Mail!!

Hullo!! I got mail today!! It was a card from Jerry and Ben!

You can tell it's from them because of the fleur-de-lis on the back... that's Ben's signature mark...

And the cute little bear heads on the front... that's Jerry's touch!

They sent a postcard...

Awww... thanks!!! And some Winnie-the-Pooh stickers!!

I'm going to stick it on the fridge... thanks guys! Happy Valentine's Day to all my Blogger Pals.

DIY Starbucks Hot Chocolate

Hullo bears & not-a-bears. As you know, I have been super hard at work supervising the bathroom reno. Now, it is time for payment!

But... instead of using a packet of Starbucks hot chocolate, we are going to make our own! Yup... apparently it can be done... I found a recipe online... Let's see how good it is. You need cocoa, sugar, milk and vanilla extract.

Mama had two bottles of vanilla extract... except one was rum extract... I rather wanted to try that one but Mama said "No!". Sigh...

So... first you pour a bit of water (next time use milk) in a glass measuring cup. About 2 tablespoons, give or take.

Add 2 tablespoons of Cocoa.

Then add sugar... the recipe said 2 Tablespoons, but we went with 1.5 and it was still good.

Now, stir it up good... you want to make a slurry/syrup of all that cocoa and sugar goodness.

Then you nuke it for about 30 seconds.

Take it out and add 1.5 cups of milk to the measuring cup. Yes... we started with a small measuring cup and then had to transfer the cocoa mix to the bigger one. Next time... just use the 2 cup measuring cup!

And then you nuke it for 3 minutes... while you decide... vanilla or rum..

Then you put a few drops (not a lot) of the extract in your mug...

There it is!

And wait for your hot cocoa... sigh....

Hmmm... I just realized, my Starbucks mug will probably be too small... so I switched to a bigger mug.

There you go!! Stir it up nicely again and have a sip. Mmmmmmm..... Mama and I both rate this at 9/10!

Handy Sandy's Bathroom Renovation - The Reveal

Hello blogger pals! Well, the toilet is finally installed! Yay! So here are the last days of the renovation...

First... the flooring had to go in. We used the same plank vinyl as in the kitchen. It is a "floating" floor so went right on top of the funky 70s linoleum.

I was a beary good supervisor and suggested that they stagger the tile "grout lines" so it looked a bit different than in the kitchen (where they were all lined up).

I think it is working out well!

There was a lot of cutting and measuring... but it helped that we had done a floor like this before.

Just that last little toilet corner to do!!

Once the floor was in... it was time to install the baseboards...

 That went super quick with the brad nailer... although, Mama's mitre saw wouldn't cut the 3.5 inch baseboards at the 45 degree cuts... so we had to go old school and get a mitre box. It worked... just required a bit more dap in the corners. Then the baseboards needed a final coat of paint because the brad nail holes had to be spackled and.... you know how it goes.

And today the toilet went in... so now... finally... The Reveal!!

Ohhh... ahhh...It looks soooo much better. Before the walls and the cabinets were the same beige colour. The floor was beige... and the light was brass. ick!

Everybody is beary happy with how it turned out.

And we like the new shaker-style look to the window trim!

As for the tub.... we got a fancy-schmancy curved shower rod...

And the tub and tub surround are a beautiful clean white. There will be no water leaks!! And the faucets were replaced by one handle which means... better control of water temperature and pressure! The old one didn't work very well. As soon as you converted from tub water to shower water, the temperature would go all wonky. Visitors hated it!

So there you go... bathroom done... now it's time for some long-overdue, well-deserved hot chocolate!

Patience, Little Bear... patience!

Sigh... good sekrebearies are so hard to find! I have been wanting to post the pictures of the completed bathroom except... I am still waiting for the humans to put the toilet back in. What with one thing and another, the finishing touches this week have taken a while. I have been told that tomorrow will be THE day!

Meanwhile, I am tapping my foot. It has also been bucketing rain here (by you too, Little Fox?) so no "winter fun" photos to show for it. I think Mama should send me on a trip to visit Jerry & Ben but... she says airfares are too expensive. Hmmph... at this point I would settle for parcel post!

Flowers in January

Thanks to Little Fox for hosting the 1st Annual Stuffy Film Festival. All of the entries were super cool! Here's mine... did anybody recognize the "Flight of the Bumblebee" as the first part of the soundtrack?

Bathroom Reno Update - Almost There!

Hullo bears and not-a-bears!! Thought I'd post an update on the bathroom renos. Part of the bathroom is looking pretty ship-shape. The frame went up around the mirror and everybody is quite pleased with the new look.

So, the cabinet and this side of the room look pretty good...

Well, actually, this photo looks even better!! Mostly because I am in it!

And then there is the tub... today the workmen came to rip out the old and put in the new...

They work super quick!!

Of course there was some mould in behind the drywall at various places. Ewww!!

And just like that... the old drywall and tiles are gone... the tub is gone and it's a blank canvas.

Well... that side of the room. This side is looking a bit scary!!

But I can see it now. The workmen said we were lucky there wasn't any rotten plywood underneath!

That's the new tub...

 And that's the new tub installed with drywall going up around it.

And then there are acrylic sheets to go up over the drywall...

It looks super cool!!! But not so great with the old floor. I will supervise our new floor install on the weekend and post the final updates then!

Bathroom Reno Update (Again)

Hullo again... another report on the bathroom updates! Well, after having waited for all the paint to dry - which is a beary boring process, let me say... Today we started to put things back together again... The plate covers went back on... This photo also gives a fairly good view of the Cloud of Volcanic Ash paint colour...

The knobs went on the cabinet doors - they turned out beary well I think!

And Mama broke out her brand new brad-nailer... It was super noisy while the compressor was fillin the air tank but...

It made putting up the window trim sooooo much easier!! Hmm... I think we need a flash for this photo!

There we go!!! I suggested that they go sort of a shaker-style window trim - saw some pics on the internet - and it turned out beary well.

The mirror is also going to get a frame around it...

And there you go... a new light fixture as well! We had it pointing down initially (cause it could go that way too), but decided to point it upwards - looks more elegant. What light was there before... let me see....

Something like this... except it had 6 bulbs. It was sooooooooooooooooo ugly!