and then there's this

Soooo...  our waterproofed basement isn't actually all that waterproof anymore.

Naturally the basement isn't graded so that spills will actually flow into the sump pumps.  So whenever it rains we get to stump downstairs a couple times a day and sweep the water towards the well.  We've also used the shop vac, but it's so dang noisy and sweeping works well enough.  I'm getting a little concerned about mold -- it doesn't smell musty yet, but if you pull back on those baseboards it is NOT pretty.

Thankfully the waterproofing is still under warranty, so the company that did everything will come and fix whatever the problem is.  However, because Virginia just experienced the wettest summer on record, we are not the only ones who are having water issues.  Which means we get to live with our own personal swamp for weeks.  Excellent.  (They're supposed to come next week to fix it.  THAT'S going to be a fun day.  Who doesn't love the sound of jack hammers in his house!)

I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house I'm grateful for my house

What We've Been Up To

...besides accidentally painting the carpet, that is.

What have we been up to?  Short answer: lots and lots!  Here's a sampling.

First up: packing.

boooooxeeeeeeessss...

 I think we've moved about a third of our belongings into storage (Mr. Math Whiz can correct me on that), to make it easier to spiff up the place.  After we removed all the bookcases and painted the living room, it became SO much lighter in there!  Having less stuff around to look at has made me feel more calm in some ways -- well, at least as calm as one can feel when, at any given moment, one room in the house looks like this:

proposed new subtitle for this blog: My Life in Boxes

But Getting Rid of Stuff feels so good that I have been ruthless in my decluttering.  It's been a positive lesson in detachment -- I'm realizing how little I really need to have a happy home life.  (hint: it's not the box of papers from college days)

you can kind of see the color difference here: new neutral paint on the near walls, older yellow in the back.  the new paint looks like french vanilla ice cream.

So I'm filled with all kinds of good resolutions for homemaking in the new house.  And of course, we ALL know that after we finally move (Lord knows when that will be), there are still going to be boxes full of Stuff that lie around indefinitely, until I "find" the time to unpack them.  I should schedule the house blessing for a month after the move-in date to give myself a deadline.

The kids are handling the rolling chaos remarkably well.  It helps that the weather has been extremely cooperative for the most part, so they are able to spend much time out of doors.  I think they're also responding positively to the lack of clutter -- when there's less stuff around, they can focus on just a couple favorite things, and the tendency (and ability) to leave a disastrous mess in their wake is lessened.  (They still make messes, they're just less... disastrous.)  After we had cleared out the living room and a good part of the basement toys, Katie still managed to create an amazing fort/secret hideout complete with drawbridge and pennants using a filing cabinet, the piano bench, a piece of cardboard, pipe cleaners, a bit of string, scotch tape (she has her own roll so she won't use up mine), and pencils.  Oh, and half a ream of construction paper (give or take).  That girl was born about a century too late -- she would have been a whiz at Making Do during the Great Depression.

after just the first coat of primer, the kitchen became so bright!

We've made quite a bit of progress -- I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's good to remember that this will all eventually end, because everything is still in limbo.  Not one room is actually finished.  Being the perfectionist I am, it's driving me CRAZY.  I have such lovely visions for what each room could be!  Instead, this is the closest I have to an "after" picture:

waiting to paint the bottom half until the new countertops come...

There are just so. many. little. things. that need to be done.  And a couple big things still.  But I'm not complaining!  No I'm not!  I have a house, and not a pile of matchsticks instead.  I am very grateful for that.

I am also very grateful for a hubby who always does wonderful Mother's Days. :)

baked french toast with chocolate melted in between layers...

...smothered in mashed strawberries and hand-whipped cream, served with mimosas.

Speaking of Mother's Day, I had a delightful one!  As you can see the breakfast was awesome.  Then after Mass, Joseph's Atrium teacher held an open house, so the students could show all their favorite works to their families.  Joseph's favorite was an awesome building set of Jerusalem, complete with labels for all the events of the Passion.  We had a good time looking at all the materials, and Joseph was very proud to show us around.

After that Mr. Pickles dropped Andy and me off at the National Gallery of Art, so I could visit the Pre-Raphaelites exhibit before it left.  It was amazing and beautiful.  I was surprised by how many other mothers chose to spend their afternoon there too.  I guess I'm not surprised that they wanted to spend their afternoon surrounded by beauty -- I'm just surprised they decided to bring their (small and unappreciative) children with them!

Then in the evening after I returned home we had some friends over for dinner, and Mr. Pickles grilled.  It was fabulous.  We had a great time.  Oh, and all the kids had made me cards and the girls sewed me little gifts -- it was just a beautiful, sweet day.

Oh, and speaking of strawberries, guess what time it is?

Jam-making time!!

Three batches of strawberry in the pantry already.  I hope it's not too prideful to say that this year my strawberry jam is AWE.SOME.  Like strawberry candy (and that's even with the low-sugar pectin!).  I finally figured how not to scorch strawberry jam -- a) turn down the heat to med-high (duh), and b) have your kitchen elves take turns stirring constantly, and by constantly, I mean constantly.  It's worth giving yourself carpal-tunnel from all the stirring -- the results are yummers.  I hope blueberries will be at the Farmer's Market soon, b/c we're already going through this stuff pretty quickly! 

I figured out that to have enough jam to last us the year and still be able to give some away at Christmas, I would need to make 65+ jars.  If I make a batch every weekend this summer that I can, taking time off for the homeschool conference and for moving, I should be able to get a good dozen in.  (One batch makes from about 6-7 jars for peach to 9-10 for blueberry.)  I can crank out a batch pretty quickly now, especially when I have little elves to help!

So that's some of the latest.  I have a couple more things to write about, but it's now pumpkin time for me.

And because no post is complete without a picture of the baby:

arrr, matey!  have ye any booty on which I can drool?

...um, how do you get this thing off?

Latest installment in the Money Pit Series...

So, barely a month after we got the new fridge, our washer died. Just like that. It made a horrible clanking sound, emitted this horrible smell, and refused to agitate or spin anymore. Praise the Powers That Be that it occurred during the final rinse cycle of the diaper load, and NOT during the pre-rinse! Ick. So I only had to wring out and drip-dry an already clean load. PLUS the diapers were the last in the line of the week's laundry, so everyone had clothes to wear for several days before I would have to resort to hauling the laundry down to the nearest river and beating it on rocks.

Mr. Pickles is such a good bargain shopper.  He is also a scrupulous user-review checker.  We read lots of reviews for various machines, and found one that was hands-down the most popular.  So many of them had people who either loved it or hated it -- for this one the overwhelming majority raved about it.  So after we made our choice, Mr. Pickles saw from a flyer that it was on sale at one appliance store, but after more research he discovered that Sears will match a sale price, plus add a discount!  So, to Sears we went, and made a salesman there very happy, as we decided to purchase the matching dryer and a 3-year warranty.  (we figured we might as well get a new dryer too -- the old one was needing two cycles to get some loads dry)

To prepare for the arrival of my new toys we had to clear a path through The Dungeon Of Death.  I wish we'd taken a "before" picture -- it was a true disaster.  I'd had to carve myself a path through the carnage with a machete just to get to the laundry machines.

The somewhat-cleared Dungeon Of Death (and occupant)

The Dungeon (sans death)

AAACK!

We took the opportunity to finish a couple quick fix-it projects that had been piling up.  Here is Mr. Pickles teaching Miriam the essential skill of how to use a power drill.

Then he took apart the old washer for fun.

ewwww....

ooh! a secret entrance!

breaking appliances is fun!

So the new machines arrived the day after we bought them -- and I had been bracing myself for the possibility of a week without clean laundry!  I have to state my amazement at the physical prowess of delivery men.  They just look like ordinary dudes, and yet they're able to wield and maneuver these giant UNwieldy machines into place in a matter of a few short minutes, including hauling them up and down several stairs.  Both these guys and the refrigerator guys had this cool harness thing that they wore -- it had a long strap that attached to a buckle on the front of each guy's harness.  They would run the strap from one guy's harness, under the machine, to the other guy's harness, then squat down while they tightened it.  When they stood up, they could easily lift the machine between the two of them, only using their hands to steady it.  I'm sure it was still heavy, but they made it look easy-peasy.  I wish I had thought to take a picture.  It was really cool to watch.

Anyway, the machines we chose were LG high-efficiency machines -- I'm convinced the LG stands for Laundry Goddess because these things are AMAZING.  Everyone I knew who had an LG machine raved about them, and now I know why.  They get the clothes SO CLEAN.

Quality Inspection in progress

I had to adjust the valves for the water intake so that the warm is actually warm, but I had to do that with the old machine anyway.  I'm also concerned about the low water -- I wonder how well things are getting rinsed.  (WARNING: Non-parents do not read to the end of this sentence: I've noticed when I wash diapers that they're covered with a fine sand even after an extra rinse.  But they smell extra-clean, so maybe it's more of a lack-of-filter issue than a low-water-level issue.)

the clear top is SO COOL

The dryer is great too.  I can't tweak all the settings quite as simply as I can with the washer, but so far I've been able to figure out how to choose the settings I need for whatever load I'm doing.

The only cons I can think of to these machines are that a) the washer seems to be a lint-making machine -- I'm afraid it's going to be rougher on our clothes; and b) the cycles take a looooong time.  But!  They sing a cute little song when they're done, so I always know when a load is finished.  All in all I like my new toys. :)

Finally, when life gives you a messy basement...

...make a blanket city!

Next on the Money Pit list is a new oven -- we're at the point now where we have to kick it sometimes to make it work. :)

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Before:

please note the missing front grill, protruding drip pan filled with sludge (not pictured), dust-bunny-covered side, sagging door, and front right corner propped up with sections of flooring because wheel is broken.

After:

bing!

the kids watched the delivery from a safe perch, while I hovered and battled dislodged dust rhinos.  all our food is in the coolers and bags on the floor there.  I way overestimated the amount of ice we needed -- I have a huge bag in the new freezer still!

homeboy's already raiding the new fridge!

Something still doesn't seem right....

ahh, better! (I removed the ice maker since we don't have a water line in that wall, and I'd much rather use that space for, you know, storing food)

So, details: we got it from the Sears outlet, which means it's in as-is condition, which means it came pre-dinged so we didn't have to stress about the first dent/scratch/permanent marker art the kids were going to make.  Score!  Also the freezer section smelled like a barn.  But after a thorough baking soda bath, it's all good!

And quiet!  We hardly know when it's on, unlike our old dinosaur of a fridge.

And is it cold!  Our ice cream is solid as a rock, which isn't so good when you actually want to eat some.  But at least we know our fridge is no longer a salmonella incubator!  Yay!

(Don't) Carry Me Back To Old Virginny

Last week:

This week:

Because nothing says "welcome home from your happy west coast vacation" better than a soggy basement!

We don't have it nearly as bad as some others in the area -- but that also means that we're going to have to wait a long time until restoration companies can get to us.  Ug.  So now you know why it will be really quiet here for a while.  Happy vacation pictures will have to wait while I attempt to restore some order to the chaos formerly known as our living room.  A little prayer for peace and strength and clear-headedness would be much appreciated.