I don’t miss them…

Power outages that is.

I look at the Saipan newspaper’s website a once a week or so, just to have an idea of what is going on.  Today I was stunned to see what the current power situation is.

The utility released a new power outage schedule and my heart aches for my friends still there (especially Deece & Jill).  Instead of having 2 hours with out power a couple of times a day, it has been increased to 3 hours at a time, 3 times a day.  That’s 9 hours per day without power!  How can the food stay fresh in the refrigerator? How can businesses stay in business?  How can employees be productive?  The situation is absolutely ridiculous.

If we were still there, our power would be out:  8am-11am, then from 2pm-5pm, then from 2am-5am.  And those are just scheduled times.  No telling how many hours for “emergencies”.  I would be one cranky Mama, that is for sure.

Peace.

A painful move

This had to be the most painful pack out that we have ever gone through. It was our third pack out since we have been together. First was Louisiana to Guam, then Guam to Saipan, now Saipan to Juneau. In theory, it should have been easier. We got rid of our living room furniture and bedroom furniture, except the box springs & mattresses, frames and baby crib. And we spent a few nights before hand getting things ready. Wrapping up cords, taking things apart, putting similar things together…like all the books and dvds, etc.

When we left Louisiana and Guam, they took one day to pack us up, and the second day to load it all into the truck/shipping crates. These guys here would have been at our house for 3 days if we hadn’t helped them with packing, doing inventory and hauling boxes to the truck. And there were 3 guys – in Louisiana, we only had 2 guys. One guy here spent the entire day in our kitchen, packing. And believe me, there wasn’t enough in there to keep him occupied for a day. Slow mo fo.

But, it is done. Thankfully. (this was the craft/office room)

A highlight was finding my old light up Daiquiri jug with the lights still working.

What was even better was that it kept Conn occupied for about 10 minutes.

We have been at the hotel for a week now and although I adore hotel living, I am ready to get out of here. We are staying at the Fiesta. If you ever get a chance to stay here, I highly recommend spending the extra $$ on the Executive room. Check in is a snap, they whisk you up to the executive floor as soon as you tell them your name and in mere seconds, you are being led to your room. The rooms are lovely, the beds aren’t completely Asian-style (read: rock hard), the baths are well appointed and elegant and the level of service that you receive is outstanding. On the executive floor there is a private, air-conditioned lounge with tables and a couch, wifi, and complimentary beverages all day. There is a continental breakfast included in the price that is served in the executive lounge, along with a complimentary afternoon tea and complimentary happy hour. It rocks. I just wish that I could have a few glasses of wine with DH at happy hour. Oh well.

I think that Conn approves.

Peace.

Dear CUC

*CUC is our utility company, run by the local government*

Dear CUC,

I want to thank you for changing our daily power outage schedule from 2pm-4pm to 4pm-6pm. This new time works out much better for me. With the old schedule, it disrupted my nap time almost every day. Now, I can get an afternoon nap in when it suits me and not have to worry about sweating to death without my fan.

My family has adapted pretty well to the changes and challenges thrown at them because of the power outages and doubled rates. Mama & Papa were talking about the new bill and it seems that we are still on track with using only 303 kWh per month. The bad thing is that our bill is now $120 instead of $60. We spend lots of time together when the power is out. Reading books, playing with blocks or playing outside.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back happened last night. Our power came back on at 6pm and I got in the bath around 6:40. Papa even made it a big bubble bath…that is my favorite! Unfortunately, at 6:45, the power went out again. Just as I was getting my hair all shampooed and had soap bubbles all over my body. The problem is that when the power goes out, we don’t have any water because our water pump runs on electricity. So, Mama had to figure out how to get a bucket of water out of the tank to rinse off with while Papa kept me company in the bathroom.

I eventually got all rinsed and ready for bed. I hate going to bed without my fan running, it is so hot in our house. But, I managed. Mama said that the neighbors sat in their car for a few hours last night with their airconditioner running, and drove around their yard and driveway. I might ask to join their family when the power goes out next time. Mama said that the power came back on at 11:15pm. That was a long time!

Good for me that we only have 2 more days in our house before we move to the hotel. Then we don’t have to worry about the power going out. Then only 10 more days left on Saipan. I can’t say that I will miss you, CUC.

Regards,

BTH

Peace.

Leaving Island Sale!

When: Saturday June 14, 7am to 12pm

Where: Look for signs just north of Shell San Roque and across the street from San Roque Church

Things priced to go!

