Checking in

Hello friends,

I decided to jot out a quick blog

rather than respond to all my emails.

Your notes of encouragement and concern

after the fire have been wonderful.

Hearing I am missed in the blogging

 world...I'm not gonna lie...

feels kinda great.

We are still (gl)amping it up in the driveway.

Our restoration crew finished the house clean up yesterday.

The entire joint had to be emptied.

I purged for 4 days before they came.

I have dubbed this experience

The Great Purge of '13.

They loaded it all up in boxes and bags and took it to be cleaned.

Copious amounts of boxes.

 Then they left boxes of nor-restorable(s) and piles of non-restorable(s).

 

 

No baby/children's thing can be restored.

No florals.

And several antiques.

This is a fraction of them.

 

The stove and the dryer need replaced.

Then add in every food item in the cabinets,

the extra paper products ie. toilet paper, napkins, paper towels,

and Kleenex boxes.

I always had extra in storage.

Every bag of beans, pasta, grains.

Every spice tin.

Every cleaning product and every bath product.

Lotions, shampoos etc,.

We have 3 baths and each was stocked.

Every window blind has to be pitched.

Page after page logged for insurance.

All this from smoke damage.

Didn't look bad initially but it has been comprehensive.

 

 

 

 the electrical box was so close to the fire it had to be re-done

and it was re-located to the basement.

 

 

 the filthiness made me ill every time I went into the house

(that is where a rug laid on a white painted floor just outside our bedroom door)

 

So now, the contractors are here.

We opted to put some of our money into the project too.

We took the wall that was on fire out and opened those rooms up to each other.

 

My kitchen will be open to that laundry room.

 

 

The working part of the kitchen will be in there.

My former kitchen will just be for eating and gabbing.

My laundry has been relocated to outside my bedroom which was a nursery...

but I babysit at the girls' houses now, so I don't need a nursery.

They started drywalling yesterday.

And priming with paint in some rooms.

I am spending hours on the computer.

Thank goodness for internet.

I have been able to find replacement values on almost everything.

I still have a short list.

Blessedly, I have had helpers.

My friends and family have sorted and pitched with me.

A couple have shown up with Ipads and laptops and looked up values

beside me at my camper kitchen table

We will be out several weeks yet.

It takes a bit of time to paint every closet, ceiling, wall, and floors must be refinished.

The restoration team is now starting on our contents.

They said we are a big job.

I asked if I am an organized hoarder?

They assured me I am not.

They actually have all said they love my house.

I always feel the need to say well its filthy now. LOL

I blame Toots for my OCD to clean.

I will check in soon with pix of our sweet camper.

It has been a very busy time.

We have had so much rain.

10 inches the first week which made the basement flood.

I was half expecting to break out in boils and have locusts swarm.

Stuart hasn't farmed a lick.

It's good.

He has sanded the floors himself.

They are reading for stain.

He has sorted out and cleaned old tin from my dad's barn

for my kitchen ceiling.

I know God sent that rain because Stu needed to be around here in the evenings.

Our twins died 29 years ago today.

That year it rained and rained until

we were home from the hospital stay and buried them.

We didn't farm until the middle of May

God provided then and he will now.

Today would also have been my dad's birthday.

I choose to spend the day counting my blessings.

I have a wonderful family and many friends who make me feel cherished.

Life is good here in the camper.

God is good all the time.

Be well my sweet friends.

Thanks for showing me such love

xoxo