Cards for KC

After seeing all the artwork that Laurie and Christine have done, it's gotten me motivated to try my hand at some watercolors.

Art and the kids have been encouraging me to get back into doing some artwork, but I just didn't feel the urge.  I know my limitations.  My brother, Dennis is the family talent.  I'm OK with classroom bulletin boards.

Still, since my first grade granddaughter, KC has been sending us drawings I felt we needed to reciprocate.  Art has also done a card for her that she loved.

I got out my paints and did a card with anthuriums on it.  I sent it to KC a couple of weeks ago.

Tiffany called and said KC loved it.  She especially loved getting a card via snail mail just for her and enjoyed reading the letter I wrote to her. 

Well, that was a lot of motivation for me so I did the second card of the wildflowers I saw during the canyons national park trip we took in June.

It's fun to paint again.  With each attempt, I learn a little more.... but it's not easy to cultivate the skill.  I showed Dennis what I did and he's told me I need to get the right kind of paper and the right kind of pen, etc.  He's also encouraging me to keep working at it.  It's not  easy.  I don't have the memory for detail and my fingers don't have good control.

But I'll try.

Netflix?

I'm now trying out the free Netflix trial streaming.  Like before, we haven't found a lot of current movies on Netflix that we'd like to watch although we enjoyed Intouchables and Into the White. 

Therefore instead of movies, we've started watching TV type shows.  So far we've enjoyed/are enjoying Doc Martin, Sherlock, Inspector Lewis and last night, Foyle's War. (We really like Foyle's War.) As I look at the list I'm seeing that they're mostly... ummmm... all British TV shows.  Aha, I've turned into an Anglophile.

Are you doing Netflix?  Can you recommend some shows?  Have you tried any other streaming site?  Is it better than Netflix?

Three Special, Unique Things in Your Life

Art mentioned how during his 50th class reunion, they did a game where everybody wrote three special, unique things about themselves that people might not know and classmates had to guess who it was.

Art wrote:

1.  I delivered my son in an elevator.
2.  I climbed Kilimanjaro.
3.  I ran in the Honolulu Marathon.

That got me thinking.  What would I write?  Well, I get to write the same thing for #1.

This was NOT easy.

1.  I gave birth to my son in the elevator with Art's help.
2.  I taught for 19 years in the same school, in the same classroom at the same grade level (1st).

3.  I climbed down into the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and saw his mummy. 

Actually, we've enjoyed so many different things during our travels, but that was the first exotic thing that came to mind.

What would you write?

Traumas of Teenage LIfe

It was about twenty two years ago, nearly midnight.   The phone rang and I answered it quickly so it wouldn't wake up Tiffany and Jonathan who were in high school and had early morning swim team practice.

"You're such a bitch!" came the angry, taunting, female voice.  Then came a string of profanity.

"Who is this?" I demanded.

The girl hung up.

When I mentioned this to the kids, Tif said she'd answered a call like that too, but didn't know who it was.

When it happened again at night, I called the police and they put a tap on our phone to trace the caller.

It didn't take long to discover that it was one of Tiffany's classmates.  Tif said she hardly knew her.  Their high school was a large one with about 800 students in its graduating class.  This was a girl who apparently felt Tiffany was not paying enough attention to her despite the fact that they were both Asian.  This girl came from a rather well to do family.  Her father was a doctor.

The police went over to this girl's house and she was told in no uncertain terms that she was to keep her distance and to stop the harassing phone calls.

The calls stopped, but it had caused Tiffany some trauma.  It was horrible and sad for her to know that someone had held such a grudge against her.  Many years later, Tif learned that she wasn't the only person who'd been targeted. There were other classmates who'd had calls that were even worse by other disturbed teens.

A couple of weeks ago a teenager committed suicide because of social media bullying.

Thank goodness Tiffany had lots of supportive friends who always made her feel loved, and was in a sports team that gave her a sense of belonging from the time she was a Freshman.  Tiffany is a strong personality, but it was still a difficult time for her and she still remembers it sadly.

I'm thinking about those other young people who are being bullied who aren't so lucky.  It's disgusting that these young people are purposely attacking their classmates to inflict pain and worse.  I suppose doing it online gives a false sense of bravery.  The cruelty is mystifying to me.  Why do they do this?  What kind of adults will they become?

As for Tiffany's tormenter in that short time, I believe what we feel now is a sense of sadness that she felt driven to do something like this because in the end, she was hurt the most.

