Day 13

More looters. These people make my blood boil! Even boarding-up the windows doesn't work because they kick in or pull off the boards and go in anyway. Once inside they don't find much (an old coil of plastic thread for a long-gone weed whacker? huh?) and just make a huge mess of things. Last night they pulled over the two bookshelves of burned books that I was going through to write down titles so that I could determine what needs replacing. They went through drawers and knocked over a refrigerator, then went out back and broke down the locked door to our shed and made a mess in there, too. It hadn't even burned! I am tempted to go back and play security guard again tonight, but I'm worried that if someone showed up I would go ballistic on them. Really, officer, I didn't mean to kill the guy, but he was trying to steal some worthless stuff from my parents' burned-out house...

Tomorrow I'm going to play taskmaster and make my kids finish sorting through and cleaning up the many clothes that they have been given. They're getting bored, but I ordered new math books today so they should have that to do soon enough. Muahahahahaha!

Thoughts on Refurnishing and Replacing Things
My little family had the greatest percentage of things burned-up and totally lost (as in, "Wasn't there a desk where that pile of rubble is now?") but what we had was not nearly as valuable nor as numerous as the things my parents lost to smoke and water damage, and some to fire. Since it was their home and we are only living there out of their great kindness and desire not to see us in a homeless shelter, I want to see as little as possible of their insurance reimbursement funds going to replace my stuff. There were a few things that were valuable, but most of what we had was just second-hand stuff anyway.

I'm picky about a very few things - a TV with AV inputs, a computer I built myself, an aversion to pastel-colored clothing, for example - but honestly my kids and I have had many opportunities to recognize that there are so many things in life that aren't worth spending extra money on just to get the latest fashion. To put it another way, I have only been in Nordstrom once in the past 20 years, and that was just to go along with a friend who was picking up a skirt. I have the same attitude toward most furnishings, and am happier with an old bookcase from a friend than something nifty and new.

My point, then, is that I'm going to slowly alter the list here (below) of things that we will need to replace and would like to find second-hand or dirt cheap again. My parents get to spend their insurance money on nice new furnishings and decorating for their home, after it is built. In the meantime, this list will become something that you can come back to later when you think, "Hey, I've got that old couch in the basement that's taking up space..." or "Check out the chest of drawers I found at a garage sale for $5!"

Updated List of Things We Need
Barbara - Basic pantry and kitchen items, sewing kit
David - Filing cabinet
Duncan - Cub Scout Wolf Handbook, neckerchief & slide, Cub Academic and Sports manual, rollerblades or Heelies, a football
Hunter - Boy Scout Handbook, rollerblades or Heelies
Drew - Jazz shoes/boots to fit size 1.5/2, Junior Girl Scouts Handbook and Badge Book, Junior Girl Scouts vest

We have received so much that there is no possible way to thank everyone for all the amazing gifts and all the love that has been shown to our family. We are forever grateful to everyone who has touched our lives in even the smallest way during the past two weeks. It has been a most humbling experience.