SIX YEARS AFTER THE FIRE

TIME IS PASSING BY SO QUICKLY.  This beautiful AUTUMN DAY has faded into night.  The sun sets sooner everyday.  I am not ready for the early darkness that has made our Summer turn to Autumn.  The colored leaves on the trees that are blowing away should explain that AUTUMN is here.  Instead of stiffening up and protesting, I should surrender and embrace the moment.  This season has a beauty also.  Tis a beautiful FALL.  All the oranges and brown hues warm my thoughts up.  

I put together a small box to mail to my St. Louis Grandson and my Mom for Halloween.  Hubby was sweet and ran them to the Post Office so they would go out in the mail today.  Not sure how long it will take to reach them these days as one never knows.  It may be tomorrow...it may be Friday.  The littles have their treats from me.  I need to make one up for my Missouri Granddaughter and get it in the mail.  Perhaps I will get this done tomorrow.  

Today, was my correspondence day.  I busied myself with letter writing and writing out bills.  Put together care packages.  Did some dishes.  Studied about organizing.  Blogged.  Rearranged a kitchen cabinet.  Washed dishes.  Skipped the laundry on a Monday.  Cleared out the walnut chest in the dining room and rearranged it taking mental inventory for future relocating.  Watched some vlogs.  I have peace now about changing my decorating style as I grow old.  

I think I have it figured out which pieces of furniture will be used in the COTTAGE and which pieces will be let go of or stored in the shed.  As silly as it may sound to some, my furniture was hard to come by and I am attached to it especially since this is the 6th anniversary of our house fire where we lost furniture and so many other pieces were damaged.  I just about forgot that it was the anniversary of the house fire until I received a message from my sister asking if it were the anniversary.  In a way that is comforting to have forgot about the anniversary.

SIX years ago we slept in the COTTAGE as we were remodeling our master bedroom in the old stone house.  The bedroom was completely torn up so we decided to sleep in the vacant COTTAGE.  It was the morning of October 25, 2016 and I was sitting on the leather sofa in my old pink housecoat praying out loud when I heard foot steps on the porch. 

I could see that it was my daughter and I thought oh isn't that sweet...she has come over to eat lunch with me.  I opened the door and she told me very quickly something like this, "Give me your house keys.  Your house is on fire.  Get dressed!"  Somebody had contacted her at work that knew she was our daughter.  I don't remember exactly what she said, but this is close enough.  

I said, "My house is on fire?"   I gave her my keys and off she went.  She said she called Dad.  

I walked to the bathroom to get dressed and began to shake.  Never in my wildest thoughts did I think I'd have a house fire.  Since the house was only a block away, I walked down the alley to the house.  I imagined that the house would be all a blaze, but when I saw it there was only chocolate brown smoke bellowing from under the edge of the roof.  I walked over to where my daughter was standing.

Across the street from our house on the sidewalk I stood in disbelief that the house was on fire.  The front door was pried open with a fire hose stretched across the yard and into the front door.  On the second floor, a window was open and firemen were working away to save whatever.  Inside the house was blackness that was so dark one could not see their hand before them.

I stood their saying I don't think I can watch this.  My dear daughter stood there beside me comforting me as I was in shock.  We had lived in this house close to ten years.  I loved our old historical stone house filled with memories.  We had made our home there and I wasn't ready to leave it.

After the fire was put out, the fire chef told my husband that in all his years he had not seen a fire like ours in a house.  Everything was discolored with dark stains as if someone had painted the rooms and furnishings with chocolate paint.  Later we thought the smoke stain came from the old varnish that the original woodwork had been painted with.  1885 is old varnish.

My husband and son-in-law went in to the front parlor and opened some windows.  The stench was so strong it burned their eyes to be inside the house for a short amount of time.

I was in disbelief that this had happened.  Disbelief.

