The Day the Flood Came

So guess who had a craptastic couple of days? This girl!!

We were on leave in CA when Sunday I got a call telling me that a pipe had sprung a leak and our entire apartment was soaked. To say that put a damper on the rest of the last few days of our trip would be an understatement. Tuesday night, well actually Wednesday morning since we didn't get home until about 1 am, we walked into our apartment and was punched in the nostrils by the smell of wet cats. Everything on the floor was SOAKED, the ceiling was on the floor, and they had ripped up the carpet and stuck fans under it to dry everything out. Mind you these fans had been going for two days by this point and everything was still pretty damp. Luckily the majority of our stuff hasn't been ruined, our electronics still work, which in my opinion is a miracle considering the fact that water was literally pouring out of our bathroom in a torrent. Our former next door neighbor was the one to the make the call into maintenance, and I'm going to be forever grateful to him  for mentioning our apartment along with his own leak.

Now we're in the process of switching apartments and to say that this whole thing is becoming a giant stresser would be an understatement. Have I mentioned how much I hate moving? Because I really do. Moving SUCKS. Especially when you're running on little to no sleep. Tuesday night we ended up sleeping on the floor/couch of a friend's house because the smell in our other apartment was so bad. Wednesday Sailorman, said friend, and the Ys from Miles Behind Me came over and helped, A LOT. Thank you Mrs Y! You both seriously rock for dropping what you were doing and helping us pack/load unload.

Unfortunately, they decided to move our kitchen, living room, and bathroom stuff Wednesday. That meant the ONE THING that I had specifically asked Sailorman to move, our bed, was not moved. That meant we slept in the living room on the mattress in the dampish (we finally got the bright idea to open windows) apartment. It sucked. I'm still not running on all cylinders, I've had a wicked migraine since yesterday, and there's still more odds and ends to pack up today. Not a ton of stuff left, but enough to make me all the more lazy and want to burrow into my bed. Even if I was able to get out of the packing.....there's always the UNPACKING that I'd be in charge of.

Have I mentioned I hate moving?

DIY

Thanks for the comments on my last post, it means more than I could say. Tomorrow is Daphne's funeral in CA, and obviously I can't go. What makes it a bit harder is the fact that I'm going home later this week......days after her funeral. 

On to other stuff that's been going on in the Squirrel household, I've been on a make my own laundry stuff kick. It started last month when we were getting low on funds. In no way were we broke, but we have a limit where we panic, and we were getting really close to it. I then realized that due to the fact that Sailorman goes through A LOT of laundry, we go through a lot of laundry soap. Laundry stuff was taking up a lot of money, and I remembered a post I read on Chambanachik where she made her own laundry soap. For the amount of money the ingredients cost, I figured the worse that was to happen was I "wasted" seven bucks and at best I'd saved a ton of money. Turns out, not only is it cheap, homemade laundry soap is AMAZING! Another tip that I found since I was on a DIY kick was homemade oxyclean :) you just mix 1/2 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide. Both are cheap ingredients, and compared to the 7-10 dollars I was spending per tub.....well, you can just imagine the savings!

Next on my DIY list, homemade fabric softener! 

It Should've Been Me

I write this with a heavy heart. I've been mulling this over in my head, I don't know what else to do but write. My friend died Saturday. She was a good, sweet, and kind person who didn't deserve to die at 23.
Her name was Daphne, and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor three and half years ago. Before that, she had nothing wrong with her. She was an athlete, an amazing gymnast. We were in high school together, and she never failed to ask me how I was feeling, she always made me feel included, she was definitely one of the nicest people I've ever met.

In high school I was the "sick one." I was rarely if ever included in anything because the chances of me: a) being able to go weren't very good b) getting sick midway through and needing to go home and c) being sick and trying to push through it and putting a damper on the activity just made it impossible. Daphne always invited me, even when she knew the answer was no.

If someone had asked ANYONE in 5 years ago who would be suffering from a brain tumor that was inoperable, one that despite aggressive treatments spread not only to other parts of the brain but also the spine. It would've been me.

Her parents, who were my teachers in high school will probably never see this, hopefully no one from high school will ever see this. It's a strange form of survivor's guilt that has been mulling over in my head lately.
I don't know how else to say it. I feel guilt that I'm happy, I'm healthy (finally), and I have an amazing life with an amazing husband.

I think that there is always going to be a part of me that thinks "it should've been me." But, until the day that God decides it's my time, I'm going to live life to the fullest, realizing just how lucky I am.