I am feeling so accomplished right now! (That’s not really the word I’m thinking of, but if understanding occurs then communication has taken place!) I’ve got a yummy chocolaty dessert in the crock pot. (Thanks, bee!) I’ve got some jalapeños waiting to be wrapped in pork fat. (Thanks, Pioneer Woman!) Lydia and I ate a fresh pasta salad with homemade dressing. (Thanks, Parenting!) All my laundry is done…sorta, it still needs to be folded. But at least it’s clean! My dishwasher is running. Lydia went down for her nap without a peep. But the biggest miracle is OUR BASEMENT IS CLEAN.
You can’t understand how big of a statement this is unless you’ve braved those cavernous depths. Our house is about 40 years old. The people who lived here before us had 2 dogs, smoked and uhm….didn’t clean. (The guy’s name was Boris. I may refer to him again.) My dad calls the basement the Pirates of the Caribbean. (Not the cool Jack Sparrow part of it either, more like the musty, dark, something-might-pop-out-at-you part.) So, when we moved in we cleaned, painted and re-carpeted upstairs. We didn’t even touch the basement. Boris had begun a remodeling project downstairs. Basically, he turned a huge empty basement into a living area, bedroom, sitting room, walk-in closet, full bath, laundry room and a scary storage area. It could have been nice. If it hadn’t been for the, you know, cleaning thing.
Well, we’re having this big whole-‘nother-post practice for a puppetry festival and we needed a place to set up. Well, my mom’s office is right next door to my house. So, we figured our scary basement was the perfect place.
That’s when Mama and I decided to tackle the basement! Did you ever read the Bernstein Bears’ Spooky Old Tree? My favorite line is repeated throughout, ” Do they dare go into the spooky old tree?” “Do they dare go past the great sleeping bear?” “Do they dare go up the spooky old stair?” This is how we felt! “Do we dare go into that spooky old basement?” “Do we dare pull off the nasty old curtains?” “Do we dare look under this scary old bed?” “Do we dare?” Yes, we dare.
And yes, it’s clean. Well, clean enough to practice. And clean enough for me not to be afraid when Lydia and I go down to do the laundry. And that’s clean enough for me!
You can’t capture the nastiness without the smell of dogs, cigarette smoke, fireplace smoke and uncleanliness, but try to imagine. And check out those sweet curtains that were NAILED into the trim.
Hopefully you aren’t eating right now:
I have some pictures of the finished product. But once we put some scraps of carpet down and a puppet stage up–it didn’t look that impressive. Trust me, it’s almost heavenly down there. My favorite part is the sweet smell of bleach and the absence of spiders!
To see more nastiness turned to prettiness, check out 5m4m’s Tackle it Tuesday!
I know that feels good! I can’t wait to see it tonight!!! Congrats!
Whoo hoo! Operation basement is complete! Laundry will never scare you again! Yea!
Congrats on getting the basement cleaned!!
My Tackle it Tuesday is up if you want to stop in.
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/08/tackle-it-tuesday-taming-chaos.html
Congrats on getting the basement cleaned!!
My Tackle it Tuesday is up if you want to stop in.
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/08/tackle-it-tuesday-taming-chaos.html
I haven’t thought about that Berenstein Bears book in forever. My kids used to make me read that to them all. the. time!
WTG on the basement!!!
Hey Amanda,
Doesn’t it feel good. I love when things are smelling clean.
I need to tackle a few things. First up-setting up the office furniture in my downstairs office. The desk has been in my dining room for a month! I should just turn it into a buffet table. 🙂
Natalie
That was frightening. You must feel very relieved now that it’s finished. Wanna come work on my kids’ rooms? I could email you a pic, but you might have a heart attack.
Wow, that’s a BIG job. Good for you!
Yay you!!! I was feeling pretty accomplished just washing the curtains on the french doors and ironing and hanging them back up and LOOK what all you’ve done!
That is nasty!! I cannot imagine! Oh my! Yikes!
I am sure it feels freeing to have that nook clean now! Yeah you!!
Oh wow! A big job!
Tell me how you liked the chocolate stuff?!!
The main thing is those curtains are gone, gone, gone!!! Blecchh
I bet your finished pictures are more impressive than you think! good job on tackling that! I’m sure you went through a lot of sponges and bleach! I can’t wait to see it. Yeah, looks like it was a ewwy sight, but I bet it’s quite a pretty one now 🙂 Yay for you guys!
Oh and the curtain thing cracked me up. Nailed to the trim?! Oh my!!!!!
Wow! Lookin’ good. We don’t have a basement, so I’m jealous!
Cleaning your unused basement is always a tough job. Having a useful and compact basement at your disposal is always nice and its really hard to make it. Really nice to see you have made a nice one. What a cute story!
“I am feeling so accomplished right now! ” – When we complete the task we plan how difficult it may be we feel fully satisfied. The satisfaction makes us forget the difficult we faced to achieve it. The basement looks beautiful.
It sure is good to stumble on a bit of additional info for renovating and designing (or planning too). If you want some professional tips, I would also check Masterrenovator.com, the site is full of very good information for things that can keep you out of trouble.
Important thing know about Sir Maximus.You cannot compare Naturamax pills with any other pill in the market. The fact that it is 100% herbal is very assuring and leaves no room for any unnecessary doubt. How would you like to have 25% penis growth? I know you want it. Get Naturamax pills and get that 25% growth for yourself. You have nothing to worry about since you know it very well that there are no side effects, unlike the other pills and methods where you run the risk of painful exercises.The popular range of products are penis enlargement pills. These are usually herbal and are designed to increase blood flow to the penis, which makes the penis look larger when it is flaccid and may lead to increases in size over time. A good example of an herbal penis enlargement product is Naturamax.If you want to increase sex drive and sexual stamina, you can naturally and safely, with the best fast acting sex pills. These pills work for both men and women and allow you to enjoy better and longer sex, as well as better all round health lets take a look at how they work.