sights we saw this weekend. This was right before Joe and I hiked about 8 km of the Bruce trail back to Eugenia. It was amazing! And unseasonably warm.

On the other hand, I did manage to get one of my projects done during these last few days of break.
I finally got to the hardware store to buy sandpaper, stain, and other supplies to refinish our kitchen table.

As you can see, while it is a nice and big table, the stain colour was definitely out-dated. It was also covered in marks and scratches (as pine tends to do). Feel free to look at the pictures alone if you don't feel like reading the boring how-to :)

Our pine table: Don't worry...we've been keeping our eyes out for some new chairs.

First, I sanded it down with a grittier sand-paper (120) to get rid of the original stain. I followed this with another sanding with a finer sand-paper (220) to smooth things out. The sanding was definitely the biggest challenge. Luckily, I took it outside and enjoyed the hot and sunny weather while doing it :) It was also great doing it outdoors as it helped me to avoid having a ton of dust to clean up.

Starting out the rougher sanding 

Lucky for me, I discovered that the legs/base were NOT finished, but only had stain on them. This saved so much work. 

Finishing off with a finer sanding to even things out

Notes: Always sand in the direction of the wood grains. Otherwise you may damage the wood and/or need to spend a lot of time sanding out the scratches you make. (Learned from example!)

Before applying stain, make sure you go over the entire surface very carefully with tack cloth or something similar, to get off any dust/sanding residue.

Next, I started my first coat. I chose to use the oil-based Minwax One-Step stain and finish. This made it so that I didn't need to stain a couple of coats and finish a couple more coats. It basically eliminated a lot of work.

When brushing on the stain, I used a real bristle brush and applied thin coats in the direction of the wood grain, again. It is important to do long, continuous stroked along the length of the table so that the  stain/finish doesn't have time to dry in sections that you still need to work on.

I brought the table back inside to our sunroom where it could dry overnight and not stink up the house

I did a very careful job on the legs/base since I only wanted to do one coat

And after a lot of elbow grease, the first coat of stain was done. And I must say I'm pretty impressed with what it looks like! Since these pictures, I actually lightly sanded it down again and applied the second coat.

I will definitely be doing a follow-up post once it is in our kitchen and ready for use :) I think I'm going to leave it out in the sunroom to cure for a week or two, just to be super cautious.

And what was Joe doing while I was refinishing the table, you might ask? Well, he was inside cleaning the house and making pie of course :) Two mini ones for us to eat that day, and one to bring to my Mum's the next. I love my baker man. And our role-reversal!

And of course, the dramatic before and after: