The Latest

So here is the latest:

1) I have a new apartment. Not nearly as nice as the last one: no fire place, no built-in mircowave. No new floors in kitchen and bath. But, it's all they had. It has new carpet, so I shouldn't really complain. The washer and dryer are actually better than the ones I had; older, but bigger and better. I also met most of my neighbors and they seem very, very nice.

2) The restoration company brought back my sofa, bed, reading chair/ottoman, coffee and end tables with about 20 boxes of stuff. It smells great and looked better than new. I am very pleased with their work. I should have the remainder of my belongings, less the soft goods, by next Friday.

3) Found my Gati! I went to the shelter, and he wasn't there. In fact, they euthanize strays that are caught after three days! I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever find him. Well, on what was to be my first evening in the new apartment alone, I went out to the maintenance shed (where I had spotted strays before) with some milk and tuna fish, and started saying "Gati, your mom is looking for you." He started meowing immediately and ran right out! We sat for a while until I thought he'd let me pick him up and then we went home. He was a little confused because nothing smelled like him, but he eventually found his "hammock" and went to sleep!

4) I should be receiving my first insurance payment, for the food spoilage, in a couple of days. My refrigerator looked like a bachelors (water, cheese and mustard) and the freezer was EMPTY, but the food spoilage bill was still $420. Unbelievable.

Waiting Game

So I'm in Atlanta relaxing at Jesse and Candy's, which is really, really nice. It's beautiful here, they have a gorgeous house, wonderful children and are basically just letting me "be." I'm starting to get anxious, though, that I'm not at home getting things "done."

The restoration company called my mom today and my bed is cleaned and ready to go. That is great news. The bad news? I have no place to put it. The apartment complex doesn't have a new place ready for me yet.

I checked in with the apartment complex this morning, asking about my "new" apartment, which, of course, isn't ready. It needs a new bathroom floor, and I asked, twice, for a new kitchen floor as well (my other apartment had new flooring EVERYWHERE.) Basically, I think they are blowing me off, and writing me off as a "princess" who wants everything "just so." Really, I just want it back the way it was. I think that is only fair.

So, we are now concerned that I will be charged to store my belongings as they are cleaned, since they are apparently supposed to be delivered immediately after cleaning. They put a rush on my bed so I wouldn't have to rent one, now it may end up costing me more, anyway.

Another cause for anxiety is that the cleaning and restoration has eaten up all but $5,100 of my insurance coverage. So everything that needs to be replaced needs to cost less than $5,100 or I just lose it. Needless to say, I will be increasing the insurance coverage as soon as I return home.
I'm beginning to wonder if I am able to go after the guy who started the fire (his insurance company, anyway) for the difference....my policy has coverage that kicks in if I cause a loss to someone else, maybe his does, too.

Ok I'm spent. I think I'm off for another nap.

Aftermath

I have no hairbrush. No emery board. No band aides. Things you don't even realize you had in the first place. So much of my "stuff" was written off....everything under the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Anything paper or plastic. I had to get on a plane to go to a conference and the cleaners hadn't even gotten to my sewing room yet, so I don't know what was "written off" in there....I shutter to think about it. I had just bought some great storage organizers from IKEA and OfficeMax, they didn't come cheap, I might add, and I bet they are gone. I know the insurance will cut me a check to replace them, but it all seems like such a waste.

Since the textile specialist said my fabric should be written off, I went ahead and inventoried it. I was a captive audience, anyway. I had 3 hours to kill from the time the cleaning companies showed up until my friends picked me up for the airport. I used the time to save a few valuables I didn't want ANYONE touching (one of a kind photographs, jewelry, etc) and to inventory the food and fabric.

All the food, except the canned goods were a write off. I had 7 BOXES (who has 7 boxes?) of TEA alone that was now trash. Hot chocolate, spices and seasonings, cereal (5 boxes), cups of soup, cake mix, etc. got tossed. Even a brand new case of water they had me toss, since the smoke permeates plastic. Almost everything in the fridge was gone (the building went almost two days without power) and even though it looked like a bachelor's fridge, it turns out to be a sizeable amount of food when you write it all down.

