"Let us/me know if there's anything we/I can do for you guys!"
I don't have to tell you how many times that's been said to us since this all happened. And truthfully, we've been okay, so I've just thanked people when they said that to me. I guess I assume when someone says that, they REALLY mean it, or else, why would they say it? When I tell someone to let me know if they need anything, I MEAN it. If you call me up and say, 'I need a kidney!' and we're not the right blood type, you can rest knowing I won't stop until I find you the right match!
The day after the fire, David was trying to salvage stuff in the garage. We had a 20 minute exterior door leading from the kitchen to the garage, and it did it's job. So the food in the deep freeze was okay. David was also trying to get together his air compressor and tools so he could find a place to store them. Our neighbor came over and happily offered for us to put all this at his house, which was a blessing because we were currently living in a hotel, and we wouldn't have to find someone to loan us a truck so we could move it over somewhere.
So it's been there ever since. We have only been in the rental house for a week, and David noticed the neighbor was acting a bit weird. So I called my grandmother and asked if she had any room in her garage that we could put the deep freeze. (It's small, doesn't take up a whole lot of room, and it's an energy star rated applicance.) She said she'd make room, not to worry, bring it over.
So David walks over to the neighbor's house to let him know and to ask if it's okay if he moves it in the next couple of days, because of the storms and such, and him needing to find a truck to move it. Not only that, it's about 4:15pm at this point, and he knows I have to meet someone in town about a fundraiser she's doing for our family.
Oh NO! That neighbor, the one who's idea it was for us to even put that stuff at his house, the one that has offered time and time again that if we need ANYTHING to let them know, is now all up in arms, and wants the stuff out NOW. HE NEEDS THE ROOM. So David is frantically running across town to get a truck, back to the house to get the stuff, and back to unload it, and then to get his car. And it's 5:07pm, and I'm still with Matthew alone, and no way to get in touch with the person I'm supposed to meet.
This INFURIATES me. If he'd never offered, if he wasn't so enthusiastic about helping us out, we would have done this to begin with. My grandma would have let us leave it in her garage, no problem. But he offered, so we went with it. I CANNOT STAND when people backtrack on their word.
If you don't mean it, don't say it. Just say, 'I'm so sorry for what you've gone through.' or even 'That sucks, dude.' But I promise you this, if I offer, I MEAN IT. I will give you my last dollar if that's what you need.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
It's inconvenient with a child to run all over town, checking the mail and whatnot! For convenience reasons, we have a post office box now!
David, Janet & Matthew Judd
P.O. Box 4066
Campbellsville, KY 42719-4066
Additional thank you's for today!
Tricia Berube
Kitty Callahan
Dianne Estes
Katie Van Scoter
Demo on the house starts tomorrow!
David, Janet & Matthew Judd
P.O. Box 4066
Campbellsville, KY 42719-4066
Additional thank you's for today!
Tricia Berube
Kitty Callahan
Dianne Estes
Katie Van Scoter
Demo on the house starts tomorrow!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
My informal thank you list
So many people have helped us out in one way or another. I'm in the process of formally thanking everyone, but until then:
Taylor County Volunteer Fire Department
Nathan Rodgers/Rodgers Construction (WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM!!!!)
Megan Owens
Jon & Jade Morton
Shavonia Jackson
Diana Bacon
Tonya Andrews
Karis McMahan
Judd and Amanda Furkin
Robert & Lee Richerson
Gordon & Sue Judd
Wanda Cox
The women's Sunday School class at Oak Grove Separate Baptist Church
Kristy Beins
Kelly Coburn
Lane Bollum
Linda Cabeca
Ramona Brown
Kitty Callahan
Kathleen Watts (And I don't even know her!)
Shannon Shaffer
Lora Gabbert
Tricia Berube
And I'll be adding onto the list later!
Taylor County Volunteer Fire Department
Nathan Rodgers/Rodgers Construction (WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM!!!!)
Megan Owens
Jon & Jade Morton
Shavonia Jackson
Diana Bacon
Tonya Andrews
Karis McMahan
Judd and Amanda Furkin
Robert & Lee Richerson
Gordon & Sue Judd
Wanda Cox
The women's Sunday School class at Oak Grove Separate Baptist Church
Kristy Beins
Kelly Coburn
Lane Bollum
Linda Cabeca
Ramona Brown
Kitty Callahan
Kathleen Watts (And I don't even know her!)
Shannon Shaffer
Lora Gabbert
Tricia Berube
And I'll be adding onto the list later!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Please, do this ASAP!
