T Minus 59: A Milestone

Pictures! I remembered to take pictures while out and about today. More importantly, though, my countdown reached the 50s today. A milestone! I officially have less than 2 months to go until I see the family again. It's still a long time, but 50-something sounds so much better than 60-something.

Clouds roll in over the harbor
late afternoon to cool things off

Today being a no-work day, I decided to go over to the apartment I rented when I first arrived on island and get it ready for the owner's return. I made sure I hadn't left anything behind, cleaned up a bit, put things back where they were the day I moved in, and emptied the trash. It didn't take long at all, but I was drenched by the time I finished. That apartment is located on a property adjacent to the one where I'm at now, a very short walk from here, yet I still needed to change clothes after I got back home. I stood in front of the A/C for a long while to cool off before moving on to other things.

While I sat and watched episodes of Weeds, I thought of ideas for the apartment. The pantry in the kitchen consists only of shelving open to the room. I think perhaps a curtain of some type would be good to cover it up. Maybe a beaded curtain - not the hippie type, but something more crafty-cool of course.

Just inside the entrance to the condo is another open shelving unit where I seem to toss my keys every time I walk in the door - The Hubby will love that idea. I think over there I will do some storage bins, similar to these. I made something like that for my studio in Vegas using 12-pack beer boxes covered in fabric. Once the beer-drinking Hubby gets here, it shouldn't take long to have enough of those to create some bins for these shelves!

Jasmine blooms can be found
everywhere around our new home

I wish I could start on these projects today but I will have to be patient and wait for all my crafty stuff to get here via slow boat from the mainland.

Speaking of slow boats, the boat carrying my mattress seems to have gotten lost. Originally, the shipping tracker online told me the mattress should arrive on Friday. Yesterday, it told me it would be here a day earlier, on Thursday. Today, it tells me it won't be here until next Monday! I might scream. I just want to sleep in a real bed - not too much to ask, right?

Maybe the boat carrying the mattress is the same boat carrying the new dryer my landlord says is on its way...

Back to the beer-drinking Hubby. His beer hobby will be more expensive here. Good beer, such as he drinks, is 50% more expensive than on the mainland. Weirdly, even locally brewed beer costs more locally than it cost on the mainland - Maui Brewing Company brews seem to be about $11 for a sixer here where they were around $7 for a sixer in Vegas . I haven't priced swill like Bud Light yet, but The Hubby might finally have to start brewing his own if he wants to maintain his beer habit!

While I was at the store picking up some beer - Wailua Wheat for $10.49 a sixer - I also picked up some cold fried chicken and some mac salad. Dinner for 2 nights! Foodland has pretty good chicken, too. I wanted some cereal but held off buying some. Milk is super expensive here and I would only use it for the cereal - not really worth it. After wandering around, I found some fresh baked muffins and grabbed 2 - one for breakfast tomorrow and one to eat on the way to work Thursday morning.

The walk home from the store was more pleasant that the walk to the other apartment earlier in the day. A layer of clouds had moved in and cooled things off a bit.

Our rural country-like mailboxes

Passing the mailboxes, which remind me of the mailboxes you might find on a rural country road, I decided to check mine for anything good. Score! The mailman delivered my real Hawaii drivers license today. Too bad he can't deliver my dryer or my mattress.

Finishing up the walk home, I finally figured out what the bushes are that can be found everywhere around our complex. Jasmine! The blooms are huge, the largest Jasmine blooms I've ever seen. I love walking by them - so fragrant.

More Weeds episodes in store for tonight.

Aloha!

T Minus 60 - Taking it slow

Closing one gallery the night before opening another gallery fails to meet my definition of an ideal situation, but I suppose it's not really that bad. Rising and shining around 8:00 this morning, I set my tea to start steeping while I readied myself for work. I poured the tea into my travel mug and headed out for the day.

I still feel less than 100% so I opted for the bus. I stopped on the way to the bus to grab a Sausage McMuffin off the McD's dollar menu to eat while I waited for the bus. I found Amanda at the bus stop, who of course greeted me with a hug, but she mostly wanted to talk about another haole girl she knows who recently returned to her routine after 3 months of maternity leave.  If you know me, you know I just couldn't get into this conversation. I tried, and failed, to be excited about someone having a baby. Just not my thing.

