Goodbye little buddy!

I never wanted any cats! I made myself very clear . . . I thought. On Camille's 3rd birthday we got a little black cat - the runt of the litter. Fine, I gave in. I was out-numbered! Then on her 7th birthday she fell in love with this cream colored fluff ball (pictured above). Though I protested and said how I really didn't want anymore cats, I was out-numbered once again. Camille couldn't live without the little fluff ball and Scott, the ol' softy, couldn't either! All I could do was grumble my protests which fell on deaf ears.

I'm not a totally stone-hearted meany. I think kittens are adorable. However, I can keep in perspective the fact that they grow into cats which then claw your furniture to shreds!!

Well, for those unfamiliar with the ways of cats, THEY tend to choose who they like most, and who they will sleep next to at night! Wouldn't you know it, the little fur ball plopped himself right between Scott and I on the very first night and that was that!! No matter how many times I threw him off in the middle of the night . . . he just came back. He was a momma's boy!

When we were naming him, manly names didn't fit because he was so "pretty" and always mistaken for a girl. I'm not sure how we settled on 'Branford' but it had just enough sissyness to it. . . not that it really mattered, we had so many nicknames for him, he was probably confused.

Much to my surprise, when we found out our little buddy had been killed (by a horrid pitbull . . . don't even get me started!), I was quite heart-broken. Usually when a pet dies (referring to when we said goodbye to hamsters), it's a sad moment but not heartbreaking . . . at least not to me. Camille's another story - she really loves animals.

However, when Scott made the discovery my heart sank. We were all so shocked and completely heart-broken. We had Branford for 12 years!! He was referred to as Camille's little brother since she had no siblings. He was constant entertainment and always had something to say.

In the picture above, he is in a suitcase. He always hopped in our suitcases when we were packing to go somewhere, hoping we wouldn't leave him behind. Not that he enjoyed traveling . . . he absolutely hated it! When we moved from Vermont to Utah - I don't think he stopped complaining from Essex to Palmyra, New York. At that point we stopped to see Scott's parents who were on a mission at the time. When Branford came into the house he was so frustrated he didn't know whether to hiss or purr. It was really funny to watch!

We teased Branford about being a Boston Red Sox fan because he always seemed to complain when the Yankees won.

Most of his days were spent sleeping in the funniest positions. Lying completely on his back like an otter . . . draped over the arm of the sofa with all for legs hanging down, or inside a cubby hole or a drawer that was left open. Apparently he needed lots of energy for his nightly capers. Once he knew everyone was in bed, he would call out Astoria and they would run races and tackle and get into mischief. Then when the romping around was done, he'd jump into bed with us and talk very loudly telling us all about it. Either that or he would purr so loudly it sounded like his purr box needed to be oiled!!

**sigh**

I can tell you this much, I will NOT miss fur everywhere, his cat food all over the floor, being woken up by his loud purr or having to block out all the lower level windows at night so that he doesn't fight the neighborhood prowling cat through the window.

I WILL miss his cuddly soft fur, his very lengthy conversations and finding him sleeping in the oddest places and positions. You are truly missed!

(We did tell you that curiosity kills the cat but you didn't listen!)

1 less organ - 4 new scars!

About a year ago I was awakened from sleep with a terrible pain right through my core. It felt like that sharp pain you might feel when you have food poisoning, but before the nasea sets in. It lasted for several hours. Then it was gone for several days or weeks . . . I don't really know.

It returned again a few times throughout the year. Each time during the middle of the night for the most part. Painful and frightening. My mind couldn't help but go to the worst case scenario . . . cancer! The other thought was maybe an ulcer. I googled ulcers and my symptoms were spot on. I thought for sure that's what it was.

I finally gathered my courage and went to the doctor. She immediately had me scheduled for an abdominal ultrasound. A day or so later she called me with the results . . . "you have a gall stone! We're going to take it out."

I didn't expect that answer, however . . . it made sense. My mom had her gall bladder removed, my sister had hers removed. But I couldn't help but feel guilty about eating all the wrong things that caused the problem in the first place!

Anyhoo . . . I had my surgery on August 6th. Everthing went well. I was somewhat surprised that I had to stay overnight in the hospital though. I was under the impression that it was an out-patient surgery. In fact, I had heard that term a few times. Then when they called to schedule the time of the surgery I was informed that I would be staying over night.