It is hard to describe for you my affection for (or is that affliction with?) fabric. I always joke to people by telling them "everyone has a vice....some people drink, some smoke, some do drugs, play video games, whatever. Mine? I buy fabric. No matter how hard I try, I just can't stop. I even started working at JoAnn Fabrics at night recently, and my favorite "job" there? Folding, tucking, touching, smelling fabric. Since I have a discount, I occasionally upgrade from $1.00/yard to $10.00/yard, especially if I have a coupon. When the textile specialist walked in I picked up the first bolt I could (denim with cherries embroidered on it,) smelled it, and got choked up. I said "this cost $20....can you imagine what the entire collection cost?" I am guessing 200-300 yards of fabric...I'm not sure, I'd have to add it up. I had just purchased some fabulous fabrics in San Luis Obispo....not easily replaced.... it's not like I go there every other weekend. In fact, I had spend about $50 on oilcloth (a plasticy/vinylish fabric) that we don't even carry at JoAnn. I KNOW they will throw it away. It just pains me to think about it.

I'm in Atlanta now. I've spent the last 3 days at an amazing conference which really helped to settle my soul and get my mind off things. Last night was "Prom Night" and I dressed in a tacky 80's prom dress and won "Bessed Dressed" for which the prize was a $50 Coach Gift Card! If they only knew how much I needed it. I had to buy a new purse just to go to this conference. Not to mention suit case, socks, underwear, yada yada yada. Well, my mom bought it. What would I do without my mom? She took me right out, got me what I needed, and sent me on my way. This fire (nor Gati running away) would have kept me from my conference, and my mom made sure of that.

Jesse Gearhart is on his way to pick me up. I'm going to stay with the Gearharts for a couple of days before returning to Las Vegas to figure everything out.

I just keep telling myself "God will not give you more than you can handle" to which I always respond "then he must think I am one tough broad!"

Insurance

I finally heard from the insurance company. I thought I had the best insurance around, until TWO adjusters proceded to make me feel like crap. I felt WORSE about having insurance (or not enough insurance as the case may be) after talking to them. So my mom called a supervisor and got medieval on their asses. So here is what is happening:

1) I can't return to my apartment. After further inspection, my closet and bathroom are covered in black soot. They wrote off most everything in the bathroom, right down to the brushes, hair clips, toilet paper, etc. They tried to save my fabric shower curtain. That was it. Everything else was trash.

2) I have a restoration company and a textile specialist. The resoration took everything away (and I mean everything) except for my "soft goods" which were clothes, shoes and linens. The textile company proceded to tell me all my fabric (I have HUNDREDS of yards) and even my peacock tail were write offs (i.e. trash cuz it can't be cleaned) but the restoration company is going to try and do what they can.

These two companies have packed up my every belonging and whisked it away. They will clean them, and here is the best part, MOVE IT in to a NEW apartment, if they find me one. It does take 3-4 weeks for this process to complete, so I will be out of a home base for a while.

3) Gati has not come home. I am beginning to wonder if the maintenance guys saw him, and if he will even come home. I am going to look online at shelters next to see if someone turned him in.

4) The apartment complex has an apartment for me, not as nice as the one I had, but it has new carpet (again, not as nice as the carpet I had) and it should work. It just feels weird. The floor plan is flipped and it faces south and west instead of north and east. But I guess I should be thankful they have anything. Can you believe you relocated the jack asses that started the fire before they relocated me?

I think that's all for now, I'll write more later.

Fire Update

That last post is hardly legible, so apologies. I will go back and edit it later.

Anyway, today was spent phoning in the claim, waiting and waiting (and still I'm waiting) for the adjuster to call me back, buying a few new clothes, a suit case and going into work for 4 hours to catch up on my work, which incidentally, I was late on anyway.

We were allowed back in the apartments, but the lord only knows what for. There is no electricity. Everything smells of smoke. You can't even stay in the apartment long or your throat, eyes and nose start hurting.

My mom and I went in to execute the plan for saving Gati, my cat. The plan was this: take the hair from his brush, rub it all over the door mat. Put his bed outside by the door, put out food, and lastly his litterbox. My hope is that he can smell his way back with those outside. I also put some old sneakers out, thinking they might smell like me. But they probably just reek of smoke....perhaps that was a bad idea afterall.

