Sunday, December 14, 2008

The After Pictures

I'm bummed that I didn't think to get "before pictures". I spent the weekend cleaning up the basement. It was really bad! There was rice EVERYWHERE from our rice box. There were also all kinds of toys, books, and various trash items spread everywhere. I was at the point of not letting anyone down there as I would have died of embarrassment.

My motivation to clean all started Friday night when Dave and I went to an auction. I'm kind of a chicken at auctions and I'm afraid to raise my little yellow card up, so I missed out on some things. I'm hoping to get over my timidness because I really enjoy getting good deals and the whole auction atmosphere is fun, except when it's really cold like it was on Friday night.

Anyway, we weren't going to go to the auction but my mom and I just happened upon it as we were driving home from Ikea. At Ikea I bought 2 bins, a broom and a dust pan, a real exciting trip. Anyway, I am so glad we stopped at the auction.

They had a $1,900 school bus indoor play set thing. We waited and waited for the bidding to start. When it did, I handed my yellow card over to Dave and told him I didn't want to go higher than $250. I knew it was a long shot, as I thought it would go for at least $1000. I was sad when the bidding go up to $250, but then Dave bid $300 as I gasped and nearly fell off my chair. I sat there as the auctioneer did his thing, "Do I hear a $350...$350...an all maple play set...think of the grand kids...do I hear a $350?" Then after a minute he pounded his little gavel and said, "sold to seller #73." We won, I was so happy.

It's kind of cool, I had a bit of a disappointing week and I was questioning some of God's plans. I feel like God put this there for us, I've always wanted one, but knew that we couldn't fork out $2000 for one. I've had that happen countless times before, where I've wanted something or needed something and God puts it right in front of my face for free or a small amount of money. Sometimes I've had to wait a couple of years, but his timing is always worth the wait.

Anyway, I couldn't put a nice, new play set down in our dirty basement, so that's where my motivation came from. The plan is to build it on Christmas eve and surprise the girls with it. We also have a rope ladder and rings to hang.

So here are the pictures:




I did this all by myself, well almost, Dave moved a white chair for me. He was busy insulating our garage.

I'll post pictures of the new play set after Christmas.

3 comments:

The Crazy Life of a Navy Wife said...

Wow!! You did a fantastic job! The basement looks great! i can't wait to see the new school bus play thingy :)

tv said...

I had a crazy God experience like that today. A friend who is out of the country right now asked for prayer for her depressed husband. I didn't see him in church and was worried--Ken was switching schedules, so we couldn't go check on him, and I was getting ready to call some of our friends who live down there to see if they could go visit him. But then I ran into him IN THE TARGET PARKING LOT. I talked to him for a good five minutes and was so happy to report to my friend that he was doing OK. I love when those little moments crop up in your life and you think, that can't be a coincidence.

Anyway, the basement looks fabulous, and I'm excited to see pics of the playground thing. We're gonna miss you guys at Christmas!

Dave said...

I did move a white chair people! I better see some comments about how nice my white chair looks.
well at least the garage is warmer.
Awesome job on the basement honey, I am very proud of your hard work!