Today was a miserable day.  Hurricane Irene really kicked our butts.  Everything was fine and dandy until the power went out around 5 am.  The power outage shut down our pump and french drain causing all of the water from my flooded backyard to seep into my basement.  I was so upset to see that my basement was completely destroyed- carpet, couches, everything.  But I suppose it could have been worse.  Thankfully we are all safe and a big THANK YOU to my family and dear friends who came over to help me scoop all of the water out.  We still have a long way to go before my basement will be nice again.  One step at a time.  We still have no power and there is not much that can be done at the moment.  Hope those of you that were affected are safe and I send you my thoughts.