Evolution of a Pub

My dad was very surprised when he first found out we were pregnant. He was the one who transformed our basement into a British Pub. His logic was that any young couple who wanted a Pub in their basement wasn't exactly thinking ahead to a life with children in the near future. But I ask you, what child doesn't want to play in a Pub and enjoy a Dickens Christmas every year?

That being said, my dad had a point, and now Warren & I are working on re-organising the Pub to accommodate a 'grown-up' TV/movie watching/fireplace area, and a play area for Rhys (and any little buddies that may come over!). Part one of this transformation was getting rid of the GINORMOUS, space-sucking, eyesore of a TV that we had down there. Warren got it for free from a client who just wanted to get rid of it. It has served us well, but it was taking up precious real estate in our Pub, and no child needs a screen that big, blaring Treehouse into their skull. My brother came over yesterday to try and move it. Some photos for size reference:

Beside Warren, who is 6'3":

At the bottom of the stairs:

Needless to say, the move was UN-SUCCESSFUL. I'm pretty sure we need to hire a piano mover to get this thing up our stairs. Getting it down was scary enough (I had 9-1-1 ready to go). So, it's now found a temporary home in our freezer room.

Today, I drove up to Airdrie to pick up a corner TV stand I found on kijiji to house a smaller, old TV we had kicking around. Now, Rhys doesn't really watch TV, but I know this will come in handy when he's old enough to like cartoons or movies, plus, I know his Aunt Kayley & Uncle James might want to watch TV when they come to visit. Here's the beginnings of Rhys' Pub Playroom:

I'm wondering if I should get some wooden letters and make a sign that says 'Ye Olde Playroom'. Ha!

But OH! The 'grown-up' area is awesome! We got a new TV mounted to the wall (space saver!!) and I absolutely LOVE the ambiance down there. I feel like we've doubled the size of our house. While Adam was over we 'christened' the new TV by watching 'Shutter Island' on Blu-ray. GREAT MOVIE! Highly recommend it.

Now, since I'm sure my mom is getting annoyed at the lack of Rhys photos in this post...here you go. This was taken the day after the projectile vomit episode - much happier baby!

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This is Rhys Cronin here. I'm guest blogging today. I'm still learning what 'blogging' is, so I hope I'm doing it properly.

This year was my first Christmas EVER. Well, sort of. Last year I was in my mom's belly and I think I was really small and looked like an alien. Glad I grew out of that stage.

My Auntie and Uncle and cousins went to Australia for Christmas this year, so I got to go to an early Christmas dinner at their house. I got to sit at the big table with the grown ups. I only threw my toy in mom's mashed potatoes twice, and only spilled one glass of wine on Auntie Donna, so I think that means I did really good.

Here's me on the table:

When 'real' Christmas came, mom and dad took me to church the night that Santa comes. They told me Santa doesn't go to church, so I'm still a little confused about all that, but I had a good time anyway. In fact, I had so much fun at church that I fell asleep on Papa. Reverend Lee says that if you need a good sleep, church is a good place to go.

After church, we went to Grampa's house where I opened my first Christmas presents.

Here's me with Mama and Aunt Kayley and Uncle James by the tree. I got some colorful books from them:

Then, on Christmas morning, mom and dad took me downstairs to the Pub to see what Santa brought. It was decorated so pretty. I really liked it down there:

Here's me with my Santa presents & stocking. The big red bag beside me is my 'Santa Sack', and it has my name on it. It used to belong to Papa, so I feel very lucky that it's mine now:

I love my new highchair that Gramma gave me, but I'm not so sure about that blue bow:

I also really like my new sleigh that Nana gave me. Can't wait to take this puppy for a spin:

Me and my Nana:

Me and GranDan:

Me, Nana & GranDan:

Here's me with my Gramma at Christmas dinner that Nana hosted:

Here's a photo that mom and dad wanted. They said they needed a picture of the 3 of us together. But we were all REALLY tired, so the picture was taken quickly in the hallway. Mama wishes it was in front of a tree, and that we all should have red sweaters on, but I told her that it was a nice photo anyway.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

XOX

Rhys Cronin

More Pub Photos

Time for some more Pub photos. But first, some back story.

Our Pub was still under construction when our Sweet Angus passed away. In the days following, Warren & I were coming up with ways to honour his memory.

The first way came about after we opened a new bottle of Scotch and poured a sip and made a toast to Angus. We decided then that every year on the anniversary of his passing, we would make a toast to him with that same bottle of Scotch. I wrote this note inside the lid of the box:

And fittingly, the bottle was a gift from our friend Gord, who is also a fellow Boxer lover.

The second way we decided to honour his memory, was to officially name our Pub after him. Before we had tossed around names like 'The Toad & Turtle', 'The Dog & Biscuit' or the uber-original 'Cronin Pub'.

But this weekend, we made the name official:

The 'SIR' is important, because Angus was a very noble friend. He was my Prince.

Beside the Pub name, we are also working on a little memorial for him. Right now, on a small shelf, we have the beautiful box with his ashes, our Family Portrait, a tiny plate with a Boxer portrait painted on it, and a little 'Boxer Angel' figurine. We will eventually hang a framed photo of Angus, with his old name tag.

Here's a couple other fun things we've added to the Pub.

First, our English Telephone Booth 'DVD Rack'. The door swings open and there are 2 shelves inside.

And this next item is a true GEM.

It's an antique baby teething ring. Made of bone or ivory or something, with a tiny silver clown ornament hanging from it.

And the best part? It was Warren's.

Sorry Warren. I just called an item from your childhood an antique. The truth hurts I guess :-D

Pub Photos

If any of my readers are unaware, Warren & I (okay, my Dad has done most of the work) have been renovating our basement to look & feel like an English Pub.

And the renos are finally in the home stretch!

The only things left are:
1) Adding river rock stones to the face of the fireplace.
2) Staining the 'Bar' area.
3) Adding shelves to the 'Bar' cupboard.
4) Buying new furniture (the really fun part!).

We already had some antique artwork and some other antique-y type stuff we brought back from our England trip. And, Warren's mom had given us some amazing Hudson's Bay Company history artwork. So we had a good start on the decor side of things.

On Saturday we hit an Estate Sale and picked up some more amazing pub stuff. You know how all pubs are filled with old gak, and every where you look there's an old photo or nick knack? Well, that's the look we're going for, so we have many years of collecting ahead of us :-)

This is one of our estate sale finds. It's a painting of some Victorian era men sitting around a table drinking and chatting. Very appropriate. So we hung it above the fireplace.
This was the coolest find ever. An old antique tin lantern (that actually works when you plug it in!) that says PUB on it. And a cute little brass jug with an embossed ship on it.

The brass tin pail-on-a-stick was an estate find as well. I turned it into a plant holder.
These two little plates came from the estate sale too. They have little painted English House settings on them.
And this is our Pride & Joy. Our RED BOXER ALE poster that we bought from the Los Angeles Boxer Rescue. SO PERFECT. And every penny we payed for it went to the Boxer Rescue. Same Boxer Rescue we bought my antique wedding ring set from.

Next to this poster is where we are going to make a memorial to our Sweet Angus who passed away this past December. We'll have his ashes, our family photo with him, and a photo framed with his name tag. I can't wait for that.