Who needs a swimming pool in your backyard when you have one in your basement!

So we have found our house's Nemesis....Water. Water has been coming from everywhere in this house since the beginning. From the ceilings, pipes, under the sinks, and the latest development in the basement. Amazing. We had epic amounts of rain last weekend and the end result was four inches in the basement. I knew my wellies would come in handy. I sloshed through the water with a flashlight (I was too afraid to be electrocuted to turn on the actual lights) and measured the water myself.When Joe came home that night we tried to shovel it out and use the wet dry vac, but it was no use. I was sent on a mission to Home Depot to get a sump pump (which until this week I thought it was called a sunk pump).

I went to Home Depot and got a $93 "sump pump" and then promptly tried to find someone in plumbing to get me the hose to go with it. Well apparently I was not the first person to get a sump pump from this store and they were out of the correct hoses, but the man (who had one blue eye and one brown) promised me that I could hook up a PVC pipe to it and it would work just fine. He got me a connector and a 10 foot piece of PVC pipe. There was an older gentleman in the aisle that started to quiz me on my purchase, asked if I had glue and some other things that I didn't quite catch. I pretended that I totally knew what I was doing and thanked him for his help.

I left Home Depot feeling a little nervous about getting my 10 foot PVC pipe into my car. I had every right to be nervous because it didn't fit. I felt like an idiot standing outside of Home Depot with a pipe twice the size of me whining to Joe on the phone about how the pipe was to big for the car. Joe assured me that this happens all the time and to just go in and have the guy cut it in half. Well I was kinda ticked that my blue/brown eyed guy did not warn me about the size of my pipe. I marched back in with it and found the blue/brown eyed man helping the older gentleman who was pestering me with questions about my pipe earlier. I smiled and said "I'm back", then the older gentleman said "I thought you would be." I have to admit, it burned a little.

Joe let me try to hook up the sump pump, and I did a great job until I failed to realize the pipe that I had hooked it up to overflowed the kitchen sink with cellar water. Ooops. He then rolled up his pants and waded through to hook it up so it went outside. We tried our best but only made a small dent in the basement pool. We were lucky enough that Joe's uncle Eric came by the next day and finished it up.

So I have now declared water anywhere near my house to be an enemy.

The Storm and Friends

A few weeks a ago a huge storm raged through the area. It brought with it a lot of wind and rain. The wind was so bad it knocked over two four story trees right down the street and took the power for the neighborhood with it. I have to say, it was exciting! I was nervous about the house and wanted to check on it right then and there, but Joe (sometimes the sensible one) explained that even if something was wrong at the house, there was nothing we could do about it, and it was really dangerous to even walk outside. We have a HUGE pile of trash on our front lawn and I was afraid that it would end up crashing through the neighbors windows (then I really would have no neighborhood friends). But somehow I did manage to fall asleep, sans electricity, and made it to work the following morning.


I went to the house after work and was surprised that all the trash was still sitting in its pile. Thank goodness for small miracles! As I got closer I noticed a really big tree branch that had fallen across the width of our backyard. Luckily it hit nothing except a few other branches on its way down. As I went to check the house I noticed nothing too bad. The basement was a little damp, some tiles from the roof came off. Then I made it to the second floor. The storm had brought us a visitor. I noticed that the woodwork around the windows was all chewed up. Joe tried to convince me it was a mouse, but I had a feeling it was a rat. Ewww. Later we figured it was a squirrel trying to get out. We haven't seen any evidence of him since.

So all and all, we made it though the storm!

The Begining

So Joe and I have purchased a house. A house that needs a lot of help. By help I mean TLC. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited but so far its been one surprise after another. We signed the papers in February 2010, since then we have cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned!), demolished the downstairs bathroom, redone most of the plumbing and that isn't even the half of it.

When we first got the house it was winterized so all the water had been flushed out of the system and the water was turned off by the city. Joe went through everything and then we had the city turn on the water. When the water was turned on in the house, chaos ensued! At first I just heard a few drips then, when I went to investigate, water started gushing from the living room light fixture. Yes it was raining in my living room. How exciting! Needless to say the water got turned off again. A few weeks ago we thought we had all the plumbing fixed but there were a few more holes left in the pipes. Joe's still working on it!

Cleaning has not been a fun adventure at this house. I started just a basic clean. I wore a little mask and a pair of gloves. Well the deeper I dove into the house the more disgusted I became. My mask became bigger and my gloves thicker. Thank God for my little steam cleaner. That thing is AMAZING! I saw my neighbors once, I think I made them nervous. I was working at the sink with my crazy mask, goggles, and big old rubber gloves, I waved. They waved back, but no one has been over to say hello.