I guess it's a good thing. If anything were to go wrong post-op, then you're in the right place.

I think I was an exemplary patient. I was up and walking around that night - though it wasn't very fun to do so. I just had a fear of blood clots and didn't want that to happen. I actually walked around for nearly a half hour . . . at a snail's pace. I did the same the following morning.

Did you know that they fill you full of air when they do laporoscopic surgeries? They need to in order to have room to work. Because of that, you end up with air inside your body that needs to escape . . . that translates into 'gas'. EWW! It's pretty painful after that kind of surgery too. That's another reason I kept walking . . . it's supposed to help move things along if you get my drift.

My right shoulder was a little sore afterwards too. Scott says they probably had my arm strapped above my head to keep it out of the way. And my throat was quite sore and dry the next day. Who knows how many things were shoved down my throat! In fact, to this day, 10 days later I have a sore spot that hasn't improved yet. I'm not sure what the deal is. I hope it gets better soon.

Upon checking out of the hospital I learned that I would get an automatic 10 day vacation! Yee haw! Still, it was unknown to me before hand. I was still thinking 'out-patient surgery' recover over weekend, back to work on Monday! BAH HA HA . . . yeah, right! I was very glad to be at home. I was loopy on pain killers all week.

There was a point during my recovery that I was certain they had left a very sharp instrument inside me when this very sharp pain stabbed me from inside my right-lower rib cage. I was really worried. It happened on a day that I was being brave, or stupid, and didn't take my pain killers on their regular schedule. Silly me! Apparently it was normal and I wasn't dying and there were no instruments sown up inside me. It was just the effects of my insides getting back to normal after the trauma they endured.

Now I'm back to the daily grind of my office work. I'm still a little sore around the incisions, but I'm healing quickly. I'm eagerly looking forward to the 3 week mark when I can return to exercise. I'll be starting from square 1 once again!

Laparouse Bay Hike from a bad phone camera!

Saturday we were wondering what we wanted to do for the day.
On the one hand, we need to do laundry, clean house and possibly pull some weeds.
The car could use a good vacuuming . . .

Or there's the beach!

Well? What would you choose?
That's what I thought, the beach it was!

I had a friend post on Facebook that she would be at La Perouse Bay. Even though I didn't know the name of this place, it was a spot I had been wanting to check out.

On the south side of Maui, if you head East, you will pass Kihei, Wailea and Makena. You'll pass Big Beach, and keep going . . . drive until you literally cannot drive any further. Drive until you reach a big field of rocks, otherwise known as a lava flow. It's here that you will find a small parking lot. Careful not to puncture a tire!

We saw our friend's car in the parking lot. We thought we might be in luck. Hopefully we could find her. The plan was to find a small little hidden beach to relax and possibly get a little snorkeling in.

From the parking lot it's kind of difficult to even see that there is a trail that leads anywhere. In fact, the first few times we drove out there, we didn't know there was a trail. We just thought it was a bunch of lava rocks as far as the eye could see in that direction.
But recently, we went out there with some visitors and noticed the trail. We followed for a short ways, but our visitors weren't up for a good hike. So we didn't go very far.

That's why we decided to check it out this time around. We knew there was more to see.

So . . . in anticipation of actually finding a beach down this trail, we each had our beach towels, Scott had the one set of snorkel gear he strapped to his back. Camille was carrying her towel and a big bottle of water. And I was the lucky one that got to carry the beach bag with my towel, big bottle of water and a few snacks, bottles of sunscreen, sand, etc.

The three of us, decked out with our local style slippahs (flip-flops for you main landers) headed out. My slippahs were kinda thin compared to theirs. At the very beginning of our hike I had stepped on a pointed rock and bruised my foot pretty good. In my head I'm thinking "I hope it's not a small fracture" that's how much it hurt at first. But I could still walk on it.

Before long we came to the point where we had been to previously. There is a nice little cave carved out by the waves where the water likes to splash up when the waves crash. Unfortunately, we had forgotten our actual camera, so the very few pictures in this post were taken with my phone. Not the best quality.
Shortly after that is an area where you can actually get into the water to snorkel, but it's still rocky. We didn't see our friend anywhere so we kept walking.
Scott had looked online (Google Earth or something) and had thought there was a pretty big beach past the second big outcropping of lava. So I got it into my head that there would be this beautiful sandy beach hidden just around the next bend.