Meeting with Insurance agents was eye opening.  Knowing what I know now, if there are things left behind on the premise that you do not want someone else to get their hands on, it is best to remove the items before the clean-up crew comes to take it to their warehouse such as jewelry and important papers.  As the clean-up crew came a day or two after the fire, we sat out in our front yard saying yah or nah to what they carried out to the dumpster.  If it was something they were going to pitch, we were allowed to see it and if we wanted to keep it we pulled it aside.  Load after load of things went past us and were pitched into the dumpster.   We were blessed to have pleasant Autumn weather to where we could sit outside in the front yard without jackets.  The weather was on our side.  

The Insurance Inspector told us he believed the fire had started in the kitchen in an outlet that was in the stone wall.  He didn't believe the microwave started the fire but couldn't tell for sure because all that was left of the microwave was one piece of copper wiring.    

Going through the motions of getting back on our feet has been life changing.  I have been moving in slow motion for some time now.  As we cleared out the storage side of the Cottage Garage this past Summer where we had stuffed boxes full of important papers that we did not want the clean-up crew to get their hands on after the fire, it was strange that so much time had passed and we were just now getting around to going through the clutter.    

I believe that I am feeling so much better about recovering from this horrible ordeal.  I can tell myself to shake it off and don't hold back on LIVING.  Things can be replaced.  People cannot.  Memories linger in the mind.  

On this 6th Anniversary of the fire, I am so thankful no one was injured or killed.  So thankful.  It is time to live in this present day.  Learn from the past and plan for the future. 

~d          

PRODUCTIVE DAY AND IN HOPES OF HAVING MORE DAYS OF GETTING THINGS DONE

SURPRISED MYSELF at the crack of dawn.  Woke up with my hubby kissing me on the forehead.  A very gentle way to wake up.  He was going jogging.  Yes, my 66 year old Husband has been jogging and he is liking it more and more each day.

The beautiful thing about this is...the lymph node in his neck that has been bothering him for about 10 years has stopped hurting and has shrunk!  This is the way we want to go.  He canceled surgery to remove this lymph node in the neck after giving it much thought and now he is jogging.

We are starting to scare myself.  Just who are we these days?  A couple of older people in their 60s.  I never thought that 65 was elderly before.  To me 80 is elderly, but the experts say that 65 is elderly.  I beg your pardon.  I must put myself in gear and work faster than I have been to get much accomplished before Winter blows into town.  AUGUST is here and that means that we are entertaining the 8th month of the year.  Year's half over!  

YESTERDAY, we went back over to the COTTAGE to work on everything.  Hubby plowed up the first flower bed in the backyard along the sidewalk.  This is where the grape scented purple Heirloom Irises will be planted.  He made huge progress.  He believes he'll have this bed ready to add nutrients in a few days.  

Another long bed will be plowed up later in the week along where a fence will go in the near future.  A variety of colors will go here.  Then the flowerbed along side the house will be created. We have many Irises to dig up and transfer to the small yard.

Saturday, we purchased 75 more bulbs at the KSU GARDEN IRIS SOCIETY SALE.  The Irises have become our passion.

As Hubby was plowing up the backyard soil, I was plowing through boxes in the Master Bedroom.  I made progress and I think I could have continued working into the evening, but we were hungry.  So we stopped working, cooled off and headed out the door to get supper on the run.

Some surprises in the boxes.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty ring that I had forgotten I even had, a $20 bill stuck in a cubby of one of my old purses, artwork of my children's when they were young kids, baby clothes of lil miss, some Fair and Sports ribbons from my childhood, some old jewelry, doll clothing for my baby dolls when I was a child, a white ceramic pitcher that was made in 1967, some porcelain pieces that I will display when we finally make the transition from big house to cottage.  

I lost count of how many boxes I went through.  Just know it felt great to make headway. Decluttering made for another donation box to deliver when it is full.

One box had vintage material in it that I purchased when I was about 31 years old.  I am now 66. It was old when I bought it.  I still don't know what I'm going to do with it.  Maybe I could sew a long skirt, a jacket or drapes.  For now I should hang the fabric in the closet.  

