OK. I also sacrificed a deck off the back of my house and stuck with the 4' drop, choosing rather to have electricity in another room done. Send me in a different direction now that I could see the mess in there! :)

Well, I am in a panic over this tax bill...but hubby says lets move the fridge now...which means my pantry and coat closet removed and drywall the new space.

My cash flow is wrapped up in the taxes...we could do the fridge move, but then where do I put my pantry items until we can purchase the cabinets that will hold the pantry items around the moved fridge?

With the weather warming, I'd rather focus on outdoor things like a few raised beds for veggies and some new fruit trees.

I started decorating with eggs and bunnies in the house today...it's my favorite "holiday".

Take a breath.
Keep calm and decorate eggs.
Death and taxes.

Yeah! raised beds! Yeah! trees.
As we have an ice storm here in the DC area, I wistfully look out at my sticks, which in warm weather are Japanese maples.

Hope and Spring both spring eternal! :)

I'm a homebody at heart but I'd love to travel. The one (Travel) has pretty much gone by the wayside as I put all my $$ into this house. I'm not sorry, I love my house and it is what it is. As far as dreams for the house itself I hope most of them are deferred and not hopeless! The biggest one is the ghastly white 12" square tile covering the family room, kitchen and hall floors. I would so love to get rid of that in favor of wood!

I was supposed to do my hall bathroom over last year but that got deferred and the kitchen was done instead. Doing the bathroom now. I'd love to replace my windows, especially in two of the bedrooms where the windows are too high. I doubt it will ever happen. I live in a CBS house. I can't imagine what it would cost to change the size of a window opening.

I am so glad that we redid the kitchen After retirement, the plan was to do more bicycle travel but DH's back is wreaking havoc on our plans Maybe bathrooms or some real deck furniture

Well.

I just discovered a blown water pipe in my mudroom. Could have been blowing water for days. This changes direction in another way. I can't even imagine what I'm going to lose/sacrifice.

1. A plumber. Got the water turned off at the main switch. Until I've got enough $$ for a plumber, I'll be visiting my neighbor again. He gave me full access to his bathroom and shower for 3 years. What's another couple months. Or I hope that's how he'll feel.

2) All the drywall pieces in the garage (where the water flowed and stopped) are ruined. There was enough to do one of the bedrooms. Just needed the $$ to pay a drywall person!

3) All the mdf pieces (many) I was experimenting with for slab cabinet doors until I could afford or figure out how to make real ones were stored out there.

4) I have a ton of pine I was drying in there, now sitting in water. Luckily it's weighted down by lumber on top of it.

5. This water has probably filled the space I know is under the floor, because we built the floor over the existing garage floor. I cannot imagine what the mold, rot, termites and damage this water is going to cause.

6) 3 boxes of artwork were stored out there. I took them off the floor and have them up, so they can dry out and I can assess the damage.

7) Large cabinet doors were stacked there. I've lifted them off the floor to dry, too.

Luckily most of what's left is stored in plastic bins. With any luck, they're not leaky.

Just stuck my head out the front door. Yup. Water flowing out from the house. From under the den, too, where I swear it was never sealed where the walls meet the floor. I know I'll have mice for the rest of my life, but now we can throw mold into that room, too.

Now. To locate a shop vac. The sun is setting and we're supposed to have record lows again tonight. Hmm. When I'm done, perhaps I'll pour some bleach into the water.

Bright side:
I get to get 3 big cardboard boxes that held artwork out of here.
I get to clean out a ton of drywall pieces.
A ton (they're so heavy) of MDF pieces go.

Thanks for listening. Wish me luck.

Oh, CEF, that just stinks. I hope you can recover everything that is meaningful.

Oh, I'm so sorry about the damage. I wish there was a way I could help. How totally frustrating!

That is so kind. I am pulling a "Scarlet." I'll think about it tomorrow.

Probably when I need to flush the potty.

Oh no CEF, what a mess! Call your insurance company. Burst pipes are covered (as I know from experience) and they'll also pay for the emergency dry out service to prevent mold.

