A Car Crashed into My Kitchen

Dear FlyLady and Crew,

Thank you to you all for your ongoing encouragement to those of us who are leaning to come out of CHAOS and into peace in our homes.

Over the 7 years I’ve received your emails, I’ve learned so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Lots of lives have been changed, including mine.

On Dec. 16, I was in my kitchen, making lunch for my husband and myself. I had put a load of laundry in in the adjoining laundry room, and was reaching for the ladle to get our soup into the bowls on the counter by the stove, when a car lost control on the nearby icy road and smashed into my kitchen. The driver hit the wall of my house so hard it knocked my stove past my right hip and onto its back in the middle of my kitchen floor. Cabinets were knocked loose from the wall, part of the wall smashed into the washer and dryer and knocked the washer through the wall into the next room. The flooring buckled. Glass shattered. Bricks from the outer wall piled up 15″ deep at the wall across the kitchen. It was a mess, to say the least.

But the driver was not injured. I was not injured. And I was wearing my shoes!

So in crossing the debris to get to the driver, I was not hurt. I had ice melt by my front door and could scatter it outside on the sidewalk for the police/firefighters/EMT’s and others who came. My home was uncluttered enough that people could come in without obstruction (or embarrassment on my part!)

So much I learned from you helped me that day and has been helping me. We had to move out to a hotel (4 weeks now, and counting!) The kitchen, laundry, and utility room had to be cleared out and demolished back to the studs. I swish and swipe our guest bathroom every day so the construction people have a clean place to go and wash up. My feather duster and purple rags have helped deal with the large amount of construction dust. My rubba sweepa has been an invaluable tool in keeping my floors as un-grimed as possible, as has my “fly mop“.

But most of all it has been knowing and trusting in BabySteps that has helped me stay calm and focus in these weeks since this accident. As each step in destruction, construction, and rebuilding happens, I am grateful and anticipate each next step will happen in its own time. We hope that all will be complete and we will be back in our home in another 3 weeks.

Now, mind you, we just finished remodeling this kitchen and laundry room, indeed the whole house, right before we moved in in July. But I still had my “remodel notebook” and was able to reconstruct appliance model numbers and paint names from our original choices so that we didn’t have to start completely from scratch in deciding what to put back into our kitchen. New walls, new ceilings, new doors, new flooring, new counters, new cabinets, new appliances, new light fixtures …. whew.

So thank you, FlyLady, for keeping me sane with your voice in my head telling me to take it all by babysteps and not to despair. For your encouraging voice and all those years of emails that kept shoes on my feet and supplies in my broom closet!

Your friend and FlyBaby,
Judith in North Carolina

FlyLady here: I am so very glad that Judith and the driver were not harmed in this winter weather accident. I am so proud that Judith was listening to my voice in her head to take it all by BabySteps and not despair.

Announcing Two New Tools in the FlyShop
 

 
This is a mop cloth that I designed from our detailed dusting mitt. It does an amazing job on my floors. It helps me to eliminate the sweeping step before I mop. Check it out in our FlyShop. We have lots of pictures.

The next new item is a Multi-Wand.It is flexible and has lots of ways it can be used. One great feature is that it will attach to our mop handle and it will give you an extended reach. I wanted this tool to keep you from climbing on furniture.

Check out all the pictures for this great new dusting tool.

We are ending the Bronze Rag BOGO on February 24 at midnight EST.

Have you been procrastinating about getting your calendar this year? Don’t miss your chance!
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