Dryer Fixed!

Doug from A&E Factory Service came last week to fix our dryer.  It'd been broken for several months, but we were just living with it since mom usually hangs all our laundry in the sun anyway.

The problem was whenever we opened the door to the dryer, it would not stop.  I had to unplug it to make it stop.  I did learn later that I could have just turned the entire dryer off manually to make the dryer stop rotating, but I didn't know that.

I forgot that we'd bought the extended warranty and it was still valid.  I found the warranty when I was actually looking for the LifeProof iPhone cover guarantee. 

Doug found the problem right away.  He said the door switch was broken.

A new door switch would have cost $34.15 + labor.

Doug removed the top of the dryer so he could remove the broken door switch.

Art and I hovered over him watching everything he did.  Art, the engineer was fascinated, I know.

Besides, if it broke again, he'd know what to get and how to replace it.

I asked Doug if Maytag was still a reliable dryer and he said he felt it was.

Art has been wanting a front load washer and dryer for the longest time because he'd heard it used less water.  The salesperson at the appliance store had told us that it wouldn't be a good idea with Hawaii's salt air, especially since our washer and dryer is outside.  Doug said he thought it would be fine because most of the electrical systems are protected these days.

It was a quick fix and we had a great time chatting with Doug talking about how Hawaii has changed, vanishing opihi, living on the leeward side, etc.  He gave us what would have been the bill.  It could have cost us $193.88!  Our extended warranty was $69.  It's one of the rare times it actually paid to buy that extended warranty.

Woo hoo!

Bras Might Cause Breasts to Sag.... Seriously???

You've got to be kidding me!  Now there's a French study saying that wearing a bra might make you more apt to have a sagging chest?  What the heck? 

Our cousin, Renee showed me an article suggesting that wearing a bra would do just that.  I looked it up on line and found this website about the French research.

For many years we've all seen the photos in National Geographic and elsewhere showing tribal women with sagging breasts.  I wonder if it's because by having supports, chest muscles are not strengthened to carry the weight.

Whatever the case, the research is not conclusive.  They need a bigger sample of the population.  They also only tested women between the ages of 18-35 and did not represent a global population.

Would I stop wearing a bra?  No way!  However as I wrote earlier,  I did give up the underwire.  But that's as far as I'll go.

Keeping Secrets

A while ago Art was reading the newspaper and called my attention to a news article titled Secret At Sea about tracking information from spy satellites.

When Art and I first met, he was an Air Force officer working at Kaena Point.

When I'd ask what he did, he said he worked for the Air Force, but wouldn't give me any specifics no matter how much I questioned him.

He finally said it was secret and couldn't divulge any information. Well, that only made me more curious, but he never told me anything.  I finally gave up... for a while.

He left the Air Force just before we married so I figured he'd finally tell me something.  For goodness sakes!  If you can't trust your wife, who can you trust?  But nope, nothing doing.  His lips were sealed.

Eventually a book titled Secret Sentries in Space by Plilip J. Klass came out that revealed everything about the spy satellites.

Art was pretty astonished at all the information that became pubic knowledge and told me about his mission there.  He had lots of stories about seeing giant water spouts and whales, about tracking spy satellites, carrying secret information handcuffed to his wrist as a courier, etc.  Pretty exciting stuff for a young guy.

Let me just tell you one thing, if you want anything kept secret, you can tell Art.   I guarantee he won't tell.

Saving Soap

As I was taking a shower, I wondered how many people do this. 

I always felt guilty about soap going to waste when the bar got too small and would crumble when I was using it.

We discovered that if you just put the smaller soap on top of the new bar when it's wet, they stick to each other once it dries.

By doing this you can use every bit of the bar of soap.

You probably already knew this, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Nothing like being clean... and thrifty.

Back to the Renovation

Art has been working on our house renovation in fits and starts since 2008 when we moved back to Hawaii.

One of the more obvious things he has yet to complete is the baseboards.  He's finished most of the closet interiors, but now there's the rest.

A couple of months ago, he almost finished the kitchen.  There's just a bit more to finish there.

But now there's all the REST of the house to finish and it's rather daunting.  He was planning to just order all the lumber moulding and quarter rounds at one time and store them outside the  house.

But then came our trips, finishing the albums, this and a lot of thats.

Therefore he decided to do just some of it at a time.

We spent a lot of time at Home Depot selecting the straightest pieces we could find.