Oh man! I am so sorry CEF. I really admire your positive, look on the bright side, just deal with it, git-er-done, Scarlett attitude in the face of adversity. Girl, you are one tough cookie!

I have been working on my tough cookie-ness. We had to make some sacrifices and big changes in the last few years. But it will all be worth it in the long run. One sacrifice is living in a partially finished remodel for the last couple years in order to avoid debt. As we save $, we decide which project we can afford to do now, or should we wait and save some more for something bigger on the punchlist. Its a looooong list! Oh and I can totally relate to dealing with mice too. My two Jack Russells take care of that problem pretty well though.

My heart goes out to you!

rebunky, you sound like me! I live in my own construction site, too. :)

I have 5 cats, but do you think they'd take care of a mouse? NooooOOoo but the bird didn't have a chance.

Well. A bright spot.
The fellows who are building out my barn are coming around tomorrow morning to take a look. Given one of them is actually a plumber, I think God's giving me some good with the bad!

And the water sits in the garage. Oh, I'm remembering more things in there that will need to be sacrificed. Well. Gonna have a less cluttered garage.

Thanks for the good thoughts.

Good luck, Christine. You are awesome for being able to see a bright side. I hope the garage guys can help.

Christine, I'm so sorry to hear about the pipes. That totally sucks. I'm not too far from you (dc area too) and you're welcome to bow or my chop vac for as long as you need it.

rmtdoug, I have both of that, so I'm nothing if I'm not equipped. As a matter of fact, I think the first thing I haven't had is the shop vac!

Lenzai, I might take you up on that. )

Haha! I was just going to post a picture of my one dog chasing the other one with a big bird in her mouth, but thought it maybe too graffic. They ran inside the dang house, jumped on my couch, my wine rack, etc... I'm screaming, "OUT! Get that stinking bird out!!!" I'm chasing them around for like 5 minutes while my husband is hysterical and taking pictures. That's life with Jack russells. Maybe I should switch to cats. Oh and the little white doggie hair is another huge problem. I guess that is another sacrifice I make cuz I do love my doggies.

Oh Christine, I wish I lived closer, I would be there in a heartbeat to help; with my shop vac and my plumbing toolbox.

As others have said, contact your insurance, it should be covered under homeowners.

We rarely go in our basement and when we had the toilet supply line burst in October of 2013, we honestly have no idea how long it was flooding but it was enough to fill an almost 900 sq ft space with several inches of water. Our homeowners covered the destroyed floor as well as all the items we had in storage down there.

I feel almost bad talking about the original topic with your flood issue!!

I've been at a virtual stand still for quite a while on my dream. I knew I couldn't accomplish it all at once and it was meant to be piece meal but after we started, I felt so overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done that once we finally got to a functional kitchen, we've pretty much ignored it for the past year.

I don't know why but lately I've finally gotten my drive back. I have the bad habit of looking at everything that needs to be done and feeling so overwhelmed b/c I don't know where to start that I end up doing nothing.

I guess I finally reached my threshold of living in mess that I finally said "screw it" and started on the breezeway.

I went and bought all the supplies I needed to put up the wall of shelves in the breezeway. Doing so allowed all the boxes full of (mostly) painting supplies that were in my utility room floor to finally have a home which meant that my breezeway is essentially finished (still thinking about trim in there) and, more importantly, that my utility room has been emptied so I can now plan my command station/bill desk and the mudroom lockers.

I'm making plans now for that area and will hopefully have (at least) the desk built in a few weeks. For the past 18 months, my bills, schedules, kids paperwork, etc has lived in a combination of the kitchen, dining room, living room and my room.

This is why I finally decided that a good starting point would be where I run the household from.

I don't do well with mess and disorganization and since we started the initial kitchen/utility room remodel in August of 2013, I've been living it every day.

My filing cabinet is in the garage, new mail is on the kitchen counter or the island, school papers are on the kitchen counter, bills to be paid are on the piano in the living room and papers waiting to be filed are in my room.

