Where is the calm?

We had just come home and realized that the water pressure was suddenly very strong, causing the toilets to "sing" and it would not stop running. So we fixed that and barely 5 minutes later, I heard Jason yelling downstairs that we have an emergency.
I ran down and saw a waterfall coming from the ceiling close to where our fireplace is and soaking the carpets. And then more water gushed down on the dining table and three other spots in the living room. I just blindly grabbed all the pots from the kitchen and a couple of buckets and some old towels and placed them where the water was gushing down, whilst Jason stopped the busted pipe in the Master bathroom upstairs (actually, it was the hose-pipe that hooks up the bathroom faucet that had broke). The bathroom was flooded and it seeped right through to our bedroom soaking the carpets in there too.

We called the County Water & Sewer Dept. and the line was transferred to 911. We guessed all the piping work that they had been doing on the streets outside the neighborhood for the past couple of days caused the sudden increase in our water pressure which busted our pipes.
So anyways, there was nothing they could do to help.

Jason's parents drove over immediately (bless their hearts) and brought the heavy-duty vacuum to suck up all the water and more towels to dry up the floors. We moved furniture around and did whatever we could.

Tomorrow, we'll have to call the Insurance company and we made an appointment with the plumber to come look at the situation.

My heart is still racing and I am paranoid that the ceiling will fall in because the water is still trapped between.
But we're just so thankful that we decided to come home a little earlier tonight. If we had not, we might have lost the whole house, and Trouble might have drowned.

Still no gas

It's been two weeks and Charlotte is still facing a gas shortage.
People are rushing for gas and turning the situation into a state of emergency.

With a quarter tank, I drove to work last Thursday with hopes of finding some gas on the way but no luck. The two stations that had gas on the way home had long lines and maybe an hour wait. My company issued an email informing us that if we cannot find gas, we are allowed to work from home.

Friday morning, Jason called me up and told me the station down the road had gas. I got there at 7am and lines had already started to form with two police cars directing traffic and standing by incase a fight broke out. By afternoon, they were out of gas again.
Even at $4.19/gallon, I was glad my car is full.

Yesterday, we saw cars circling the Shell station near Walmart because they saw a tanker parked there. People are desperate.
Some cars will even follow behind a tanker just to see where it goes to get gas.

Mayor McCrory said he had considered ordering that gasoline be rationed, but decided that would create more panic and hoarding, which industry experts say are exacerbating the problem.
We've turned into vultures. But who is to blame?

They love our mailbox so much that...

It was a peaceful afternoon until I got a phone call from my neighbor across the street. She said "Oh good, you're working from home today! You better come outside now coz someone just ran over your mailbox!"

Again??!!! You gotta be kidding me!
This is the THIRD time someone decides to knock our mailbox down.

I go outside and I see our mailbox smashed on one side and the whole box laying lifeless on the ground and there was this truck who was trying to back out. I went up to the truck waving like a mad woman trying to stop him, at the same time trying to catch the name of the company of the truck.
The phone number was not visible.

So this big guy comes out of the truck and here's tiny me with both hands on my hips looking furious. (Don't mess with me when I am mad)
He apologized and told me he had already called his boss and that they were coming to replace it within 30 minutes.

I had doubts.

So I went online and got the phone number for this company and spoke to the manager. I did not want to give them a chance to deny so I asked "hey by any chance you have someone working in this neighborhood this afternoon?". He said "Yes" (probably thinking I was going to give him some business).
I said "Good, coz your guy just ran over my mailbox".

He said "Oh no"

I said "Oh yes he sure did"

He said "We will replace it"

I asked " When? My mailman comes in an hour. If we are not able to get our mail, that's not going to be nice"

He said he'll call me back and I got his name.

He did call me back and admitted that it was his guy who knocked the mailbox down (obviously his guy lied when he said he had already called his boss because his boss did not know of this incident before I called up)
He informed me that they had ordered a new one from the developer. He sounded nice and trustworthy enough.

