Getting Ready for the New Year

Bills are paid.  Holiday cards we received are scanned into the computer.  Thank you cards are written. 

Art is working on cleaning the windows which are very dirty.

I remember asking our contractor how easy it would be to clean the windows.  He answered, "Who cleans the windows in Hawaii anyway?"

Ummm... we try to... at least once a  year anyway.  They get very grimy with the salt air and dust. 

I've cleaned the bathroom, dusted and will now focus on organizing my hard copy and computer files and saving important ones onto an external drive.

Looks like I'll be up until the New Year.

Ah well... what the heck!

Happy New Year, everybody!  We wish you happiness, success, love and especially good health in the coming year and beyond.

Holidays Together While Apart

Although we are thousands of miles apart, my daughter, Tiffany made sure we would feel included in our son, Jon's holiday visit.  He and Sarah had driven all the way from Washington, D.C. to Illinois.  They first stopped in Michigan to visit with Sarah's family and then drove to Illinois so Jon could see his only sister, brother-in-law and only niece, KC.

When I woke up, the first text message and accompanying photo came through. 

It's a photo of Jon playing a game with his brother in law, Ed.  I know how competitive they both are and they appear to be having a great time together.  Something about seeing your son laughing happily that just warms a mother's heart.

Other photos streamed through making us feel like we were there.  We saw them enjoying a Gino's East Chicago style pizza and wished I could sample some.  

Sarah and Jon then spent a lot of time reading books to KC and playing cards and other games with her.  We know that KC had been waiting impatiently for them to arrive. Tiffany allowed KC to stay up way past her bedtime since her uncle and auntie would be leaving the following morning.

I don't know what it is about fate that landed us all so far apart from each other.  However, it pleased me no end that Jon and Sarah took this precious time to drive half way across the country to see their parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.

The holidays are a family time and just knowing they were together in the Midwest made us all smile in Hawaii.

On the other hand... I'm hearing about a snowstorm brewing in the Northeast.  I hope they got home OK.

Celebrating the Holidays

It's always so hard for our family to all be in one place at one time.  Our son and his Sarah are going to school in Baltimore and D.C.  Our daughter and family are in Illinois, and my brother's family here in Hawaii all work at excruciating hours.

Christmas Eve or Day was out because too many family members were working.  No kidding!  The hotel and retail industry keeps its worker busy even during the holidays.  Therefore, we've learned that it's not the day that is important at all, but the being together.

Being the only retirees, mom, Art and I were busy on Wednesday cutting and cooking the kinpira gobo (burdock root), making the teriyaki sauce, homemade dressing, shopping for ingredients, cutting the chicken and beef into bite sized pieces, making some layered rainbow jello, etc.  We had to get as much done as we could on Wednesday because Thursdays are busy Tai-Chi days for us.

Therefore Thursday was even busier for mom to make her complicated macaroni salad, and me to make a soba salad and skewering the meat and marinated veggies onto sticks.

We made enough to share with our neighbor and for my brother and nephews to bring home left-overs.

My tall and healthy nephew, Cody doesn't like anything with mayo and cream in it so I made sure I prepared a salad that was mayo free.  This was his plate.  Dennis' family brought over a huge plate of sushi which we all dug into.

We did get together for a group photo, but felt the portrait was incomplete without my sister-in-law, Nancy who had to work.  She's been working 6 days a week.

The absolute best time for mom, however was when her grandson's and niece-in-law joined her in her family room to watch TV with her and chat.  My brother, Dennis also made sure he spent quality time with her.  It meant so much to me that they took this special time to be with her.  I think it was the best part of the party!

The Computer Swallowed Grandma

Ugich Konitari from Mumbai sent me this wonderful poem for KC and I to enjoy.  I loved it of course, and felt I  had to share it with all you grandmas out there.  I've checked online and read a gracious message by Valerie Waite saying she was happy to have people enjoy and share her poem.

The Computer Swallowed Grandma

The computer swallowed Grandma

Yes, honestly It’s true!

