Day #2, April 2nd: Visiting With Mom's Brother

We got up at 5:30 and had a lovely breakfast at the New Sanno's Emporium Restaurant.

Outside Shibuya Station

We then went to the Shibuya train station to pick up our 2 week JR train pass that would give us unlimited JR train and bus transportation throughout Japan.

The JR pass is only available to foreigners. It took a while to figure out how to get where we needed to be.

We returned to the New Sanno after lunch to await mom's brother and his wife who were planning to take us to the Rikugien Garden.  It is a few blocks to walk to the Hiroo train station from the New Sanno.  The weather was cool, but tolerable for mom.

Uncle is only 3 years older than Art and Auntie is a year older than me.  Uncle is mom's baby brother and a retired high court judge.  Although the family is very proud of him, mom still thinks of him as the baby brother she carried on her back before she had to leave for Hawaii.  Auntie wore a mask because she suffers from seasonal hay fever.

Uncle, Mom, Art, Dennis, Me, Aunt

The Rikugien Garden was just starting to put forth its display of cherry blossoms.  The tree showed the promise of  beauty it would be exhibiting in a couple of days.

We watched workers painstakingly tending to the many matsu (pine trees) in the garden.

Here's my brother, Dennis and me taking a photo of the same thing.  I just checked and saw that with our combined cameras we have a little over 25 GB of photos.

The most wonderful thing about our trip wasn't the scenery or the food.  It was mom being able to spend time with her siblings.  The quiet time she had with her baby brother will always be a happy memory.

After the park, Uncle and Auntie took us to the Top of the Yebisu building.  We had a glorious dinner at the Hinone Mizunone restaurant.  We could see Tokyo spread out below us.  Then while we were eating we saw the sun go down and lights begin to twinkle below.

Then came the incredible, artistic, delicious delicacies.   This dish was squid with daikon (radish), tako (octopus) and white fish.

This was called yuba. They said it's some sort of tofu skin.  It's mostly the mixture of herbs and sauce and spices that really make it memorable.

I was surprised that the tempura did not come with a sauce, but with a dish of sea salt.  It was really, really fabulous!

These were scallops and some other seafood.  I'm not usually a huge fan of raw seafood, but these were amazing too!

There were a WHOLE LOT of other dishes that appeared.  By the time these platters of sushi arrived, we could barely eat them.  Mom was a little upset that it would be wasted.  Dennis made a good attempt at reducing that waste.

Me and and my brother, Dennis

My cousin, Kanako arrived during the meal.  She'd had to travel 45 minutes on the train to join us.  It was such a beautiful evening and when they accompanied us back to the New Sanno, it was sad to think that this could possibly be the last time mom would be able to see them since my uncle does not like to travel.

Day #1: Leaving Hawaii, Arriving in Tokyo

The day of our departure seemed to jump up on me.  I kept worrying that we hadn't brought enough omiyages (gifts) for all our loved ones who we would be seeing and hoped that everybody would like what we chose.

We took John's Taxi (233-8227) to the Honolulu International Airport.  We like John a lot and have been calling on him for rides the past several trips we've taken.

We brought an extra suitcase for all the omiyages we would be bringing and also for some Japanese food items we'd ordered to bring back.

My brother, Dennis met us at the airport.

We were seated on the last row of the airplane and it was the MOST turbulent ride we've ever been on.  My brain was totally rattled!

It's always surreal to leave Hawaii for Japan since they're a day ahead of us.  We left on March 31st, Saturday morning, a little delayed at 10:05 on China Airlines and arrived on April 1st around 2:00 PM.  The flight was over 8 hours long. 

 

When we arrived, someone came quickly to help us deplane and get us swiftly through customs.  It was amazing!

We sent off some of our heavy omiyages to our relatives and friends through the Yamato Takkyubin (delivery service).  I wish we had this sort of thing in the U.S.  We were able to send heavy suitcases long distances around Japan for under $20.00.

We caught the airport shuttle to the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo.

This is a military hotel, so we would be paying for everything in U.S. dollars.  We'd also have to leave tips.

Once you leave the New Sanno, tips are generally not expected in Japan.  And yet... you get amazing service just because of the pride they take in their work, their company, themselves.

Our friends Sam and Keiko joined us for dinner at the New Sanno's Emporium restaurant.  The food was so so, but the service was excellent.

Then there was the sorting and organizing because we would be sending 2 suitcases (packed with the items Sam had ordered for us, generous gifts he and his family had given us, mom's giant snow jacket and things we bought in the gift shop) back to Narita Airport to await us until the end of our trip.

