I am the new "Chuck Bass"

For any of you who watch Gossip Girl, you will know what this title means. Chuck Bass lives on the upper east side in a hotel. What a life huh? Living in a hotel? Yeah, let me tell you. Not QUITE as great as it is on the show when you are in a Residence Inn in Evansville, Indiana. Now don't get me wrong, we were HAPPY and thankful to have it. In fact, Tabi thought it was pretty awesome living in a hotel - room service, housekeeping, continental breakfast...me? I just wanted a full kitchen and room for us all to get away from one another. HAHA And very happy that they let Rocko stay with us as well. He was nervous for a couple of days but as you can see, he became quite comfy in his new bed in his new temporary home pretty quickly...


So the week after the fire was an insanely busy one. You don't realize what all goes into this process until you are in it. We had a million things going on every single day. The meeting with the insurance guy was the beginning of a crazy couple of weeks. We had several different cleaning companies come to the house to take what they could out to try to clean it. We had the fire investigators there which seemed pointless but I suppose it's all part of the process. :) I think what a lot of people don't realize is how bad the inside of the house looked. The outside didn't look bad on the news so people thought the inside must not be bad. Wrong-o. Here are a couple of pics so you can get the idea. This used to be my front entry way and my family room. Slightly well done, no?

We were VERY fortunate in that there was a condo for sale right up the street from our house and the owner is letting us rent it for the time being. We moved into the condo a week after the fire which was great. Somewhat of a home again! I think we were all happy to have a bigger place to live!

One of the main things at this point that we were waiting to find out and one of the main questions that everyone was asking was, "So, what are you going to do? Bulldoze the house? Start over? Rebuild?" We knew that we wanted to stay on our lot, but we weren't sure at that point whether or not they would just take the house down to the studs or say start over. I think we were just happy that we hadn't started our renovations yet. That would have made it even worse I think!!! Waiting, waiting, waiting...

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

As everyone knows by now, unfortunately on Sunday, November 14th our home caught fire and we lost nearly everything. Thankfully everyone is okay. That is all you can really ask for in that situation. Most things can be replaced, people can't be.

I was at work when Lindsay called me to tell me that her dad heard on the scanner that there was a fire at 64 Oak Meadow. "Surely not! Someone would have called me!" I called home a few minutes later and no answer from Tommy. I then called my sister Tabi and she was hysterical. Sure enough, our house WAS indeed on fire and Tommy WAS indeed going back in the house as many times as possible to get belongings out. I rushed home as fast as I could. When I arrived on my street I couldn't get down it because of all of the fire trucks.

Of course amidst all of this I had to have a true "April Moment". I tried driving to my house and they wouldn't let me through. Seeing news crews in my front yard but not being able to get there myself was slightly (read: EXTREMELY!!!) frustrating. They said I would just have to back up in a driveway along the street. I was upset, scared, shaken and stirred and I just wanted to get home. So I backed up into a driveway. Quickly. And without paying a bit of attention to what I was doing. When I heard the scrape of the neighbor's mailbox on the side of my car I knew I had screwed up but honestly at that point I didn't care I just ran out of the car. Of course now we laugh about this because that is classic me. Anyone who knows me would know this. HA!

The outside of the house didn't look so bad so I thought maybe it wasn't horrible after all. Of course I fell completely apart when I got to the house and saw all of the firefighters, my sister, my dog, and Tommy. What a nightmare. As I walked around the house I realized that it was indeed pretty horrible on the inside. I am thankful that the firefighters were able to get there quickly. I am also thankful for my wonderful neighbors who were taking care of my dog and my sister and helping out in any way that they possibly could. I am thankful for my husband for going in to get some things out that would not have been able to be replaced (though glad I wasn't there to see him going in...).

As the night went on we were finally able to go into the house and it was absolutely devastating. The fire started in the family room and barreled out the front entry so that was all completely gutted. They kept saying what "hot" fire this one was. Um, aren't they all??? Just saying. :) But I saw what they meant as I went into the house. Some of our things were still in rooms but melted and black. Not burnt up exactly just melted. Very strange. If you have ever been in a house that has burned you know that one of the worst parts about it is the smell. I will never forget the smell. When we walked through I could see that most everything was ruined. It seemed like it was all a dream honestly. Our families were great in being there to help us and luckily we are good friends with our insurance guy who came promptly as well. This came in handy because there was no way we were staying there ever again so he helped us get hotel reservations for that evening and start the ball rolling on getting things taken care of.

We finally left the house around 10pm that night and we were beyond exhausted. Tabi, Tommy, Rocko and myself headed out of Oak Meadow. With literally the clothes on our backs. What else does one do on a Sunday night at 10pm when they need toiletries, clothes, food, etc? Head to Wal-Mart of course. Just what we wanted to do after that long day, but it had to be done. Nothing like a $700 Wal-Mart trip. But we literally had NOTHING. I have never been so happy to see a bed in a Residence Inn in my entire life as I was that night. Not that I slept but it was nice to have a hot shower and lay down at least.

That day goes down in history as one of the longest days of my life without a doubt. So many emotions yet it felt like a dream so I wasn't sure what to feel at the same time. At this point I think we knew that we were in for a long next few weeks but I can tell you that we didn't fully grasp yet what that meant.

More to come...