I'm sick of it. I'm still feeling insanely overwhelmed when I look at each room and what needs to be done but I've finally reached the point where, I guess, I figured out my best starting point. I can't effectively and efficiently run this household when I have to go 5 different places.

So since my command center is in the utility room and I couldn't work in there until it was cleared out, I started with the breezeway.

Fingers crossed I will have my functional desk/command center built and installed in a few weeks and then I will be able to more effectively tackle everything else in house.

T_G, I completely, completely understand.

My rebuild is now going on 10 years. Much of it I do blame on lack of money and time, but when I'm honest with myself, there are months of time where I am so overwhelmed I don't know what to do. To do one thing I'd have to do 10 to get to it.

I think I got my umph back, too. Having cleaned out the living room and kitchen, and getting the LR and MBR painted. Cabinets installed in the kitchen, old cabinets given away. Antique doors stacked everywhere sold on CL, along with a few pieces of furniture and dimensional lumber. Now I am eyeing a closet where there aren't any shelves. Built the closet in in 2010 or 11, I think. But I'm not letting myself start a new project before something else is done. Or at least done to where all it needs is trim. Like the LR and MBR.

Now I have to get the crap in 2 rooms installed and/or put away and I'll be SO on the way to really accomplishing very long-term goals.

It's amazing how much my shoulders relaxed when I didn't have to turn sideways to walk by cabinets, to get to the kitchen, where I'd step over stuff I couldn't put away... yet. I actually sat at my kitchen table and had dinner. Nothing on it but overeager cats hoping for my entire dinner. Like I'd get up and walk away or something.

You'll do this. You have had enough! :)

Plumber friend coming "1st thing in the morning."

Oh man, I was all prepared to go on with a protracted whine but geesh Christine how can I whine when I see what you are having to deal with?...... Okay I will whine a bit anyway.

The first dream that I had to leave go was being tall and thin, not gonna happen, ever............. Does anyone know where I can find a used rack from the middle ages?

My biggest dream over the last ten years was to sell our home and buy one that fit our needs now and allow us to age in place. I have tried every trick in the book to get DH to agree but he is a stubborn Dutchman and there is no changing his mind even after I fell head over tin cups down our stairs. I even bought another house on my own that would be perfect for us to age in. It's a lovely one level brick home and just two blocks from my DD. Needless to say DH was not impressed! I am now renting it to our pastor's daughter and family.

Other than that dream I would have to say that I usually make my dreams happen as I am the type to take the bull by it's horns and get'er done!

LOL! Obviously you are. To even buy a 2nd home!?!

Well, the only thing they don't make more of is land, so this is a good thing even if you can't live in it.

I had to give up the tall and thin thing, too. I have 2, tall, naturally blonde sisters. I'm short, dark haired and often feel dumpy. The thing is, as much of a vampire I am around sun, my skin is great. According to the dermatologist, too! ;) They, from tanning incessantly, look 15 years old than I do. nah nah na NAH NAH.

Eating real dinner at the table helps restore some normality in the face of chaos. You have an amazing attitude. Also I can be reached at my screen name @gmail.com if you want/need the shop vac at some point. We used it to get the water out of our basement when the rains were really bad last fall so i know it works on water!

Thank you, lenzai. I took a dust pan that stands on end, so has a big dirt holding area. I tied it to a long-reach paint stick and scooped water out and into the dump sink. It's better.

My guys just left. A capped off line had frozen and popped its cap out. Of course, the weird 1970s wall board is soaked. I'm letting it freeze and will deal with it later. That stuff is stamped, "Do not ignite. Will smolder." It's what killed our cats and dog in a fire in 2005. So when it's warmer, I'll figure out how to cut that out.

I'm also going to pour some bleach down into the wood and under the floor. I won't worry about what's frozen, coming out of the front of the house. But again, when it's warmer, I'm going to put some Ecowood down on the wall plates and hopefully it'll follow the path of least resistance and soak into some of the wood under the floor. (Concrete slab/2x4s/plywood/Duroc/tile.) At least Ecowood will halt any rot that is probably happening.

Just thinking out loud.