I did advise the sweet Home Depot young man who helped us cut the boards to wear the ear protectors next time.  I told him he could otherwise end up with hearing loss and tinnitus like Art.

In my mind's eye, I could see my kids rolling their eyes, embarrassed that their mother was at it again.

OK, now we've got the lumber at home. 

However, I just started Netflix again and Art has a book he's trying to finish on the Kindle that I borrowed from the library for him.   We had that fun hike with Dave and Diane on Sunday and then there's a luncheon with friends from tai chi tomorrow.

Hmmmm....

The Flower That Seems to Last Forever

About three weeks ago,  Mandy and Marilyn brought these gorgeous anthuriums to our China party.

This huge bouquet was spectacular!

Three or four of the heads have fallen off and the greenery died, but incredibly the others still look fresh!  I wonder how long they'll last.

Anthuriums are very popular in Hawaii because they are so long lasting. I don't see them grown much in our area though.  I see them more on the Big Island.

Art's neighbor and family friend from the Big Island brought tons and tons of anthuriums for our 1973 wedding above.  His uncle sent over bamboo vases that he cut from his ranch forest along with fragrant maile vines.  Back then our wedding with all the wedding clothes, food for 225 people, entertainment, favors, flowers, etc. cost well under $2,000. 

Gee... I started this post about anthuriums and started talking about weddings.  Sorry about the ramble.  I think I'll go take a nap.

Hiking the Manoa Falls Trail

It was forecasted to rain yesterday so we were delighted to see the sunny skies when we woke up.  However, just because it's sunny on our part of the island it's never a guarantee that it will be the same elsewhere.

Diane and Dave had suggested a hike to Manoa Falls and we were really looking forward to it.  Diane cautioned us to use some bug repellent because Manoa is known for being rainy and the forests on Oahu often have mosquitoes.

As soon as we stepped onto the trail we were awed by the gorgeous scenery all around us.  No wonder Steven Spielberg filmed parts of Jurassic Park here.

I knew these trails often have tree roots that jump up and grab you so I wore the super duper hiking boots that Art got me after the second time I sprained my ankle during a hike in the woods.

This is the first time I've ever seen these colorful frogs in Hawaii.  This little frog was about two inches long.

(tulsamom commented that this was probably a poison dart frog.  I looked it up and found that it really is a poison dart frog.)

This is what I got from a site called Reptiles and Amphibians.

"The only member of this family present in Hawaii is the Green and Black Poison dart Frog (Dendrobates auratus), which was introduced in Manoa Valley in 1932 for mosquito control. Presently, there are very few places you can actually find this frog. If it's your desire to see them in the wild, you must go to either Manoa Valley, or Waiahole Valley, bot of which occur on Oahu."

I was amazed to see these bright blue berries on the ground.  I have no idea what kind of tree it came from.

(My cousin, Holly has commented that this is probably a blueberry from the Rudraksha tree.   The seed found inside is used like rosary beads in the Hindu religion.)

This is a male White-rumped Shama Thrush.

I had this bird within my lens and just as I clicked, it hopped away.  After that, it only showed me his rump.

There was so much to see and we were awed by the beauty all around us.    The unfurling ferns were graceful and this little fuchsia beauty caught our eye.

I loved this tunnel of roots that we had to pass through.

This is considered an easy 0.8 mile hike.  However...

it IS muddy and there are those tree roots that are just waiting to grab at your feet.

But there is so much to enjoy if you stop and look up occasionally instead of just looking down at the mud. 

Suddenly you're there!  As beautiful as the falls are, it's the journey and not just the goal that is the most wonderful thing.

Art warned me that going down would be even trickier than going up.  He was right.  We had several close calls.  I would warn anyone doing this hike not to wear white shoes or clothes.  Hiking boots definitely help and don't forget that bug repellent!

Our celebratory luncheon was at Uncle's Restaurant.

We'd seen the commercials, but had never eaten there.

The portions were generous and our server, Amber was as sweet, thoughtful, kind and wonderful as you would ever hope to have.

And this was about as happy and wonderful a Sunday as we could ever hope to have!

Bad Luck?

Are you superstitious?  I like to think I'm not.

Buuuut....

I might avoid opening an umbrella indoors.

I might avoid walking under ladders... mostly because somebody might be at the top and could drop something on me.

If a black cat crosses my path, well... is there another way to get where I'm going?

