one less thing to keep my mind racing
Dec. 13th, 2024 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omaewokorosuSo last Friday we reached out to a local insurance agency we were directed to by Progressive as a "well they'll be able to insure your shitty property but we have standards and need you to replace the roof in less than 30 days soooooo byeeeee if you can't lol". Our property is considered "high risk" because of some moss growing on our roof shingles. Our roof is 20 years old and otherwise in okay shape but will need a replacement (likely to slate) in the next ~5 years. Like our inspector said we could power wash the moss off and we would be good to go, and it's not like the whole roof is covered in it, just this one spot because oh no a tree.
The agent we spoke to, Kimberly, was very nice! Very helpful. We love a helpful, nice, knowledgeable insurance person. When she asked where we heard about the agency from, she more or less went, "Oh. Progressive. Yeah, they're really difficult when it comes to old houses." Which is a nice way of saying "oh god these pains in the asses." We sent all the information she needed over including the inspection report which has all sorts of pictures of the property and she said she would send these things off and see what can be done.
I've been filled with anxiety this whole time because our policy with Progressive cancels tomorrow...and we still hadn't heard anything...until yesterday.
Serena got an email going over the policy that Kimberly was able to get for us. It gives us all the coverage that we need plus things like...coverage in the event of a volcanic eruption! Or an airplane falling on our house. (In addition to typical things like fire and storms.) Doesn't cover for flood but flood insurance is typically extra anyway and we don't live close enough to the Chemung River for that to be a problem. They have no problem with our 20 year old roof and so long as we haven't made any homeowner's insurance claims in the past 5 years (which we haven't because this is our first house) or renter's insurance claims (which Serena hasn't), then they were fine.
So we agreed and everything got set up in five minutes on the phone, where Kimberly and Serena talked about their pets lmao. She said that the policy will go into effect at midnight and we'll be all set.
Oh and it's $942 for six months (which is your typical policy period). Progressive was over $1200.
She wanted to know if we were looking into switching over our car insurance now or if we were gonna do that later—no pressure or anything, just that she could start the paperwork for that if it's something we were interested in, otherwise we could stop in or call and get things set up whenever we were ready. We said not at this moment, the homeowner's was more important and Kimberly absolutely understood.
Like I probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it but we need homeowner's insurance for our mortgage. That is one of the conditions for having M&T as our lender. So at some point Serena will have to contact M&T and tell them we switched insurance companies and all they'll do is get the new information and be like "ok" because it's not uncommon for people to shop around not long after closing on a house for something more reasonable and boy did we find reasonable.
Eventually we'll switch auto over and be done with Progressive overall.
~*~
A couple of days ago one of Serena's long time friends messaged her saying that she rescued a cat... Turns out kitty was pregnant. She gave birth in October to five kittens who need homes, so would we be interested? There's no one more fitting.
A lot of people would probably question us getting a new cat considering Sadie's been gone for almost a month. Shouldn't we focus on our grief first? Would we be able to really focus on a new cat or would we be mentally comparing them to the cat we recently lost?
Thing is thought Serena and I talked about getting a second cat sooner rather than later, we were going to start looking after all the major holidays were over and done with. We were gonna look at local shelters and go from there, because we will always adopt or rescue or otherwise be a cat's last stop. (Sadie for instance, we were her third home—she started off as the cat of a family friend and then became my BIL's cat with his now ex-wife and then ended up being Serena's cat and true furever home.)
The Cat Distribution System had other plans, clearly.
Neither of us have ever had literal baby kittens. Serena, who's had cats her whole life, never had any this young, and Saru's my second cat and was a handful as a kitten. We'd both agreed that we wouldn't get a cat younger than like 6 months old max.
But here we were with the prospect of not even two month old kittens to look at.
You don't turn down the CDS. Not to mention if you end up with a cat shortly after one crosses over, this cat is sent from them to help you in your grief. So we couldn't turn down this opportunity because it would mean rejecting a present from Sadie.
SO YESTERDAY we drove the almost two hours to the Rochester area (was technically Chili which Google Maps kept pronouncing as "chill-ee" and it's "chai-lai" don't ask why that's just how it is like it pronounces Elmira as "Ehl-mee-ruh" when it's "Ehl-mai-ruh" smh) and we knew we were in the metro area when it started snowing.