We hiked through some nice shade of Keawe trees where we saw
some black goats roaming around.
I know, weird right? (see bottom photo below)

We eventually passed the nice shade trees and was left with just rocks. (see above photo!) We actually passed a few locals that had driven there trucks out here. You would definitely need to have a high clearance and probably 4-wheel drive to make it on this trail/road.

The only thing I could think of these locals was what they must be thinking of these stupid "haoles" trying to hike this trail in "slippahs"! In fact one of them (whom we passed at least 3 times because he stopped and chatted with the other locals that had driven 2 or 3 times), once he finally stopped and parked his truck said, "You need tennis shoes, these rocks are gnarly!"
I just agreed and kept on going.
I hate looking like a dumb tourist, but I really fit the bill this time around!
I bet they had a good chuckle about me later!

By now my feet are seriously bruised and sore from having too little cushion and support to traverse such harsh conditions. Not to mention, I'm really tired of carrying this beach bag. I was lagging behind because I had to be very careful where I stepped. Just look at this picture below of my "hiking shoes"! You can get an idea of the harsh rocks we were walking on for what I think is close to 3 miles!

We actually hiked all the way to the light beacon at the end of the trail (well Scott and Camille went all the way, I stayed back about a hundred yards because my feet were hurting so much). Now we had to hike ALL THE WAY BACK! OI!

Thankfully, the hike back didn't seem as long. Once we got back to the only sandy entrance to the water, gladly stripped down to our swimming suits and got in.
This little spot of beach was about as big as a small bedroom. We couldn't go too far in the water because of more rocks and coral in the way. Not to mention the water had become rough and there was quite an undertow because of the way the rocks were.
We were happy to at least get wet up to our waste. It felt really good on the feet!
Scott played a little in the waves, but like I said, not much room to do anything exciting.

By this time it had been at least an hour of walking on extreme rocky roughness in inadequate shoes and we were very hungry for lunch!

We headed back to the car and out to lunch. We drove straight to Cheeseburger Island Style!
(nom, nom,nom,nom)
Can you see the goat in the picture above, right next to the water? We saw quite a few goats wandering around. They were all black goats.

We never did find our friend. She said they had left around 11 am. She got in some good snorkeling. We didn't!

Even though I thoroughly bruised my feet, was totally embarrassed at what the locals were thinking of us, and didn't really get the relaxing beach time I was hoping for nor any snorkeling, I'm still very happy we did this hike. We had a good time.
Serious nap time was needed when we got home!

I'm a quilter . . . of the Hawaiian variety!

(image from Google, no I did not do this quilt~I wish!)

I consider myself an avid quilter. I've completed a handful of pieced-block quilts and even hand quilted a few of them. I have several quilting projects in the works at this very moment. However, when we moved here to Hawaii, I vowed that I would never attempt a Hawaiian Quilt. Are you kidding me? Have you seen the rows upon rows of quilting that fill the entire quilt? Not to mention that they are very intricate patterns that are 'appliqued'. I'm capable of applique, I just choose to not do it (more hand stitching!).



Well . . .



At church we have interest groups that get together for various things . . . cooking, baking, book groups and of course quilting. When I heard that they were going to teach traditional Hawaiian quilting . . . I JUMPED AT THE CHANCE! What? Why would I pass up the opportunity to learn from actual Hawaiian quilters? I'd be crazy to pass it up.



I know I said I'd NEVER do a Hawaiian Quilt . . . what do I know?



This is my block below. It's the "coconut" pattern. I'd never seen the "coconut" pattern before, and I LOVE me some coconuts! I bought my kit at the Polynesian Cultural Center on one of our visits to Oahu just before our quilting get-together. I'm pretty sure I'm the teacher's pet! ;-)




(my block is about 18x18 inches)

The woman that is teaching us is "Auntie Kuhiki". She's missing most of her teeth, but I adore her. She's a sweet heart and a crack up! And she's been working on her Hawaiian quilt for about 35 YEARS! Ummm . . . yeah~



Last night as we were quilting on her big quilt (the one that's been needing to be finished for 35 YEARS), she and her son (who is always sweet enough to help his mama set up her quilt and then sit there while we gab and quilt), were talking about their awesome family reunions. They sounded like so much fun that I decided to adopt myself into their family! I wonder if they'd take me in?

