Exhausted!

The amount of time and energy it takes to keep up with the insurance/repair process amazes me.  As time passes, we find new obstacles.

On Friday, one of the insurance claim representatives we have been working with called and said “Obviously you are going to use up the full 9 months of living expenses provided by the policy so we need to make some decisions”.  Fortunately she was mistaken and looking at one of our neighbors’ files.  That has, however, caused us to realize that construction/repair will probably be ongoing through the next 12 months.  I don’t imagine that will be good for property value when we try to sell the house this coming fall/winter like we’d planned.

Tomorrow morning (Monday), I hope to get even more information from the condo association (specifically from their insurance company and their contractors).  We met with them on Thursday afternoon but they had proposals to put together and other planning to do.  By laying low on Friday and over the weekend, I’m hoping they’ll have a wealth of updated information to pass on.

Once we are allowed back in, we’ll have to make some arrangements for cleaning.  The gross food in the refrigerator, the nasty wet laundry that was (and still is) in the washing machine, and the cat’s automated food bowl (that has likely overflowed and I hope hasn’t drawn critters in) are at the top of the list for disgusting things I’d rather not have to deal with.

More serious than that is carpet cleaning, water damage/mold in the fire wall between our unit and our neighbors, water damage/mold behind the siding outside our door, and the smoke smell that continues to linger in areas of the house.  Until all of the neighboring debris is removed, the smell gets worse every time we open the door!

On top of all of that, we’re chasing down silly things like mail and packages.  We had a couple things shipped by UPS that they tried to deliver after the fire.  Their tracking information says that they cannot deliver to the address.  Easy enough, lets just have them deliver it to us at the hotel, right?  Nope – they mail you a postcard with a number on it.  You need that number for UPS to redirect the package.  Okay.  Except that USPS isn’t delivering mail EITHER!  So now UPS has two packages they are holding for us.  They’ve notified us by mail but the post office isn’t delivering our mail.  I hope to get to the post office and clear some of this up tomorrow.

The kids are having a blast – we went swimming a couple days ago and they enjoyed it.  They’ve enjoyed riding the elevator, running up and down the halls (and Josiah’s enjoyed trying to open other people’s doors!).  The space we have at the hotel is tight but more than adequate.  We never expected we’d be here this long – now we’re starting to wrap our heads around the idea that we might be a few more weeks depending on what needs to be cleaned and/or repaired at the house.

 

As always, we’ll keep you updated.  We appreciate your interest and concern, as well as the time investment you make to keep up with us!

Inspections at the condo

Today, Bethany and I met a few people at the condo for some inspections.  We had about 10 different people in/out of the house while we were there.

You can see them building a temporary roof over the damaged sections:

While speaking to someone from the insurance company, they mixed up our file with someone from the middle section.  The call started with “You’re definitely going to be out of your house longer than the 9 months coverage in your policy”.  It was quickly obvious that they were talking about someone else but that is a scary situation to be in.

Insurance tips:
Have renter’s insurance (or homeowner’s if you are in a condo)!  I didn’t carry homeowner’s insurance for the first couple years I was there (I thought about it only in the context of my stuff – if I lost the little bit of stuff I had, it was no problem).  Replacing cabinets, appliances, carpet/flooring, etc would be a nightmare with no insurance.  The landlord or condo association’s policy isn’t intended to provide for your needs.

Look at the duration of “Additional Living Expenses” coverage you have – we are fortunate to have 9 months when we will only need a couple weeks at most (baring something crazy!).  Had we lived in the middle of the building (or the fire not been brought under control), the insurance company would have put us up somewhere for 9 months, then waved goodbye.  We’ll be talking with our insurance people to increase this coverage on our policy for the future.

 

Our downstairs neighbor has some pretty significant water damage.  We have some moisture in the bottom of the wall right inside the door (from the door up to the left edge of the console table).  When they put their moisture probe in the wall, you could hear it was wet.  You can’t even see anything in the picture (to demonstrate how lucky we are)!

 

The kids room didn’t have any kind of smoke smell at all.  We sniffed the drawers, curtains, bedding, furniture, and carpet.  Our room and the hallway had spots that smelled smoky – fortunately the closet had no trace of smoke smell that we could detect.  The cabinets all smelled like smoke when you opened them and the couch cushions and pillows smelled like smoke when you sat on them.