She pressed “control” and “enter”

And disappeared from view

It devoured her quite completely

The thought just makes me squirm

She must have caught a virus

Or been eaten by a worm

I’ve searched through the re-cycle bin

And files of every kind

I’ve even used the Internet

But nothing did I find

In desperation I asked Jeeves

My searches to refine

The reply from him was negative

Not a thing was found on line

So if inside your 'Inbox'

My Grandma you should see

Please 'Scan', 'Copy' and 'Paste' her

In an e.mail back to me.

Author - Mrs. Valerie Waite, Derbyshire, England

Published in L.A.M.D.A Anthology of Verse and Prose (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

Hot in Bed

Yes he is!   But not just in the way you're thinking.  Art is hot when he sleeps.  It's the strangest thing.

He's always complained that the mattresses don't breathe enough and he gets hot at night.  Even in Illinois he often kicked off his blankets which was fine, because it left more for me.

I was cold the other night so I snuggled near him and put my freezing feet on his leg.  I got warm in a jiffy.... no... no...no... not in that way.  I was just too warm near him so I had to scoot back to my side to fall asleep.

Art was looking online today to see what his problem might be.  He found a number of people complaining of the same thing.  Some people even got up and checked their temperature and blood pressure.

I'm wondering if that's why he's so thin.  He must always be burning a lot of calories... even when he's sleeping.  On the other hand, why do I sweat more than he does?  He says it's because I'm not in the same condition that he is.  Well, that's for sure.

I don't know what the answer is.  Whatever the case, he's the one to be near during a snowstorm.  However, with the amount of energy and heat he's putting out, he's going to peter out fast and be glad I've got more reserve fat on me.

Do any of you get hot at night?

I meant temperature-wise.

A Body in Motion

...is unfortunately not my body.

This is not a good thing.  Zumba is on a 2 week hiatus and the clouds on our mountains keep threatening rain so we can't go for our evening walks. 

I'm also eating a lot of cookies and little cakes and brownies and amazingly delicious Crispix mixes and mochi and manju... oh... you name it.

The 8 mile Aloha Run/Walk is on February 18th.  I need to get into condition again.

Art says this is why he likes to sign me up to do the Walk.  It forces me to think about getting into or staying in shape.  Our son, Jon is like his father and makes sure he gets his exercise through every kind of sport.  Our daughter has been trying to work out now and running like her father and brother.  Even my 6 year old granddaughter is proud to show her race medals to us.

I wish I could stop being lazy.  I have to really push myself to exercise.  It's not something I take pleasure in like the rest of my family.  Good gracious!  Even mom is on her treadmill everyday.

Ah well... I'd better get in shape because the new year is around the corner and as tradition (and mom) dictates, we have to clean the house and get everything organized before 2013.

I guess I'd better count my blessings that I have such a motivated family that insists I get into motion.

OK... fine...

tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

We're having a quiet Christmas and missing our children and their families today.  I'm happy to know that our son, Jon and his Sarah will be visiting his sister, Tiffany during the holidays.  I wish we could be with them too.

We will actually be celebrating Christmas here in Hawaii on the 27th instead with my brother and some of his family.  Everyone has such busy, varying work schedules that it's hard to find a time when we can all be together.

But I remember another time.

Christmas was magical with the kids when they were growing up.

And even when they grew up, it was still magical.

Neighbors have stopped by with gifts and the kids have sent things to cheer our holiday.

But what I'm really waiting for are the phone calls. Then we can be together again.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays!

One of my friends posted a message on his Facebook.  It's similar to something I saw last year.  It said: 

"I'm inviting all my Facebook family and friends to join me in returning to the traditional greeting of "Merry Christmas" instead of the politically correct "Happy Holidays"!!  If you agree with me, please repost this message.  Merry Christmas!  We need Christ back into our lives.  God is welcome in my house.  If God is welcome in your house, repost this."

I was going to be quiet... I really was.  However, I thought conversation was needed:

"Asking this is not really inclusive of those who are not Christian is it? I have many friends of many faiths. I love to wish happiness to all of them."

He wrote back:

" Hi Kay, thanks for your response! The point of the post is that the reason for the "holiday season" is because we celebrate Jesus' birth. Without Christmas, there is no holiday season. When I worked at the cellphone store, the company told us that we couldn't wish customers Merry Christmas, we had to say happy holidays because they were afraid of offending someone. Does that make any sense at all when you know the reason for the season? It seems kind of extreme to me that we don't say Merry Christmas anymore just because we might offend someone. If someone wished me Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Bodhi day, it wouldn't offend me because that is that person's belief and way of wishing me happiness, joy etc. If anyone wishes me happy holidays, I just say thank you, and Merry Christmas back to you! 

