Our basement flooded this afternoon…UPDATED!

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I have to shop vac now.  but you can read about me freaking out on twitter if you just can’t wait!  LOL!! 

We have awesome neighbors that came to the rescue and we will be fine in no time…

I’ll write more tomorrow. 

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Tomorrow now…  The water came in through the fire escape window.  We are thinking there was a drainage issue coming from the spouting from the roof.  The water was actually coming from underneath the window well.

Jadon and Kiahna were playing downstairs and they suddenly told me that there was water coming in the floor!  So glad they saw it, so glad that we were home! 

I called the neighbors and they came quickly.  Thankful!!!  They bailed it out.  There is a drain, but it couldn't keep up. 

The water was pouring in through the window, we had trash cans inside to catch it…

Every towel and blanket I could find was sopped. 

We got it all under control.  The neighbors left.  I was waiting for my sister to bring over a shop vac (but she got home and found water coming her her house too, so we waited awhile)

Jadon and Kiahna escaped the house and got on their shoes and went out walking in the muddy field while we were cleaning inside.  ;)  Of course Jadon was not wearing the new shoes that I had gotten him for my sister’s wedding. Nope.  Not Jadon!

The kids got home from school.

Then the rain started up again.

Zach tried to bail.  You can barely make Zach’s figure out through the window as he is bailing...

Lucas wanted to help and only got wet…he is telling me about it in this picture…

I called, and the neighbors came back again… baling for a long time, until the rain finally let up.

I am so thankful that the neighbors could come over so quickly and help out.  I can’t imagine how bad it would have gotten… well, I can.. that is the scary thing… this is not the first time this has happened to us.  Once, it came in another clogged window well… right over the bookshelf holding all my home school books.  In the same week the electric was out and we weren’t home and the sump hole overflowed.  Yeah, we got new carpet that year… and a completely cleaned out basement.

The basement looks like this right now…

Fans are running.  Carpet is pulled up.  Air purifier is running.  I’ll get a cleaned up computer area out of the deal… yeah.  Could have been worse.

Oh, and the crevice… that is 10 times worse than yesterday morning… and our road isn't the only one.  We had a 2 hour delay this morning to wait for daylight.  And the bus, it lost it’s ability to go in reverse after going over our crevice bringing the kids home yesterday.  Was it because of our crevice?  Sounds suspicious.  No surgery yet!

Pam

Joys of country living…

Not complaining really… after being in the city last week, I really do appreciate my country home.  It sure does come with some interesting challenges though.

We had 2 cats last spring.  We now have 6 cats.  No one wants to part with kittens… no one wants to feed cats… no one wants to change litter boxes… yeah.  So how many kittens will we have this summer with this many cats now?  Um.  Yeah.  I need to find a new home for a few cats.

I love having cats in the country though.  We watched out the window just the other day as a cat caught a mouse, released it, caught it again.  Super!  You keep the mice out of my house!  I love you kitty!  And they have done away with the mole population that was overtaking our ground before we had cats!

Earlier this winter, they caught a rabbit.  Brought it in my garage.  I didn’t take pictures.  You are welcome. 

Yesterday, we opened the door to the garage to a pile of feathers.  Not so much liking this.

Thank you for the love gift kitty.

We live on a gravel road.  Well, it was gravel.  Now it is mud.  The gravel, that is all stock piled on my garage floor now.  Add some bunny fur, feathers, and a litter box that needs cleaned out… ahem… 60 degrees is not so lovely. 

After living here for 10 years, I finally bought a leaf blower… yesterday I found out that it works quite well at blowing feathers, fur, gravel, and leaves out of the garage… now if I could only get it to change that litter box.

Once, earlier this winter, we had a portion of the road wash out.  Yeah.  Nice, foot deep, crevice created by a natural stream.  This had never happened before.  Wonder if a tile broke? 

Seeing all the rain this morning, I wondered if it happened again.  I was praying that the bus would be safe as it drove in the dark and hit that crevice.  Soon I saw the bus pass (my kids don’t get on at our house).  And was thankful that all was well.

When I took Jadon to preschool, I saw that the road had washed out again.  I called the Highway Department to report it.  I commented that perhaps something needs to be done to prevent this in the future.  There is a danger of the bus losing control in the dark, hitting that crevice. 

The secretary at the highway department’s reply that the bus should be aware and it not being totally the HW’s responsibility… well lets just say.  That upsets me.

I called the school bus garage to tell them about the crevice, and to report the highway secretary’s view of the situation… still pretty irritated about this.

Now, no doubt the highway will repair it today… but will it be a band-aid or surgery?

Here is hoping for road surgery!  Road paving!!  Now that would be a miracle!! 

Pam 

I wrote a few thoughts over here yesterday too.

