We Shape Our Homes & Then Our Homes Shape Us

In true Carroll fashion we got straight into the house renovations, most sane people would allow the dust to settle and take some time to rest but no, not us, because we were gluttons for punishment, and we obviously had not learnt any lessons from the years of renovating our house in NZ.

That being said there were so many things that we really needed to get started sooner rather than later because the long days of summer would soon end, and the cold, wet, windy, and snowy (mostly all in one day from what we hear) weather was fast approaching and contractors would be hard to come by or find it difficult to get to our house.

Priority number one was the workshop, we needed it to be ready for business come spring, so of course we started renovations on the house. I know that sounds a bit backwards but once we got the workshop up and running there would not be much in the way of time or disposable income to spare on the house. If we made the upper level of the house liveable to our standard, we would at least have somewhere comfortable and clean to relax after all the hard graft in the workshop.

Unfortunately, one of the first things that had to go was the gymnasium floor, what a shocker right? (It was a tough decision for us, being the athletes that we are!), as did the mint green walls, the baby blue vinyl sidings and of course the blue and red roof that you could see from space, all those clashing colours were seriously messing with our Chi.

The renovations did not stop there because we soon discovered that quite a few of our windows and doors needed replacing as did our chimney which we realised had a definite wonk to it, e.g., it was falling apart (something that was not picked up by the home inspector who was obviously partially sighted).

So, we got to work engaging a contractor to paint the roof of the house and barn in a slate grey colour, contractors were engaged to install new flooring in the house, to fit new tree moss green vinyl sidings, new windows and doors and we were also able to find a builder to take down the chimney and build a new one. Blimey we were on a roll! But wait folks there’s more.

Solar panels were always on our wish list for when we got our forever home, so we did our research and found a company that utilised the greener homes grant which would mean that we would at least save a wee bit of money. Not to leave the workshop out we also engaged a contractor to install spray foam insulation and heat pumps, which would keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Our dreams were fast taking shape and our bank balance was receding just as quickly! We had worked hard over the past eight years to save as much money as possible, but everything was so exorbitant, supplies, contractors, the list of expenses was endless. We really did need to think about finding work soon.

With all the contractors booked into carryout the work over the next few months that left us to start decorating the upper level of the house, and we were very much looking forward to it, as much as you would look forward to scooping your eyeballs out with a spoon! But we were not in it alone this time because our wonderful friends the Rocks had volunteered to help us and would be visiting in a couple of weeks to get this project rolling.

Amid all this activity we started to notice increasingly that our little girl Lola was not herself and behaving out of character at times. She was beginning to pee inside the house and eat the cat poop out of the litter trays, the latter she tried to do as surreptitiously as possible but the cat litter smothering her nose and poop breath was a dead giveaway, I have to say it made me vomit just a little in my mouth. She had never done these things before.

We were trying not to worry about our pupperoni and put it down to all the disruption and stress of the move, but a while back before Lola was spayed we noticed a small lump next to one of her mammary glands, the vet said that he would remove it when he spayed her but by the time the surgery date came around the lump had all but disappeared so the vet decided to leave it.

We began to wonder if there was something else going on with Lola and mindful of her previous lump and taking her current change of behaviour into account, we decided to check her over again and sure enough the lump had returned, only this time it was a lot bigger. It was officially time to worry.

Thankfully one of the first things we did when we moved into our new house was get Lola signed up at the local vet (South Shore Veterinary Services), they may not be the cheapest, but we had heard that they were one of the best and had the most up to date equipment. With a quick phone call to the vet Lola was booked in for a consultation in no time at all and once the vet got to assess the lump in person, she was not happy, okay it was officially time to panic.

The vet wanted Lola in as soon as possible to remove the lump and send it off for biopsies. We were so grateful that they were able to fit Lola’s surgery in so quickly, the vet talked us through the entire process and Lola’s recovery afterwards and as the surgery date rolled around, we were both feeling sick to our stomachs. Lola means the absolute world to us, and it was heartbreaking to see her go through this after everything she had already been through.

Dogs never cease to amaze us, with their loyalty, humility, joy, and unconditional love. They never moan or complain even when they are in pain and as a species us humans could learn so much from them. Poor Lola was in surgery and recovery for quite some time but when we finally got to collect her from the vet, she tried her darndest to curl herself into a happy little pretzel in true Boxer dog style, despite having twelve staples and losing a nipple.

Although the vet tried her best to reassure us, she had not liked the look of the lump that she had removed so had excised as much of the area around it as possible to be on the safe side, it was now up to the pathology department to look at the biopsies and let us know what we were dealing with.

Lola was so pleased to see us, we could hardly believe she was in surgery mere hours ago, I mean let’s be honest, if we were in Lola’s situation we would be moaning and groaning, demanding all the drugs under the sun (all the good stuff too, none of that Tylenol or Advil), not to mention being waited on hand and foot by some long suffering family member or nurse.

But our girl was a trooper, demanding nothing but cuddles! She looked so cute tucked up in her post surgery pj’s and sleepy eyed from the pain meds, even the giant dump she took in the vet car park could not detract from her cuteness. Thank goodness there was a poop hole at the back of her pj’s because that would not have been nice for Martin to clean up (any tasks related to the cleaning up of poop are classified as blue jobs)!

When we got Lola home, we realised just how smacked off her face she was on the pain meds, which we were grateful for. She was not in pain, but it was clear that she was confused and did not know what to do with herself. There was a lot of getting into bed, getting out of bed, wandering around like a drunkard, or standing as still as a statue. As difficult as it was to see her like that, we were so glad to have her home where we could pamper her to our hearts content, the biopsy results would be a week at least and as much as we tried to focus all our thoughts on a positive outcome and healing energy for Lola there was a part of us that had a bad feeling.

Thankfully, the Rocks were on hand to distract us temporarily from our worry about Lola’s results. The painting party was finally here and so with the music pumping, paint brushes and tools in hand, pats and cuddles for Lola and snacks and beers on standby we got to removing all evidence of mint green walls and gymnasium floors in the upper part of the house.

Mint green walls were swapped out for a soft white.

Pulling up the flooring was a job we regretted starting … it took forever!

The gymnasium floor and the utility room tiles were ripped off mostly intact, so we were able to advertise them on Facebook as free to a good home, they were snapped up as soon as they were listed.

The clear up was a huge operation and thirsty work.

Of course, there was time for a few beers in-between, it would have been rude not to.

Boy what a job we did, team work really does make the dream work! We were so used to doing everything on our own so it was refreshing to have help from our friends, not only did we get the work done in half the time but we had fun doing it, it was messy, noisy, busy and we worked hard but we also laughed a lot, mostly at Bob who did not seem fazed at all by the mayhem going on around him.

The decorating was complete in time for the flooring to be installed and for the arrival of our new sectional sofa, we were finally turning our house in to a home. After years of living out of boxes because we were renovating and then months of living out of bags our future was finally falling into place.

Yes, there was still plenty to do but by the end of the year all the big jobs would be complete and then we could focus solely on our dreams for the workshop and running our own business full time! Next year was going to be exciting.

With nothing else scheduled in until July when the first contractors would be arriving to start painting the roof, we had time to ponder and to worry. Lola’s biopsy results were due imminently and we were hoping and praying for good news.