T Minus 45: Obsessed

My skin crawls as I type. My brain plays tricks on me. Maybe that's why I keep waking up in the middle of the night. My brain sees - and feels - bugs everywhere. It started when the bug guy came. Next, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture mailed out a public notice about non-native and invasive fire ants on the islands. A couple days later, The Hubby and I were chatting about the geckos eating the roaches. Tonight, when I turned on the bedside lamp as the sun went down, I spotted a fast moving bright orange speck of an ant scurrying up the wall.

A beach scene watercolor I painted

I have bugs on the brain, and my brain has bugs on me. The wind blows the hair on my skin and my brain nearly screams, "Hey! There's a bug on your arm!" Every few seconds, my brain tries to convince me something is crawling across my skin. Stupid bugs. Stupid brain.

The bright orange speck on the wall turned out to not be one of the dangerous fire ants the Hawaii Ag Dept so kindly warned everyone about. After a bit of Google research, I doubt this could be a fire ant unless this was is the queen. This little creepy crawly is too big.

Collaged Aloha
Bottle Vase

Before my subconscious became obsessed with bugs, I spent the day painting and collaging. I painted a beach scene, and a rose. I looked at my paintings from the other day and decided they needed more depth, more detail, so I touched them up and added an element here and there. After setting everything aside to dry, I thought it would be a good idea to go check out that Ace Hardware I mentioned yesterday.

It turns out that Ace sells gesso, and gel medium too, and at the same prices I paid after riding the bus into Da Big City. Lesson learned. Regardless, I enjoyed exploring the mall yesterday so I don't feel it was a wasted trip. Now I know that if I need medium in a pinch, I walk a short distance to get it. I picked up a couple small things at Ace before moving on.

Hamburger plate lunch.
Too. Much. Food!

I decided to check out the Nagasako Deli for lunch. As with all Hawaiian plate lunches, they piled my hamburger plate lunch with enough food to feed at least 2 people. The burger patties seemed more like a meat loaf, sans tomato product, than a hamburger. 2 hamburger patties and 2 scoops mashed potatoes, smothered in gravy and served alongside a generous scoop of mac salad. Everything tasted good. They simply give you way too much of it!

A watercolor rose

After the deli, I popped in a small salon I noticed to see if they do eyebrows. After being told no, I checked out a place that The Hubby would like. The Hubby won't like it. What I thought might be a liquor store wasn't, so I moved on. I made my last stop Boss Frog's to get a tire pump for the Pink Cruiser.

I sweated melted walked home with no shade. Sure, the scenery never fails to impress, with the beaches and the waves and the flowers, but today we lacked any trade winds to help keep things cool. My walk home was quite warm.

A hibiscus bloom in my
Aloha Bottle Vase

Along the way, I stopped to pick one of those beautiful flowers. Earlier, I finished up a collaged Aloha Bottle Vase and I needed something to put in it. The bloom inspired me and, after spending a bit of time studying it, I tried my hand at painting a hibiscus bloom. I set the first pass aside to dry, planning to finish it tomorrow. I'd run out of daylight tonight and it was time to move to the bedroom.

Before I go to sleep though, I believe I shall take a shower and see if I can get rid of this feeling of being covered with bugs!

Work in progress.
A watercolor hibiscus

Aloha!

T Minus 46: Flashbacks and Frustrations

I barely survived today. I must admit that today was the worst day since I arrived on the island and I find myself very happy that it's finally over. At work, my frustration levels hit high points I've not experienced in months.

My coworker today, a very nice local girl, morphed into a type-A personality today that I found hard to deal with. She evoked memories of The Hubby of long ago. Not that he doesn't still have his moments, but they are few and far between. Regardless, my coworker seemed determined to see how high she could get my blood pressure.

Nothing ran on island time today. Apparently I moved entirely too slow for her needs and I often found myself wanting to simply move out of the way while she simply did whatever the task was without explaining what needed to be done or why. It flashed back to asking The Hubby how to do something on the computer. "Click here," he'd say. "Type this. Now do this. Just...move." He would then sit and do whatever it was I needed done. Teaching never was his strong suit.

