Beauty

[just bee]

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@HogginDogs wrote:

  Just take it one day at a time.  It is extremely time consuming.  We work every single day trying to get things sorted out for insurance (still) while trying to survive.  We still consider ourselves in survival mode.  When it comes to insurance don't rush it.  Ours tried to say we didn't need a new roof (the fire glazed our shingles to the point the gutters were filled with sand).   The bank is still holding onto our landscaping money so we are cutting ddown over 270 trees on our own.  

My favorite teas are Hibiki-an from Kyoto for green tea (comes straight from Japan), Twinings for Earl Grey, Republic of Tea Cranberry Orange and Jasmine Pearl and London for black currant.  I also mix the Celestial Seasonings with English or Irish breakast.

I am trying to give up my addiction for saving jars and containers.  I need to recycle more of them.  I have canning jars over 40 years old.  

We still have soot when the wind blows.  Yuk.  It doesn't wash off easily either.  Make sure to wear a mask.  One test we did is after we were outside we took a sticky post it note and put it on our skin and looked at it.  That shows what you are exposed to.  We do nasal rinses and eye rinses in the shower every night. 

One of these days you and your significant other will look at each other and say "I can't believe we made it".  It is overwhelming what you went through but you are alive.  

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@HogginDogs 

You, too???

I'm giving up tins and jars that are from the 70s -- and some are older than that!  I squirreled away one that's probably from the 40s or 50s.

Old habits die hard.

Today I went through cards.  Another addiction.  I've been collecting greeting cards for decades.

I found a ton of school papers today from college, high school and junior high.  I had to bid them a fond adieu.  I did manage to save one of my plays.

Old love letters?  Landfill.

I can't believe some of the things I've parted with.  But then I can't believe I saved some of this stuff.  I mean, I had it in boxes and never looked at it so it was kinda like not having it at all.

It's just weird.

All I know is that if I die in the next couple years, no one else will have to deal with it and ask the eternal question:

What the h_ll was she thinking?

[Beauty$Junkie]

Just Bee, I am so sorry for what you are going through but glad you were not hurt in your fire.  I have not been in this forum for awhile, so I was saddened to learn what you have been dealing with...but you maintain such a positive attitude.  You are such a remarkable and strong individual.  Thanks for all you for all of us here in ComPact.  Prayers and hugs.

[beautybee]

@just bee  I just read the May thread and my heart goes out to you. I can't imagine the loss you are feeling, and the amount of stress. Especially because the decision was basically made for you to get rid of your stuff.  

Two of my siblings died pretty young. One was 50 and the other just turned 60. They had stuff. The younger one was a clothes and jewelry enthusiast. But there was no Uhaul in the end to take with them where they were going. Just reinforced my belief that we don't really own anything, not even the body we are in. We are caretakers and when our time is up we must leave it all behind.

Stay strong and embrace your new beginning. Easier said than done, but I know you can do it. 

[just bee]

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@Beauty$Junkie wrote:

Just Bee, I am so sorry for what you are going through but glad you were not hurt in your fire.  I have not been in this forum for awhile, so I was saddened to learn what you have been dealing with...but you maintain such a positive attitude.  You are such a remarkable and strong individual.  Thanks for all you for all of us here in ComPact.  Prayers and hugs.

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@Beauty$Junkie 

Thank you so much for the encouragement.  It's really kinda sad to see your home so damaged and the plants so singed.  Everything's in limbo because the fire is under investigation.  The suspected culprit was Better-half's truck.

That means nothing can be touched, so all the debris in our driveway and what's left of the garage door is still in the front yard.  It's an eyesore and I feel bad for the neighbors.

I notice people pull up in their cars and look at the house.  It's creepy.

And under one of the piles of debris I suspect there's the leash that Better-half made for our dog.  We haven't been able to find it anywhere.

[just bee]

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@beautybee wrote:

@just bee  I just read the May thread and my heart goes out to you. I can't imagine the loss you are feeling, and the amount of stress. Especially because the decision was basically made for you to get rid of your stuff.  

