What is the probability of that happening?

On Friday morning, my work phone rang. It was Joseph. "You need to call me on your cell." Calls can be recorded on my work phone so I knew it was something private and his tone was scaring me, so I asked, "Is it bad news?" Joseph said, "Oh, it's epically bad news."

Of course I immediately freaked out a bit. I walked away from my desk and called him.

Joseph: There's a car in our house.
Deidre: What? Did Jacob drive into the garage?
Joseph: No, there is a car in our house. Some guy drove into our house.
Deidre: (laughs) Oh, that's not too bad. Wait, was anyone hurt? Are my animals ok?
Joseph: No, everyone is fine. Deidre, there is a CAR in the HOUSE.
Deidre: Well, insurance will pay for it. As long as no one is hurt, that's all that matters.
Joseph: The police and firemen are here, I have to go.

I got this picture from J later

I went back to my desk and my coworker asked me if I was ok so I told her there is a car in my house. A few other coworkers wandered over and said, "WHAT?" My friend Deni IM'd me and asked what the commotion was about so I wandered over there and told her. Our other friend Casey Hall was sitting at her desk so he heard too.

Deni: Are you going to go home?
Deidre: No, what am I going to do, stand around looking at the hole in my house? Joseph is home. I'm not taking PTO for that.
Casey Hall: You have to go home. You have to take pictures.
Deidre: No, I don't want to.
Casey Hall: We'll go with you. We'll just drive by really quick and then leave.
Deidre: Fine. I don't know if I should appreciate you being good friends or be upset because you're busybodies.

We drove to my house, said hi to Joseph, took some pictures. The guy who drove his car into our house was standing around on the phone; he looked like he was ok. A reporter from Fox 10 walked up and offered to put us on the news. I wasn't there when it happened so I didn't have anything to say to a newsperson ("Uh, yeah, I was at work...and you can see the big hole in the house, so....uh...yeah..."), so after taking pictures we left and went back to work (stopping to pick up some donuts). When we got back to work, Casey Hall sent out a department email:

In honor of Deidre’s house getting hit with a car this morning I brought in some donuts….enjoy!!!
P.S. Don’t worry Nicki and HP (the chicken versions) are unharmed!!!

He included pictures.

Remember that I named my chickens after coworkers? I hope management found that amusing and not creepy, because emails went out like crazy and just about everyone was alerted (including different regions). Someone found the news story about Joseph and that was passed around as well. I got all sorts on IMs and emails and people walking by. My phone was blowing up with text messages from family (and later friends who saw it on FB). It even got around to the EMG (executive managers - the head honchos) and they emailed to ask if I was alright. I made a joke about the news reporter getting Joseph's dimple side and oh how handsome is he. Everyone kept telling me I was handling it very well.

Here's the news story:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23610328/2013/10/04/car-lands-on-porch-of-phoenix-home

I don't think anyone cut the driver off - it's a residential street. He actually crossed to the wrong side of the road to get to our house. But the most compelling piece of evidence is the lack of skid marks. I think he was either passed out (medical condition?) or was texting because he didn't stop at all. My house stopped him. He just barely squeezed between my garage and large tree.

I feel bad for the driver. He lives a few houses down. That has to be pretty embarrassing. I wonder what will happen to him if his liability limits aren't high enough. Because my homeowner's insurance company will pay for the repairs, but then they will get the money from his auto insurance (it's called subrogation). If it's not enough they can try to go after him, which would not be good for him. So let that be a lesson to you all to carry adequate liability limits. Yes, I am an insurance nerd, but you just never know when you're going to hit someone's house.

At the end of the day I came home from work and I checked out the damage (we hadn't been allowed inside earlier in the day). The insurance company had worked quickly and had a crew out there that demo'd part of the wall and boarded it up. My end table and lamp are busted. We walked around outside and there's damage to the porch ceiling. We went over to the flower bed where the guy ran over, and I notice something on the ground. My two decorative mushrooms that Mom bought me that I love so much are completely busted to pieces. I started to tear up and Joseph gave me a hug, and said, "Aw, I knew you'd be upset about that." We laughed that a hole in the house didn't faze me but I'm very upset about the mushrooms.

There might be good news in this, we're going to have to see. I was going to use part of my bonus in February to paint the house because it needs it, so they may end up painting my house for me - I don't think they can match the paint. Also, if they can't match the current flooring (which is all scratched up), I would get new flooring throughout my house. That would be wonderful. And I think they're going to have to paint my living room, including the ceiling, so the section where there is brown paint on the white ceiling that has always bugged me a little will be redone professionally. So it will probably look better than before. I really, really hope I get new floors throughout my house.

They're coming tomorrow to start the repairs. I think an engineer is coming to check for structural damage. I wonder how long my house will be in shambles.

I am so glad the weather is nice out. We spent a good chunk of the weekend with our doors open, trying to catch a breeze, since there is a hole in the wall anyway.