Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Rest of the Story

The water pipe broke on December 22nd. We spent the 23rd cleaning up. In the afternoon the claims guy from the insurance company showed up. He spent about an hour looking, measuring, and discussing things with us. He was very nice, and very fast. I was a bit surprised. My experience with insurance companies had been that they were very quick to take your money, but not so good at handing any of it back. I was pleased with the speed with which the insurance company responded, but I didn't hold out much hope for any kind of speed when it came to processing the claim and cutting the check. On the 24th we got a call from the claims guy. He had finished processing our claim and was putting the check in the mail. He said we should have it on the 27th. I was stunned!

Christmas was very nice. The kids were a bit hesitant because they knew that the big gift from mom and dad was the snowboarding equipment they had received a few days early. Santa and Grandma really came through for them though, so once they looked around and started opening they were ecstatic. After our morning festivities we walked away from the mess and went to Grandma's for the day. It was very relaxing. One unexpected "blessing" in all of this mess was the location of the Christmas tree. Our plan had been to have Christmas in the newly finished living room this year. To do that I had to get C and I moved out of the family room and the kids school computers moved into the family room. Various things delayed this process and the tree got set up in the dining room. The plan had been to move it on the 23rd. If we had been able to set the tree up in the living room from the start it would have been destroyed. We would have lost years worth of irreplaceable decorations and most of the gifts. Sometimes not getting what you want turns out to be a good thing.

Grandma gave the kids some cash to buy themselves something they didn't get. They promptly went out and bought the things from there list we didn't get them. R bought a Nerf dart tag set complete with two six-shot pistols, eye protection, and target vests. They have had a great time blasting away at each other. (It's the toy I would have wanted when I was 8, but we shy away from gun play as much as possible.) J bought an MP3 player, so now I have to learn how to download music etc. Jack-of-all-thumbs has been encouraging me to get one so I can listen to various pod casts, but being a bit of a technophobe I've resisted. Now that I am forced to learn, I'll soon be upgrading myself. Kids keep you young even when you don't want to be.

We got our check on the 27th. I was still surprised by the low hassle response. Getting the check deposited turned out to be a different kettle of fish. Because we are still paying for the house, the check had to be signed by a representative of the mortgage co. No problem, our mortgage is through our bank, and there is a branch right down the road. Turns out the branch manager couldn't sign it. We had to go to the main branch and meet with a loan officer. We all had to be there. It took most of the day and numerous phone calls to find this out and get everyone together. After we got the signatures and the check finally deposited the bank told us they would be holding the check for at least a week due to the high amount of fraud that happened with insurance checks. Lovely! I "love" banks. Nothing like...I'd better stop, or this post will turn into a rant.

We now have the house dried out, the plumbing fixed and protected so it shouldn't freeze again, and are starting on the living room ceiling. Hopefully everything will be finished by the end of January and life can get back to normal.

Hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and has a Blessed New Year.

Peace and Joy from Roberts' Roost.

3 comments:

dND said...

I'm so pleased you could find a 'blessing' in the midst of the disaster. To some it may be a bit escapist but I think it is good for our health.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2009.

Deborah

Anonymous said...

I am so glad everything worked out with both the tree and the insurance. I hope you and your family have a happy and healthy new year and that you have no more water leaks or mice, lol! Then again I thoroughly enjoy hearing of your mice wars!!! Kim

jack-of-all-thumbs said...

Alan,

I'm catching up by reading in reverse order....Yikes!

But glad that it seems to be sorting out.

On to the podcasts.

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