Counting the Blessings - Take One

While the majority of posts to this blog will capture the trials and tribulations of my journey towards recovery after Hurricane Florence, I promised that I would highlight the blessings too.  At least weekly (hopefully more often), I will share the more positive things - no matter how small.

Some might think I'm focusing too much on the bad experiences and that's dragging me down, but I have my reasons for penning it all here, so you'll just have to trust me that this is what I need to do.  😉  But it's equally important that I share the good things too, so without further ado ...

Previous posts covered the hiccups encountered when moving to this new room in the hotel, and the lingering aftereffects, but now that the stench is all but gone, I can find just a little spark of positive things about my new digs.

- The shower is much better.  The old room had a very slow-draining tub, and it was pretty much clogged by the time I left.  The drain here is free-flowing, so no more soaking my feet in nasty gray water while showering!

- The kitchen sink is much better.  The water flow is much stronger than the other room, and while I don't use it often, the garbage disposal works more efficiently too.

- The burners on the stove here are better, heating up much more quickly than the other.  It now only takes a minute or so to boil water for my morning tea.

- The cheap vinyl flooring in this room is holding up better than the last.  The way the room is set up, there is a peninsula/counter that separates the kitchen from the living area, and that's where my behind is planted in the chair the majority of the day.  The dogs have claimed the small couch, but the layout works for me as I can work on my laptop and still see the TV, and the stove and sink is within arm's reach behind me, so I can easily tend to what I'm cooking.  But because I'm up and down a dozen-teen times an hour, the computer chair moving about put a strain on the cheap vinyl on the floor in the other room, and the casters were tearing up some of the planks.  While it's the same material as the other room, the flooring here isn't already compromised, and so far it's holding up to my abuse.

Who needs dishcloths?

- While the same layout as the other room, I've found that it provides me a way to keep moving.  With both TV and laptop in front of me, I can scoot the chair aside and step in place, and I usually have a crochet hook in hand while doing it.  For the last several months, it's been a struggle to get 5-6,000 steps on a good day, and that's not nearly enough.  Now I have no trouble making at least my 10,000 step minimum goal and this last week have done several thousand over that every day, all while keeping my hands busy crocheting dishcloths. I'm hoping to increase that to closer to the 20,000 steps daily that I used to do with little effort.  My foot still hurts, but at least I'm not out on the street worrying about being able to walk back home without further injury.  If I need to take a break and sit for a bit, the chair is right here.  And my stack of dishcloths to gift and/or sell is getting higher 💲💲💲 (holler if you need some!). The small kitchen counter behind me is also the perfect height for counter push-ups, so I've been doing several sets a day.💪

A couple of other niceties happened this week that didn't involve the hotel room.

While walking back from Walmart early one morning, I encountered a young man standing on the corner.  I usually don't engage with anyone asking for handouts, but something about his voice when he asked if I had anything to spare at all had me pause and look in my wallet and pull out the two dollars that I had there.  He thanked me profusely, and was still tossing 'God bless yous' in my direction as I walked away, even asking my name so that he could pray for me specifically (which I didn't tell him, saying that God knew who I was).  I have no way of knowing whether he was really a Christian and truly thanking/praying for me, but that's not for me to judge.  I just did what I felt called to do at that particular moment.  Well God did acknowledge the small thing I'd done to bless someone else, and returned the blessing to me, greatly magnified.  Later that day, I received word from the Red Cross that I was eligible for another check for hurricane relief, and it was posted to my PayPal account immediately upon my confirming that I was in fact still displaced.  Now that amount won't be enough to put a new roof on my house or anything else significant, but it was sure a lot more than the two bucks I handed off earlier, and right now every penny counts.  God is so good, amen?

Another blessing this week is a new (to me) raincoat.  Like a lot of the country, we've had quite a bit of rain lately in coastal Carolina, and there's surely more to come.  I have to walk the dogs several times a day, and the raincoat I had was really stiff and also too big, making it cumbersome to work around while handling dogs going in two different directions.  I have a poncho, but that wasn't working out too well either.  I've looked in every store locally and most didn't have anything suitable, and the few that were available were $35 and up.  Nope.  I'll gladly get soaked rather than pay that amount of money.

My new-to-me Misty Harbor raincoat

I checked eBay and Amazon and still wasn't able to find what I wanted at a decent price.  Then for whatever reason, I thought of Poshmark.  I'd never used it before, and when I signed up, they gave me my first order for only .99 shipping.  Works for me!  It took a bit of searching, but I found the perfect raincoat that fits well, is a much more flexible, rubbery type of vinyl that doesn't restrict movement, has a hood that isn't so big that it hangs over my face yet still allows room for me to wear a ballcap, and even has elastic cuffs, so they don't get in the way.  It's also big enough to wear over a hoodie when it's chilly, but light enough that I won't swelter on days it's a little warmer and I wear it alone.  And it has pockets.  Must have pockets (I'm a responsible pet owner and carry several doggie poop bags in every outer garment I own).  And the best part is that it only cost $12.99.  Score!

