Well! I've said some things about what's been happening, but it's been moving so quickly I'm really not sure of it all myself!

We've had a few last gasps of a dying winter here in the Pacific Northwest, but during the last few convulsions, I was in Phoenix, spending time with my parents and my sister, and ended up with a sunburn. Ah, the feeling of freezing while the top layer of epidermis peels off your arms and shoulders. Such bliss!

Now, I'm sitting in the formal dining room of a six bedroom house, typing this, while my insurance company is removing all of the items in my own home so they can repaint and get rid of the smell of smoke.

To put this in context, we had an air pressure fluke while using our fireplace about a month ago. Somehow, the pressure was high enough outside the house that it forced air down the chimney and pushed the smoke out into our house. I'm not sure HOW this happened. I've seen lots of chimney fires from my time as a firefighter, but never anything quite like this. After the incident, we had a chimney service person come over to fix things, and he literally looked at it and asked what we wanted him to fix! Everything was fine. I've burnt things in the fireplace many times since then, and there's been no problem.

And for this fluke air pressure thing, our insurance is paying around $50G for repainting, deoderizing, and an AirBnB for my family. And about a thousand dollars for our pets to be put up during the three weeks it's taking to do all of these things. Go figure.

That on top of our broken water pipe that resulted in my rebuilding my master bathroom, and my son's bedroom below it. LOL.

Now the master bathroom story... That's another fun thing.

Before I went to Arizona, I was busy rebuilding my bathroom. Refloored it, installed a new vanity, sink, toilet, and was waiting on a new shower. Well, I went to Arizona, and my special ordered shower was supposed to be in when I got back. Box 1 and 3 were at Home Depot. Box 2 (the base) wasn't there. Currently, Home Depot is supposed to be figuring out how I'm supposed to install the walls and doors of the shower without a base.

What was even more fun was while I was in Arizona, staying at my sister's house, her toilet went out. Now, when I was in college, studying for the ministry, I worked in hardware with plumbing as my specialty. Later, while a minister, I worked at a building supply center with paint and plumbing as my specialty. (those volunteer ministerial positions don't pay very well). LOL! I fixed my sister's toilet for her.

Also while in Arizona, some new floor tiles came in for my parents. I installed them while on my vacation in Arizona, in my parent's (wait for it) ... bathroom.

Such a fun time. Literally! I enjoy helping people. and to be able to do that for my family while I was visiting really helped me feel better about myself.