Going through a house fire is traumatic, but dealing with the insurance company is a VERY tedious process. My advice to you is as soon as possible, either with a video camera or digital camera, go through your ENTIRE HOUSE. Take pics of how many plates, glasses, DVD's, bedsheets, etc., you have. Do an inventory of ALL of your items. Keep this in a safe place. A fireproof box, or take a DVD of the pics and a copy of your inventory and seal it in an envelope and keep it at a family member's house. Trust me, it will save you SO MUCH TIME!
Next, plan an escape route with your kids. Do fire drills. Tell your kids what to do in the event there is a fire. Practice with them what to do if they can't escape from their room. If they are on a second story and you can't get to them, show them how to take their bedsheets off their bed and hang them out the window so the fire department can see them.
Check your smoke detectors. When our house is finished, it will have a hard wired smoke detector in every room. Buy fire extinguishers. Show your kids how to use them.
Last, double check your insurance. If you are renting, get renter's insurance. You don't want to be stuck losing everything and not having the insurance to replace it!
That's my lecture for the weekend. :) My love to you all, and I hope you never have to experience this.
Again, for those of you that have asked, this will be our mailing address for the time being. Please address to my grandmother. David has to go back to work Monday and we won't be at the house to accept mail.
Wanda Cox
P.O. Box 67
Campbellsville, KY 42718
Next, plan an escape route with your kids. Do fire drills. Tell your kids what to do in the event there is a fire. Practice with them what to do if they can't escape from their room. If they are on a second story and you can't get to them, show them how to take their bedsheets off their bed and hang them out the window so the fire department can see them.
Check your smoke detectors. When our house is finished, it will have a hard wired smoke detector in every room. Buy fire extinguishers. Show your kids how to use them.
Last, double check your insurance. If you are renting, get renter's insurance. You don't want to be stuck losing everything and not having the insurance to replace it!
That's my lecture for the weekend. :) My love to you all, and I hope you never have to experience this.
Again, for those of you that have asked, this will be our mailing address for the time being. Please address to my grandmother. David has to go back to work Monday and we won't be at the house to accept mail.
Wanda Cox
P.O. Box 67
Campbellsville, KY 42718
Sunday, April 3, 2011
We're okay
That's the most important thing. We're okay. Matthew's okay. Although he knows what happened, he hasn't seen the house and therefore doesn't have any of those images to get upset about. "Stuff" is replaceable. And anybody that's been to my house knows I have plenty of STUFF.
There are things I had at the house that I'm sure are smoke damaged and I'm upset about. My sewing machine. Fabric, yarn, etc. But it's replaceable. In the grand scheme of things, it's not important.
For those of you that have generously Paypal'd us money, thank you. This past week was pay week, which meant we paid bills, made a big grocery run, etc. If Mama Cleo had told me my house was going to catch fire, I might have waited on groceries. So we're quickly depleting our funds paying for the hotel room and buying necessities to last us through this weekend. I haven't had the energy or opportunity, but I'm going to have to buy some shoes soon!
The adjuster comes tomorrow and the insurance company is supposed to call the hotel front desk about directly billing them tomorrow. Speaking of which, we're in 217 at Super 8 if you want to know where we are or if you can't get through on my phone.
Matthew has nothing here in the way of entertainment. We got the Wii from the house, but we can't get it to work. We bought him some coloring books and are going to get him something to play with with the Paypal money.
David's going to get pics of the house in a couple of hours so you can see the damage. For those of you that have asked, I don't know what started the fire. I do know it apparently started in the kitchen. The area of the kitchen that had the most damage was where I had all my appliances. And I have a LOT of appliances, but most specifically at that point, my rice cooker, George Foreman, toaster, coffee pot, coffee grinder and can opener. The fire spread to the attic and they had to rip out the ceiling, duct work, insulation, etc. Everything in the refrigerator is black. They pulled cabinets down, and where they ripped into the wall, there are openings into the bathroom.
For you locals, I'm going to tell you something. The first ones that responded to our house I'm pretty sure were there LITERALLY within 2-4 minutes of my call. I had no idea they would be there that quick. Every single person there worked their butts off and were great about letting us know what was going on in the meantime. For as long as I live, I will never forget the fireman that was kneeled in my hallway trying to salvage pictures of Matthew. (All of my picture frames fell off the walls.) It'll make me cry just thinking about how sweet and thoughtful it was for him to do that. This was an hour after the fire was put out! Fortunately, Mom and I have always been great about exchanging pics and DVD's with copies of pics we've taken of Matthew, so she has copies of what I've taken and vice versa.
The only firefighter's who's names I know that were there are Alex Johnson, Carl Dobson and Bob that works in the pharmacy at the hospital. (And if I'm wrong about Carl's name, someone correct me. I'm horrible about remembering names lately!) A big thank you to those guys. They have a hard job, and even growing up with a grandpa that was fire chief for most of my life, I had no idea how much actually went into it.