We also sent two suitcases to leapfrog on to Beppu to await our arrival.  We would be traveling through Japan with just one suitcase and our three backpacks, meeting our two other suitcases every 2-4 days.

We fell asleep right away and amazingly did not wake up until 5:00 AM!  

Our Trip to Japan

We've just returned from our 19 day trip to Japan.  I had posts written and ready to go up while we were gone.  (Something is goofy with Blogger right now though because posts I had prepared have not been going up automatically when they should the last few days.)  I wrote the following just before we left on March 28th, Wednesday, 2 days before our trip.

I have a  cold but it's much better.  My brother, Dennis and mom seem to be feeling better too.  Art is all geared up and eagerly doing the final touches to his planning.  We had a week and a half to get organized after our son, Jon and Sarah left us to travel through South America.

Unlike the U.S. mainland, Japan is having a late spring.  We've been told that we may be coming too early and miss most of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo and going too late for the cherry blossoms down south where we plan to travel this time.

Mom always feels colder than the rest of us so planning on what to bring takes a lot of thought.  I've packed for subzero weather to late spring or early summer for her.  She's got tank undershirts and I've added knit t-shirt type blouses for layering along with turtle neck and crew neck long sleeve blouses.  Then I've got a light hoodie, a thick fleece jacket, a wind breaker and she'll wear her sub zero snow jacket on the airplane.  You can laugh but there was one United flight where she was the ONLY comfortable person on the airplane. 

And oh yes... in case she tires, her knees give out or she's unable to keep up with the pace we're walking, we're bringing the wheelchair.

Every time I turn around, there's one more thing I feel we need to get or do.  It's not like we don't travel enough.  Somehow, I still find myself on edge until we get to wherever we're going.

Pill Blockers?

Art just showed me an article from an Arthritis Today magazine flyer.  I always thought I only had to worry about grapefruit which includes our much loved pomelos (zabon in Hawaii).  Although I don't see it listed here, I do know that grapefruit blocks statins like Lipitor.

I'm on a med-vacation from Fosamax, but I was surprised to see it stated that apples and oranges are also blockers of that medication.  I'll have to watch this when I'm put back on Fosamax some day.  This is the first time I've heard of this.  And coffee too?

I take Synthroid which is a thyroid hormone.  So milk and yogurt are not good?

I'm not taking Fosamax for my bone health, so I need the calcium from milk and yogurt.  I'm taking calcium supplements but I've been told it's far better to get your calcium from food.

Wow!  How do you keep all this straight?  I only take Synthroid (thyroid) and Lipitor (cholesterol).  What do people do when they have to take more than two or three pills.

Good grief!

Local Kine Cures for Ailments

We were at Tripler Army Hospital the other day for a follow-up appointment with our nurse practitioner, Kathy.  This time it was Art's turn.  We're over at Tripler so often these days that the parking attendant knows us.

Art was pronounced to be in good health.  His cholesterol, glucose, PSA and whatever were all fine.

In Kathy's office, I noticed this banner and had to laugh.

This is the local Hawaiian's home grown remedies to ailments.

My mother swore by all these remedies except that first one.  She made us drink tea with ume (pickled plum) instead of li hing mui (salty dried plum).

Mom always says the sap from the aloe is far better for burns than any over the counter ointment.

Jook is a Korean/Chinese rice porridge that goes by many other names in different Asian cultures.  Okai (or okayu) is the Japanese version.  Mom always insisted that you had to have the ume (pickled plum) for added vitamin C.  I remember many a bowl of okai when I was growing up and I have to tell you that when you're sick, it is comforting.

That stuck nose (congestion)  cure I don't much care for but everybody around here seems to swear by it.  My brother has his own magical cure using an addition of yogurt to his nose rinse.  He swears it works too.  When I mentioned it to Kathy she laughed and said, "Ewww..."

You know what?  I rather like the sound of green tea with li hing mui.  I think I'll go buy a package tomorrow.

Family Project: Heirloom Painting

As you know I've been a scanning maniac.  Here are a few photos from 1990 that brought back a lot of memories.

We had this gigantic ornate gold frame that the previous owners had left behind holding a painting of a Native American village.  We didn't like the painting and left it up in the hot attic but thought we'd make a project with the frame.  Some day I'll tell you a story about that painting but for this post, it's all about our "work of art".

