The Great Clean Up/Out

So... I'm on day 5 of The Great Clean Up/Out. The first three days were Absolutely Overwhelming... Discouraging... Exhausting.

Yukky.

No matter how many times I sang that familiar jingle - you know the one on TV ads where the insurance agent pops up to save the day - my "Good Neighbor" did not come through with anything helpful except the name of a reputable waterproofing company. Nothing covered on our homeowners, nothing covered on my business policy. Zip. Zilch. Nadda.

Oy.   :/  Say it with me... "That's just wrong!"

Needless to say the first things immediately out of the studio were my finished pieces. Then all of my fabrics. And then steadily everything else. The dehumidifiers have been running and we've had fresh air coming in. Tonight I have my computer set up in my "temporary office" (aka the living room) and come Monday I will be able to get back to work. Well, at least the interior design part. I jokingly told my husband that I might get used to looking up from my work and actually seeing out a window! :)  It may be a while before I get to sew anything except my hexis, unless I take over the dining room too. See, here's another good reason to always have a hand sewing project!

In the great scheme of things we were lucky. We were there when the water started coming in and we were able to keep it from becoming really, really bad. Even after we gave up out of sheer exhaustion, not much more came in. The laundry room took the worst hit and where it came in my studio, where it's carpeted, it was never deeper than a squish. I've seen basements with ankle deep water before. Nothing significant was damaged...well, the carpet and walls have to be ripped out, but I've never much liked that carpet anyway (it was here when we bought the house). Most all of my "stuff" survived unscathed. We were lucky. It could have been worse. At least it wasn't fire.

There's a long way to go to get everything back in order. All of my quilt related stuff is stacked in the spare bedroom. More stuff is stacked in the living room. Lots of stuff is taking a long-overdue one way trip to the landfill. Anything that doesn't need to be climate controlled is in the garage. And all of the stuff in the garage is being rearranged too, 'cause come Tuesday a week from now...

the jackhammers arrive.

We have to have the faulty French drain system ripped out and replaced. Oooh la la.

I just keep setting my sights on the way it will be when everything is put back. The great thing of a lifetime career in interior design is the ability to see things the way they can be, to look past the way the are.

Ah, potential...it's a beautiful thing.