Literary Lark lost her home in a house fire

Hello everyone,

I had been living on my own for two months in a mobile home. I had been scared of using the oven because I was afraid I'd burn the place down. My mom told me on the phone there was nothing to be scared of, go make a pizza. So I start the oven for the first time and put the pizza in. After a few minutes, I hear weird noises and smell smoke. The kitchen was smoky, okay, well, I burned the pizza. I open the doors and windows to let the smoke out and open up the oven. Billowing smoke comes out and I see flames inside the oven. Oh ****. I immediately call 911 and by the time the dispatcher asked where the fire was located my entire kitchen was on fire. I ran outside and the police and firetruck show up and I watch my house burned down.

Long story short, the fire marshall told me the gasline had been disconnected from the oven prior to my move and that there was a rubber tray inside the oven which caught fire, and had I done anything differently, the house and I would have blown up along with the rest of the neighborhood. The exterior was still standing but the insides were burnt entirely all the way to the bedroom where there was heavy smoke damage.

My mobile home was perfect. It had a patio with a forest behind it where a Mama deer and her two babies lived which I provided bird seed apples and carrots for them. I had lots of birds and squirrels too that I fed. In two months I had planted over twenty outdoor plants and cared for ten indoor plants. It came with a TV with a DVD player and surround system that I hooked up my Spotify into and danced around to music while I was cleaning. I was always cleaning and took such great pride into my house. It was my first home and my first taste of independence.

Luckily, my cat Evy had been converted into an outdoor cat and had she had not been, she would have hid under the bed and smoked to death. I managed to save my pink camo backpack that I've had since I was 6, my stuffed animal Sam that I've had for 25 years, both of which had been through the Tubbs wildfire in 2017, and my clothes were protected in a closet and after a few washes were as good as new. I was also able to save my military bag and half my books...all those I collected after the fire had been put out. I thought it was so sweet that the fireman personally rescued my stuffed animal. He got the royal heroic fireman treatment. Sam and the pink camo backpack are currently at the dry cleaners being brought back to their normal selves...Sam is defintely overdue for a bath after 25 years hahaha.

I took a week and a half off of work to take care of business, and now I'm working on my last two weeks of work before transferring to a FT position at a local pet store.

On the 27th I am going to apply to a studio apartment and it sounds like they realty people are impressed, they must be if they gave my money back to reapply because I couldn't afford the apartment...I submitted a cover letter and four letters of recommendation...so I guess it must be meant to be. I'm not happy with the studio because its so small, but if it's anything like the other apartments its very modern and up to date. But there are two major plus sides: one, it's conveniently located within 5 minutes drive time or 30 minutes walking distance to my work, and two, it's got an ocean view. Eventually, I'd like to save up my money and stay at a job long enough to buy my own mobile home, but for now, I trust in God and knows He will provide me with what I need...I believe God speaks, and it turns out that I saved all the essentials and sentimentals...all my important docs and receipts, my most precious books, my stuffed animal and my backpack, and my clothes made it. So maybe I went overboard with decorating my house and saved up too much stuff. As Elwood Blues says, "The Lord works in mysterious ways".

Anyway, I've been dealing with a million phone calls and appointments and the last two weeks of work (which has been hellish, most definitely) and I thought I'd update you guys too, as many of you may remember me when I was more proactive on the forums.

I do not know the rules about posting fundraisers on PC, but I do have a GoFundMe, and if it doesn't break the rules, you can send me a PM if you're interested in donating.