To you all

We will be going through a difficult time for a while and I wanted to thank you for all your support and love. Thank you for the love already shown by many.

Again thank you!

Just One of Those Days...

This is a post full of complaints. If you don't want to hear me whine, don't read it. "Pirates, ye be warned."

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After waking up around 4:15 this morning, due to something crawling on my face, my brain just started going. It has been ridiculously HOT this last week - I'm talking dripping sweat while just sitting still. The one beautiful thing about our apartment is the gorgeous plumeria trees on the East and South of our house... which got butchered to near stumps last week. Last night, as Dave pointed out the lush foilage surrounding every other unit minus ours, it occurred to me that maybe our axed arbors are the reason it's been so bloomin' hot - no more shade! Our unit is now fully exposed to the blast of the sun, 24-7. And since the breeze seems to come from the West - the side on which our neighboring unit is connected... erego we have a paper-thin wall instead of windows - it's been hot as hades.

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Then my mind really started running. We forked out a chunk of cash to have some rewiring done, because we couldn't hook up our dryer. After finally being convinced to shave that amount off our rent for the month, our landlord told us to keep it quiet, because "Everyone else had to pay for it themselves." Um, no. If Bob and Betty pay to have it done, then they move out and Joe and Judy move in, do Joe and Judy pay for it again? I don't think so.

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My next and biggest qualm is our floors. They're hideous, and in a couple spots, holes are "patched" with tape. The cheap tiles were so badly laid in the bathroom, there were huge gaps between them, where water was constantly getting in. Dave spent money and time on laying new tiles, and said that it was pretty ugly when he pulled up the old ones. But the ugly floors wouldn't bother me so much if we weren't practically the ONLY UNIT whose floors haven't been replaced. (I haven't toured everyone else's place, but as far as I know, we're the only one that hasn't been updated.)

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When Dave mentioned updating our flooring to our landlord last month, he came by to assure us there was nothing wrong with our floors, and the deal he made with everyone else was that, if they wanted to replace them, they'd have to pay half... because, like he assessed, nothing was wrong with them. I don't have the D.A.'s record on this, but I'm pretty sure I remember our friends saying that he just came in and updated their floors... out of the blue... at no cost to them. Uh, were we just lied to? And again, that Bob and Betty thing - what about Joe and Judy who move in after they pay for these updates?

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No microwave, no washer or dryer, no dryer hook up, no ceiling fans, a ridiculously awkward parking space, crappy floors, no shade, a "you've-got-to-be-kidding-me" paint job when we moved in, our oven heats up 100 degrees hotter than the knob says, one of the burners doesn't work on the stove... I'm not talking about granite for our two square feet of counterspace, or fake hardwood for our entire apartment that can fit in my parents' living room. (I honestly like the size of our apartment, really. I'm just saying...)

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I understand that these apartments are a great, low price. They're $450 less than we paid at our last place. I am so thankful for that. But I have a big problem with us paying the same rent as everyone else and getting short-handed, and possibly lied to by a member of our ward. I'm seriously wondering if he has something against us... no joke. And I'm wondering what to do about it, if there's anything I can do. There's no contract, so he's not legally bound to do anything. But if my suspicion's right, and there is a bias, what can we do? Am I just supposed to live with this? (Please say no, because this really sucks.) If he's unfair to us, should somebody else say something? Would somebody else say something? Help!

Another Friend's Blog

I'm usually the last person to get involved in the politics of an issue, but I think this is really important. What a great example this friend is:

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

All it takes is an open mouth

I have been struck by how easy it is to DO THIS to help your community stay "clean", no matter where you live. All you've gotta do is open your mouth.

Sorry for such an ugly subject, but have you noticed the current Sports Illustrated issue? The cover is a half-naked woman, and I'm not talking the swimsuit edition. Nate and I have successfully been able to get them off the shelves at Malama, Foodland Wahiawa and Foodland Pupukea. I'm not sure if this publication is still running, but more "traditional" magazines are using porn on their covers.

Next time you're grocery shopping or in any store that has magazines, if you see an inappropriate magazine cover, ask to see the manager. What I have done is, while showing the manager the cover, I say, "I am surprised that a store like this would carry porn." Usually that's all you have to say. If they start giving excuses, you can say, "For the sake of the children, and all your other customers, will you please have this removed from your shelves?" Usually, that's it. Then I wait to see that the magazine is actually removed.

And you know what we've found? Usually the manager is apologetic and grateful that you've brought it up and they remove the magazines immediately.

When you have success stories, I'd love to hear about it! If you have friends or family that could help "clean up" the publicly displayed magazine racks, please ask them to do the same! Feel free to copy and paste this onto your blog, etc to help more people get involved!

Tsunami

What an eventful day. We woke up to a call from my dad in Indiana at 2:50 AM, telling us we had a tsunami warning. (What wonderful parents I have. They knew it was the middle of the night, but they also knew we don't have TV. Thanks, guys!) We woke up and started making a mess of everything. Of course, my biggest concern was all my crafting stuff, so Dave humored me by helping me get all my paper up high. (Guess what the highest thing in our house was... Uh-huh... my cricut.) He also helped me throw the piano on the bed. (It only took a minute. Why not? The tsunami wasn't coming for eight more hours anyway.) I also thought it would be smart to take a quick shower and use my electric toothbrush, considering that might be the last chance I had for a while.

We also got pictures and scrapbooks put up high. (When I worked at a photography studio, a trainer asked, "What's the one thing people regret losing most in a disaster? Their pictures. Everything else can be replaced, re-built, re-bought, but you can't get those pictures back." It's always left an impression on me.)

Anyway! We packed a lot to bring with us, too - clothes, food, toiletries, scriptures, important documents, camping stove, fuel, that kind of stuff. We started calling friends to give them as much of a warning as possible. Then I remembered that one of our friend's husband was out camping, and she was home alone with her daughter! Holy cow... I knew I would be flipping out if I were in her shoes, so we decided to make sure she was all right.

We ended up following her to her family's place on higher ground. Oh, but before that, we stopped to top off our tank of gas. We waited in line at Costco - which, incidentally, opened about four hours earlier than usual - for an hour, just to get gas. It was nuts!

But we made it to higher ground, where a wonderful family, to whom we are practically strangers, so kindly took us in... and let me sleep. (Thaaaaank youuuuu!) I was so touched by their kindness. And our poor hostess had just had baby #2 within, what, a couple weeks? Seven adults, one toddler and one dog all invaded this house at a moment's notice, and they took us all in with a smile... and waffles. :)

We sat most of the day listening to internet radio and watching the news, waiting for something monstrous to happen... but luckily, nothing did. I'm not thinking, "Oh, all that for nothing," but I'm really glad we've gone through it now, and we know what to do. We now know what things take top priority in our house - my cricut - what might be smart to bring with us instead of putting up higher - pictures - and how we can be better prepared - cash stash, basic 72-hour kits. Truth be told, it was a very exhausting, but very exciting day!