Some of the things that we are selling include:

• Troy Built 4 cycle brush cutter – bought in Oct 07, retails for $300, selling for $150 including big spool of line, manual and copy of receipt
• Ceramic water dispenser (mint condition) $10
• 5 gallon water jugs $5 each
• 27″ Zenith TV, Sony DVD player and wooden stand, all for $40
• Lots of plants – starting at 50 cents, nothing higher than $5
• Set of pots, pans & lids – all for $15
• Microwave $15
• Wooden dining table and 4 chairs $30
• Folding camp chairs – 2 for $5
• Plastic patio chairs – 2 for $5
• 2 living room lamps and shades $10 for both
• 3 charcoal barbecue grills
• Bicycle
• some tools
• wine rack
• towels
• comforter
• coolers/ice chests
• iron

Look for these signs:

Of course I painted the signs. Using pieces of wood that we found in the boonies and paint that was left behind at a previous house. Because that’s how I roll.

Peace.

Crazy week

This week has been/is a crazy one and we are only on hump day.  Oh yeah, our gas prices went up again…Mobil is $4.80 a gallon for regular.  I wonder if we will see $5 a gallon gas before we leave island?

Want to hear about the crazy week?

Sunday -

• DH went riding with the bicycling group again that morning.  I think that he is going to miss them when we leave.  Then he came home and we putzed around the house, cleaning and cooking.
• As usual, our power went out at 4 pm…and we were expecting dinner guests at 5.  We had Deece and her family over for homemade pizza and dessert.  It was a fun time once the power came back on and I could get the pizzas in the oven.  The kids played together fantastically, much to my amazement.  (And I don’t mean that as a slam to Deece’s precious babies.  It is our son.  He has a problem.  He has never been around other kids that much and sometimes doesn’t really know how to act around them.  He goes from pushing them away if they get within 3 feet of him to completely ignoring them.  I have read that independent side by side play is normal at this age, so let’s just hope that it is okay and when we get to Juneau, I am going to do some serious play group searching to get him more socialized.)  Can you believe that two bloggers were together and neither of us took a single picture?!?!  I am kind of bummed myself.

Monday -

• Schlep the dog and two cats to the Vet’s office for their Health Certificates so they can fly to Chicago.  This was no easy task.  I had to trap Bella in our room all day (with aircon on) so that she wouldn’t go on an adventure and disappear for a couple of days.  Then I had to load Bella and Killer into their kennels, hook Lady up to her leash (at which time she realizes that she is going for a car ride and completely loses her mind with excitement) and load them all into the car.  Plus, the kid.  I seriously felt like a traveling circus in our little Honda Civic.  You know, where you have a dinky car with about 50 clowns inside of it that all come spilling out when the car stops?  We picked DH up at work so that he could help me at the Vet’s office.  Did I mention that Bella howls from the moment she gets put in the car until she is taken out?  I was ready to give her away by the time we got there.

Tuesday -

• Ahh, relax day.

Wednesday (today) -

• Take Conn to get his next set of shots this afternoon.  That way we don’t forget while we are traveling and have it fall through the cracks.  He is also teething and getting his first molars.  Fun times around here.  He has been waking up at night again, 2 or 3 times a night.

Thursday -

• Load up the circus, er, I mean animals again to go to the USDA Vet to have him sign off on the Health Certificates.  All of this is an incredible hassle, not to mention crazy expensive.  To get everyone up to date on their immunizations and get the health certificates and the USDA Vet’s signature it is costing $594.50, not including their airfare.  And that is just for one dog and two cats.  I won’t tell you right now how much their airfare is, I can’t hardly stand to think about it.  At this rate, I will never get my bag.

Friday -

• Our Coast Guard going away party.  Lots of cooking to do in preparation for this.
• My next pregnancy check up later that afternoon.
• Get ready for Saturday

Saturday -

• Garage Sale!  We are having a huge leaving island sale (I will post more info tomorrow about it with directions and an idea of what we are getting rid of) with prices that are crazy cheap.  We just want to get rid of stuff and not have to ship it.
• Meet Deece and hopefully Jill at Coffee Care for our saturday knitting group.  If anyone else wants to come, we are there from 2-4 pm.

Sunday -

• DH will probably go riding again with the group.
• I plan on trying to rest and recoup.
• Get animals ready for their big trip.  We have to have them at the airport at 5 am on Monday morning to fly to Chicago.

Is it July 3 yet?

I would put up some fun pictures, but after listing all of that, I think that I need to go lay down for a bit.

Peace.