Thoughts for PJ

I was managing okay until I saw that book with "CAT" on the cover lying in the midst of the wreckage. Our happiness is such a fragile thing. I'm so sorry. Words fail me completely.

This may sound like a weird thing to say, but I love your house, PJ. It's just darling. Oh, I hope you can salvage it!!!

Even through the ruins, I can see what a wonderful home you had, and will have again.

(Know what? I've got extra dishes and kitchen stuff galore. Do you dig 1940's Homer Laughlin Eggshell Nautilus, for example? A whole set for like, eight people? Or?? Oh, there's more. I'm starting to go through my storage unit, and I'm definitely keeping track of things.)

Holden, I can't thank you guys enough for getting this effort together!!! I'm there the minute signup begins...

love from tikivixen

Dawn tiki took the words right out of my mouth about Holden, Thanks Smogbreather.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature may not be done with that gulf coast area yet. Ms Rita seems to be headed for a Texas visit. Lets pray she wanders off into nowhere land. Hang on tight!!

PJ.......those pictures are hard to look at. We have all seen the devastation on the news, but it is hard to see someone we know going through it. Hang in there......we are all behind you waiting to help where we can.......

I sent PJ a Money Order for $505 today. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I will be taking more contributions at Hukilau. She says she'll be living in the hotel in Baton Rouge for at least another month. Try to imagine that...

I really feel for you PJ, and all the others affected by Katrina. It takes a tragedy like this to make us realize how much we take all the little things in life for granted. A few of my family members were deeply affected by Katrina also, but not as bad. Hang tough PJ, and everyone else, there WILL be better days ahead... My heart goes out to you all.

pj, let us know when you have an address to mail to, we will have some [useful] holiday gifts lined up for you if you're so inclined...

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2005-10-05 05:29 ]

Hey PJ, let us know if there is anything we can help with (even if it is tricky from over here). Let us know your address when you can so we can send some stuff over to you, even if it is only a 'thinking of you' card.

Si

My workplace in New Orleans was destroyed by Katrina, but we're rebuilding. Except for construction workers (wearing protective gear) which our company hired, none of us on the staff are allowed to be in there even at this point months later, so I'm working from my home, making graphics. I drove around the place today as well as other parts of the city. It's like a bomb went off there -- and a ghost town compared to before. When we came back home after evacuating to Texas, I was sure my palm trees were not going to be there -- but thankfully they were just fine and our house only had some very small damage. The Polynesian-style foliage we had planted, however, needs TLC. We're very thankful that we were among the lucky ones but I'm wondering when I'll be able to get back to work.

Anyway, this place helps get my mind in a better frame of mind and helps me remember my Tiki vacations.

I'm glad to have found this board.

Well, after waiting for roughly ten weeks for our insurance claim to be processed and a check cut so we could have some idea of how to get on with our lives, we just found out today we're going to be supremely screwed by FEMA, who OOPSY! ran out of money to pay off all the claims before they could get to ours, despite the fact we've been paying premiums for over ten years and filed our claim less than 24 hours after the storm. So we can't pay our mortgage, which means the bank will foreclose, and we'll lose the last thing we might have had to our names, our piece of sh*t flooded property that we might have at least sold to some carpetbagging opportunist for half its value. And, last we heard, after Jan. 7th, FEMA will no longer pay for temporary housing in hotels. The only other option given is an 8 X 30 trailer with one window the size of a TV tray, either in one of the lovely trailer communities in the middle of nowhere ( not feasible since we need to be within range of a hospital with a good cardiac unit )or we could put in on a merciful friend's or relative's property. But we can't have the cats in it. So that's not an option at all.

I've really tried to stay optimistic about this but I don't think I can do it anymore. I'm tired of driving four hours every day to clean up a house that I'm most likely going to lose, throwing away what little money we have on ridiculously expensive gasoline. I'm tired of the blocked sinuses, dry cough, and headache from the mold, the back and body aches from hauling out wet books and clothes and furniture. Tired of walking away from an ever-increasing pile of garbage every day that used to be valuable collectibles and treasured sentimental objects and having to keep telling myself "they're just things". I'm tired of having to be polite to the daily ubiquitous five or six church groups that stop by not to pitch in and help but to waste the very limited work time I have to ask me if I "know who my saviour is". Tired of being cramped in a less than luxurious hotel room with a toilet that runs noisily and constantly, and upstairs tenants that apparently have Ubangi Stomp marathons at 3:00AM. Tired of spending just about every waking hour cleaning some thing or another. Tired of trying not to face the facts that my husband and I will not be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement because of recent events. Tired of worrying about having no health insurance and a husband who has had two heart attacks. Tired of worrying about dragging my cats around to strange places and not being able to afford to keep their vaccinations current.

