Cozy new room and lots of parties

Although it's not entirely done, we are using our cozy new room in the basement. We had our first party in the new space on Saturday night. We had about 15 people (13 men, a woman, and a 4 year-old) in the space throughout the evening. We're using temporary tables right now and we borrowed folding chairs for this particular party. The only thing that was a bit of a pain in the behind was not having the kitchen done because we cooked everything upstairs and brought it downstairs. It worked out great having the fridge in the basement so cold beer was readily available and leftovers could be stashed away.

The big draw was the screen. We watched the OSU vs Penn State game projected onto a 96 x 106 screen. It was quite nice. Prior to the OSU game, the Bluejackets were on for a while and I think there was another football game on at one point.

Our scare for the evening was that Midnight, our 15 year old black cat, must have sneaked out the door as someone was leaving. I was walking along the tree line calling for him and using a flashlight when a man walking a dog called to me. He had seen a black cat under his truck when he and his dog had left the house. I walked about 5 houses down and we found Mid in the back yard hiding behind a bush. As I approached him, he took off to another yard. The upshot was that he was heading toward home. I could not find him after that so I went home and updated Jon. Jon excused himself from the party to go find the cat. Jon never saw Mid but apparently calling for Mid helped Mid find his way back home. I walked to the foyer to see if Jon was coming back and I saw Mid looking in one of the side windows. Whew! He was cold but otherwise unharmed.

On Sunday, I spent some time in the morning studying. I am taking one of three certification exams this coming weekend. Later in the day, Jon and I watched the last part of the NASCAR race and some football. I went back down in the evening and studied some more.

We love our new room. We have a couple of other parties planned in November and December even though we know the room will not be done anymore than it is currently. We are hoping to get money and/or gift cards for Christmas that we can put toward the remaining parts of the project. The next thing I'd like to see is the bathroom area. I'm trying to talk Jon out of carpeting but he's already got some baseboards installed to allow for carpet. I figured spills would be better managed on laminate flooring with an area rug closer to the screen. Maybe some thick padding could do the trick. I don't know. We sometimes reach these impasses. That's why we have family room furniture that is on the verge of falling apart; we agree to disagree!

Have a wonderful week!

Long time no blog

I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged last. We've had a lot of stuff going on.

We're excited that our basement remodeling project is moving along. Jon had been working on it here and there. When the Knights needed a place to host their "meat & ale" night and Jon volunteered our place, he knew that he needed to kick it into high gear. All of the walls are up and they are painted although I can't remember the paint color name. The majority of the drop ceiling is in. Jon is getting a stove from the Parish that Father Pat wanted to get to a new home. I think the game plan is to get it and have it in before the dinner so that we can have baked potatoes cooking in both kitchens. I hope we have the frig in by then so there is handy place to put the ale! I know the toilet won't be installed so the guys will have to come up to the half bath. When Jon told me that we were having the event at our house, I told him I only had 2 requirements and that is that Jonnie & I get to stay at the house and that I get fed. My terms were agreed to and I'm actually looking forward to the big night. I know getting the projector and screen mounted are a very high priority so that the OSU game can be playing while eating and socializing takes place. Thank you, Knights for helping to get this room done!!!!

We finally resolved the issue of "What is Jonnie going to be for Halloween?". His first request was to be a Princess which sent Daddy into a fit. Second, he wanted to be a witch. He meant the kind with an ugly green nose and a black hat while my husband thought Jonnie wanted to borrow my clothes and dress up like me. HRMPH! Then Jonnie wanted to be a pirate after watching SpongeBob for several nights. We could work with that. We needed to run errands so I said we should look at costumes while we're out. We ended up at Toys R Us in Dublin. In the van, Jonnie was back to wanting to be a witch. I tried to convince him to be "Bob the Builder" before we left home because we wouldn't have to spend a dime! No. I found a "Ricky Bobby" costume from "Talledega Nights" that was on sale for 50% off. My husband shot that one down! Walking around the store, Jonnie found some foam swords and he wanted a sword. Jon told him he could only get a sword if he dressed up like a pirate for Halloween. Jonnie tried to negotiate once to be Spiderman with a sword. That didn't fly. Jonnie asked several times to be SpongeBob with a sword several times but Jon told him SpongeBob didn't carry a sword. We finally got the pirate costume. I guess we wait until Halloween time when we have to put him in costume for school and then again for trick or treat. Jon usually takes Jonnie trick or treating so I think I'll talk to him about wearing a bandana and an eye patch so he can be Daddy the pistol packing pirate. Actually, Jon just called and he's more inclined to go as a cowboy with his duster coat, cowboy hat, boots, shotgun, and 2 weeks of facial hair growth. I was okay until the last part....ewww. I hate the winter beard!

I'm trying to study for my certification exams. I'm going to try to take one of the exams on November 3rd since Jon will be taking Jonnie to the holiday party at the VA hospital. It's been hard to study because so many other things call my name like laundry or now bags of mulch to put on the flower beds to insulate bulbs for the winter.

I'd really better get back to work. I've been goofing off on here way too long!

Have a great week!