 To which I replied:

"The reason for the season can be Hanukkah or Diwali or Kwanzaa also. However, thank you for clarifying your position. It's wonderful to talk these things through so we can better understand each other. Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family."

 My friend wrote back that it was good that we could discuss this together.  I was really happy too, because I love this guy.  I'm glad he didn't UNfriend me.

Tonight we took mom out to Palazzo Ristorante for a special Christmas dinner.  She loves their scallops alla Piccata.  

I told her about my Facebook conversation.  I thought she'd agree with me.  Instead she smiled and said, "It doesn't matter.  We're Buddhists."

"But mom" I said, "I have friends who celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali. Don't you think you should be inclusive of them?"
  
"The words of greeting are not important." she said.  "It is the warmth and feeling behind it."

And to all this my daughter wrote about my 6 year old granddaughter:

"KC has been thinking that people are wishing us a Happy Halloween! I had to explain to her what Happy Holidays means. She got it right and said, "Oh... because they don't know what you celebrate....Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa....you need to ask them first."

So there you go.  Two different opinions from two different generations.  

Therefore since this is Christmas Eve, with all the warmth, feeling and love in my heart I'd like to wish everyone of every faith a Merry Christmas.

And just to be safe...Happy Holidays too. 

Our Present of Presents

Art's cousin, Sarah is in a nursing home in Honolulu.  We have not been able to visit her as much as we should.  However, we decided that we really needed to get our act together and pay her a visit this holiday season.

Sarah has always been one of our favorite cousins.  She lost her husband a few years ago and is now struggling with her health as well.  Sarah is always full of smiles and caring.  She reminds me a lot of Art's mom who always put everybody's needs before her own.  Whenever we visited her in the past, Sarah always had to give us something to bring home.

We couldn't decide what to bring her.  We looked on the Internet for ideas on what to give someone who is in a nursing home.

Some of the ideas were potted plants, writing material, lotions, stamps and stationary, fruits, a lap desk, etc. There's very little space in Sarah's room and we didn't want to add clutter to her things.

And then I had the idea to give Sarah something she could pass out for the holidays.  Sarah has always enjoyed giving presents to others and making life happier for everybody else.

Art was all for it.  We got some party bags, some cookies, mints, candy canes and ribbons.

We filled the bags with the goodies and personalized name tags so everybody would know it was from her.

 And now we were ready to go.

We spent about an hour with Sarah at her nursing home.

Yes, she loved her present of presents and immediately gave one to a worker there.

 Art and Sarah enjoyed reminiscing about their days in Honokaa.

It was a day of smiles today.

The Lows and Highs of Lowe's

We've been working on our home renovation project for 4 years now.  It's Art's retirement project. Yes, it's true.  The house is still not finished.  However, there are things that need to be repaired.  This morning mom said the pendant lamp in her closet had burnt out.  When we tried to undo the bulb, we found that the bulb was rusted into the socket and we couldn't change it.  Hawaiian salt air again.

We went to Home Depot where they almost know our faces.  However they didn't have a lamp that we liked. 

We have found before that Lowe's has a better selection so we traveled a bit to get there and found one we liked.

The Lowe's check-out person was as friendly and sweet as could be and we left with a lovely holiday feeling.  When our contractor was working on our home, he said that he found Home Depot or Hardware Hawaii to be the friendliest, most helpful places.  The check-out person had us feeling that things were improving quite a bit there.

Then we brought the lamp home and Art found a 1/2" diameter glass chip embedded to the glass lamp shade.  Aggravation!  We had to go all the way back to return it.  Instead of just exchanging the glass lamp shade they said they had to change the whole unit and box.

The girl at customer service was civil, but without much cheer or apology in her demeanor.  She said you couldn't even keep the instruction sheet that Art had already written the serial number on even though the numbers on both boxes were the same.

Ah well... "Keep smiling," I told Art.  "Go with the flow.  That's how they do things here."