(this image is from Google, this is not Auntie Kuhiki)

If this is heaven, count me in!

We had the most wonderful weekend. First of all, I had Friday off - hurray for vacation days! It was nice to sleep in a little, workout when I felt like it and not because the alarm went off at 5:15!

We went to the airport around 11 am, went to the Go/Mokulele counter to check in and were told that we had to go to the Commuter terminal. I had no idea where that was. Luckily Scott did. Unfortunately, it was a long walk in brand new dress shoes - - - BLISTERS!! Ouchiewawa. I totally thought these shoes would be way more comfy for walking around in since they had a lot of room in the toe area. However, when you wear dress shoes with no nylons, then walk all over the airport, well - you get the picture.

But I digress, this is not what this blog post is all about. It's about having the priviledge of being present in the temple and sharing in experiences with dear friends that have become like family to us.

This is the Watson family!I adore them!

I first saw the Watsons sitting in front of us at church in the Pukalani Ward. I was mesmorized by their beauty, I thought each one of them was stunning/handsome. But that is not why I adore them.

Each week as I saw them in church, I was in awe of their closeness. There are 8 in their family. They fill up a bench . . . tightly. But rather than spread out, take up part of another bench, they CHOOSE to sit close to each other. They have no problem with being squished together. They didn't push and shove and complain. They were happy and smiling and affectionate. Such a wonderful example of how a family should treat each other.

The boy on the right in the white shirt (below). . . I call him my Continental brother! Yup, he was a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. Once I learned that, I had to share that I, too, had worked for Continental and how much I missed the perks!

We were instant friends.

On Friday, he went through the temple for the first time. I am so honored that I was able to be there for that joyous occasion. But it gets even better! Their parents had their youngest 4 children sealed to them following that temple session.

Words cannot express the love that was felt in that room! And that's not all!

See these two below? They, too, went through for the first time and were sealed in that same sealing session. They, too, had their 2 children sealed to them.

They are also part of our Pukalani Ward Ohana! Here they are with their adorable boys.

This gives you an idea of the true personalities of the 2 cute boys! They are quite active!The Watson children: Jayron and Jesse, (the two older boys), Amber, Ashley, Angie and Jevin.
The picture below is all of us hanging out in the parking lot of the temple, basking in our love of one another, not wanting the moments to end.

Afterwards we were treated to a potluck dinner at the Stake Center by friends and family of people that weren't even there. Unbelievably onolicious food! What an amazing weekend!

If this is what heaven is like . . . Count me in!

Weird Day!

Yesterday was a weird day. Not the entire day really, just maybe a few hours of it.

First, around midday, I noticed that when I typed on my computer, the words were typing in backwards! I went to Google something, and as I typed the word it was happening in backwards order. For example: Maui Acedamy of Performing Arts had to be typed in this order - stra gnimrofrep fo ymadeca iuam! And then it would be in the right order! Or, typing like I normally do would produce that backwards phrase there. I realized it was only online that this was happening because I could type normally on my email for work. I tried closing the internet and reopening it. That didn't work. I had to totally log off the computer and back on. That did the trick . . . so weird, right?

Then I inhaled a gnat! Right here in my office as I took a breath . . . I was on the phone with someone at the time. Thankfully I didn't choke to horribly. But still I SWALLOWED A BUG!!

This whole gnat or tiny black flies or whatever the <bleep> they are, is driving me bonkers! Here's the deal, for the past few weeks I've had these annoying little flies. They're about the size of a gnat and look like them too, but it's not a swarm of them like you might walk into during the summer outside. They only come one or two at a time - but CONSTANTLY! I'm not kidding! When I kill one, another is instantly there. Then I kill that one and another is instantly there. Sometimes I can see 2, but usually just one. But the instant I kill one - there's another one. I can't figure out where they're coming from. They aren't in my garbage - besides I've taken that out already. They must be coming through the wonderful louvred windows I have in my office. Not much I can do about that. But seriously? GO AWAY!!

