Christmas - WONDERFUL...Christmas Eve - SUCKED!!

I plan on blogging and adding pictures to Flickr in the next couple of days about Christmas, but chronologically, I am forced to start with the Christmas Eve Day from HELL!!

Everything was planned, we (theson, thegrandson and I) would head to Pittsburgh to finish shopping and then go to theDonald's for evening dinner and gift exchange. But oh no...as theson came downstairs in the morning, he and I were talking by the basement stairs, when the furnace kicked off - I HEARD WATER IN THE BASEMENT!! Continual rain from the evening before and forecast for the entire day - and we have a flood in the basement. My nerves do not handle a crisis like they used to. Water is coming up through the drains, through the vent to the furnace...and there is at least 6-8 inches throughout. Now, basket case that I am, I cry!! This is NOT the day to have such a problem. I call the city crews to bring a pump - and the morons didn't even have a submersible - and said there was nothing they could do, and left. So, off to the hardware store, and theson buys a pedestal sump pump, hooks it up, and we start pumping water out - but it isn't making a dent - as the water is coming in at the same speed. $%^&*()#$%^&*()!!!!!!!!

Trying to deal with the "water" issue, I beg theson to settle for running to the local mall to shop, but he has to stick to tradition and we ended up going to Pittsburgh. I thought I would have to call 911, as I was having anxiety issues myself. My sole purpose in life seems to be to WORRY. All I could think of was the pump actually doing its job and then burning our house down while in Pittsburgh. As it turned out - that was never an issue, because the water level remained the same.

Theson did everything humanly possible to alleviate this problem, and when we went to bed (the rain had ceased) the water level was down about 1 1/2 inches. When we got up Christmas morning, the pump was still running with very little change. After presents were opened, thedaughters friend came over and was scoping out the creek behind the house - as I told him approximately where the drain pipe came out into the creek. He couldn't find the damn thing, so we all went out to check - after scooping mud and debris, we located the pipe - he reached into the pipe and it was 100% blocked with creek rocks. As soon as he scooped all the rocks out, it was like a geyser - and the daughter said the water level went down incredibly fast.

I now know what neighbor kids have been playing back there, and maybe they thought that was a cute idea to "block the pipe", but I have now lost about $5000-$6000 worth of property, and no way to prove their vandalism. Furious beyond belief is one way to describe my feelings.

But thanks to thedaughters friends they were here early this morning, and we all chipped in to get the muck and garbage, and ruined items out of the house and to the landfill.

Water still pooled at bottom of stairs.
Still some water and stuff ready to go to landfill.

I had a sofa and entertainment unit, which were totally ruined - so the guys had a blast sawing both into pieces, in order to be hauled away, as seen here.

Jaime and theson really enjoyed the destruction.
Saying goodbye to entertainment unit.

We started the cleanup process about 10 am this morning and finished up 3 pm. That entailed three runs to the landfill and a lot of hard work, but the fans are running (the dehumidifier was destroyed also) and I have a workable space to finish getting rid of more "stuff" later. I now have to find someone to come in and deal with mold prevention, and what is it doing now........raining!! I'm tired and in considerable pain, but have to get some food ready for the rest of the family is visiting this evening.

More about Christmas later - hope everyone had better luck than me. Later............

Ahhh...to be buried in a PRINGLE'S can!!!!!

This article on the passing of the inventor of the Pringle's can, is a trip. Now, had I known that this option was available, I might have considered multiple Pringle's cans to have my husbands ashes buried in, as opposed to the $500+ urn I selected. The HIGH cost of funerals has gotten way out of hand anyway, but maybe since I am not a famous individual, they will find a reason as to why I cannot utilize home packaging materials!

We have been having a slight heat wave of late, and I always hesitate turning on the AC, because I also hate to donate to the Public Utilities coffer. I finally caved in yesterday, and of course, the AC unit is not cooling. Last summer, I had to get the unit charged, and the repairman said then that I must have a pinhole leak in the copper tubing somewhere, but he didn't have time to check then. That charge lasted the entire summer cooling season, so I didn't worry anymore. Well, the repairman just left here, $131 richer, and he found TWO cracked places in the tubing and silver soldered the hell out of them, so I should be "good to go" for quite some time.

Today is the last day of school for thegrandson, and it is going to be close to 80 degrees - and he chose to wear sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt. HE IS SOOOO NOT NORMAL! I went through his clothes last week and sorted out all the "cold" weather clothes, and somehow he robbed that pile to get dressed today. I guarantee that after these clothes hit the washing machine - they will disappear for another summer season. This amazes me as he is almost a fashionista, in having matching socks, shirts to pants, etc.

I am also trying to get up the energy and fortitude to tackle the task of cleaning the basement "netherworld." As I have said before - all the "not sure where to put it" items end up in the BASEMENT! Since the AC repairman had to enter that world - I was slightly embarrassed - so I must begin this project.

Well, I have to go pay the grass cutter now and sweep the sidewalks so till later...
Everyone stay well and TTFN.

