What to Say...

It's been crazy here. First, the weather's been nuts. Sunday, we had a high of 60 degrees and then the bottom fell out and we got down to 5 degrees with snow and freezing rain. I don't think we got above 12 degrees today. I feel like we've moved back to Iowa! Grrrrr...

We got the basement done. Well, there's still a little cutting in that I need to do but we are 99% done. We got these foam rubber blocks to put on the floor in the playroom (since the painting didn't turn out so well there) and it looks super cute. Since it's the same type of floor that our TKD school has, we've been referring to it as our dojo. LOL! I think it turned out nice, and the kids love it! And, yes, I do know that the pattern is off. So frustrating for me.
In the process of putting the basement back together, we decided it was time for a TV upgrade. Now, if I could just get the thing to work right.
Mike picked out that rug all by himself. He's been really impressing me with his decorating skills.


Hannah had her consecration on Sunday. It's a ceremony, at the synagogue, welcoming children into the world of learning. It was really sweet. They gave the kids robes and wrapped them up in the Torah. I didn't get photos of the ceremony because it wasn't appropriate but here are some of Hannah before and after the ceremony.
Hannah and her Torah.
I've also been trying to wrap up my jiu jitsu testing before we leave for Illinois. I was doing well until tonight. We did Guard techniques and I was all over the place. I had to restart once and will probably have to re-do that section again on Wednesday. Ugh. Oh well. I'll be really happy to have that behind me.

Almost a Week

Since the big flood of '08. We're all dried out and now we have to figure out how to put everything back together. I'm not interested in putting carpet back down there. I've seen how much work carpet is when it floods and I don't want to have to go through that again. Actually, I don't want to have to worry about the carpet every time it rains. So, I've sort of convinced Mike to paint the concrete floor instead.

I've been talking to my friends about it and many of them have done similar things themselves. I have one friend that stained her concrete to look like terra cotta tiles. She put grout lines in and everything. Anyway, they say that it's pretty easy to do and the results are great. Plus, we wouldn't have to worry about carpet. If it floods again, we just suck up all of the water and put down some fans. I like that.

I've been given the playroom as my way of showing Mike how good it can look. The first step is an etcher (which sounds scary but you just paint it on), then you primer it and then paint. The last step is putting on a top coat that makes it all shiny. The kids and I have decided to paint the playroom floor white and put down circles and "swirlies" (Jacob's word) in primary colors. We'd then put down some Flor carpet tiles to give the kids a soft spot to play. In my head, it looks awesome. I just hope Mike likes it.

I got my first Jiu Jitsu stripe last night. I'm now a little over 1/4 of the way to my blue belt!! It's amazing what a little black piece of tape will do for your confidence level. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it.