We grabbed a laundry basket of "fresh" clothes (I had just pulled them out of the dryer before the fire) and anything from the closet that might be washable. I also grabbed a couple pair of sandals and ballet flats, hoping they would air out.

I went to school, and threw my laundry basket of whites and a couple of other things in the washer with the foods teacher's towels. It seemed to work, the clothes smelled pretty good. But then, my nose isn't exactly working very well after this entire ordeal.

I went back to the apartment, only to find the power is still off, so I can't charge my phone, which is now dead. So I take to looking for the cat. No luck. But when I walked past the maintenance area, I saw a cat run by. This is the ONLY cat I have ever seen in this complex. So I begin to wonder if maybe Gati is hanging out there, as well.

I eventually found the maintenance guys getting ready to go home, and asked if they had seen a cat in their garage. They said they have two or three. I said "mine's orange." One guy says "yeah, we have an orange mangy one," but "my" maintenance guy says "no, her cat only ran away yesterday." A third guy comes by and says what color is it? So I told him, orange. He asks "white chest?" I yelled "yes! With long hair!" He said "oh, he was here this morning scaling the fence. He's fine." At least I know he didn't go to far, and he found a cool place to hang out.

Anyway, tonight I'm back at my moms. I'm going to stay here one more night and then I'm off to Atlanta for a week. I'm concerned that Gati might try to go home by then, but I can only have neighbors look out for him, or hope he just stays in that garage. I imagine he'll come home sometime. If we ever figure out where home is.

The Fire

If you're reading this, you heard my apartment building caught fire today and now I am homeless. Seriously.

At approximately 2:30 PM today, I was lying in bed reading a book, which was completely odd, because I ordinarily go home and take a nap. Anyway, Gati and I are chillin' (Gati is my cat, in case you didn't already know) and I hear what I think might be a familial dispute. It sounds like some parent is screaming at their kid as they are spanking them (might I add the kid is howling it's head off.) I initially thought "stay out of it" until it sounded like someone threw something (or someone) against a wall. So I got out of bed to look out the window to see if I needed to open a can of whoop ass on some child abuser. There was nothing to the right, but to my left, flames and smoke are shooting out of my next door neighbor's patio window about 6-8 feet away from the building!

"We gotta go!" I yelled at the cat (yes, I really said it out loud) and I ran to grab some pants and shoes. Got the pants on, grabbed a pair of shoes (can you believe they matched?) grabbed the cat, my purse and my laptop. Oh, and the book? It's still in my hand, too.

Well, the cat got away. By this time, a different neighbor is pounding on my door. I open the door, give her the laptop, toss the shoes off the balcony, throw my purse and book on the floor outside the door and go back for the cat. I figure I only had this one last chance, and if I didn't get him then, I was gonna have to leave him.

Gati had taken to hiding in the box spring of my matress after the move (we've only lived here two months.) During the move, the fabric that covers the bottom of the box spring had torn and he made himself a little hammock out of it. Well, he hid in his hammock. I couldn't reach him. So I ran around to the other side of the bed, praying he wouldn't scurry back to the other end. He didn't. I had to punch a hole in the fabric (thank god it was non-woven) and I just grabbed him. He was not happy. I ran out of the apt, grabbed everything I threw outside, then ran to the neighbor holding my laptop. When I reached her, we could see that the upstairs apartment RIGHT next door to me was completely engulfed in flames. About this time Gati scratched and writhed, peed on me, then bit me and ran away. I could do nothing but watch him run.

I got my shoes on when I realized I still had this stupid book in my hand. Well, it wasn't really a stupid book, it's "Naked" by David Sedaris, which is freaking hysterical. Patrick gave me this book about a hundred years ago for my birthday or Christmas or something like that. I needed something to read the other night so I picked it up. To my surprise there were little notes throughout the book that said thing like "You can always dance with me" and "I only wish I wrote a note as good as you," which sure are nice to see once in a while. Anyway, I digress...

