One More Door

When my youngest was living here with me, he busted his bedroom door. When he moved out, I put a gate across the way and made it a room for the cats to hide from the dogs. Now they have the finished part of the basement to hide in. I have one really old cat, Valentine, who no longer tries to go outside and one cat, Romeo who is only inside part-time. The other 3 are outdoor kitties. This is what happens when you pee where you aren’t supposed to.

This same child also busted the door on the room my middle son is currently occupying, but it works well enough for now. I finished painting all of the quarter round and was ecstatic. We have the entire upstairs done with the exception of my closet and my middle son’s room, but middle will be painting his own stuff and installing his own flooring. <laughter> He is an engineer and it will be a good learning experience. He did paint his own room….

I thought I was done with painting, then I remembered the missing door. Ran to Lowe’s yesterday and bought one. I almost cried when I had to paint it. Not really, but it was emotional. Ha ha. I really didn’t want to paint another thing. I got two coats on one side last night and this morning, I have already gotten one coat on the door. If you look at the picture on the right, you’ll see how it looks with the quarter round. I think it really adds the finishing touch. I love the new look.

Once the city gets the dump permit to me, I can get my basement back. It has been 3 weeks and they sent me an email stating they received my request for the permit. Why not just email the damn permit to me? I also bought two pulley kayak racks that will allow me to hang two of my kayaks on the garage side of the basement, which will open up some room. 

Do you remember the sofa the city gave me a ticket for? I didn’t have a truck or a way to get it to the dump, so after the ticket, not wanting to get a fine, I used a sawz all. That’s what will happen with the stuff in my basement. If I can get a sofa in my trash over a few weeks, I can get this crap in there, too. C’mon city. How long does it take to mail a permit?

It’ll take me a while to recover from the appliance crisis, but at least it’s not the flooring and the appliances. <giggle> I was thinking about things and realized, I have really made this MY home over the last 7 years. God has provided for my every need whenever something broke- washer, dryer and fridge last year– and slowly, it has become my home. Once the grands move in for a bit, we will create some new memories, too.

I bought each of them a new electric toothbrush from Aldi ($5 each) so that they will always have a toothbrush here when they visit. I was surprised that I still had 3 sets of twin bed sheets that had not been destroyed (boys build shit with sheets and do things we girls do not understand– sheets don’t stretch……..). I also had three clean, old comforters and enough pillows, so the room will look great once it is done. My middle son was given a set up bunk beds that he is letting me use in there and then I have one other twin bed.

If you are looking for a decent, cheap mattress, Amazon has some great ones. $129 each and they really are not too bad–especially for little bodies. I figure they won’t get nightly use for years, so cheap is okay. I ordered 3 and one got lost, so the replacement is due here today. It’s nothing fancy, but it is a clean room at Ice Cream Grandma’s house. I’ve got plans. Family game night and all sorts of crafts. I bought sparkling apple juice for New Year’s Eve (they are due to arrive tomorrow). It’ll be fun having a full house again– with giggles, laughter and screams.

The huskies will enjoy the kids, I know. Shadow is 11 1/2 and has been dealing with pancreatitis. He’s really slowed down. Hopefully the kiddos enjoy the huskies. They will have to get used to them. The only other thing we will have to figure out is working from home. The middle is going to a hybrid schedule and I am on a hybrid schedule– I work from hime when I am not in the field. Middle moved his office upstairs and I think it’ll work with the location of my office. It may get chaotic at times, but it will only be for a few months. These are the things you do for family.

Now that the home improvement projects are almost complete, I am hoping to get back t my regularly scheduled outdoor adventures. The only day that I was off and did not work on painting or these projects was Christmas Day. It’s a lot of work, but it is worth it. I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to get that nasty carpet up off the floor!