Declined!

Last night, I stopped in at the Circle K Mini-Mart near my house for a couple of ice cold bevs. In line in front of me were two women with a little girl (about age 7) trying to buy a pack of cigarettes and a gatorade. They had a $5 bill and a credit card. The total bill came to about $6.50. The woman swiped her card, but to her dismay and confusion, the card was declined. The mini-mart worker asked her to swipe it again. Still declined. The two women looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "well, I guess we'll have to keep the cigarettes and put back the gatorade." One lady snatched the gatorade bottle out of the little girl's hands who looked up at her mom with complete sadness and horror, and pleaded, "why do I have to put it back?!" Well, little girl, it's because your mom is a total white-trash scumbag who doesn't have enough money to feed her meth addiction, and is in desperate need of a cigarette to hold her over while she scours the entire trailer for spare change.

Poor kid.

Faces of Meth - An informative website about Meth addiction and before and after shots of meth addicts when they were arrested, such as the woman below:

"Remodel" Update

Yes, we are STILL painting. Still painting the upstairs. What's taking us so long, you ask? Well, a few minor things:

1. Both S and I are perfectionists. Each line has to be perfect, there can't be any missed spots larger than a pin head, no smudges allowed on the baseboards, and definitely touch-ups during the daylight since we only paint at night.
2. These rooms are pretty big, so taping every inch of baseboard, ceiling, and window is a chore in and of itself.
3. Not only are we painting, but we are cleaning up years of filth. Wiping every baseboard, door, doorframe, closet shelf, light fixture (there's bugs in them!!), window sills, blinds (I don't think they've EVER been dusted), etc.

See example of the filth passed down to us:

It's been a week and a half since we first unloaded the Uhaul and Sunday night was the first night we slept in a real bed. Last night we painted both bathrooms, tonight we're prepping the upstairs hallway, touching up the bathrooms, and cleaning the kitchen floor. (We've been having to put on shoes just to walk to the fridge). Later this week we'll start on the entryway, and the living room as soon as we can decide on what shade of green to buy.

This whole ordeal has really been trying on our relationship, but every night we still look at each other and laugh at all the crap The Universe has put us through in the past month. There's nothing that can tear us apart. The ONLY things we've been fighting about have been related to cleaning, painting, and moving stuff in. The only time I cried was last night when I smacked my face right into the shower door that was propped up against the wall. Fun times!!

The good news is that I found my camera! I'll be posting before and after shots [hopefully] within the next two weeks. I'm also going to post some of the nastier photos we took for our move-in check list that we submitted to the property management. They're in for a treat with those.

The other good news is that we're going to replace our old-fashioned electronic equipment with more modern technology. We're going to buy a stereo system with tiny speakers that controls the tv volume, the ipod, and plays DVD's, CD's, MP3s, and FM/AM radio. We're also going to buy a brand new flat screen LCD tv!! We've been shopping around looking for good deals and reading lots of reviews, but if you have any suggestions or advice, please comment!

P.S. We've begun to realize how hard it is to have a normal day without some of the luxuries that are still packed away in boxes. For example, we haven't had internet or cable for two weeks - we're like the Amish! I haven't prepared a homecooked meal for a month or been to the gym so we're getting real FLABBY. But worst of all - I've been using BAR SOAP to wash my face!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH! Oh, and I haven't shaven my legs in weeks! I am so unbelievably sexy right now. :)

Should Marigolds Blossom in the Bedroom?

Here is a snapshot of our latest creation. Last night we finished this bedroom off with a bright yellow wall. In theory it sounded like a good idea. Dark grey and dark yellow go great together. In fact, it really does look pretty awesome. But here's my concern...this is going to be our bedroom. Do we really want an insanely bright wall? Or would we be better off with all grey, so that the bedroom is dark, cozy, and mellow? I'm thinking the latter, but that means we have to paint over the Marigold Blossom which means yet another night of work, and another day further away from moving furniture in.

What do you think? Should we keep the Marigold or paint over it with more grey??

Painting does weird things to your brain

After crawling into bed at midnight...


Me: "Did you ever eat that burrito?"

Steve: "I don't know what you're talking about."

Me: "Dinner. What did you have for dinner?"

Steve: "That frozen burrito"

Me: "Right. So remember you heated it up and then left it to cool?"

Steve: "Oh yeah, I devoured that thing so fast"

Me: "Oh okay, because I never even saw you go back and eat it."

Steve: "Hmm...actually, maybe I didn't eat it. I don't remember now."

