Basement update as of Friday, Painting is done!

Coming down the stairs

The rec room (sorry it's so dark)

The bathroom shelves (just to show the color)

The bedroom - the same color as the bathroom

The media room is gray with a touch of blue, which is different from the rest of the basement which is blue with a touch of gray(notice that dave installed the in-wall and in-ceiling speakers)

Basement In Pictures

It has been a long 2 months for me. I have constantly had to deal with loud noises, banging, weird smells, stuff everywhere, and if that weren't enough, I also had guys downstairs in the basement doing similar stuff. We started towards the end of March and this week they finished the painting. It's exciting to see it all coming together. Next week they are doing the tile work, then it will be 1 week of finishing touches and carpet. Here are pictures of the basement up to Monday of this week.

Step 1: Framing
a) half media room/half bedroom b) hallway/media room/bedroom/bathroom c)bedroom d)rec room


Step 2: French Door and Big Window
a) rec room b)bedroom window


Step 2.5: (plumbing, electrical, wiring, and insulation)
a) bathroom plumbing


Step 3: Dry wall
a) rec room towards stairs b) rec room towards door


Step 4: Shelves and Priming
a) media room shelves b) bedroom c) rec room towards stairs d) bathroom looking at shelves and door to bedroom e) closet in bedroom

If you ask me if I have mustard, I just might slap you...

I hate mustard. Growing up, I never liked it on sandwiches, hot dogs, or hamburgers. I don't like the way it tastes by itself at all. As a teenager, I found that I did like just a hint of it to make the perfect potato salad. When I went to college, they had a perfect blend of mayo and mustard that they called sandwich spread. It was amazing. The mustard was barely detectable but it gave the sandwich that little something extra. Just after my mission, I was at my grandma's house and I heard my aunt say, "Dad used to always say that to make the perfect sandwich the mustard needs to be touching the meat." I was intrigued by that statement and wondered if it really mattered where you put the mustard in the sandwich. I started craving a hint of mustard on sandwiches when I was pregnant with Miana. I still don't like the way it tastes by itself, but I usually like just a hint of it on sandwiches. I do think the sandwich tastes better when there is a little mustard next to the meat, I don't know if that's a fact or if that's because I think of my grandpa every time I am putting it on my sandwich. No matter the reason, I choose to have mustard in my house. Some days I wish I didn't.

Miana got a brand new bottle of mustard out of the pantry, opened it, took the foil seal off the inside, and dumped the entire bottle on the carpet in the dining room. (Those of you wondering where I was, I was playing with Carter in the next room. Miana often plays quietly with her dolls in the dining room. She was in with me just a few minutes before this was discovered.) Here is the carpet after scraping off globs of mustard, cleaning it with the Bissel spotlifter, using 2 different kinds of carpet cleaner, a Hoover steam cleaner, Wink laundry stain cleaner, RIT tough stain remover, oxy clean, and pouring Clorox 2 directly on the carpet. I think I went over it about 30 times with the steam cleaner. This is the current (and permanent) state of our dining room carpet.

Paige asked me if we could buy a rug to cover the stain. I said, "You mean like the one already in the room that we bought to cover the big blue stain in the center of the room that Spencer did when he was Miana's age?" Yes, I've been here before. I will likely be here again.

It may not matter where you put the mustard in a sandwich, but it does matter where you put it in the pantry.

PokeMom (and PokeNana)

While waiting for my mom to meet us to run some errands yesterday, my children were in the back seat talking. At one point I had to jump in the conversation for some clarification.

Spencer: TyPhlosion isn't here yet.
Carter: I hope TyPhlosion comes soon.
Me: Who's Ty Frozen?
Carter: Nana.
Spencer: It's Ty-Phlo-sion
Me: Nana is TyPhlosion?
Spencer: Yes. TyPhlosion is a Pokemon.
Me: Who am I?
Spencer: Onix.
Me: Onyx? That sounds cool.
Spencer: Well, maybe you should be Vulpix.
Carter: Yes, you should be Vulpix.
Me: Onyx sounds cooler than Vulpicks.
Spencer: Onix is a boy.
Me: Could I be Onyxa?
Carter: Onix is a rock guy.
Me: I don't want to be a rock guy.
Spencer: Vulpix is a cat... and a girl.
Me: I guess I am Vulpicks.

Yes, I am now a cat-like, female, Pokemon named Vulpix. Hmmm....