Ban carpet

 I have a fascination with basements because the first time I ever saw one or was in one was about 15 years ago.  In this part of the state only the real old houses have basements.  One of the reasons they did was so people had a cool place to go during the hot time of the year.  It also served as a storage area for the larder.  My house sits on a concrete slab.  I just dream of having a basement. 

A few years ago I changed the flooring in my house.  I pulled out all the carpet.  I do have a few rooms with hardwood floors and those will stay because they cost too much and I really like them.  The rest of the flooring got replaced with either stamped colored cement or with tile.  When I first moved into this house I pulled the carpet out of the hallway.  I didn't really have the money to replace it with anything and I also didn't know what I wanted to do with the floor.  I went to the store and spent about fifty dollars on a bunch of cans of Make it Rock which is a spray paint that comes out in blotches.  You spray it on and it looks like granite.  You are supposed to spray it on flower pots and stuff.  I sprayed it on the floor.  I did this for the hall and kids bathroom.  It comes with the spray and also an overcoat.  I kept it that way for seven or eight years.  It actually looked pretty good. 

I do like the feel of carpet under my feet.  Just vacuumed carpet looks good too.  I remember my first house with long shag carpet.  We had a carpet rake to make the shag all go in the same direction!  There are a couple reasons that the carpets were pulled.  First is with kids it gets dirty quickly.  Second, if you, or the people who lived in the house before you had pets, at least one pet will have used the carpet as a cat box or lawn.  Even if it's cleaned and sanitized, it doesn't come out of the pad.  When you pull out a carpet and pad you will be shocked at the pad.  Third, carpet catches fire. 

The fire aspect is the main reason I don't want carpet in my house.  You can throw a small rug on the floor in certain spots if you want to have some comfort under your feet in an area where you do stationary standing such as the kitchen sink and the laundry room.  But if we are in TEOTWAWKI, in my house we will be using candles or lamps in the evening (and also small solar lamps) rather than relying on flashlights. I guarantee that no matter how safe you think you are you or someone is going to drop a candle or lamp on the floor.  If you do that on cement, there's no harm.  If you do that on carpet your entire house can go up in flames. 

OK, have to tell another Army daughter story.  She and her husband pay for the food around here since I'm not charging them rent.  They are saving money for a down payment on a house.  They spend as much money on the food bill each month as my oldest daughter spends on her house payment.  Yesterday I looked in the refrigerator and noticed that there were lots of left overs.  Why don't we just eat this stuff for dinner?  Good idea.  Then she went shopping.  She decided to buy stuff for fruit salad.  She called to let me know.  I told her that I don't buy stuff for fruit salad, we make fruit salad.  At this time of year it's a pretty bleak fruit salad.  Oranges, grapefruit, and bananas.  Maybe an apple.  But wait until next month!  Fresh from the yard cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, berries the list goes on.  No she wanted it now.  She bought a cantaloupe, honeydew, blackberries, kiwi, bananas, apples, pineapple (two of these already cut up), and so much more.  I counted eleven different types of fruit.  Then she bought two cans of whipped cream and smothered the whole thing in that.  I figured her fruit salad cost fifty dollars!!!!!  It did last for dinner and also breakfast this morning.  I'll wait until next month.  Fruit salad will be free.