No Empty Chairs: January 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Todays Adventures....Progress

I'm happy to say we've been making progress. The water has finally stopped filling up the crawl space!!! I never thought I'd be so happy to have the ground freeze again!!! Everything is out, including the carpet which we are going to take to the dump:( After work, a bunch of guys came over to help assembly line and get everything out. I'm seriously so grateful to all of you guys who helped and for your wives for letting you spend hours over here after they've been gone all day. We had James Harrop, Chris Hansbrow, Dave Wetzel, Rock Permann, Robert Cunningham...

They came up with an amazing invention!!! If you ever flood do this tip...it saved our backs and time!! The pump we were using got the water down to about 2 inches. Then we got the shop vac out sucked up the water...when the shop vac was full which was like 30 seconds we would take the lid off the shop vac, stick the pump in the shop vac and pump the water out into the drain. I was awesome....it sure beat what we were doing before, filling up the shop vac, lifting it up taking it out and dumping it in the gutter. It was heavy and it took forever!! Way to use your heads guys!!

James Harrop (I wish I got a picture) got here first and got most of the stuff out, then he left and came back with pizza, breadsticks and soda for us for dinner. It was soooo thoughtful!! Words can't express our gratitude you guys!! Thanks so much!!!

As soon as the guys were done cleaning up, my Uncle Carl who is a plummer came and installed a sump pump. Hopefully that will fix the problem and we won't have anymore flooding problems. Even if it does flood, at least it will pump the water out fast!! I hope we never have to live through a mess like this again! Carl, Thank you so much for helping us!! You are amazing!!!!!

So now the crawl space is drying out, the pump is almost done. Today we will take the bottom part of the sheet rock down and continue letting it dry out. In the mean time I'm trying to go through all our stuff....I seriously need to get in the decluttering mood. Time to get back to work!! ***Bummer...yeah the insurance won't cover anything because it was water from outside.....if a pipe broke we would be in better shape cause it would be covered...no such luck!! All of us in the neighborhood are going to complain to the city and see if they can do something to prevent this in the future!! Wish us luck!!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Great Flood....:(

After Church today LeGrand called from the Bishop's office and told me that some of our neighbors crawl space flooded, and asked me to run and check ours. This is what I found.

We tried frantically to get everything out....We will be throwing away tons of stuff...Yeah I've been wanted to declutter and go through stuff lately, but this wasn't the way I had in mind. At first it only looked like the playroom side was wet...and it was really wet...there were about 5 inches of water on the floor, but now the storage side is filling up!!!!

We had so many helpers....and now we have a HUGE mess!!!

The water keeps getting deeper and deeper. It's coming through the cement. We had tons of snow, and then it got warmer and started raining and it's been raining for days....with all the snow melting all at once, the ground still frozen we have more water than we know what to do with.....AAAHHH I know we are supposed to pray for rain, and be grateful for it, but I just want it to stop!!!!! Our back yard in one big pond. (These pictures don't give it justice....it looks way worse in person!!)

Here is our little "Flood Club". Brayden, Adelyn and Sophie made it up. Brayden is the President, Adelyn is the Vice President, Sophie is the Secretary. We have already held several "club" meeting trying to figure out how we can fix the play room... (you like our cereal supply, Yea I do coupons and this is our stash in the crawl space...they were up on stuff so they didn't get wet, but we brought them up anyways.) What big helpers we have!!! Thanks kiddos!

Sad Story....it would be bad enough if this just happened to us....but it didn't...Our whole neighborhood is flooded...there are at least 15 families that got flooded.....and I'm sure there are more that we don't know about yet. I've never been in a disaster, but this is the nearest we've come. It was amazing to see our neighborhood and ward pull together....We have had tons of people run over to help, call on the phone. Thank you to everyone who came to help, Kevin, Brandon, Peter, Carl, Nick, you guys are amazing!!! I know it sounds dumb, but after we found out we were flooding I was feeling panicked and urgent to get it all done, then Brayden suggested that we say a prayer, we prayed as a family and then went back to work. I was thinking and praying in my heart and I just kept feeling like we need help. Moments later the phone rang and it was Kevin Cook calling to see if we were flooded, and to say he was on his way over and see if Lona Marie could watch the kids... I started balling after I got off the phone...In the midst of trials Heavenly Father still wraps his arms around you!! For that I'm eternally grateful!!

