Basement - nearly done

We have passed all our inspections. Just some finishing touches left. A friend is going to paint our Dora-land mural (hopefully some time in the next week or two). Uncle Scott still needs to build our bookshelves and entertainment center so we can move stuff down there. There are a few painting projects that need done - stairs, shelves, etc. Another friend is helping out with those. (I was supposed to do all the painting, but I can't stand the fumes). Laminate needs to go on the stair treads (after my friend paints them with Kilz paint because the dog peed all over them).

The blinds will be installed on Tuesday. The spa guys are coming on Thursday to figure out why the mood light on the tub is not working. I need to get the electricians out to figure out why there's no power to the floor heat in the bathroom. Need to schedule the TV/internet/phone wiring trim-out. Get slipcovers for the love seat and chair, make a pad for the window seat. Tablecloth and chairs for the table...

And then the big thing. I need to figure out where everything goes. I still don't know where I can put my drumset. I don't know if I should get my grandmother's antique (full-sized) teester bed fixed for the bedroom (and buy a new mattress for it as my kids are now using it's mattress), or get a bigger (much less tall/won't scrape the ceiling) bed to put down there. I don't know where to put the blue lounge chair. I don't know if I want to buy a desk or just use tables I have for my craft area in the bedroom down there. Then there are the million boxes that I'll have to unpack and figure out if/what to keep and if so, where to put it. This job totally overwhelms me and makes me want to go play ostrich.

Meanwhile, here some pictures of what it looks like today:

The kids' area (right off the stairs). The white wall is where the mural is going. All but the 1 huge Dora wall stickers will then go on the mural wall. I plan to put a row of hanging hooks (maybe with a shallow shelf on top) below the huge Dora, for dress-up stuff.


I plan to do another row & column of these cube shelves after the mural gets painted. The top of them are currently the height of my head (5'). Since they are square, I supposed that is how wide they are, too.


These kids haven't touched Mr. Potato Head in ages, but when I brought him down to his own box/spot in the basement, suddenly he was the most interesting toy in there! (Well, except for the Legos.)


I don't know who hung the giraffes like this, but it looked pretty funny....

We instituted the new rule last night for the basement - only one toy (set) out at a time, and you have to put that away before you get a different toy out. Sammy has been really great about complying, when he remembers to, or is reminded. Katie needs to work on it a bit.

The "big kids' area" (entertainment center going on that left wall)


Bathroom. The grout messed up in one corner of the sink counter. (I hope I can get a small amount in the right color to fix it, and not have to buy another 25 lb bag!) I need to clean the grout off the purple walls. And Scott needs to put the medicine cabinet in. Other than that, it is pretty much done.


After I took these pics, I decided to hang the shower curtain. Also, Jeff hung robe/towel hooks on the door last night. One is even low enough for my short Mama to reach.


Bedroom. The 3 drawers for the built-in are done, but 1 needs a second coat of paint. And I need to find drawer pulls for them. I may move the papasan into the big room (will need to get a cover or different color pad) and put my drumset in that corner.

Happy Birthday "Uncle" David!

Very happy birthday wishes to Katie's godfather (Rachel's dad). I will be nice and not tell you how old he is. ;)

Katie's "Trampoline"

We got a hand-me-down love seat and chair for the basement from someone from the homeschooling group that moved (home to New Orleans, actually). I need to get some covers for them.

Katie thinks the love seat is hers. Nobody else can sit on it when she's down there. She runs around it and makes me sing "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain." She sits on the arm and makes me recite Humpty Dumpty so she can fall on it. She makes me open it up so it can be her trampoline. Although usually what she does on it is "figure eights." (Which look a lot more like "letter Ps").

Rave: Space Bags

I don't know what took me so long, but I finally decided to try out Space Bags. Let me just say, FABULOUS idea!

I was able to get all our XS diapers (12 Fuzzi Bunz (new style), 1 bumGenius! AIO, 4 Thirsties wrap covers, 2 Bummies Super Whisper Wraps) into a medium one with plenty of room to spare. Then I was able to get all our Small & Medium diapers (12 sm old-style FBs , 10 sm Thirsties hemp fitteds (discontinued), a dozen sm prefolds, 10 m old-style FBs, a WHAM fitted, 9 m Swaddlebees (pockets) with inserts and doublers, and various stuffers for the pocket diapers) into a Large bag. I may have overstuffed this one though as it isn't vacuumed as tightly as the Med. bag. But they are still taking up less than 1/4 the space they did in regular boxes.


THEN, the completely amazing part - I was able to get our entire wardrobe of baby girl clothes (sizes preemie - 12m) into one XL bag. This is a rather amazing feat, as we not only have all of Brooke/Katie's outgrown clothes, but new ones of Lilly's are thrown into the mix, too. I think this bag might have a small hole in the bottom as I could hear it leaking air as I was carrying it to the closet. But even so, these clothes still take up less than 1/4 space they did in the boxes they used to occupy!!!


They were super-easy to use, just stuff (being careful to stay below the fill line), zip zip, and vac.

I am definitely ordering some more. I am going to have to start saving boy clothes instead of giving them away, you know. And it will be nice to get all my non-maternity clothes tucked into a small corner of my closet. I wonder if my hubby will let me do all those uniforms he never wears, too?