We brought home the box and Art once more commenced with installing the lamp in the closet.  A few minutes later, I heard a groan.

That thingamajig was jammed to the socket thing so the glass lampshade couldn't be attached.

"You call Lowes", said Art.  "I'm too irritated."

When I got through to customer service, the woman was civil.  When I asked her if we could just exchange the thingamajig, she said, "No, the box we brought in earlier was already collected at 2:30 PM and locked in a cage they couldn't access." 

I turned her over to Art who said he'd already installed the rest of the lamp and were they asking him to uninstall it.  Apparently, she must have detected more crankiness in his voice or something because she said we could just bring the thingamajig in.

We were NOT happy.  This would be our third trip to Lowe's and after having that lovely interaction with the first cashier, the other two ladies left a rather non-holiday feeling in our spirit.  I'd tried to be as upbeat as I could, but I was getting tired of this.

We went back to the Customer Service desk again.

I don't know what it was about Kepa.  He smiled.  He was accommodating and saw right away what was wrong.  He had Art bring another box from the aisle and replaced the damaged part.

I told Kepa that I was really going to write a not so positive post about Lowes, but he was turning it around.

Kepa said he'd had a few bad moments earlier too, but was trying to stay as upbeat as possible.

I told him he'd really made our day brighter and left us with a better feeling toward Lowe's.  Isn't it funny?  It can take just a couple of people to turn you off to a place and then just another couple to make you like it.

Back at home, the lamp is finally installed and mom can now see what she has in her closet again.

And yes, we'll go back to Lowe's... if nothing else to see if Kepa is still cheering the place up with his smiles.

And did I mention that the shave ice stand is a short walk away?

POSTSCRIPT:  Art said the thingamajig is a socket ring.

Not So Wicked an Evening

Our friends, Kay (yes, another Kay) and Calvin told us that there was a lottery for tickets at the Honolulu Blaisdell Center at 5:00 PM.  If you won, you could get tickets for $25 a person.

We decided to try it.  It had been raining on and off all day.  We figured everybody would stay in.

It was raining all the way into town.  I figured it was a shoo-in to win a pair of tickets.

Granted a rainstorm in Hawaii isn't usually the same as a rainstorm in Illinois.  Notice the blue skies, even with the rain?

When we got there, a rainbow was just fading from the sky.  However... there was a problem.  The organizers said only 20 tickets would be handed out.  That meant only 10 pairs would probably be called.

There were about 75 people there.  And who should we meet there, but Calvin and Kay.  We waited together to see whose name would be called.

Our name was not picked out of the kettle.  However Calvin's was called so they were able to see the show.

The rest of us were given the option to buy tickets for $41.00 a person, but since we'd actually already seen Wicked in Chicago decided to just go to dinner instead.

Side Street Inn really is in a side street.  They are famous for their kim chee fried rice and pan fried pork chops.  We haven't had pork chops in such a long time so we decided to have it as a consolation prize.

We decided to skip the kim chee on the fried rice because Kay (the other one) said adding the kim chee makes it pretty spicy and Art has to stay away from spicy foods these days.  I can see why people love the pork chops.  It is tasty, but it was rather dry and a bit chewy on the inside.

On the way home, I realized that it felt like a date night.  We're glad we went on this adventure.  After all, it's not the end of the world, right?

However, remind me not to gamble if we ever go to Las Vegas.

A Wicked Plan

We have a crazy evening ahead and I don't know how it's going to turn out.  One of our tai-chi friends mentioned how the box office has a lottery for tickets to see Wicked every day at 5:00 PM.  Then you have to wait around until 5:30 to see if you are one of the lucky ones to win two tickets at $25 a person.  If so, you get to see the musical at 7:30 PM.

Several years ago, we had just returned to Chicago from a trip and our daughter, Tiffany insisted that we needed to see a new musical that was playing in town.

OK... my regular readers KNOW we are cheap and don't  love to pay $75.00 a piece for tickets.  However, Tiffany was so excited about this play that we thought we'd better go see it, especially since she said she wanted to see it again with us.  Unfortunately, she built it  up so much that when we actually did see it, we were underwhelmed.  Make no mistake, we thought it was good.  The singers were fabulous, but it just didn't wow us, not like Les Mis or Phantom of the Opera.