Once I got the shoes on, laptop on shoulder, book in bag and found my phone, I tried to call someone to come get me or stay with me or whatever you do in times like these. Neither of the other "Musketeers" were answering. So I called my mom, but only after I looked up to see the window next to mine (um...right next, only like three feet between them) billowing with smoke. Ok, not billowing, what is worse than billowing? I tell her the building is on fire, to come get me. She can hardly hear me. I'm crying, there are sirens in the background, people are screaming and it sounds like five hairdryers are blowing on face. By now we are hearing minor explosions (aerosol cans? What explodes in a household fire, I have no idea....the apartments are all electric, so it can't be the gas lines.)

Once mom was able to decipher my sobbing, she said she'd get me when I yelled "oh, shit, MY CAR!" My car was parked right in front of this building. So I run to my car, which is being showered with ash. I start to move it when the fire trucks arrive. Lucky for me I moved it because they used that spot for the hose. Anyway, I can't sit still so I get out of the car. It's amazing how you want to see if your stuff is going up in flames or not.

Now the smoke is shooting out of that window next to mine and I can't tell if it's starting to leak out of my bedroom window. In my mind I could see the adjacent wall beginning to go up in flames, igniting my bed and linens, my clothes in the closet, etc. I was really starting to get nervous. I had to keep telling myself "it's only stuff, it's only stuff" but dammit, I had just hung pictures on the living room wall two days ago. I'd only lived here two months and now everything I owned was about to go up in flames. The guy downstairs says "I just went in and touched the walls, they are cold, they're cold" which calmed me a bit, but I knew that if my apartment didn't go up in flames, the smoke damage would be enough to wipe it out.

I finally got a hold of Kelly, who came right down. By now, I can't complete a sentence because of inhaling smoke. The police kept shooing us away...how come the smoke didn't bother them? The only thing I can think of is that I'm panting because I'm crying and I'm also breathing through my mouth. My throat hurts and I can't stop coughing. When Kelly arrives, she gets me in the paramedic van, where they put me on oxygen and take my vitals. After about 15 minutes of that nonsense, I was ready to move on.

So Kel and I go sit in her car. About this time, I see the apartment manager. I chase him down. He's like "no worries, you're in the other building," and I'm like "uh, NOT." I teased him "that last apartment complex of yours I lived in I was almost blown up by a meth lab (meth lab story later), and now this? What, was someone BBQing on their patio?" Sure enough, they were. Uh, hello, that's ILLEGAL. Can you say fire code violation? I hope they get fined, sued etc.

My mom works about one hour away. That hour flew by, especially since Kelly was with me. When she showed up, she teased Curtis, the manager, too. We tried to stay in good spirits. My mom tells me "I want you to think about how thankful you should be. There is always something to be thankful for. Now you get to go shopping for all new clothes to wear to the Ron Clark Conference." We both laughed and cried over that one. I was just laboring over my lack of professional attire for this conference. In fact, I bought a pant suit at Walmart on Saturday that I haven't even removed from the bag. Now it's probably ruined.

So almost four hours later they won't let us return. My mom convinced the police to escort me into my apartment for my medication and my "gadget bag" which contained the school video camera and digital camera. That's it. I have nothing else except all the things I ran out with. Oh, wait, not even that. The cat ran away.

I'm so worried that Gati won't find his way home. Or, if he does, I'll be at this damn conference and won't be able to let him in. He's never been outside this apartment before, so he's left his scent nowhere except the what dripped on the ground when he peed on me. I'm worried the 100 degree weather will get the best of him. I only hope he finds some water and a cool place to rest.

I've called in sick to work so I can make arrangements with the insurance company to come see how bad the place really is. The news is reporting that only four families were displaced, but they wouldn't let us back in. Since I didn't wait around I don't know if they let the other four of us back in, but I couldn't have stayed anyway, the smoke smell made your eyes water.

I imagine I'm going to stay with a friend, in a hotel or just stay with my mom. I just don't have time for the two hours of commuting that would take....I have to finish my grades at school, check out the seniors, get my room ready to lock up for the summer, and pack for the conference. I just don't know how I'm going to get it all done.

I can hardly keep my eyes open now. I am going to go to sleep. I hope I can actually get some rest and not worry about what will happen to me tomorrow. Or the next day. At least I know the day after that I'll be in Atlanta....