Hello

Hello.  Is it me you're looking for? I love that song by Lionel Ritchie.  It's from an old (now) movie called Tootsie, which starred Dustin Hoffman.  It's about a man who thinks he's satisfied with the life he has and discovers that he wants more.  If you can find it, it's worth watching.

Anyhoo, I haven't posted for awhile because I've been totally preoccupied with the repairs that must be done to my basement, due to water coming in through the chimney stack.  Lining up people who do specific work and getting it done in the right order is time consuming. My life has been on hold for a month, but, I am hopeful that the repairs will get started on Monday. 

Everything in the basement must be brought upstairs.  You don't know how much 'stuff' you have until you try to move it to another place, either another house or to another part of your current home.  I was planning on moving to a smaller place this year (which is  on hold--can't put the house up for sale now), so some things have been given to family members, but it's the junk one accumulates that takes so much time to sort out.

On a lighter note, I do not have pics of the guys who will do the work, but I will try to get some and post them, so we can all salivate a little. ;)
.P.S. LOL  On reading this post on Tuesday I realized that I had typed "Dusting Hoffman".   A Freudian Slip? I guess cleaning up the mess that is my house was on my mind.

I'm Baaaaack!

I haven't posted for a little while...here's why.
Isn't this a cozy picture?  I wish I could do that in my comfy rocking chair in front of a cozy fire.  But for now, I can only hope to do that. Some of my friends know about my battle with the element of water.  We do need water, but NOT pooling on the basement floor! 
Short story is that  a week ago, last Monday, I started my day by discovering that water is leaking into my basement through a breech around the stainless steel chimney that connects to my fireplace.  All the rain we've been  having in great lots all at once over the last 2 years, especially in winter, has worked its way through the stack join in the wall.
So, goodbye to beautiful laminate floor, goodbye to pine panelling, goodbye to using the fireplace.  Hello to finding out that I can take charge of the problem in a calm, business like manner. I made a few calls, talked to some nice people and got the ball rolling.
In the process of getting the problem taken care of,  I have met some really great guys. At my age I do not have many chances to interact with handsome, virile men, so there is an upside to having a leak.(insert smirk here ) 
So, using a water related cliche.....Every cloud has a silver lining.  (he, he, I kept typing clown for cloud)