Two of my siblings died pretty young. One was 50 and the other just turned 60. They had stuff. The younger one was a clothes and jewelry enthusiast. But there was no Uhaul in the end to take with them where they were going. Just reinforced my belief that we don't really own anything, not even the body we are in. We are caretakers and when our time is up we must leave it all behind.

Stay strong and embrace your new beginning. Easier said than done, but I know you can do it. 

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@beautybee 

Same here.  My sister was taking care of my mother, then died unexpectedly just after her 50th birthday.  That meant that my other sister and her husband had to clear out two houses and send my mother to me.

My sister had been living in the house that belonged to my stepfather.  He and his mother had lived in it and they were collectors.  Then my mother and I moved in after they married.  When my sister took over the house there were items from my stepfather and his mother (both deceased) and then from my mother and me.

My mother's house was also packed.  She was struggling with Alzheimer's and had started to hoard.  My sister and her husband had to make quick decisions, too, and many items were thrown away.

Including all the family photos.  She doesn't remember seeing them -- it was probably just another cardboard box.

So what gets burned up in my fire?  The only family photos I have.

So you are correct.  We don't even have ownership of our "stuff."  It's like we're just leasing.

Thank you for the kind words.  Things will be different and I'm hoping we can embrace our new life.  Change happens.

I'd like to be one of those people who will look at this as a blessing when all is said and done.

I'm starting to think that I wouldn't have parted with a lot of this cr@p unless I'd been forced to part with it.  That's scary.

[just bee]

Good advice: Don't forget to stop and smell the roses.  For me, May is the time to inhale the heavenly fragrance from the Russian olive blossoms.

See?  There I am, with my face buried in the tiny yellow blossoms.

It's June now and the scent will begin to fade, replaced by scentless "snow."  The snow is actually all the cotton that comes from our cottonwood trees. 

I intend to take the day off and I hope to buy a car today.  And do laundry.  And get the car insured (just paid my last bill on the FIT, too).  And return the rental.

Today might be my last day to sniff the olive blossoms.

[geezerette]

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@beautybee wrote:

@just bee  I just read the May thread and my heart goes out to you. I can't imagine the loss you are feeling, and the amount of stress. Especially because the decision was basically made for you to get rid of your stuff.  

Two of my siblings died pretty young. One was 50 and the other just turned 60. They had stuff. The younger one was a clothes and jewelry enthusiast. But there was no Uhaul in the end to take with them where they were going. Just reinforced my belief that we don't really own anything, not even the body we are in. We are caretakers and when our time is up we must leave it all behind.

Stay strong and embrace your new beginning. Easier said than done, but I know you can do it. 

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@beautybee 

That is one of the most insightful observations I have read in a long time.  And so very true.  I don’t think that we realize the true extent of statement until we start to lose our loved ones.

[geezerette]

@just bee 

The investigators still haven’t figured out what exactly on BH’s vehicle started the fire?

When do you go back to work?

[Brisky]

I don't know if this will help any of you but I once read that if you find 23 items a day in your home that you don't like or love, dump lt. Soon you will get down to the items you Need and Love.

[just bee]

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@geezerette wrote:

@just bee 

The investigators still haven’t figured out what exactly on BH’s vehicle started the fire?

When do you go back to work?

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@geezerette 

The insurance company lawyers and the car company lawyers will have to battle this out.  I just hope it doesn't take years because I'd like to see my house rebuilt before I die.

Although this hotel has its perks.  I was just watching WGD at the window watching a squirrel digging a hole.  I swear there was a thought bubble over his head: "We must never leave this place."

I returned the rental car today and contacted the insurance company to let them know.  Now suddenly they're saying I didn't have a rental for 30 days.  No, that's what you told me the day after the fire -- the day the car rental company picked me up at the hotel and drove me to their rental outlet.  They're saying that I had a rental up until the car settlement.  Oh?  Why wasn't that communicated then?

My head is going to explode.

Anyway, I go back to work tomorrow night which means I have to magically go back to a night schedule between now and then.

WGD is at my feet.  We're getting some thunder and lightning here and he doesn't like it.

I still don't have a car.  Disappointing.