We have been up to our eyeballs in house stuff, lived through two kinds of flooding (three floods, actually) from heavy rain which filled our window well, and then poured in and flooded the basement, and then, almost two weeks ago, a sewer line backup into our laundry room, which did in the carpet in one room the hall. This was a similar area to what had been wet a few weeks earlier, so the sewer flood turned out to be sort of a blessing in disguise. State Farm is helping us out with repair costs for that one!
Unfortunately, we also discovered during this time that we need to replace our 45 year old sewer main, which involves digging up the front yard and into the street. However, more "blessing in disguise" there. We had planned to lay sod by September 1, but didn't quite get it scheduled on time, so at least we will not have to rip up the yard to dig the trench. Now we are hoping to get that done late next week, and then lay sod by the end of September, which is about as late as you dare to do it around Colorado if you want it to root.
So the dreamt of remodel of the basement, which we thought we'd do "someday" is now underway. At least, we will be able to remodel and update part of it. We spent 4+ hours today on demolition of some walls with the help of our good friends the Wilsons, and "cousin-in-law" Joe. We hope to have an updated version of about half the basement by Thanksgiving.

Hope some of you (especailly non-Coloradans) will come visit over the holidays or next spring to see how we are fixing this old place up! Pictures may be included in my next post. In the mean time, take care.