Does death come in threes?  Every time two people we know passes away, I do wonder who will be next.  This past spring we sadly well exceeded that number.

Then there's the whole bit about mirrors breaking and giving you seven years bad luck.  Naaahhh.  That one doesn't bother me.... much.

Knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, wishing on a wishbone?  Yup.  I do it all.  Why?  I don't know.  I just do it.

And Friday the 13th?

We'll see.

How about you?

Koa Pancake House

Whenever we have to go for a fasting blood test, we end up at the Koa Pancake House for breakfast.  This time it was Art's turn to get his blood tested.

It was decadent.  They have Koa Pancake Houses all over the island.  They serve only breakfast and lunch.

You get all this for $6.95 + $1.25 for coffee.  And it's way too much.  I ended up eating only a third of that stack of pancakes.

It's a good thing I don't need to have my blood tested until November.

Warranties That Work

I wrote yesterday about the repair work we had to do on our LifeProof cellphone cover.  My daughter just told me that hers broke too!  Sheesh!  She's not buying another one.

Kathy G mentioned that I should try writing the company.  When I looked up LifeProof online, I found that they only had a 365 day warranty (if you registered).  I decided to check whether we had the paperwork on LifeProof in our warranty file.  Well....  the warranty file is in Art's file cabinet which was ummmmm....not quite perfectly organized. 

I spent an hour sorting, labeling, making files and putting them all in a separate file box instead.

 While doing that I found an extended warranty that we'd bought for our Maytag dryer that broke about 5 months ago.  The dryer won't stop when we open the door or even when the cycle ends.  I have to unplug it to make it stop.  I can't believe we were still under the 4 year warranty period.  Woo hoo!

They're coming next week to fix it.  Good grief!  We were going to buy another dryer instead of paying what we figured would be too expensive a repair job.

Most of the time it doesn't pay to buy these extended warranties, but I'm sure glad we got it this time.  To think I wouldn't have found the warranty if Kathy G hadn't mentioned writing to the company and if LifeProof didn't get me upset in the first place.

And that's not all.  When I was looking into the warranty file I ALSO found a Lifetime Warranty for Emeril cookware.  I'd been unhappy with the pits that formed in the pots with rust coming through.  I just wrote to them too.

We'll see what happens!

Mending a LifeProof Cellphone Cover

Our daughter, Tiffany and her husband had given us this rather pricey Lifeproof cellphone cover when we first took the leap to buying the iPhone.  Our son-in-law's brother-in-law had shown him this super duper cover that would protect the phone from breakage, drowning, snow and dirt.  They said it would prevent the iPhone from breaking up up to a drop of six feet.  I think you can even drop it in the ocean.  Now why would you be talking in the ocean anyway?

Despite the supposed indestructibility of this cover, it was no match for the Hawaiian air.  Right there at the corner where I turn the phone off, the rubber began coming apart.

Art used Shoe Goo to fix it.  It was rather unsightly with a big glop, but it held together for about six months.

While we were at Home Depot, we saw this Krazy Glue that's supposed to work on rubber.  You know what?  It worked quite well.

I just looked at my phone.  Although it's clear in this photo, it's now turned a little whitish.

However, the mend feels pretty firm.  Ah well, we'll see how long this lasts.  This cover might be LifeProof, but it's not Hawaiian proof.

POSTSCRIPT:  I just found the LifeProof packing box with its warranty in my closet.  OK, so I'm a pack rat too.  It was bought on December, 2011.  This super duper case has a warranty period of 90 days and can be extended for 365 days if you registered.  I can't remember if we registered or not, but it doesn't matter since it's over a year old.  Isn't this pretty crappy if it's only warranted for a year?

Agreeing on a Shower Curtain

A shower curtain makes a huge statement since it takes up so much visual space.  Unlike some husbands who might not care what goes up on the walls or in their spaces, Art does.  In fact, he can be darn picky.  He has an artistic eye and he doesn't like it to be affronted.

I noticed the other morning that the shower curtain was torn.  The Hawaiian salt air and often strong breeze coming from the window had made the plastic brittle.

The design had also faded from the strong sunlight.

It had taken us a long time to find this one.  I was not relishing having to hunt for another one that would be agreeable to both of us.

The airy English garden look to this one had appealed to the both of us.  I think it's because I like flowers.   Art does too.

We both agreed that we didn't want any cheesy Hawaiian type theme.  Why?  I don't know.  For some reason, we both didn't want an ocean theme.  Why?  I don't know.

