Our New Home & Cheesy Pork Marinara

Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

I am grateful.

As I look around at our new home, I just shake my head in disbelief. The world outside has changed drastically in the past month but for me, so has the inside.

2 years ago we discussed the possibility of building up and even when they broke ground the first week of September 2019, I still didn’t quite believe it was happening. When we finally moved in on the 143rd day of the build, exactly 6 months after they first broke ground, it finally hit me.

I am home.

My Sis and BIL bought us the perfect housewarming gift 💕! A water colour of our new home painted by my Cousin’s SIL. Her company in Calgary is called Art & Alexander.

I had no idea how difficult building a house would be. Not only building a house but LIVING in a house that has an extension being built on top of it! I had no idea how many decisions we would have to make!!! It was SO hard to start somewhere and pick colours, materials, handles and fixtures!

I started at the Kitchen and Bathroom store. I went into the store at 1:30pm. The lady told me to carve out a few hours to go through everything but I told her I had 45 minutes, let’s go! I was very sure of my first picks. I wanted simple and easy to clean. That is a big one for me! I clean a ton of different bathrooms and I have my favourites 😂.

Colours were a LOT harder. I ended up starting in the ensuite! As soon as I figured out the look I was going for in the bathroom, it was easier to make some final picks in our master bedroom. I wanted the bathroom to feel like I was at a hotel and the bedroom to be soft, quiet, romantic and like adults live in it and not children. A place to get away from the noise of the day and recharge. The first thing I picked was the wallpaper. I LOVE wallpaper! I love pattern! I have boxes of gorgeous fabrics I have bought over the years because of the gorgeous patterns. Maybe someday I’ll learn to sew 😜. As soon as the wallpaper was picked I had the start I needed to create a vision for the dining room, the master bedroom, and the ensuite.

In the bedroom, we picked the Benjamin Moore Colour of the Year, First Light. I love it! We chose a cherry blossom print because we have special memories of cherry blossoms. We bought a white dresser from Wayfair and changed out the silver handles for black ones. We had our closet doors sprayed high gloss white and added black reading lamps above our headboard and a black fan for a little edge. We picked black modern handles for all our doors. Ninja refurnished our oak nightstands and painted them white. We changed the handles to match our dresser. I love our closets and the custom built-ins. My shelving unit is on rollers so that I can get into the beautiful jewelry box my Mom left me. Now I just have to get jewelry to put into it 😂💕. I love that our reading lights are smart lights and can change to any colour we choose and can be activated by voice command on our Google Mini!

Our bathroom is very dramatic and I LOVE IT!!!! I giggle every time I go in 😂. We picked a gloss/matte black textured wallpaper that was crazy hard to put up!!! Ninja and I hung all the wallpaper and this was the first one we did! In the dark lol. We had a very specific design in mind. I really wanted white subway tile with black grout. We chose black glossy octagons for the shower floor and the bench. After a long debate, we chose corners shelves that were grouted in over an inset shower ledge. I am happy with our decision as it is clean, modern and different! I also wanted a glass swing door. Tracks SUCK to clean! All our fixtures are matte black and the accessories are as well. We chose to have 2 shower heads as we like to shower together. The water can be on 1 head or both. We also chose a fixture that allows us to set our temperature as we bought a hot water on demand system and now we just turn the handle and TA DA, the exact temperature that we like it at! We bought the backlit mirror and the vanity at Wayfair.

We picked a marble print for the dining room. We both wanted a place to hang our wine. We live in a valley that is known for it’s wine and we do love our reds! We have filled it up better since the original picture 😉. We bought a red bookcase from IKEA to use as our “bar” and we love having a dedicated space for our special glasses. Ninja refinished our old table, which actually used to be his childhood table lol, and stained it to match the stair railings that he stained as well. We bought the chairs from Wayfair.

The kitchen was my favourite space to create and is my favourite space to be in. We got a GREAT deal on our appliances at Best Buy. We took advantage of their policy of honouring sale prices for 60 days after you buy and checked deals over Black Friday and Boxing Day. We were able to get money back on all our Smart home products that we bought! All of our appliances are smart and can be activated with our phone apps as well as our doorbell, our thermostat, keyless entry and smoke alarm. We knew right away that a gas stove was important to us, a lot of storage and a big island. We went to 3 different kitchen places until we found the design that was right for us. We picked shaker style, maple cabinets in distant grey. Most of our shelves are on rollers so we can get to everything easily. Our corner shelf is a LeMans and it is amazeballs. We also got them to build me a broom closet at the end and put in a big pantry. I really like my rollout spice rack and the cabinets that have built in dividers for my pans. We chose Hale Navy as our island colour and my favourite piece, the counters, are Tranquility quartz. We bought the stools from a little local store here in town, Hummingbird. We decided to stick with subway tile for the backsplash but chose charcoal gloss tiles with rain coloured grout. We got our pendants from Wayfair and the bulbs are Phillips Hue smart lights that work with our Google Nest and change to any colour setting that we program! Our under the counter lighting is programmed to come on with movement so that if either of the Girls get up during the night the lights will come on. Super convenient. Also very convenient, the central vac toe kick under the sink, the garbage/recycling bin cabinet next to the sink, and the garbage disposal 💕.

