Chaos Coming to a Close!!

Darren and I have been SO busy this spring that we haven't had time to be the friends we would like to be, and for that we apologize. Here's a little update as to why we've been so isolated from the world for the past couple of months.

Last spring, we started to work on finishing the rest of our basement. We framed the majority of the basement out (with the help of our friends, Greg and Harry) and stopped there for the year. We got a wild hair (and sold the Trailblazer to free up some cashola) and decided that we wanted to get to the point of drywall this year. So, in March, our good friend, Dave, helped us get the rest of the framing done, including a fireplace that is going to be incredible and the bar area, which is going to be a lot of fun when the whole thing is done!! Mikey helped us with the cable and speaker wiring; Dave's son, Todd, did the electrical for us, and we are having drywall installed this week. We've got plastic up in our hallway leading to the basement (looks nice - I might leave it up - NOT!!) to try to minimize the dust. Hopefully it helps! The drywall crew finished hanging drywall and rounded the corners on Wednesday, and they start taping and mudding on Thursday. By next Tuesday, they will be finished, and then we can paint. That's where we'll stop for the year, and we will slowly finish the rest. The transformation is amazing! We can't wait to finish off the whole thing so that we can spend some time down there. It may not happen until sometime next year, but we'll eventually get there. Stop by anytime to check it out! I'll post some pictures in the next day or two.

In the midst of all of the basement work, we didn't think we had enough going on, so we decided to rip up our back yard. I remember the day that Darren rented the sod cutter and cut up the sod we wanted to get rid of (about 2/3 of it). We were both so overwhelmed that I wanted to cry. Poor Darren must have hauled 80 heavy duty bags of sod to the garage (we have a walk-out, so the hill on the side is steep and not fun to climb with all of that weight). We got rid of 30 bags over the course of a couple of weeks on trash day and finally took the rest to the dump. Then, we hauled (and when I say we, I mean Darren) something like 3 tons of cobblestone river rock, a couple tons of topsoil, a couple tons of fill dirt, and several yards (maybe 5) of mulch. I was a really good supervisor. Darren swears that, without me, he wouldn't have known where to take the tons of material, and I think he's right! We also built a small retaining wall, added 11 trees, 30 plants, some tiki torches, and a couple of lounge chairs, and now we have a nice little oasis to hang out in. We can't wait for the plants to mature! We just finished all of the planting on Tuesday. My mom is coming into town on Thursday, and we may add a few small plants, but that will be all for this year. I'll also post before and after pictures within the next couple of days. This transformation is also amazing - you have to see it! If you can't wait for the pictures to post, feel free to stop by!

Other than that, I have been going to school (trying to get finished by next spring), working, and playing kickball. Darren is on his summer work schedule, so he has Monday and Friday off each week, so I try to come up with things to keep him busy. He likes it. I don't think he'd know what to do without my giving him direction. he he he.......