Productive weekend

Had a really beautiful weekend. The weather cleared out and warmed up (for which I'm very grateful). Husband and I along with our son spent Saturday doing some outdoor repair work. Our basement cellar entrance was in really bad shape after many years of service. Although we didn't fix the actual door...we did completely replace the framework for it. The old boards were in sad shape and had some insect damage. We used some of the pressure treated lumber that was removed from a deck on the other side of the house and framed it in. It is not perfect but at least it is sealed up better. Today we are cleaning out the rest of the junk (from before we moved in) that is in the cellar. Tomorrow is the city will be picking up the junk for free...so we are making good use of that service!!! The next step will be to add some plastic (i.e. can't rust) storage shelves down there to house the paint cans, caulk and other items that can't freeze but need a remote storage area. After that I want to put down some sort of plastic flooring squares (like you see in YMCA locker room areas) and make it a little nicer. There is occasion for us to be down there when there is a tornado warning and the place is pretty gross!! I'm hoping to at least get a corner decent enough to hunker down in as well as maybe setting up some emergency type items down there (like a crank style radio and flashlight and maybe a latern or something). I don't want to go all out but it definitely needs some attention.

We also cleaned out the garden beds and filled in some siding on the house that is in disrepair. Next year we are hoping to embark on siding the house...one side at a time. And we will probably fix/replace windows as we go along. We hope that if we approach it in this manner that it will be not so expensive and if we don't get it all done in a year...then it will not look so bad in the process of repair.

The girls had fun playing outside during all this work time. We had made a makeshift fort out back by using one of our old aluminum boats upside-down for the roof and a ladder in the corner. They like climbing up there and sitting on top (which husband doesn't like but is o.k. with) and then pretending they are explorers or something. Ahh... the creative life of children!

A fun "found" item was our carrots in the garden. I had really given up on them ever producing (they were planted too close together) but found that we had about a dozen of them grow big enough to eat. So, we will be making a potato soup with them!!!

Internet

Finally broke down and got internet hook-up at the house. The older kids really need it for school work and going to the library or our offices was getting too cumbersome! So I made a makeshift desk with a piece of nice plywood and some closet maid shelf things. It turned out nice although I should paint or put some sort of finish on the plywood so it doesn't get stained or ruined.

So yesterday at lunch hour I put the computer together and hooked it up. Everything is great (except our printer is still not "talking" with the computer yet). BUT....since we have never had internet connection to our home computer (it is 4 years old) we had about 50 microsoft updates downloaded!! It took about 2 hours to get the batch in and then another 2 1/2 hours when we powered down to have them installed!!! WOW. Now if I can get some time in on the machine I will download some photos (either here or one facebook).

It is nice to be catching up on technology!!!