I figure we should pass on what we've learned about insurance over the past 9+ months. If you've had a large claim too, do you have others to add to the list?
Below: A current view of our kitchen, which looked like this a few weeks ago! For those of you new to my blog, here's where our claim started. More updates also found under "Big Mess."
1.
Insure Yourself - Insurance is Important. As disappointed as we were with our treatment, I can't imagine if we had no homeowners insurance at all. If possible, talk with friends who had
large insurance claims to find out how they were treated. Also, check the national reputation of your insurance company. Unfortunately, ours has a national reputation for not settling quickly or fairly.
2.
Picture This - First of all, take pictures of your house. Right Now. Inside & Out. Don't take a close up picture of every tiny houseplant, but take shots of each room. When we were burglarized a couple of years ago, I wish I had taken snapshots of things like my CD rack, inside my kitchen cabinet, etc.
3.
Every Little Bit - It all adds up. If you have a claim, make sure you account for everything possible. We were burglarized during a renovation, and had no idea what was piled up in our POD & backside of the house. If I had taken pictures, it would have jogged my memory. But instead, months later we would think, "Oh, what happened to that globe we got for our wedding?" (Really, I can't believe they stole that, Liz!) For months we would remember things that added up to several hundreds dollars in the end. We never claimed all of this stuff with our insurance.
4.
Document the Process - Right away, get yourself a calendar & write down dates of important phone calls, emails, etc. Who was at meetings, what they said. Take tons and tons and tons of photographs of the incident & repairs. They incorrectly laid some brick on our house, which didn't meet codes, but quickly covered over it. We
only got them to redo it because Lance had documented it.
5.
Hire The Right Guys (or Girls) - Just pay what it costs to hire someone you
trust. We were locked into a decision, because the insurance only approved the guys who low-balled the estimate. We ended up having to fire them & redo a bunch of their work on our own dime.
6.
Be Insistent - Unfortunately, we learned that it doesn't always pay to wait around for the guys to do the right thing. We waited about 6 months without a settlement. Finally, Lance made dozens of calls in one week, going over each persons head. Once he got to the highest in command, the issue was resolved that same day.
7.
Put Your POD Away - Don't leave a POD in your yard. Ours was broken into. Plus, they are a huge red flag for folks looking to break into a uninhabited house.
8.
Get Folks to Back You Up - Hiring a lawyer, engineer, architect may be necessary. Fortunately, we had a structural engineer (and family friend) at our house on Day 1. His documentation & reports were invaluable. We also expect his reports & assessments to help in the eventual resale of our home. And we ended up having a lawyer (and friend) represent us to move our situation along. And since I married an architect, his services were free. :)
9.
While You're At It - If there is additional work done to your house, consider doing it now. Depending on the market & how long you plan to stay in the home, it could be a cost-effective time to get other work done that you have been considering. Due to the wreck, we had to install a new staircase going out of our kitchen. We had been talking about adding a deck, so we decided to go ahead and make the upgrade now.
10.
Go With It - This one's really a bummer, because it really could mean that the good guy doesn't "win". But in the end, you have to realize that it's just "stuff." Maybe you truly won't get what you are owed (we didn't.) But you have just got to let it go. Otherwise, it will eat you up.
Thanks to Mary Alice's clever idea, we have a very unique new lighting fixture, original to our house! Here's the before picture.
Note to Self & Other Blogger Friends: 
We've moved back in our house (yeah!) and are getting settled in. We're loving the house, and...the quilt is done! Whew! I'm so glad I did it, but that is definitely not going to become a hobby of mine anytime soon! I thought it would save a significant amount of money, but I still spent $200 on materials. I've learned that sewing is not a moneysaver.
We've had so much happening around here, that I haven't posted a picture of my sweet baby in a while! KB is nearly 7 months old & such a sweetheart!
Instead of this (blue tape all over our house marked cracks from the wreck):
We inherited the wall color, which many people loved, but was too dark for me. So I'm glad to finally have a new coat of paint on the walls as well.
This is the third year we've celebrated Valentine's day (a bit early) with our playgroup. How they've grown! Here
Current picture of our kitchen. The grout isn't on yet, so it won't be that dark between the tiles, although I did go with "Mushroom" color grout, instead of white.
We made this room larger by including some attic space & unused dormer space & made a built-in bed nook.
We love the phone nook, but had it wired so that we could put an actual phone there! Found this cordless vintage-style phone from Pottery Barn on ebay.
We are still at the doctor's office (added note: from 1:30-5pm!), but I wanted to give an update to tell everyone that ate his muffin & pizza with flying colors! He did say, "My Mouth Hurts" after eating his first bite of pizza, but quickly said, "It's Better!" and proceeded to eat 2 slices. (I don't know - maybe he bit his tongue??) He drank chocolate milk, and seems fine, but has hives on his mouth (He also had some nasal inflammation). So we've been cleared on baked goods & cheese, but have been told to wait 6 months on whole milk & try again later. We'll be keeping an eye on him tonight to see if his eczema flares up also. 
Today, they are installing countertops! Kashmir White, for those of you mulling over your own home renovations...
Since we own a climbing gym, I was especially interested to see this rock climbing decor on sale at PB Teen! Click here for the wall mural, marked down to $99 from $199. 
And this Carabiner Rope System, marked down to $19, from $59. Climb on!
Now here is a man who is proud of his workshop. He added this area to our basement, complete with cabinets pulled from our old kitchen. Does every man desire his own workshop? Or is it just my husband? This is his favorite area of our house. He has more tools than I have shoes!
Here are the fun little Valentine's Fortune Cookies I made last year, for those who might need a cute idea. Click here for instructions from Martha!
1. Insure Yourself - Insurance is Important. As disappointed as we were with our treatment, I can't imagine if we had no homeowners insurance at all. If possible, talk with friends who had large insurance claims to find out how they were treated. Also, check the national reputation of your insurance company. Unfortunately, ours has a national reputation for not settling quickly or fairly.
Here's another etsy seller you should really check out before February 10. A friend-of-friend (remember Kate from The Bachelor?) started a line of little girl skirts on etsy called...Bean! How adorable! Hopefully, she'll be able to stay around after February, but who knows what this law might do! Click here for more from Bean.
I meant to share this "I Spy Bag Travel Toy" that I bought for our long Christmas road trip, from etsy seller aebaby. It's fun and very easy to pack away to buy you some quiet time on your travels. There are a variety of different fabrics, we have a dinosaur pattern.
Other fun racing decorations came either from here or here or here.
Sis-in-law Jeanie makes amazing cookies, so she whipped up these cuties, using this vegan cookie recipe. (Last year, I vowed never to attempt this type of cookie ever again.)
Ethan's cars filled a corner as our "race track." Easy enough, right? Toddlers don't stay in one place too long, so they quickly moved on to...
The DMV. Where they could make their own license plates, from craft foam, stickers & glitter glue. We also had some of these guys - first drivers license, perhaps?
Next, off for paint jobs & work in the body shop! At the Body Shop, they got to paint & color wooden cars. 
Or color pictures of cars.
For the food, we had bagels (Tires) with flavored cream "cheese." I made strawberry and veggie flavored cream cheeses from using Tofutti brand. Plus bananas and coffee (Fuel!!!). 
We topped off a good breakfast with some checkered vegan cupcakes.
