It all takes money.

It's September!

Time to break out
the threshing fork
and head out to glean
the oat harvest...
or....you know....
watch college football...

Can you imagine going out to work in the fields in a long sleeved white blouse and a long, heavy (probably wool) skirt with layers underneath that? Whenever people complain about the heat (not that I would ever do this) it always makes me think of people in days past who wore a lot more clothes than we do, did much harder work than we do,
and had no air conditioning.
Do you ever think about this?
Even just my grandmother-- who was born in the 1900's,

was much more tolerant to things than we are today. We are so pampered and spoiled and we don't even realize it.

But let's not start off
our lovely September together
with that kind of talk...

It's September.
Labor Day weekend.
My in-laws are coming in again. Seems like
they've been here a lot lately, doesn't it?
They are coming in tomorrow. Lloyd Dobbler and his
dad are working on the basement. It's really
coming along. I will show you some before pictures
so that you will appreciate it when I show you
the finished product (someday).

If you look closely in this picture, you can see
the end of a desk right behind that ladder. That's
Lloyd Dobbler's desk. Where he works every day.
Where I deliver tasty meals on a tray.
That's the side of the basement that will remain
unfinished. That's his office. That's where he works.
Poor Lloyd Dobbler.
But you know, it works.
And it's better than The Big Stink.

Do you ever hear designers
on these TV decorating shows talk about giving a room
the "industrial look?" I wonder if I have achieved
that look (not that that's my style) with this silver air
conditioning duct hanging down
in the middle of this room?


Eventually we'll put in a drop ceiling down there.
That's not in the plans for this go-round.
Like I have to tell my kids often,
it all takes money.
Everything requires money.

Big E just came by, looked at this next picture,
and bemoaned the fact that this wall
doesn't look like this anymore. It is now dry-walled
and painted and looks, you know, like a wall in
a real room. He said that he thought that it looked
like a castle before and he liked that.
Okay....
so he may be into the industrial look...



But he cracks me up. He brings a whole new meaning
to the word QUIRKY.
He always makes the strangest observations.
He was helping me play
Family Feud on Facebook recently
(redeeming the time, aren't we?)
and the question posed to us was: Name something
you wouldn't want to ride on after eating a large meal?
When we had answered all we could and gotten our
three Xs, they revealed the two answers that we
hadn't thought of. One was "a horse" and the other
was "a boat." Big E said that he didn't agree with
that last answer. "You could ride on a boat
with a full stomach easily," he said,
"Just lean over the side and puke in the lake."

Okay....
remind me not to go boating with him...


So back to the basement....The dry wall is up.
The walls are painting. The carpet that we
bought oh, I think it was two years ago, it's going down
this weekend. That's the big project for Lloyd Dobbler
and his pop. I keep eyeing the piano and the big blue
couch and wondering how long it will be before they
can make their way down to the basement and spend
a little time together. Of course that just means I'll need
a piece of furniture for the dining room and a couch for the
living room....and it all takes money.
You know how that goes.
That blue couch has been with us since...well,
since I was trying to get Lloyd Dobbler
to date one of my friends in college.
It has had a long life...but really,
what is our responsibility to an old couch,
however faithful and true it may have been over the years?

But I am happy to see things
coming together in the basement.

And I am happy, Dear Reader,
that I am seeing you in September
and that I didn't lose you
to a summer love.

(see Song #1)

Happy September 1st.