This has been such a painfully slow process. Waiting on bids from demo companies and getting permits to get the dumpsters there and whatever else needs to happen before it all really starts to happen. Now we find out that the movement of the demo'd house may be an issue as we move from frost leaving the ground and the area becoming mush. Ugh, that spring mush is so horrible. I hate just walking on the grass when the ground starts to warm. It won't prevent the demo, but it will slow the removal down because the dumpsters can't be too heavy for the roads. Even the ground under the pavement gets mushy. What crazy things we are learning.
In the meantime, life is becoming what would be considered as normal. Except for those days that I find myself completely fall apart. Luckily that doesn't happen very often. I am pretty sure what triggered a recent crash was after spending a fantastic weekend on my own, while Tom and Kyle went to get my father's car from Florida. I accomplished so many things over the weekend, hung out with friends, Paraded some houses with a bestie, ate awesome meals where and when I wanted (ie the couch at 9 pm) and purchased fun things to continue to make the townhouse our home.
I was convinced that my tulip bed would be starting to peek out and swung by the house Sunday late afternoon with new garden tools in hand. I realized as I was driving there that I hadn't been in weeks and was feeling anxious. Sadly there was still about 4" of snow on my flower beds, but I'm ready with potting soil and planter boxes when the snow melts away and allows those flower buds to begin to peek out.
While there I walked around and was shook by seeing the house. I even caught myself looking in through a window and feeling like I would have seen one of the kitties in the house looking out at me wondering why I was outside. Not like ghost kitty, just one of those moments that you remember about how they would sit there silently meowing at me because I was outside and they weren't. That in itself didn't make me emotional, it just nicked at my heart.
The next day Tom and I sat down to cross reference the receipts we've been racking up against the paper copy of all the things that have been itemized in our loss list. That task was impossible for me. I felt like I was accomplishing nothing, treading water swirling in an eddy. I know how to do that kind of stuff. I get it. But it was unbearable. Gloves, we bought gloves... where are the gloves on the list... what is their number? Cross reference the list of all the things, so many things. Lost. Gone.
The simple question "how are you?" or "how are you doing?" It has such a different meaning to me now. That was brought to my attention not too long ago by a friend that lost a parent. It rings so tru for me now too. We don't really ask that question expecting much more than the answer "fine". But when things aren't fine how do you answer the question. I would never want anyone to not ask, but I need to be prepared with how to answer, to share how I truly am without burdening the casual question but also how to share with those that really want to know.
The painful list has been downloaded digitally, so the process will become easier. Luckily there is not a timeline for that and it's OK to take evenings off and just enjoy time to relax. This next week can't go by fast enough. We've been told that demo should start next Thursday...8 days and counting. If all goes well.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Monday, March 5, 2018
Stil waiting mode... not so patiently
I can't believe 10 days have flown by since I last posted and that we moved into the townhouse. We've really settled in and done our best to make it a home. We continue to do so, with a few plants in a window display and a freezer full of Schwan's delivery thanks to our amazing delivery guy. We are outside of his area, but he's figured a gap in his schedule to make sure he doesn't lose us as a customer for a year.
It drives me crazy that the house is just sitting there being all burned and destroyed and with snow or rain in it. Even though there is nothing else we could want to take out it just seem miserable that it's wide open to the elements. Thankfully we are meeting with the contractor tomorrow afternoon and I'm hoping the demo will be coming soon. I'm sure there are permits required, but dumpsters need to start showing up and emptying it out! Can you even imagine what that fridge will be like! Yes, it's going to the dump, but GROSS! Thankfully it's cold so the place doesn't stink.
Work is going well. I'm close to being caught up on data entry and pulling acknowledgement letters. Some stragglers haunt me, but I'll get them under control soon. The staff at the zoo could not be more amazing with making sure we are settled into our home. It's crazy things like a bread pan! A bread pan showed up today in the hands of a lovely woman that I've gotten to know even better because I joined a group of folks I knew well enough to say hi to for lunch last week and now my circle of friends has expanded even more.