The strangest thing just happened…

I was busy doing laundry this morning, and I found the strangest thing…

It took me a few moments… and I decided to take a picture of it…

So, what do you think?  Have you ever seen anything like this before??

Well… like I said… it took me awhile… and then I remembered about 10 years ago, before we moved in to this house… the laundry room was supposed to come with a floor.

Well… it had been so long since I had seen my laundry room floor… I kinda panicked!  So, I ran upstairs, grabbed all the laundry hampers and quickly returned the laundry room to it’s comfortable, chaotic, state…

Whew…

Pam

YOUR Gonna Miss This…Moment… Week 8

 So, it’s been another long week around our house… too busy… too many things I am trying to get done, and not accomplishing very well.  I’ve been wondering what I was going to write about in this post this week. 

I’ve been working on the pictures I have been working on for my sister’s wedding.  My computer is incredibly slow.  I need to get some of the pictures off the computer in hopes that it helps it speeds up a little bit. 

As I was copying pictures this afternoon, I ran across some goodies… some from my pre-blogging days!  I just have to share these!

Everyone should have a child like Jadon.  This is the type of child who does things that the family will talk about forever… when this child is around, there is never a dull moment.   Many times that can be a good thing, and sometimes, not so much.

So here is a little trip through the family album (yes, I have an album with these in it… and yes I will one day show his girlfriends, wife, and yes, even his children…  hee…hee…hee…)

One day I walked into my bathroom to find this spoon stuck in a candle…

This is from one day when he made chocolate milk for him and Kiahna… (look at the bowl)

Displaying his handiwork in emptying the linen closet…

He broke these cd’s one day…

Cuts in the toilet paper…

I found this pretzel in a candle last Christmas…

And it broke off in the cooled wax…

Adding a little water to his ice cream… ummmm….

This is a tooth flosser, for kids with braces… and that is chap stick stuck on the end of it…

Look how amazing that looks all squeezed out like that… uh-huh… too bad the price tag on that stuff isn’t in the picture…

Of course, then there is the marker, or crayon, written in all sorts of interesting places… this was a counter top…

These are the Christmas gifts he unwrapped and hid behind the chair last year…

That “was” my blush…

Train Track on the Christmas Tree…

It’s lotion… wouldn’t you like to have some for lunch??

And of course… there is this… those precious times he is being so good…

Wasn’t that fun!?!  I labled each of the pictures, “blessings” in my album, and I strive to seem them as that. 

I have to say, things are much better now with Jadon than they were then. 

Most days. 

I admit that I don’t yet miss this… (the messes that is, not that sleeping baby boy!!)  I wonder if I will miss those days… days of being so overwhelmed with his creative behavior that I had to take pictures so people would believe me!!  

This is when I started reading blogs!  They helped me feel more normal! 

Now days, he is teaching himself to read.  Smart as a little whip.  Still challenging for me at home, and still dealing with a lot of hurt in his young life.  Prayer for him to continue to heal…

Pam

For directions on how to play along with this carnival click this link.

I hope that many of you take the time this week to join me in sharing and thinking about the things you will miss, or do miss…  Even if you are like me, and sometimes can’t imagine missing things… it always does me good to try to think of these things!

Happy YOUR Gonna Miss This Moment DAY!!

YOUR gonna miss this… moment…week 7

Today I am thinking that there is surely a greater purpose to writing these posts than I ever intended.

Sometimes it is hard to look back on a really difficult week and find anything to treasure.  Is there really anything about this week that I can go back and say… “yeah, one day I am pretty sure I am going to miss that…”

I am thankful that even though Jadon is my most challenging child, he is also full of spunk and personality that just saves his life, makes him such a joy to have around.

We took that 4-wheeler ride last night.  Kiahna came too.  It was much colder this time!  And we found more huge leaves! 

In fact this leaf has been declared, “The Huge-monquousest leaf EVER!”

We tried pressing one, but couldn’t find a book big enough…

Kiahna didn’t want to be in the picture with her leaf.

I look around at the piles of laundry, the endless dishes, the dirty floor, the shoes, the papers, the stuff… and it is hard to imagine missing all that…  what I know I’ll miss is that when those things aren’t there anymore, it means they aren’t here anymore. 

Sinks full of dishes =  many of the people I love most together for dinner.

Piles of laundry =  my children cozy in their own beds, where I know they are all safe and out of danger.

Papers = they are receiving a good education.  they are happy and healthy and smart and active!

The shoes… the stuff… all evidence that many people live in this house… and there is never a shortage of activity, noise, love, or laughs…

After discussing with Jadon the “Good Behavior” Chart and praising him for how well he had done, he stated… “yeah, I am really good, when I am sleeping.”

I needed that laugh! 

He cracks me up.

