Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

So, the word on the basement: the water only soaked part of the carpet, which Mr. Pickles was able to rip up and throw out before it got moldy, hooray.  (God bless the man -- he was up until 3am the night we returned from vacation, and he worked every day at it until it was all OUT.)  So we have half a basement (enough to watch movies and build train tracks -- really, what more do we need?).  We're still not entirely sure why only certain parts got wet -- why only along one wall?  Why the carpet, but not the subfloor?  Why the subfloor, but not the carpet?  Why the bathroom?  Why the utility room next to the washer, but not right next to the sump pump?  Our best guess is that the lousy back door which most likely wasn't properly installed (thanks, Lowe's!) let in enough water to seep slowly across parts of the room.  It was all very weird, but fortunately, not terrible.

speaking of terrible, WHO found a tissue and ripped it to shreds?

Of course, the downside is that the insurance won't cover it, since we can't absolutely pinpoint it to a failure of the sump pump to handle the water draining into the back stair well.  So we have to recarpet our entire downstairs on our own dime.  But we're thinking of doing the floor in the dining room as well, since that floor covering formerly known as "beige carpet" needs to go post-haste.  What's another couple thousand more or less, right?  So all in all, we've been trying to see this as an opportunity!  I've been wanting to de-clutter and reorganize the downstairs ANYway, so there you are!

hahaaa!  you'll never catch me!

The biggest hitch is that I was planning on doing our school work down there, where all the toys are, so that the boys would be occupied while I worked with the girls, instead of tormenting each other and making lots of noise and generally being disruptive, as they are now.  Joseph in particular is going through a pesky stage (again -- we just got over one!) so I think losing his best play space has been the hardest on him.  And OF COURSE it's been raining a lot so we can't go outside to burn off energy much. The days that we do have sun I declare a half day and we stay outside as long as we can.  (Sigh, I miss that California sunshine.)

he likes to pause here and look through at us -- one of the fun aspects of having see-through split stairs

But!  We make do, I've cleaned a lot, the living spaces are more livable, and I've organized all my sewing and crafting stuff, which desperately needed doing.  See, opportunity!  So after I finished with the main tidying, I've been focusing on school planning, including the Charlotte Mason co-op we're a part of, as well as getting back to knitting.  Got some big, big plans!  Who knows if I'll ever finish them before I retire. :)  Miriam has been plugging steadily away at her blue striped purse -- the other day I had to ask her how to do a purl stitch b/c it had been so long!  We have lots of ideas for Christmas presents this year.

almost there!

I've also discovered the joy of Ravelry.com (which explains why all my computer time has NOT been spent on blogging, as it should have). :)  I plan on going to an honest to goodness yarn shop tomorrow to shop for sweaters for the boys.  I plan on making the Baby Surprise Jacket, which looks so fun to make!  I felt inspired by Elizabeth Foss's blog -- she made me feel that if she could do it, I could do.  I'm really enjoying knitting -- I have a hard time sitting still and resting, which I really need to do more of.  But sitting with my feet up and still being able to be productive, I can embrace!  I find my mind wandering all sorts of places while I knit (that is, when the children are all contained some place where they can't get in trouble, like in bed, asleep).  It can be a very meditative time.

I made it!

Well, speaking of blogging, I've got a half-finished post from Katie's wedding that I've been trying to put up for almost a month.  I've also got several sets of pictures I want to share -- I would have more but I swear our camera has legs and runs away and hides just when I want it! 

later!  places to go, things to destroy, havoc to wreak...

I really want to make this blog a more interesting place for you to visit.  I'm trying to be a better manager of my time so I can do that.  It's always a four-ring circus around here, but I find that I always have time for things that are priorities (like Sudoku). :)

Please feel free to start whining if you think it's been too long since I've posted....  (Joe, I'm sure you can help me out with this, right?)  I do better when I'm held accountable to someone. :)