Thanks for the encouragement, all!

Ohhhhh.... Christine. Started to comment on the OP, but then saw your post. Too far away to offer anything but hopes and wishes that this will pass super fast and cost you minimum dollars, but having read through your posts, I think you're blessed with an indefatigable spirit which is rarely handed out.

Oh, Christine! What a mess! I hope you are managing to get it all dealt with all right. You do always seem to have the ability to deal with it and move on. Not much really to do otherwise, but you don't wallow and that's admirable. Do take time for some wine and Reese's if you're feeling down! :)

Wow that's a real mess... is the water taken care of yet?

I just got back from a marathon trip helping take care of the last of everything for my brother. Getting there and back was an odeal by itsef. On the way there...

- (Not)flying out of here, they weren't able to get the engines started on the plane. Stupid regoinal jet problems. Since one or more of those are needed I'm stuck for about 9 hours until the next flight out of here that had room was available.

- I fly the first leg thinking all is right with the world and I'll just show up a few hours late. Nope... When I get there and turn my phone on I get a whole bunch of saved up text messages letting me know my connection is delayed, delayed a bunch more, then cancelled altogether because that regoinal jet does not work either.

- Customer service says I can get out on the first flight in the morning, or transfer to another airline at their cost. Now I'm on airline #2 and on my way to their hub. Eventually I arrive at my destination at about midnight.

While there we were able to take care of absolutely everything. No loose ends to tie up and mom is happy because his room is empty and things are out of the garage. Mission accomplished. But on the way back...

- Before leaving to the airport my flight was delayed, then delayed again and cancelled because the stupid regoinal jet did not work. This is yesterday so while I'm on the phone with customer service every time they tried another option the flight was cancelled due to weather while she was typing. Eventually we give up on travelling yesterday and I flew in today.

- Flight #1 today. "Uh, this is the captain and we're having a little problem starting the engines and the first start cart didn't work so we're going to go ahead and try another one." uh-oh... Luckily this time they were able to get them started and I made it back home without any trouble. I just unpacked and the cat loves the empty luggage.

Unobtainable dreams... these days it feels like the house the idiot roofers and their friends crushed will never be fixed. It's been six months of feeling like a hostage already.

Oh schicksal- it makes my heart hurt thinking of you and your brother.

Obviously none of us know the details surrounding it but since I know you are young, I can surmise that he was too and that his death was an unexpected shock to you and your parents.

It is, I'm sure, affecting you a lot more than you may let on. I hope you and your parents are able to find peace and get past the major stressors of handling things in the end, which it sounds like you've done this week.

schicksal - I've typed out and deleted so many sentences thinking of what to say - they just don't come out right. All I can say is that you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers for strength, grace and courage. God Bless.

Oh, MY! My heart goes out to both of you, Christine and schicksal, for going through such bad times right now. Sending you both good vibes.

My little list of unobtained dreams seems too trite to write. I'll just say that none of them have to do with the house. Some I'm working on but some, I fear, I'm probably too old to do so I'm working on making mental and emotional shifts in my thinking to replace those with other dreams. We can't do it all; we can only do what we can do and, even if we don't achieve them, we should still enjoy the process of striving toward them.

schicksal, just adding my hopes for eventual peace and healing for your family, as you deal with this loss. You are in my thoughts too.

So sorry for your loss Schicksal.

Thanks - we just crossed four months since it happened, not long after his 31st birthday. Parents are in grief counseling now, which is helping a lot. My dad is unable to do really anything at all (instead he occupies all of his time with other things) and a big part of mom moving on is to clear out everything that was in his room. That was what I focused on when I was over there; everything in there and all that was in the garage. Anyway, mission accomplished.

I'm beginning to worry about my parents though. They are not taking care of themselves and years of obesity-related problems are starting to catch up with them (difficulty getting up/moving around/sleeping).

Anyway the legal stuff regarding the house the roofers crushed part of is a huge bother too. Everyone says to make sure companies you hire are licensed/insured but it doesn't do much when their insurance and their supplier's insurance only point the finger at each other.