Blog Reader Requests

First of all, I am going to share a recipe with you.  (Debra this is for you!)  Every time I serve this, I get requests for the recipe. 

French Dip

serves 8

3# beef chuck roast  (we have use lamb roasts and had great results)

¾ cup soy sauce

3 cups water

1 ½ tsp. dried rosemary

1 ½ tsp. dried thyme

1 ½ tsp. garlic powder

1 bay leaf

5 whole peppercorns

Place contents in slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or until beef is tender.  Remove bay leaf and discard.  Strain broth to remove remaining spices.  (I tie the spices all up into a piece of cheesecloth or a spice bag, so I don't have to strain it.) Shred beef.  Skim fat, if needed.  Use broth for dipping and add some to the shredded beef to keep it moist.  Serve on hard rolls.

Debra, I will make this for you if you will come...just give me about 6 hours advance notice :-)

Secondly...My cousin Chris has been wanting to see photos of our finished basement.  Here they are:  

From my kitchen you will see this opening.  This leads you to the basement stairs.  I repainted my kitchen a green color called cavern moss.

If you look to the right, this is where The King made me a little kitchen office.  It is here I do my menu planning and make my grocery lists.  I love my little nook.  It used to be a pantry but we framed a larger pantry into the kitchen when we were framing the basement.  This paint color is called pizza pie .  I get hungry every time I look at it.

When you turn to the left, you go down four stairs and then turn right onto a landing.  There is a door at this landing that goes to the outside.  We plan to build a deck or screened in porch out this door one day.  Do you like my curtain rod?  I have fabric to sew a curtain...I just haven't gotten to it yet.  I'm telling myself that fabric, like fine wine, is better with age.

Then we head down the stairs to the basement.  These stairs used to be very steep but The King's brothers helped him plan and cut out some of the original landing to make the stairs perfect!  I painted this stairwell a brown color called patches.  I was hoping it would cover up dirty little fingerprints.  It does that job well.  What is does not cover up is permanent marker.  Trust me, I know.

 
Now we are at the bottom of the stairs.  Here is the main living area.  It is a tan color called spiced vinegar. 

Standing in the main living area.  Behind the sofa are the doors leading to the laundry room, the bathroom and the utility room.

Another view of the main area.  My treadmill is behind the sofa.  I removed the clothing for this photo shoot, but my treadmill doubles as a clothesline since it is so close to the laundry room.   Okay, I lied.  My treadmill does not double as a clothesline.  It is a clothesline.

Still standing in the main living area, but looking down to the end.  This is where we keep the toys.  The love seat gets pulled into the main living area on family movie night so (mostly) everyone has a place to sit.

Here is the bathroom.  I love the fixtures.  Actually, I love everything about the bathroom.  I still need to find the perfect towel bars for this room.  One of these days I'll make that a priority.

The walls are a little darker shade than the main area.  This color is jute.  I chose red as my accent color.  I have more fabric ready to be made into a shower curtain.  I'm letting it age as well.  There is a linen closet to the left and the shower is on the right.  We put in floor heat throughout the entire basement so this tile floor is cozy warm.

Next is the laundry room.  This is a shade lighter than the main area and it is called sand fossil.  Don't you wish you could name paint colors?  I do.  That's what I want to do when I grow up.

Just keeping it real for you.  Those other photos were all staged to make it look like I have a perfectly clean house.  I don't.  This is the real me.  Actually this is laundry on a good day.  Some days you can't even see the floor!

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  And Chris, it looks so much better in real life...come and check it out.  

Update

I'm just letting you all know that I have something terribly wrong with my laptop. It was so bad that my usually computer savvy hubby took it in to the big guys to get it fixed. I am a little afraid I will lose one year's worth of photos that I have not printed yet. But that's what I get for procrastinating in printing them AND not listening to my conscience when I felt I had to back it up.