I started a box to bring HOME with me full of important papers and pictures.  I need to file them. More paper of all things. 

I had to sit a few times as I overheated and needed to rest.  As I sat, I could imagine the COTTAGE all cleaned up and remodeled like I want.  Lots of whites, light grays and wood floors in the Dining room and Living room.  Carpet in the two bedrooms.  Tile in the Bathroom, walk-in closet and Utility room.  Not sure about the Kitchen yet.  Either wood floor or tile.  

I hope to return to the COTTAGE and sort through some old books, and more boxes.  It's unreal how much there is to go through.  After our 2016 house fire, we were busy getting a different home set up.  So our time and energy was taken.  Enough time has passed now that I am not an emotional wreck going through what needs to be dealt with.  It's just that there are so many boxes to still go through.  

After the fire, I think I was in shock.  Then my Dad had a stroke and died.  About a month later my Mother.in.law passed away while we were still waiting for Service Master to return to us what they could salvage.  We'd buy a house and continue with replacing what we could.  It's kind of hard to replace things not knowing what was coming back in good shape or not returned.  The LORD and my Husband helped me get back on my feet.

I remember after the fire that Service Master and another company that worked with textiles came into our home so fast and swooped down on things to take so they could charge the Insurance Company for trying to clean and repair as they'd get paid for the amount that they collected even if the things were in rough shape to get a large check from our Insurance Company.  So much that was damaged I thought I'd probably would not be replacing it, but the cleaning companies took the items away before I could throw the things away.  It made my head spin.

I remember that night after the fire, my Husband climbed through an upstair bedroom window to retrieve my wedding ring that was in a special place.  I did not want the cleaners to get their hands on this ring.  The house stunk to high heavens. 

I am so thankful that we are 4 and a half years down the road.  A thing like a house fire can devastate a person.  We were so blessed that no one was burned, injured or killed from this thing.  Sometimes the scars come from trauma.     

As I go through these boxes, I must turn loose of more.  I need to remember that we cannot take any of this with us after we pass from this world.  This helps me to thin down papers that just aren't needed anymore.  Turn loose of magazines, books, clothing, toys, dishes, glassware, etc.  

Two very productive days in a row.  I'm on a roll.  Praise the LORD.  

I came across some magazine pages that I had torn out and had in a folder.  One of the pages was a picture of a window with decorative crown at the top of the window.  The window also had stick and ball decorative shelves that one could place indoors plants on so they would get enough light to nourish the plants needs.  I have two windows in the Utility room that I think would be great candidates for this.  This would add a lot of charm to my COTTAGE Utility room.  

Lord, Please give me the strength and will power to accomplish this task of decluttering and making HOME a better place with order and cleanliness.  IJNIPA.  In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

I phoned my Mom last night and she told me she got my Dad's walker out of storage and started using it to help her walk.  She has lost her stamina and strength as of late and not the steadiest on her feet.  She took a walk and I was glad to hear that she got some fresh air and exercise.

TURKEY is baking as I type.  I know it will be delicious!  After it finishes baking, I'll let it cool a bit or rest/sit as they say before carving it at midnight.  Heavens, it will be so good for tomorrow and the next few days.  

I usually fix turkey for Thanksgiving, Christmas and that's it, but I had a turkey in the freezer that I wanted to get used up so...there you have it.  Turkey in the Summer time.  I love turkey sandwiches.  I will have to get some bread and have one with mayo.  The turkey is low in fat.  The bread will need to be nutritious and the mayo, well I'll only use a little along with pepper and salt to add flavor.  

Gobble gobble.  Turkey is one meat that I think we need to eat not only for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but all through the year.  Yes, indeed, all through the year. 

Some peeps have Christmas in July.  I think next year I ought to have Christmas in July and fix a turkey on the 25th.  How great is that?  Maybe even play Christmas music.  

 

Blessings to you and yours,

d