Two more blankets, and a not-so-stellar trip.

The bunny blanket is going to a friend of Audrey's.  I finished a new blanket today (it was nearly finished before my last Disney trip) and I really like how it turned out.  I FINALLY made one that is obviously for a boy.  (So many of them start out to be "unisex" but I am told they are too feminine to be for boys.)

While I was in Florida I brought along some yarn to have something to do in the evening while I was relaxing and since I had a few colors that I knew I would NEVER have any use for I decided to combine them to make a baby blanket.  It's mostly white, and now that it's finished I will be the first to admit that it is most likely going to have to be for a girl too.  :)  Dark green and lavender are two colors that just aren't that easy to use up...


Other than that, the trip to Florida was less than stellar.  While we were out of town someone decided to break into the owner's closet and help themselves to some of our personal belongings.  They didn't take everything, in fact they didn't take enough things that I would notice right away that anything at all was gone.  The first thing I noticed that was gone was the backpack I use when I go to the park.  At first I wondered if I'd taken it to Colorado the last time I returned home (although I knew I would never have done that, since I keep my annual pass in there.)  Then, once I got my clothes into the master bedroom closet I realized that there wasn't as much left in the owners' closet as there usually was.  That's when I noticed that Gary's suit was gone.  And I KNEW he hadn't worn that home (though I called to make sure, just in case.  I was right, he hadn't.)  By this time I was furious.  There were no marks on the door indicating it had been broken into, which to my way of thinking indicates that the person who stole the items had a key.  Since when we bought the place the previous owner was in Canada, the managment company brought a key by.  ONE key by.  I assumed at the time that the other key was with the previous owner.  I believe that assumption was an error. Although I have no proof other than the fact that I get the willies around a certain person whenever he eners the condo, (and who would actually be able to WEAR that suit) I think HE was the person who did this. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I started to try to figure out what else was missing (not an easy task when you're looking at a closet FULL of items you use on your trips. But as near as I couuld figure out, it was about half of the toys I had on hand for the grandkids (little stove and dishes set); Gary's suit, white shirt, and tie; the entire shoebox full of medical and first aid supplies (bandaids, neosporin, cold medicine, stuff like that but nothing prescription); my swimsuit (which meant whomever did this had to paw through all of my CLOTHING to find it, the PERV!); some unopened movies I had in case we had wanted to have a relaxing evening at home (just a few cheapies we got at Big Lots); my Disney Animal Kingdom back pack (which was filled with my annual pass, a brush, an umbrella, lipstick, a few first aid supplies, a small bottle of ibuprofen, mirror, nail clippers, etc.  All those handy things...)

Once I had a fairly comprensive list of the things that were missing (it was about 11:30 at night) I went storming down to the office to report it.  The clerk on duty was sympathetic and understood my ire, but other than emailing the manager, she couldn't do much.  I told her I wanted the maintenance guy to change my lock because obviously someone around there had one.  She said, "The maintenance guy?"  I said, "Yeah, I like him and I trust him."  She said, "Really?"  There was just something about the way she said it that made me expound....  I said, "Yeah, I don't remember his name, but he's short, kinda bald, has a lot of tattoos on his arms."  She said, "Oh, you mean Noel.  I'll leave a note that you want to talk to him.  If I just leave a note that you want the maintenance man to change the lock you'll get the other one.  I asked her to describe him, and although I still don't remember his name (bob or bill or something like that) I recognized him as the guy who gave me the willies when he brought over the SINGLE key when we went over there the first time.  I said, "Oh, no.  I don't like him."  She sai,d "No one does.  I'll make sure you get Noel.  He's good. He's the one I call when I need help."

Anyway, after that I went back to the condo but I was still so frustrated and felt so VIOLATED that I couldn't sleep.  I finally drifted off about 4:30 a.m. so naturally Karen and I didn't get a very early start.  About one in the afternoon we were still sitting around in our sleepwear and we heard a big crash and we said, "What was THAT?"  I thought something had fallen down in the kitchen so I went in there while Karen headed down the hallway toward the bedrooms.  She hollered, "I found it, the bedroom window's been smashed in!"  I couldn't help but get the unasy feeling that it was a revenge act for reporting the burglarly the night before, but at this point I not only called the office again, I called the sheriff's office.  They sent an officer right away  but (amazingly enough-not!) the creapy worker had already been there, cleaned out the glass and managed to get his own footprints all over the outside of the window.  He even said, in FRONT OF THE deputy sheriff, "There's no one's footprints out there but mine."  I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Oh, does that mean YOU did it?"  He was trying to convince the sheriff that the window was just blown out, but she wasn't taken in.  (No wind that day.)  He also said THREE times while she was there that we had changed the lock on the owner's closet and I told him every single time "NO we have NOT changed it, but we sure will now."  He also wanted to make sure that the sheriff blamed a GUEST who had stayed at the place, but I'm sorry, that just doesn't make sense.  For one thing, a guest wouldn't have been so picky.  they wouldn't have cared if the closet still looked full.  They would have take things that were of more value, too.  (For example, the wireless router wasn't taken.)  And they would have taken the DVD player from the unit itself since they were leaving.  I don't think the deputy sheriff was very impressed with the guy.

When Noel came on duty the next day he replaced the lock on the closet and also riged the hinges so they were more secure in case anyone got any ideas about popping the pins (although they hadn't been popped--No shiny spots where they'd been scratched.) I also told him I never wanted that other maintenance man in my condo unless I was in the unit or unless he was accompanied by Noel.  He said he'd make a note of that. I probably ought to check to make sure that he did.  Gary didn't want me to make any waves but I'd rather the creepy guy knew I suspected him so he'd stay out.

Anyway, we're headed back to Orlando at the end of the week to make better memories.  :)  But I had to replace all the first aid stuff, I hated thinking someone could be uncomfortable and I wouldn't be able to make them feel better.  How dumb is that?  I've also got some replacement toys, but I need to find something to use for a little stove.  I just remember that Aidan used to play with Alice with the little dishes and stuff and it feels like someone took part of their fun away and I want to just DESTROY that person for doing that.  And to think tha they had their HANDS in that little toybox makes me furious.  And to think they hand their hands in the box where Gary and I store our clothes when we're out of town, and pawed through everything till he found my swimsuit and then took that makes me nauseous.

:::sigh:::