Labor? Maybe or maybe not

Well it is Labor Day weekend. The decision that we need to make is will we labor or not? It is a holiday weekend, so that means we need to rest from labor right? Such a conflict. There are so many things to do around this house. We started remodeling the basement years ago(two, three, I don't really remember) and it would be nice to finish things up. We had a tiny bathroom with 2 closets in the hallway. We decided to get rid of the closets and expand the space in the bathroom.Here is what it looked like after we did the demolition. That is the fun part. Rip, tear, and take it all out the door. The next part is harder. Get started, make decisions, and use those muscles to labor and create a new space. We had done everything except laying tile before. I am so blessed to have a husband(and now a son) who knows how to put in wire, pipes, drains & toilets. One thing we did that was new was bust up the concrete floor to change where the drain was and to add a drain under the water heater. Talk about messy & loud. But the guys did it.

We have made great strides. There used to be yucky carpet & concrete floor and now there is lovely tile. We also have more light in the hallway(no more dungeon). And that bathroom that was smelly, dark & unused? Well now it is bright & clean and IN USE! Also while we were gone on vacation we had our neighbor install the new carpet. It created some fun as we were trying to leave and pack, but we got it all moved around and ready for installation. It is amazing what new carpet will do for a room. Oh and getting the tools out of the living room helps. The room seemed so BIG!

With a family of 6, it is useful to have two functioning bathrooms. Especially as the girls get closer to teenagehood. Oh that is right, one of them is already there--don't tell her. It took us a few weeks after the bathroom was functional to actually use it. We just kept forgetting. "Oh yeah--we have two bathrooms!" Now everyone remembers & now we just need to finish the hall & stairwell. Unfortunately that means more drywall dust--Yuck my least favorite part!

P.S. Next post will have a picture of the new bathroom. I must have deleted the one I took.

My buggy active boy!

J is our youngest. He is the busiest child in our house. He is always running, leaping, climbing, into everything child. We love it but some days it is tiring!

This week had been a good one. We started out with some sniffles and coughs--why this happens the second week of school I don't know. All the kids have learned that even when you don't feel 100% you can do some work. We use Saxon math & in the 2nd grade you make some fun graphs. J needed to ask people what kind of apples they liked best. Those in our house got to try them out for a snack. We used Gala, Granny Smith, & Yellow Delicious. Since there were only 5 of us at home that didn't make a very big graph. In past years, we would call other friends and relative to do our polls but this year we used Facebook to do our poll. My friends came through and voted. It was a ton of fun to see him have to make tally marks to count the ones that were "off the chart."

Another exciting even that occurred early in the week, J found a toad and brought him in to show me. I, of course, wasn't as impressed as he was. J was able to find a temporary home for Mr. Toad. He lived in a box out in the back yard for a day. That evening we released him to hop off in to the sunset. I think J has a real affinity for animals. He is the one who is always toting around a cat or brushing their fur. Early in the spring, there were some baby snakes that were living under a piece of tin that was in our backyard. J(& the other kids) always wanted to check on the snakes. Then with their dad they were allowed to pick up the snakes. J wanted to do this each day until the snakes moved off into the field to hunt bigger prey than crickets. Right now he is just the one who is ready to pick up any bug or animal.