...I REPEAT...do not pay the ransom...I'm back

Oh my god! Every time I sat down to blog, something always came up and I honestly have no "real" excuses for my absence. Glad to see that the visitors haven't stopped though.

I recently went into a partnership with a friend of mine who owns an accounting software business, in that I will do the bookkeeping share of the clients (in addition to my own) and necessary tax preparations. So far it is working well - so much can be done via computer with our gmail accounts - this will be OK I believe. My friend is a CPA, but chooses to work the sales end of the business and leave the rest to me, which is what I prefer.

Theson is working in Monroeville, PA for about 3 weeks I believe, and then he will be off the Bristol race the end of August and possibly to Qatar or Kuwait after that. I am not too happy about that work destination - but that's a "mother thing!"

Amazingly enough, school will be starting in a little over 3 weeks and we will have to get thegrandson his school paraphernalia soon. Thedaughter bought him a really cool Spiderman backpack - as if we don't have more than 20 now - but this one had a Frisbee included - whoopee! Forget that I have Eastpaks, from my kids and also I bought a couple of smaller ones in Boston a couple of years ago - and they are guaranteed for life. When theson was in college, I had to return one and since it was discontinued they sent a nicer one. Great company to deal with when it comes to exchanges or returns.

We had a torrential rain last Friday and again - WATER IN THE BASEMENT. Not that I have been trying to get this check valve placed for the last 3 years - I'd have more luck pulling teeth. Theson and I rolled up the carpets and mopped and swept water and ran the dehumidifier and fans and all is well - for now - albeit temporary.

On a more cerebral note - I am still hoping and praying that the process of impeachment will eventually take place (soon) and we can get our country back on the right track. Blog after blog, you can see the dissatisfaction and anger at our president and his totalitarian bent. I just start to seethe when I read more everyday about his exercising "executive privilege." DUH - Hitler like demeanor. He has totally walked all over the Constitution and our rights as Americans. Grrr......

I have also been watching this Phil Spector trial (gavel to gavel) and in the Court TV chat room during the trial and the general consensus is "fry the ugly little troll." I guess you have to really watch to understand what I am talking about - but the defense of this "music genius" (created the Wall of Sound) is "accidental suicide" by gunshot to the mouth. There is an oxymoron - accidental/suicide!!! Hopefully this trial will be over at least by the end of August (15 weeks so far.)

Have some posting to do - so everyone stay healthy and TTFN.

***Rich|Championable DO NOT breathe the air!!
***Samurai Frog - keep up the good work!

I am just to old for this shite...

It took TWO solid days for theson and me to get the basement cleaned up and organized. It is amazing how a basement becomes a netherworld for the "not sure where it goes" items. When I get tired of something, yet hate to send it to the trash heap, i just PUT IT IN THE BASEMENT. Well, I am here to tell you that in less than 2 years, I amassed a helluva lot of JUNK.

Let me tell you a little about THIS basement. When we bought this house in 1986, what was beneath this house could hardly be called a basement - more like a cellar, with half dirt floor (and one corner of the house held up by a tree trunk), and half concrete slabs. Whenever it rained we had a veritable swimming pool. Can't tell you how many sump pumps we burned up. My husband never made the wisest choices in purchases (this house) and NEVER seemed to fix any of the problems. He did come in handy (sort of) after he died. I used a considerable sum of the life insurance proceeds to improve this house. Ultimately, the house was on jacks for almost a month (a very scary sight), and a new foundation was poured and block wall basement put in. It was worth the $$$ and the few cracked walls.


Never having to worry when it rained was delightful...until September 14, 2004. That is when Hurricane Ivan blew as far as the Ohio Valley and we got 6 inches of rain in 3-4 hours. My basement ended up with over two feet of water and a property loss of over $20K. Cleanup took a couple of days, everything had to be tossed out into the yard and the muck cleaned from floor and walls. After that fiasco, I bought a lot of shelving and tried to keep as much as I could off of the floors and back to my rainy day worrying.

I also had my office in the basement and my desk was ruined and I lost a lot of important paperwork, plus my comuter which held a lot of irretrievable data. So for the last two years I have operated my business with the laptop from my kitchen. (Thought about removing the stove and putting in file cabinets!)

But, I digress. I started the cleanup process on Tuesday morning, and after tearing a gash in my hand, yelled at theson to get out of bed and come help. Of course it was my fault because I hadn't called him down earlier. We finally called it a day at 5:30 pm and about 2/3 completion. My body literally cried out in pain and I took Tylenol PM and rolled my fat ass in bed by 9 pm. This all seemed so much easier twenty years ago.

Again, working till 5 pm yesterday, we completed the task. My office is now usable again, an entertainment area is set up, all the junk went to the landfill today, and a run to Goodwill tomorrow will complete the challenge. Whew!! Maybe I can get some pics of the completed task and put in blog later.

I should have more interesting things to write about soon, as the political front is always heating up, because of the morons in charge.

Everyone stay well. TTFN