~ IT'S ALL JUST STUFF ~

What would you take if you literally had seconds to get out of your house?

I had never ever once thought about that until an hour ago when Southwest Gas advised us to evacuate our house immediately. IMMEDIATELY. Do not touch the microwave, light switches, anything electrical....JUST EVACUATE THE HOUSE, NOW! (Just a not so funny side note... I literally had just finished microwaving last night's Oregano's leftovers, turned on the kitchen lights, and Jax was happily playing his XBOX 360 via remote..... all the while I was on my cell phone texting. Nothing at all like living dangrously through electricity!! SHEESH!)

A crew was quickly dispatched to our address. So we sat anxiously waiting... outside, together.

Boy did I feel like a triple grade A ass. My garage has been smelling gross all week. I thought it was the garbage can and the food all the neighborhood kids had been throwing into it. I washed it out three times but that didn't help. I kept looking for a dead animal, wrappers from something... anything... I just couldn't figure out what the smell was. I literally thought nothing of it because I have had kids in and out of my garage all week since the weather was changing. I seriously thought I had a dead mouse, somewhere.

Then it hit Tommy and I both, at exactly the same time, like a brick, this morning when we took my truck to get new window tint.

Eggs. Rotten Eggs.

Our entire house, not just the garage anymore, was smelling like rotten eggs.

We quickly got the kids and Dozer out of the house and waited...... and that was when the reality of STUFF set in with our kids.

"Mom, what about my necklace? What if our house explodes and I lose my necklace? My T.V.? My this and that." It went on and on. We calmly explained priorities to the kids and with Jax, our smarter than smart guy, we explained home owner's insurance.

We literally scurried out of the house with clothes on our backs and I grabbed my purse so I had my debit card, just in case, ....... and we waited and waited.

Tommy and I were not really that worried... at least I don't think he was. Maybe I was a little, but I just laughed a lot as to not worry the crumb-snatchers. They were consumed with eating all the ice-cream Tommy had grabbed for them. You see, gas scares me. The thought of explosions and fire just freak me out, especially when it comes to my house.

The kiddies were slightly freaked and we had to explain that, "STUFF IS STUFF. IT IS ALL REPLACEABLE!" Even though some stuff really is not. I didn't care. Pictures, computers, clothes, toys... nothing mattered to me at that point, except 3 munchies and their father. (Brinkley was hysterical we left her cat inside. We justified it by saying the garage door was open, there was a breeze and no chance of electrical sparks from switches since we were all outside. Then I thought about the A/C units turning on, but did not even mention that!)

My kids were outside and we were together and yep.... we actually had a gas leak that they fixed immediately. Thank you Southwest Gas man.

No harm no foul, even if my house still stinks, now I know...and so do the kids.....

STUFF IS STUFF AND I HAD NO PROBLEM LEAVING EVERY SINGLE THING BEHIND.......

even my diamonds.................