Sniffling, Sneezing and Stirring Up Trouble

If those traversing the Oregon Trail in the 1800’s knew how many allergens awaited them when they reached the Willamette Valley, would they have been as eager to undertake the journey? I guess it’s now a moot point, but as I’ve been sniffling through the last week or two (even with Zyrtec and Benadryl), I have wondered.

There’s no way to celebrate the grass-harvesting allergy season (as opposed to the filbert hazelnut allergy season or the mold allergy season, or any of the other nearly year-round allergy seasons that surround us here) than by stirring up some dust…

I had thought that the reason my sewing had dropped off for a few years had been because I had kids. That still has to be part of the reason; it’s impossible to sew while trying to nurse a baby. I had completely forgot about the other reason though, until about 2 weeks ago. That’s about the time where Pete started saying he was feeling neglected while I went off into my tiny office off the laundry room in the basement to sew instead of lounging of the evening with him. He can sit downstairs with me on an office chair and watch stuff on the computer, but I can understand why it wouldn’t be his first choice. First off, the lack of comfortable seating. Secondly, the tiny computer screen and lousy sound coming from it. Thirdly, the part where our backs are to each other, so I can listen, but can’t see what’s on unless I completely turn around. It doesn’t exactly make for a bonding experience. Something has to give.

Enter: The Basement Project

When we bought our house, over 8 years ago, the plan was to fix it up, then have some kids. What we didn’t know when we made the offer is that I was already pregnant. So the fixing up has been much slower than we had planned. The house came with a finished basement, but we haven’t done anything really with the main room, so stuff has just accumulated there. Don’t know where to put something? Throw it in the basement: it will be dry and mostly clean when you want to find it again.

I can’t believe I’m going to post these pics: