Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Flooded Basement AGAIN!

Unbelievable. We had freakishly warm weather yesterday. It broke records. In was in the upper 60's, in January, in Illinois. We were warmer in Chicagoland than Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Did I mention it's January? Anyway, the freakish weather brought lots of rain last night, and very violent weather traveling through the Midwest. There were a lot of tornado reports. Well, thank goodness we didn't have a threat from a tornado. We just had a bad thunderstorm. I'm pretty sure it rained all night. Sometime in the middle of the night, the sump pump stopped working. We didn't lose electricity. The sump pump broke. Couldn't have predicted that! Our basement has water in it. Again. We just did this. Unbelievable. My oldest daughter and I get up at 5 a.m. as usual, we let the dog out, and then I decided to check on the basement. I will usually do that when we've had as much rain as we had overnight. I open the door, turn on the lights, and a BIG swear word flies out of my mouth. I was just shocked. About an inch of water in the basement. I had to walk down there to see why, to see if it was in fact the sump pump. It was. Calling a plumber at 5 a.m. is an emergency call. You pay extra for that. A plumber (a VERY nice man, by the way) comes within the hour, installs the new sump pump, and it is now pumping away. I need to give it time to work, and then I have to go dry stuff off and see what I need to throw out. I just did this. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again. Plus, to top it all off, my husband is out of town on business. You know, misery loves company. I could use another person over here. Darn, I should have made the girls stay home from school just so I would have someone to listen to my complaints. Poor Princess, she's going to have to listen to it all today. (Believe me, I know that some water in the basement is a minor inconvenience, and it doesn't even compare to some of the horrendous weather problems / situations that others have had to deal with. I watched a lot of tornado coverage this morning on the news. I'm mildly complaining, and I do know that things could be much worse.)

Well, since I'm just waiting for the sump pump to do its thing, I'll at least post my welded Cricut images. Why not? I downloaded only the trial version. Because I have just the Cricut, I can use only George to try out the trial version.


I welded my name together, and then I welded the word "Love" and I welded a heart to that image. Pretty cool. This would be nice for scrapbook page titles. Instead of putting down individual letters, one welded strip could be put down on the page.


On these two, I welded together a bunch of circles, and then a bunch of flowers. Once again, pretty cool. The circles could be used as a scallop edge. The flowers could be used as a border on a page or a card.

Here, I just covered half of the circles to show you how it could be attached as a scallop edge. I do like this idea.

So, what did I think of the Design Studio? I like the idea, and I think it's something I would eventually purchase, but I won't get it for a while. I really don't have a need for it right now. I definitely think if you have the Expression, this would be an awesome tool to have. My other problem is that my computer and my Cricut are on two different levels of the house. My scrap area is upstairs, and my computer is downstairs in the family room. That won't be changing, so if I want to use Design Studio, I would have to move my Cricut downstairs every single time I wanted to use it. We'll see. Cool program, but probably not something I will be purchasing right away.

Thanks for stopping by! You know where I'll be. Yep, in the basement.

18 comments :

Andrea, said...

Sorry to hear about your flooding, hopefully it'll dry out really soon. I had a go with the Design Studio last night, well shall I say my hubby did as he hogged it all night! I put mine on my laptop as I craft upstairs in my bedroom. Looking forward to using it more over the next few days

Becky said...

That is horrible about the flooding. My parents house floods at least once a year, and when I lived at home, I of course lived IN THE BASEMENT, so I know how terrible it is! I'm sort of on the fence about the Design Studio, too. Our computer and my scrap room are on opposite ends of the house, so it is a pain. However I may dig out my laptop from college and download the trial on that. I was mighty tempted when I went to Walmart for groceries the other day and they had the Design Studio for $60! But it will have to wait! Good luck with the basement. :( Hope your day gets better!

Stamp n Sparkle said...

Sorry to hear about your basement :( BIG HUGS! I live in Seattle so we have a LOT of rain, if we have a HUGE amoutn where I live we end up being an island! It's cool if your husband happens to be stuck with you but not if he is on the other side! How frustrating for you more HUGS!
I have to say though you have inspired me with your pictures to dust off my cricut and make some of those flower chains...oh my they are cute! I hope I have that cartridge!

scrappermimi said...

Oh No! That stinks! Hope not too much damage was done.

On the up side, love your Cricut goodies!

mel m. m. mccarthy said...

YUCK! You poor Darlin' what a mess. Hope it dries out for you. Did you really weld these--as in the metal? Or is that I technique (I'm cuttlebug clueless) :0) Mel

Risa said...

I am so sorry to hear about your basement! We have to use a sump pump too and I pray that that baby is humming. All of my crafting stuff is located in the basement and I definately don't need the mess or the added expense of a plumber call!
I love the look of your welded letters. This technique is new to me and I think it is awesome.
malieta:)

michelle sturgeon said...

Ugh, what a horrible way to begin the new year.

Deb said...

Oh Carol, so sorry to hear of your flooding! Thankfully your craft area is not in your basement, think how much worse that would have been! It is typical that such things happen when the men are out of time, I always find that if anything is going to go wrong it will when my DH is out of town!

Unknown said...

WHAT A ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUM CAROL! YOUR SITUATION MAY NOT BE AS BAD AS OTHERS BUT YOU CAN WHINGE & VENT ALL YOU LIKE & WE WILL LISTEN EVERY TIME!!! YOU MAY NEED TO BUY PRINCESS A PAIR OF EAR MUFFS THOUGH...LMAO...I JUST POSTED A NEW LO OF OUR DOG SO I KNOW YOU WILL APPRECIATE IT,& YOU WILL GET A GIGGLE OUT OF IT AS WELL.BIG HUGS XXOO KRISTY

My Paper World said...

I'm so sorry to hear that, hope it dries up soon xx
The idea for the scallops is fantastic!

Alex said...

Oh, girl do I feel for you!! It is raining here AGAIN and we have lots of water issues with the new property! Your projects are great though - thanks for sharing! *STAMPIN HUGS* Alex

Kimberly Scott said...

oh dear. our basement flooded last month two weeks after we finished it...so i feel ya! good luck with all of that.

ps-love the blog>:)

xo,
kb

Alhambra Club said...

Sorry to hear about your basement but you are right there are a lot of people worse off. Love the welding, they turned out great. I will have to try this, have so many things I want to try and have no ambition. Take care and hope you dry out soon.

Alhambra Club said...

Sorry to hear about your basement but you are right there are a lot of people worse off. Love the welding, they turned out great. I will have to try this, have so many things I want to try and have no ambition. Take care and hope you dry out soon.

Marlou McAlees said...

oh Carol, what a rotten thing to happen to you!!! you poor thing, hope you are all ok though xxx hugzzz

Fe-Fe said...

Hope you're basement is all dried out now.

I love your welding with your Cricut. My hubby bought me me the Cricut CD for Christmas but my computer has gone kaput again and is in for fixing so I can't play. I'm desperate to have a go too. I'm hoping I'll get my computer back this week and then I'll be able to do some welding too! Love the scalloped edge you made! Very effective.

Clare said...

Sorry to hear that your basement flooded again, I hope you didn't lose too much stuff and the clear-up doesn't take you too long...

tomiannie said...

ACK! So sorry your basement flooded -- that's awful!