We arrived home on Sunday from our trip, and we have been packing our house ever since. The drive back was pretty uneventful, but the boys did continue their fixation with the movie Cars. I think we watched it at least 5 times on the drive home, not to mention the 7-8 times we watched it in Florida. On the upside, we have yet to watch it since we got back home. Other than that, we stayed safe and made good time on the interstate. When we walked into our house, things really got interesting. For one, we are used to coming home to a clean house because we always make sure things are in order before we leave. When we left for this trip, we were in a hurry and had boxes stacked everywhere. I wouldn't say the house was a complete disaster, but it was quite cluttered with boxes and items waiting to be packed. We had a hard time finding a place to put our bags and other things from the trip. I had turned off the AC while we were gone because the temperature had not been all that hot before we left. It was still relatively cool when we came back but the house was very stuffy and humid. I also detected a slight musty smell. That's when I discovered the major surprise ...

When I went into the basement (which is VERY unfinished) everything looked fine. But I noticed that some trash cans were toppled over and there was an abnormal amount of debris in the drain in the floor. Well, after some investigating it was clear the basement had flooded while were gone. I have no idea how much water was in there, but I am thinking between 2-3 inches, at least. Everything that was on the floor was obviously ruined or completely soaked. Thankfully, it had flooded (just a slight trickle) right before we left and we had moved most of the stuff upstairs. We had to discard a few items, but most of the stuff was saved. Anyway, it was at this time that I realized how done I am with basements. Don't get me wrong, if the basement is sealed up and taken care of, like my parent's and sister's house, it is a great thing. I loved my basement in my house in Casper. But this basement has been a real headache for us. Besides the fact that it looks like a 18th Century dungeon and has almost no lighting, it is dirty and cold, leaks water and smells like an old storm cellar. I can't wait until we have moved everything out of there and can close the door for good.

We also came home to an AC unit that wasn't working. So, in the midst of dealing with the basement crisis, the upstairs felt like a sauna. I was able to call the AC guy who works for our landlord, and he fixed it right away. Apparently it was an easy fix because we had a cool house again by Monday night. Even so, it was one more thing to think about and keep us from doing the packing we needed to do.

Despite the setbacks, the packing and planning for the move is going well. My parents show up today to help with the final details, then we all depart for Fort Worth on Saturday morning. Thankfully, we feel rested from our vacation in Florida, and we have actually been sleeping better since we got home. You know how it is with toddlers and their sleep patterns when they travel. I have actually found some time to write this before the rest of the family is awake, which couldn't have happened on our trip. So, the next time I update this blog it will be from Texas. In the meantime, I have some more boxes to pack.