Water, Water Everywhere

I went down to throw in some laundry today and spotted something dark over in the corner. Pulling away some boxes and my, umm, giant R2-D2 I discovered this:

It did rain over 2" in an hour last night so that is the cause but the only other time we have had water in the basement over the years was because someone forgot to put the tarp against the house while they were power spraying it. The confusing part about this is this wall is behind the porch, meaning it has no real exterior contact and the worst part is another storm is coming in as I type. My little dehumidifier is frantically working away down there. I tried cleaning and clearing the nearest  downspout to see if that helps but even if that was the cause, the water should drain well away from this spot. Who knows! Luckily? the only cardboard box to get wet was one which I discovered I hadn't unpacked since we moved with nothing water damageable and the rest were plastic tubs.

 

Switch to the non-angering portion of the post: a goofy salt and pepper shaker set!

 

Oh, I guess the scale is not obvious in this picture but those are standard sized salt and pepper shakers (my definition of standard is what Burger King has on their tables) on  14" handles. For grillin'? That would be my guess.

 

It's hard to get out with the little one but I did manage to sneak out to a couple of church sales before work which is were I found these and some pink pyrex.

 

I'm trying to limit myself to older Pyrex this summer. I say that now but I already had a new piece of Butterfly Gold sneak into my collection. *sigh* and then I wonder why I have to move 19 boxes when I spot some moisture in the basement! (OK, it really was only 6 plus R2).

 

 

 

 

One Troll Bikini Away From Being Crazy

I was going to give my trolls some love on the blog this past week and then I saw this was on "My Crazy Obsession"

 



 

I had my mom record it since I am too cheap and don't have time for cable. 

 

I think the only difference between us is I don't buy trolls online and I never have worn a troll bikini. I do have clothing with trolls and I'm pretty sure my husband has opened  the freezer door to find a troll chillin'. In my defense, I was told at some point if you find one of those little bugs in mohair you can't wash it so putting it in the freezer for a day or two will kill the bugs and eggs. They are not permanent residents.  

The best part is towards the end when she is trying to convince her husband for troll space in the basement. hehe, so funny.

 

Here is what I had hung up a few days before this aired:

 

 

I bought a whole box of these posters for $1 sometime in the early 90's after the craze ended. I recently found a stack of poster frames for free and one happened to fit so up it went in the troll room, er, the office.

 

I need to reorganize my shelves and there are little shelves and trolls all over this room so they are not just contained to this wall.

 

And yes, I do have my trolls catalogued with descriptions and where I got them. I started when I was 9 so I'm on top of that part of the crazy. I don't have photos. Maybe I should start?

Welcome back termites?

This is what I've been dealing with the past week.

Fresh termite debris! Ugh! Luckily I've only found fresh damage in the crappy plywood previous owners used to close in the porch. I also haven't caught site of any termites. I figured we weren't under warranty anymore since we had it treated right away when we moved in plus it was just someone our realtor set us up with. I got an estimate for almost $1000 and decided to dig deeper and find who we originally had do it - even if the termites did return. They told me I could "renew my warranty" through this year and they would inspect and treat the affected areas. mm, OK, that is way cheaper so I'll give them a second chance.

I've also been trying to fix? the yard as it did not fair well with the drought last year. I've noticed the areas which suffered used to be under the shade of trees (which were most of the way gone when we got here).

All of my hard work and this is now what it looks like:

Well, the lighting makes it look better anyways. What you can't tell is that I leveled out the tree stump holes and there is grass seed. Maybe. I spread it, covered it with a little dirt and wet it down thinking it was going to rain in a few hours. It did eventually rain but I woke up to 30 mph winds prior to the rain. The next morning I saw birds pecking away. I guess we'll see.