To those TC members who have tried to help me out, I do thank you so much, and it's for you that I've tried to keep a happy face. But I don't think I can pretend anymore that "everything's going to turn out alright". Because I just don't see how it can. And it's unbelievably hard to listen to people here talk so casually about breezing in and opening clubs and having Mardi Gras gatherings in MY city that has been cruelly ripped out from under me, MY home out of which I have been cast. There's no party there for me, no fruity umbrella drinks, no jazz and beads and girls gone wild, no funky folks and vintage clothes. The French Quarter might still be a great place for the tourists and "bohemians", but if you bother to step outside of it, here's a hell of a lot of devastation elswhere. It's just a lot of broken dreams and heartache.

[ Edited by: purple jade 2005-11-20 10:56 ]

You are loved, PJ. Fight. I just e-mailed you..

Here's the story on FEMA running out of money...

FEMA IS BROKE

BUT...PJ, there IS hope...check THIS out, just in Friday...

CONGRESS OKS MORE FLOOD INSURANCE BORROWING...KATRINA CLAIMS PAYMENTS TO RESUME

So you will be able to get your money. The word was that unless Congress ponied up more money, a lot of people (including you) would have excellent grounds for suing the federal guvmint. Mind you, although being part of possibly the hugest lawsuit in US history might be more lucrative than a FEMA payout, this will probably be faster :wink:.

In the meantime, if you need help holding the bank at bay while FEMA changes its institutional sanitary undergarment, let us know. I figure a mortgage payment in New Orleans will look like a little fuzzy bunny compared to the vicious rabid jackal I'm shelling out each month in NoCal...no way will the evil bank be allowed to foreclose on your home!!! We love you!!!

Oh PJ - I haven't got the words to express how angry I feel about the government's complete failure to keep the faith with the victims of Katrina. And there are no words that can begin to express my sorrow for your situation.

I don't know if it will help, but I've sent messages to all of my state representatives/senators as well as as many of Louisiana's that would accept my out of district zip code, and what the hell - 60 Minutes - to see if there is any way to get your plight (as well as the thousands of other folks in the same situation) back into the public's awareness.

If I had money - it would be yours. All I have to offer is any and all emotional support that I can give. I wish there was more...

amiotiki

On 2005-11-20 10:51, purple jade wrote:
we could put in on a merciful friend's or relative's property. But we can't have the cats in it. So that's not an option at all.

I will take one of your cats, if that will help with your housing situation. I live in California but I'm sure we can figure out the transportation part.

Thanks ookoo lady, but even if I would part with any one of them, that would be but a drop in the ocean.
I've lost just about everything else comforting and familiar to me, there's no way I'm giving up my cats too.

PJ, I am very sorry for your losses. I hope and pray for you and you're family. Hang in there girl! We do care. I hope these positive words will help in some way.

A drop in the ocean... or a grain of sand in the litterbox.

Oh PJ, that really really sucks. Please keep us informed as to what can be done to help you, and if there is any light at the end of the tunnel.

We're still all pulling for you PJ. You're always in our thoughts.

Jader, I have to say I think about you guys every single day when I slide on your pendant. The Idiots send their love.

It's things like this that really make me thankful (on this Thanksgiving Day) for the most basic things that most take for granted. Like a clean, safe and pleasant home for example. I almost wonder if the renters there have the easier way out by being able to just move away and start over somewhere else without a house to try to salvage or sell first. But I understand it just may not be that easy when you are attached to a city, especially one like New Orleans.

But just in case you are wondering PJ, my best friend just moved to Cabot, Arkansas 6 months ago and bought a 3 bedroom/2 bath house (about 1600 sq. ft) for around $100,000. She was really apprehensive about the move at first, but now she loves it there. (Her husband was offered a good job there.)

I also understand the desire to rebuild, no matter what. I hope and pray that things will begin to turn soon for you and there will be hope after all. And that one day, not too far away, you will have your clean, safe and pleasant home once again.

Hey Kids, don't forget to get your limited edition Purple Jade mug. Less than 48 hours left!
http://www.tikifarm.com/katrina_mug.htm