Thank you, Global Warming, for raining down 190 billion gallons of water on the Chicagoland area, backing up all the sewer systems, and flooding our basement for the first time in decades.
Saturday we had a Yard Sale planned. So Friday we took all the stuff we DIDN’T want, and put it in the upstairs living room so we could haul it out early in the AM on Saturday morning. All the stuff we DID want – you know, like our furniture, the kids favorite toys, the expensive ceramic heater, etc – all stayed in the finished basement.
At 8:00 am, the Hyphenated Husband woke me up screaming “WE’VE GOT WATER! THE BASEMENT IS FLOODED!!!”
I run downstairs with nary an item of clothing on, with slept-in-contact lenses blurring my vision, just in time to catch my husband barreling past me with his arms full of our guitars. The next thing he grabbed were the amplifiers. Funny where our priorities are even four years after we stopped being musicians.
I couldn’t do anything but stand there in shock. All I could do was stare at the water and hold my hands over my mouth. Instead of looking at my basement floor, I’m looking at half a foot of watery sewage. I rushed to get clothes on, but instead I paced in circles because I couldn’t concentrate long enough to remember where I keep my underwear. Then I dialed my dad’s number and bawled while I asked him to come help us do something… anything.
As if the sewer water wasn't bad enough, that's also the litter box freely floating in that sludge water.
Not really knowing what else to do exactly, I posted a desperate message on Facebook. Then I cried a little. Then my husband held me and said it was all gonna be okay. Somehow I found some clothes and threw those on. Then we called the landlord.
The landlord tells us to get a pump to get the water out, and that his insurance won’t cover anything. We call State Farm to find out if our renter’s insurance covers anything, but it won’t cover floods either. Everything on that floor is gone forever, with no way to replace it. Our $1000 entertainment center that we just finished paying off is trashed. The couches are gone. Electronics are done for.
Notice the keyboard submerged in water. Yeah - that doesn't work anymore.
We called to get a pump but there were none available in the area. Everyone was having the same problem we were, so they put us on a wait-list for one. In the meantime, all we could do was wait, so we decided to run and look at some new apartments. Our lease is up in August anyway, and I took this as a sign from the universe that it is time to downsize. When we moved into this house three years ago I was making nearly $50,000 a year. I left that job last fall, and I do NOT make that kind of money any more. Financially speaking, living here is just stupid anyway.
By the time we came home from apartment shopping, the water was pumped out, but left was a layer of sewage and debris. Awesome. I started cleaning up that night, and then Sunday, while I held the Yard Sale, HH and my dad pulled everything out of the basement and threw it all away.
So now… I don’t know what. All we can do is recover. Our neighbors got four FEET of water, so I should be thanking my lucky stars that it didn’t turn out any worse for us. The timing on this is as terrible as it could possibly be, as I explained last week, but is there EVER really a good time for this? I’m trying not to whine. Trying to remember that Americans have lost everything, including their lives, in some recent floods, so by comparison we got off scott-free.
I also have the benefit of knowing some amazing Mama-owned businesses who bought up a little advertising on my blog to help us recover from this small disaster. Thank you to MamaPear Designs, THING-A-MA-SLING, and Support for Special Needs for jumping in and helping a mother out. If that isn’t a good enough reason to support their businesses, then I don’t know what is.
If you or your business need some advertising, now is the time. I’m putting all ad placements on sale this week, BOGOF. Buy 1 month get one month free OR buy 3 months get 3 months free! That’s an awesome deal. I’m very nice to the businesses who advertise on my blog, and advertising (right now especially) is a really nice thing to do for me. See how that works out well for everyone? 
Ughgh. Floods. YOU SUCK.
Amen. Floods do suck. While my husband and I were still dating, we finally took the plunge and got an apartment together. Moved in and then went on a vacation to visit my family. While we were gone, it rained. And rained some more. No big deal, though, right? Our little townhouse had no basement; we were fine. Until we started unpacking when we got back. The downstairs bedroom had gotten water in through the floor! Clothes, toys, my daughter's old carseat/stroller travel system, her old bouncer, photos... mold. We complained to the apartment complex who told us they'd "do some repairs," which equated to pushing some dirt around outside to "help reroute the water." REALLY? That's it???
Needless to say, we started looking at houses and got out. Thankfully, the apartment complex was "nice" enough to not penalize us for breaking our lease and moving out early. And then they were "nice" enough to give us half of our deposit back. Imagine how irritated we were when my husband and I found out we were pregnant only 8 months later- and were now going to have to replace all of our lost baby stuff.
Thanks floods- you sure are awesome... :)
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