I am alive

My father was quick to point out that I haven't been blogging this month...to be honest its not due to lack of material to report on in my life its simply a lack of time to sit and type.... so a quick recap -- I think I last left you with the news that my kitchen suffered alittle fire... Well it seems where theres fire there is alot of smoke. And the more we looked around (and smelled) the more we realized that just about every room in our home had smoke residue in it. Something the insurance adjuster should have known and told us. So after many phone conversations the cleaning crew that was to come and clean the carpet in the living/dining room and the totally clean the kitchen ended up doing the whole house. What an undertaking that was. Now throw into the mix that I had a scheduled business trip to Houston Sunday-Tuesday and you now have a schedule nightmare. I went off to Houston-- which by the way was lovely--Warm, Green, and clean.... meanwhile Mike was left to work out the details of how they would clean.
Of course I got stuck in Houston-- due to Snow in Chicago-- Then I got stuck in Chicago due to snow in VA-- when I finally arrived at Dulles-- umm very late-- I waited and waited and waited for my luggage... seems it did not make the plane. The last time I saw my luggage it was getting snowed on.... Finally after midnight Mike and I pulled away from the airport into the snowy night for the long ride home. Amazing to me the amount of traffic at 1am.... and none of them doing to well in the snowy conditions.... My luggage did finally arrive home around 4:30pm on Wednesday-- Nice-
For the next three days Mike and I did split shifts in the house and at work. The cleaners literally touched every object we owned as they wiped everything down... The walls the ceiling, the furniture, everything on and IN the furniture... they emptied every drawer,cabinet and closet.. The bedspreads and coats were sent to the drycleaners along with any peices of dry clean only clothing (luckily I don't own much that isn't wash and wear...) To say that we are exhausted is an understatement... trying to keep up with work and then come home and keep up with the 3 ladies going through our home was a bit much... The good news is yesterday the carpet cleaners came and cleaned the carpets and the furniture... WOW does the house look great....and smells good too! except for the poor kitchen which has had its cabinets emptied into boxes--The frustration of finding things in boxes is high-- And because the insurance company feels their only obligation is to replace the upper (damaged) cabinets this could take awhile to get sorted out as I refuse to have mismatched cabinets. I mean really do they think that is acceptable to anyone?????

My weekend did have some high points... Both kids came home... I'll tell you about that tomorrow... after I get some much needed rest...