I have been slightly busy with everything that life (and GOD) has thrown my way. I think I have been grabbing them and slam dunkin' them with awesome skill until the holidays hit.
That is when something went completely spastic and the axis of MY world tilted just a BIT.
I thought tackling the move with guys who were set on ruining EVERYTHING I owned was handled well.
I thought I handled myself with calmness when a woman ran smack into my car because she was literally in the BACK SEAT instead of looking forward.
I thought I handled it very well when the housing office here in Hawaii claimed there would be NO homes until October, after telling us we were good to go for July 4th weekend.
There of course was the fact that we got the house and shortly after hanging photos I was told to stop unpacking because of possible termite activity!
AGAIN...handled. We are still in our lovely home and nobody has fallen through the floor...yet!
Let's see.....what ELSE have I taken in stride????...let's check the list....
June:*Movers destroy many things in front of us during our load up leaving Cali
*Some really dumb girl turns FULL body into her back seat while driving and barrels into my car a day before putting it on the boat for Hawaii.
*Told we would have a house July 4th week in historic homes (very nice ones).
ok those were noted!
July:*Told week AFTER July 4th that there are NO homes for us in that area until OCTOBER (a lie) and the only house is a Cinderblock house that is really gross and not worth HALF of what we would be paying AND very small.
*Spent rest of month fighting system to prove the lie, looking for houses in case they stick us with the nasty one and dealing with living in a hotel.
*Girls start school in July-could not get schools to figure out placement and fought for gifted program and advanced placement for month.
*Got wrecked car off boat and start dealing with fixing it. New windshield first, then find bodyshop....OH and the replacement of the carseats that no stores on the island has in stock but no company is willing to ship to us either!
*FINALLY prove there are homes, get call at end of month for house opening soon.
*Start attending meeting and training to be leader in "family readiness group" FRG to help the families during the deployment.
August:*sign for home
*get moving shipment. Things trashed and completely missing....spend next month TRYING to remember everything we owned after not seeing it for 2 months....still dealing with them for the $4000 claim for repairing and replacing stuff...need to call her Monday!
*accepted to grad school a semester early and registered so I can gradute before we move again (not easy at this school).
*unpacked boxes and started decorating.
*Find termite holes in window...during the repairs almost get kicked out of house because damages at very intense!...told them to patch and leave!!....too bad ...I am not leaving!
September:*I started grad school and started new routine....babysitter at night, etc...
*very busy month with school(s) and robert leaving soon.
*had a little free time to enjoy hawaii.....did some fun stuff FINALLY!!
October:*Sent Robert to Iraq and started having the NORMAL deployment adventures, everything that could have gone wrong while he was here waited until the day he left.
November:*Complete blur of crazy storms and schoolwork!!! and of course all the unfinished things listed below..... the list is too long!
December:*Freak storm of the century at beginning of the month wipes out houses, floods our area in the middle of the island and causes road damage to last months...missed final for class and had to do a make-up speech in a cubicle instead of a large classroom (one-on-one....don't recommend it unless it is a job interview!)
*Mother-in-law passed away the day after Christmas after a severe oxygen issue.
*Same day a few hours later a 15 hour blackout hits the entire island!
* spent next few days getting travel issues and Red Cross messages out to Robert in Iraq.
January:*In Cali for memorial and support. We really enjoyed seeing everyone, but not for the reason we were there.
*Girls missed 2 days of school (Sorenna's first days EVER!)
* Came back into a huge storm that shut down the schools across the entire state so the girls didn't start back until after the long weekend (1 month and 2 days after Christmas break started).
*CAME HOME TO AN ENTIRE HOUSE OF FURRY THINGS!!! Mold had taken over the house in 2 weeks...crazy stuff!
*Diagnosed with walking pneumonia and on meds for weeks....coughing.
Many crazy things have happened and continue to happen.
LIST of crazy things:Fridge motor not working, computer monitor crashed, TV blew, microwave starts on its own, oven had a RAT fried in the back of it, washer broke and an HOUR after the repair guy leaves....the dryer tanked...oh and started to work again for NO reason....crazy!