If you've asked for an address, it's still the same. We're there every day anyway, to take care of the chickens, and check the mail, etc. To be safer, my grandmother has said you can mail to her P.O. Box. It's right by our hotel and she checks it daily.
Wanda Cox
P. O. Box 67
Campbellsville, KY 42719
Again, thank you for all your prayers, words of encouragement and gifts. You are certainly not obligated, but it means a lot to me. We've been through a lot during our marriage. Lost jobs, etc. I was put on bedrest when I was 30 weeks pregnant with Matthew. I worked ten years at the hospital, and not ONE person called me during the time I was on bedrest or after delivery to see if I was okay, ask how I was doing, was I bored, etc. But in the past two days, I've gotten more love and support than you can even imagine from people we've never even met! I've gotten teased about the friendships I've formed online, but let me tell you something. A great majority of friends I have in real life started online. Our family, friends, neighbors, and even the staff at the hotel has been great!
I already miss my daycare kids. Matthew just left with one of the mom's to play at their house for a while. I finally bought a contact case, so I think I'm going to take my contacts out and try and take a nap. My back is killing me and for some reason, my shoulders and upper arms are really sore. I'll update later with pics.
There are things I had at the house that I'm sure are smoke damaged and I'm upset about. My sewing machine. Fabric, yarn, etc. But it's replaceable. In the grand scheme of things, it's not important.
For those of you that have generously Paypal'd us money, thank you. This past week was pay week, which meant we paid bills, made a big grocery run, etc. If Mama Cleo had told me my house was going to catch fire, I might have waited on groceries. So we're quickly depleting our funds paying for the hotel room and buying necessities to last us through this weekend. I haven't had the energy or opportunity, but I'm going to have to buy some shoes soon!
The adjuster comes tomorrow and the insurance company is supposed to call the hotel front desk about directly billing them tomorrow. Speaking of which, we're in 217 at Super 8 if you want to know where we are or if you can't get through on my phone.
Matthew has nothing here in the way of entertainment. We got the Wii from the house, but we can't get it to work. We bought him some coloring books and are going to get him something to play with with the Paypal money.
David's going to get pics of the house in a couple of hours so you can see the damage. For those of you that have asked, I don't know what started the fire. I do know it apparently started in the kitchen. The area of the kitchen that had the most damage was where I had all my appliances. And I have a LOT of appliances, but most specifically at that point, my rice cooker, George Foreman, toaster, coffee pot, coffee grinder and can opener. The fire spread to the attic and they had to rip out the ceiling, duct work, insulation, etc. Everything in the refrigerator is black. They pulled cabinets down, and where they ripped into the wall, there are openings into the bathroom.
For you locals, I'm going to tell you something. The first ones that responded to our house I'm pretty sure were there LITERALLY within 2-4 minutes of my call. I had no idea they would be there that quick. Every single person there worked their butts off and were great about letting us know what was going on in the meantime. For as long as I live, I will never forget the fireman that was kneeled in my hallway trying to salvage pictures of Matthew. (All of my picture frames fell off the walls.) It'll make me cry just thinking about how sweet and thoughtful it was for him to do that. This was an hour after the fire was put out! Fortunately, Mom and I have always been great about exchanging pics and DVD's with copies of pics we've taken of Matthew, so she has copies of what I've taken and vice versa.
The only firefighter's who's names I know that were there are Alex Johnson, Carl Dobson and Bob that works in the pharmacy at the hospital. (And if I'm wrong about Carl's name, someone correct me. I'm horrible about remembering names lately!) A big thank you to those guys. They have a hard job, and even growing up with a grandpa that was fire chief for most of my life, I had no idea how much actually went into it.
If you've asked for an address, it's still the same. We're there every day anyway, to take care of the chickens, and check the mail, etc. To be safer, my grandmother has said you can mail to her P.O. Box. It's right by our hotel and she checks it daily.
Wanda Cox
P. O. Box 67
Campbellsville, KY 42719
Again, thank you for all your prayers, words of encouragement and gifts. You are certainly not obligated, but it means a lot to me. We've been through a lot during our marriage. Lost jobs, etc. I was put on bedrest when I was 30 weeks pregnant with Matthew. I worked ten years at the hospital, and not ONE person called me during the time I was on bedrest or after delivery to see if I was okay, ask how I was doing, was I bored, etc. But in the past two days, I've gotten more love and support than you can even imagine from people we've never even met! I've gotten teased about the friendships I've formed online, but let me tell you something. A great majority of friends I have in real life started online. Our family, friends, neighbors, and even the staff at the hotel has been great!
I already miss my daycare kids. Matthew just left with one of the mom's to play at their house for a while. I finally bought a contact case, so I think I'm going to take my contacts out and try and take a nap. My back is killing me and for some reason, my shoulders and upper arms are really sore. I'll update later with pics.
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