The fridge had food that had gone bad and the washer had wet clothes since Saturday night.  Both smelled foul!

Moving forward:

They got the water back on for about 15 minutes while we were there but it was shut off again before we left.  Our best guess is that they’ll get the water straightened out over the next day or two.  From there, the plumbing has to be inspected and then the building inspector has to sign off.  At that point, inspection-wise, the building is livable again.  We can’t move in until the moisture in the walls is addressed and the contractors finish any work they’ll need to do in our place.

When we left today, the contractor was putting together paperwork for the association.  They said they would start on the repair work as soon as the papers were signed off on.  There are 8 units (four on the left and four in our group on the right) that may need some kind of work (the 12 in the center are a completely different story).  If they fix ours first, we might be back in sooner than if they get ours last.  I hope to get more information from them on Monday.

The insurance company has extended our stay at the hotel through noon on Wednesday.  We don’t expect to be out of here by then, but it lets us get information on Monday and discuss it with them.

We’ll have one more inspection trip through the house with the personal property person from the adjuster’s office.  This will be the person we’ll work with on smells and messes.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get that done on Monday or Tuesday.

Lastly, we' were told that we can enter the house to get things as needed, provided we coordinate with the management company ahead of time (who has someone onsite almost all day).  That will be a relief!

 

I’m off to retrieve laundry!  Thanks for keeping up with our saga.

Just like home, only very different

Like at home, Amazon sends packages to the hotel for us – except here, I get a phone call in the room when they arrive.

Like at home, we have tons of laundry to do – except here, we have to go downstairs to the laundry room and use the machines with three settings (hot, warm, cold).

Like at home, the kids make a disaster at meal time – except here, at least for breakfast, they get to do it as entertainment for everyone else eating downstairs.

 

We’re all tired – it’s surprising how it takes extra work to keep things going while staying here.  It seems illogical – at the hotel, there should be so much less to do, right?  We had to pick up a mat for the bathtub here (Josiah bruises himself enough playing on his own, we don’t need to let him get banged up from falling in the bathtub), salt and pepper (using the little fast food-sized packets for meals at home gets old), and sanitizing wipes (Josiah is gross – he wants to lick everything).  It’s always little and seemingly insignificant stuff that you need (or without which you are inconvenienced enough that you have to get it).

This morning we went for a walk up and down the hall.  Josiah had a blast being able to run for long stretches as we chased each other.  After dinner, I took him down to the laundry room with me to do some wash.  He is terrified of the elevator!  I let him push all the buttons (which he enjoys) but he does not like when the elevator door closes.  We’ll keep working on that…

The cats are settled in – they’ve been out roaming around, napping by the window and on the bed like they own the place.  It’s good to see them recovering (still slowly – eating and drinking but still far less than usual).

 

Tomorrow will be a big day.  We got a call from the association asking us to meet the building inspector at the condo tomorrow afternoon.  They told us we’ll have 2 hours where we can get stuff from the house.  The insurance adjuster will also be meeting us there to get his first look through things.

So far, all of our calls/contacts with insurance have been about getting somewhere to stay and trading contact information.  Tomorrow starts the process of ironing out what needs to be repaired, replaced, cleaned, tested, etc.  That can all go smoothly or be a nightmare.

Probably the most exciting part of the day will be getting some simple information from the building inspector.  That will give us a sense of how long we’ll be restricted from going in the house on our own and how long we’ll have to wait to be allowed to move back in.  After we get a sense of those situations (which will only be his best guess), we can start extrapolating to when any repairs/cleaning would be completed and we’d be ready to go back.

One of the biggest unknowns is how the demolition/construction will impact us.  We dread having all of the noise, chaos, hazards, and even parking congestion that comes with rebuilding the 12 units in the two center sections of the building.  [Imagine the chaos – the condo association’s insurance company handles rebuilding the structure but the individual’s insurance company handles rebuilding the interior of the unit.  What does it look like to have them coordinating different insurance companies and then potentially 12 different contractors!]

