What were we thinking?

For those of you who don't know, this year i decided to start a preschool out of my basement. My mother-in-law downloaded major, i mean major, amounts of preschool stuff for the cause. posters, craft supplies, idea books, a computer loaded with games, chairs, early learning games, puppets, boarders, $$ for a new swing set, ...the list goes on. (how 'bout a HUGE thank you to grandma sue). Before all said stuff could be organized or hung where i needed it, i asked matt to take a day off of work for me and help me paint and clean and move huge exercise equipment pieces to make room for my new little project. like the dotting husband that he is, he obliged and he took off the day before we were heading off to the ward camp out. i bought some $5 mistinted paint at lowes and we got started (after he replaced the cracked vent in the roof that was causing a leak in the girls' room, requiring reshingling and numerous trips to the roof and attic). the initial painting didn't take us long but as we worked he started getting the itch to finish "other half" of the basement and rip out the bar that has been with us since we moved in...um, yes Cheri, that was 3 years ago..we've had a bar and stencil of Sam Adams on our basement wall for the past 3 years. WHOA, nelly! When did matt forget that we are NOT home improvement people. Fortunately, i talked him out of ripping up the basement right then as we still had to shop and pack for camping and he had bishopric in 3 hours. i really think he thought we could be done before he headed off to meetings. we got off to the camp out and i thought this refinishing the basement phase matt was going through was just a passing fancy.

Life continued as normal for the next few days and while matt was out of town the next week i organized all my new stuff, hung posters, washed toys, etc. so when matt came home of friday night we'd be all ready for my open house the next thurs evening. i was planning on using those last few days to make copies, finish lesson plans, and any last minute things that i knew i'd forgotten but just hadn't remembered it yet. silly, silly me. bright and early sat morn, matt headed off to lowes and returned 2 hours later with sheet rock, joint compound, studs, screws, nails and a T-square. The fun was just getting started. those of you who know us, i mean really know us, know that this is so unlike anything mcqueen. we are the type of people to just be satisfied with whatever whoever came before us was satisfied with. wall color, cupboards, carpet, you name it, we just live with it. that Saturday, matt decided to live with it no longer. and you know, i'm fine with that. if he wants to learn how to finish a basement, great, this is the perfect house to practice on. just...are you sure you want to start this major project that we have not clue #1 how to do with only 5 days to do it? the answer was "you betcha!" what's a little major reconstruction with a deadline to keep us on our toes?

So, my newly cleaned and put together preschool room became the catch all for everything. we ripped out the bar, built half a wall, hung drywall, mudded, taped, sanded...and everything else with a hammer, hand saw, exacto knife, drill and our kids camping headlamps (until our good friends the yorks offered up our other good friends the duncans orange lamp you see in the corner of this picture so we could at least see what we were doing on the last night), the only tools we own. by thursday at 6, after many post midnight evenings, everything was put back together, cleaned and ready to go. i even had time to make zucchini bread for the event.by 8:30 that evening--i was out like a light. nothing like a major project during crunch time to get your feet wet. through it all, we're still a happily married couple, though this is the first time in our married life that i told matt's mother that i was going to kill her son. (i know i don't have a "finished" picture but its on its way--i've been too wiped out to take one yet:)