Bathroom Renovation: Day 1 (Demolition)

Mom is getting more and more forgetful these days, but we're fortunate in that she is cheerful and mobile at almost 95 years of age.

We've been told that as she ages, taking a bath and using the toilet could become more and more hazardous. ALSO, the care home prices here in Hawaii are so astronomical that modifying your home is often much more economical and a happier option for a person to have.

Sooo... we bit the bullet and commenced with the planning and execution of the bathroom renovation project. We started last year but because of our travel schedule and the contractor schedule it did not start until early June.

We decided to do both bathrooms because mom will need to use one while the other was being worked on. 

The tiny guest bathroom would be done first. This shower with its high entrance is rather dangerous for an older person to climb over.

The demolition crew came it first.

However, as they banged away at removing that shower stall they inadvertently cracked the wood in the hallway. This is single wall construction so you have to be very careful. If you pound a nail in the wall it WILL come out on the other side. 😕

Luckily, Art had saved redwood panels when we did the renovation for the house in 2006 in preparation to return to the islands to care for my mom. The contractor says they can repair it. I HOPE so.

And this is how it looked on the first day.

Yes, it's true that I get stressed easily and looking all this was unnerving.

So this was Day 1.

POSTSCRIPT:

Aggravation: The contractor called to say he didn't realize he was supposed to buy the Toto toilets and bidets and that he'd have had to raise the price we'd agreed on earlier by 20% if he'd realized it. 😲

Uummm... It WAS written in the contract. 

Whatever the case, Art and I made a quick trip to Costco and picked up the bidet seat. We ordered the toilet on Costco's website which would be delivered to the house. We were seriously disturbed and hoped nothing else was forgotten.

Two Days Too Early

The morning after our return to Hawaii, we got a call from Tiffany saying, "Mom and Dad, you left two days too early!"

It seems the warmer Chicago weather finally convinced a multitude of cicadas to emerge from the ground, leave their exoskeletons behind and begin their month of mating. 

I really don't think there was this many cicadas in our yard 17 years ago.

Wow! 

I asked KC if she would put one on her leg like we did 17 years ago when she was almost a year old so I could add it to my album.

Ummm... looks like it's a no. 😂

POSTSCRIPT:

My daughter just sent this photo she took at the bakery yesterday. You have to click on the photo to make it bigger to see the picture of the cicada on it.

Does this look appetizing to you?

Ending Endless Charity Mail...

When we returned to Hawaii, we saw that we had once again been inundated with Charity mail.

So we once again put a note in the envelope they provided and asked them to take our name off their mailing list.

And we sent them off.

But all this got me thinking.

Even after sending back the envelopes with our request to take our name off their mailing lists, we still seemed to be getting mail from the same charities.

It occurred to me that I should look online at these various charities and see if I could ask to opt out of their mailings.

And yes I found I could (with some of them).

I got this response from Feed the Children:

"Dear Arthur & Kay,

Thank you for contacting Feed the Children. The request to remove your name from our mailing list has been completed effective 04/19/2024. Please keep in mind, due to preprinted mail, it may take 10 weeks to complete. If we can be of any further assistance, feel free to e-mail us at Info@Feedthechildren.org or give us a call at 1-800-627-4556, Monday – Friday 8 AM to 6 PM.

Thank you for past partnership,

Paty"

This was great!

And I got this from Doctors Without Borders:

 "Dear Arthur and Kay,

Thank you for contacting Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and for your support of our work
 
Per your request, we have removed your name and address from all future mailings lists. As our outbound communications are initiated well in advance of their delivery date, we do ask that you allow 4-6 weeks for this update to take effect. Thank you for your understanding.
 
We recently launched a Donor Portal, where you will be able to view past donations, download and print receipts, and update your contact information and preferences. If you are making a recurring gift, you will also be able to update your payment details, as well as cancel, suspend or change the amount of your pledge.
 
