2020: Basement Flooding & Outlets

We have a split-level house, and the basement is a large bedroom that Caelan and Corin share. I noticed that their carpet was rather soggy, and I assumed they had spilled something there. Eventually we realized the sewer line had backed up there and was flooding it. This was last May.

Glenn and Deven hauled everything out of the room, putting a lot of it in the garage. They ripped up all the carpet and baseboards (to save money on paying someone else to do it). A plumber cleared out the line, and we ordered a new laminate flooring from Lowe’s. Meanwhile the boys slept in the family room on the couch and floor for the next four months.

Lowe’s had bad luck with their contractor: First the guy was on vacation, then his truck broke down, then he quit and took his business in another direction. Lowe’s had to find a new flooring guy to contract with, so we didn’t get the new floor until September. We added a couple of area rugs and put everything back. Six months later, the room was back to smelling like Unwashed Teenage Boy.

Meanwhile I learned how to replace outlets. All the outlets downstairs had been driving me crazy since we moved it. Plugs just fell out unless you taped them in place. The computer was constantly losing power because of it until I got a battery backup. New outlets cost 58 cents apiece at Lowe’s, and I looked up how to replace them on YouTube. I replaced all the outlets in the family room, the girls’ bedroom, and the basement bedroom (while it was empty), about a dozen all together.

Graduation 2020 (Jaelyn)

Jaelyn was one of the lucky members of the class of 2020. The last quarter of school was all distance learning, and they had no graduation ceremony. Instead, the school first gave out lawn signs to the seniors that proclaimed “Hunter High Senior Class of 2020.” That was nice of them. Then they had a graduation “walk.”

There were several mobile stages set up in the front of the school. Everybody drove by in cars. When we got close to one of the stages, Jaelyn and I left the car while Glenn continued driving. They announced Jaelyn’s name over a microphone, the staff and teachers around clapped, and she walked up to a lectern with a big H in front and balloons behind, picked up a diploma cover from a stack lying there, and I took a bunch of pictures. Then Jaelyn went inside to turn in the cap and gown and get her real diploma. Honestly, this was much nicer than a long, boring graduation ceremony. They later had a ceremony posted online, but none of us bothered to watch it.

Jaelyn decided to get a job and save money and probably attend junior college. Her GPA was pretty decent, but she’s very worried about money. So she’s now working for Biohaven, where she mostly sorts pills (vitamins).