The worst part about today is that I became so flustered I started picking at my nails. I haven't picked at my nails since I quit working for the casino industry. Today, I picked until there was blood and it hurt the rest of the day. I even convinced myself the events of the day were intentional, meant to get me to appreciate working alone at the Ka'anapali gallery.

Maybe that was the case. Maybe my view of the world simply became skewed due to the dozen or so times a weird dream or sound caused me to wake through the night last night. Maybe the blame lies with the weird, unexpected phone call I received from The Hubby about an hour before I intended to actually wake up this morning. I don't know.

I only know I felt relieved to finally walk into the condo this evening. Moving on to lighter topics and less stressful ideas...

Do you know what an interrobang is? I learned about the interrobang last night. It seems like a great idea to me. I know I'd use it as punctuation if it were common. Intrigued, I researched online for a while and stumbled upon a place where I can get an interrobang necklace. Now, of course, I want one!

More than that, I want to know how long it will take our household goods to reach the island. I might be suffering from crafting withdrawal symptoms. Every day more and more ideas for new projects start bouncing around in my head. I look at my meager collection of mediums and supplies that I have stacked on the counter and know they are inadequate for me to bring my ideas to life. If I were The Hubby, I'd say something like "I'm getting twitchy."

I may take a trip over to ACE hardware tomorrow and see if I can expand my small stash of supplies. The section of the store containing the drafting and drawing supplies holds potential as a source of crafty stuff.

Of course, even when my boxes of crafty stuff arrive, I see much of it getting stashed in storage somewhere. Downsizing from a house with a studio to a 1 BR condo means I lose my studio, the kitchen table becomes my creative zone, and everything must get tucked away into a closet after each crafting section. It would never do for The Hubby's OCD to leave stuff sitting out. I can hear him in my head right now. "Everything has a place, and everything in its place." Maybe a small cart on wheels, with many, many little drawers and shelves, that can be tucked away...

I failed to find a new TV show or anything entertaining on Netflix last night. In fact, I never even tried. I surfed YouTube all night instead. All that did was serve to give me more ideas to let bounce around my head until I get supplies to play with. I might spend more time on YouTube tonight before I fall asleep, too.

I look forward to tomorrow, and daylight. My single tiny bedside reading lamp fails to be useful for anything other than its intended purpose, giving me just enough light by which to read in bed and nothing more. I need the sunlight during the day so that I have enough light to craft in!

Maybe a good crafty session tomorrow will wipe the frustrations of today from my brain.

Aloha

T Minus 47: Anticlimactic

As I ate my bagel and iced coffee, I studied the bus schedule to finalize my plans for the day. Just about the time I get the bus schedule memorized, the Jeep will arrive on the island and I won't need it any more.

Da bus got me to the shopping center in Da Big City around 12:30. Feeling hungry, and being taunted by The Hubby with pictures of his cooking, I decided my first stop needed to be lunch. The Hubby showed me pictures of his home-made carnitas and the burritos he made with them. I suppose that put a subliminal message in my head to eat Mexican food because I walked straight to Maui Tacos III and ordered their signature fish tacos.

While eating, I noticed a tiny envelope on the ground. I picked it up and found the words Maui Diver Jewelry on the flip side. Curious, I looked inside. The envelope contained nothing other than a small metal key. I wondered if it might be important and decided that one of my goals for the day would be to find the jewelry shop and return the key.

I stopped in a variety of stores along the way. In one, I spied a book titled '101 More Things To Do With Ramen Noodles' which made me laugh. I came across Ben Franklin - the store, not the man - and found some gel medium and gesso. Everything seemed overpriced, so I picked up the smallest container of each and made a note to check prices on Amazon. I feel like, living in Hawaii where selection is thin and prices are high, we will definitely get our money's worth from our Amazon Prime account!

I picked up a few more things moved on. Soon enough, I found the Maui Diver Jewelry store. What might be behind the lock that this key opened? I only hoped for a good story to tell as I entered the store and sought out someone who worked there. The reality, however, proved to be very anticlimactic...and kind of boring. It turned out the key held very little importance at all, and was nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The jewelry store provides thousands of the envelopes to cruise ship guests. Those people bring the key to the jewelry store and get a chance to open a treasure chest on the counter. If the key opens the chest, the bearer of the key keeps whatever is in the chest.

