Tammi's World

Pay Attention

I was thinking back this morning and realized this is the first house I've lived in with a finished basement since I left home to go to college.

Oh, I've wanted one. I love that extra space. But all the places we lived in while I was married had "functional" basements, and well....in Florida they just don't have 'em.

So I can hardly wait to get the furniture down there and really USE that room.

Meanwhile, I don't have much reason to be down there. I go THROUGH it to get to the laundry room, but that's just usually a pretty fast pass.

Last night I had to go down to switch out phones. Yes...I had talked so long the battery on that handset was beeping, but I wasn't done yet, so I swapped 'em out. As I'm standing at the counter down in the kitchen area I realize the carpet is damp.

Shit.

My first thought was that the old fridge had died and I had lost all 27 quarts of corn. (I know, I'm kind of obsessed with that right now) No. It's all fine.

Then I look farther down the wall. And I see the dampness spreading. All down the wall and out into the family room itself.

Now, this wasn't flooding like Contagion had. Just.....damp. Didn't ruin the paneling on the wall. Just the carpet.

So, I got the wet vac out and went to work. I'll go back down today and do some more.

But what scares me the most? I didn't even think, with all that rain, to even check the basement. I KNEW there had been a problem with that, but it never even crossed my mind to look.

This whole "living in a real house" is a lot more complicated than I remember. I'm REALLY gonna need to start paying attention......

Posted by Tammi at August 8, 2007 07:15 AM | TrackBack