The bus finally saved me from the baby talk and I rode the short way to the Wharf. By the time I reached work, I felt weird - maybe from the meds I've been taking or the shortened sleep last night, or both - but I just took my time doing my thing and getting the gallery opened for business.

Ipo, one of my coworkers, came in around 10:30. We worked together for most of the day but business remained slow. She blamed it on Murphy's Law, thinking that when we schedule for heavy business we get the opposite, and vice versa. After we took our lunch breaks and business still failed to pick up, she suggested I go home. She knew I still felt a bit under the weather, and she hoped that Murphy's Law would work in her favor. Maybe if I went home, she thought, business would pick up and she would get slammed. I headed for the bus stop, hoping she was right and that she would make some money after I was gone.

I thought about stopping at the market on the way home but decided not to. I walked straight home instead. I really wanted some fresh fruit but I didn't feel much like shopping. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to the farmer's market. After making a decent baked potato in my toaster oven tonight, I want to pick up some more potatoes too. The downside to the farmer's market is that I'll have to take the bus up and back. Even if I felt well, I doubt I could walk or ride the bike that far yet. I do need to start shopping up there more, though. I want to eat well and stop buying all this processed crap I've been eating.

Tonight's agenda is more rest and more episodes of Weeds.

Aloha!

T Minus 61: Back to Work

I slept in again. I like sleeping in! After I forced myself to get up, I char-broiled a bagel when I didn't realize I still had the toaster oven set to the highest setting. Into the trash with that one, and into the toaster oven with another. This time, I kept a closer watch and retrieved it just in time for it to be perfectly toasted. I shmeared on some cream cheese and ate it while I watched more Weeds episodes.

Lazing around, texting with The Hubby, relaxing - enjoying my morning had me thinking about working on island time today. Bus schedules can get me to work 30 mins early or 5 mins late. I decided I haven't been working long enough to be pulling off that island time thing, so I hopped the bus that got me to work 30 mins early.

I met a new coworker, Robin, today when I relieved her at the gallery. Imagine this - she's super nice! Unfortunately, she left very shortly after I arrived and I was left on my own to watch paint dry. The Hyatt, where our Ka'anapali gallery is, was hosting an ADP convention. ADP rented every single room in the hotel, which is probably good for the hotel but wasn't so good for us. Hundreds of people walking around in green polo shirts but none of them stopped in to check out the artwork. We managed only 3 sales the entire day.

I bought a newspaper in hopes of clipping some ads and coupons. Sunday papers always have ads and coupons, right? Well, this one didn't. The Hubby and I theorize that you only get the ads and coupons if you get the paper delivered to your home. I wanted to see what I could accomplish on my next grocery trip armed with ads and coupons, especially after watching a couple episodes of Extreme Couponing.

With no ads or coupons to look through, I killed most of my shift at work window shopping and making a wish list of sorts while trying to get acquainted with more of the artists. It helped the time go by a little faster than watching the green polo shirts walk back and forth out in the hallway.

The girl whom I switched shifts with showed up to give me a ride home. Now, I need to get some sleep. I closed the Ka'anapali store tonight. I have to open the Front Street store in the morning.

Aloha!

T Minus 62: Recovering

It feels so nice to sleep so soundly. I wake up feeling better each morning but I'm still not 100%. I wish the boat carrying my mattress would get here a little sooner. The shipping tracker site says it is now due to arrive Thursday. Sure that's a day earlier than I was expecting it, but about 5 days longer than I want to put up with the air bed back aches. Still, I laid on my fairly uncomfortable air bed for a long time before I decided to finally get up.

Maybe part of the reason I stayed in bed so long was because I was still awake at 3:00am this morning. Around that time, I saw a tweet from The Hubby. Since he was awake, and I was still awake, I dashed off a text to him wishing him a happy anniversary. He told me I was supposed to be sleeping, so I finally fell asleep. Something kept me awake until just the right moment, though...

After I got up, I watched the first season of Weeds for a bit. This show reminds me a lot of my childhood - suburban southern california child with pot smoking parents. I never took part, kind of like the character Shane, but I was never as weird as he is.

After some texting with The Hubby, I tossed a Hot Pocket into the toaster oven. It was actually pretty good. The bread part got nice & crispy, completely unlike what happens when you cook one of these in the microwave.

