Laowai

I took a morning walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden today. 

There were so many busy birds out. I tried to get some photos of them. I've never really tried to take bird photos before. I sat and watched them and tried to be patient. It helped that the gardens were not busy on a chilly cloudy weekday morning. 

I might have to try more bird photos – it was a fun challenge.

Oh I do love fall!

We got some much needed nature today. Went to the Ray Lake Forest Preserve which is about a 40 minute drive from home. I'm sure I took too many photos. 

These wooly worm photos – I have some similar ones from many years ago. Photos of Bea handing off a tickling wooly worm to her sister and then photos of the girls smiling while the caterpillar crawls up their arm. Or here's one with a frog. There aren't too many tender moments between these sisters so these times stand out in my memory.

Time is just chugging along here. Nothing too exciting happening. Lots of staying home.

Brian and I bought a couple pumpkins last weekend and this guy greeted us at the nursery.

I planted a baby Oak tree. It's a Red Oak. Unfortunately we've had to take down some big old unhealthy trees (mainly elms) in our yard. And we think our big Locust may not last too many more years. So I'm planning for the future. Hopefully this little guy will give lots of shade someday.

We bought Bea an aquarium. There are no clubs or sports going on at school and it's hard for kids to socialize. I felt like she needed a hobby. She's really knowledgable about fish. After these fish (Zebra Danios) and plants get settled in she's excited to get some more interesting species.

The pressure is on to make Halloween costumes. First I had to clear out my sewing room which was full of random things from our move. I inherited some turquoise drawer units from my Grandma Dice. Now I have so much drawer space and I added a cheap countertop that is nice and long. These drawers are the ones that grandma's cat famously got stuck in. The drawers were from grandma's sewing room. It warms my heart that they are now in my sewing room. Anyway, they open and close really nice and smoothly. A few years back grandma lost her cat Mitzy. Mitzy was an indoor cat but she was always interested in getting outside. When she disappeared grandma thought she must have snuck out the door. I think it was 11 days later (Dice descendants please correct me if I'm wrong) when grandma found Mitzy in one of the lower drawers. She had gotten in an open drawer and that easy close drawer must have closed on her. Mitzy ended up surviving (thank goodness) and after grandma died she went to live with a friend.

So there's my setup. The red has got to go soon, but for now it's very functional. I made a cushion cover for a bench in our basement yesterday. It was the first sewing I've done in months so that felt nice.

Bea wants to be a vampire squid (below). Claire is undecided. So now I have to get creative.

I made an apple pie. Burned it a little. The dripping burning sugar set off the smoke alarm while Brian was doing an important meeting. Ah the joys of working from home. 

I guess you could say I'm coping alright.

Ha ha, that's a carpentry joke.

I installed the new shoe molding last Friday and over the weekend we put the couch back in the basement. We are just waiting on our movie screen and the electrician who will install some lights. And there are some details that I'm still working on like curtains and hanging some pictures. Everyone is really pleased. It feels comfortable and cozy. And already we've been spending lots of time down there. Here's a preview – I'll take more photos once everything is done.

And lastly I made a new recipe – S'mores bars from the Baked cookbook. Couldn't find the recipe online but they were a hit.

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for your sweet comments ❤.

The girls and I took a quick trip to Midland over the weekend. We had a really nice visit. I've never gone so long without seeing my mom and sister! I was too busy chatting and catching up to take many photos – oops.

No, Bea is not standing on anything in the photo above. She's just tall.

September flew by. I'm feeling at home here in the US, but the house itself is still feeling unsettled because of the disruptive basement project. The fall air feels nice and, as strange as it sounds coming from Switzerland, I'm looking forward to living in a place that gets snow.

Here are some fall things on my windowsill.

There really is a shortage of canned pumpkin puree – so I had to make my own.

A mini harvest from my garden.

Some Michigan leaves.

And something less colorful than fall leaves – my basement floor. I finished painting it yesterday. It's the color of mud, but that's OK. It will look nice when I finish the shoe molding and put down the rug. This project is dragging on, as most renovation project seem to. I'm summoning my patience.

I'm making steady progress on my basement redo. 

I stripped the paint off the old metal outlet covers. I might just leave them in this sort of rustic state. The metal looks masculine and it goes so well with the blue wall color. 

I bought an old cedar chest. It's called a Dillingham Bluebird Chest – made in Sheboygan Wisconsin in the 1940s. We'll put our projector on it. It's really cute and it has bluebirds inside. I'll show you the whole chest soon.

Our new rug just came. It will add a little lightness to the room. 

The painting is almost done – just need to finish the bar area and a couple spots will need touching up after the electrician comes. I cannot wait to make the shelves pretty with books and things. In fact I really could not wait. I had to put up a couple shelves and see how this little painting looked today. Nice!

Next up – I'll paint the new shoe molding and then I can start painting the floor. 

When we moved in to our house I remember seeing all the blue trim and talking about how I just don't like blue. And now look at me – I'm painting our whole basement blue!

Here's where I left off in my last update – so much sanding!

And now I'm deep into the painting part.

Those photos above are just the tinted primer. This morning I finally started with the actual paint color. The job feels twice as tedious because I have to paint all the grooves between the paneling boards with a paint brush before I can use a roller. I think a professional painter would have sprayed the paint on.  

The photos don't really capture the color – it's always dark down there. But it's progress.  

Now that we've solved the leak and had the asbestos flooring removed I'm deep into the redecorating of our basement. It's all I can think about. Here's where we started:

Here are a few of my inspirations.

And here's what it looked like after the asbestos removal people were done:

It felt pretty bleak – dirty and rough. 

But I'm making progress. I spent lots of time scraping and sanding today. I'm going to paint all the paneling a deep blue. And we're going to go the cheapest option for the floor – paint. We can always upgrade later but for now a clean painted floor with a nice rug is fine with me. Plus, we're getting some upgraded and new light fixtures installed. Including some sconces above our shelves that should create some nice drama. I have some fabric in mind for curtains. Brian is in charge of getting a projector so we can watch movies. And the girls are asking for a popcorn maker (hmmmm).

I found a vintage Mr. Peanut jar hidden under the bar:

So I'll be spending some more quality time with my sander over the next couple days. I cannot wait to get the basement furniture moved out of the rest of the house! A clean, fun space is in sight – Yay!

Fun fact – I dropped our camera (uhg) and broke the lens way back in June. It was after Brian and I visited a lovely castle and it just jumped out of my hand. When I looked into replacing it I was shocked at how expensive a Nikon lens is. Luckily we had another lens sitting here in Wilmette – it belonged to Brian's dad. So I was happy to get our camera with the rest of our shipment and I'm back to using it again. Thank goodness for that inherited lens.

Brian and I went to the Chicago Botanic on a blustery morning. It was great – no crowds and the cool wind was so energizing! So here are a bunch more photos. 

I don't know why but Kermit lives in our mudroom and he makes me smile when I come and go.