Anywhere I hang my hat.....

Well, this is probably a much anticipated blog post for a lot of you. Everyone wants to know why the hell we are moving again so soon after moving in. Well... it is a LONG story, but for the sake of you all who want to know (and the fact that writing for me is thoroughly therapeutic), I will indulge you all in the "story" (which is really more of a nightmare).
Let me just start by telling you all how incredibly disappointing this whole thing has been. All we wanted was a bigger place with central air. We thought we found the home of our dreams. Well. Without giving a play by play of how this all went down, let me just say, we have had a maintenance person for every appliance in our house, since we moved in. Each thing that needed to be fixed, the landlord insisted was a new problem. However, every Mr.fix-it who came here seemed to know the place well, and basically rolled their eyes and gave us the same advice : "good luck with this place" - Oh great. The deal breaker though, was the A/C. We moved in this place hugely due to the fact that we were going to be the proud new parents of a central air conditioning unit. We didn't really care that it was going to cost us more per month to run it. We were ready and we were totally budgeted for the upgrade. We were also totally budgeted for the significant increase in rent we took to move in this place.
Well, when we moved in, we noticed that the house wasn't cooling. I mean it just wasn't comfy, cool, air conditioned house. I mean we did have the thermostat at 77 (which is totally acceptable and awesome for us... after all we are used to a single-wall construction home that had a total green-house effect on super hot days, and trade-winds to cool us off at night). Anyhow -- so the thermostat was very often reading 83, 84, 85 degrees, while the air was running... and the air would never shut off. After a day or so of this, and after a couple of hubby's AC friends stopped by for a look (yes, he has AC friends, and concrete friends, and tile friends, and roofing friends, and fencing friends etc etc)... we contacted the landlord. Well, after a ton of ignored calls later, several very adamant attempts to tell us that this is a new problem, they send out THEIR AC guy. Ok -- the unit is blocked, it can be cleaned, but it really needs to be replaced. OK! Excellent, prepare for a new AC. WRONG. They need two more estimates. Ok -- bring it. So, two more guys come, and they too, also recommend replacing the unit. So, in the meantime... we talk to neighbors, more maintenance guys, the CABLE guy (seriously?), and the assistant in the office of the realty company we are using... they ALL know the issues with this place and the AC. But we also find out, all of the previous tenants cut out of their leases early, mostly due to their electric bill being so high. HUH?! Interesting. So while we are waiting for the landlord to let us know the deal-io on the whole AC thing (like,uh, WHEN it's getting replaced), we get our first electric bill. (Brace yourselves!!) Nearly $500 for 17 days.... and this is running it at a reasonable temp and turning it OFF at night. Holy smokes. We did the math -- it would have cost nearly $700 for the month. I almost had an aneurysm.
More calls are being ignored, the list of damages and issues in the house that need to be fixed are still being ignored, and now we are completely and utterly fed up with the insane dogs (on both sides of us) who bark non-stop from sun up to sun down, without the owners of the dogs so much as yelling a "shhhhh" out the window. Oh my gosh, I am in hell.
So - obviously, this is a no-brainer. We are gonna make like a baby and head-out. We are done giving our money to this company. We are done waiting for the AC man to descend from the heavens and grace us with functioning central air. I have to decide who my sharp-tongued letter will be written to - and how to go about making a complaint (or whatever) with the Better Business Bureau. I am also thinking about writing a horrible business review on Craigslist, and on the Mommy's group I belong to. I just wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (not that I have enemies)... but I am not sure on all those details yet.
So -- where will we go, you ask? Well, we are packing up all our stuff (and have managed to sell a few things in just a day!!), and putting it ALL in storage and moving in to my parent's house forever. HAHA. No -- just until we find a place - which we are hoping will be quick. We love my parents!! They are so wonderful to take us in (again!! -- I think this may be the third time we have lived with them. But the first with two kids in tow... ).
In the meantime, I have packed a house, unpacked a house, and re-packed a house all in a period of three weeks. My kids are both sick. Mu husband is sick. I am leaving to see my sister in California on Monday (oh, did I mention we are moving out on Saturday??).... but you know... I am good at this. I can do whatever this crazy life throws my way. I've battled bigger monsters. Pssh. Bring it. I am good. And home is what I make it. Home is where my family is. I am good -- anywhere I hang my hat.
(And on a side note. I am going to enjoy the crap out of my vacation). :-)

I am always looking for new and exciting twists on healthy foods... Eating a plain Jane salad is kind of old, and a girl can only eat so many Smartones and Lean Cuisine meals a day.
So since I have a complete and utter crush on Couscous, I wanted to experiment. I have two recipes that I am trying out, one is Southwestern (or something like that) and one is Mediterranean. The Southwestern one I made up, the Mediterranean one I loosely followed a recipe but added my own flair and subtracted some of the stuff from the recipe I used.
Today, I tried the Southwestern recipe.