We saw Cats and Starlight Express in London and were not excited about those either.  Maybe it's because we'd been racketing about London all day and were dead tired when it was time for the play.  We could barely keep the kids awake for it.

So this is our plan today.  We rarely go into town for just one thing so we'll make deliveries for mom and the aunts.  Then we'll go do the lottery.  If we get in, we'll go and have dinner at the Side Street Inn which is supposed to be amazing.  Then we'll see the play and find out if it's better the 2nd time around.

If we don't win the tickets, we'll have dinner at a place we'd always meant to try and head home after the rush hour traffic.

Either way, we'll get to see the aunties and have a hopefully wonderful dinner.  It's a win-win evening.

I'll let you know what happens.

The Perfect House Guests

We've had many guests stay with us in Illinois and in Hawaii and I can truthfully say they have almost all been perfect... but some more perfect than others.  I saw an article in the Sunday Star Advertiser about house guests being like fish that tend to smell bad after 3 days.  I haven't found that to be true if they followed a few rules.  Well maybe they're not so few.  I'm going to use my own children as examples because they do follow these rules.

1. Rent a car:  We do have a car and minivan.  That's true.  However, Art takes extreme care of his cars and he'll know every little dent that someone puts on his babies.  We've been burned...remember?  Therefore it would be great if you rented your own car.  Our kids often do.

2. Bed and Breakfast:  We will have cereal, soymilk, coffee and tea available.  If guests want more than that, I hope they'll go shopping.  We have two refrigerators and can hold what they want.

3. Other Meals:  Everybody is on their own.  Guests usually eat lunch out because they're busy exploring the island.  We'd love to have them eat dinner with us if they don't mind what mom is cooking.  Tif's family is particular so she'll often cook her own meals that she knows KC will eat.  Jon and Sarah, having been Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa will eat anything.

4. Room:  We provide towels (bathroom and beach) and whatever else hotels do.  Our kids always try to tidy their room a little before they leave the house.  When they leave to go home, the rooms are spotless.

5. Tour Guides:  Oahu is a small island.  We've seen it a LOT... the same places.  Whenever we have guests we'll take them to key tourist places for one or two days.  After that it would be great if they went on their own and enjoyed themselves without us.  Our most recent guest, Emily was one of those perfect guests.  I was amazed at what she found to do just by checking on Internet for things to do.

6. Electricity:  Hawaii has THE most expensive electricity rates in the U.S.  When you leave the house, turn OFF the fan, the air conditioner, whatever.

7. Include Mom:  We have always appreciated people making an effort to talk to mom even though her English is limited.  She understands enough.  We had one couple (from Seattle-You know who you are.) who don't speak any Japanese, but they always made mom feel special and let her know how much they enjoyed her cooking.

8.  Have FUN!  The kids are never around during the day.  There are too many things for them to do.  Our kids will go to the beach, the zoo, the Bishop Museum, the aquarium, etc.  They will also hike, scuba dive, surf, sight see, snorkle, sun bathe (with sun screen) etc.  There are a lot of ETCs. if you just look around.

Do you have anything else to add to the list?

iPhone Idea

My friend, Jean just sent me another idea that I tried out with my iPhone.

And it worked!  If you put your iPhone into a glass bowl, it amplifies the speaker sound.  Sometimes, our kids will call and we both want to hear what they're saying.  I tried it with just music and it did amplify the sound.  I wonder if it will work with all smart phones.  I guess it depends on where the speaker is.

Our daughter just called and we tried it out with her.  Wow!  It got almost too loud.  Art had to tone the volume down a bit.

Another idea that I don't have a photo for is to use a folded sticky note under the spot where you're drilling.  It catches the debris nicely.  Next time I drill a hole, I'll know what to do.

Uh oh.. That just sent a shiver down Art's back. 

Guest Writers?

I've been occasionally getting e-mails such as this:

"My name is ----- and I'm a freelance writer.  I enjoy writing about traveling and fun adventures.

I would love to contribute as a guest author, if you are open to that.  I can send you some places where I've been published if you would like to see them.

Thank you for your consideration!"

I don't know what to think.  I've also been asked if guest writers could post something about their new company on my blog.

