Unfamiliar

Whenever you are staying in a place that is not your own, you have to adjust. You have to try to turn off those automatic habits that you develop at your house. Sometimes that is easy. For example, the light switch at the condo is on the different side of the front door than at our house. No big deal. Last night I forgot all of this. I am going out of town for work again and I was trying to finish some last minute laundry. I haven't done much laundry here and I'm not used to the dryer. Well I wasn't paying attention and promptly slammed the door--catching my thumb.

It is a good thing that my nails are painted a very dark color right now because I'm pretty sure the thumb nail is that color on its own right now.

I am not related to my brother.

My brother and I are very different. We do not physically resemble each other. Our personalities are polar opposites. We don't like to do the same things. For years, I have suspected that we might not be related. (From 8 to 18, I hoped that we weren't related.) As of today, it has been confirmed. We are not related. Pat is not really a Lehman.

When Lehmans, e.g. me or my Dad, think about a major purchase, like a car, we THINK about it. We shop for months. We shop on the Internet. We test drive. We think. We plod. We consider. My brother, not so much. Apparently he saw a car that he liked earlier in the week. He is now proud owner of said car.

This proves it for all time...Pat is not a Lehman.

This is particularly funny to me because I have been considering a purchase of similar scope--an additional bathroom in the house. I have been thinking for five weeks. I have talked to no less than three real estate agents. I have talked to at least four different bankers. I have been going through the process--the Lehman purchase process.

Insurance

Paul and I are very fortunate that we were fully insured on the day of the fire. In short, our insurance company paid for our hotel room for the nights immediately after the fire, our temporary apartment, our staggering dry cleaning bill and so on. It reminds me a bit of the old Tom Cruise movie -- Far and Away. His love interest was Nicole Kidman and she came from a wealthy family. Well, in a land grab at the end, you saw her parents and they had lost everything in a fire. No insurance. So we weren't rendered paupers by the fire. We were just so very lucky.

What I don't understand is why the insurance company sometimes treats us like we are the enemy. Why do we have to argue about whether the insurance company is going to pay for structural engineering? Perhaps the next time I receive a bill from the insurance company, I should tell them that since I didn't use their insurance last month, I should get a credit. Anybody think this would go well?

Clothes

Immediately after the fire, Paul and I were given an opportunity to select those clothes that we needed to be cleaned asap. Well those are the only clothes that we have. In a moment of simplicity, I selected only black and gray clothes. I am done done done wearing the same clothes. I'm certainly not suffering...I have plenty of clothes. I just miss the rest of them.

Paul took a completely different approach to his selection of "immediate clothes." He selected four pairs of work pants. Apparently he has somehow managed to go to work since the fire with only two pairs of pants. That crumbled on Monday. He had to make an emergency pants run on Monday morning. Do you think this is covered under the loss of use portion of our homeowners policy?

Neighbors and Construction Progress

During our Sunday afternoon run, Paul and I ran by the house. Quite by accident, we happened to see our next door neighbors from both sides. They were both curious about what was going on. They said that so far, the construction has not bothered them. I hope that continues. However, real construction has not really begun.

It is really amazing how little progress we have made in more than a month. We don't even have permits yet. This is fairly amazing to me because when they renovate a house, they always seem to do it in about two weeks. Knowing that we are looking at nearly five more months, I am beginning to think that the shows on TV may not be accurate.

For the record, the picture does in fact show a toilet in our living room. Also not something you see on home renovation shows on TV.

The Devil is in the Details

It has now been more than five weeks from the fire. We are settled into a condo. We have clean clothes. Construction has begun on the house. In short, we are moving forward and are living some type of normal life. Every once in a while though, something happens and it is like you are slapped in the face again. Not in a bad way really, just a blunt reminder that life is not normal right now. This happened yesterday.

I am currently in scenic Lebanon, Tennessee. What more could a girl ask for, right? Well, I got home from work late because I was getting ready for the trip. I laid out the clothes that I wanted to pack. I ate dinner. I wasn't worried about anything other than the 4 am alarm clock. I started to pack, but I don't have any luggage. So I sent a frantic email to a friend who graciously lent me her carry-on. I doubt that it was a big deal to her to lend me the bag. She wasn't going to use it this week and I probably won't hurt it. It was just another reminder that our lives are out of sorts. I can only imagine the corner where the next reminder lurks.

I won't post a picture of the bag--but I have posted a picture of the nicest hotel in Lebanon.

Mortgage

When we bought our house, we were so excited. We were scared about how much money we owed the bank and daunted by the idea of 30 years of payments, but we took the plunge. Well, now that our house doesn't have nearly as many walls as before, we have a much better idea of what we bought for 30 years of payments. I'm still sure that it was worth it. After all, our house is still standing. Nonetheless, my eyes have been opened.

Nothing Says Class...

like a port-a-john in your front yard. I think it is safe to say that our neighbors are loving this!

Engineers

Today's dispute relates to whether the insurance company will pay for engineers. Apparently the insurance company is taking the position that until the City dictates that engineers be used, that they are not responsible for paying for them. Since floor joists, stairs and load bearing walls are coming out, this seems amazing to me. Perhaps I am foolishly underestimating our contractors. Or maybe I am just underestimating the ability of other parts of the house to just sort of hang on while the rest of the construction happens.

This is especially clear for me since our last trip to the house. On Saturday, Paul and I decided we would make the trip -- all 10 blocks. The walls were gone (except the kitchen, dining room and bathrooms). The den had no floor -- no hardwoods, no floor joists -- nothing but dirt. You haven't lived as a homeowner until you have stood in your house (the same house that requires sizable mortgage payments every month) on the dirt floor and been able to look all the way through.

I'm meeting with the architects tomorrow, so I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be bring forward progress (or maybe just hope for future forward progress). In an optimistic view of tomorrow, I am posting a very cool fireplace covered in rock veneer from norstone:

Background

Four weeks ago today, we had a fire. Not a catastrophic fire -- no one died or got hurt. But a serious fire. Our house is still standing, but it no longer has walls and is missing some floors. I understand that as of tomorrow, the stairs and most of the rest of the stairs will be gone. How crazy is that?

Our neighbors, friends and family were amazing on the day of the fire. I remember that. I was definitely in shock, but I do know that everyone has been amazing. The thing about fires is that you never think it will happen to you. And even after it happens, you still think that it can't have happened to you.

About a week after the fire, we moved into a one bedroom condo in downtown Raleigh. It is about half the size of what we are used to having, but we are adjusting. We don't really have much stuff, so it feels bigger than it is. It is filled with rented furniture -- a fire restoration company is busily working to save our furniture. We have some of our clothes back and a few plates/cups/etc., but otherwise, we haven't seen our stuff in about a month.

I bought a new camera tonight and have decided to keep a record of this crazy journey that started less than a month after I turned 30. Sorry, none of my pics tonight as the battery is charging. But I am providing some pictures taken by the firemen (yes, they take pictures at fires!)