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are the positive things I can recall right now that made my life just a little easier this week.  I've experienced many more during this journey, both big and small, but you'll have to keep reading to hear about them.

What has been a blessing to you this week?

~ Marie Anne


If you haven't already, please read my first post that explains my mission for this blog.

Hyperosmia, and Hotel Room Saga, Part II

I posted yesterday about the fiasco I went through having to move to a different hotel room because they are fumigating, and it didn't end there.  I knew there was going to be a problem as soon as I got off the elevator on the third floor ... it smelled horribly of whatever chemicals the exterminators are using.

With my extremely heightened sense of smell (hyperosmia) and sensitivity to chemicals of all sorts, this is a real problem.  Even when they clean my room weekly, I have to open both windows, turn on exhaust fans, rinse the tub and sinks, and wipe down the counters and floors with vinegar before I can stay in the room for more than a couple of minutes, and it still smells horrible to me for at least 24 hours.  I also have my own air purifier with HEPA filter running 24/7.  I can't even stand lingering cooking odors ... while actually cooking something, it's fine, but when I leave the room and come back even hours later, the odor bothers me.  Popcorn smells great while it's popping, but when I'm done eating it, it has to go!  I'll put the empty bag in a used grocery sack, put that in the trash, and set it all in the hallway to go out next time I go downstairs or housekeeping grabs it.  I can still smell it when I get up the next morning.  Dish soap is the worst ... even the smallest squirt on a dishcloth for the two minutes it takes me to wash my couple of dishes is enough to send me through the roof.  It's not just that something smells bad, it actually affects me emotionally/mentally, and makes me want to scream and throw things.  Yep, hyperosmia is a real thing.

You can see why heavy-duty, toxic chemicals used for fumigating a large commercial building would be problematic.

Since they're treating the whole hotel one floor at a time, there's nowhere else for me to go, so I've got to deal with it as best I can.  I opened both windows and set up my air purifier right away before I even moved anything in here.  I propped the door open with a chair to keep the air circulating, but since it smelled in the hallway too, it probably wasn't very effective. As soon as everything was moved in several hours later, I set out to wipe down every surface I could reach.  When I opened cupboard and pantry doors, the smell was even worse from being closed up, so I took everything out again and wiped those down, and ran all the dishes through the dishwasher, then left all the cabinet doors open.

The maintenance guy gave me an industrial fan that they use when drying the floors in common areas, so I set that to draw fresh air in from the bedroom, and I also kept the bathroom and microwave exhaust fans and my air purifier running continuously.

That was Thursday.  Even with windows cracked and fans going, I slept little that night, because I couldn't get the smell out of my head.  I got up Friday morning (with a massive headache) and started wiping things down again, sprinkled baking soda over the carpeted areas and vacuumed that up.   By late in the day, the odor had dissipated considerably (finally!), and I was able to get a little sleep Friday night, still with purifier and exhaust fans running.  It's Saturday morning now, and while it's still noticeable, it's more tolerable.

Oh, but did I mention that even after exposing us to chemicals that are enough to choke a horse, the roaches are still here?

Only DEAD roach I've found

The pups and I shared popcorn for a snack yesterday, and even with the microwave running for 3-4 minutes on high, I opened the door and a stinkin' roach came out!  Before turning in for the night, I checked to see if I had anything in the dishwasher to be put away and one crawled out of there too.  While watching a movie on my laptop last night, one came crawling from under my printer, right towards my hands.  Ick, ick, ick.  A short time later when reading in bed, I sensed movement out of the corner of my eye and yep, there was one on the nightstand. Seriously ... you can't kill these things!  I smashed 2-3 others during the day in the kitchen and bathroom too, and when I opened the bathroom vanity drawer, there was a dead one in there, so I guess there's that.

So ... I had the hassle of moving, the dogs and I have ingested who-knows-what toxic chemicals, I've spent considerable time cleaning, endured cold, damp conditions while trying to air out the room, even overnight ... and still have to deal with roaches.  Mind you, before they started the fumigation process, I never saw a single bug in the entire two months I've been in this hotel.  And yes, of course I know they've been here even if I didn't see them, but if they're going to be here anyway even after the extensive extermination process, I'd just as soon they not show themselves so that I could pretend we weren't cohabitating.

Thus ends the moving-to-the-new-room saga (I hope!).  I promise that I'll be sharing the blessings in my life too (and there are many), so don't tune me out just yet!

~ Marie Anne

If you haven't already, please read my first post that explains my mission for this blog.

Playing Musical Rooms - and I Lost Again

The hotel I'm staying in has a new exterminator who wanted to do a good treatment on all rooms from the start, so they are moving people around so that they can accomplish that.  They started with the top floor last week (and of course the roaches are just seeking new accommodations on the floors below), and next week they're doing the second floor where I was, so I had to move up to the third.