I mean that's typical of this far north eh at least Monroe County's DOT is, you know, on it making sure everything is salted and plowed. So yeah. I got to meet two of Serena's friends that she's known for like 10 or more years and hasn't seen in...uh...quite some time, and the one friend's mom who they live with in this really nice Victorian house. We also got to meet Mamacat who is a quintessential tabby cat and so pretty with light green eyes. She's tiny like Sadie lol.
There were FOUR KITTENS. There were five but someone earlier in the day grabbed the lone girl tabby whose name was Diva and you don't name a cat that unless, you know, she thinks she is one lol. (There is a cat in the family whose name is Diva and she is a very pretty Siamese who knows she's pretty and how dare you even insinuate otherwise.) What remained were two tabby boys, one of whom was up for grabs because they were keeping him, and two void cats.
mini house panthers! tiny sized!
The one that immediately came up to me was named Morticia and the one that came up to Serena was named Espresso. Morticia is very demure, very mindful like Sadie, with a sprinkling of sass since she makes her demands very much known to everyone. She also announced whenever she goes to the litter box lmao (Like how Sadie would announce whenever she was about to vomit everywhere.) She has two small patches of white on her chest and some white hairs dotting along her back like stars. I think she'll be very sleek, very svelte when she's old.
Sadie definitely picked her out.
Espresso is fiesty and will definitely be a huge murder paws when she's older. I'm sure she'll get along with Saru just fine when the time comes and they've been properly introduced and adjusted to each other... I think she's gonna be a floof like her big sister as well...
We were initially going to pick just one cat, but I had joked "what if two cats pick us?"
Which is exactly what ended up happening.
"You could always have a two-for!"
Which would be less stress on them since they would only need to rehome the boy tabby. And Morticia and Espresso were pretty much inseparable...so we took them both. They chose us after all. You don't reject a cat. You don't reject the CDS. You don't reject the new friend your old one sends your way.
So we drove back to Elmira with two void kitties in the backseat in Sadie's old carrier snuggled in her old blanket. Like that our family felt whole again.
Nothing will ever replace Sadie. I haven't introduced Aleks to either of them and won't until everyone's adjusted and comfortable... He said, "I'm glad that two voids chose you and Serena because I don't think I would want another tabby."
"Because you'd be looking for Sadie?"
"It wouldn't be fair to them because they're not my Sadinya, and I don't want that to affect my potential bond with a cat just because I'm too caught up grieving the one I recently lost."
Aleks has seen them, he thinks they're cute (because they are), but he's hanging back. Which is fine.
Morticia (left) and Espresso (right) sleeping in the perch in the catio.
Saru looking in on her little sisters, her eyes filled with curiosity.
The agent we spoke to, Kimberly, was very nice! Very helpful. We love a helpful, nice, knowledgeable insurance person. When she asked where we heard about the agency from, she more or less went, "Oh. Progressive. Yeah, they're really difficult when it comes to old houses." Which is a nice way of saying "oh god these pains in the asses." We sent all the information she needed over including the inspection report which has all sorts of pictures of the property and she said she would send these things off and see what can be done.
I've been filled with anxiety this whole time because our policy with Progressive cancels tomorrow...and we still hadn't heard anything...until yesterday.
Serena got an email going over the policy that Kimberly was able to get for us. It gives us all the coverage that we need plus things like...coverage in the event of a volcanic eruption! Or an airplane falling on our house. (In addition to typical things like fire and storms.) Doesn't cover for flood but flood insurance is typically extra anyway and we don't live close enough to the Chemung River for that to be a problem. They have no problem with our 20 year old roof and so long as we haven't made any homeowner's insurance claims in the past 5 years (which we haven't because this is our first house) or renter's insurance claims (which Serena hasn't), then they were fine.
So we agreed and everything got set up in five minutes on the phone, where Kimberly and Serena talked about their pets lmao. She said that the policy will go into effect at midnight and we'll be all set.
Oh and it's $942 for six months (which is your typical policy period). Progressive was over $1200.
She wanted to know if we were looking into switching over our car insurance now or if we were gonna do that later—no pressure or anything, just that she could start the paperwork for that if it's something we were interested in, otherwise we could stop in or call and get things set up whenever we were ready. We said not at this moment, the homeowner's was more important and Kimberly absolutely understood.
Like I probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it but we need homeowner's insurance for our mortgage. That is one of the conditions for having M&T as our lender. So at some point Serena will have to contact M&T and tell them we switched insurance companies and all they'll do is get the new information and be like "ok" because it's not uncommon for people to shop around not long after closing on a house for something more reasonable and boy did we find reasonable.