Dear PawPaw

Just in case you were wondering, we still LOVE the playhouse.

Welcome Lochlan Reilly!

Congrats to Mommy to Ander and Wife to Box, Box, and Ander who just welcomed their newest family member into the world. Please keep him in your prayers, as he was having trouble breathing and was taken to the NICU.

Ice Skating

The kids talked about going ice skating with Rachel for weeks before she arrived. I thought Sammy would try it and be done the first time he fell, and Katie would be out there the whole time. It happened exactly the opposite.

Here is Sammy with Rachel's skating coach's daughter, Romilly. And there's Lauren in the background.


Rachel and Romilly helping Sammy skate.


Katie all laced up and ready to go out on the ice.


Rachel helping Katie skate.


The thing that made Katie decide she didn't like skating. "Da ice is code, Mama!"


Sammy going out for more. The girls were so nice to help him skate!

Post-hurricane

Thanks to everyone who asked about and/or prayed for my family. They had little property damage, other than lots of trees down in the yard. Power lines are down and tangled around each other and everything. They are expecting the power to be off for weeks or maybe even a month.

Roomie called yesterday. They are OK, too. They lost quite a few shingles, but the roof is still at least covered.

Please pray for everyone down there with no power in south LA humidity. I can only imagine how miserable it is.

0 for 3

I was 100% sure Sammy was going to be a girl.

I felt really really REALLY strongly that Katie was going to be a boy.

I was reasonably certain I knew what this baby was going to be, too. I was wrong. Again.

Don't take it for granite...

That granite countertops are out of my price range. At least when the counter area is small enough that you can get away with a remnant! I found a really cool one yesterday.

They are supposed to come measure tomorrow, and should be able to install it in about 2 weeks. I am VERY excited!

Urgent: Today's MSNBC Poll

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on 'In God We Trust' to stay on our American currency. Please send this to every Christian you know so they can vote on this important subject. Please do it right
away, before NBC takes this off the web page. Poll is still open so you can vote.

Basement

It's sooooo close. We have 3 weeks until we get the next houseguests. Can it get done? (Well, it could if it would get worked on consistently. Or for more than 3 hours at a time. But don't get me started. I am pregnant have no patience right now!)

Baseboards are up in the bedroom closet. We still need shelves in here. (Not sure why the blue walls look purple.)

Closet door up in the bedroom/craft room. Border is up too. Still need baseboards, trim around the emergency tub pump access panel, and to build the drawer unit into the hole. And put in the window stools. And put the door to the hallway up.


Bathroom tiling is almost finished. Still needs grout. And then that needs sealing. And a door. And then the plumber needs to come install the fixtures, etc. And a mirror picked out and hung. (Yes, this room is supposed to look purple.)


The hallway. Needs baseboards. And cleaned out!



The big room. Needs rest of the cabinets installed & trimmed, countertop (picked out and) installed, window seat built in, mural on the kids' wall, window stools, baseboards, shelves built and installed. And a mini-fridge picked out. And the plumber to intall sink, fixtures, garbage disposal, & the nasty loud upstairs dishwasher (so I can get a quiet one up there that actually cleans dirty dishes and not just pre-scrubbed ones!). And it obviously needs a MAJOR clean! Oh, and the stairs still need carpet ripped off, sanding, painting, and glueing on the laminate to the treads. And the handrail put up at the bottom.




Then we need the sound/wiring guys to come put our "home run" in and do their top-out.

Oh, and blinds for all the windows.

Then, I think, we will be done.

I am not sure how much of this is not necessary for final inspections. But I will find out, because I just don't think all this will get done in 3 weeks. And we need to have it inspected before we have people staying in it!

Silly!

Katie made herself a nest the other day. (There is a row of boxes of stuff that belongs in the basement behind the couch, stacked as high as the back of the couch. It is her favorite place to be. Or jump from.)

Reptilian Friend

We've been having a lot of rain lately, and the other day I noticed this little guy in the basement window well. I have no idea what he is (a salamander maybe?). I assume he's poisonous because he's so bright. We didn't let him in, but the kids sure did have a good time looking at "the big lizard" through the window.

Lots of Happy August Birthdays and Anniversaries

So I'm way super-late with this one. But what can I say? Sleep is more appealing that computer time at this point.

Happy belated b-day and/or anniversary to

• My mom (1)
• My Fly-Buddy Myra (1)
• Me (2)
• Todd & Amanda (2)
• My aunt Donna (3)
• Sarah (4)
• Erin & Garry (4)
• Sleepyhead and Sheryl (5) (I was the flower girl in their wedding oh-so-long-ago)
• My brother (7)
• Kwamai (8)

And coming up...

• David and Stephanie (14)
• Our cousin Cole (21)
• Trampas & Jamie (30)

If I missed you, it's because I don't have your dates in my Outlook calendar. Please send them over. (I like to pray for people on their special days.)

Please keep...

... FloridaWife in your prayers as it is her first day back at work after maternity leave. She is the breadwinner and Raffy is super-lucky to have Daddy instead of day-care!