In the meantime, Jason had called the police and they called me and said they were going to come by and ask some questions.
The police guy could not understand me over the phone and asked if I speak Spanish.
I told him No, I dont speak any Spanish but he brings a Spanish-speaking police officer over anyway.
They came over during lunch time and Jason was home. Good, coz I don't enjoy talking to people who have problems with my un-American accent. It gets frustrating.
So they asked questions, and called up the company who ran over the mailbox.

About 4 hours later, I saw a new mailbox sitting pretty outside.

Relieved.

All this hoohah over a mailbox! So very unnecessary, yet necessary.

I wonder if they'll allow us to build a concrete wall around our mailbox. Coz we know someone else is going to knock the mailbox down again... they just love our mailbox too much!

Some people make me sigh

Dear Person standing infront of me at the check out counter,

If it is your first time using a credit card, please try and read the instructions on the pad instead of pressing ALL the buttons at the same time.
And if you keep pressing "NO" when the machine asks you "Is this amount correct?" then you deserve to be hit by a meteor. Because (duh!) you have to start ALL over again and the five people standing behind you will start shooting daggers into your dodo head.

Thank you!

Should I take the hose out and spray water on them?

The neighbor who lives adjacent to us have three kids who play outside all the time. ALL. the. time.
Occasionally, they'll be playing in our front yard, which I don't really care.
But when they ring our doorbell five times a day, I care.
And I don't mean just ring once and run. They go ' ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong, ding ding ding diiiiing' NON-STOP!
I get downstairs and they run away and hide.
And they repeat the same thing... five more times.

This started on Monday.
And Wednesday.
I was not at home yesterday so I don't know if they played too.

Today, I decided I had to put a stop to this. Either I go talk to their parents or something. Ugh. But I hate confrontations.

As I was about to get mail, I saw the kids in our yard and the younger one was trying to ask the brother to do something, which I presume was to ring our doorbell. I waited till they were walking towards the house. Then I opened the door. They were startled and started to back-off.

I told them in all seriousness that they should not play or ring our doorbell ever again because nice kids don't do that.

They had a look on their face as if to say "how does she know it was us?"

Let's see if they'll do it again.

Square head

Every time I feel this need to have my hair trimmed, I get the same old dilemma. Getting a hair cut is not a fun experience because I haven't found a hair salon that I like (yet). And I don't even get one every couple of months or so. My last hair cut was 6 months ago. Yes. SIX months ago. I got that one in Malaysia and I liked it.
Anyways, I decided it was time, and way overdue for a haircut. So I got one today on the way home from work.
I should have listened to my inner gut feeling telling me to walk out of the shop but I did not.
The stylist was somewhat rude. Maybe he had a bad day. But I should know better than to put my fate into the hands of a moody stylist.

Too late.

I came out looking like crap and then I had to pay him for it! And even gave him an obligatory tip! Damn.

I'm glad I did not let him cut my bangs. Or I'll really end up looking like this. Or worse.

The rules of the Fridge

The rules :
The last person who finishes something from the fridge (or the pantry) has to press the panic button and write the item down on the notepad that is stuck on the fridge. So that item can be replenished when we go to the grocery store next.

Unfortunately, that rule is never obeyed.

I had to make my Amish bread last night. The directions specified you have to make the bread on the 10th day. I fear if I did not, it would explode or the yeast would multiply into this gargantuan mass of fungi blubber that would take over the entire household. So I mixed in 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of ... wait!! where's the bottle of milk in the fridge???
Honey, did you finish the milk??

Fuming, I rushed to the grocery store and got back in time for American Idol. (Will someone please tell LaKisha to stop shouting when she sings?)

So now I have a gallon of milk.

I decided to add some apples, quinoa, flaxseed and nuts into my Amish bread. I knew I had a can of mixed nuts sitting in the pantry and I was saving it for this bread. But no, tonight everything decides to vanish. And the husband said he doesn't remember eating it. I guess we'll just blame it on Trouble... or the mysterious pantry thief.