I'll fill you in on other happenings:

I am going to a home school conference this week. I'm really looking forward to finding all the treasures I need for this fall. We are studying ancient history and I have compiled a list of books I want to read aloud and for the boys to read on their own next year. Wouldn't it be great if I found them all at the used book sale? I let you know how it goes.

I'm thinking about chopping off my hair. What do you think? I am going to be 40 soon. Am I supposed to have long hair when I'm 40?

Jouster is doing great!!!!!His attitude is good and he actually told us he's thankful he's where he is. He still has good days and bad days, and his roommate graduates the program in May, so keep him in your prayers. That will be a tough transition for him.

We have ordered our carpet for the basement. We are hoping it will arrive, and can be installed on Saturday. The bathroom is finally fully functioning, and I am painting woodwork and touching up walls. When my computer is fixed, I'll post photos.

I miss reading your blogs, and plan to catch up a little here and there when I get access to a computer. My most exciting news that I can share with you is that I am flying to Colorado in May. I'm going to help my sister with my nephew's graduation and will be there for about a week. Any blogger friends just north of Denver?

Grandmother Goddess of the Garden at Barely Controlled Chaos, presented me with an award. (I just need to figure out how to get it posted here.) Thank you. She said I was a good mom, and I was humbled...She just had brain surgery and went through a week of radiation. Stop by and give her some encouragement. I pray for her as the Lord brings her to mind. Would you too?

Have a great week. Hopefully I'll be back soon!

Blessings,

Hold Tight

I have so many updates regarding the basement. But I can't find my camera to download the photos. I wish it had a page button like my phone....

Basement News

Don't be jealous, but look what I've got:









The Wirsbo tubing has been installed in my basement.

These two (Jouster and The King) installed it last night.

It was not easy getting to this point.

The King had to remove 1 1/2 inches of gravel/dirt before he could lay the foam. Three days of work and the dirt was gone.

He got the foam insulation laid...and taped together. Then it rained. We had water in the basement. A call to the waterproofers forced The King to pull up the foam insulation and place a layer of poly over the dirt. Back down with the foam. He was finally able to lay the tubing.

The best news is that he said we would be pouring cement THIS FRIDAY.

Nothing happens as planned. The cement guy can't make it Friday. He has to come THURSDAY instead. Yippee!! Cement more than a month before my 20th anniversary! That means only one thing. It can't be my anniversary present. Remember, I was holding out for cement as my anniversary gift. But now that the cement will be done 48 days before our big day, I am pretty sure I can squeeze something else out of The King.

Here's my plan:

1. About the first of November I will start hinting that our anniversary is coming up.

2. I will nonchalantly ask The King what kind of amazing gift he wants from me.

3. Giddily tell him I can't wait to see what surprise(s) he has in store for me.

4. Remind him that I love jewelry. If he gives me 'the look', I will add that I like kitchen appliances and vacuum cleaners just as well.

5. Convince him that since the weather is now turning cold, he would really enjoy a tropical vacation...with me, of course. If I get 'the look', I will mention that it would also be fun to get away for one night without the kids.

6. Take the check book out of my purse and leave it on the kitchen counter for him to see. If he doesn't notice it there, I will put it on the keyboard of his computer.

7. Occasionally tell him he looks likes he's been up to something.

Any other ideas? Do you think my plan will work? I'll keep you posted.

Indoor Pool Removed

Our waterproofing in the basement is finally complete.

No more indoor pool.

No more musty smell.

No more moldy storage.



Isn't this a beautiful sight? It's my new sump pump. I think The King is trying to figure out how he could trick me into believing this waterproofing is my 20th wedding anniversary gift. Our anniversary is coming up in November.

This green stuff will keep the walls dry. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad anniversary gift...for some women. But not for me. I am a high maintenance woman. I have higher expectations. I am holding out for .....




Cement. A new floor.

I told you I was high maintenance.

Moving Radiators.....

(Start by reading, It all started when...)

