One step forward, two steps back

We are probably the only ones who can tell, but we were actually making some progress on getting the basement cleaned out. Lots of stuff had gone to DI and the garbage and the room was starting to look a little roomier. When we moved some stuff away from the south wall a couple of months ago, we could see that there was water damage on that wall-probably a leaky drain pipe. We figured we would just fix that up when we did the remodel on the room some day.

Last week when I was working in the fruit room I found some termites feeding on the soggy corner of a box that had a leaky container in it. That is the same wall that has the water damage. Termites love moisture, so they are probably in that wall, too. It has been almost seven years to the day since we had the house treated for termites; lucky us- we get to do it again.

So now, every room in the basement has a three foot clearance around the outside walls with all the furniture, boxes, etc. piled in the middle of each room. What a mess. Tomorrow the termite guy comes to do the entire inside and outside perimeter of the house and garage, plus the gap in the cement under the downstairs bathtub. (which means the Christmas closet has to be emptied out before he comes tomorrow.

Since things are going to be a mess, I had two companies come to do estimates on fixing that wall (again!) and fixing the damaged wall at the bottom of the stairs. If it isn't too expensive to do now, we can just leave everything in the family room pulled out of the way. Now if only I could find someone to come and tear out that fireplace at the same time I could get all the mess and dust done at once.

I had been thinking about how inconvenient this all will be, and of course, we are heading into winter so the house will be closed up and stuffy and smell like construction, and greenhouse sales will probably start before the job is done, etc., etc., etc.

Then I realized that this is probably just the nudge (more like a full-on shove off a cliff) I need to throw out more stuff and repack the things I'm not ready to throw out and really reclaim that room. The only thing I refuse to do is pick out new carpet. Dad will have to do that.

If I can just buckle down and get my Christmas sewing done, I have a pretty good shot at having that room decent again three or four weeks from now.