We bought a canvas to fit in the frame and told the kids we were going to do a painting in the style of Jackson Pollock.  We assembled several tins of acrylic paints and showed the kids how to drip the paints on the canvas.

They got the hang of doing the drips, but then Art and I who can be somewhat particular noticed that they were concentrating too much of the same color in one area.

Art and I began dripping over areas that we thought didn't look quite right.

Eventually the kids got tired of us telling them where to drip so they left us to finish and did their own thing.

 

The painting was hung up in our family room and when we moved, came with us to Hawaii.  It's hanging up on our wall here, but vertically.  Since they're all drips, nobody can tell it was meant to be horizontal. The kids laugh whenever they see the painting and remember that messy evening.  

I wonder if we should do this again with KC when they come.  We promise not to correct her and will let her do whatever she likes.  Well... maybe.

Too Much Self Esteem?

There was article a while ago by John Rosemond criticizing schools for constantly trying new theories on children without testing them first.  I have to admit we rolled our eyes at the administration forcing us to stop putting focus on phonics and use the whole language approach of learning words through context.   Eventually, they reversed themselves again.

Another thing we kept trying to do was to always bolster our children's self-esteem. I remember our own children getting shiny participation trophies on top of the ones they got for actually winning something.  Those little trophies didn't mean much to them and were soon discarded.

According to Rosemond's article, there has been research that showed high self-esteem associated with anti-social behavior.  Bullying is one consequence.  He also says that rewarding constantly often causes children to underperform and do the minimum because "anything they do is worthy of merit."

I found all this quite interesting.  I hope the next generation will learn from what we did and do a better job.  It will save them a lot of money not having to buy extra participation trophies for everybody.

Range Box House

Here's another memory from the photos I'm scanning. This is from 1983.  We bought a new stove and here was this huge box that the kids loved playing with.  I decided to paint it for them to make it extra fun.

I couldn't decide if I should do a girlish theme that Tif would like or a boyish one for Jon so I compromised.

Tif wanted a fairy tale paint job so she got that.

 She's pictured here with her friend, Lisa.

For Jon, I painted a space ship.  Too bad I didn't do a fire house painting since he was a fire fighter for a couple of years before going back to school.

Eventually, we found the cardboard box taking up too much room so I donated it to Jon's kindergarten class where I was volunteering every week.  I was happy to see the box enjoyed for several years before it wore out.

Yup!  Even back then, we were into reusing and recycling.  Therefore next time you all have an empty appliance box, you know what to do with it.

Sign of the Future?

We were at Costco and were surprised to see these signs on the wall in front of two parking spaces.

I didn't see any outlets there, but maybe they're planning to install something?  I haven't seen many electric cars tooling around the island but maybe Costco knows something we don't.

When we were leaving Costco, I saw an SUV parked in one of the spaces.  Do you suppose they make electric SUVs now?

Where's My Kindle?

"You don't need a Kindle," he said.

"But isn't it a great idea to be able to have a whole bunch of books to read whenever I want, wherever I want?  I can enlarge the font so I don't need my reading glasses.  I could take it with me on trips."

"Wouldn't you rather wait until they came out with a more advanced edition?" Art insisted.

Once he knew I was determined to get one, he gave up and we went shopping for it.

I started downloading a whole bunch of free books.  I still haven't bought a book yet because I've got about 70 books I haven't gotten to.  I also downloaded at least 40 for Art from the Amazon Limited Time promotional offers and Project Gutenberg.   Quite a few are science fiction books that he loves.

One day, he picked up the Kindle and started reading.  Guess who uses it all the time now?  Guess who takes it to bed with him?  Guess who takes it to the doctor's office or any place he knows he's got a wait? 

And since my Kindle is being used, guess who is reading magazines and paperbacks now?

POSTSCRIPT:  We have the solution.  Guess what Art got for his birthday, Father's Day, Christmas gift?

The Fire!!!

Home Renovation Project: Painting Doors

I've been dreading working on painting our doors.  I was envisioning having to remove them and bring them outside to do.  As it turned out, we decided to do most of the work indoors.

The worst part about these projects is the preparation!  I painted that inside channel a year ago and just couldn't get the motivation to do the rest.

This was it!  We decided to just do it.

We had to cover the floors and then take off the door handles and strike plates.

We had to use the stool for the hard to reach places.  We also had to paint the moldings and caulk spaces that couldn't be covered by paint.

Then I used the roller to paint the larger areas.

We did still have to remove the doors in order to paint the doorway.



Since there was rust on some of the hinges we decided to be on the safe side and paint the hinges with Rustoleum.