Eventually we'll switch auto over and be done with Progressive overall.
A couple of days ago one of Serena's long time friends messaged her saying that she rescued a cat... Turns out kitty was pregnant. She gave birth in October to five kittens who need homes, so would we be interested? There's no one more fitting.
A lot of people would probably question us getting a new cat considering Sadie's been gone for almost a month. Shouldn't we focus on our grief first? Would we be able to really focus on a new cat or would we be mentally comparing them to the cat we recently lost?
Thing is thought Serena and I talked about getting a second cat sooner rather than later, we were going to start looking after all the major holidays were over and done with. We were gonna look at local shelters and go from there, because we will always adopt or rescue or otherwise be a cat's last stop. (Sadie for instance, we were her third home—she started off as the cat of a family friend and then became my BIL's cat with his now ex-wife and then ended up being Serena's cat and true furever home.)
The Cat Distribution System had other plans, clearly.
Neither of us have ever had literal baby kittens. Serena, who's had cats her whole life, never had any this young, and Saru's my second cat and was a handful as a kitten. We'd both agreed that we wouldn't get a cat younger than like 6 months old max.
But here we were with the prospect of not even two month old kittens to look at.
You don't turn down the CDS. Not to mention if you end up with a cat shortly after one crosses over, this cat is sent from them to help you in your grief. So we couldn't turn down this opportunity because it would mean rejecting a present from Sadie.
SO YESTERDAY we drove the almost two hours to the Rochester area (was technically Chili which Google Maps kept pronouncing as "chill-ee" and it's "chai-lai" don't ask why that's just how it is like it pronounces Elmira as "Ehl-mee-ruh" when it's "Ehl-mai-ruh" smh) and we knew we were in the metro area when it started snowing.
I mean that's typical of this far north eh at least Monroe County's DOT is, you know, on it making sure everything is salted and plowed. So yeah. I got to meet two of Serena's friends that she's known for like 10 or more years and hasn't seen in...uh...quite some time, and the one friend's mom who they live with in this really nice Victorian house. We also got to meet Mamacat who is a quintessential tabby cat and so pretty with light green eyes. She's tiny like Sadie lol.
There were FOUR KITTENS. There were five but someone earlier in the day grabbed the lone girl tabby whose name was Diva and you don't name a cat that unless, you know, she thinks she is one lol. (There is a cat in the family whose name is Diva and she is a very pretty Siamese who knows she's pretty and how dare you even insinuate otherwise.) What remained were two tabby boys, one of whom was up for grabs because they were keeping him, and two void cats.
mini house panthers! tiny sized!
The one that immediately came up to me was named Morticia and the one that came up to Serena was named Espresso. Morticia is very demure, very mindful like Sadie, with a sprinkling of sass since she makes her demands very much known to everyone. She also announced whenever she goes to the litter box lmao (Like how Sadie would announce whenever she was about to vomit everywhere.) She has two small patches of white on her chest and some white hairs dotting along her back like stars. I think she'll be very sleek, very svelte when she's old.
Sadie definitely picked her out.
Espresso is fiesty and will definitely be a huge murder paws when she's older. I'm sure she'll get along with Saru just fine when the time comes and they've been properly introduced and adjusted to each other... I think she's gonna be a floof like her big sister as well...
We were initially going to pick just one cat, but I had joked "what if two cats pick us?"
Which is exactly what ended up happening.
"You could always have a two-for!"
Which would be less stress on them since they would only need to rehome the boy tabby. And Morticia and Espresso were pretty much inseparable...so we took them both. They chose us after all. You don't reject a cat. You don't reject the CDS. You don't reject the new friend your old one sends your way.
So we drove back to Elmira with two void kitties in the backseat in Sadie's old carrier snuggled in her old blanket. Like that our family felt whole again.
Nothing will ever replace Sadie. I haven't introduced Aleks to either of them and won't until everyone's adjusted and comfortable... He said, "I'm glad that two voids chose you and Serena because I don't think I would want another tabby."
"Because you'd be looking for Sadie?"
"It wouldn't be fair to them because they're not my Sadinya, and I don't want that to affect my potential bond with a cat just because I'm too caught up grieving the one I recently lost."
Aleks has seen them, he thinks they're cute (because they are), but he's hanging back. Which is fine.
Morticia (left) and Espresso (right) sleeping in the perch in the catio.
Saru looking in on her little sisters, her eyes filled with curiosity.
