WOO HOO!!! I'm BACK!

[jen6889]

I thought I was going to loose my mind!!!!!!!!!!
You guys seriously will NEVER believe the mess I've been through lately. Argh... It's just been one of THOSE years. I swear. I must've broken a mirror or something!

Monday of nearly two weeks ago now (7-8 ), we had a horrible band of storms come through. Can we say major Light show?? Gosh.. one lightning strike immediately after the other and the wind was something awful. I'm tellin ya, I've been through hurricanes that were milder than that. First storm came through around 8 pm. Lightning struck somewhere REALLY close to the house. We had a loss of power for just a few seconds, but came back on ok. HOWEVER.... the computer screen had some really funny colors. Upon further investigation we discovered our phone line was DEAD and the computer wouldn't work. I put our freaked out dogs in the basement, only to discover our furnance, which runs only heat and was turned off, was running! We had to disconnect power to it to get it to go off! My daughter's lightbulb to her lamp also blew (not exploded blew, but you know what I mean) from the power surge. First time I had ever seen a bulb that looked all black inside.
Then just when we thought it was over.......
ANOTHER storm came. My daughter gathered her favorite stuffed animals and came downstairs and was screaming with every lightning strike. My darling son slept through it all (takes after his Daddy who has seriously slept through a tornado!). Lightning is striking very close to the house and then all of a sudden we hear this huge Crack! BOOM! (my ears were still hurting 2 days later) and power is gone.... I smelled burning wood and then that nasty electrical burn smell and naturally freaked thinking the house was on fire or something. My poor goats - just the boys stay in the field all summer - were freaking out, running all over. I felt so bad for not putting them up in the barn. One of them got his back legs all tangled in the fence from his panic & they got infected and we had to give him Penicillian shots & Asprin for 4 days. He's just fine now, but he's still walking with a slight limp.
So... morning comes and there is pieces of burnt bark ALL over our yard and we found out the tree DIRECTLY next to our house was struck by lightning. We had a tree removal service person look at it and he said it apparently was struck multiple times in the same storm (You know that saying that Lightning never strikes the same place twice.... Don't believe it! I have evidence!). Power Finally gets restored and we have a weird burning smell, outlets in the kitchen don't work, TV had funny colors, Caller ID box wouldn't work, Answering Machine didn't work, DVD player, electric fence and so on....
Our electrician (who if some of you remember, was just here last month fixing our meter box that got ripped off the side of our house when a tree in our front yard was struck by lightning and fell on our electric line) came out immediately. Turned out the burning smell was from a very much literally blown fuse in the switch box for our well and this was still working??? The fuse had blown so hard, there is a dent in the cover, cover was blown open and pieces of it shot everywhere. EEK!
Now in a shallow attempt to make a long story short...
We just got our computer back from the shop... Modem was fried. Melted the "outlets" for the phone line and luckily just shorted out the rest of the computer. (Um.. you know how they say Don't talk on the phone during an electrical storm?? That one you'd better believe!!) Figures they gave us the wrong modem tho, so dh went out and bought another really cheap one to keep our sanity while they order the correct one. And naturally, we got our computer back just in time for the next storm that's coming this afternoon!! Um.. I think I'll just shut it down and unplug it this time. LOL!!! And yes, we have an APC surge protector, but as our electrician says, there's nothing man can make to prevent the damage of a direct lightning hit.

TV was fixed.
Satellite dish needs replacing.
DVD player - Pronounced DOA (dead on arrival) at the electronics repair place.
Caller ID box - Also DOA
Cordless phone/Answering Machine - you guessed it... DOA
Our furnance needs some board thingy replaced.
Electric fence just needed fuses replaced.
Electrician fixed our outlets, replaced box & fuses for well pump.
2 nightlights also don't work, but that's easily replaced for $2 at Walmart.

And that's about the just of it. I have been over 1 week with no computer, and no TV. Fortunately, the phone repair tech fixed our line by the next afternoon. Whew! Should've seen the phone wire...burnt really bad. I got to looking at the other wires in the house for the phone lines and they all had black on them and one wire even had a hole burnt through the middle.

I just want to take this time to say THANK YOU GOD for insurance companies!!! Seriously.. our Homeowners insurance is picking up the tab for all of this mess, even paying to have the tree removed for us.

Now.. other things I would have blabbed about had I been online:

Michelle lost her front 2 bottom teeth (Finally!!). She quite literally lost one of them tho. She didn't even realize it was gone. We've searched the whole house and cannot find it. <sigh> Oh well. She also has her top 2 front teeth loose now.