 

As we get more settled here, the hotel begins to feel more relaxing to us.  Absent a DVR here at the hotel (and for our technical friends, no, we don’t have a Slingbox at the house), we have some pretty limited TV selection.  We’ve become so addicted to the convenience of Netflix and Amazon’s Video on Demand service.  Yes, both are available on our laptops but that’s just not as convenient as having them on the TV.  Yesterday we ordered a second Roku (we got one for Christmas that we use all the time in our bedroom) which showed up today (thanks to Amazon Prime’s $3.99 next-day shipping).  We plugged it in to the TV and connected it to the hotel’s internet and we had our movie/TV collections that we’re used to at home.  That was a huge plus for the kids, as they can now watch “Sid the Science Kid” and “Word World” throughout the day (bonus: we don’t have to deal with Barney on PBS in the late morning).  Once the kids go to bed and we’re wrapping things up, it’s so comforting to watch some of the shows we normally would watch at home!

The insurance company tells us they’ve got us paid up here through Monday.  After tomorrow, we’ll know if we’ll be here another week, if we’ll be moving to a furnished apartment for a few more weeks (very unlikely at this point), or if we’ll be heading back home on Monday.  Stay tuned!

 

No progress today!

I was supposed to meet with the insurance adjuster this afternoon to walk through the condo.  The condo association is telling us that it will be at least the end of the week, possibly next week before we can get in with the insurance adjuster to look around.  From there, the damage we find will probably dictate how long we will continue being displaced.

I had hoped to have walked through and have some updates and news as to what the next several days would be like – instead, we’re still waiting to hear.

We are both exhausted and going to try to get some rest this evening.  Below are some pictures of the condo as it sits now:

 

Because I literally keep falling asleep while writing, I’m going to call it a night.  We’ll hear more from the insurance adjuster later in the week and see where we’re headed from there.

 

Thanks for checking in!

“This is my temporary home”

 

“This is my temporary home” refers both to a song by Carrie Underwood, and the Residence Inn at Bishop’s Gate in Mt. Laurel.  Our family (including the cats) moved in this evening.  It took forever to get settled (I’m sitting down to do some emails for work at 11:15) but we’re glad to have somewhere to be!

We drove past the house tonight – there is fencing up around the middle of the building, but the stairs to our condo are outside the fencing.  That brings simultaneous relief and disappointment – we’re glad that it looks like we’ll have access to our things but disappointed that we may be back in the house before the major demolition is done (which means panicked cats and scared kids with all the noise literally on the other side of our living room wall!).

The insurance company is footing the bill for our hotel (and covering the fee for Jack and Milo to be with us).  We have  2-bedroom suite so that we aren’t tip-toeing around the kids (which wouldn’t work and would leave us with no sleep).  We’ll see how work goes tomorrow!

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be meeting with one of the 5 (yes, five) people from the insurance company that I’ve spoken with today.  The plan is to get consent to go into the house and look around to start determining what will need to be done before we get back in.  That meeting (and opportunity to be back in the house) will determine a lot of what happens over the next few days.

The kids are doing terrific.  Josiah and Lilly will both be so disappointed once we go back home.  In the last 48 hours, they’ve gotten to visit both of their grandparents, eaten out, and been otherwise spoiled.  They both had a blast checking out the hotel room and will be excited to wake up and see the cats here with us.  A few people have brought us toys – we’re probably close to toy overload now.

We can’t say enough (which is why we’ll keep repeating it) how we appreciate the calls, texts, and other messages we’ve received from you.  We appreciate your offers to help!  I hope at this time tomorrow, I’ll be able to let you know more about what we are in for over the next few days (and if/how we’ll need some help).  So far, we’re thankful that our things look okay and the insurance company is taking care of the things we need from them.

Goodnight-
Steve, Bethany, Josiah, Lilly, Jack, and Milo

[No pictures today – we’ll get some tomorrow!]

“Open Up!”

