The Aftermath $$$

 

"HOW HIGH'S THE WATER MAMA?"  

It's 9 big "K's" and countin'"  

The flood restoration people have taken their big machines out and it is now quiet in the household again. For that I am grateful!  The upstairs and downstairs of our house has damage and the industrial sized machines they brought in to try to dry up the water were extremely loud.  It made me realize just how much I love the quiet. I am sensitive to noise anyway.  Doc says I can hear a mouse fart in a forest.  Getting all of the moisture out of your house also gets it out of your skin.  I got a heat rash.

The kitchen was uninhabitable for 4 days. We couldn't even walk on the floor in certain areas. We did manage to find out how to hop over a machine to get to the coffee pot and that was about it.  NO water in the kitchen btw until the plumber replaced the faucet. The old faucet was a high end, never fail faucet, but it did fail. The were not nice about it on the phone and the best they would do is to send the parts to rebuild the faucet and it would cost more in labor than made sense.  So, I got online and found one discounted and they shipped it overnight. 

The flood guys were out everyday to check their equipment and to measure moisture levels. They ripped out the cedar closet and cut a huge hole in my beautifully wallpapered office.  The carpet is still heavily stained. I asked them what if I had not checked this area for a week or so and they said we would be looking at around 30 to 40 thousand dollars worth of damage.  WOW!

The insurance adjuster was out this week also. He was a nice man and knows what needs to be done. I have a $500.00 deductible and that has already gone to the flood restoration people.  He told me that the flood company is very reputable and they can also do all of the repairs.  It will take awhile for all of this to be accomplished.  The kitchen wood floor will have to be sanded down and refinished. The sealer they put on that is quite strong and we will not be able to stay in the house when they do this.  I decided it would be a good thing to do when we are gone for awhile in the fall. 

All in all, it has made me realize how grateful I am. I am so glad that I have homeowners insurance with a good company and competent people to help me. It has made me grateful for the quiet and calm in my life.  It has made me grateful that I once again have a kitchen to cook in. (Eating fast food for several days about make me sick.)  It's made me grateful that I had a nice bedroom to go into and shut the door to shut out the noise. I had my laptop and a television in my bedroom.  My first meal I cooked was sea scallops in a white wine reduction sauce with saffron rice, fresh green beans and a tomato salad.

It's also hastened my simplifying  process that I have started.  My closet that was damaged was my memory bank.  People save certain things and mine was clothing. I have clothing that I wore in high school. I have the prom dress I wore when I was 16, along with the evening coat that went with it. I have the outfit that I wore when I had my picture taken in high school and also when I had my picture taken with my firstborn while I was pregnant with my second born.  That was when polyester first came out.  I had the bib I embroidered for my son before he was born and the outfit that I wore to his high school graduation. 

In other words I owned "vintage" clothing. If you keep things long enough or live long everything, including YOU, becomes vintage.  So, I began the process of letting go. I decided to keep 6 outfits that best represented certain times in my life and I took the rest, loaded up the van and drove it over to Catholic Charities. They have a resell shop for Hospice and they unloaded it all. Now I'll tell you that I have loaded the van up twice and still have a couple more trips to make. But you know what?  It feels so good. It's a good purge.  The task in the past has been so overwhelming that I would just let it go and "things" continued to build.

It's not only my clothes but I've gone thoughtout the house and found many "things" that I just don't use or need anymore. I used to think my kids would want them, but in truth your kids want what you are getting, not what you already have.  I should preface that by saying that not all kids are like that. I looked at the little china tea set I bought 20 years ago in China town in San Francisco and know that my grandaughter would rather play with it, so she got it.  She is also going to have some Stewart Weitzman high heel shoes to wear in the near furture. Her foot is almost as big as mine. She loves to play dress up.

I used to collect frogs........little ones that could fit on a window seal.  So many people gave me frogs that I would have to rotate the collection, plus the frogs I would get kept getting bigger and bigger. So, my one friend has a daughter that collects frogs and now she will be enlarging her collection.

Don't get me wrong, I still have a few collections that I will not be getting rid of. My collection of Staffordshire dogs still are on the mantle with Luke, The Wonder Dogs painting.  I also have a collection of lady head vases that I should blog about one day. They are staying!

So, this "little" flood has made me realize that although I decided to walk naked (shudder!) in my own kitchen and Doc looks like a mime while he sleeps, life goes on. My life, for now, is being sent on, one littlepiece at a time and it feels great!