Monday, April 23, 2012

I Want to Cry...



Yesterday, while it poured and poured all day with no let up. . . disaster struck at our house. A leaky roof and lots of water that seeped into our house. The only rooms that were effected are essentially the two most important rooms in the house, the kitchen and my sewing studio. I have spent the entire morning on the phone with our insurance company and the water damage restoration people and roofing companies. They have come out and assed the damage and the news is NOT good! Within the next few hours they are going to start ripping my house apart, taking down all my kitchen cabinets which will most likely need to be replaced, ripping out the walls and removing the soaking wet insulation. Then we will have about a week of serious fans running 24/7 and dehumidifiers running to get all the wet out of here. They also need to rip up the floor in the kitchen because the water got under the floor and in my studio a wall needs to come down and the carpet ripped up. That means my studio is going to a construction zone for weeks and there will be no sewing, pattern writing, or much of anything else going on. I, however, will be able to relocate my desk to our bedroom so I will still be here to answer questions and fill orders until life returns to normal. They are saying it's going to be about 4-6 weeks of chaos and during that entire time I will have no kitchen. Please explain to me how is a mom to function with four hungry kids at home all day with no kitchen? It's going to VERY interesting. Not to mention doing schoolwork with serious construction going on. Right now this all just seems like a really bad dream but soon enough the reality is going to set in and my life is going to be turned upside down. So, please keep us n your thoughts and prayers and hope for a speedy recovery from this. Of course this means a pretty serious delay for any new patterns anytime soon and I am so sorry about that but this is really out of my control.

Dawn

23 comments:

Spinneretta said...

Oh dear- I am SO sorry!
As far as cooking goes... do you have a grill? If so, you can cook simple stuff on it and have loads of salads and sandwiches.
But that sounds really horrible- I feel for you!

samanthasmom said...

Find an accessible place in your house to put the fridge. Print out take out menus from all of your favorite places and tape them to the fridge. Put the microwave close by. Fill the tank on the gas grill. If you don't have one, go buy one. A two burner hot plate isn't very expensive. Lay in a supply of paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware. The hardest thing you're going to have to do in the next six weeks is wash dishes. I went 8 months, not weeks, w/o a kitchen. When the builders got to the laundry room, I had them put in an inexpensive set tub because keeping things clean was by far the hardest task. You'll get through this. Try thinking of it as an opportunity to redo the kitchen and get new flooring in your studio. I'll be thinking of you.

Fabienne said...

OMG ! I am so sorry to hear that ! Do not worry about patterns... You have so many out that we, sewers, will not get bored over the next 5 to 6 weeks.... After all the work done, your house will look nice again... Stay optimistic :-)

WandaFish said...

So sorry for your misfortune. I hope they manage to sort things out as quickly as possible.
I've managed quite well with a microwave oven and toaster in the past, but only cooking for two - not a family of hungry kids!
I've only recently come across your work through Pat Bravo's pics and I love all your adorable patterns. I've been enjoying your blog too and I'm sure your followers will be happy to continue using your existing patterns until you're able to resume your creative journey :)

Eileen said...

Oh no! Will definiteley say some prayers for a speedy recovery from all of this. As far as cooking, I have a great Lime Chicken Taco recipe for the crock pot if you want it, guaranteed to feed a hungry crowd!

Ronda said...

Oh Dawn I am so sorry to here that. Right after Christmas we had water damage to our floors and my entire floor kitchen and utility room had to be redone from the ground up cabinets floor joices everything . We made a make shift kitchen in the living room and it really made us be thankful for the little things like hot water ( our water heater was in the utility room) I know you are looking at a mess now but I can tell you my new kitchen is awesome.

Dawn said...

Thank you all so much for your well wishes. The water damage crew just left and I have missing walls and flooring and my house looks SOOOOO UGLY!!! Boo Hoo, but I keep telling myself be thankful that it wasn't worse and that no one got hurt it's all just material things and nothing precious to was damaged. We are all getting ready to go out for a yummy dinner and some fun family time after this exhausting and very stressful day.

Goosegirl said...

Oh sweetie! I am so sorry!!!! My root canal and DMV stories are sooooo nothing compared to this. I wish you could just come hang out with me for a few weeks until this all goes away. I am praying that everything moves quickly and smoothly, with no delays. I am sending big hugs.
Sivje

The Mulleneaux Family said...