SO TEACH ME LORD JESUS, TO SEE THE MUNDANE MESSES AS THE BLESSING THAT THEY CAN BE… HELP ME TO TREASURE THESE DAYS OF OVERWHELMING NOISE AND ACTIVITY… AND THANK YOU FOR THROWING IN ENOUGH LOVE AND LAUGHS TO MAKE THE MUNDANE FADE INTO THE BACKGROUND… MOSTLY…

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To read the  rules for playing along click this link:  Your Gonna Miss This...Moment

Don’t feel like you can’t play if you don’t have pictures!

Don’t feel like you can’t play if you can’t see how you will even miss the moment in life you are in!! 

Hope you all play along!

Pam

What is was… Jadon’s version…. and mine.

I virtually pat all you wonderful guessers on the back.  But, None of you were right.  Sorry.  No one wins the day of babysitting this wonderfully creative child… twist my arm, and I may let you try anyway!! 

In case you missed it, this morning I posted about what I found when I opened the bathroom cupboard for a towel.  It was a High School Musical cup filled with a blue liquid, covered in a tissue.

When asked about it Jadon said: 

“It’s paint.  I want to make a poster.  I made it with my Spiderman toothpaste”

A parent’s perspective… It’s toothpaste, wasted, squeezed into a cup, mixed with water.  And left in the cupboard to spill.

In the midst of the bedtime chaos last night I remember Leah telling me he was squeezing out toothpaste.  Then I remember asking him where the toothpaste was.  And him angrily telling me he had thrown it away, because “I wouldn't let him paint with it”.

I really can’t afford to have moments when I am not totally on my toes with this one.

Pam

What is THIS??

This morning I opened the bathroom cupboard and found this…

Take the morning to make your guesses on what in the world it is…  The winner will get a hardy-virtual-pat-on-the-back!!   And a free day of babysitting Jadon, because if you can figure this one out you could handle him hands down!  No, forget that, I want you to play along!!  LOL!! 

Pam

Tackle It Tuesday #7

Well, I didn’t have many high expectations of Tackle it Tuesday today.   I figured that the way things have been going for me, I should have low expectations and not plan to get much accomplished.  Turns out it was a good plan.  I got more done than I thought I would!

After dishes, bathroom detail, and bed making… laundry was calling…  it never ceases to amaze me with it’s abundance…

This is my progress for the day…

After I had all the laundry folded I could, I decided I would tackle a couple other neglected areas of the basement…

The basement kitchen… used for… gathering clutter… clothes that need boxed and given away, mailed, or stored.  Clothes that people have left at our house.  Unmatched socks.  Trash.  Toys.  Easy to just stick them there and move on to other areas of the house.

And this area.  Where the kids play their video games.  Always in need of clean up.

And… I did it!

The things that were here are now mostly here.

Boxes to mail.  Bags of things to give away.  Things to return.  Now they are all on their way!!

And the TV area… now has mom’s cleaning touch. 

I still wanted to list some thing for sale on e-bay.  That didn't happen.

And I didn't work on my kitchen cabinets, but I did that last Friday for awhile.  See the last editon of "Your Gonna Miss This... Moment" for details on how that all went!

This is what my kitchen looks like right now... cupboard doors off both sides now.

My brother-in-law took all the handles and hinges and is painting them for me!

See old editions of Tackle it Tuesday for more on my kitchen! 

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength"  --Phil. 4:13

Pam

Click here to play along or read more Tackle it Tuesday posts!

Tackle it Tuesday #1

Well, can’t say how many days I’ll do this but I did accomplish some things to post on here today!

First I finally ditched that old dead plant and replanted a new one in it’s place!

Jadon told me tonight that he watered my plant for me. Thanks bud, I guess the over watering mystery is finally solved. I now have pots with holes in the bottom, so not to worry!

I also tackled the entry way issue. Despite your great ideas for trying the garage, and I agreed, until I remembered the part about trying to park two cars in there in the winter. (very tightly) and the part about the gravel road in the winter and how hard it is to keep that garage clean in those conditions. I had a hard time envisioning my kids going out to the garage to hang up their bag on a cold winter night after they had finished their homework.

So, I’ve chosen to work on the little closet that is the most practical right inside the front door. It is only 28 inches wide and has two very high shelves.

Before:

After:

I’ve even replaced the light bulb! I purchased 6 coat hooks today to hang inside the closet. 2 on each wall one at the top and one in the center. It will not help the shoe invasion, but at least if their bags are on the hooks they can throw their shoes on the floor of the closet and it won’t bug me! That would be so much better than all over the house like they normally are!

I also managed to do FLYLADY ‘s daily mission today! So all three bathrooms have clean floors and the rugs are washed!

To do your own Tackle it Tuesday click here.

Pam