Some of the doors didn't work properly now that it was painted so Art had to do some little adjustments.

OK... we're done painting seven doors.  Now we've got four sets of these folding sort of doors and I'm not thrilled about it.  Art is still determined to paint it white and I want to do a natural sealer which I think will be easier to do.

At the rate it took us to paint the other doors, this might take another year...... or two.

The Book That Got Me Reading

There was a time I stopped reading books much.  I know I loved reading biographies in elementary school, but then I got out of the habit of reading for fun.  Mom kept telling me how she loved reading Les Miserables in 4th grade or War and Peace in the 5th or whatever.  I looked at those books and was turned off.  I still haven't read them.

 Then somewhere around middle school age, my kindergarten to forever friend, Diane persuaded me to read Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.  I think it was sort of a gothic romantic mystery...  Jane Eyre-ish in a way.  Whatever the case it got me reading.  Once I finished Nine Coaches Waiting, I started reading all her other books.  Then I started reading Phyllis Whitney who was also a mystery writer.  Then I got into Agatha Christie.  And on and on.

Eventually I moved on to Science Fiction with Ray Bradbury.

From there I moved on to English novels with my favorite Jane Austen.

I nearly flunked a psychology final in college because I picked up Gone With the Wind to relieve all the text reading I was doing.  BAD mistake.  I couldn't put it down.

When my son was little, he got out of reading for a while too.  I tried to entice him with all kinds of books, but they didn't work... until we got him Sports Illustrated.

OK... so it wasn't a book exactly, but it got him started.

What really did the trick wasn't just a magazine or book however.  It was being isolated in an African village in Mali with no TV or electronics, just the Peace Corps library.  He read everything he could get his hands on.

Did you have a special book that turned you on to reading?

ART-istic Stylist

I've been searching forever for a dressier, but not formal outfit for Hawaii.  I've seen some muumuus but they're really expensive and not in my style.  I like my clothes to be simple, more solid in color, but not all solid, fuller at the waist (for obvious reasons), machine washable, crushable, cheap (I mean reasonable) and made in the U.S. (if possible).  I've looked at a lot of the stores here in Hawaii and on the mainland and driven everybody crazy, including my daughter.  Now I've got a wedding to attend and no outfit to wear that I'm happy with.

Therefore, since we had some extra time at the BX, we browsed around the women's department.  Art found this polyester shift that is actually made in Hawaii.  The brand is called Naturally Petite.  It cost $49.99, on sale for $37.97 with a 30% discount because it was on the clearance rack.  $26.58 seemed just about right.  It also fit.  The problem was I looked pretty awful in it.  It was just black.

"Don't worry," coaxed Art.  "You can just look for one of those fancy shirt things to wear over it."

It was worth a try so I bought it.  We then went to Ross Dress for Less and Art found two tops to wear with it.  I really like them!  They fit great.  I can eat, not show my tummy and I like the colors.

Both tops were $9.99 each, plus the 10% off Senior discount!

The pink has short sleeves and the purple one has long sleeves that can be rolled up.  They are both light weight and cool.

And they're made in the U.S.!

The only snag we found was that the salesperson forgot to take off that shoplifting tag from the shift.  Doggone it!  We're going to have to go all the way back to have it removed.

"And now," says Art.  "You'll need to find some nice accessories to go with the outfit.  Perhaps a necklace?" 

I have a feeling Tiffany is going to be rather surprised (shocked) that her dad is now doing a good job as a stylist.

Ferdinand and Isabella

I used to teach my class about how King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were the kind monarchs of Spain who gave the funding Columbus needed for his expedition to the Americas.  All the pictures in the history books portray the royal couple as kind and being one of the few who had faith in the adventurer.

When we went to Spain in 2000, we went to the Royal Palace in Madrid.  It was truly awesome!

Then we learned more about Ferdinand and Isabella and it wasn't all good.

They are the Catholic rulers who began the Spanish Inquisition.  They tried to convert everyone to Catholicism and/or expel all moors and Jews from Spain.  Eventually, even those who converted were imprisoned, tortured or burned to death.

I didn't give my first graders erroneous information because they did provide the means for Columbus to make his journey.  It wasn't for altruistic reasons, but for the hope that he would bring wealth from the Americas back to Spain.

There's a lot of what Columbus did that was also not for the betterment of mankind.

We so often hear only parts of history.  As we travel, we have found it interesting to learn things that were left out of history books.

