How Did I Get Here?

Christmas 2025, Mike and I received this from Molly and Adrien! We were so excited! They didn't want to tell us that early but Molly figured we would start questioning her on Christmas Eve if she didn't partake in Christmas cheer.

It was time to make more room in their house. They needed to make Molly's office a nursery. Plans got under way to find a contractor and think about how they wanted to finish their unfinished basement. We found a wonderful contractor and set the date to get started, which was going to be after I retired and returned home from Georgia. Molly wanted me there when work was being done to answer any questions and to make sure the cats didn't escape. Kiki had to approve the blueprints.

The basement is huge with a very large storage space. There was room for a bedroom, bathroom and living area. Kiki was still making sure everything looked good before starting.

The wood for the framing was delivered from a semi and the framers got to work the next day.

The framers decided it would be easier to bring all of the wood in through the window instead of hauling it through the house and then down the stairs. We thought that was pretty smart so we did the same thing with the flooring that we bought in Muscatine.

The plumber found that the floor was not even for the shower so they had to level it several times.

We had to figure out a way for the cats not to walk on it so we built a wall around it until it dried. The cats were very curious but were never able to jump in.

The drywall was delivered on a semi as well, and it was fascinating they could bring it right up to the front door. Three guys had to carry it all downstairs and it took quite a while. They were good sports about it.

We were amazed that just one person installed all of the drywall and it only took him two days. He had help with the machine.

The drywall was up and the baby is growing!

It was now time for me to paint. When they got the estimate for the entire basement, it was over their budget. So to save $12,000, I offered to paint and put in the flooring. It took me three days to paint all three rooms.

And then the flooring. I have installed floating wood floors and helped with other types of flooring so I thought it would be an easy job. I researched and watched many videos, I thought about it before I fell asleep and it was on my mind when I woke up. I was totally prepared......until I actually started. The videos were all showing how to put the small flimsy planks in and I soon realized the larger industrial planks we bought were nothing like that. I installed almost two rows and decided I couldn't do it and told Molly we needed to hire it out. She was shocked and went downstairs to see what the problem was. The problem was, I didn't know what I was doing. Mike came to help me the next day and we were able to get a few rows in. My knee pads gave me terrible wounds that were extremely painful. Molly and Adrien worked on it during the weekend and figured out how to install correctly. It was a two person job and Mike was heading to Georgia and Molly and Adrien have jobs. Thank goodness my sister Sherry came to help me finish. I will NEVER put in flooring ever again!!

Since I couldn't use kneed pads I was using a very plump pillow which I should have started with.

Thank goodness my nephew Brice loaned me all of his flooring tools. This cutter saved us! I wish he could have been with us to help but he lives in another state in the south.

During all of this, Molly and Adrien found time to go on a babymoon, a trip before the baby is born.

Things were finally getting to the final stage. Last thing was the millwork. One person did all of this and he set up his shop in the basement. He was a perfectionist so it took him some time. It was getting down to the wire because the baby would soon be coming.

There is now a bedroom/office in the basement, a beautiful bathroom, and a very large living space. They are still working on furniture and artwork.

It took three months to complete this project. 17 days after everything was finished, Elodie Jane arrived!! (Jane is my middle name too)

I have retired!! April 1, 2026 was my last day at Scott Community College. I have been so busy since that day but now I can finally sit down and start blogging again. I headed down to Athens to visit Maggie, Chase, and Finnan for a couple of weeks. Once I got back I practically moved in with Molly and Adrien in Cedar Rapids because they were having their unfinished basement made into a finished basement. They wanted me there while the construction was happening and to make sure the cats didn't escape.

While thinking about blogging about that experience, I realized I never wrote about our basement. That has been finished for three years now!

Overall, we are pretty happy with the outcome. We had a toilet and a sink in the basement but with only three walls. Anyone could walk right in on you. The floor was concrete and the cats used this bathroom as well. This was also our storage area.

We were eager to get this started because we were having the whole family for Christmas and we didn't want the basement torn up for the Holidays.

They dug a hole to make sure the plumbing was correct before putting in the new toilet.

We also had a new storage area built.

We were going to put the floor in but luckily, our contractor convinced us not to and that they would do it.

As you can see in the above photos, there were a lot of piles of things that had to be moved around to get the floor in. Mike was out of town and when I found out the guys wouldn't move this pile and that I would have to, I made a pile for a garage sale. I couldn't believe how much we had accumulated while living here. My very first blog talked about how we sold everything we owned except what would fit in a 20 foot UHaul truck. We quickly filled up this house and it was time to sell things we really didn't need.

And when Chase proposed to Maggie three, almost four years ago, a huge amount of stuff was in the background.