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Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May

Have you found a contractor to redo your home? Do you get to hire who you want to do it or does the insurance company have to approve?
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Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May

@just bee 

 

I don’t have any experience with a house fire either, but just going through my shredding process I’ve learned that papers don’t do well with time.  Granted, mine were kept in an attic and not the house.  But most of the stuff from the 70’s is pretty much useless.  The paper is disintegrating and whatever is written on it has also mostly disappeared.  So the receipts I have are useless for anything anyway.  The 80’s things are “iffy”.  So I would say that anything paper that’s over 20 years old, is something to really consider whether it’s worth it to keep.  Perhaps restoration allocation would be better served on solid furniture and the like.  But how do you decide what has more meaning in your life, and therefore, something you’d prefer to keep?  I have no idea.

 

I hope you can get a better response from your insurance company, but you know how they can be. This really is like having a death in the family—a lot of your past is gone and dead—and having to deal with the frustrations of corporate rules just adds to the pain.

 

I read this the other day:

 

When something bad happens you have three choices:

 

You can let it define you, you can let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.

 

Easy to say.  Hard to do.

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Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May


@Brisky wrote:
Have you found a contractor to redo your home? Do you get to hire who you want to do it or does the insurance company have to approve?

@Brisky 

 

Our friend in MO who lost his house to a tornado was able to find a contractor himself.  He had an advantage: Time.

 

We wanted to do that but we just don't have the time to research and interview people.  The company that works with our insurance might not be the best choice but they are doing both restoration and reconstruction.

 

I need to get that rolling because the house is an eyesore right now and it's smelling up the neighborhood.  I can just imagine that smoke smell being sucked in through people's swamp coolers.

 

God, I hope not.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~
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Posts: 1,658
Registered: ‎04-27-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May

just bee - I was away and just getting around to read the thread.  I am sorry about the fire, but glad to hear you, BH and WGD are okay.  I hope you can get thru all the "stuff" you have to do.  I can not image having to do that.

 

I wish you all the best.  Be sure to take time to breath.

Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,658
Registered: ‎04-27-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May

just bee - I was away and just getting around to read the thread.  I am sorry about the fire, but glad to hear you, BH and WGD are okay.  I hope you can get thru all the "stuff" you have to do.  I can not image having to do that.

 

I wish you all the best.  Be sure to take time to breathe.

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Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May


@geezerette wrote:

@just bee 

 

I don’t have any experience with a house fire either, but just going through my shredding process I’ve learned that papers don’t do well with time.  Granted, mine were kept in an attic and not the house.  But most of the stuff from the 70’s is pretty much useless.  The paper is disintegrating and whatever is written on it has also mostly disappeared.  So the receipts I have are useless for anything anyway.  The 80’s things are “iffy”.  So I would say that anything paper that’s over 20 years old, is something to really consider whether it’s worth it to keep.  Perhaps restoration allocation would be better served on solid furniture and the like.  But how do you decide what has more meaning in your life, and therefore, something you’d prefer to keep?  I have no idea.

 

I hope you can get a better response from your insurance company, but you know how they can be. This really is like having a death in the family—a lot of your past is gone and dead—and having to deal with the frustrations of corporate rules just adds to the pain.

 

I read this the other day:

 

When something bad happens you have three choices:

 

You can let it define you, you can let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.

 

Easy to say.  Hard to do.


@geezerette 

 

I have the added concern that I stupidly kept a lot of paper that had personal/financial information on it.  There was a time that your SSN was on everything.  My old papers have that information and I just had to pitch most of them and hope for the best.  (Someone's probably stealing my identity as I type this.  Fine -- you can have it if you're willing to go deal with that sooty mess.)

 

That quote is well-known to me.  My psych patients are mostly defined by and destroyed by what has happened to them.

 

I have to be careful when I go back to work to remain therapeutic.  When someone tells me they're suicidal because mom took their cell phone away, I have to resist the urge to tell them that sounds pretty stupid compared to other things that can happen to a person.

 

Maybe it's good to have a little time off...

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~
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Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May


@PAlady wrote:

just bee - I was away and just getting around to read the thread.  I am sorry about the fire, but glad to hear you, BH and WGD are okay.  I hope you can get thru all the "stuff" you have to do.  I can not image having to do that.

 

I wish you all the best.  Be sure to take time to breathe.