The clerk working the store suggested I try the key. It, of course, failed to turn and the chest remained locked. She offered me a coupon as a condolence prize but I suggested she save it for someone who might be shopping for jewelry. I only hoped to do the right thing and return something of potential value to its rightful owner. Jewelry, I told her, wasn't on my shopping list today.

Having been keeping my eye out for shorts in each store I popped in and out of all day, and having failed to find any that were my size, I finally - reluctantly - walked into Macy's. At least I found some shorts that would fit. I tried on a pair of khaki shorts, cringing the entire time as I was sure I'd never wear khaki anything, but they fit. I also found a pair of monochromatic capris that fit, and were very comfortable. The white shorts that fit went immediately back onto the shelf. White shorts are a recipe for disaster! I found some linen pants that fit but they too ended up back on the shelf. I may never wear pants again.

Everything I found ended up being on sale. I spent less than $30 total on items whose original tags were above $50 each. On the way out of the store, I noticed a line of clothing made from organic cotton. Thinking of my sheets, if these things were anywhere near as soft as my sheets, I'd kill for some. I checked the tags. Not on sale. $60 for a pair of shorts seemed a bit extravagant just plain crazy.

I skipped over the fabric shop. It interested me, and I made note it was there, but until my sewing machine is here I saw no reason to shop in that store. I loved window shopping in a store I found called Kaleidoscope. They stocked some of the neatest things but I found nothing I couldn't live without so I moved on. Seeing it was about time to pick up my bus back to the west side, I made my final stop of the day - a pharmacy for a box of Prilosec until my Amazon subscription deliveries start kicking in.

Approaching the bus stop, I thought the young lady sitting on the bench looked familiar. It turned out to be the same girl that Amanda chatted up at the Lahaina bus stop a few days back. 22 years old, with a 3-month old baby boy, and very friendly. She sat in the seat directly in front of mine for the bus ride back to Lahaina and we talked story the whole ride home.

Back at the condo, I cooked up a faux tuna casserole using a boxed pasta mix and a can of salmon. I washed it down with my last Wailua Wheat.

I open the Lahaina gallery tomorrow morning, a typical Monday for me, so I need to get some sleep tonight. Before that, though, I need to spend some quality time on Netflix and find something else to watch since I finished up Neverland last night.

Aloha!

T Minus 48: My kingdom for squares of paper

I need perfectly cut 1" squares of paper. You send them to me, I send you some type of Hawaiian souvenir like a postcard or a magnet. Deal? Seriously, if you have a way to cut perfect 1" squares of paper and want to send me some, let me know. I have an artsy idea bouncing around in my head but I need paper!

Colorful plant near our condo.
Might be a Ti Plant?

My day started with The Hubby poking fun at me for sleeping in so much. He said he can't wait until I get a big, wet, brown nose shoved in my face promptly at 7:00 every morning to let me know it's time for breakfast. To be honest, I wish that was already happening. As much as I like to wake up slowly, I far prefer waking up to a happy pup begging me to feed his hungry belly. He wakes The Hubby at 7:00 exactly every day. We don't know how he keeps his internal clock so accurate but he knows exactly when it's 7:00 and 5:00 every day.

After chatting with The Hubby for a bit, I tried some more collage work. I still need gel medium. I may venture into Da Big City tomorrow, taking the bus to the Queen K Center, to see if there is an art store there that carries it. If not, I suppose I'll be ordering some off Amazon.

On my way to work, I snapped a few pictures to share. First, I came across the gorgeous and colorful plant. I thought it was pretty despite its lack of flowers. It might be called a Ti Plant...

Palm trees and greenery hiding an
oceanfront bungalow from the street

A bit further down the road, a row of palms climbing into the blue sky caught my eye. Living on the waterfront in harbor town - how cool would that be? Even the property next door, that looks more like a shack, appeals to me in its own way. I know it'd probably take multiple millions to move in there. Since it is across the street from our condo, I will tell people I live $3 million away from the ocean.

