Progress

I have not been posting since returning from St. Louis because I have been in the middle of one of those working vacations. I have been finishing my basement. The man cave will eventually be un-cave like and actually look like a room. It will have walls, a drywall ceiling, can lights, a bar, built in desk, built in bookshelves, a sink, a tanning bed and three cool closets. One closet to hide the mechanics and under stair storage, one to hide the sump pump, and one to act as a laundry room. Angie wanted to have a beach cottage room and I wanted an oriental room. We needed to compromise so. ...............We are going to (eventually) paint the room a light yellow and have white wainscoting and white trim with a little bit of light blue accents. We are going to have two large built in bookshelves and several cabinets and a bar with a sink. We will need to put a sectional sofa and stools down there that will most likely either be blue or some other beach-like color. The built in desk will be about 2 foot by 4 foot and painted white, I think. The closet that creates the laundry room will have the appearance of a shoji screen. So the compromise, if your curious is that I get a closet door, 8 square feet for my desk, and a blue and white vase in the corner with oriental print on it. I have the feeling that once the TV gets hung on the wall the man cave will have been completely transformed into the estrogen Estuary.

I made progress on the room this week. I got all the walls framed out and one of the three closets built. Due to the slow progress and enormity of the size of this project I called a contractor to give me an estimate on some of the work. He took 5 days to tell me it would run $6800. OUCH, cant do that. I have to have most of the electric done for me because I don't want to die. I have to have all of the plumbing done for me because I want a room, not a pond. Beach like does not include surf indoors. I am exploring options on the electric, some of it I can run and just have it attached to the hot end and ask a friend for help with that. The plumbing bill would only be about $500 and I can just pay for that. The $4400 for framing out ceiling and hanging drywall on ceiling and walls, well, I guess I will just have to suck it up and do that myself. Have I ever hung drywall before, no. Have I ever hung a ceiling before, uh, no. Have I ever built a bar, a desk or a bookshelf before, no, nope, nyet. But, I will stay at a Holiday Inn Express before I start on this part of the project, so it should be fine.

Gracie has had a full week, lots of time out with mom, lots of time out with dad, you would think she would be tired, but oh no, she has been up late every night. She has been chatting about her friend Grace Bean off and on. She has also been chatting about death alot, again. What if mommy and daddy die, will you leave me. Gotta love questions like that. When I die, can I take my 'B' (blanket) with me? Did I worry about this stuff when I was 4? No, I think I was already planning my escape to run away and live with Grandma and Grandpa when I was 4.

Gracie also has a new prize. She has her very own, fully functional, Dora the Explorer digital camera. It takes 70 pictures that you can download onto your computer and then it starts all over. She was taking pictures of her parents, the dog, the fly, the backyard, my nose, mom's shoes, whatever she could find. She has also found she loves making crafts.

Glitter glue is of the devil..................................