 

This morning, Bethany and I woke up to loud pounding on our front door with someone yelling “Open Up!”.  At first I figured someone in a neighboring condo was having some kind of domestic disturbance situation but after a few seconds, it was clear the banging was at our door.  I approached the door, as it shook with each hit from the visitor on the other side, and asked who was there: “It’s the police.”  The officer wasn’t thrilled when I asked to see his ID but he flashed it and then told us “Your building is on fire! Open up!” (Pretty much every sentence this morning ended with an exclamation point – I’m not just getting carried away with them)

 

Very confused after being woken up in the middle of the night, Bethany and I quickly got dressed and went to grab the kids.  They were both awake (all of the exclamation-pointing at the door must have woken them) and were easy to scoop up into their blankets.  We took them downstairs and fastened them into their car seats where we could provide some heat on the nice 26-degree morning.

 

Once they were settled, we saw the fire for the first time.  Fire crews from Mount Laurel, Cherry Hill, Lumberton, Hainesport, Willingboro, Delran, Moorestown, Evesham, and at least one or two other towns showed up.  To understand what happened, let me give a quick explanation of our condo building:

The building is split into 4 sections.  The left part has two stories with one unit at the front and one at the back of the building on each floor (a total of 4 units).  The left-center and right-center are the same – each with 3 stories for 6 units each.  The right side (where we live) is like the left.

 

The fire appears to have started at the left-center 3rd floor rear unit which was the focus of activity when we first came out.  While we were outside (the kids were in the car staying warm), the fire spread over and burst through the roof of the right-center roof.  That happened in about 15 minutes and didn’t leave us optimistic for what the next 15 minutes would bring.  While I wanted to wait around to keep up with what was happening, we had to get the kids settled down and to sleep.

We took the kids to my parents and got there maybe around 4.  It took a while to get out of the parking lot (imagine 15 fire trucks plus police cars, EMS vehicles, and fire command vehicles parked in any parking lot – we’re lucky to have gotten the car out at all!).  On the way over, we went through everything that was in the house that we would lose.  Both of us use an online backup service for our laptops so all of our treasured pictures, email, and personal/work documents were safe – it was so great that those things were not at risk even though we had left our laptops in the house. 

Josiah was tough to get to sleep – we ended up leaving my parents with the fun of getting him to sleep (after 45 minutes of coaxing, I was a bit frazzled).  Bethany and I got back to the condo around 5.  We parked out on the street (and were glad to see less red strobe lights as we walked over). 

When we turned the corner, the first thing we could see was a ladder truck over our roof.  We were amazed to see that we still had a roof (complete with shingles) but were still cautious as more homes were ruined by water than by fire.  We waited around (staying warm in Bethany’s car that was still over by the house and all the action) and finally got a briefing from one of the firemen: the inspector would be there in an hour or two and would make the determination as to when we’d be able to get back in.

Two firemen went in to get Jack and Milo – they found Milo but couldn’t catch him and Jack was nowhere to be found.  They said our condo was still in pretty good shape and we could go in with them to get the cats out (they emphasized “just the cats!”).  Milo darted into the closet and I went in after him, closing the door behind me.  A few minutes later, I had captured him in his carrier and joined the hunt for Jack who we couldn’t find.  Since the guy who gave us our briefing had hinted that we would probably be able to get back in this afternoon, we figured Jack would be okay on his own (and probably would prefer that over being caged up and taken to a new place).

Bethany grabbed the diaper bag for the kids, her phone, my wallet, and her keys on our way out.  We got a few glares from others who would have liked to go back into their homes too.  We took off at that point, wanting to get back to the kids before they woke up.  Getting to my parents a little before 7, we were able to close our eyes for a few minutes.

Breakfast was uneventful and it was good to have things settled.  It was a huge relief to have been inside and seen that things appear to be untouched (for the most part – obviously it smells like smoke, there’s bound to be water in walls or the attic, there are big footprints from the firemen, and some of our furniture is tossed around from the hunt for the cats.

After the kids had breakfast, Bethany and I went back again to the house to get first-hand information from the inspector and Fire Department.  When we got there, the power was on and all but one fire truck had gone.  Despite having given our phone number to someone from the Fire Department who was collecting contact information (at 5am), we hadn’t received any calls.  The inspector had already come and gone.  We were told that he took a quick look and said he’d come back “after a few days” to see “how the water settles”.  However, we were allowed into the house to pack up some things.

Like with most situations, it was important that we took initiative to look out for our best interests.  Had we waited to be contacted by the Fire Department or our condo association, we still would have no idea what is happening (even at 9pm as I write this).  Had we gotten back to the house an hour later than we did, odds are we wouldn’t have been able to get back in to get anything.