We are pumping out water, but we still have 2 inches on both sides now....tomorrow we will probably have to have the professional cleaners come and help so we don't get any mold...Ahhhhh Then we need to figure out what to do so that this won't ever happen again...I wish I could say that this was almost over...but I'm afraid we are far from being done.... it could be worse...at least it's just rain water instead of a busted sewer line.........yes it could be worse!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Slurping?!, Talk about Multi-Tasking!!!!!!

Ok, I used to be a huge scrapbooker. Infact I still love it, they are adorable, but I'm so behind and don't have any time. I've decided to get into digital scrapbooking...which now I just need to learn how to do and then do it....(but that's a different post)

A while back Kirsten and I were talking on the phone and we discovered something! It is a website called http://www.blurb.com/. Has anyone heard about it?
We can make blog books out of our blogs!!

This is what the website says:

Works with many blogging platforms – Supports LiveJournal and TypePad blogs.

Edit in real time – Allows you to customize and edit your book as little or as much as you like.

High quality – Our Hardcover, Dust Jacket, Hardcover, ImageWrap and Softcover books all feature professional bindings and coated, matte paper. Up to 440 pages accommodate thousands of blog posts.

Fast turnaround – Orders arrive on your doorstep in approximately 7 to 10 business days.

Automatic slurp action (watch the video) – Imports and maps blog text, images, comments, and links into professionally designed page layouts.

Affordable – Prices start at only $12.95 for a 40-page softcover, $22.95 for Hardcover, Dust Jacket and $24.95 for Hardcover, ImageWrap. The bookmaking software is free.

Flexible ordering – Order just one or many copies of your book. You have the option to place your book in Blurb’s bookstore for fans to purchase.

What I want to know from all of you is: Has anyone done this? Does anyone know other sites or is this the best for price? Do you have any tips for me? Have you liked the finished product? What size book did you do? Please leave a comment if you have any info.

If this is true, this changes scrapbooking. I no longer have to feel guilty about not scrapbooking every memory, every trip, every smile. I can scrapbook just the best of the best...the "I love yous" and "How special you are" pages and leave the everyday and weekend activities for the blog book. Go and check it out at http://www.blurb.com/. Click under blog books on the bottom and let me know what you think too.

We won't only be blogging now but creating family history journals in which we can print more than one copy for our kids in the future. What an awesome concept! I only have one more post to catch up on for 2008, then I'll be making our blog into a book, Our Laing Family 2008 Book. I'm so excited!!!! I'll let you know how it goes!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Time Flies

Time sure does fly!!! It's amazing to think that Kolby is already 1!! He sure grew up fast!!

Kolby's 1 year Stats

Weight: 22 lbs 6 oz

Height : 30 inches

Favorite things: Loves walking, running, sliding down the stairs on his tummy, playing peek a boo, feeding himself, clapping, picking things up and putting them in drawers, taking things out of drawers, playing in the toilet, taking baths, turning off the light switches with Mommy holding him, playing with his siblings (they ADORE him!!!!) dancing to music, cheering with his hands up over his head; just like he's signaling a touch down (so cute). Loves being with Mom and Dad, seriously he is totally in his element if he's cuddling right between us. He's climbing everywhere and getting into everything. He LOVES MAKING MESSES!! He has the cutest wave and says Bye, Hi, Mom and Dad. He signs more, milk, please....it's adorable!! And he even pretends to talk on the phone

Kolby, You have brought so much joy into our lives. You are such a sweet little guy. I know that Heavenly Father loves me because he sent you to our Family! It's hard to believe that you've only been in our family for 1 year, but then again time sure has flown!! We love you son!!!!