Lessons I have learned from our floods.

1.  Be wealthy, then you can just pay someone to fix things for you, it will be done right and it will be done quickly.  (Okay quicker)
2.  Know how much your deductible is for a claim on your home owners insurance. 
3.  Call a disaster company.  If it is raining inside your house (especially if its raining poo juice,) call a disaster company.  There will be a time you can save money but when water is seeping everywhere it is not the time.  They know the proper order to do things and they become your advocate with the insurance company.  If the damage is covered by your insurance co. the cost of the disaster company will be covered.
4.  Know how to shut off the water in your house.  Make sure your children know how to shut off the water in case an emergency.  I think the toilet overflowing is an emergency.  Three of my four children now know how to shut the water off to the toilet.
5.  Inspect things, had we done an inspection of our roof we could have caught this. 
6.  Caulk things.  Damage is minimized if things are properly caulked. 
7.  Just because it looks so easy (when you watch the video on YOUTUBE) to install baseboards it is not.  That coping saw is hard to use.  I could have widdled a base board with a pocket knife and made it look better. I guess I'll just have to do 45 degree angles.

8.  Our insurance adjuster said when he goes out of town he shuts off the water to his house.  The worst damage according to him is when something breaks when no one is home and won't notice it for days.  We are going to do this from now on.  I don't feel very lucky.


I am looking for a home maintance checklist,  Anyone have something like that? 

I was hoping to post pictures of the newly installed tile in the bathroom, but I want baseboards first and that is not going so well.**%^&**

Cool Junk

I got this idea from a crafty friend and I have made several of them. The bread boxes are easy to find at thrift stores and the DI.  They usually run between $3.00 and $5.00. 

How to:

1.  I bring them home and wash the cobwebs out of them. 

2.   Prime them and paint them.  I use spray paint.  Walmart has primer and paint for a dollar a can. Yahooey!!  

3.  Sometimes I distress them with a little sandpaper around the edges. 

4.  I sometimes stain or glaze over them.  (I just use what ever I have on hand.  Just brush it on wipe it off) The bread boxes usually have dings and scratches in them.  When you distress them it looks like those dings were on purpose. 

5.  Add vinyl lettering. 

They are super easy and super cheap.

before

The uglier they are the cheaper they are.

Here are some other uses we have come up with for these bread boxes.

1.  Drill a hole in the back to thread your cell phone charger through.  Put c-hooks inside for keys, set on a shelf near  the door you use the most. (I love to have a hidden place for clutter.) Instead of putting the word "bread" on it you could put "stuff" or "simplify".

2.  My daughter came up with this one.  Some of the bread boxes have a magnetic closure.  Her idea was to hang it upside down underneath your kitchen cabinet next to the phone.  Put pens, note pad etc. for a little message center.  Brilliant!

3.  If your bread box is big enough you could hide your can opener or toaster inside.  Again, just drill a hole in the back to thread the cord through.

4.  Giant recipe box

5.  Bill/mail organizer

6.  Desk organizer

"I can only control how hard I work, and how much I swear."

This is my mantra. It really applies to anything happening in life. Hard work generally helps things, swearing and a bad attitude generally make things worse. My house right now is chaos and I don't really care that much. I am working hard trying to figure out how we are going to live around a construction zone, and it has definitely messed up a few plans, but it seems like a waste of time to be upset. (Remind me of this come July when my house is still torn apart, and you hear bad words coming out my open windows.) But for today this is what I am going with.

Here's a picture of my wavy hardwood floor, The Handy Hubby cut his foot on a corner of the wood yesterday.  We will
"de-poop-ify" soon. 

The good Lord giveth, and he taketh away. (And hopefully giveth again)

I started this blog thinking it would be a fun place to document projects. People ask me at times how I have done something and I thought I could combine my newest hobby (photography) with my little bit older hobby (turning junk into something cool).

I mentioned in my first post the kitchen ceiling caving in. This is how it started, more about that later.





Well Tuesday night one of the children plugged up the toilet, it ran all night drenching my house including my newly drywalled basement with poo juice. Okay, okay I think most of it was clean water but when I say poo juice people make funny faces and I find that entertaining.

So now I think I'll blog my way through the restoration process (how do they get poo juice out from underneath hardwood floors anyway, kids put your shoes on!) Here are a few pics of some of the damage.









If you can contain your excitement I will show you my wavy wood floor tomorrow. Until then may your toilets flush properly.

Thanks to everyone who has helped us. We really appreciate it VERY MUCH!!

Feel free to comment.

Welcome

HI,
I am new to blogging. I follow a few blogs and love them. In fact I rarely have a need to watch HGTV anymore, I can get my fix by visiting a few of my favorite blogs. (Sorry Carter Oosterhouse, it really just wouldn't have worked out anyway. Candice Olsen, I still love you and want you to come finish my basement.)

My blog is going to be for those who's resources rarely seem to be money. I am going to take you along my journey of finishing and decorating my basement. Other amazing projects and finds, and what ever else comes along. (Like my kitchen ceiling caving in due to a leaky vent.)

So please bare with me as I learn how to do all this. It may not be pretty for a while but I learn best by just doing.