We have a home!!

Today we found a house to rent for the next six months while our house is being repaired! 

This place is amazing!!

(click the link for detailed photos)

My good friend Jane went to see her chiropractor, mentioned our situation; he mentioned that he has a friend that leases homes for sale; she gave me the contact info; I gave it to our housing guy; he called the woman....and by 4:00 this afternoon we had a beautiful house to live in! We move in Friday.

The amount of stress that has been relived from my body is amazing. I feel younger, lighter and so much more at ease.

House Fire: Update

We met with our insurance adjuster and a fire restoration company on Monday and we learned a lot...some of it was good news and some of it was not so good news:

• At the earliest they see us back in the house by February 1st.
• The dollar amount of damage is LARGE! More than I had expected.
• We lost 95% of the things on the second story. Some of the stored items in one of the bedrooms will likely be able to be restored. We all lost all of our clothes and shoes. Winter items were in closets on the main level, so they are ok.
• There is extensive water damage on the main level, though the furniture should be able to be restored.
• When we begin reconstructing the house the city will force us to get everything to code which is part of the reason it will take so long. However, when it is all done it will be so nice to not have to worry about those things anymore.

This first image was taken on Friday night, before the fire and the second image is of the same spot in Sam's room. The following images are from around house. They are fairly disturbing, so be warned. I only post them as a sort of closure for me and because so many of you have asked.

Yarn...

I have so many wonderful knitting friends asking about yarn...the most common question I get is, "Did your yarn survive?"

I must really be known as a knitter now!

Survive is a tough word to define...physically it is there. Will I ever use it again, no.  

We were told today that we lost everything on the second floor of the house....that is all of our "things". Structurally there is a lot of damage, but a lot of the walls and floors can be refinished and what needs to be will be rebuilt.

I can claim the loss of yarn in our insurance claim and purchase it all over again....so there is some yarn shopping in my future.

Not sure about needles and things of that sort...I would imagine some of that can be cleaned.

More later...

House Fire

We had a house fire last night. It was very scary, but we are all fine. Even the cat and the dog are fine. 

The fire started in a light switch in Sam's room and it spread very fast. 

There was a lot of damage from fire, water, and smoke, but most of our valuables and furniture on the lower level are okay. 

We stayed with close friends last night and will be here tonight and then the insurance company is putting us up in a hotel for 11 days after which they will find a house for us. It will likely be 2-3 months before we can move back in to our house.

The boys are doing really well. They were very freaked out yesterday, but they are very comfortable with our friends and seem to be adjusting to the changes okay.

I'll post with more detail later. In the mean time, just know that we have been taken care of very well. The Red Cross gave us disaster funds for food and diapers, friends have brought clothes and shoes for all of us, and we are fairing with grace.

I do have photos and will post them later, but they are pretty disturbing. Please don't worry, call if you want and I'll talk if I can.

Additions

Just a few things that I have been meaning to write about, but have either not had the time to do it or felt that there were more important things to write about!

Pregnancy Update:

Last Tuesday I took the boys and met with Kip, one of the three midwives at the Greenhouse Birth Center. We finally decided that the home birth midwife we interviewed didn't feel right and our other option locally for a home birth is the birth center. They will do home births if requested as long as there are no other mothers in labor when you go into labor. Their policy is such that they have two midwives at every birth and they can do multiple births simultaneously at the birth center, but not at individual homes. An average birth month for them is about 8 births and due in March, including myself, there are 14 women!  There is a good chance I will be making the trek to the birth center; however, they have great birthing tubs and the prospect of a water birth excites me. The other bonus is that I have been so involved with the birth center in the last year I already know all the midwives quite well and I love them all. I feel very comfortable there. I  am a board member! Some home birthing women would never settle for this situation, but both Matt and I feel very certain that this is the right decision for us.

The meeting with Kip was wonderful! We went over the usual health/birth history info while the boys played in the toy room (and Arlo played everywhere). We had easy, comfortable conversation, except for when I had to stop Arlo from getting into something, writing on something or eating something he shouldn't! I heard the heart beat and it was in the 130's/140's, very normal, healthy and strong.

I'll go back in 2 weeks for my 16 week check up and this time I am not bringing the kids!

Knitting Update:

While I was in my 6 week stint of ick, I didn't do any knitting and it has taken me a couple weeks of feeling good and catching up with everything else to reach a point where I feel like I can sit down and knit. But I finally made it to that point and I have been knitting!

I finished this sweater for my friend Stacy and her new baby, Carter. It only took me 8 weeks! Now I just need to mail it and I hope that doesn't take me another 8 weeks...

I started my next project, Ginger's baby's sweater, last night. I am finally knitting with actual Debbie Bliss yarn; something I have wanted to do for years, but could never really afford. It is such a pretty color and so nice to knit with.

Chicken Update:

We finally have eggs! But our silly chickens laid the eggs in a mud puddle outside! I conferred with my friend Ann and she suggested putting a wooden egg in one of the nesting boxes to encourage them to lay in the appropriate place. We'll see...so far no more eggs, but the weather has been dark and gloomy and cold and wet. 

First Day

Today is a day of firsts...Sam's first day of school, Arlo's first day without a big brother around all day, and my first day with Sam gone all day. WOW! I simply can not believe this day has come.

This is the "All About Me" poster Sam and I had to make for school. It was his first homework assignment. I love the "hot dog train" and the trail-a-bike drawing he asked me to make. 
Sam and I worked on a quilt together for his nap time at school. He requested the quilt when we first learned that he would be taking a nap. The process started with us looking in my fabric stash. He found the red bug fabric ( I bought 8 years ago to make Matt boxers, never did...good thing) and then we found the red cotton (bought about 5 years ago and made Pat a table cloth). From there he told me he wanted his name on the front and we went to the fabric store. He chose the batik green and yellow fabric for the bug body and the shiny wing fabric. Over a week of nap times he would play in the sewing room while I sewed. He loved watching it all come together. Then he and I looked at fonts on the computer. He chose the "varsity" style because he said it looks like a baseball shirt!  We printed his name out and then cut out the letters in the fabric.  At his orientation last week we learned that the kids needed pillows as well and Sam requested a matching pillow...so, you see I used some scraps and it all looks pretty nice. He is very happy with it.

Last Week

SAM: 

• had a toothache 
• went to the dentist
• had the tooth pulled
  
• now has a "tooth hole"
• put the tooth next to his bed for the tooth fairy (who came tonight, shhhh)
• went school shopping and acquired new Spiderman shoes and lunchbox
• went to preschool orientation and met his new teachers

ARLO:

• added "bee" and "hello" to his list of words which includes so many words his mama can't even list them
• caused his mother to say "OH, ARLO!" approximately 500 times
• fell asleep in a pile of blankets next to the bonfire we had last night
• intentionally farted in his mama's face while getting a diaper change

MATT:

• did 5 loads of laundry over the weekend to help his lovely wife catch up
• harvested all the buckwheat in the garden using a borrowed scythe 
• built an amazing bonfire for his family and some close friends
• taught another week of his class which is challenging him in good ways
• harvested and ate approximately one dozen pears from his pear tree

AMANDA:

• finally had enough energy to keep up with her three very busy boys...
• but didn't have quite enough energy to post a long list of recent photos....soon to come....