To access your account online, please feel free to log in to our Donor Portal at:
 
https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/user
 
If you are setting up your account for the first time, please use the email address you provided when you initially made your donation. If you are unsure of which email address to use, please contact Donor Services at (888) 392-0392, seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET, or by email at: donations@newyork.msf.org
 
Thank you again for your support. If you require any additional assistance, please let us know.
 
Best wishes,
 
Marissa
Donor Services"

I'm very pleased.  So then I went down the line and started opting out of mailings from as many organizations as I could. I really want them to spend their charity donations on their important causes rather than wasting it on us and just causing more garbage for our landfills. It's quite interesting that I could not opt out of UNICEF who keeps sending bags and other things we don't need and end up throwing away. It's so wasteful!

Saying Goodbye to Loved Ones and the Sacrifice of the Rose

It's always awfully sad to say goodbye. And this was no different. Tif drove us to O'Hare Airport.

Believe it or not, the United flight left on time and arrived in Hawaii 10 minutes early! 

I watched 3 movies: The Beekeeper was very violent but Art said I'd probably enjoy it. Yup it was satisfying since the hero is after scammers who target seniors.

I didn't expect much with 27 Dresses, but I rather enjoyed that too.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was OK. 

They all helped to pass the time.

Back in Hawaii. Here's Art enjoying the Star Advertiser newspaper on his early Father's Day tablet from Ed, Tif and KC.

And then the happy surprise for my blog.

KC sent a video of the liquid nitrogen experiment in her chemistry class.  KC had asked a friend to video record the fun.

I could hear her teacher saying, "Let's do KC's grandma's rose first."

Here's the rose being swirled into the liquid nitrogen and then coming out totally frozen.

The teacher had KC wear a glove before crushing the rose.

And so... after living a life of beauty for a week and a half, the beautiful rose gave its life to science. And since the rose was given to me by my teacher friend, how appropriate that the rose was furthering the pursuit of education.

Thus our trip to Illinois ended with memories to sustain us until we can be together again.

Olive Garden, Cicadas and My Rose

May 22nd, Wednesday was our last full day in Illinois.

"Hey," said Tif. "We didn't do our traditional Endless Soup, Salad and Breadsticks luncheon!" 

I'd forgotten about that. In the past, Art would go and meet with his EPA buddies and Tif and I would go to the Olive Garden and have their Endless Soup, Salad and Breadsticks meal.

Sadly Art's friends have passed away, so we decided to go and enjoy our last lunch together. And it was great. The fun thing about this day was that everywhere we went servers and workers would spend time chatting happily with us. This happens a lot in Hawaii, but not as much in Chicago. 

Here at Olive Garden, the hostess spent a lot of time talking with us when she noticed that Tif was left handed and therefore had to sit on my left side. She has a teenage son who is also left handed. And she was all smiles and waving at us when we left. 

When we stopped at a supermarket after that, the attendant at the self checkout noticed we were buying a tin of anchovies and regaled us with what she likes to do with them. 

The next stop was at a candy shop where we were purchasing something to thank our friend, Dave for driving us to and from the airport. The attendant there was also very friendly, telling us about the chocolate fountain that is used to pour chocolate syrup over their gelato. 

It made our last day in Illinois a happy one.

On the way home we saw that people had wrapped their young trees with netting to prevent cicadas from making slits in the branches to lay their eggs. 

The eggs hatch in 6 to 7 weeks and the nymphs fall to the ground and into the soil. They then spend their long cycle feeding off sap from the tree roots and emerging when the time is right to spend about a month above ground to mate and start the cycle all over again. 

And yes... more rabbits.

Later that evening, KC said her chemistry teacher was going to do an experiment with liquid nitrogen. This was KC's last week of school.

I told KC it would be a fun thing if she brought my week-and-a-half rose in to dip in the liquid nitrogen.

"But if you do," I said. "Would you take a photo of it for my blog?"

KC smiled.

Chicago Botanic Garden

It was now Monday, May 20th.

Our friends, Daisy and Alan said they would pick us up to go to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Daisy had taught Spanish to our son, daughter AND granddaughter.

