And we keep on keepin' on

I'm not going to lie, this house fire sucked. The subsequent clean up sucked and throwing away and replacing necessities REALLY sucked. I've been to Target four times in the past week and to the Container Store twice. No fun. Someone actually had the gall to ask me the other day how we're paying for all of this since we didn't have renter's insurance (in front of a lot of other people no less) and  I almost launched into an explanation of how B and I are incredibly frugal and had been living the Total Money Makeover Plan for some time so we had savings, but I simply said, "ummm, my bank account!?"

Enough of the bad stuff though. Yeah, there was a house fire and our lives were turned upside down but let's focus on the good stuff shall we?
I'm going to choose to turn my attention on all of the amazingly positive things that have happened since the house fire. My wonderful twin sister spent her Memorial Day helping us clean and shop. She brought us both to tears with her generosity and her willingness to work and get covered in soot doing it. We were offered a place to stay by two separate families (in fact, we were offered a place to stay by many people!) and we had soft beds to rest in. My best friend set up a "Backyard Barbeque Survival Fund" where our out of town friends donated money to help us stay afloat. Your generosity and kind words mean more than you will ever know. I miss you all so much and I love you dearly. Thank you. Because of the fire, we were forced to clean every.single.thing that wasn't damaged and, therefore, our house is super clean! Cleaner than any Spring cleaning endeavor I've attempted to complete. For everything we had to throw away, something else survived. I may have lost all my pajamas and winter scarves, but we got to keep our books. For all the jewelry I had to throw away, my engagement ring was safe. Our dry cleaner is confident he can save our coats and sweaters. We were forced to de-clutter in a major way and, you know what? It feels good! We had a lot of crap stored away in 850 sq. feet. I just hadn't known it until now.
Most importantly, my husband and my dogs are safe and sound. We are a whole family and we have everything we truly need. And we're happy as evidenced by the fact that we're still smiling (the dogs too, they can smile, didn't you know that?).

I've struggled a lot with the decision to keep blogging because I post a lot about things you can buy. But, I've decided to keep up my space here at D&OC, because for me, this is a safe place. It's a place where I can be myself and talk about the things that are catching my eye. Just because I feature something doesn't mean I've purchased it. In fact, most of the items I feature will never make it into my home, but some will after much thought and consideration. With, the understanding of course, that the things I own don't define me and if they happen to go up in flames one day, I'll be A-OK. Thanks for your support friends. I hope to get back to my normal posting schedule soon.

Wondering what the random photo is about? That's B and I dancing at his sister's wedding in April. Her wedding was out of this world GORGEOUS, you should check it out here.