The mail is amazing too, when we make it to the PO Box. We've yet had anything delivered to us at the townhouse. Blake's support system has reached out to make sure he doesn't feel the stress of worrying about his family by sending us cards and care packages. It makes us feel so good to know that he has people where his that are just as caring as the support systems we have here.
I've just about mastered getting the Scrip cards ordered as I'm checking out to a science. There is no point in us spending money to replace the things we need to move forward without it benefitting someone. We are setting up an office space in one of the bedrooms to get all our paperwork organized and start a dream station. Since we are in a rental I hesitate to put bulletin boards on the wall, so we've pushed a sheet of plywood behind the desk, taped cork board up on it and with a handful of pushpins we are armed and dangerous.
We went through about a dozen homes with the Parade of Homes this past weekend and are starting to see things that we can dream about, like a stove top separate from the double oven, and somethings that we are truly amazed why anyone would do "that"! I'm sorry but a laundry room on the far end of the master bathroom!!! Um, NO!
Some things we've learned... Property taxes need to still be paid. With the fire report, proving the date that we lost the ability to occupy the house and then when we are allowed to move back in we will be given a declaration of occupancy we will get reimbursed for those months of property tax. That is a bummer, but it is what it is.
The adjuster authorized a preliminary check to be cut and I about freaked when I opened that envelope. The check was made out to us and the mortgage company, so we sent it off to be held in escrow to be available distributed as the house gets torn down and built up. I'm ready for that step to start. I want my neighborhood to see something start happening.
It drives me crazy that the house is just sitting there being all burned and destroyed and with snow or rain in it. Even though there is nothing else we could want to take out it just seem miserable that it's wide open to the elements. Thankfully we are meeting with the contractor tomorrow afternoon and I'm hoping the demo will be coming soon. I'm sure there are permits required, but dumpsters need to start showing up and emptying it out! Can you even imagine what that fridge will be like! Yes, it's going to the dump, but GROSS! Thankfully it's cold so the place doesn't stink.
Work is going well. I'm close to being caught up on data entry and pulling acknowledgement letters. Some stragglers haunt me, but I'll get them under control soon. The staff at the zoo could not be more amazing with making sure we are settled into our home. It's crazy things like a bread pan! A bread pan showed up today in the hands of a lovely woman that I've gotten to know even better because I joined a group of folks I knew well enough to say hi to for lunch last week and now my circle of friends has expanded even more.
The mail is amazing too, when we make it to the PO Box. We've yet had anything delivered to us at the townhouse. Blake's support system has reached out to make sure he doesn't feel the stress of worrying about his family by sending us cards and care packages. It makes us feel so good to know that he has people where his that are just as caring as the support systems we have here.
I've just about mastered getting the Scrip cards ordered as I'm checking out to a science. There is no point in us spending money to replace the things we need to move forward without it benefitting someone. We are setting up an office space in one of the bedrooms to get all our paperwork organized and start a dream station. Since we are in a rental I hesitate to put bulletin boards on the wall, so we've pushed a sheet of plywood behind the desk, taped cork board up on it and with a handful of pushpins we are armed and dangerous.
We went through about a dozen homes with the Parade of Homes this past weekend and are starting to see things that we can dream about, like a stove top separate from the double oven, and somethings that we are truly amazed why anyone would do "that"! I'm sorry but a laundry room on the far end of the master bathroom!!! Um, NO!
Some things we've learned... Property taxes need to still be paid. With the fire report, proving the date that we lost the ability to occupy the house and then when we are allowed to move back in we will be given a declaration of occupancy we will get reimbursed for those months of property tax. That is a bummer, but it is what it is.
The adjuster authorized a preliminary check to be cut and I about freaked when I opened that envelope. The check was made out to us and the mortgage company, so we sent it off to be held in escrow to be available distributed as the house gets torn down and built up. I'm ready for that step to start. I want my neighborhood to see something start happening.
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