So...What Have We Been Doing the Last 18 Months?

If you took the time to read my profile, you’ll see that I promised to update this blog as often as my husband, three children, frogs, and dog allowed.

So here I am a year and half later (on Christmas break) with a free minute or two to bring everyone up to speed on what’s been happening around the acreage.

Significant fall projects included:

Finishing the basement. Thankfully, we didn’t have to do a thing but leave the house open for everyone else involved in finishing the basement for us. While there’s a certain sense of pride in doing the work yourself, there’s also satisfaction knowing that the job has been done right (or done at all). Anyway, the basement is beautiful, functional, and full of monsters (according to the boys). 

It’s still pretty bare and beige, but  we love the added space. 

We included a little office area and a spare bedroom.

Plus a bathroom.

But the best decision we made in terms of finishing the basement was including a playroom (with a door).

It's a great spot for the little guys.

And "grown up" enough for our oldest.

Getting both cars in the garage. Don’t laugh. That was a significant accomplishment. Where do you think we stored all of belongings during the basement project?

Ridding the house of all mice. Remember the mudroom project I was so proud of? Well, this project was also the source of the devastating mouse infestation of 2010. Prior to the mudroom transformation, this teeny-tiny space was supposed to be a laundry room. Yeah, with the amount of laundry going on in our house that was just not going to work. So, we ripped out the dryer vent and installed the cabinets and cubbies. Unfortunately, we forgot to plug up the hole. And a hole the size of a dryer vent is pretty much an open invitation to each and every field mouse within a five-mile radius of our house. I don’t want to give too many details, but I will tell you that the kids and I did move out for a couple of days. I’m happy to report we are mouse-free this year. Perhaps this is due to our two killer kitties, Callie and Sparky.

They look pretty vicious, don't they?