Oh, the Rains came down and the Floods Came UP!

Sheldon and I live in the basement of Sheldon's childhood home and this house is known for it's consistent flooding. We have had a couple since being married but this last month we had quite the doozy! By far, the worst one we have had! We suspect the sprinklers were the culprit and were left on for 12-18 hours! So the phrase, 'The rains came down and the floods came up,' is literally what actually happened. It was July 15, Sheldon got home from work at about 5 to find the sprinklers on and he turned them off. He texted me and told me to come home asap because we were flooded. The mauve room was flood central and water was even coming in through our front door from the stairs that lead into the house. Luckily, we have a drain in our entry hall so the water only comes in about two feet. The mauve room is where the floods always happen. We were only using that room as a storage room, because I thought it smelt like mildew from all the previous floods. No matter what I did to try and clean and remove the smell it was still there. After suctioning approx 20 gallons of water we decided to talk to granny and see if she was down with removing the carpet in that room, so when it floods again we are sopping up water from a cement floor and not drying the wet carpet. To our surprise she said YES! We rolled up the wet carpet and hauled it out onto the tennis court to let it dry. Even after removing the carpet we still had puddles of standing water and had to sop it up the rest of the night. 1:30 rolled around and Sheldon and I were just pooped. We went into the bedroom and Shel jokingly said, "Oh, No we are flooded out in our bedroom!" I nearly passed out think the water had traveled all the way down the side of the house and seeped up through our bedroom carpet....Sure enough, we were flooded in our bedroom. We moved some furniture pulled the carpet back and stomped around on towels for a bit. When we were both zombified and could do no more we pulled the fans into our room and started to dry our carpet. We figured they were useless in the mauve room because water was still seeping in from the wall and continued throughout the rest of the night. So we thought we would just let it completely dry out before doing anything else. We went to bed exhausted at 2:00 laying on blankets on the floor in our living room surrounded by furniture. The next morning we got up and started in the mauve room. We went to Lowe's and purchased some tools to help us with the clean up. We took out all the carpet tacks and scraped all the carpet glue from the cement. We swept it all out and wiped down the walls and floor with bleach. It already smelt and looked very nice. We wanted to cover the glue tracks on the floor so we found the cheapest white paint and painted the floor and baseboards. It is now truly converted into a utility and storage room. At Lowe's we found storage shelves on clearance and put everything in rubber maids. We are really pleased with how it has turned out. The best feature of that room is the NOAH 2000! Shel built this contraption that sits on the floor by the wall that floods, it has a 9 volt battery on a piece of cardboard with a clothes pin attached to a small alarm wired to the battery. In the clothes pin is a small piece of paper towel, when it gets wet the clothes pin will touch and set an alarm off to warn us when the floods are coming! Sheldon was quite proud of his contraption. We had a great time with our home improvement project and given the circumstances it was still fun to spend time together! Let's hope next time it is not a flood!

An Impression to Last a Lifetime

Last summer I had the opportunity to team teach Summer Technique for Jazz Attitude with my sister-in-law Ashley. We did this because Ashley and John were moving to London and Ashley would not be here to teach the following summer. As July approached this year I became very excited for summer technique, but became very nervous and anxious. I had GIGANTIC shoes to fill and did not want to fall short. Ashley is one of the most beautiful technicians, dancer, artist, and inspiring persons I have ever known. Because of this I felt very inadequate for the job. Thinking about what I was going to do for technique, I reflected on my experience in Jazz Attitude summer technique with Ashley and how I loved it! Ashley was a fantastic teacher, one of my all time favs, she had a huge impact on me as a wee little maturing dancer. I idolized Ashley completely. I thought everything she did (and does it has not changed) was totally cool and awesome. I wanted so much to emulate everything she did and wanted to become an accomplished dancer like she is. Ashley has such a vibrant passion for dance and when she was my teacher I drank in every bit of it. I wanted to emulate everything she did not only in the dance world but in the fashion world as well! Ashley always wore a Baby- G watch. When I think of Ashley in summer technique that is what comes to my mind, her tan sun-kissed skin and her Baby-G. I loved them, I always searched for a watch like it and could never find one. (I did not know at the time what the brand was) Every year, she had a different color. Pink, Turquoise, Aqua....I wanted one terribly but have never gotten or had one. I knew Ashley was not going to be here this summer physically but I did not want to do it alone. So, I got myself a Baby-G and this summer it served as a great memento to the great mentor, teacher, friend and now sister that I have had in my life. I have been very blessed to be taught and mentored by such an amazing woman, not only is she a beautiful and strong dancer but she is a beautiful and strong person. Ashley has taught me to become the best and has inspired me to be the best that I can be. I love her dearly and miss her everyday! Thank You Ashley for leaving an impression that will last a lifetime! Power to the Baby-G!