My house burned to the ground when I was 17, so I have a bit of experience. Believe me, after that I learned that none of these "things" matter whatsoever. And that experience also enabled me to leave all my "things" behind many times since that day.
My mother reacted wisely. She grabbed a coat for everyone in the family (it was January), and her purse, which contained car keys. Believe me, car keys are important, because we could move the cars away from the house ...and then we used the microbus to corral all the dogs and puppies in until we could figure out where to take them. Mom didn't have keys to MY car, so we had to push it out of the way. What a hassle.
We lost all my baby pictures. Since I've had kids, I always printed out two copies, and gave one copy away. Now that pictures are digital, I email them to relatives, or store them online, so they can be recovered.
My family has a fire plan. Get out, leave the door open for the pets; they will take care of themselves. I love my pets, but I refuse to allow my children to waste time looking for them. We have a meeting place so we can know who is where. I have a file box that will be the first thing I grab after getting the kids out of a burning house. It has the irreplaceable documents, like my daughters' overseas documents and citizenship papers.
I told my daughters that if they learned plumbing, they would never be unemployed. I had to learn a lot of plumbing myself just because the few plumbers in my town are so busy they never get around to any jobs that aren't either highly lucrative or emergencies.
My youngest used to unbend a wire coat hanger and roast marshmallows over a stove burner -back when I used a gas stove. It doesn't work so well with electric burners.
In every family, there's one kid who is bound and determined to do the most dangerous thing they can think of.
My mother reacted wisely. She grabbed a coat for everyone in the family (it was January), and her purse, which contained car keys. Believe me, car keys are important, because we could move the cars away from the house ...and then we used the microbus to corral all the dogs and puppies in until we could figure out where to take them. Mom didn't have keys to MY car, so we had to push it out of the way. What a hassle.
We lost all my baby pictures. Since I've had kids, I always printed out two copies, and gave one copy away. Now that pictures are digital, I email them to relatives, or store them online, so they can be recovered.
My family has a fire plan. Get out, leave the door open for the pets; they will take care of themselves. I love my pets, but I refuse to allow my children to waste time looking for them. We have a meeting place so we can know who is where. I have a file box that will be the first thing I grab after getting the kids out of a burning house. It has the irreplaceable documents, like my daughters' overseas documents and citizenship papers.
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/04/29/24-room-transformer-apartment/
More than once, actually.
http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/28/one-344-sq-foot-room-with-24-possible-layouts/
http://www.neatorama.com/2011/04/26/joe-the-all-terrain-bunny/
http://www.mtv.com/search/?q=adam%20raymond
In every family, there's one kid who is bound and determined to do the most dangerous thing they can think of.