The last time we went there was with Tif and KC in 2015 to see the Corpse Plant. 

And now here we were again. We've always loved the Chicago Botanic Garden.

We had a leisurely lunch and caught up with our lives. 

But then it began to rain. 

We waited a while for the clouds to pass and then was able to enjoy a leisurely walk for about an hour.

Back indoors, there were some bonsai on display. This azalea bonsai was absolutely stunning.

It had been a wonderful day.

And that night, I took this photo of my maturing rose.

After a week, the petals were unfurling a bit more and the color was fading a bit.

Our time in Illinois was coming to a close.

The Big Show for Cicadas and KC

It was Sunday, May 19th! KC left early in the morning for the theater. Apparently there were 5 shows at different ability levels. KC would be in the 1st and last numbers of each show and in 6 numbers during the last show.

Since our show was at 6:00 PM, we decided to go to the woods to see if we could find more cicadas there.

Ummm.... not many. The weather was still not quite warm enough for the cicadas to emerge from the ground.

However, we found several near the asphalt bike/walking path. I think the warmth of the roadway was encouraging the cicadas to check out life above ground.

I then remembered how we had a lot of cicadas at our school in 2007. Our school custodian was kept busy sweeping them out of the basement. So that's where we went next.

And sure enough! There they were. The warm sun had encouraged a lot of the cicadas to emerge from the ground and molt out of their exoskeletons. 

It was then time to go home and get ready for KC's big night. 

And yes, it was truly worth traveling to Illinois to see her dance. 

When I first saw her sweep confidently and gracefully on stage I was spellbound. I had to fight tears as I watched every beautiful movement. 

It was fun to give KC the leis I'd made her. I wasn't the only one giving leis though. There was another family of friends from Hawaii with leis and other friends there who added to KC's fun.

A family friend had given KC these colorful dyed roses so I had to take a photo of it.

And yes, it was a wonderful, truly spectacular evening!

Asparagus, Cicadas and the Rose

Friday, May 17th, Ed made jajangmyeon for us. Didn't I tell you he's a wonderful son-in-law and a great cook?  (I got this explanation for jajangmyeon from Wikipedia.)

Jajangmyeon or jjajangmyeon is a Korean Chinese noodle dish topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang, diced pork and vegetables. It originated in Incheon, Korea where Chinese migrant workers brought over zhajiangmian from Shandong in the late 19th century.

And yes, it was absolutely wonderful. Ed has introduced us to so many Korean dishes that we've come to love.

It was Saturday, May 18th. Tif wanted to go to the Farmer's Market and we were happy to go along.

When we were at our friend's home three days before, Terry had served prosciutto wrapped asparagus. It was absolute heaven!!! I could have eaten the whole tray. Therefore, when we saw this array of asparagus, we had to buy some. We then stopped at Whole Foods to pick up prosciutto. 

Rolling the asparagus in prosciutto took quite a bit of time. 

We then baked it and it was delicious, but not quite as perfectly crispy as what Terry served. 

This will take more trial and errors, I think. 

Sunday was going to be KC's dance performance. Tiffany showed us the many costumes KC would be wearing. KC was only 14 years old when we last saw her dance in person. We were looking forward to seeing her now at the Performing Arts Center.

Meanwhile... friends in Hawaii were curious about the 17 year cicada that was supposed to make its appearance in Illinois along with the 13 year. 

So far, we'd only seen this one cicada when a young boy who lived down the street came running over to show us what he'd found that day. 

It was the first red-eyed cicada we'd seen. The cold weather we'd been having was inhibiting their appearance. 

And then... my good friend and classmate, Yvonne from elementary and high school days who happened to be in the area texted this photo to me.

Gracious! I've never seen one like this!

It's possible it's newly molted. But gee... really?

OK... And here's the rose after 7 days. Tried a different angle. I couldn't believe how beautiful it still looked!

This was Saturday. Sunday was to be KC's Big Show! 

Friends for a Lifetime

Tuesday, May 14th was a busy day. 

Tif's family likes corned beef hash patties.