We grabbed a new pack of diapers and of wipes so we’d be set for the kids for a couple days.  Each of us put some clothes together in a bag, grabbed our toothbrushes and some other little items.  We got Jackers packed up, the kids’ high chairs, and some clothes for them.  It was so difficult to make decisions while being rushed about what we’d need for the next several days.

 

Where things stand now:

We spent the day at my parents’ in Pennsauken.  They watched the kids while we ran back and forth to the house and grabbed things at the store.  Bethany’s parents had been planning to come down on Monday so, instead, we went up to stay with them tonight into Monday.  We’ll spend the day here tomorrow and then head back to a hotel for Monday night.  Since we have work on Tuesday, we’ve got to be back and settled.

We have started a claim with the insurance company – someone called us back this afternoon to pass along some information.  We’ll be speaking with an adjuster tomorrow morning and will have some kind of plan from there.  The inspector will be updating the condo association – we’ll be checking in with them to get updates.

We don’t have any substantial information about what we’ll need, how long we’ll be displaced, or the status of the house (beyond the surface appearance when we ran in to pack things).  Once we talk with the adjuster tomorrow, we’ll know a bit more.  The real information comes on Tuesday when we hope to hear from the inspectors.

We will keep the blog updated with the latest information.

 

Our most sincere thanks to our friends who have contacted us to check on how we’re doing or to offer various help.  We appreciate your concern for our family and treasure it dearly.

 

Some pictures…

Our stairs are on the right (you can see the fireman on his way down the stairs).  Our neighbors live at the front, our unit is in the back of the building.

 

Some of the damage at the right-center roof.

 

The back of the building – our windows are the far left top.

 

A closer look at some of the damage on the left-center roof where we suspect the fire may have started.

 

The local ABC affiliate, WPVI, has a video clip [click here] with some shots early in the morning.

Our Saturday, etc.

One of our many trips to Lowes

Exhausted

Lunch at Chick-fil-et...they LOVED the cow!

Pictures from their vaccination a little while ago

The Ravenous Wolf

So here I am on my lunch break... 40 minutes all to myself (when does this ever happen?)and what am I doing? I'm at my desk , Ipod on as I listen to an educational book, grading papers, re-arranging seating charts, running to the printer, updating my calendarS (yes, that's right, I have many) and SHOVING forkfulls of salad into my mouth. Oh, and I've had to go to the bathroom... since forever.

Seriously. Who am I?

One one hand, there are FAR to0 many things I'm trying t0 accomplish that any reasonable person could fit into one day. On the other hand, there's a long list of to-do's learing at me in the form of vaious colored sticky notes and scribbled messages. How do we do many things well?

I've long been a preacher of organize more, stress less. I pride myself on being a minimalist in many areas of my life. Yet here I am, like those cartoon characters, arms flying all around me and practically choking on lettuce and Diet Pepsi.

FAIL.

I took a second to push my lunch and all the interrupters aside, to turn off the droning voice in my ears, and to look around to see my bright and oranized classroom. To breathe.

All this to say...

Life is full of so many GOOD things. I hope you see and enjoy them today.

In addition...

After several responses about the earlier post pertaining to 1 year olds and food, I wanted to expand on a couple things:

• We use all natural/all white meat chicken in a can for anything we make with shredded chicken. It's ridiculously easy and good for them too.
• When serving "sandwiches", we serve them open-faced as their little mouths aren't used to big bites of double bread. Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches are also a hit.
• I serve them almost anything in the crockpot because it's very tasty, healthy, and soft without being soggy
• Spices and such: Steve and I enjoy our food with lots of flavor, so while I don't serve them anything spicy, we're at the point where they like their food to be just as flavored as ours. Most people recommend serving food bland (which we did for the first month or so) and then introducing them to various flavors. Marinating chicken in teriyaki dressing, Italian dressing, a sprinkling of taco seasoning with water, BBQ sauce, etc. and then grilling it, is an excellent way to try new flavors with your little one. I pull frozen tenderloins out the night before, place in a glass dish, pour marinade on top, cover with Saran wrap, and then defrost in the fridge. By dinnertime, they're ready. We have a George Forman which is very helpful for these types of meals.
• Chicken: they eat quite a bit of chicken (although prepared various ways) and aside from the canned chicken, I buy a large frozen bag or fresh "tray" (for lack of a better word) of tenderloins. They aren't as thick as chicken breasts, and their size is much more manageable for them to eat, even to have leftovers. I cut, shred, or pull apart pieces for them.
• Pizza? In my readings and inquiries about introducing food to young children, several people said they could have pizza. We don't want them having greese at such an early age (which is why we don't do fries yet) so I'll be trying English muffin cheese pizza with them this weekend. You can buy whole wheat English muffins and fat free, natural shredded cheese to use. Any pizza sauce should be fine for them.
• In lieu of french fries, I do cut up, season and bake "healthy" fries for them. They'll figure out McDonalds soon enough, there's no reason to introduce those delicacies too soon!
• Vegetables: Any vegetables that are pre-cut are super helpful for me. They are a little more expesive, but worth it for us. 9 times out of 10, we steam frozen veggies in a bowl, in the microwave with a little water. We have also used canned and fresh veggies. Anything works, really. Sometimes I add a bit of butter for extra flavor. The kids eat LOTS of veggies and after a severe case of diaper rash due to some violent diarrhea, we realized we were giving them too much fruit.
• Stuffing is also great to compliment a meal. It's just the right texture for them, filling and delicious.

Other food thoughts...

• These kids eat just about everything. There's only been 1 (maybe 2) meals they havn't instantly devoured. They had a less than positive response to my peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon sandwiches last night. (There wasn't much in the house and I was trying to be creative.) Needless to say, we had lots of fruit to go along with the meal. We feel it's important to offer a wide variety of food and combinations.
• Both kids really like yogurt. We did the baby yogurt for a while, but realized after looking at the ingredients, it wasn't that different from the regular kind. We serve them Dannon Light and Fit only because that's what I eat at home.
• Casseroles are also a great meal. There are easy recipes out there that are tasty and healthy for both you and baby.
• The MESS: We use wet washclothes or papertowels for after dinner cleanup and JJ Cole plastic bibs with that have a little "shelf" for all the fallen food: http://www.amazon.com/JJ-Cole-Multi-Circle-Large/dp/B003KN279Q . These bibs wipe up very well and are a great size for the kids . They also have adjustable snaps on the neck to allow for flexibility.

Please continue the feedback. It's extremely helpful for us. I know I love when I find a blog full of useful information!

Restaurant ala Creel

After speaking with several friends asking for meal ideas for their little ones, I've compiled a short list of things I know Josiah and Lilly love to eat independently (both meals and snacks). We usually give them whatever we're eating for dinner (with a few exceptions).

Food/Meal suggestions for 1 year olds with a couple teeth:

• Whole wheat sandwhich thins with natural peanut butter, natural honey, and cinnamon
• Sweet potatoes with brown sugar and a smidgen of butter; marinaded, grilled chicken
• Whole wheat mac and cheese with peas or broccoli and shredded chicken
• Pot roast beef with potatoes and carrots
• Quesadillas with baked chicken and cheese
• Grilled cheese with fruit (mandarin oranges or peaches) or veggies
• Whole wheat pasta with Prego 100% natural tomato sauce; dusting of mozzarella cheese
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Baked Perogies with glazed, steamed carrots
• Cheese ravioli with steamed green beans
• Cinnamon pancakes with scrambled eggs
• Salsa chicken (crockpot) with mac and cheese and peas
• Bananas, bananas, bananas
• Cinnamon & Apple Cheerios
• Multigrain Cheerios
• Cinnamon Chex cereal
• Graham crackers

Happy eating!

Dinner & After

Etc.

Here are the rest of the pictures from the weekend with my family...

Oh, the things we do to our children

Presents!

Lilly and Cookie

He loved licking Cookie's nose. Gross.

Why is everyone singing to me?

We're not sure what to think...

Pictures from this evening. Sorry for the harsh flash...

Look at the evil look on Josiah's face

Aww! Kisses!

Crazy dance moves

Smearing food in her hair; Lilly's new trick...

Not having it.