Listen All Y'all It's A Sabotage!!

Well, it's been a good long while since I last posted. I have had long hiatuses in the past but I've been so consistent in the past year that it feels weird not to have blogged for about three months now. It hasn't been for lack of things to write about- quite the opposite really- I've felt overwhelmed with all that I have to say and not sure how to say it or where to start. I'm also experiencing the usual and constant interruptions of various children and my husband's flirty banter on instant messenger anytime I sit at the computer for more than five minutes. But I'm determined to write SOMETHING... ANYTHING. So here goes...

I have endless stories and pictures to post about birthdays and fun things we've been doing this summer but I suppose I should begin with the crazy month of May. Actually, I'll start around the time of my last post near the end of April when we gave our apartment management our 2 month letter of intent to vacate (can you believe they wanted 2 months?! Our lease wasn't even up until the end of June!) 

We had been thinking of moving for a while- the summer previous we'd thought about trying to buy a house because the market was so good for buying- but decided against it because we're so close to graduating and are hopeful to be able to find jobs in the area but not totally confident that we would definitely be able to find jobs and it wouldn't be prudent to try to sell a house after only living in it for two years if we had to relocate to find employment. Anyways, the past year hadn't been too comfortable for us in the apartment. When we moved up to Tempe five years ago we just had the two little boys and a 3 bedroom apartment was perfect- we even had an office/guest room. Now with two more girls and two boys that aren't so little anymore we were feeling in much need of more space. Also, the girls are much more active and energetic than my boys were (I know- weird, right?) and they really needed to have a yard to run wild in. Also, Jon really wanted a place to play music without having to worry about our shared walls neighbors getting upset. So we gave our notice without really having a place to move to but with a lot of requirements on our list: yard, garage, more space, space for storage, washer/dryer, good neighborhood, and good schools. I'll get back to the list in a later post. 

A week after we put in our notice we were burglarized. It was the worst experience of my married life, although, in hind sight it could have been way worse and I'm thankful that it wasn't. It was the first Monday of May and I'd sent the kids off to school. Shazer had complained about a sore throat but I'd decided it wasn't bad enough to miss school for- looking back I'm immensely grateful that I sent him because if I had kept him home I wouldn't have thought anything about leaving him home to sleep while I ran my quick errand and he would have been there alone to face the burglars. Terrifying. 

Jon was running late to take the bus to class so I drove him. We left the house just before ten in the morning. It takes about 15 minutes to get to ASU and then 15 minutes to get back. On the way back I was reminded of a couple quick errands I needed to make (like stopping at the ATM and post office) and I had this internal dialog going trying to put them off till later- at the last minute I decided to run the errands and even had to make a U turn to go back in the right direction. Looking back, I feel that I was being led by the spirit to stay away from the apartment longer. If I'd gotten back sooner I may have walked in on the burglars. 

When we got home I unbuckled Sally first and then got Sophie out of the van. Sally ran ahead and pushed open the front door. Right away alarms went off in my head. I ALWAYS lock the front door. I pulled Sally back and looked inside the open doorway and saw pieces of wood from the broken door frame lying on the floor, grabbed the girls, went back to the van and called the police. It took the police about ten minutes to arrive, but they went in with guns drawn and searched the place for a good amount of time before allowing us to go in and check out the damage. It felt so surreal. It was seeing all of our familiar things in a totally unfamiliar way. 

Things were torn out of closets, drawers, and containers (our bedroom was the biggest mess), and things were missing but it took a while to register what they were. Obvious things were the computer and new monitor, the laptop (that actually still needed to be repaired- haha), the wii, Jon's electric guitar camera, video camera, a bag of guitar effect pedals, etc. Some things it took us hours even days to realize they were missing. As I went to leave for school that night and change from my flip flops to my new lovely Vans I had posted previously about I discovered they'd been taken, along with my old Nike running shoes and some other shoes- only my shoes though. Weird. Later as we put our room and closet back in order I knew there was something missing from a shelf in the walk in closet but could not remember what it was until I thought about Mother's Day coming up and realized there was a nice basket of Avon lotions and stuff all wrapped in a bow that I'd been thinking of re-gifting: stolen. The first thing I'd noticed missing- I actually went to it first- was the computer and I cried for all the lost info saved in its files. But I was instantly gratified to see that they didn't take our external hard drive that we'd used to back up photos on- it was just sitting on the desk all by itself like a gift. The only other thing I cried over was something I didn't even realize was gone until a day later, the sweet little Nightmare Before Christmas jewelry box that Jon had bought for me for Christmas about 6 years ago for $35. 

It came with two his and hers "engagement rings"- mine was in the box along with some other jewelry because it had always been too small and couldn't really be sized because it had writing on the inside and outside of the band but I'd worn it on a chain as a necklace. Jon's fits him great and he's always worn it. Which was fortunate because without his ring we would have had no proof of owning it for insurance purposes. This was the biggest shock of the whole experience. When we were researching the cost of things that were stolen for the insurance settlement I found this little collector's item going for almost $800! The insurance adjuster didn't even question it and gave us the full amount- although to get this picture I just looked for it again and found it selling on Ebay for $1200!! Pretty good yield on our investment of $35 only 6 years ago. It's also more sad for me because I know it'll never be replaced- we're just not in the position (nor will we ever probably be in the frame of mind) to spend more than $800 on a little jewelry box. At least Jon still has his ring.

Another surprising thing that they took was my blow dryer. What the?!! 

Funny things they didn't take were our 13 year old TV set and lame VCR/DVD player or any of our CDs- which they'd pulled out and found nothing to their liking- hehe! 

Other surprising things they didn't take were Shazer's brand new bicycle he'd got for his birthday that was right out in the open in the hallway, and they didn't take some expensive large music equipment of Jon's like speaker cabinets, amplifiers, etc. This oversight actually made us very concerned that they may have grabbed what they could carry and fit into their vehicle but now they knew it was there and may want to try to come back and try to get it when they could. Our fears were increased by a fast ringing of the doorbell followed by a loud pounding on the door around 10:30pm the next night. Jon and I were just sitting in the living room watching TV and it made us both jump. I got to the door in just a few seconds and called out "Who's there?" I couldn't see anyone in the peephole, Jon threw open the door and ran out into the front walkway and down the sidewalk/parking lot and didn't see anyone either. Whoever had rang/knocked just wanted to see if we were there and got away/hid FAST. Jon moved the piano in front of the door and slept on the sofa with a club that night. We had been nervous before but now I was feeling scared. I was scared to leave the apartment- afraid to see what I might come home to- and I was afraid to be at home- worried that the thieves might become even more bold. I thought of all the times I had laid down with the little girls when they were napping and not heard a knock at the door and how someone could have just kicked in the door while we were there. So scary. A girl could become quite paranoid. Needless to say our search for a new place to live moved to the forefront and became all I could think about. Our search for a new place will be the next post.

On a lighter note: I love this plant.

It tells me when it needs water. I water it, and within a few hours:

Isn't that the best?!