However, they are a pain in the butt to prepare and you need a chunk of time to make it. I sauté chopped onions in butter and add them to mashed potatoes and a can of corned beef. Then I have to flour the patties, dip them in egg and then corn meal before frying. It took me almost three hours to do it and then I froze them so they could have it after we leave.

Ed introduced us to Jackson's Sweet Potato Chips which they buy at Costco. We figured they didn't have it here in Hawaii. Would you believe we brought home three big bags of these sweet potato chips? 😂

We were planning to visit with some special friends the following day. Jim has been having chemo therapy and was immunocompromised so we made sure to take a COVID test twice before visiting with them the following day.

Wednesday, May 15th: 

It was wonderful to see these special friends again. We hadn't seen them since before the pandemic. 

Art had met them in 1974 when he worked at EPA in Chicago and they became our lifelong friends.

Since we all had January wedding anniversaries, it became tradition for us to go to a restaurant and then see a movie together.

Later, we ended up taking turns hosting each other to an anniversary dinner at each other's homes. We'd celebrated our anniversaries together for almost 30 years until we left for Hawaii!

These two special couples attended so many of our kids' activities, helped us with the renovation of our Illinois home and supported us in a million other ways.

Diane brought an anniversary cake for dessert.

It was absolutely amazing to be together again.

And later that night, Art took another photo of my rose on his iPhone using the Portrait feature.

POSTSCRIPT:

Good grief! After all the trouble we went through to bring home those 3 big bags of sweet potato chips.... sigh...

We went to Costco here in Hawaii and saw this. 🙄

We paid $5.89 in Illinois vs. the $5.99 in Hawaii. On the other hand, we have 4.712% tax in Hawaii.

Illinois tax is 12%. 😲

Maybe Tiffany would like to bring some home in her luggage next time they're in Hawaii. 😂

My Teacher Buddies

I had not been able to see my teacher friends for four years. Since 2006 they kindly scheduled a get together whenever I returned to Illinois. However, the last time I was able to meet with them was in 2020 before the pandemic. The wonderful thing about technology is that we are all still able to connect often by texting and email.

A luncheon was confirmed as soon as my arrival date was set.

Gerri made a reservation for us at the Wildfire Restaurant wine room which is very private and cozy.

Once together, it was like I'd never been gone. We were all the same except for more gray hairs on my head and some.... uuuuummm... added wrinkles on my face.

Sally gave each of us a rose. Other teachers brought treats to share.

One of the servers kindly took this group photo for us. 

I had fun later using my iPhone to place us in front of the Bean in Chicago and even at Hanauma Bay here on Oahu.

They all enjoyed seeing these photos.

And then I was able to use Photoshop to place us in front of our school along with two friends who weren't able to join us.

Later that evening I decided to use a dark dress behind the rose to take this photo. I liked the photo so much, I decided to do a sequence on the Life of the Rose. I was surprised at how long that rose maintained its beauty.

You know... like the rose, the friendship of this group of teachers truly did endure the test of time.

Mother's Day in Illinois and Hawaii

It was Mother's Day and Tif, Ed and KC wanted to make it special for me.

However, Art wanted to do something special for Tiffany also so he worked in the garden with her clearing out her raised bed and planting lettuce and herbs in it. 

They both worked around the yard pruning and clearing weeds for spring planting.

Ed grilled some New York strip steaks and I received these wonderful slip-on sneakers and long pants to wear on trips. I had no idea Skechers made these. I love it! 

They also gave Art an early Father's Day gift of a Samsung tablet on which to read his newspaper since we'd be going to the digital version of the Star Advertiser.

We hadn't eaten steak in a long time because mom needs soft foods. 

Tif prepared stir fried spinach and air fried brussels sprouts. It was fabulous!

The steak with two kinds of dips they made was just amazing!

And to top it off.

Oh my gosh!

I hadn't had Cheesecake Factory's Linda's fudge cake in such a long, long time. Ed had gone out special just so I could have it.

I do have the BEST son-in-law ever!