We knew that we would need an office space but also knew that we don’t have a lot of “extra” room. We asked the kitchen cabinet makers, New Generation, if they could design us a desk with a built in filing cabinet that was narrow enough to function as a desk but not take up a ton of space. We picked the same cabinets as the kitchen but picked a dark butcher block style top so we could relax about the colouring/painting that ~~might~~ will happen on it. It turned out great and fits the space perfectly! We refurbished old shelves from my old craft closet and made the shelving. I bought the racks on Amazon. Ninja just installed a lower shelf to put our power bar on and keep the wires out of sight.

The Girl’s rooms are a work in progress. SBean wanted a rainbow colour pallet and HBear went more mature with a coral, gold and turquoise pallet.

Our laundry room is very similar to the office space. Not a ton of room so we wanted to make it as efficient, bright and multipurpose as possible! We created a command centre between the laundry room and the office space. I love having everything right there, being organized takes the frustration out of SO many activities. The GIANT barn door blocks the laundry noise super well and the soft yellow accent wall is cheery and keeps it bright and airy. The big window at the top of the stairs is great too! All our blinds are Hunter Douglas and were made to colour match our kitchen cabinets.

We are still working on the living room, the main bathroom, the Girl’s rooms and the den. Stay tuned for more updates!

In a world that has gone crazy, I am SO incredibly grateful to have not only a roof over our heads but one that we have worked so hard on for so long. We have put elbow grease into every room in this home. Even though it is brand new, I already have memories in every room. This was my Grandparent’s home for years and then it was my parent’s home and now it is our home too. I have loved this house in all of it’s phases and I can’t wait to spend my life making memories with my family here as well.

Ninja and I put out our latest episode of How Was Your Wee, Honey? Check out episode #164: A Calming Presence HERE This week we discuss the differences in media in the US & Canada. Topics: 1st time, kid’s phone manners, Zoom, Dr Bonnie, Olympics, Twitter, grocery shopping, & puzzles.

We are KILLING dinners lately! Having so much time has allowed us to slow down and make more dinners from scratch. Before I started working again, I cooked like this all the time but the past few years I have felt tired after work and don’t do as many as I would like to. This was an easy pasta dish that used stuff in the pantry. I have been making menu plans for 17 days worth of diners right now. The new norm. I will discuss more of that next week. This was incredibly easy to make and tasted amazing. The original recipe called for 1.5 teaspoons of paprika but by accident I put in 1 tablespoon. It was a happy accident because the flavour was unreal! Ninja licked his plate, the Girls asked for seconds and I didn’t get to the leftovers fast enough the next day so I guess we will have to make it again soon!

Cheesy Pork Marinara

Adapted from Canadian Living

1 tablespoon oil
1 lb ground pork
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup water
3 cups short pasta
1 jar marinara sauce
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parsley, chopped

In large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook pork, stirring, until browned.

Stir in onion, bell pepper, garlic, paprika, pepper and salt; cook until starting to soften.

Stir in broth, scraping up browned bits. Add pasta, marinara sauce and 1/4 cup water; bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook, stirring halfway through, until pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella.

Sprinkle with parsley. Sprinkle with additional mozzarella, if desired.

As I said earlier, on March 2, 2020 we officially moved into our new home. We slept in our own beds in our own rooms for the first time!

We had no idea what was about to happen in the world, so we continued on like normal. We made smoothies, had extra dance classes, an early morning makeup tutorial, had dinner at Grandma & Grandpa’s who got home with presents from their southern cruise and trip to Mardi Gras and then as the week came to a close we began to realize what was about to happen and we stocked up on the essentials.

On March 14, Spring Break began and we began to practice social distancing. By March 20 we were in full fledge self-isolation. I did my last day of work on March 18 and Ninja and Dad finished their last day on March 20. Ninja was having some stomach pains so he called our family Dr. After a phone appointment the Dr asked him to come in for a closer look. Everything turned out alright but because he was in a medical facility, the Dr asked him/us to self isolate. We had already decided that was the way to go anyways so we picked up groceries and settled in for the long haul.

We have been busy despite being isolated from the world. We have done FaceTime with family and friends, puzzles, podcasting, dancing, our nails, supported local restaurants, coloured, painted, had picnics, played in the backyard, worked on the window seats, painted shelves, drank, cleaned, napped, played boardgames, caught up on computer work, had sleepovers, made hamburger buns (recipe coming soon), watched movies/Cosmos/news/tv, did yoga and the Girls’s organized a St Patrick’s Day treasure hunt AND a masquerade Ball!