Clearwater, Blackwater, Swampwater...

Yes, this seems to be the correct order of the water that came up through my laundry room floor drain.

Saturday, while attending the most wonderful parties, I thought I would engage in some multi-tasking. I did a load of laundry down in the basement while I was upstairs on the computer. When I went down to put the clothes in the dryer, there was a small bit of water in the floor, so I wiped it up with a towel and put in a load of towels. When I went down to check on them, I found the basement was flooded, so I interrupted the washing machine in mid-cycle.

This same thing had happened several years ago and soaked my basement carpet to the point where we had to cut away about half of the carpet (it was carpet that the previous owners had put in the rec room when they replaced carpeting upstairs). This is the reason that the basement wasn't a total loss. The water didn't soak much of the carpet this time.

I'm glad I had decided to put all my boxes of vintage photos, art supplies, fabric, etc. up off the floor when I moved everything for the carpet installers several weeks ago. Whew, nothing was ruined this time at all. I soaked up the water (wring, wring, wring) and got the floors dry while DH went to locate a rotating snake thingy to poke through the drain.

I still had a machine full of soaking wet clean towels and now a basement full of soaking wet yucky and very smelly towels. (glad I still had old towels). When DH came back, he realized that the snake's end piece was too large to fit our drain. After trying several things, having the drain back up two more times in the floor, and deciding that the towels had to be spun, instead of wrung by hand, we hooked the machine back up and let the water drain out the window. Well, at least I was able to dry all the towels.

My kitchen sink in on the same drain, so no sink or dishwasher Saturday or Sunday-- and that meant eating unhealthy fast foods and junk so that I would not have to cook and mess up a lot of dishes. I think we might still be paying for that.

Normally, I would not show a picture of my house looking like this, but this time I know you will understand.


The bright side is this... Monday a.m. early, DH got the proper sized snake and together we got the drain spanking clean. After we got the drain working, DH looked around at the laundry room and decided that it must be the next project. We had been talking last week about painting it, but were not sure when, etc., Now with everything moved around, we realized how badly it needed work. So that's what the project is this week.

As usual, my hubby is doing a great job. He is a carpenter by trade and won't fix stuff "just a little", which is probably what I would do. So, wallboard is being replaced and old iron pipe is being replaced and the useless recessed heater has been taken out and the wall will be fixed, and new baseboard and sealant everywhere, so IF it happens again, the water will be contained to the laundry room.

I'll be doing art, just not as much as usual. I was able to make a nice birthday card for a close friend of ours. I used ArtEmboss craft foil and personalized it with her name and maybe I will put a picture of us on the inside. Her birthday is Thursday, but she just might be getting it late.


Here is a shot of it, the brilliance of the metal does not photograph well, but the embossing is pretty neat.

One last thing. I want to say hello to all my new friends I met through this weekend's tea parties. I had a blast going to different blogs and seeing their take on the Mad Tea Party. I hope that I didn't miss anyone's blogs. I tried to comment of all that I visited and I even won a giveaway at one of the parties. Thanks again, Suze.

So folks, that's all for now. You know what we will be doing for the next few days. Keep checking back, I will try to post progress reports when I can. Take care and keep making art!!

See you soon. Hugs and kisses to all.