I guess that's why we have enjoyed traveling so much.

Not Cheap... Just Frugal

Although we're retired, we're comfortable, so long as we budget sensibly and watch how we spend our finances.

Our kids will tell you we've always tried to spend below our means and never incur a debt except for our house mortgage.  Until the kids protested (when they entered high school), I used to buy their clothes at rummage sales.  We didn't take trips overseas until we were sure the kids were old enough to remember them and stayed at less than 5 star hotels.  We also socked away money directly from our paycheck for the kids' college expenses.

This is just to explain why we are still quite frugal in how we operate.  When we go out to lunch we often buy one large drink and just share it.  At Yummy's Korean barbecue, we buy the full meal for about $9.00 and we split it. 

We even share our shave ice.  We don't need so much sugar so we just buy one and get two spoons.

I have a feeling that Tif and KC will not agree to this method of frugality.   We've already promised KC her own shave ice.

And we keep our promises (within our means)!

Our State Flower

A lot of people think our state flower is the red hibiscus.  Actually, since 1988, it's the yellow hibiscus that is supposed to be our state flower.  The yellow hibiscus is native to our islands.  I have noticed more and more yellow hibiscus being planted around the island.

Hibiscus are supposed to have five petals and come in many colors.

Therefore, it was fun to find this blossom choosing to be original with only four petals.

Who knows?  Maybe I'll find one with six or maybe three.

I'll keep my eyes open.

They're Coming!

We had such fun when Jon and Sarah were here.  And now we've got more good news!  Tif, Ed and KC will be coming at the end of next month!  How amazing is this???  I wish they could have all been here together, but that's OK... we're excited whenever we get to see them.

Sounds like all of KC's begging finally wore down her father.  Apparently, she even resorted to tears.  She told Ed she wanted to pick fruit with grandpa.  Uh oh... There's a problem there.  Lemon season is over and there are no more papayas.

Not to worry.  I told her even though there isn't any fruit to pick right now, we can always go pick up some shave ice.

Let's see... what can we do with KC?

There's the Dole Plantation, Bishop Museum, Ko'Olina beach, Waikiki Aquarium,  Zoo,  Kakaako Discovery Center....

Yahoo!

Scanning Memories of Tif and Jon

I think many bloggers have noticed that my blog visiting has been sporadic for quite a while.  It's  because I've been totally engrossed in scanning all our old photos.  I'm about 2/3 done with photos, but then I'm going to have to work on slides.... arrrrghhhhhh!

I was working on scanning some old photos from 1981 and found these two that just made me tear up.

This photo was taken in April of that year.  We had gone on a two week camping trip to the East coast with our friends, Don and Marlena.  They were brave to come with us since Jon wasn't even toilet trained and full of energy.

We were in the Smoky Mountains.  Jon was looking at the vista around him and just loving the beauty.  I'm wondering if this is how Art embedded the love of high places with Jon.  You know how they later climbed Mt. Fuji and Kilimanjaro together.

This other photo still tugs at my heart.

Tiffany's first day in first grade.  She was trying to be brave for Jon.  Jon sensed her tension and was gripping her hand.

There's a butterfly band-aid on his chin from a very deep cut he'd gotten after a fall at Lincoln Park Zoo.  (That would be another story.)

We were outside waiting for her when school was over and she came out full of smiles and laughter.  

Jon would begin pre-school two weeks later and he did not go so quietly...maybe because he didn't have Tif to hold his hand.

There are hundreds of photos I've scanned, but it's funny how just a handful will evoke such strong memories and make you go back to look at them.

Grilled Veggies

I've often shown how I like to serve grilled vegetables at our family pot lucks.  I learned how to do this when we were visiting friends, Chris and Lorraine in Ohio.

All you do is wash and slice whatever veggies you like.  I often use red peppers, asparagus, zucchini, sweet onions, mushrooms and broccoli.  I marinate it in olive oil with Italian seasoning for about an hour.

I then broil it on the top rack of my oven.

After it's done, I often sprinkle it with a little Parmesan cheese.

Something about the high heat is supposed to sweeten the flavor of the veggies and it really does.

This is yummy and healthy.  I highly recommend this!

Fun at Bed, Bath and Beyond

My brother and sister-in-law gave us a $50.00 gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond.  I'd actually put a stainless steel sifter on our holiday wish list, but they wanted us to have fun getting even more fun stuff.

Today, we finally went and roamed around the store to use the card.  It was loads of fun!  Here's what we got from left to right.

