Oh yeah, here's the Thanksgiving part...

Warning: Guest Blogger Alert. Heather here, reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House.We were all very thankful to have the basement usable for the Thanksgiving feast with all of Mom's side of the family over. We did manage to get 27 people happily fed. The turkey wasn't the only thing that was stuffed that day. Everybody rolled around for most of the afternoon and few had room for the desserts, though everybody had some anyway.

Mom made the turkey, ham and stuffing. Alex (and Becca) made a lot of the snacking food. Hooray for a chef in the family, I say. Alex made 2 humongous and delicious cheese balls and some of the cookie assortment and an unusual, but delicious, apple pie pumpkin. Karen and Tim brought the mashed potatoes and the entertainment, because really that's what 3 kids under 4 years old are. They were surprisingly well behaved for the extended hours and sheer number of people vying for their attention. John and I brought an assortment of cookies and some holly decor. Various extended family brought cheesy potatoes, pies, sweet potato casserole, handmade chocolate dipped deliciousness and the famous rolls.

The White Elephant gift exchange was a hit as usual. The "best" items this year were a horrific scented candle, a "Mother's Day 2008" plate that was too ugly for words, and 2 books of Knock Knock Jokes. The most traded items were a Michiganopoly game and a big bag of M&M's.

We were all thankful for family and togetherness and a surplus of food and fun.

Pilgrims and Progress

Warning: Guest Blogger Alert. Heather here, reporting on the dogged progress of the elusive LenMar House.

John and I had the good fortune of being between contracts during the holiday season and were able to visit the folks for Thanksgiving/Christmas in November.

During the 14 hour travel we learned that the basement had been drywalled, a fact omitted from earlier conversations during the day with the denizens of the house, no doubt in order to surprise us. In order to drywall all the "schtuff" had to be removed from behind the hiding place of choice, the ginormous green tarp that divided the back half of the basement from the front.

Upon arrival we noted the strong presence of construction adhesive fumes and, after achieving a headache and then not being able to smell it anymore, deduced that it was rather bad for us. After a late dinner of spaghetti and a later game of Scrabble, in which we all played poorly, we decided that the smell was killing brain cells and went to bed.

The next day was a whirlwind of cleaning in the basement. The huge pile that was blockaded in the middle of the floor, held up at different points by a pool table, halves of a ping pong table, and various lengths of plastic race car track, put up a good fight but John and I, not to mention Becca and Alex and Dad with occasional supervision from Mom (though she had to do some serious grocery shopping), were able to triumph over the pile.

Becca and Alex put up shelves in the "utility room". (Note to Dad: ironic quotation marks can only be removed when all the internal walls are up.) The new shelves were soon stocked with boxes that were at the least labeled and we attempted to put them in some semblance of order. Also sorted were the massive amounts of "camping supplies" and "sewing stuff".

Camping supplies ended up in the traditional "somewhere near the furnace" area. The Christmas boxes were stuck in the back of the room.Mom's sewing supplies were put in the closet of the "back bedroom". When we ran out of room in the utility room and the closet, we began adding to the pile that was already in the "back bedroom". When the pile had been decimated the pool table was moved and the ping pong table was assembled. Additionally, Karen and Tim loaned 2 couches for the TV area and we went to pick those up. (Rumor has it that the pool and ping pong tables came from their basement as well.

When we were ALL DONE, the basement with the loaner items (including a huge projection screen and projector from Uncle Larry) the basement looked like this......drum roll please.........

This shot is from the bottom of the stairs looking toward dad's office. Ignore the semi-resident mechanic in the corner.

From the office hallway looking toward the stairs. The mechanic is now rocking Guitar Hero (on loan from Becca and Alex).

The screening room. Thanks to an antenna in the attic, the Thanksgiving football games were available. This quickly became the largest Guitar Hero screen known to Michigan.

Last, but not least, the under-the-stairs closet was stuffed with sporting equipment, extra cold weather gear, and folding chairs and tables.

A very satisfying, if long and arduous, day of organization in the basement came to an end.