The results are in.

The radon results, that is. Remember when I posted about my concerns for the odorless, tasteless gas known to cause lung cancer? I was particularly concerned the more effort we put into making our basement cozy that I wouldn't want to know the results. I didn't want to know anything bad, nor did I want to give up the basement.

I finally stopped dragging my heels, designated a time to set the charcoal filter out in the basement and let it rest for 48 hours (or 48 hours and 37 minutes because I forgot to stop the test). When the testing period was over, I sealed it in the metallic-lined envelope and mailed it off to Alpha Energy Labs in Texas.

And yesterday, no more than 8 days after mailing it in, my results arrived in my inbox. Ah, the wonders of technology.

Some good news and some not-as-great news is how I like to see it.

The average home has a level of 1.3. Ours is 2.8. Action is recommended if the level is 4.0 and above, but with levels between 2.0-4.0, additional testing is required every 2 years.

While we're above average (always knew we were--ha!), our level is not of great concern. Louis made some good points: we don't spend much time in the basement and when we do anticipate spending time down there it will be sweet summertime when the basement provides relief from the heat, and added bonus: the previous owners installed windows in the laundry room that can open and let the air circulate. Pretty cool considering most basement windows, at least from this time period, don't open (minus the egress type).

So if you're reading this and dragging your feet about getting your home tested, just do it. The peace of mind is worth it. And I can say that having to not shell out cash for a radon-mitigating solution, I know.

Here's a chart included in the report. It freaked me out.

Yikes! So even though we're in a "safer" zone, we're not totally certain we won't take further action, but for the time-being, we rest a little bit more assured of our health.

Shelving solutions.

I promise this post will be more exciting than the already upbeat title.

We had a problem. A modem and cord problem to be exact, and it looked something like this:

For a while, the messy cords lived on the floor, then mostly inside a crate on the floor hidden from the public eye. But then I was inspired to take that very crate, paint it (of course) and hang it right on the wall thanks to seeing this idea last month from A Cat and the Fiddle occasional market.

You will recall that I painted it yellow and baby blue and hated it (as seen here, but seriously, it was ugly, so you can just take my word.).

I went green this time, using none other than the original kitchen paint the previous owners left for us in the basement. And then I hung it on the wall. Simple as that!

This particular phone jack (now hidden by the crate) happens to be the only one that worked to plug the modem into (or so Louis says). Ah, so good to have that little corner of floor space back! Mess of cords begone!

This wasn't my first attempt at a shelf solution. I had hoped a corner one would work out. It didn't fit because of the molding. So I tried a simple floating shelf. It wasn't deep enough. Rather than return a shelf for the second time, I kept it.

And it lives not too far away from the crate shelf. A chalk ledge!

Normally the eraser and chalk sit on the slab of granite atop the radiator below, but it was time to give them a proper home. {Between the chalkboard, coat hooks, and sunny South-facing window, I adore this little corner of our home!} 

I wanted the shelf to be more flush with the board, but it wasn't particularly easy to hang. I'm also fond of the fake antique can we keep the chalk in. And yes, I do update the "menu board" every week. These things have to be planned!

Done Deal.

Last week when I looked ahead to this weekend's weather and saw sunny and 50 degrees for Saturday, I struck a deal with Louis. I would join him for a bike ride on Saturday, if he'd join me at two recently-discovered occasional markets slightly south of the cities. Louis agreed, and a deal was struck!

Saturday morning proved to be a near-perfect spring day. Don't mind all of that snow still on the ground (where are we now? day 127, 128 of snow cover? but who's counting?).

The falls are falling!

And to the markets we went on this grey/drizzly/foggy Sunday. First stop was Haupt Antiek Market in Apple Valley. I was most in love with all of the spring colors. Turns out, after this long winter, I need more pastel in my life. I was drawn to it like a kid to candy (or me to candy, for that matter).

Louis was the first to make a find (I've trained him well)!

Another paint-chipped, dirty old screen. Yeah! As you can see from it's line-up to the green one, Louis' eye for the actual size of our lights was much better than mine. Now we'll just need to acquire some anchor hooks to attach it to the ceiling and some chain/ribbon/rope...whatever. Oh, and something fun to cover the actual screen part.

Yes, this might be one of the ugliest photos taken, but here's the fluorescent light. At least it's built in to the ceiling unlike most other lights of this type.

After another shopping win, we made our way about 5 miles south (okay, I don't really know which direction we were going. i was only driving.) to A Cat and the Fiddle in Rosemount!

Yet again I was entranced by all things pastel. We had our eyes on a few prizes and even a few gift ideas in mind, so I can't yet show two of the things we bought. But when I set my eyes on this pedestal plate I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I've seen a blogger with a plate like this and admired it's versatility to adapt to each season just by swapping out the ribbon. For $19, I had to bring it home.

The blue polka-dot ribbon almost looks like Easter eggs. This will be the perfect pedestal for cookies.

By this point, I clearly had given myself permission for once to snatch up some of the smaller items that won't add to the function of our house, but add some fun.

It's true that I don't really like birds, yet I find myself constantly drawn to decorating with them. These birds on a wire were too cute! I didn't like the candle color in the store and knew I'd switch them out for a more subtle spring color, but now that it blends perfectly in our placement/table runner flower color, there's no need.

I like this early spring table layout. And bonus: it forced me to clean the table to take this photo. The place mats were a wedding present sent from our friend Katie who is currently living in Korea!

All in all, it was a successful trip. And it's a good thing the markets only come around once a month. Our bank account needs a rest for a while.