Plastic scraper:  It cost only $1.19.  I already have a couple that I bought for a dollar on the mainland, but this had that nice little red handle for 19 cents more.  I couldn't resist.  These are really GREAT for getting off burnt on gunk from frying pans.

Bra bag:  Art wasn't excited until I told him that this would prevent the bra hooks from snagging onto his precious t-shirts in the washing machine.

Dish Scrubber:  I thought it would be helpful to have this scrubber to take off gunk from dishes before I stuck it into the dishwasher.

Shout Travel Packets:  Have you ever used Shout?  They really do work.  I remember being at a party a long, long time ago and someone dropped a bit of juice on the carpet.  I whipped out my Shout wipes and it cleaned it up.  I've also given them out to people on trips when they stained their clothing.  Funny thing is... I've never used it on myself.  Then again, who knows?  Maybe I will on another trip.

Motion Detector Night Light:  I hope this works well.  One of our motion detector night lights fizzled out  on us, but the other one is still working.  We want to put a better light in my mother's bedroom so she can see everything clearly when she gets up to go to the bathroom or whatever at night.  I like it because it only goes off in low-light and when it detects motion.

The best thing about all this is that we've only spent half of the gift card.  We can do this again on another day!  Thank you, Nancy and Dennis!

Naming Our Children

A while ago, Wil of Reader Wil wrote a post about how different cultures name their children.  My mother has always told me how she wasn't exactly thrilled about how I was named.  Apparently, while she was unconscious after giving birth to me two months prematurely, my father's family took it upon themselves to name me without consulting her.  She was only 19 with no family of her own here in Hawaii. 

Mom says my Aunt Sally thought Kay would be good because it was short since my last name was so long.  She said it was a beautiful name because it was a diminutive of Katherine.  My guess is they were probably thinking Katherine Hepburn.  Since Aunt Sally is supposed to be the brains in the family, I think they all figured she must be right.

I was unhappy with my name when I was young because you couldn't do anything cute with it.  For a while there, some friends were turning it around and calling me "Yak."  OK... maybe I talked too much.

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Art's sister's name was Kay too.  I thought that was great even though people called her Kay Ann.  I still don't know why.

When our children were born,  I was determined that they would have longer names to play with.  Art and I struggled with choosing a name that would embody characteristics that would make our children happy.  We were really enchanted with Tiffany glass in the 70's.  We loved all the gorgeous colors and Art was attempting to make his own Tiffany lamp.  He never did finish that project, but we named our daughter after the beautiful glass.

I wonder if that's why Tif had an affection for the store of that name.  For their wedding cake (as a joke), you'll notice the cake was in the shape of Tiffany boxes.  I always shorten Tiffany's name to Tif because I don't like the fact that Tiff means a little fight.  Tif never likes to fight.  She is usually a conciliator.

Art and Jon at the top of Kilimanjaro

We named Jonathan after Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  When we told him that we named him after the bird, he was not thrilled.  However, when I read the story to him, he was very pleased.  He's been living up to his name also, striving to stretch his wings as far as they will take him.  Frankly, it drives me crazy.  He's broken both his arms as a child and gone everywhere around the world.  I would like him to stay put in one place and lead a "normal" life.

Sigh....

I guess  you can name your children, but you can't control them.

Oh, and about my name... now that I've met other bloggers named Kay, I rather like it!

More Rust Solutions

Rust can be so annoying!

When we were working on our doors, we noticed that the bathroom door hinges had started to rust!  Sheesh!  I'm sure it's because we have the most humidity there.  We hated to paint the hinges because then it'd be hard to take it off.  Then again, do we ever plan to take the door off again?  OK... probably not.

However, we wondered if they had stainless steel hinges.  Art checked out Home Depot.  Nope.  None there.

Then he went to City Mill.  Yes!  They did.  However, they cost $19.95 for a pair and we needed three pairs for the door.

On the way home from the hospital (yes, more tests) we stopped by at Hardware Hawaii.  They had it!  Happy days!  It also cost about $5.00 less a pair than City Mill.

We love City Mill because they tend to have those little odd and end pieces you need that Home Depot or Lowes doesn't.  City Mill also has the most helpful workers who know their stuff.  However, they tend to be a bit more expensive.  It's always a good idea to check out Hardware Hawaii if you have the time or inclination.

We're wondering now if we should paint the other hinges with Rustoleum paint before we put it up because we sure don't want to pay $14.99 per stainless steel pair for the rest of the doors.

On goes our battle against rust in Paradise.