Will Work For Pay. Or For Free.

In case any of you are wondering, Shane did not get to go back to work this week. There were questions about the safety of crane on the job site (founded or unfounded, depending on who was telling the story). If it's not one thing keeping him from his paying job, it's half a dozen others. His boss says the outlook is good that he'll be back to work next week, but now there is a 1- to 3-inch snowfall in the forecast again. All we can do is wait and see what happens.

This doesn't mean Shane isn't working. He's just not getting paid. This week he's been busy making a racket in our basement. For a while, we talked about finishing part of the basement into a rec room. That idea was scrapped when our basement flooded from the city's run-off system two years in a row. Now that we seem to have that issue under control, largely with a sump pump we installed and a little bit of improvement to the city's drainage system, we've decided to do something with the space after all. We've vetoed the idea of a traditional rec room with pool table and mini-bar and have instead decided on a games and hobbies room where we can keep our crafts, hobbies, games, puzzles, etc. all out while they are in progress. (We may still keep the mini-bar, though...).

It's only in the beginning stages, and will likely stay that way for a while, since we have no money to put into it. What we do have, though, are the 2x4 studs that were here when we moved in. A previous owner had roughed in (and I do mean rough) a couple of rooms downstairs. We knocked those out and saved the studs. There are plenty there to frame out the room we're wanting now.

Since Shane doesn't seem to be happy unless he's building or making something, this is a good project to keep him busy until he either goes back to work or we run out of scrounged materials. One or the other is bound to happen eventually.

There won't be pictures any time soon, though. NO ONE needs to be subjected to the disaster we call a basement.