We went to the Navy Exchange and found nothing that we could agree on except that we didn't want plastic again.

We went to Target and couldn't find anything we liked, but we did decide that it should have some blue in it since the wall paint has a slight bluish tinge to it.

Bed, Bath and Beyond had the widest selection of shower curtains of every type.  We walked back and forth, back and forth and left with nothing, but agreed that it should be a polyester fabric.

We finally decided to give Walmart a try.  We don't usually shop there, but to be honest we've often found just what we were looking for there that we weren't able to find anywhere else.  I don't know why.  

Sure enough, there was something we could agree on.

It wasn't perfect, but we liked it fine.

Art says it was rather startling to walk into the bathroom and have the giant O'Keeffe like flowers pop out at you.

However, we've both gotten used to it.

And you know what?

We like it.

Pet Peeve: Unscrupulous Banks

We just got another one of these letters from U.S. Bank.  It comes with checks we didn't ask for with our name and address already printed on it.  What would happen if somebody took this out of the mailbox and used it?

This reminds me of when our elderly neighbor, Mrs. D moved away to live in a smaller apartment since her house was too much for her to maintain after her husband and brother passed away.

Art used to stop by and visit her occasionally while I was teaching because he knew she was sometimes a little foggy.  Mr. and Mrs. D had been so very kind to us when we moved into our little Illinois community.

Mrs. D complained to Art that the bank kept calling her and telling her she owed them money because she wrote checks.  "I don't even have a checking account!" she cried.

Art called the bank and told them, but the next time he visited she said they were still calling and threatening her.  This time, she showed Art the list of places she was supposed to have used checks.  When Art checked and saw the list of places, he realized what had happened.  She'd used those unsolicited printed checks.  And she was broke.

Art called the bank and went to a horrendous amount of trouble to write letters to vouch for the problem and to stop the creditors.  He told them to stop sending these solicitations because she would not be able to pay for them.

She also insisted she'd won the Publisher's Clearing House contest and had gone downstairs to wait for people to come with the big check and balloons.

We knew then that she had dementia which got progressively worse.  She had no children, but eventually we tracked down her nephew and his wonderful wife who came to get our neighbor and care for her.

While we were all helping to pack her things to move to another state, we saw in her mail more of those checks from the same bank along with a ton of solicitations for money and "good deals".

How many other elderly people are being scammed and manipulated this way?  It just makes me so angry!

Jabong, Zabon or Pomelos

Every Thursday, we pick up tofu for relatives and friends since the little, family owned Honda Tofu store is close by in Wahiawa.  When we dropped off tofu for Art's aunt, she gave us this huge zabon.  It's got to be the biggest one we've ever seen.  It's also called pomelo or shaddock.  It tastes like a milder, sweeter grapefruit.

I've often seen the fruits hanging from trees and wondered how the branches could possible support its weight since the fruit is so large.

Actually, none of us are supposed to eat this because it is in the grapefruit family which interacts with our medications.  However, just a little shouldn't hurt, I think.  Have you ever tried it?  Do you ever eat grapefruit despite the drug interactions?

POSTSCRIPT:  By the way, the zabon was really wonderfully sweet and we had enough here to share with our neighbor.

Napkins Waste

Have you ever noticed how many napkins restaurants and fast food places give you?

We were at a food court where Art went to Subway and I had tacos from Taco Bell.  He got three huge napkins and I ended up with four for my 3 tacos.  We didn't take them.  They were given to us.

It reminded us of our trip to China where we were surprised to get a single tiny napkin or napkin tissues in boxes at the table.

Most countries don't give out as many napkins as we receive in the U.S.

It made us realize just how wasteful we Americans can be.

Art and I felt guilty knowing how much trash our small lunch created.

We took the napkins home to use, but had to throw out the rest of the trash we'd generated.

We're just going to have to remember to tell the counter person that we only need one napkin next time we eat out.

I Gave You One Job to Do

My good friend, Myrtle send me this email full of failures.  Yup... failures.  It was titled I Gave You One Job to Do and You Failed.

I wonder if they fixed that paint job on the road.

I've seen a similar thing where they wrote SHCOOL on the road. Do you think they really installed a handrail like that though?  I wonder if it's photoshopped.

That would be dangerous having water near that outlet.

Do you follow all road signs without question?

That Batman backpack could be a collector's item now.

That's it.  I guess we don't have to feel bad if we make a boo boo today now.