My friend Jane used to say, “Sometimes, life intervenes.”
Yesterday, it did.
I had planned on spending the day putting my daughter’s room back together and putting together her new bookshelves and desk. Instead, I found water in the basement from the record rainfall we’ve been having.
Those aren’t shadows on the floor. That’s water. After I sucked out most of it with my shop-vac (I love my shop-vac!). And the cabinets are wet, too.
So, today, I’m focused on cleaning out the basement.
- I’ve gotten up most of the water and have the fan running over the damp parts to get them dried out.
- I’ve called a junk-removal guy to come get the wet cabinets, plus he’s going to get the creepy rolled-up carpet (I shudder to think what might be rolled up in there) the previous owners left in the basement and some other odds and ends that we’ll never use.
- I’m going to get all the trash/wet stuff, like old boxes and anything else that’s ruined and liftable by me, out of the basement today.
- I found this old typewriter table down there. I think that a coat of spray paint would make this lovely:
It’s still drizzly here, with 97% humidity, so no spray painting today. But soon – when we dry out – some bright blue or green spray paint will make this table pretty again.
Once I’ve done those things, then I’m moving on to what I had planned to do yesterday – shelves, desk, and hutch in my daughter’s room!
I’m grateful for my wet-dry vac and fan that dried out my basement.
I’m grateful that our flood was relatively small/nothing, especially compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere, where entire neighborhoods are under water.
I’m grateful to have a contractor who’s working on the solution to this problem we seem to keep having, despite many previous fixes.
What are you up to today? Are you tidying up with me this month? Share your experiences in the comments below, please!
A "recovering lawyer," I turned in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.
Sorry about the basement / water issue…hope nothing to necessary was damaged
Thanks, Mary! Thankfully, nothing major was damaged, so we are really lucky. We’ve had so much rain, but others are totally flooded out, so we are super lucky here. Thank you!
Water in the basement…ugh! Looks like that typewriter table is your silver lining! I bought one at a favorite shop “Possibilities” this summer and gave it to my friend’s son as a condo-warming gift. It was the right size for his small kitchen and had the industrial look he likes. Maybe you discovered it for your daughter’s room!
I was thinking about using it in there – with her new desk! Stay tuned…we’ll see. Of course, it has to stop raining here first, before I can spray paint anything!
I am diligently trying to clear a pile/project everyday, but nothing i’ve done compares to drying out a wet basement. My big accomplishment today was to get out the step stool & put away an assortment of baking pans (that I took out & then did not use!), which have been hanging out on the kitchen counter for 2 weeks. I also changed out the paper towel I like to keep in the microwave – am I not an amazing whirlwind of energy? & activity??
You know what? You are! Those little nagging things are EXACTLY what I’m talking about for this project – I’ve got those all over the house and I’m tired of them being there, reminding me that they need to get done. Maybe this should be the Thirty Days of Gratitude – Get It Done Edition, because it’s really more of that, too. Thank you for sharing that and making that very important point!
But the 30 days idea is definitely implanted in my brain. Thanks, Karen. You’re keeping me honest : )
🙂 Happy to help!