I lay back down to watch some more TV when I hear a rattling on the screen door. Someone calls out, "It's Maureen." My Maui Momma has come to check up on me. She thinks I sound a lot better but that I still look pale and pasty - The Hubby said I looked pale earlier too. She asked if I needed anything from the grocery so I decided to tag along with her and pick up a few things.

Ready for some sticker shock? I only used a hand basket in the store. I got no meat or milk, which are two of the most expensive things on the island. I grabbed a couple frozen pizzas, popsicles, catsup, 2 bagels, cream cheese, 1 potato, shredded cheese, a box of veggie burger patties, toilet paper, and a small colander. The total tab was more than $50. It will be so nice to have my kitchen here in October so I can start cooking instead of buying processed food.

Speaking of processed food, what does one do with American cheese? Neither The Hubby nor I are fans of the pasty yellow slabs of goo. A package of cheese was among the things that my Maui Momma stocked my fridge with the other day, though, and I don't want it to go to waste. I made a grilled cheese sandwich in the toaster oven. That's about the only thing I can think of to use it for, though.

It is nice having more options that just Ramen, though. Ramen gets boring no matter how many different ways you find to doctor it up. My new colander came in handy for dinner when I used it to strain some pasta and make a cold pasta salad. That was definitely a nice change of pace.

Groceries stashed, belly full, I turned to coloring my hair with a box of dye I picked up last week. I usually have the stylist color my hair when I get it cut, and it really needs cut, but I have not yet put forth the effort to find someone I trust to do it.

I spent the rest of my 17th wedding anniversary watching Weeds and texting with The Hubby until his phone battery died. Tomorrow I think I will feel well enough to return to work though Maureen, of course, said to call her in the morning if I still felt bad.

Aloha!

T Minus 63: Needles

I still felt horrible when I woke up. I got lots of sleep again, thanks to the Nyquil - gotta love that stuff! - but whatever evil virus I picked up still hadn't loosened its grip on me. I made tea and resigned myself to doing as little as possible today.

I texted with The Hubby and asked what he thought about seeing a doctor. He suggested that if I thought I might not feel better by the next time I was scheduled to work that I needed to get to a doctor. He and I researched a few urgent care places nearby and I promised to go to one later in the day.

The air was thick, very humid and muggy feeling. I checked the forecast and, sure enough, the forecast called for rain. Of course, the app on my phone said it was already raining in Lahaina - it wasn't. Weathermen, weather channels, weather sites, weather apps - they're all BS.

I knew I would never make it walking to the clinic. The clinic I picked, the closest to the condo, was up on the mauka side of the highway in the same shopping area as the DMV. I felt way too weak to even attempt that walk, so I pulled out the bus schedules and started studying.

I finally got dressed and headed out. I had to take one bus down to the Wharf Cinema Center and then wait a half hour for a different bus to take me up the hill. I killed the half hour by finding a store and buying a box of much-needed tissues. The second bus never leaves Lahaina, like most of the busses do, and follows a route that runs primarily through the Lahainaluna neighborhood.

My friend Jeska lives in Lahainaluna, or as she calls it, Little Manila. Hawaii has a fairly large Filipino population. I might have to find a good Filipino restaurant! I never learned Tagalog even though I had a lot of Filipino friends back in Vegas. Mmmmm, Adobo.

After a dozen stops along the way, the bus finally reached the Lahaina Gateway shopping area and I set off to find the urgent care clinic. When I walked in, I was surprised to see nobody in the waiting room. I made it through the paperwork, nurse, and doctor in about 20 minutes. After a large steroid shot in my arse - "Which cheek do you like less today?" - I headed to Walgreens with prescriptions in hand. My jokester surfer-dude doctor 10 years my junior thought my sinuses looked like they had been attacked by a carrot peeler.

After picking up a Z-pack and some vicodin-laced decongestant syrup, I hopped on the bus for the ride back to harbor town. Along the route, I saw numerous signs that reminded me tonight was the Night On The Town party. Walking home from the bus stop, away from town, while everyone else was walking towards town and the festivities left me wishing I was well enough to walk down and get dinner from the food truck. I'd just have to wait until next month.

