squishyel: October 2007

I know my blog is suppose to be a "compilation of everyday joys" but I cannot help but feel so frustrated right now. We came back from our vacation (which did not really feel like one) only to find huge water damage in our house. I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. The living room wall has been cut in half. The carpet torn out of the living and dining room. The laminate wood ripped out. Is this a sign to get the h*@# out of here??? I haven't been able to sleep right the past couple of nights. I've been feeling very restless. Erick thinks it's anxiety. I can't wait till everything is put back together so that things will feel right again. I feel so out of sorts right now. Just when you think you can finally relax and catch up financially something else breaks down. I am so tired of this s#@t!!

In lieu of our yearly anniversary adventure trip, Erick had a great idea to spend it in Charleston. (It's okay I thought, I didn't really want to go to Seattle or see the Grand Canyons anyway.) Disgusted with the foul smell of dog urine that came up from the artificial turf that carpeted his parent's patio, he was determined to redo it with tile. Our garage had also been bothering him for quite some time, so he decided to use part of his vacay to finally get that accomplished. We had bought the floor sealant maybe about two years ago but had never found the right time to do it. We emptied the garage and Isa and I headed to the local Home Depot to pick out the paint for the garage wall. We went for a monochromatic look but the gray I picked out for the walls turned out to be a warmer tone than the floor sealant. Oh well, at least it camouflaged the water heater and the fuse box. Erick was thinking that we would probably be able to head to Charleston by Tuesday. However, the d#@# cabinets he had bought held us up.

It was obviously the brainchild of some moron. The pegs were made out of plastic so that when you hammered it in it broke. The toe kicks couldn't even withstand the screws they provided. The cabinet teeter tothered once it was put together. There was no way Erick could've put those together by himself. I called in on Monday to help him out. They were heavy and just a big pain in the a@#. Our Haitian neighbor across the street must have felt sorry for me because he came over to help carry one of the cabinets to its proper position. Once Erick finished, the garage did look much better.

I'm just glad that it was done and over with. I was actually looking forward to going home again. I had been wanting to be with my mom since she was by herself and as an added bonus my sister Lalaine was going to fly in from Connecticut to meet us. I was looking forward to some bonding time. I had grandiose ideas of spending a couple of days at the beach, having lunch again at Gullah, maybe watching a movie with my sister, deep sea fishing, boating along the Charleston Harbor. But they remained just that. When it started to rain the day of our vacation we saw it as a forecast for the rest of the week. Erick decided against bringing the boat to Charleston.
We were able to spend Monday as tourist while Erick was waiting for the thin set to cure. We tried again to go to Gullah but it was almost closing time. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. We instead took Erick's mom and dad to Vickery's for lunch so we could introduce them to one of our favorites: the Low Country Saute. We took advantage of the beautiful weather by taking a stroll through downtown Charleston. We topped the day off with some ice cream in Mt Pleasant.

Once it cooled down we headed to Sullivan's Island. I was excited to get Isa back at the beach again. She had so much fun the first time, I wanted to see it again. I was a little disappointed to find that she did not take as much pleasure in it. I guess it is never as good as the first time. We did get some nice pictures out of it though.

Maybe we had gone there a bit too late and it might have been too cold for her.

I wanted to spend time and take my mother and sister out but I didn't realize my mom had invited guest three nights in a row. So her days off were spent in the kitchen cooking for all the people she had invited.

The one time that I was able to take them out went badly. I got lost going to Gullah so we never ate. We ended up going downtown but it was so freakin' hot we lasted less than an hour. We even had to duck into the Omni Hotel just to get out of the heat.

I felt sorry for Lalaine. She spent over two hundred dollars to visit and she pretty much stayed at home. She felt obligated to stay at home to entertain the guests my mother had invited. I am glad however that I was able to help Erick out a couple of times. It was nice to see the patio finally finished. I think it made his dad happy to know that he will never have to buy outdoor turf again.

If only we could've convinced them to buy new patio furniture.
We were able to spend a couple of hours the last two days with all of our friends. It was too bad that the cookout Carl was suppose to plan at Folly never panned out. Erick had even brought the canopy in anticipation of the event. It was nice that everyone was able to take some time off there busy schedule to meet up. I was feeling bad that Steve and Carla would think we were dissing them but in actuality tiling the patio had taken longer than we expected. I'm glad we were finally able to catch up with everybody before we had to head back.

We also had a great time with Cher and Gabriel at Chuck E. Cheese. Their cheese pizza was surprisingly not bad and Isa seemed to enjoy it.

I think Gabriel and Isa bonded, a little too.

It was cute to see Isa finally try to hold Gabriel's arm but I think Gabriel wasn't feeling it and pulled his arm away.

I actually don't know who had more fun, the adults or the kids.

Erick seems to have more of a fascination with Halloween than I do. We took the kids into a Halloween tent to play dress up. Again I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the adults.