Happy Halloween

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Bored

I hate feeling stuck. We can't finish cleaning the odds and ends left in the basement, until the basement backroom is cleared. We can't clear the backroom until the new carpet is put down. Which will not be at least for two more weeks. I had begun some framing projects before the flood which are all trapped behind shelves, tables, and chairs in the beackroom. So, in short, I can't accomplish any projects I set out to do ebfore the incident.
So, we decided we had to cancel our Halloween Party set for this Saturday. I am bummed because we are big Halloween people, but it seemed bad timing to try to still do the party. A lot of people were looking forward to coming out, but most of our friends have already seen the house-so a few more weeks for a housewarming won't be so bad. We will reschedule soon.

The Flood

Isn't it funny that when you think you just about have your house organized, something pops up to remind you that things are never done. Our three month old, brand new, finished basement flooded. Warning, long story.
This past Saturday I awoke around 9am to a strange smell. I could not figure out what it was, so I got up and went downstairs to find the hubby. He worked the day before and usually will sleep on the couch or go down to the basement when he gets home at 6am. I followed the smell down to the basement where my husband lay in slumber...how I have no idea because the smell was awful. I rounded the corner and saw water everywhere, completely soaked into the carpet and about an inch high.
I started screaming for the boy to get up, and ran to our finished bathroom, where I found water coming up from the shower drain. How I had no idea at the time. The hubby woke up groggy and ran to shut off the water, which did nothing. We started moving things out of the way of the water and began throwing water out the back door.
It was about 20 minutes into this that we both realized this was raw sewage and not a random overflow. We called the Sanitation committee, the developer, a plumber, and our insurance company. The plumber got there first and took us out to the street where we found an overflowing sewer, backed up to the rim.

By then, the water had stopped-which the plumber kindly told us was because people had finished their morning showers and toilet duties, ha, ha, ha.
Someone from sanitation showed up and found that someone, probably a contractor for the building in our community had closed something they should not have-causing the backup. Since we are the lowest point on our street, we got the run-off. ( We found out later our neighbors basement flooded as well.)
So, that evening Service Master came out to steam the basement and rip up our new carpet. It pained me to watch. They have to scrub everything and steam anyting that got touched by the water. They did a great job.
At about 10pm that night was finally rested. At this point, all we could do was laugh. Any intial anger or frustration was gone, and we fonldy have been telling people about our"poopy basement." Our insurance is paying for everything and will be going after the guilty party, whomever is responsible for the backup. Plus, we get a new carpet, which is kind of nice since the intial move in added some dirt marks.
The only regrets are I had just finished the basement-furnishing, pictures hung, shelves organzied, dvd's and cd's alphabetized (yep, I am a dork) and bar stocked. But, things happen and it is a funny story.

The Move

I sat here the other day and though about the craziness of our move...and then thought I would send a shout out to all those who helped.

A special thanks to our dear freinds the B family for letting us crash in their home for three months. Although it felt like camp most of the time, we know it must have been hard to have houseguests for an extended amount of time...so love to them.

My mom, of course, for letting us stash what would not fit into the storage units at her house.

The hubby's brother and dad for helping with the heavy stuff that I gave up on during the move to the storage unit...hee, hee. Jeremy for his efforts in a pre-moving day event...your car was most helpful. Jenn for organzing my kitchen, because it was the one thing I did not want to do. All the folks who came out to visit the house while it was under construction, that one was just for fun-but thanks all the same.

And all those who came out on moving day. It meant so much to us that so many friends supported us and the wieght of all our belongings that day. Had it not been for the 15 people here that day, we would have never been able to get in the house in a record 2 hours...THANK YOU!!! Especially, to all those strong firefighters, who lifted the heavy stuff. And thanks to the hubby's parents for supplying food that day. Nicole and Fred for keeping us laughing when we thought we did not have a moving truck..ha, ha. A special thanks to Big Hoss Bloss, for her trucker skills...long story.

The House

I thought I would post some pics from the new house. We have been here since July and I think we are just getting used to living here. We used to live in Centreville, Virginia-but are about 15 minutes further out now in Aldie, at the edge of civilization. It is crazy what a few miles can do. We are amazed by how quiet it is here and how at night we can see all the stars without the lights from local stores drowning them out. It is, also, beautiful to see the mountains as we drive down our main road to our house.

The hubby and I find it humurous that 20 years ago Centreville looked the way our new neighborhood looks now. We can remember when Braddock Road ended at our community, Little Rocky Run. Since we both lived in C'ville the better part of our lives, we are having a great time exploring our surroundings and finding new routes to take to get places. And, just like 20 years ago every new road built or widened, every new shopping center and every new restaurant is exciting. This is the end of the road...

Welcome

We have created a family blog as a way for friends and family to keep up with us, since our schedules tend to get hectic and because we have so many loved ones scattered around now. Mitch and I plan on sharing the duty of keeping this blog updated...

A little about us(for those who don't know)
Mitch and I met in high school and have been together ever since. I teach in Reston, Virginia as a Kindergarten teacher. Mitch left the hum drum of the daily desk job and became a firefighter in 2006
We recently got married in 2005. We just celebrated our second anniversary. Here is a picture of us before we left to enjoy a yummy anniversary dinner at the Bavarian Chef.

We had planned on going on another trip together for our anniversary...the previous year we spent an amazing week in Mexico on the Mayan Riviera. (Favorite picture from our trip below. )

But, we splurged last February and decided to build a house. We just moved in this summer.

So, like I said before-this will just be about the crazy things we think day to day, the crazy mishaps and blessings in our lives, and random sharing from yours truly.

WELCOME!