Well it's been awhile

Looking back, it's been an incredibly busy June and July!

June is always a hectic month with the kids finishing out school, final exams, sports banquets, end of year celebrations, soccer parties, gymnastics shows, band concerts, award ceremonies...you get the picture.

This year, the day after school ended, we packed up and headed to the NJ shore for a week of fun in the sun.  If only the water line to the fridge hadn't burst, it would have been a nice relaxing week.  Thankfully our good friends were texting, calling, and emailing us to let us know about the flood, figured out how to turn off water to the house, and spent hours making headway cleaning up ceiling tiles, and mess that resulted in our finished basement.  Hubby, aka my hero, zoomed 5 hours to get home and deal with cleanup, allowing us to stay at the beach.  If there is any lesson to be learned, "know where the shut-off valve to your fridge line is", and then before vacation shut it off!  We've added that to our vacation checklist, right next to washing machine shut-off valves :)  Also, make sure the folks watching your home know where the water line shut-off, and other utility shut-off points are.

lemonade from lemons

Remember my blog on March 31, Water Logged?  Well, we are trying to make lemonade out of the lemons of the flood.  After a small mourning and drying out period, we decided it was time to put things back together and the playroom will be updated and somewhat redesigned to become the rec room.  

So we began to look into different options for replacing the carpet, and were shocked at the eco-options available for carpet.  One brand by Mohawk is made of 100% recycled plastic bottles, and we saw it at Lowes, and it has very nice colors.  

The brand that we went with is available at both Lowes and Home Depot under different names, but it is the same company Beaulieu of America .  We ended up going with Lowes, and the carpet is Coronet, Healthy Home™ carpet.  We chose this company and this carpet because it is made from 100% recycled PET from plastic bottles AND it has Silver Release anti-bacterial protection that inhibits the growth of odor and stain causing bacteria, mold and mildew.  The molecular ions in silver, copper and/or zinc (also used in Silver Release) penetrate the membranes of microbes that come in contact with them when activated by humidity or moisture and destroy them. The process is completely natural and harmless but effective.    http://www.beaulieu-usa.com/pressrelease.cfm?release=66

To make Healthy Home, Beaulieu annually recycles approximately 1.6 billion plastic bottles diverted from landfills to make its P.E.T. continuous filament polyester fiber known as Earthguard Fiber Technology. Healthy Home, as well as all other Bliss carpets, also carries the Green Label certification for indoor air quality, and low emissions by the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) (look for an icon with "CRI" inside a small green house that verifies that the product has been tested).  http://www.carpet-rug.org/commercial-customers/green-building-and-the-environment/green-label-plus/index.cfm  The Green Label program has received approval from the American Lung Association in its Healthy Homes programs.

Water LOGGED...link to Global Warming?

For the first time in 16 years our basement flooded; our recreation room and multi-use room had over an inch of water, and that was with the 6 of us working for hours to keep it from rising.  We've already ripped out the carpet and felt padding, moved furniture and tried to save what we could.  I worry about what we can't see behind the walls...

There must be a reason for the phenomenal amounts of rain, other natural disasters, and changes in weather patterns being experienced worldwide...and I'd put money on it being Global Warming.  

I hope with pressure from insurance companies, homeowners, scientists, and environmentalist that  the government will finally listen and work to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming.  Considering the US is the largest contributor to the problem, we should also be the front runners in helping to FIX the problem, our Earth and future generations are depending on us!