No Apologies. Just gonna pick up and go!

The last month has been especially eventful. I'll try to re-cap it as much as possible. We had a flood in our basement (due to outdoor hose fitting). I do mean a FLOOD too. It was completely wet to where you were sloshing deeply on the carpeted areas. Mark came home from work that day and spent the entire day pulling up carpet, pad, and taking the walls down. We found MOLD behind the drywall on the cement so it was obvious that there'd been some seepage problems all along and for a long time. We did make an insurance claim and after many inspections and experts they gave us enough for new carpet and pad and the dumpster we rented. Better than nothing. So, thus began our basement remodel project, among OTHER things. Other things would include finding out that our AC didn't work or was insufficient for our house. It actually DID, technincally, work so the joke of a home insurance program we bought into didn't pay a red cent. We ended up getting a whole new heat pump and ductwork and now things are wonderful. The HVAC guys actually JUST finished up yesterday. Now that they are done we can slowly begin to rebuild our basement. Going back a little, it was SO hot in our house with no AC and over 100 outside that, in total, we spent 5 nights at a hotel. It was literally THAT unbearable at our house. I had to find a temporary home for our guinea pig so he wouldn't die. All my indoor, aquarium fish died except the plecostomus (hardy things, I gather!). Fortunately the dog and cat are good at handling extreme weather because they're both alive still. :-) A good thing, as we'd miss them terribly if they dropped dead. Especially Condi. She's such a good dog and makes me feel so safe. Mark was able to get his friend from Renton, JEFF, to come over and help out for a few days. What a blessing Jeff was/is. He redid all our plumbing and most of our electrical. SO, we have all new plumbing. It's the new kind, flexible plastic. The name escapes me at the moment. We do need to hire a plumber to put in a couple drains though and tie them to the main. That will cost a lot and may not happen for a while. I went to the 4th of July shindig in Grangevill, ID at my sister's house. Most of the family was there and we had BIG fun. The kids went home with Grandma and Grandpa and the baby and I came back to our hot house. After a few days I drove to Seattle to spend a few nights and then bring the kids home. The HVAC guys were supposed to be done by the time I returned but I came home July 12th and they weren't officially done until July 22nd (yesterday). Let's see, the timeline is all messed up here but I'm trying to remember what all happened. Order is not even on my mind right now. OH, we hired cement cutters to cut two HUGE holes in our wall for new, LARGE, egress windows. The basement is going to be so light and lovely when it's all done. They also cut the floor in our new bathroom/laundry room (11X11!!!) so that we don't have to do that later when we get the drains put in. We hired the MOST excellent young man from our church to dig the other egress well for us and to help Mark with all the heavy lifting/demo stuff. He was such a blessing and had the highest of work ethics. Great kid! Anyhow, the basement is down to total concrete. Mark has framed in Azriel's new room, which will be the first thing we finish down there so we can move him into it. We plan to have the large bathroom/laundry, another room possibly and a little office nook for Mark. There will be a large open area with built in's and that will be my craft area as well. It will be a long time before it's all done but it's looking hopeful and will be WONDERFUL when it's finished. I think I'll end my long, run-on and on and on paragraph and start a new one.

I know I've forgotten lots of the details but at least you have a general idea of what our last month has involved. Oh, we also pulled up the carpet in the dining area so that has to be finished as well. Lots to do. If you looked at our driveway and back patio you'd see a hundred boxes. Everything that used to be in the basement is just sitting out in boxes. Now that the HVAC guys are done we'll be moving the Christmas stuff back downstairs. The rest is stuff I'm going through. Planning a HUGE garage sale in a couple weeks. I have LOTS to sell. Hope we make plenty of cash so we can buy something for the basement. Many choices there! Maybe a new tub/shower combo!

I have a lot of pictures I want to share and will be adding those as I have time. Right now my time has run out since the baby needs me and I can no longer ignore the kids. Some trouble must be brewing since it's really really quiet right now. Talk to you all later!!!