Blogging in the Basement

The stuff in half of one basement room!

When I think of basements and blogging I first think of those faceless dweebs in boxers or briefs, unemployed and living in their parent's basements trying to become anonymously important and vent a little of the anger that rises out of the misery of their own lives. I do put a male face and underwear on these basement bloggers. That is just my image and I'm sticking with it.

My basement blogging will occur mostly at ground level, with a few photos taken on location. My hope is that BLOGGER will help to make the dark and dusty task of sifting and sorting through the rubble a little more fun--a way to further incentivize me in my goal of "cleaner living."

My husbands favorite story about the basement is from the time we had jewelry robbers, almost 20 years ago. The robber(s) had thrown all the dresser drawers out on the bed and floor and made quite a mess in the upstairs bedrooms. The most devastating thing was to lose my diamond, which I had thoughtlessly left at home in plain view in order to swim at the beach that evening. A gold necklace and my mother's depression-era wedding ring (cut off her finger just prior to burial) and my high school and college class rings were the losses that I can remember. We had a $1000 insurance policy which easily covered the value of everything stolen except the diamond ring, which had just been appraised at $2600. It was shortly after we moved here and we were struggling a little to make ends meet--my husband had taken a salary cut when we moved from Illinois to Michigan and the insurance check helped out a bit. I spent only a hundred dollars or so replacing a few things, including a cubic zirconia fake diamond, which was always a bit tight and no longer fits my aging (fat) finger. Last week at the symphony I took it off my pinkie finger and gave it to my daughter, Marissa. It fits her right hand. My diamond has never been replaced. My husband's class ring from high school and his inexpensive wedding ring (which he promised to never wear) were not stolen--or my Dad's gold wedding band.

Melvin's ring from 30's

To get to the point of the story, when the cop led us into the basement (we were still a little freaked) she exclaimed. "Oh, they were down here, too." My husband laughingly explained to her that the disarray was just the way it was down there. Later we noticed a hasty exit had been made by the thief out the back patio door, the slider left open. We had a roofing dumpster out front and the next day my husband found his jacket in the dumpster--that was always a bit of a mystery!

Cleaning out via robbery netted us a few hundred dollars without going to the pawn shop, but it was a painful way to clear belongings. Hopefully, this process will be less so. I'm not hoping to find any treasures that will be profitable--I have experienced too many mediocre garage sales--the goal is just to clear spaces.