And speaking of insurance companies.. I want everyone to know I have the BEST Health Insurance Company ever!!! We received the Hospital Bill from St. Francis, where Alexia was in the NICU.
Are you sitting down? If not, maybe you'd better...





Bill total for JUST the hospital: $107,456.95
I nearly fainted! And guess what? My insurance company paid ALL of it!!! That is such a relief! That total would be our income for about 2 1/2 years. Our insurance company has also paid most of all the other bills for her too - the neurologist, pathologist, hemotologist, neonatologist, radiologist, the surgery, the anesthesia, etc, etc. This company has been so wonderful to us - both by paying the bills without any problems and being so nice on the phone.

Alrighty then.. that's about it and if you've made it this far, I commend you for actually reading all of this!! I really really really missed you guys so much and it feels so good to be back. Now... seriously, have I missed anything important? Feel free to direct me to posts you think I'd want to know about. I gotta run to the computer/electronics shop now to pick up the rest of our stuff, but I'll be back in a little bit.

((((((((((((((((((((((((EVERYBODY))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[ShainaT]

Whew! What a time you've had!! Glad you are back though, Jen!!

[LocaChica]

Whew! I had to take 5 minute breaks from reading your story. just kidding. OMG you sure have one heckuva story to tell. I'm glad no one got hurt. (glad the little goat's doing fine, too.)

oh and WELCOME BACK!!

[katrinka99]

HOLY COW Jen!!!! How much can one person handle in a matter of months?? What a story!! You have been through so much and still you seem to be in such good spirits!! Welcome back!!

[mayfly]

((((((((((((Jen)))))))))))

I think you should change your name to DangerGirl2!!!!

What an amazing story.

So happy to hear that the insurance has taken care of all the bills. Its SHOCKING to see how much medical bills can run up.

[hrdlife1]

JEN!!! WOW!!! that is just amazing...i was sitting here reading this and a couple co-workers kept coming up to my desk askin if i was ok (lol) cuz i would gasp and then giggle and then oh no and then gasp and then giggle again LOL!!! SO VERY HAPPY to see you back!!! and glad yall are all safe...yall have some ROCKIN insurance companies that's for sure LOL!! WOW...guess you'll have to start shoppin around for all new stuff now DARN huh LOL

[JillyB71]

Wow!! You sure know how to stay busy don't you??!! Just kidding! Hope everything goes well for you in the coming months!!

[deal4u]

WOW--you are one strong girl Jen!

I've been wondering about you--glad you're back!

[ihvfaith]

Wow Wow and Wow again!!!!!
Words fail me but I am so
glad you all are okay!!!!!

[jen6889]

Originally posted by mayfly
((((((((((((Jen)))))))))))

I think you should change your name to DangerGirl2!!!!

What an amazing story.

So happy to hear that the insurance has taken care of all the bills. Its SHOCKING to see how much medical bills can run up.

ROFL!!!! I called my parents last week to tell them what had happened and I said to my Dad " Just call me the Disaster Magnet"! My sister and I tease that we're cursed! My sister also keeps having one problem after the other. We really just have to laugh about it all or we'll go nuts!
I really am not at all a superstitious person, but sheesh! This past year has been just pure disaster!! I don't recall breaking any mirrors, I have been known to walk under ladders tho... maybe that's it? LOL!

[Airslady]

Heres to you Jen ((((((((((((((((JEN)))))))))))))))

WOW!!!!! I am so sorry to hear of all the troubles you had but so thankful that everyone and the most important things are ok you are very lucky now I will say it's time for your luck to change I forbid bad luck striking your household agagin it needs to move on Thank Goodness for those Insurance Companies

[3tbear]

Jen, glad to have you back! I can't believe all the stuff you've been through? One disaster after another! At least you and your family are OK. When we were at our old house, we had the inners of our TV blow out during an electrical storm. That's how we discovered it wasn't grounded, and believe me, we grounded it right after we found that out. Costs us alot of money to have that TV fixed! What a pain for you 'though, having to buy all new stuff!

[blueaguave]

I thought I had problems!

[Dangergirl]

Jen--

(((HUGS))) YOu have been through SO MUCH!!! I bow at your feet and present you with my name, you deserve it more than I (right Jeski!)


Better yet, you should be survival girl!!

[buckeyemomma]

(((((JEN AND FAMILY))))) You sure had more than your share!! Maybe this is telling you that the next 7 years will be all good kuck! I hope so!

I am glad everone is ok