Straight from the monsters mouth, we've decided to dedicate a section to our home on our website. There has been so many rumors and so many questions that we receive constantly. We had people entering our shop, laughing and joking about it... Thinking that it wasn't real.

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Well, we're here to tell you the truth about our unfortunate situation.

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In November of 2018, we were contacted by Frankie's agent to tell us that we were expected for an event. The second they mentioned it was in Marseille, France... We didn't even question it. We set up a babysitter for our fur babies and we were off. This trip, Frankie kept fighting me about his backpack. We were in line at TSA and I was trying to get my camera out of his backpack and he was racing me. I didn't think twice about it, I just thought he was weird... Typical Frankie. We're in Marseille and he seemed completely fine and, even a little happier and gigglier than usual. We had the best time in France. We were our adventurous little selves and we walked all over the city. It was one of the most beautiful places. We even learned about their uses of olive oil, which you all know we are extremely passionate about!

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Our third and final day in Marseille, we got word from Frankie's sister that his Uncle Skip had passed away and devastation took over Frankie's body. He frantically tried to contact everyone he could to change flights and to make it work so we could pay our respects. It was 3am, after about 5 hours of trying to contact different team members and different airlines in opposite time zones - we had it all figured out. We didn't think twice about our kitties, we knew they were in good hands.

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So, we were off. We flew into JFK and got through the craziness. We were there for each other in a different kind of way this day. We didn't talk much but, we both felt a certain kind of gloom. Neither of us are use to losing a loved one so I think we didn't know how to feel really. We got into the car and, the day started. It was heartbreaking. It was devastating to see the man I love this sad. He just kept saying over and over "I miss Zzyzx" and "I can't wait to get home and cuddle Zzyzx."

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We leave for Phoenix after the burial. It's dark out, and we had this awful feeling. We joked with our driver that someone probably broke into the house, or that our friend probably never came. We pull up to the house and the driver asks us if everything looks "ok", to which I replied laughing "It's still standing!" The driver takes off... Upon entering the home, we immediately hear a loud splashing water noise. It actually sounded like we were standing next to a waterfall. It was pitch black, and no lights would turn on. Our phones were dead, so no immediate flash light. I remember racing up to the next floor and switching on the lights. The immediate devastation hit. I immediately said "OH NO", Frankie couldn't handle it. The ceiling was on the couch, everything completely covered in water. A newspaper clipping of me and my mother from 1996 had fallen from a melted wall. The door to the pantry had split nearly in half. I couldn't process what was going on. I went into shock and disbelief. My brain couldn't keep up with thoughts. I ran upstairs to the cats, Frankie followed. We are running through over-ankle deep water not thinking about light sockets or plugged in extension chords. We reach the bathroom where it started. Our babies were tucked into a cubby hole in the wall, terrified and soaking wet. We turn off the water and they basically jump into both of our arms. It was unbelievably clear how happy they were to see us. Their frail little bodies were trying to regain warmth from ours. The worst feeling in the entire world ran over us. I remember holding back my gagging, because I literally felt sick to my stomach for my poor animals. My immediate thought is to call my mom and hope that she can make me feel better somehow. Frankie was relying on me to figure this out, I'm the problem solver. I'm the quick thinker and the person who puts all the fires out... But, like I said... I was having trouble focusing.

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All in all, I called a company that ended up being the "best of the best" as our insurance guy put it. When the company arrived, they said it was the biggest water disaster they had ever come across. They had everything cleaned up and the salvageable contents removed within three days. Fans had to run for six days to dry the house out and then, demo consisted of just over 15 days. We walked into the house after, we were heart broken. This was our dream home. This home couldn't be more us. It was funky and weird, and there were flying pigs on the wall to remind us that nothing is impossible. This house was our home. We lost everything. We lost things we had since we were children, we lost photos and articles of our proudest moments, letters from our great grandparents that we can't get back. What's worse than losing these things, were the people telling us that it could have been worse because we could have lost it all in a fire... or the people that came into our store after it happened to tell us that they read the article and thought it was hilarious. We do have feelings, and they were incredibly hurt by people we don't even know.

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The person who was suppose to check on the cats but couldn't, was forgiven. We understood their situation and they feel incredibly guilty for what happened. We haven't talked much since the incident but, we bare no ill-will what so ever.

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Uh, remember that backpack thing I was talking about at the beginning of this whole thing? How Frankie was being super weird with me not touching his backpack... Well, I later found out that he was planning on proposing in France but because of the turn of events he didn't feel it was right and ended up doing it a few weeks later at the Lantern Festival like he planned originally! Gosh, isn't he dreamy?!

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