The new basement.........

On Saturday I promised to help dh in the new basement, however due to me hurting my foot, I didn't get much done.  He is actually doing quite well in the new laundry room and is now on taping/mudding the drywall.


We are putting a countertop over the washer and dyer as it is a front loader.  I have sourced out a place that has a piece of countertop at 32 inches deep and 8 feet long.  Of course when we went to the place there was no one there that could make a decision on the price of it, so left my name and number and will try and strike up a deal for the piece.  I do not want to pay over $160 for it, so fingers crossed I get it for less than that.  Normally to order a piece of countertop that deep it would cost upwards of $40 a linear foot.  However I think this place has had this piece laying around for a while.


I must say this whole laundry room is costing a lot more than we planned, but will look great when it is finished.  We must have already paid out nearly $3,000, but that does include the new stairs and all the tiling.  I am hoping that we can get the laundry room finished for less than $500 as all we need are tiles for the back splash, the door, the paint, the counter top, the sink, taps and fittings, and a few odds and ends; actually $750 seems more realistic.

I hope we can hook up the water by the end of next month and I can then move my new washer and dryer down there.  The rest of the basement we will work on over the winter.

My foot is still swollen and sore, but in the scheme of things it could be worse.  I did very little on Sunday, other than read a book, "Hill Country," by Janice Woods Windle.

"Laura Hoge Woods, who lived from 1870 to 1966, survived an Indian attack, experienced the diminishment of the Texas frontier, witnessed the advent of the automobile, and celebrated women finally winning the right to vote. In her youth, she loved a half-wild Indian captive and later grew to love Peter Woods, an older rancher whose horses she helped train. Throughout all her personal triumphs and disappointments--seven children, the death of a sister, a daughter whose dementia led to violent outbursts and eventual institutionalization--Laura kept her eye on the big picture: politics. The work she and Peter did with horses brought them to the attention of such luminaries as Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Laura became a confidante of presidents, governors, senators, and local politicians and was elected to political office herself at age 87. This phenomenal woman bent without breaking to achieve the most she could at a time when women were just beginning to emerge as a major political force. She wrote her thoughts and ideas down on scraps of paper, napkins, and the corners of newspapers, hoping to one day write a book called "Hill Country." What Laura Hoge Woods was unable to finish, her loving granddaughter has crafted into a compelling tale of a woman who refused to let anything, especially gender, stand in the way of her dreams."

This was a great book, full of excitement and adventure.  Laura had so much guts and determination, you knew she would succeed at what ever was put out in front of her.  It was quite sad at the end when both her husband Peter and her best friend Rebekah Baines Johnson died.    I must ask our library for Janice Woods Windle bestselling book, "True Women."  Has anyone read that book, it sounds really good?