Adding to my feelings of sadness at being sick and not being able to go do anything - even work would be better than sitting around sick - my phone had died on the bus ride home. It died in mid-conversation with The Hubby which always makes me sad. It hurts to not be able to say goodnight and sent my XOXO text. Tomorrow (today, by the time you all read this) is our 17th wedding anniversary. This is the first year we've not been together on our anniversary. I'm dismayed. I've been dismayed for over a month, ever since I realized this would be a factor of the plans we put in place to get us to Maui. Only about 2 months left!

Tomorrow, a day I'd normally work, I get to stay home. One of my coworkers needed to switch days this week, so I get one more day to try and recover from this sinus infection. I was supposed to get delivery of a new clothes dryer tomorrow but the landlord called and said it wouldn't be until Monday now - island time. I want so badly to wash these sheets. It's been 2 weeks. Gross. I can't hang-dry the sheets because there's no place to do so. Besides, if it takes over one full day for a small pair of underwear to air dry, how long is it going to take a bed sheet?

The rain finally reached Lahaina a few moments ago. I like hearing the rain hitting the leaves just outside the window.

Saturday, I work the closing shift at Ka'anapali again. Yesterday, while waiting for Devon to come in and take over my shift, I spoke with Jeska about my situation of trying to get home after work when the bus isn't running. I mentioned that I was thinking about taking a bus up on my day off and walking home to see if the path along the beach was an option. She didn't think much of that idea.

In fact, she was dead set against it. She told me the path is not lit at night and that she thought the area was pretty sketchy at night. She said Maureen was fully prepared to keep helping me get home when needed until my Jeep arrived on the island. She went on about how she and Maureen felt that I was the perfect fit for this job and how they were willing to do whatever to make it work and keep me. I complained that I didn't like feeling like a charity case. She assured me that they didn't feel that way. It still feels funny to me, though, when they won't even take gas money when I offer it.

I finished up the first season of Freaks & Geeks earlier. Tonight, I believe I am going to check out the show Weeds and see if it can hold my interest.

Aloha!

T Minus 64: Can't Shake It

8:00. Time to rise and shine. I didn't feel very shiny, though I'm sure the beads of sweat dotting my brow added a bit of a sheen. I still felt miserable, unable to get rid of whatever disease I've picked up. I wanted to lay in bed but duty called, so I got myself ready and headed in to the gallery.

Just a little while later, my associate Jeska arrived. She took one look at me and said I looked terrible, that it was very obvious I was not well. She suggested I try to find one of the on-call staff to come in and cover my shift for me.

This whole idea seemed foreign to me. I've been brainwashed by the bottom-line-first corporate world I've recently left behind. The casinos didn't care if you were sick. They just wanted you at the table pitching cards. If you keeled over, they would just roll your body out of the way and have another dealer step in to keep the game going. Having a supervisor express genuine concern over your health was rare unless, of course, your health was making it so the company wasn't earning money. Then, it was an issue.

I started making calls. The first call went straight to voicemail. No help there. The girl who answered the second call was as sick as I was. Still no help. The third call, to one of the artists we represent who also moonlights at the gallery occasionally, said she would be there in an hour. Jeska was happy and strongly suggested I go home and take care of myself.

Devon, the girl covering my shift for the day, arrived right when she said she would. Her and Jeska spent some time telling me about their favorite cure-alls and home remedies. Both talked up the healing properties of a certain thai soup. That made me remember the small pad thai place at Wharf Cinema Center, conveniently next to the bus stop.

Bus stop, you ask? Yes, I normally walk when I work at the Lahaina gallery but I felt too miserable to tackle that journey today and I took the bus instead. I would be taking it home as well. First, I needed some pad thai to hopefully make me feel better!

I checked the bus schedule to make sure I had enough time and then searched out my lunch spot. A small hole in the wall with one really nice (I know, imagine that) lady who might have been the owner, and me. Small and out of the way, this was my kind of place. I knew lunch was going to be good. The lady working the counter helped me box up my leftovers to take home and even complimented me on knowing how to eat pad thai properly.

I rode the bus to the post office and walked the two blocks back to the condo. Two blocks felt like two miles and I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. I hate being sick, regardless of where I am, but it seems especially evil circumstances to be sick in such a beautiful place. It's just not fair.

Back at home, I lounged on the slowly leaking air bed. I started Freaks & Geeks and watched TV while following along with The Hubby as he tried to win some extra money playing the ponies at Hoosier Park.