SO, that brings me to my current issue, the ghost in my house.
I had thought it strange that everything was going haywire in my house from day one, but tried to brush it off as moving adventures. I tried to figure out why my house seemed to have a magnet for odd things.
At night I would see shadows move but chalked it up to angles of the cars going by, even if there wasn't one I heard or saw.
All these things were explainable in my head, but after the washer and dryer incident...NO WAY!
So, here's the story....
My neighbor came over a few weeks ago and wanted to wash laundry because hers had broken. I was perfectly fine with that. When the repair guy came out he told her the electrical part for the spin cycle was shot. He replaced it and all was well. We had thought that was an odd thing to break and I said ...out loud.....that I was happy mine was spinning.
OK, my ghost must have heard that.
My spin cycle quit working on Superbowl Sunday (days after hers was fixed).
I thought it was odd that the same piece broke. But there is more. The reason mine broke was not electrical. MY plastic piece that holds that electrical piece in place was SNAPPED off. This very thick piece of plastic is under the rim and very tight and not anywhere it can be snapped in half. It was a forced break!
The repair guy said it looked like I broke it off with a screwdriver. Why would anyone do that?
I told him the backyard was an ancient burial ground and that I might have a ghost...he said he wasn't sure about that and fixed the washer.
So, I thought it odd and my neighbor and I laughed about it.
But that same afternoon after only one load washed and dried....THE DRYER QUIT!
That was nuts. I was so mad....really mad!
I tried every setting, every heat, every section....all the combos to see if one would work. NOTHIN'!
I was talking to my friend and while I was explaining it, I did it all again...NOTHIN'!
I called DAN the appliance man and asked him to come back and explained it again....still doing the checks as I was speaking...still not believing it was broken....NOTHIN'!
I went to school and figured Dan would fix it the next day and I would be done...everything would have been new or repaired at that point.
Then when I got home from school that night and I was talking to the FRG leader on the phone and laughing about the crazy events....I told her my dryer was not working and all the things I had done to test it....I of course was "doing" them as I was explaining.....and the stupid thing STARTED!!!!
Ok, so now I am completely freaked out.
I did NOT cancel the appointment with Dan. I was thinking the thing was unsafe and a fire threat.
Dan comes and does a very complete check to include my NEW breaker box to see if that was the issue (Those were replaced New years eve).
Dan said "sometimes" ants will get in between the starter fuse and keep it from starting for a second....but not for minutes spread out across an hour!
He looked for a trail or a colony at this point,....and NOTHIN'!
I asked Dan how BIG the bug had to be to keep it from working that long.???
He said...NO CLUE!
THEN he said....you really might have a ghost!
Ok, so now I have the priest coming to bless the walls in the house and throw some holy water around and hopefully save me any more stress.
That said, I LOVE my house, I LOVE Hawai'i, I LOVE my college and our family is really happy!
Robert is in Iraq, but is very happy with the purpose of his tour there and his location.
When he comes HOME....he is coming to paradise...and I hope to have Jethro moved out and going to THE LIGHT!
Yes, I named him!
Can't scream at him if you don't have a name for him.
My neighbors have all had issues with the friendly visitors. One girl had a ghost who grabbed her kids legs.
NONE of her friends will come to her house. I don't blame them if there is grabbing involved!
She told them to leave and go to the light and all is well now.
My other neighbor sees the shadows too. Her house has a fence in the back, so she can't even see the cars passing, so there goes that reasoning.
I love walking my kids to school every morning, talking as we walk the mile. I love that it is tank top weather (normally) year round.
I LOVE my friends and neighbors and the organizations that do so many things to support deployments.
We saw High School Musical...the musical for free!
There is no reason to want to leave any time soon because I have replaced and repaired everything in my house at this point.
ALL is right in the world...and Jethro will hopefully relocate soon. :)
I am looking forward to doing this run with Robert next year and also to do this thing called SWAP ROMP! It is 5 miles in the slimey mud....and it gets in everything....every THING!
I am looking forward to doing this run with Robert next year and also to do this thing called SWAP ROMP! It is 5 miles in the slimey mud....and it gets in everything....every THING!