Sending thoughts and prayers! That is not fun at all! Hugs hugs!!!

The Mulleneaux Family said...

Sending thoughts and prayers! That is not fun at all! Hugs hugs!!!

Nikki said...

I can sympathize with you. I had something similar happen a couple of years ago. Fridge icemaker line broke but not nearly as much damage. We had the replace most of the flooring on the first floor as well as some subflooring, minor cabinet and wall damage..Not fun:0( Praying for you

Colleen said...

also will keep you my thoughts and prayers!

Cole's Corner said...

Oh no!!! I'm so sorry.
I hope they work fast!

Tammy said...

I am so sorry to hear your news, but you will survive this!! After Hurricaine Ivan hit us we had no POWER for 6 weeks! We bought a generator and used coolers,a 2 burner hot plate and a grill with a burner on the side. A Toaster oven (my son calls it the easy bake oven) works nicely to bake in. Look at it as an adventure!Your kids will learn about adapting and overcoming obstacles and you will all look back and be proud of yourselves! It will be like a big camping trip in the house! You will have a beautiful kitchen when it is all over with! Hang in there! Hugs
Tammy

Hayu Maselli said...

Dearest Dawn,
I feel so sorry to hear that. I Wish the work finish as soon as possible. I knew how does it feel without kitchen. Best wishes and prayer for you.

hugs

Unknown said...

Oh dear, words cannot express how sad I am for you all. All of the comments were right on.
Pay close attention to using paper everything! Hang in there...tomorrow will be a better day...it always is.

Jan said...

Dawn, when Hurricane Rita ripped part of the roof off our house and we had to live in a camper for 9 months, we wanted to cry, too. Then we decided to call it an "adventure" and have a little fun. You will, too, once you get over the shock and irritation of having your life upended. I have faith in you. Thank God school is almost out, right? P.S. We were able to add on to our house with the ins. money, so it turned out to be a blessing (although it was a real struggle for awhile.) Prayers, Janise

Bunny said...

Sorry to hear about this mess. I hope it goes by quickly. FWIW, I lost ten pounds when we redid our kitchen. Cooking in a microwave in the basement gets old really fast as does eating out. I went to a piece of toast in the morning and a huge lunch. Then it was home to no dinner. I didn't have anyone home at the time as DH was on the road.

shayshap said...

I loved what “samanthasmom” said
“Find an accessible place in your house to put the fridge. Print out take out menus from all of your favorite places and tape them to the fridge. Put the microwave close by. Fill the tank on the gas grill. If you don't have one, go buy one. A two burner hot plate isn't very expensive. Lay in a supply of paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware. The hardest thing you're going to have to do in the next six weeks is wash dishes. I had them put in an inexpensive set tub because keeping things clean was by far the hardest task.” The biggest thing I would add is get your crockpot and blender out of the kitchen. Someone else wrote about setting this mini makeshift kitchen up in your living room. Do it. I am sorry and will watch for updates. Lots of hugs and prays coming your way. Kathy

Marnie said...

We had a similar issue two days after returning home from the hospital with our ninth child. Most contractors are very accommodating. They jockeyed our fridge and electric range around a few times and made sure the time without a dishwasher was minimal. We were very pleased. It just so happened our contractor was a father and his six children, he was very sympathetic! Will be praying for you. P.S. We did many homeschool reports on construction/plumbing/etc.

Annette said...

So sorry about your kitchen and studio. We've had water damage to our home before so you are definitely in my thoughts and prayers. Samanthasmom has some great ideas and as she said "you'll get through this." Make some lemonade out of these lemons and your family will have fond memories even out of disaster.
I'll keep you in my prayers.

Kinder Kouture said...

OMG, I cannot believe it. Well, although your life will be a total chaos - remember to keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole. Start scanning Pinterest to find your new kitchen. You have an excuse to decorate.
As far as the sewing room is concerned, well that just sucks. No other way to put it. You are going to go crazy. You can always stay with me for a week or two. LOL.
Seriously, I am sorry about this, and I know you must be so angry. So don't call me. LOL. Get your crockpot out and find some new recipes. I am sending (((HUGS))) your way, and will give you a buzz tomorrow.

Martha said...

I'm so sorry. I hope you are able to bring some sense of order while the repairs are being made. Hang in there.

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