Ingredients:
1 box couscous
1 red pepper - chopped
1 clove garlic (or more, depending on how garlicky you like things)
1 can black bean (rinsed and drained)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 1/4 cup chopped red onions (I omitted today)



Directions...

Follow instructions on couscous box and prepare. I use olive oil instead of butter. Set aside.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in large bowl.
Add couscous. Enjoy immediately or chill and serve.
Salt to taste.

Movin' on up...

So -- I have lived in Hawaii for 7 years. And in that 7 years I have moved TEN times (yes TEN)... TEN TIMES ( I feel like Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off....niiiine times, except of course, it's ten and Jeffrey Jones is a much better Rooney than I'll ever be...) Anyhow, I digress....

After moving around so much, I have learned a few things. First and foremost - the act of packing sucks more than anything. Moving to a new home with central air and tons of space, however, is WELL worth it.

Second of all -- no matter how much time I give myself to pack up all the crap, I still wait til the last minute EVERY time. And no, all that organization BEFORE HAND never happened. Everything is still a mess, and we still have too much stuff.

Three - moving with two kids under two is a bad, BAD idea. Trying to explain where the toys are and not to play with the industrial sized tape roller is SO exhausting. I highly recommend daycare or a kennel.

Four -- I hope to all that is greater than I that this is my last move (at least for as long as I live in Hawaii)...

Next time -- I am paying someone to do this grunt work. I'm retiring. NOW.

Most of all though, I finally feel like I am "home". I love my new house and I damn sure love my central air.


BEFORE


AFTER

Momma's Fishie

So, the kids are sleeping (or are they?) and I should be packing (but am not)... what to do, what to do? Ah yes, gloat about how cool my kids are on the blog that no one reads. Sounds good to me.

Riley is a true fish at heart. She LOVES, LOVES (and emphasis on LOVES) the water. Too bad she is part Albino and it take a thousand and one sun-tan lotion applications to keep her from getting severe sunburn (and no matter how many layers, and re-applications, we still end up a little pink around the edges... but.. well, what can you do?).




And since Riley has been spending time with her older cousins, she is gaining more and more confidence in the water. It is great to be able to put on her water-wings and just let her go.



And her jumping skills are greatly improving. It is now impossible to go to the pool with Riley without her asking to jump in... a thousand times...over and OVER....and over. She IS a good kid.

And now about the food....

HOLY DELICIOUSNESS BATMAN!!!

The Sunday BBQ we had with the DJs was OFF THE HOOK!!!!

The Menu:

Ribs
Chicken thighs (cooked two ways)
Baked Beans (in all their gloriousness)
Potato Salad
Watermelon
Cherries

And then my PB stuffed choco cupcakes for dessert.




















I gobbled up tons of food -- and now it's time for me to go back on my health kick.

COUSINS

Ever since I can remember, "family comes first" was a motto we lived by. So, as we grew up, our family spent lots of time together... and sometimes, us kids, preferred the company of our parent's friends over being with kids our own age. We were just raised that way. We were taught the value of being with the people you love, and who loved us back - without boundaries, and unconditionally. Family was the one thing that would ALWAYS be there, when everything else fell by the wayside.
It is amazing after all these years of moving and grooving, that even though, not all of our family still resides on the island... they are still the most important people in our lives.
This is something I will do my best to instill in my children. Family comes before any and everything. It's all that matters.
Over the weekend, my children had the opportunity to see their three DeJournett (DJs from here on out...) cousins. Riley was on cloud 9. She could not have been more excited about her new found friends and play mates extraordinaire. And holy smokes, did the cousins eat it UP. It was such a precious moment for any parent to witness her child being loved and adored by other children -- that just so happen to be family. We are absolutely blessed. And to top it off... Rich and Lisa can BBQ like WHOA. Best damn food I have ever had in my life -- and yes, that is including any 5 star meal in any fancy restaurant that I've ever had.
When Riley woke up on Monday morning -- the first thing out of her mouth was "see cousins??"... this needs to happen more often.

Riley, Tori and Maddie -- all goggled up.



Tori teaching Riley to play a game on the DS.



The Girls



Maddie and G-boy

This boy's life....

My son is unbelievably bursting at the seams... He is always ready for the next thing. When he was out of the womb, he was literally lifting his head minutes after being born. Before he could sit up, he wanted to crawl around. Before he could crawl, he was trying to pull himself up to standing (which he did on several occasions). Now he is crawling and he is literally DYING to walk. He gets so irritated just sitting around. Yep. Hes my boy.

Here he is concocting his escape from the pack and plan....

And here he is crawling away....far, far away...... He just wants to goooooooooo!





And of course, he never goes to bed when he's told....