Now moving from one hotel room to another doesn't sound like much of a big deal ... throw everything in your suitcase and you're done, right?  Not so easy when you've been displaced for over five months so you have pretty much everything you need to live in a small suite.  (Picture a pantry, refrigerator, and freezer full of food; closet and drawers full of clothes and shoes; bathroom full of toiletries, personal items, and towels; several dishes and pots and pans; two drawers full of notes and receipts, and miscellaneous correspondence from insurance company, mortgage company, and contractor; laundry supplies; tote bags of crochet stuff; and bins of fabric and quilting supplies).

That's bad enough, but when they throw more kinks into the works, it adds to the aggravation.

I was on second floor, room closest to the elevator.  When I asked the other day where I'd be moving to, I mentioned that I'd prefer the same room on third floor, if available.  Manager checked and said yes, it was, so he put a reservation in my name for that particular room so that another employee wouldn't accidentally book someone else into it.  Cool.

Not.

He told me it would be ready on Wednesday, so I started throwing some of my stuff into plastic totes with the intent to just dump them out in the new room, go back and load up again - rinse and repeat.  Wednesday morning I asked if I could start moving my things, young lady checked the system and said no, housekeeping had to tend to it first, and they don't get in until 9:30.

Not too aggravated at that point, I changed my plans for the day and moved on.  When I checked later Wednesday afternoon, the manager was there and said it still wasn't ready, but everyone was working hard to put things back together, and promised that it would be done by end of day, and I could pick up the key first thing Thursday morning, saying no matter how early I got up, it would be ready for me.

Wrong again.

Went down to get the key Thursday morning, and the gal at the desk said there was a problem, and she wasn't sure why, but the room still wasn't ready.  Housekeeping had been working until late in the evening, but for whatever reason, there was a holdup on that particular room.  I expressed my dissatisfaction at the lack of communication and told her that I expected someone to keep me informed as to what was going on, and let me know when I could actually move.  Mind you, half the stuff I needed the previous day and overnight was all mixed up in those tubs I'd already packed.  The manager came knocking on my door a while later, apologizing profusely and saying it was his fault for the mixup.  Apparently the room I was to go to needed more extensive maintenance that he hadn't been aware of, including hooking up a TV (that didn't have the right plug), new curtains, and a few other things that were going to take some time.  He couldn't say when it would be available, but had another room ready that I could move to right away.  Great.  But it's down the hall, further away from the elevator.  Not a big deal for me alone, but if Jethro's having a bad leg day or if the fire alarm goes off again (subject of another post) and I have to carry him, that extra length of hallway plus down two flights of stairs while juggling Phoebe on the other leash will do me in.

Ok, at least the room is available, so let's get 'er done.  I start packing up more stuff, go down to get a cart and oooh, what do I see?  Nothing!  There are no carts available (they only have two).  Ok, MA, suck it up and start lugging a tub at a time and get done what you can.  Oh, and tweak your back while dragging the heavy ones down the hall, just for good measure.

A couple of hours and numerous trips later, the bulk of it is moved, and then of course a cart becomes available, so I'm able to wrap things up from there fairly quickly and call it a day.

Or not.  I think satan himself has been in charge of my accommodations throughout this journey.  More on this saga in my next post.

~ Marie Anne

Note:  My intent is not to beat up on the hotel staff; this hasn't been easy for them either, and they've been working very hard to make the switch as painless as possible for their guests.  Just documenting more of the post-hurricane hassles.

If you haven't already, please read my first post that explains my mission for this blog.

Back to the Future, or Playing Catch Up

Where it all began

If I knew then what I know now, I would have started this blog while twiddling my thumbs waiting for Hurricane Florence to come to town.  Alas, I had no idea I would still be sitting in a hotel room with two dogs more than five months after the neighbor's tree landed on my roof, so I'm taking the 'better late than never' approach and will start posting here going forward instead of journaling on Facebook.

It's been difficult to keep up with it all and I really do need to keep a better record of events, so I'll be going through my notes as well as Facebook posts and reconstructing as much as I can here.  These posts will be very detailed (yep, I'll be noting every stinkin' time the fire alarm goes off, and other irritating things that might seem insignificant to others), not only for insurance purposes, but also to share just what surviving in the aftermath of a natural disaster is really like, and the toll it takes on one's mental and physical health.  Some will be recording facts and figures in dealing with insurance company, mortgage company, and my contractor, where others will be a diary of my day-to-day life.  I'm pretty sure this will become a daily grumbling session filled with a considerable amount of negativity, so don't say I didn't warn you.  I need a forum to let it out, and it beats screaming and throwing things, or worse.  Having said that, there are many blessings that I've experienced through it all thus far, and I will be making note of that too, praising Him for what He has done and is continuing to do in my life.

If I remember dates that events occurred, I might backdate posts to reflect that if it doesn't get too confusing, but most will likely just be a conglomeration of various events all clumped together, where accurate dates might not be as important as just getting them recorded.

So ... here we go!  Buckle up ... it's going to be a wild ride.

~ Marie Anne