Mistakes Were Made

January 20, 2026

Liz was down in the basement today. I went down to check in on things, and spotted several trim pieces – freshly coated with an initial layer of varnish.

Then I looked over, and noticed by wife. Who said to me “Mistakes were made.”

And around then is when I noticed how hazy the air was in the basement. And how everything seemed to have a slight layer of dust. Which ended up not being dust, but ash.

So it turns out that after working on the trim pieces, Liz took to investigating the cleanout for our fireplace. Which… apparently hadn’t been cleaned out in. Well, forever.

She got a layer removed, and put in a trash bag. But apparently there were strata of ash and debris in there. So she closed the thing off. A bit later, there was a shift somehow… and the weight of the ash/debris came down, and blew open the door. And kicked ash all over the basement.

I didn’t quite fully comprehend what happened down here, until I saw her mask.

A bit later, in the kitchen sink… cleaning up a lot of the debris she saved.

There were a ton of tile pieces, and the puzzling thing… several colors that don’t quite match any of our fireplaces.

An interesting and unexpected find. Sadly, no box of hidden jewels/coins. I think we’ve officially run out of places to look for hidden treasures, in this house.