Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day

Today in Canada we celebrate Father's Day. I usually post about my father, but today I thought I'd tell you about the father of my children. As you may have seen in the previous post, we've been married 31 years. I can't believe it. Anyway we are the proud parents of two boys Daniel 24 and Sasha 21. About five years ago we decided to renovate our kitchen and my husband would not hire anyone. This came to mind the other day when I read Visual Vamp's post about her kitchen renovation. I can't believe we are both still alive and still married after that adventure. It's really an unfinished adventure, I sort of made "let's get it over with" decisions and I'm still wavering on those.

Handy Andy and Daniel (making sure his dad doesn't cut off his fingers).



Anyway, you have to know my husband to know that when he does anything it becomes if not a community event, certainly a family affair. He's not "Handy Andy" quite the opposite. But, then I gave birth to Daniel, who loves tools and looks for places he might need to buy one. So Daniel was the measure and cut guy, and his dad bought the circular saw, the miter saw, the table saw, the compressor, the vast variety of screws and screw drivers. And like anyother renovation it's not just one but ten that you end up doing. Our home is small, so the kitchen overflows to the dining area and the hall and the side entry way and the powder room. I was not allowing a bandage renovation, so all the floors got ripped up, base boards, and even window.




And then, since Daniel worked alot during this whole process, Sasha was the assistant in assembly. The people at Ikea got to know Handy Andy on a first name basis. You could see the staff scramble as we entered the Kitchen department.




Now you ask, "who would let their husband do all this, when you know he's not capable," well me. My mother raised handy daughters, and while I didn't do any of the actual cutting, I sure drew the line and measured everything. I got to within 5/8 of an inch in my cupboard design,only one filler. All in all the kitchen came out o.k. and I'm still thinking...

Handy Andy is a Cop. And contrary to the U.S. notions that Toronto is an unsafe place this cop as been one for 35 years, and only drew his gun once, heck sometimes he didn't even take it. Below is a photo of him coming home to pick it up just in case someone asked if he had one.




Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there, including the dad of my guys.

9 comments:

Jenny Girl said...

Happy Father's Day to your hubby! YOu have quite a big kitchen!

And this is one American who didn't know that Toronto had a bad rep. I just assumed all of Canada was a pretty safe place to be.

Donna said...

LOL, I understand about risking your marriage through handyman projects! I would never, ever allow my DH to renovate a kitchen. It was painful enough once to do a fence!

Happy father's day to your sweet guy!

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Hi Irene, felice festa del babbo ( marito )... è divertente leggere che avete superato tutti questi anni attraverso la soglia della cucina !
ah ah ah... anche mio marito piace fare tanti lavori nella nostra casa di montagna... e ogni tanto si fà male !
Buona giornata.

Jenny said...

LOL you're hysterical. You did all the measuring and got within 5/8ths of an inch? I wouldn't have been able to get within 5 to 8 feet of correct if I'd measured. Words are my strong suit ... and concepts, and dreams and ambitions.

Forget actual actions, past writing and the occasional successful meal! LOLOLOL

Anyway, wonderful story of family life and all we endeavor to accomplish together inside this short span we spend side by side on this earth. Happy Father's day to your man and all the dads you love!

Jeanne said...

What a sweet tribute to your husband. Love the pictures of your men working on the kitchen! Thanks for the link to the pet blog, will have to do something for it with Oliver.

Jenners said...

Happy Father's Day to Handy Andy!! Any marriage that can survive a do-it-yourself home renovation will last forever!! ; )

Sandi said...

Happy Fathers Day to your hubby!! I would love to see your kitchen when it is all done. I am sure it will be lovely.
Thank your hubby for me for being out there in harms way protecting the average joe !! God bless him!!

Diane O. said...

Toronto unsafe?!?! I never felt that way in ANY part of Canada. I sort of thought it was like the part in Canadian Bacon (the last John Candy movie) where Americans had to check their guns in at the border. Anyway, brave move to the the kitchen renovation on your own. My husband IS handy and yet we contracted it out.

Erica (Irene) said...

Hi Irene.....happy be/lated Father's Day to your hubby. My husband is not very handy and we always have to hire someone.
This is strange but my older brother was a Toronto cop for 34 years and last year retired. He was stationed at Central Traffic by the EX for over 25 years.....on the motorcycles.

.....nice tribute about your husband.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to my wonderful son,  it's bee 33wonderful years. Hope this year proves to be the best yet.