The pipes from the furnace to the heaters were cut. There was no reason the heaters couldn't be moved, right?

When we sanded and finished the floors in 2000, there was no way we could sand under the heaters. There had been carpeting that had been glued to the floors, so it was a rough under them and very hard to get clean and keep clean. A thorn in my side.

The King graciously pulled out two 500+ pound heaters and started to sand the floor. The palm sander was taking forever.

Time to bring in the big tools:
The King rented a sander and made short work of the job at hand. While he returned the rental equipment, I quickly applied water based polyurethane to the floor--under both heaters. Upon returning home, The King saw my error and gently explained to me that I should have used oil based instead. The color will never match up without an oil based finish. UGH!

I let it dry, then used the palm sander to sand under BOTH heaters. I didn't dare ask him to go back to town and re-rent the big tool. I then applied the appropriate polyurethane. I didn't stop there, I even painted the baseboards behind the heaters that no one will ever see.

So come on over, look under my heaters, I don't care. They are clean! Clean I tell you! (Come quick, clean doesn't last long here.) The thorn in my side is gone!!!

Can you see how one thing leads to another?

Stay tuned. We're still not done.

Hey, Let's Cut Those Out....

We have hot water heat, which means we have big radiators in all our rooms. The pipes that carry the water from the boiler in the basement up to the radiators in the living area are really big and hang down really low. Head bumpers which posed a problem. If we were to add another throne to our castle, some taller people may have to duck their heads to get to it. Furnace Guy came over and told us what to do.
"Ah, just cut 'em all outta there. Replace it all with PEX. You can even use all my tools." The King spent three weekends fitting old pipes to new PEX tubing. He was not in the mood for a wife to say, "Hey honey, since you cut all the pipes to the heaters, do you think we could move them out from the walls to sand and varnish under them?"

More Insanity. Stay tuned. It gets better.

(Read Next: Moving Radiators....)

Then The Water Came.....

All we needed to do before the waterproofers came was to grade the floor for cement. But water started to come into the basement. Irony. The waterproofers couldn't come in until we graded the floor, but we couldn't grade the floor when there was standing water.
Then one day while The King was hauling five gallon buckets of water out of the basement, he noticed the water was bubbly, and smelled a lot like laundry detergent. (I had been doing laundry all day.) After a consulting a septic guy, we were told our septic system was failing and backing up into the basement. It wasn't just water in the basement, it was sewage water.

Our waterproofers were put on hold. An emergency septic crew came in and installed a new septic system. All seemed well for a few days, until The King suspected a problem. Two of the three new septic tanks that had just been installed were cracked and ground water was seeping into them. One week after the first new septic system was put in, it had to be dug up, and replaced with an even newer one.

Oh, the basement insanity. Stay tuned. There's more.

(Read Next: Hey Let's Cut Those Out....)

It All Started When....

We decided we needed a second bathroom. Our castle has but one. Uno, Ein, Een, Un. One bathroom for nine people, it just isn't right. With so many royal members of the family wanting to sit on the throne, we decided we needed to add another one.When we decided to add a bathroom, the only place we could really go was down. Down to the hole, the pit, the dungeon. In the spring this basement held so much water that if we ever wanted to sell this place we could advertise an indoor pool.

We called in the waterproofing experts. They told us they needed to remove a lot of the concrete floor to put in tiles and then they'd patch over their holes. It was smarter for us to remove the entire floor so we could plumb in the bathroom when they waterproofed. The King jackhammered until he was numb. We hauled the floor out of the basement one five gallon bucket at a time. That was the first big project.

"Hey honey, maybe we should remove this 18 foot long by 8 foot tall by 12 inch wide concrete wall while we're at it. It will really open up the room." More jackhammering. The wall was hauled out of the basement one five gallon bucket at a time. That was the second big project.

This was only the beginning. Stay tuned for more Basement Insanity....

(Read Next: Then The Water Came....)