Holiday (vacation) week 2

This week has not been as social as last week, but we have certainly been busy little beavers. We have been doing some work for Jamie's Mom to sort out her basement because during the winter when there was a big snow, it melted quickly and flooded into the basement. For those non-Michigan readers, almost all houses here have basements. I assume it was originally to prevent houses from getting flooded, but these days, with better design than years ago, most people have them 'fixed up' and they are kind of like extensions to most houses but from time to time, floods seem to happen. The situation here was complicated by the fact that not only was there shagpile carpet on the floor, there was a lot of furniture and other things stored there. So we have been getting up early each morning and making the 1hr 20 min drive to Lansing, getting into it all and then driving back late at night. We have been completely exhausted by the process, falling into bed when we get home and not awakening until the alarm goes off the next day (which all seems far too early when the noise sounds!). In the basement the fascinating contents of three houses ave been stored.... items from Jamie and his brothers' childhood, the contents of his grandparents' house (untouched since the mid1970's) and the contents of his great-grandparents farmhouse. We have been carefully sorting everything item, by item and categorising them into large plastic bins:- Grandma's Lace, Poppy's notes and papers, Items for Craftwork, Needlework, Important Family Documents and Historical Photos etc. The last bin is the most amazing of all. There are so many photos from around 1920, that it is quite incredible. I think Jamie's grandma was the first 'Scrapbooker' as some of her photo albums are immaculately laid out just like people who are into scrapbooking do today. Her entire nursing training from 1918-1922 is outlined and we also found, in absolute mint condition, her nursing diploma and other documents. Her trunk was there (although unfortunately none of her clothing) and the newspaper she used to line it with was dated September 1923!

Along with the basement project, we are pretending we are running a local edition of 'Extreme Home Makeover' as Jamie's mom is thinking that she wants to move into a smaller house when they return to Michigan from Mississippi so we are getting the house that used to belong to Jamie's grandparents ready. So during the drive from Detroit to Lansing, we phone up all the different people we need to help us and on Monday, it will all be starting.... builders are coming to make an access ramp and do other assorted chores, the kitchen floor is being re-laid, carpet is going down in the main area, old fridges etc are being taken away, new ones are being delivered and wallpaper is being put up etc. We are hoping that we might even get to hang new curtains that she had previously chosen that I found in a bag and move furniture from the other house over. Shhhhhhhhhhh if you are reading this as she does not know quite the extent of what is going to occur!!!! We hope to have it done this week and take photos to her in Mississippi next week!