Frankly, I don't like to endorse anything that I haven't tried myself.  My blog is rather personal and not a commercial enterprise.

I'm also worried about scams and such.  How do you KNOW who is legitimate?  Why would a guest writer want to post on my blog?  Wouldn't  it be far better if they created their own.  I don't understand.

What do you think? 

Zumba Christmas Party

Our group of a dozen Zumba buddies decided to have a Holiday Party.  Myrtle happens to love organizing parties and is a party planner extraordinaire.

She made reservations at the Waikele Country Club.  I've never been there or to this kind of island holiday party and didn't know what to expect.  We agreed to a $10.00 grab bag instead of worrying about any other gift.

Art's cousin, Renee picked me up and we found our way there.  She'd never been there either.

It was a gorgeous day and the temperature was perfect!

We realized then that this was a rather classy place and I wasn't exactly dressed properly.  Everyone arriving were dressed beautifully.  I thought it was going to be more informal since it was a luncheon and this is Hawaii.

Oh dear!

Then I discovered that everyone had brought little gifts for everybody.

Arrrghhh!

I thought the grab bag alone was supposed to be the gift.

Renee kindly, thoughtfully told everyone that her wrapped macadamia nut cans were from both of us.

Things are done a trifle differently here in Hawaii.

I was just amazed at how creative and generous everyone is.  There was one friend who sent little gifts even though she wasn't able to make it.  I almost wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

Of course no one paid my faux pas any mind and soon the meal arrived.  I was surprised that we could all order whatever we wanted and the restaurant had agreed to give us separate checks.  That's 11 separate checks.  The staff was attentive, friendly and very helpful.

And yes, the food was delicious.  I had a Chinese steamed salmon dish that I loved and it was under $14.00.

Myrtle had a whole arsenal of party games that were tons of fun.

There was a game where we had to put a cardboard and paper on our heads and draw a snowman.  Then we voted on the winner by putting a sticker on that sheet.  Irene won... hands up!  I didn't even recognize the scribble I did.  Myrtle also had us eat a hard boiled egg saying that the first person who could whistle after that was the winner.  Renee won!

Another game was hilarious.  You had to translate the pidgin to a Christmas song.  There was: Eh, manini-size home turf of Jesus (Oh Little Town of Bethlehem).

I loved:  I going stay come bumbye to da hale on da 25th. (I'll Be Home For Christmas)

Surprisingly, I got 7 out of 10 correct even though I've lived on the mainland for 35 years.  I didn't win.  Someone did get 9 of them right.  Amazing!

There were quite a few more games and while we were eating, Myrtle had us tell everyone something that nobody knew about us.  It was hilarious!

The grab bag was played a little differently.  Myrtle read a poem directing each person how to pick a grab bag and who to exchange it with.

On the mainland, I didn't much enjoy the white elephant grab bag where you kept taking a bag away from someone and having the game sometimes last way too long, often leaving a little taste of disappointment along the way.  This way, we were all happy and excited about our gifts.

Now that I know what the parties are like here in Hawaii, I'll be more ready for the next one.  I've already told Myrtle she needs to organize another one next year.

She's already set the date!

Tears of Sorrow, Tears of Frustration

Art and I were walking around TJ Maxx when I got a call from our daughter, Tiffany.  She told me about the shooting in Connecticut where 20 children and 6 adults had been killed.  As I stood there talking to her, tears formed in my eyes. 

Tif said that, instead of waiting in their cars to pick up their children parents walked out to the Illinois playground to talk to each other, needing to offer silent thoughts of prayers and sympathy to those parents who lost their children.

It brought back a memory of when I was teaching.  Someone walked into a school north of us, shot and killed a boy and wounded several other children.  I had a workshop that night and actually met a teacher who held the dying child in her arms earlier in the day.  I was surprised she came to the workshop, but she said she needed to be with other teachers.  I know she was still in shock.

Immediately after that all of our schools began implementing safety measures to protect our precious children.  After school began, the doors were locked and visitors could only come through the front entrance door where there was a camera installed so the secretary could admit only those people she deemed safe. (Sadly, that did not work in Connecticut.)

