For the last nine years, my basement has played several roles in our home.

It started out as a garage. My bed is sitting over what was once a mechanic's pit.

The cement walls were crumbling and you could see the water damage on what little drywall was left in it.

There was a small bedroom to the east of the garage and a laundry room just off the bedroom. The laundry room also held the toilet, perched about 6 inches off the ground on a wooden platform, and an open shower, for the former owner to clean up after his day of working on vehicles.

It was the first part of the house Brad and I decided to remodel. We tore out the garage doors, fixed the crumbling cement and put up new walls. Now the basement consists of a bedroom, a laundry room, a full bath and what was once meant to be a family room.

The family room has served many purposes over the years. It started out as a TV room, where I would go to enjoy a program that Brad had no interest in watching.

When we got my grandparents' pool table, it became our game room -- for about two months.

Since the pool table had a huge dip in the middle of it, the table soon became my laundry folding station. Since I hate folding laundry, that idea ended almost as soon as it started and it quickly turned into my laundry piling station.

I decided that since the table wasn't being used for its intended purpose, we should get rid of it and return the room to its original purpose -- which lasted for about two weeks, until we started another home remodeling project.

Then it became a storage unit for saws, tools and everything we needed to replace all the windows in the house and build a new deck.

That's basically where its been for the last two or three years with tools scattered hither and yon.

We have one lonely window, waiting to replace the one in the attic, 32 bags of cement waiting for our next project using cement -- whatever that might be, and box after box of nails, screws and carriage bolts.

But that's not all. It also holds six heated massage seat covers for the car when we take long trips, and one for my recliner -- I've used each of them once.

A fish aquarium that's been used to hold everything from fish to iguanas to ferrets; a gun case that's never held a gun, two cabinets we took out when we put the new window in the kitchen and everything else that doesn't seem to have anywhere else to go.

Recently, I decided the "family room" would make a good place for an office. It's secluded -- Brad would never dream of coming down to the basement unless he needed a nail, screw or hammer and I would be only a few feet away from the laundry room, so I could actually get my clothes washed when they needed it.

It's also only about 15 feet from my bed -- which means when it comes time for a little nap it is literally just a hop, skip and jump away.

This weekend is moving day. We've got a storage shed and everything involving construction plus everything that should be put in a garage sale is going to the storage shed.

One of these days, some of you may be driving by our house and see a bunch of junk sitting by the curb that says "Free. Take what you want and leave what you can't use for someone else." Frankly, I don't like garage sales.

It's hard telling what purpose our "family room" will serve in the future, but for now, I'm looking forward to the solitude of a home office where nap time is as convenient as a stroll to the refrigerator, and if I decide to do laundry, I don't have to climb stairs 15 times a day to get to it.

Just the thought of it makes me a little sleepy. I think I'll make like a bunny and jump into bed for an hour or so.