One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It all began rather innocently and simply with a carton of ice cream. Thursday evening, DH commented that the ice cream was a bit soft in the chest freezer in the garage. All summer long, it has been bothering me that the freezer needed to be defrosted. It just was TOO HOT, to get the job done. Friday, DH had the day off from work (He does flex time and has every other Friday off from work) So I said, "Let's defrost the freezer tomorrow morning. It should be cool." So that is what we did.

I absolutely refused to take "REAL" photos of the mess in our freezer, but you get the Picture:) Lots of things were past the "safe to eat" date so we filled our garbage can. We were on a roll, so we also cleaned the refrigerator in the garage and the refrigerator in the house. (very Cajun; always lots of food in the pantry, refrigerators and freezer) It definitely takes retirement to tackle that kind of job:) Everything was ok until Saturday at noon.


You already know that I visited Intown Quilters Saturday morning. On my way home, I had a call from DH to get home fast, there was water all over the kitchen floor. I went straight home.  He was mopping water off the hardwood floor on the first floor. I grabbed the shop vac and began in the basement :) Yes, the water and leaked through to the next floor.


A call was placed to our homeowners insurance company. They sent out the water rescue squad. From Monday until Tuesday morning, the fans and dehumidifiers have been blowing in the kitchen and basement.

My washer and dryer (I do laundry and latrines) were in the middle of the kitchen. 

The laminate in the laundry area was ripped up.

The fans kept circulating air and stirring up dust and other junk. AAACHOO!

The basement had equipment, too.

The air conditioning ducts were soaked and the flooring in the finished part of the basement was covered in water.

Gratefully, our insurance company and the water rescue company have been fabulous. I've spent most of the past two days meeting with adjusters, plumbers, etc. The water leak was from our refrigerator (our very clean refrigerator). See if I clean a refrigerator any time soon:)

Some of the  hardwood floors on the first floor need to be replaced. All the hardwoods have to be sanded and refinished. The basement flooring has to be replaced. The air ducts need new insulation. It's been an interesting couple of days:)

It looks like I will need to make some decisions about stain for the hardwoods and other ways to update our home. Anyone have any suggestions on what looks new? Any blogs I should read? Most everything is back to normal today. The washer and dryer are rocking and rolling, but we still need to do the repairs:) One step forward, two steps back......