victory is ours!!

i'm sure you all remember this tragic day..

anyway, it's been nothing short of a nightmare dealing with the insurance companies regarding the horrific flood in our apartment. not only because of the damage it did to our place, but also to our neighbor's unit downstairs.

anyway, long story short, randy and i were trying to get everything situation with our home owner's association rep, but in the meantime our neighbor jumped the gun and sued us for $4000 because he had to replace some drywall.

anyway, our hearing was supposed to be today, but yesterday afternoon we got the greatest news! there's a woman who actually lives in our complex who is on the HOA board and she emailed saying she finally got a response from state farm - they are going to pay for the damages to both units! so the court hearing is dropped and everything's finally been resolved! obviously the fat lady will sing once they've received the check and distributed the funds, but the end is on the horizon!

until next time..

<3 alaina

blabber

hi everyone, and happy tuesday.

things have been a little rough with all the remodeling business these past couple of days. not in regards to the actual remodel, thank god! that's been really smooth. it's just the stress of finding somewhere to be for an entire day and finding somewhere that lilly can be too. luckily, we have really great friends that have been able to accommodate us at a moment's notice. though it's still hard not being in your own place with your own things and all that.

here's what went down at our apartment:

-laminate installed in the entry way, kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway, 2 bedrooms, 2 closets

-tile installed in 2 bathrooms (floor only)

-new baseboards

-removal of the not-so-attractive chair rail and half blue walls in the living room

-new water heater

-new toilets in both bathrooms (the one in our bathroom leaked)

so much has changed that it hardly looks like the same place anymore! i'm so thankful we've been able to get everything done in such a short period of time. it was only 1 week ago that we had our big flood, and we're already on the brink of being able to start piecing our place back together. it's just so much work!!!

the whole thing has taught me some important lessons though -

when randy and i woke up to the flood, i freaked out. i felt like the world was spinning around me (maybe that's because i didn't have my contacts in..) and i couldn't even form complete thoughts. but then, a kind of focus came over me, and randy and i realized we need to get this taken care of like, now! i only got emotional a handful of times, which would have been really unlike me if this had happened a couple of years ago. granted, nothing major got ruined (my laptop is slowly nursing itself back to health), but it's all just stuff. even as it gets moved around by strangers in our apartment, which unsettles me at times, the whole situation has awakened in me a new sense of appreciation and thankfullness for randy and lilly. we have been able to stand strong through this together, and it's helped to bring us closer in a new way.

we're crossing our fingers that tonight we will finally get to spend the night at our own place (we've been at our friend's house since friday) and we will hopefully be able to get things organized enough to share pictures with everyone soon.
anyway. that's all for me. hope you all have a wonderful day!

until next time..

<3 alaina

may flowers

here's hoping that may flowers find you, wherever you are!

things i'm looking forward to this month:

gettin ma hurr did (may 3)

school being over for the semester!!! (my last final is on may 16)

lilly's 2nd birthday (may 17)

our northern-californian road trip (may 21-27)

having memorial day off of work (may 30)

what special things are happening for you this month?

until next time..

<3 alaina

ps. my other laptop is still recovering from the flood, and unfortunately that's the only one i have photoshop installed on, so here's a ghetto weigh in:

5.5 lbs down

6.5 lbs to go

20 days left

to stay on track, i need to lose 2.3 pounds per week.

water, water, everywhere!

..but not a drop to drink..

not a good morning...

randy and i got woken up at 6 am this morning to someone pushing our buzzer like an idiot. randy went to the living room to push the 'talk' button to see who it was, but he couldn't even get that far. the whole front part of our apartment (which includes the kitchen, dining room, living room, and part of our hallway) is flooded..

(in case you're curious, it was our downstairs neighbor buzzing, trying to alert us of said flooding)

apparently, there is a pipe under our kitchen sink that busted. lord only knows how long it was spewing water our for.. and we slept like angels through the whole thing.

randy's feet, submurged

just nearly stayed out of our room..

the only way i can walk around in our apartment

i've been on yelp all morning trying to find a plumber, while randy's been scooping the water from our kitchen floor into the sink.

not to mention that my old macbook was on the floor in the living room.. let's just say water and electronics do not mix..

sad face : (

until next time..

<3 alaina