We had practice drills with the children.  Since my classroom door had a glass window you could just point a gun right through it.  I had to tell my 1st grade class that if there was a warning issued on the intercom, they were to calmly walk to the sides of the door where they couldn't be seen and I would lock the door.  One of my children asked how that would solve the problem because the bad person could just break the glass, turn the door knob and come in.

I can't believe I had to tell them that I would certainly hit the bad person's hand so they couldn't come in.  They had other questions that I answered to the best of my ability.

They were still looking dubious.  I finally told them that they were all so precious to me, that I was the grown up, stronger and would always protect them so they didn't have to worry.

Incredibly, they believed me and never showed any anxiety after that.

Presidents have been wounded and killed with guns.  I've lost count of how many schools have lost children to guns.  Like Mayor Bloomberg of New York, I ask again why we cannot have gun control?

In 1791, the second amendment which gave the right to bear arms was adopted.  This was 221 years ago when bearing arms was necessary.  Today, it is a hazard.   I understand that the NRA (National Rifle Association) is a big reason why we are not able to get gun control passed.

How many children, how many innocent people must die before something is done?

I'm so frustrated, angry and more sad than I can possibly express.

Victoria Secret Undies

My daughter kindly and generously gives me all the Victoria Secret underwear I need.  I've really liked them until now.

The one on the right is the older one that they used to sell.  Notice the leg holes are smaller?  These were perfect!

The one on the left is what Tiffany bought me last year.  The leg holes are so big the fabric tends to ummmm... (I apologize to my guy readers.) slip into your butt crack.  I'm constantly having to adjust them.

Annoying.

Art said perhaps they're meant for younger women?  Maybe their butts are different?  Hunh?  Did my butt fall? Shrink? Well... I suppose so.

Well, I certainly don't want to let my 5 year old granddaughter know that I'm having difficulty with these undies because she selected these just for me.

I guess she couldn't find any underwear with Hello Kitty on them.  I'll have to avoid wearing them with white shorts.

Do you have a favorite underwear brand?

Would You Tell?

Recently, I was having dinner out with two of my long time, childhood buddies, Diane and Joanne.  I had a large bowl of saimin (I know.  I know.  It is a lot of carbs, but I didn't eat all of it.) with extra garnishes meaning extra choi sum veggies, fish cake, etc.

When we were done eating and chatting, Joanne who was sitting across from me said, "I didn't want to say anything, but I know that when you get home you'll see it and wonder why I didn't say anything.  I hope you don't mind me saying it.  I don't want to embarrass you... but I think you'd want me to tell you..."

My eyes were getting bigger and bigger wondering what horrible thing she was going to tell me.

"Ummmmm"... she sighed.  "You have a piece of the choi sum stuck to the side of your teeth."

I laughed and took a drink of iced tea and cleared my teeth.  Phew!

It's really good to  have friends who are willing to tell you these things.  I might have walked out smiling at people with green spinach like strands glaring out of my mouth.

I remember once standing behind a woman who had a long sheet of toilet paper dangling out of her pants.  Art and I looked at each other wondering what we should do.

I finally told her and she was so relieved.  Embarrassed, yes, but relieved.

There was one time I was talking to my principal and he had a booger hanging out of one nostril.  I couldn't stop looking at it but I couldn't tell him either.

Thank goodness most of my friends are willing to tell me.  I have a little numbness on the bottom right side of my face so I always count on Art to keep a look out for me.  However, if Art is not around, it's good to have friends watching my back... and front.

Have you had those moments when you should have said something, but didn't? 

12-12-12 Christmas Lights

There's not really a whole lot of lights on our street.  Perhaps this is because of the high cost of electricity in Hawaii.  I shudder to think what the December electric bills are for some of our wonderful light enthusiasts.

Art and I took mom to see the efforts of some of the people in our neighborhood.

We began to notice that the brightly decorated houses seemed to appear in clusters on some streets.

One neighbor must have started a beautiful light display and then encouraged their friends to decorate their houses as well.

Think how long it must have taken to string up these babies.

This home allowed the Star Advertiser to list their address for people to view.  I hope nobody minded my standing out in the dark taking photos with my camera on a tripod.

For sheer quantity of lights and size of electric bill, we think this house wins!

It was fun to see everybody's hard work and then we went back to our dark street.  I hope all those lighted houses had solar panels.