The Blonde Diaries

Trapped! I am sitting here in the airport waiting and hoping I can get on a plane tonight. The hurricane is making its way through Houston right now and the airports are closed. Just my luck! This was just suppose to be a quick trip over – less than 8 hours but it might turn out to be much longer. Only problem is that I didn’t bring a bag and the Essence festival is this weekend so there probably aren’t any hotel rooms.

Trying to stay positive. I got my book and I’ve hunkered down. I just wish this darn airport had WIFI. WTF right?!

Living along the Gulf Coast my entire life has taught me the importance of paying close attention to the weather forecasts between June 1 and November 1 each year. Why? Because those are the official dates of Hurricane Season and anyone living along the coast is fair game to a hurricane.

This year, the activity in the Atlantic has been fairly quiet as compared to a few years ago when we made it all the way to a W hurricane name (that is quite the number for 1 season!). It has been quite nice not to have to worry so much about the weather this year and the extra stress it brings.

One thing I didn’t count on was being hit by a hurricane from the Pacific Ocean! Right now, Houston is being rained on by what is left of Hurricane Rick which came from the Pacific Ocean, across Mexico, and is now in Texas and a few other Midwestern states. Luckily things aren’t too bad or heavy here so we don’t have to worry about hurricane damage or the likes. We have had steady rain for the past 18 hours with more rain to come. I’m looking forward to the clear skies we have been promised for the weekend and hoping the cold front isn’t too cold!

This has been quite the week let me tell you. It started off with Mike and I returning to a stinky apartment and getting back to work after a two week vacation. I can’t believe it is Thursday already. Where has the week gone? My continued increase in water each day which was actually started at Disney has helped me to get rid of some of the water I retained thanks to all of the salt used in the food I was eating last week. I am now under 160 and I hope maybe another pound will disappear in a day or two since I went out for sushi last night. I stuck with a plain California Roll, a New Orleans Roll (lightly topped with eel sauce), and a bowl of edamame instead of crab lagoons which I love. So much better than I would be normally. Tonight I am making rice and sausage and will post pictures/recipe as I am making it.

On the smelly side of things, the smell is really dissipating. I did have to bleach the freezer but that has helped tremendously. I will continue the airing out and may bleach the freezer one more time before calling it done. One helpful thing has been my office at work considers Clorox Disinfecting Wipes “office supplies” so I have been able to pick up a few tubs of them to help keep the apartment clean. One way I am looking at this mess is that at the end of the month I would have to do a deep clean of the apartment since I am moving so this is really a good head start because I can get the baseboards and stuff now which are pretty bad and then just have to swipe them later. Always a positive to every negative!

I have been home for two solid days now and I am still cleaning and trying to get rid of the smell in this apartment. I am happy to report that it is lessening but it is still so frustrating. I went to the store Monday morning and picked up an array of cleaners but I am still trying to figure out how to use them all and trying to make sure not to mix them at all. I’ll let you know what I’m doing and maybe you can offer suggestions since I am not too sure about the heavy duty items like bleach and ammonia.

So far:

• I have mixed the bleach with water (25/75 solution) and sprayed down the bathroom, sprayed down the bedroom wall and floor board where there are water marks and discoloration, and dumped a cup of bleach in the toilet to clean
• I mixed the ammonia with water and mopped all of my tile floors
• I have put out 4 bowls of white vinegar to help with the smell
• I have been febreezing the front of the apartment every couple of hours
• I have opened all windows to help air things out
• I have placed 1 bowl vinegar and 1 box of baking soda in the fridge and 2 boxes of baking soda in the freezer.

So what else can I do to help things out?  I was thinking about spraying either a bleach or ammonia mixture in the freezer where the smell is still bad.  Not sure which one is better for this or if it is even safe.  Anyone???  Cleaning is not a strong point of mine.  At least I am not trying to shop for auto parts because I would really be up a creek!

Wow I can’t believe it has been a week since I evacuated from Houston. It seems like such a long time to be away from home. I spent yesterday morning calling my coworkers to check in on them and ensure they were safe and ok. None of them decided to evacuate from this little “storm” and were mostly sitting in hot, dark apartments and houses when I called. Electricity is taking a while to be restored but it is slowly but surely coming back. I am officially off of work until Monday but with vacation coming up I went ahead and spent about two hours yesterday working on items before I leave town.

Mike and I haven’t been too exciting in the past few days. We ventured down to the Riverwalk and Alamo Tuesday and had a nice leisurely lunch at a Mexican restaurant on the river. I believe it was called Casa Ole (same name as the chain but not part of the chain). They advertised their fabulous margaritas and fajitas so we went in for a try. I will say the margaritas were great but the chips, salsa, and queso tasted like it was from a can and not fresh so I was disappointed. Overall it was nice and I would go back if the other restaurants in the area were full.

We’ve also been going to Gold’s Gym over here. We got the Hurricane Ike special again on Tuesday and finally offered to pay yesterday so in total we are getting 4 days for about $16 so that is pretty good and we are able to work off our frustrations at the gym.

I’ve been getting my fill of Asian foods as well. Every other day we head over to Mike’s parents for lunch and get a tasty Asian meal. It has been mainly noodles, shrimp, and pork. I can’t complain because it is all tasty and isn’t like the normal things I find at Bouray’s in Downtown Houston. Bouray’s is a restaurant that serves both Mexican and Vietnamese foods. Glad we found that gym because I have been a little piggie lol. I think there were 15 small wontons in my wonton soup last night. Oh well, diet starts next Monday after my trip right??

Hope everyone is doing well. I am going to post a few more posts throughout the day and then go on vacation to Disney. I have a few posts scheduled throughout that time so keep going until I return. I think you will enjoy some of these posts so make sure to come for a visit next week.