Me: "It's probably still sitting on the counter"

Steve: "Yeah, whatever. I'm over it. Goodnight"

My Best Friend is a GENIUS!

My best friend Heather just launched her Hippie Sack business. With her own two hands, she created all kinds of neat handbags and beach bags that are colorful, lovely, and very functional!! With scraps of fabric she found from all over Hawaii, she has managed to put together the most beautiful collection of bags. Go take a look at her website, HippieSacksHawaii. If you want to order one, email her at heather@hippiesackshawaii.com

Heather, you're so talented!! I can't wait until I get my very own hippie sack in the mail! :)

And Then We Dreamt of Paint

I wish I could say that we're all moved in to our condo, having fun decorating and arranging all of our furniture, and back to cooking gourmet meals, but unfortunately the only three pieces of property inside the place are two bikes and a futon.

Last Friday at noon, we arrived to find the carpet installers busy at work, just getting started on re-carpeting the condo. As awesome as it was to be getting new carpet, we were a bit annoyed that this meant a delay unloading the Uhaul. Time was of the essence because the Uhaul renter called saying he needed the truck back by 5pm.

We gave the carpet company another hour before we asked if we could park our moving truck where there's was in front of the garage and start unloading. By this point, I was pumped to start getting our stuff out of the cramped truck and into the ever-so-tiny garage...I just wanted to make SOME progress.

By 3:00, Steve and I managed to get EVERYTHING out of the Uhaul. Even the washer and dryer and the 40,000 pound tv. Must be all that spinach I've been eating because I really didn't think I would be able to be of ANY help, let alone help carry our monstrous furniture. You should have seen the look on Steve's face as I lifted my end of the dense leather couch with such ease and grace. He kept telling me how proud and amazed he was. Go me!!!!!

With the first hurdle behind us, we returned the Uhaul, chugged ice cold bevs, and returned to the condo to inspect what was to be our new home. To our dismay, the place was absolutely disgustingly dirty. The previous tenants didn't bother with cleaning...not even the toilets. I thought my toilet was dirty but these were nauseating. I imagined what their moms would think, or even what my mom would say. Before I had the studio cleaned my mom made me clean my toilet, saying it would be embarrasing to have such a dirty toilet for the cleaning lady. How can someone have the audacity to leave such filth in their wake?

Long story short, we called the property manager and demanded cleaning asap. He sent over two craggy college guys (Steve swears one of them was a 40 year old meth addict), but they looked young and harmless to me. They cleaned for about an hour and said they'd come back in the morning to finish. They never came back.

So, here we are: Saturday afternoon, half clean condo, new carpet bits scattered everywhere, boogers on the walls, an annoying alarm sensor that beeps everytime you take a step, and nothing to eat. The property managment is closed for the weekend and we still don't want to move stuff in until it's properly cleaned. ROAR!!!

Steve got a hold of the property manager on Monday and he said he would have the cleaners call to arrange a time to come back (Yeah right!) but he did say we could paint and they would pay for it!!! Let me tell you - we're going all out on this one!!

We decided to paint our bedroom dark grey - and have done so, leaving one white wall. We may or may not paint that white wall yellow, but the grey looks awesome! The guest room/office is going to be brown, the living room olive green, and the bathrooms taupe. We painted last night from 7:00-11:30 and fell to the floor exhausted, but we're doing it all over tonight, and tomorrow night, and probably for the next week! Phew, what did we get ourselves into?!

We are so excited to make this place our own. Steve said we're going to be here for a few years, so we might as well make it comfortable and fun. I can't wait for you all to come visit and see what we've done. I am going to try to take before and after photos if I can find my camera before we get too far along. Look for a future post about that...

Love and miss you all!!

Mother is Always Right

When I told my mom we were staying one night at Motel 6 before the move, she gasped in horror! We tried booking a night at Apple Farm but it was $179! Motel 6 for $50! We arrived after work and our non-smoking room smelled like an ashtray, so I asked if we could move. After a bit of hesitation, we were moved and the second room was a bit better, but still pretty nasty. The tv was from the 70's, greasy remote and all, but luckily the picture wasn't as fuzzy as the one in our first room. I ordered wireless internet for $3.99 and I spent an hour trying to connect and it never worked. The ONLY thing that saved my sanity was So You Think You Can Dance.

I am never going to stay at Motel 6 again! YUCK! Let's hope we get things moved in today so that I have a real bed to sleep in tonight. Moving-in starts in 47 minutes!! Wish me luck!