And back in Hawaii, my brother and sister-in-law, Nancy had taken mom, my nephew and his wife out for a special dinner that everyone enjoyed. 

Knowing that mom could have this happy day with my brother and his family made it that much more special for me.

Spring Flowers and Solar Flares

Life is so different in Illinois from Hawaii. I'd missed that ecstatic spring feeling of renewal with flowers bursting forth with colors and scents in Illinois.

There were lilacs blooming everywhere. Absolutely EVERYWHERE! I'm told the scent was wonderful. Unfortunately, since I've lost my sense of smell, I couldn't experience it, but I loved seeing them.

I also loved seeing the Lilies of the Valley in our backyard, too. (It used to be our backyard before Tif and her husband bought it from us.) Tif did say the ground cover of shy flowers were encroaching on their lawn. 😏 I still remember a student bringing me a bunch of them and my smelling them all day at my desk.

And bunnies! There were a LOT of bunnies! Tif doesn't love them because they enjoy dining on her vegetable garden. We had noticed a LOT more bunnies after the West Nile Disease killed a lot of the larger predatory birds like crows. I've read that the crow population is increasing again.

Our son-in-law, Ed and Tiffany made bi bim bop for us. We keep paying a lot to order it in Hawaii, so they wanted to show us that we can make it ourselves more economically if we buy the ingredients at a Korean market. 

Meanwhile, my brother, Dennis told me that a huge solar flare was expected to hit as far south as Chicago. We went out that night but couldn't see anything. There really is too much light pollution in Chicagoland.

However, the following day, granddaughter KC's college friend sent this photo from the beach alongside Lake Michigan. (They took the photo at 2:30 AM!!!)

So the following night, Art and Ed went out on the deck to see if they could get a glimpse of the solar flare.

Nope. Nothing.

However, they did see the International Space Station cruise by which made their night watch worthwhile. 😄

Hawaii to Illinois

Here I am. Back again in Hawaii. It's taken me quite a bit of time to get over the jet lag malaise that hit me on our return. My pilot cousin told me to expect 1 day of recuperation for every hour of time zone separation. It's 5 hours between Hawaii and Illinois. It took a bit more than 5 days to get back to normal. It didn't affect Art much at all.

Anyway, as I said... here I am. I'll be recording our stay on the mainland here just because my memory is failing and this is my way to remember what happened.

Lately, it seems that every time we're about to leave home for a trip... something happens.

Last year, when we were leaving for Tokyo to meet our daughter, son and their families for the first time since the pandemic started, mom fell on her head. 

Thank goodness my brother was able to handle the ER visit and keep us updated.

This time, my brother ended up with double vision and couldn't drive us to the airport. (He and my sister-in-law were taking over mom's care while we were gone.) I planned on Uber, but our wonderful friend, Dave jumped in and volunteered to drive us instead. We did the United on-line check in again which was very convenient and the Bag Drop Shortcut was great too!

It was fun to see Diamond Head from the air. This isn't a view you often see of Diamond Head. I got this information from Wikipedia:

Diamond Head is a volcanic tuff cone on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. It is known to Hawaiians as Lēʻahi, which is most likely derived from lae (browridge, promontory) plus ʻahi (tuna) because the shape of the ridgeline resembles the shape of a tuna's dorsal fin. Its English name was given by British sailors in the 19th century, who named it for the calcite crystals on the adjacent beach.

We left the island of Oahu with clear, sunny skies and very warm temperatures.

And arrived at O'Hare airport (on time 😄) to rain and cold. But it was lovely to be back. The welcoming banner with a photo of the Chicago River made us smile.

Tiffany came to pick us up and take us home through the pouring rain.

One of our dear relatives sent us this photo of the Honolulu Zoo parking lot that was flooded with a sudden downpour a day later. It would rain almost continuously while we were gone!
And me? I was now cold! I'd forgotten how changeable Midwest spring weather can be. Granted Tif was not cold. It took a while for Art and me to get acclimated to the cooler temperatures.
But gosh... It was sure nice to be back again.