The highlight of the day came late. A chime alerted me to an incoming email message. Opening it up, I saw that it was a shipping notification. My bed shipped and should arrive next Friday. I can finally stop sleeping on this air bed and start enjoying my (hopefully) comfortable new mattress!

Aloha!

T Minus 65: Ohana

I'm back! Did you miss me?

Last week, because my editor was on the road stranding himself and my two babies in the middle of nowhere Kansas, I held off writing anything. I refuse to publish something without a second pair of eyes to read over it and double check that I am making sense!

This past week proved to be really productive, though.

Early in the week, I opened the post office box to find the certified copy of our marriage license from Ohio. It worked! The - cue the slightly less foreboding music - DMV accepted that as proof that my name changed when I got married and I passed the written test, something that worried me a bit, so...I took one more step towards becoming local. I have a drivers license with a rainbow on it!

Speaking of becoming local, that same day I met a lady at the bus stop. She seemed to be in a bad mood but she brightened up and started talking story with me. I'm sure you won't be surprised by this but she was super nice. As we parted ways, she hugged me and said, "Doncha worry sistah, you'll be loved here. You'll be happy here. See ya 'round!"

Today, I was walking across the parking lot near the bus stop and I heard a voice yell out, "Hey, sistah!" I looked up to see my new friend, Amanda, at the bus stop waving her arm over her head, beautiful Hawaiian smile beaming from her face. I waved and yelled back. I love this place!

I will soon - well, in another week or so, have a comfortable bed to sleep on. I bought a bed frame from The Maui Bed Store, and I ordered a mattress from Amerisleep. The bed frame showed up yesterday and I set about assembling it. My tool "set" consisted of the allen wrench that came with the bed frame and a tiny multi-tool that frustrated me until I couldn't take it any longer. I headed out to Ace Hardware to buy a real screwdriver.

I also picked up a new can opener while I was out. Lesson learned: you get what you pay for. The first can opener I bought a couple weeks ago turned out to be worthless. I suppose I should have expected that since I only paid $1.00 for it. I had a can of clam chowder I wanted for dinner and I needed a new can opener if I was going to get to eat it.

The can of clam chowder came from an unplanned trip to the grocery. I've been ill the past few days. My Maui Momma knew I wasn't feeling well and she called Sunday to tell me she was stopping by because she had a few things for me. She brought me a can of chicken soup, some honey and lemons for my tea, and a small potted rose bush. She took me out for soup at a vietnamese place called BA LE. The soup was excellent, and there was a lot of it so I have leftovers for a couple meals.

After lunch, she commented that my fridge and cupboard were too bare and that we were going to the grocery. I picked up a few things to feed myself with over the next few days and then she took me home. As bad as I was feeling, that was the extent of my endurance for the day. I needed rest.

Everyone around here makes you feel like you are part of their Ohana. It's great.

Back to yesterday, I finished up the assembly of my bed frame using my new screwdriver. I wish the new mattress were already here. The air bed I've been sleeping on has twice developed leaks that I've had to fix after it deflated during the night and left me sleeping on the floor. I originally thought about putting the air bed up on my new frame but I've since decided that is a bad idea. The slats on the frame have a few splinters, and I don't want to have to patch the air bed again!

Work continues to go well. I enjoy my shifts at the Lahaina location a lot more than I enjoy working at Ka'anapali. First, I can simply walk or bike to work. Second, the store is a lot busier so there is more to do. Third, I don't have to worry about the lack of a bus to get me home. Thankfully, this past week, my Maui Momma showed up both nights I closed to give me a ride home because she knew I wasn't feeling well.

The best news of the week, though, is that I submitted the paperwork for the puppies! I am so excited. This is one of the last big things to get done before I get to see my babies again. After paying for every possible service I could think of - overnight delivery, receipt signature required, delivery confirmation, tracking number, etc. - I dashed off a text message to The Hubby to let him know that the money orders were purchased and everything was on its way to the Agriculture office.

Now, I will continue my dosing up with the DayQuil and the NyQuil - that NyQuil stuff works and kept me peacefully asleep until after 9am this morning! - and resting to hopefully kick whatever bug this is in the butt once and for all. I work tomorrow morning and it would be nice to not feel miserable while I'm at the gallery.

So, back to laying around and watching Netflix as I doze in and out.

Aloha!