Shortly after swallowing a bug I went to put hand sanitizer on my hands and the junk squirted straight out and landed on my boob! LOVELY! Thank goodness I'm the only person in my office and that it didn't leave a mark. At least I couldn't really tell if it left a mark - it was kinda out of my line of sight if you get my drift! ;)

Anywho - I'm hungry now, time for lunch!

Sirens at 6 AM!

I had big plans for Saturday! I've been working on a Girl Scout event for weeks! Not to mention all the drama (that I won't go into) that surrounded putting on this event. It's a traditional Girl Scout "holiday" if you will, that not only celebrates the birthdays of Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement, and his wife Olave, who served as Cheif World Guide (the beginning of the Girl Scout Movement), but also is a day that Girl Guides and Girl Scouts around the globe can think of their 'sisterhood'. I'm referring to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) that is presently in 145 countries. Way back at the 4th International meeting of WAGGGS they decided it would be good to have a day set aside for this occasion and they chose February 22nd since it's the birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell. Our event was the 27th since that was the following Saturday. For the event, each troop chooses a country and creates a display, prepares a food to share, and has a craft or song or dance to share as well.

I was pretty nervous since I'm not fond of being "in charge" of anything really. I'm more of a worker bee - a drone if you will. Tell me what to do and I do it. Putting me in charge of something is a different story altogether. It's definitely out of my comfort zone! Nonetheless - I've risen to the occasion and thought I did a pretty good job. I did help that a lot of the planning was done already, I was just stepping in and continuing where they'd left off (hint at the drama). So by Friday night, after I'd packed my car with the programs, fake passports, paper goods, etc., gone to Costco and picked up the 2 LARGE cakes (they feed 48 people each), 2 veggie platters, boxes of crackers and dips to dip them in, I was feeling pretty good about things and ready to jump up and go on Saturday morning.

Thinking I had everything prepared, I tried to relax Friday night. Around 10pm just before going to bed, we flipped to the news (we don't always do this) and saw the horrible news about the devastating earthquake in Chile. Then they mentioned a tsunami 'advisory'. Just so you can have the right visual in your head, the Community Center we were going to hold this event at is in Paia, a coastal town (note the map below). And the Community Center itself is right on Hana Highway - facing the beautiful ocean!


So you can imagine what's going through my head right after hearing "tsunami advisory"! I'm thinking, "I don't want to be anywhere near that place." Then of course the thoughts inside my head were all jumbled up, worried thoughts like "should I cancel?", "what will Council want me to do", (visions of a huge wave killing us all) (yikes, get that thought outta there . . .) Well, you get the idea.

I didn't sleep too well that night. I was pretty much awake when our alarm started going off at 5:30 am. But it wasn't the usual cheerful Alakai (that's the radio announcer's name). She had another guy with her and they were talking about the tsunami WARNING! That's right people, the advisory was upgraded to a warning! Holy kamoli . . . oh boy. I am definitely cancelling! Thankfully, my Girl Scout guru (that's what I call her), Tricia, from Kauai called me and TOLD me to cancel it. WHEW . . . that took the pressure of 'choosing' to do so off my shoulders. Now all I needed to do was call everyone else. You know, when you're up and awake and the adrenaline is pumping you kinda forget that it's 6 am on a Saturday morning. The first troop leader I called sounded like a man . . . I thought it was her husband (oops, my bad!). Most other people were up already. Apparently some stores opened super early for people, and Costco let the general public in during the early hours that are usually for just business owners. Everyone was trying to stalk up on food, water and toilet paper. You know what? We were PREPARED! Yup, that's right, we didn't have to do anything but glue ourselves to the t.v. We did fill our guest bathtub up with water as a precaution, in case we needed water for flushing toilets or something. But other than that - we could sit back and 'enjoy' if you will, the madness of everyone else running around getting stuck in lines for hours. I don't know about you, but when a wall of impending doom is headed your way, would you want to be stuck in a line somewhere? Me neither!

I was told to get a video of the water when it came, but actually, we are too far away to get a good view. We can SEE the ocean, but we couldn't see any difference from our viewpoint. What Scott and I watched for about 6 hours straight was the news that had a camera posted over Hilo Bay, where the first of it would hit. Click the link below to watch what we watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI4NwahF5wI