P.S. Louis pointed out while on our bike ride yesterday that it was our 9-month wedding anniversary! When we got back home we headed to the backyard to check on the wedding tree. (Technically the tree has been in the ground for 6 months due to procrastination/finding it a permanent home.)

See it?

No?

How about now?



Nope, no visible tree yet, but we can see the "cookie" rock on top of the styrofoam hut the little guy has been living under all winter. I thought about digging it out. Then realized how dumb shoveling my back yard sounded. Plus there's a 70% chance of snow on Wednesday (never mind today is the first day of spring). It doesn't seem right to open his warm cocoon until winter decides to pack it's bags for good.

Treasure hunting wins!

I started my weekend off right: by taking a few hours of vacation time on Friday afternoon. I just happened to make my way over to Minneapolis, and it just happened to be the open weekend for my occasional markets. Now, I've been a little bummed at these places the past few months and haven't been able to find just what I'm looking for. While there is loads of lovely stuff, it's just that--it's stuff. And stuff I surely don't need and my frugal-self won't buy without purpose.

I began at the Cottage House. I was entranced by cute bird feeders and bird baths. Then I remembered I'm not a fan of birds. I passed. What caught my eye? This beat-up, paint-chipped, dirty old screen. It was $6 and it has purpose.

At least, I thought it had purpose. My plan was to repaint, replace the mesh screen with some type of fabric, and mimic what I saw in a store last month. Seen here near the bottom of the post. However, I am sad to point out that it's too small to cover our fluorescent lights. I'm determined to find some use for this!

On a high off my "I actually made a purchase" feeling, and with time still on the clock before I needed to get back home, I remembered that Flamingo's was also open this weekend and just a mere mile away. I pulled up to see sweet furniture finds waiting for a home on the sidewalk outside the shop.

Among them was this:

I've been on the hunt for something to put our new TV on since January. I even kicked myself for not buying something three months ago that could have worked. Patience paid off--this piece is so much better.

I really like the staff at Flamingo's--seriously nice bunch of people who love what they do and treat their customers very well. The same man we bought the yellow bench from last month helped me carried this to the car. He said this table was less than a year old, and while it has some knicks in it, that's no problem (I'd love to paint it navy anyway). The staff were excited to share with me they had just marked it down by $20, so I brought this beauty home for $29 (and tax)! I've been thinking a lot about my first motivation to shop these markets: the price. I am super frugal. But I'm now realizing the additional benefit of buying used or second-hand. Hello, environment, HoHub and our used goods do love you.

Enough words, now for more photos.

Before: TV on the coffee table. It works, but it means no coffee table.

Much better! (Mess of cords to be dealt with later.)

Coffee table reunited with couch!

All together now! (That dock photo will be going as soon as I start tearing down wallpaper.)

The basement continues to come together. I'm just a little leery to spend so much time down there. Louis mentioned a certain little test kit and I've been putting it out of my mind for months (and the test kit never arrived either). But then another blogger wrote about the high levels of RADON in her home and we set out to the hardware store for a kit.

A kit that hasn't left the box in nearly two weeks. Sigh. We need to set this up. Radon levels are high in the Midwest, although I rest assured knowing: we don't have a sump pump, I haven't found any visible cracks in the foundation, and our basement is finished. I am nervous that we have a sink downstairs and one of the walls is concrete. I WILL get this kit set up by the end of the weekend.

Well, it's shaping up to be a lovely day here in Minnesota: 50 degrees and sunshine! We've seen 40s and low 50s all week. I'm starting to see edges of grass emerging and the snow piles are shrinking!

Slowly shrinking. Slowly, but surely!

Sunnier days ahead.

My dad called on Friday and pointed out I hadn't updated the blog in a while. He also asked if we still had snow on the ground. Why, yes, we do.

We climbed into the upper 30s here today, which in Minnesota standards is "a nice day". We're back into the melting cycle once more. But before it all escapes us, I thought I'd get a few shots around the house. These are for you, Dad!

Backyard. It's still a good 1-2 feet deep in some places.

I like to call this Hubbard Pond. AKA the driveway. And reason #1 for mudjacking this sucker.

I'm really looking forward to not being blind-sided when I back out of the driveway.

Now, onto other matters. Like painted furniture.

I painted my nightstand. I've wanted to do this for a looong time. I know wood purists out there are laughing that I painted it brown (nutmeg, technically), but I love it. It was a twist from my wanting to paint all of our bedroom furniture in antique white. My favorite is the green knob. I look at this and think: wedding colors! It blends nicely with the other colors in the room.

And then I went and painted this crate. And hated it. It's intended for our kitchen, which is green and yellow. I was going to paint it white and yellow then in a last-minute decision, went for blue. It looks like it could be in a baby's room (no baby rooms here!). But it's growing on me. I know it's totally sloppy and needs to be finished; I just had to convince myself of the colors first.

I also made myself a totally imperfect, but perfectly useful new phone case. It's a template as I begin making one for Louis. Thankfully his phone is rectangular as opposed to my oblong-shaped phone and should be easier. This was very much a trial and error project and 100% copied from a picture of a seller on etsy. What?

And in not so far from the house business: Louis has about 1 million meetings a week with the bike board he has joined, I attended an environmental coalition meeting in the neighborhood and met super-cool earth-loving folks (our 'hood gets better and better), and drum roll...

We joined the gym. I was a total hater when Louis brought up the idea. I will admit I had gym phobia. I am hopeful there is some serious sanitation of those machines happening daily, multiple times a day would be better. :)

So that's life at HoHub the past few weeks.

Don't forget, Dad. All this snow will melt and head YOUR way soon.