@PAlady 

 

Thanks so much.  I'm thinking I'm okay and then I realize I'm just scattered enough to do really stupid things.  Like this morning.  I am a robot.  I get up, put water on to boil for tea, change the dog's water and feed him.  This morning I cleaned his bowls, gave him  water, then had tea.  Good thing he slept in this morning: Maybe he didn't realize I forgot to feed him on time.

 

My whole schedule is off now.  And so is his.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~
Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May

It's past 9:00 and I should have been at the house an hour ago.  It's so depressing in some ways.  Like yesterday when I found letters from friends and chose to throw them away.  I set a postcard aside when I realized it was from my junior/senior high friend.

 

We lost touch decades ago but I Googled her one day a couple years back and discovered she had died from bile duct cancer.

 

I just stared at that card, paralyzed again.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~
Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,487
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May


@just bee wrote:

@PAlady wrote:

just bee - I was away and just getting around to read the thread.  I am sorry about the fire, but glad to hear you, BH and WGD are okay.  I hope you can get thru all the "stuff" you have to do.  I can not image having to do that.

 

I wish you all the best.  Be sure to take time to breathe.


@PAlady 

 

Thanks so much.  I'm thinking I'm okay and then I realize I'm just scattered enough to do really stupid things.  Like this morning.  I am a robot.  I get up, put water on to boil for tea, change the dog's water and feed him.  This morning I cleaned his bowls, gave him  water, then had tea.  Good thing he slept in this morning: Maybe he didn't realize I forgot to feed him on time.

 

My whole schedule is off now.  And so is his.


@just bee 

 

You’re going through the grieving process, just as in a death.  All the different stages, and they don’t necessarily come in an orderly process.  And they won’t  necessarily leave anytime soon.  I know this.  You life has changed.  

 

In your logical mind you know all this stuff.  But when it happens to you personally, it’s no longer a matter of the mind, but of the heart.  That changes everything.

 

As for you patients, you already have more patience than I would.  I would have throttled half of them long ago.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,951
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: ComPact 2019 – Mellow May


@geezerette wrote:

@just bee wrote:

@PAlady wrote:

just bee - I was away and just getting around to read the thread.  I am sorry about the fire, but glad to hear you, BH and WGD are okay.  I hope you can get thru all the "stuff" you have to do.  I can not image having to do that.

 

I wish you all the best.  Be sure to take time to breathe.


@PAlady 

 

Thanks so much.  I'm thinking I'm okay and then I realize I'm just scattered enough to do really stupid things.  Like this morning.  I am a robot.  I get up, put water on to boil for tea, change the dog's water and feed him.  This morning I cleaned his bowls, gave him  water, then had tea.  Good thing he slept in this morning: Maybe he didn't realize I forgot to feed him on time.

 

My whole schedule is off now.  And so is his.


@just bee 

 

You’re going through the grieving process, just as in a death.  All the different stages, and they don’t necessarily come in an orderly process.  And they won’t  necessarily leave anytime soon.  I know this.  You life has changed.  

 

In your logical mind you know all this stuff.  But when it happens to you personally, it’s no longer a matter of the mind, but of the heart.  That changes everything.

 

As for you patients, you already have more patience than I would.  I would have throttled half of them long ago.


@geezerette 

 

You, my dear, are priceless. Heart

 

And, as usual, absolutely correct.  It's my lifelong battle: Heart versus head.  It's how I ended up in medicine because there's that weird balance of Spockian logic/facts on one side and compassion/creativity on the other.

 

I went through the seven stages of grief -- big time -- when my Subaru was killed.  I'm only feeling annoyed about the melted Honda.  Progress?

 

Last week I test drove a Subaru Impreza and BH found another online that he arranged to bring down from Santa Fe for a look-see.

 

If I like it, I'll buy it.  It's white.  The one I test drove was a great buy, but that was the blue one.  Maybe a better choice because I wasn't in love with it.  But the white one is... pretty.

 

There it is again: Heart versus head.

 

I'm back from the house but we're taking the dog to the bosque before we both head back to inventory some more.

 

My big fear right now?  Foxtails.  The yard is full of them and we contacted a crew to clean up the yard and chop everything way back.  They won't be able to come out until the end of the month.

 

I worry about the dog sitting in the yard while we're in the house working.  More to stress about.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~