I Will Be the Flame

Remember, after the fire, after all the rain - I will be the flame.

For those of you who aren't familiar, take a minute to listen to Cheap Trick's The Flame - trust me, it's nothing close to "I want you to want me, I need you to need me." It's the soundtrack of my week.

I apologize for the lack of posts this past week, I know I had such grand ideas but here we sit. At least I can say that this is my 50th post!

I'd also like to say a big happy birthday to my mom!
Typically, she'd get a whole post but... my laptop smells like smoke, my camera is just about dead, and so I'm sitting in the hotel "business center", listening to elevator music that I simply can't stand so, this is going to be short. Maybe tomorrow.. Besides, her gift has been me trying to convince her that she is not cursed, and doesn't need to start throwing away things.. but we might see some sort of psychic or something, just in case.
In other news... life has been, interesting, to say the least. After a week at Ryan's, I finally got to see my family as we reunited in the living room of Homewood Suites at approx. midnight, when I finally got off of work on Friday night.

I always thought that living in a hotel was really just a myth, you know... The Suite Life of Zach and Cody? Turns out, there really are hotels meant to live in and well, the Lake family is rocking that idea right now.

Errr, rocking might not be the best word choice... but we're getting by.

There are some great benefits to living in a hotel, for instance:

• Someone else makes your bed every morning.
• They also clean the bathroom for you.
• And give you clean, fresh pressed towels.
• Free shampoo? I'm in.
• Real breakfast served every day from 6 - 10.
• And dinner too!
• And snacks at 8:30 each night. Cookies? Helluva Good french onion dip with Ruffles?
• And if I'm still hungry? Well, there are always Hershey Kisses on my night stand.

But, the combination of all the above still doesn't make up for the lack of sleep from my snoring little brother.

Hopefully ear plugs will do the trick.

The only other real problem is that the kitchen, bathrooms and dishes are miniature sized. To the point that Sean resorted to eating his breakfast from a sauce pan. Classy.. and so typically Sean.

"It'd take me like 10 bowls of cereal in this (shakes porcelein mini-bowl) to be full"

Other than spending way too much time in way too close of quarters with my family, we've been doing the things we have to do to move on.

Yesterday, I finally saw the house and spent my morning piling clothes into trash bags to make a trip to the laundry mat. Fortunately, the Red Cross gave us this fabulous miracle water which removes the smell of smoke from fabrics. Unfortunately... it doesn't work on things like this laptop.. Delilah's cage.. my hairbrush.. or the rest of my life which is still sitting in my smoke-filled bedroom. But, we use it for what we can and that meant fifteen loads of laundry. The only problem is, I've got all clothes that don't match and only have one pair of shoes.

And after another long night of work and fifty-two people in a room that only seats thirty-eight comfortably, a trip to the grocery store, and a night comprised of six hours of restless, snoring-filled sleep... Aiden and I spent the day with Ryan.

Who delivered legos. A LOT of legos.

And a shopping-spree to a boy with no toys.
And who drove me to PetSmart to buy Delilah a new home. Her cage smelled as if she had developed a very unhealthy, chain-smoking habit.

"Hi. Is this the front desk? Can you bring pets?"
"Yes. What kind of pet?"
"Can I bring my hamster?"
"Does she live in a ball or something?"
"No... she lives in a cage.."
"We've never had a hamster before... I don't know what the charge will be. I'll call you back."

[Phone Rings.]

"Hello?"
"Yes, this is about your hamster. There will be no charge, unless she sheds and gets fur on any of the carpet or furniture. Then it will be fifty dollars."
"Okay, thanks"

Yes. That was a real conversation. Shedding hamsters living in balls? Really....?

But Delilah is settled in nicely, in her new pink princess cage. Complete with pastel, confetti-colored bedding!

And slowly but surely with a lot of help from Ryan and family, I'm getting settled in too.

I have to say a great big thank you (again for... the 3002nd time?) because Ryan not only housed me for a week and fed me s'mores but has offered to fold laundry, clean smoke covered walls, took me shopping for some ridiculous things and has just been the best. Really. He's great.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their help and thoughts. We cannot begin cleaning until the insurance company comes in to asess damage. But for those who are persistant about helping, I can give you a list of things we are in need of though I promise you, we are doing okay.

Well, except for the people who keep telling us that God set our house on fire.....