We're still alive here...

...just in case you were wondering.  Just a few days ago my doctor even assured me he expects us to stay that way.  I have not (intentionally) abandoned blogging; I even have a few partially written posts waiting.  2012 has just been a bit of a challenge so far. 

The overriding factor in life has been the plague we have been dealing with since New Year's.  Then there was the loss of our beloved 15 year old cat.  Intermixed with all of this, my house has seemed to be on a self destruct mission lately. 

First there was the washing machine.  That was followed closely by our heater.  We had the important parts of our central air and heat replaced a few months back.  It all seemed to be working hunky dory, until about a month ago, when every time it dipped towards freezing, the heat would kick out.  After numerous attempts, they finally got the problem traced out and fixed.  (All under warranty, YAY!)  It was a bit chilly around here for awhile though. 

On the upside, I have been doing a lot of reorganizing lately.  When my daughter moved into her own place last month, I was left with a whole new room at my disposal, plus a significant amount of extra space in various part of the house, as she took all of her belongings with her.  Her former bedroom/now the den is a fairly small room, but it has an entire wall of built-in shelves.  I have been having a ball loading them up with books that have been living in boxes and such.  I have also been rather inordinately excited about having a Whole! Extra! Closet!  I put a set of shelves in it and have been moving loads of things (primarily craft stuff) (and books) out of my way too full bedroom.  I was making so much progress!  (In between all the coughing, wheezing, and medicine taking)  I was starting to really whip things into shape and organize things in a muuuuch more efficient manner.  Oh happy day!

Then - cue dramatic music - Monday night, a week ago, we noticed a wet spot on the carpet in my bedroom.  A really wet spot.  Tracing it out, it was coming from my closet.  My very full, lots of stuff stored in there, closet.  My, oh crap, there are things stored in there in cardboard boxes!!! closet.  Oh yay, the dining room on the other side of the wall is wet too.  Oh the joys of living in an almost 50 year old house!  Our plumber has a website, so I went and filled out a service request, while my son pulled stuff out of the closet, turned fans on blowing at it, and started wet vaccing. 

To make a very long story a little less long, in tracing out the problem, they found multiple issues.  They got the major leak capped off, but we ended up having to have my bathroom shower torn out.  The tile people have done the tear down and replaced some wood and the plumbers will come back on Monday to do the rest of the plumbing repairs.  Then the tile people will come retile it.  Then some sheetrock will have to be replaced.  And painted.  The insurance guy came out and checked it all out and they are covering a significant amount of it, including replacing my carpet!  (Yay!!!)

I had felt like I was making so much progress on organization and that things were looking soooo much better around my house before all of this happened.  Now there are various boxes and strange things sitting all around the house that have been moved from my closet and bedroom.  Then there is the layer of construction dust.  Lovely.  When it is all over though, I will have new carpet and a refurbished shower, so there is a net win.

So, what have you been up to lately?