Another oceanfront property

The bus got me to work about 15 minutes late. Yesterday, the boss lady told me she thought it was better that I be 15 minutes late than 30 minutes early. Island time, brah. That whole concept seems so foreign after working for 10 years in an industry where you had a 7-minute window in which you needed to clock in or else you would get written up. So long as my boss's boss, the owner of the gallery, never gets upset about my steady string of lateness I will continue to take the later bus. The point becomes moot in 48 days anyway, right?

A beach bum type getting some
shade while playing his ukulele

I failed to come close to my secret goal at work today. I kept busy despite the low sales volume. I think I failed to bring enough food with me to work today, though. By the time I closed the shop, I felt famished. During my shift, I tried my best to ignore the sundries shop that sits just a few dozen feet away from the gallery. To walk over there, even to just grab a candy bar, requires me to close down and lock the shop, and then reverse procedure when I get pack - pain in the butt inconvenience! I even try to drink just enough water to keep me from getting dehydrated but not so much as to require a shi shi break so that I won't have to go through the process of closing up the shop.

My new lunch bag. Honu!

Not having brought enough food, and feeling too tired to cook, I talked Maureen into swinging through the McD's drive-thru when she drove me home after work. I ate chicken nuggets while I watched the 2nd part of a mini-series called Neverland (I watched the first part last night). It's a whole different perspective on how Peter Pan and Captain Hook came to be!

Aloha!

The Hubby has board shorts with bottle
openers in the pockets. He needs slippahs
like these with bottle  openers on the straps!

T Minus 49: Shorts

Today, I say 7 weeks! I have less than 50 days until the pups and The Hubby join me in Hawaii.

My brain short-circuited today. It happens fairly often, actually. The Hubby recently said that when he gets rich with his new business idea, he's going to send me to communications classes. Today, I managed to miss a communication somewhere and I came up short with what I needed to do. I read the email from The Hubby twice that explained exactly what we needed - overlapping insurance policies for the car. We need to maintain Nevada insurance until such time as we send them the plates back, and we need Hawaii no-fault insurance as soon as the Jeep hits the island.

My first attempt at some collage work

I called our insurance company and explained what I needed. Somewhere in there I got lost. I ended up with a quote for a new Hawaii insurance policy that would start when the Nevada policy ended. Failure to communicate. WTF is wrong with my brain? Now, I need to call them back and start this process over. Good times!

That call would have to wait, though, as I needed to get ready for work. Tuesday, while running errands, I picked up a couple pair of Bermuda shorts. Today, I decided to see if I could get away with wearing them to work. I arrived at the office and spent a few minutes talking with the boss. Since she made no mention of the shorts, I assume I looked acceptable.

I don't know if I like them better than the capris I usually wear or not. The same size as my capris, the shorts feel much looser. I reserve final judgement until I see how they feel after they've been washed and dried.

It feels weird to be wearing shorts again. I've not worn a pair of shorts in years, not since I shattered my knees hiking the Virgin River in Zion. For those interested, you can read that story on The Hubby's old blog. To make a long story short, my knees swelled to the size of cantaloupes. I became very self conscious of my knees and did everything I could to hide them when I ventured out in public. The resulting surgeries left 3 holes/scars on each knee and the time I spent laying on the couch recovering led to weight gain in my legs. I banned shorts from my life.

Today, I feel differently. The new me walks and cycles everywhere. My legs, and other body parts, seem to shrink every day. I slowly lose a bit of that self consciousness I've held onto for the past few years every time I look in the mirror. I actually feel a bit foolish leaving the shorts I do own behind in Vegas to be shipped instead of bringing them with me!

I kept fairly busy at work today, mostly restocking and organizing the shop. I made a few sales, but not enough to reach my (secret, nobody knows I have) goal. Whenever I work at the Ka'anapali gallery, I want to outsell whomever it is I relieve that day. Some days, I hit my goal, some I don't. Today? Not so much. I ended the day with $100 less in sales than the boss lady who had worked the opening shift. Realistically, the goal simply gives me something to be proud of when I manage to hit it but I have no real control over the number of people who visit the gallery each day. Plus, we're selling art, not girl scout cookies.

Maybe I should get into the cookie business! I love baking and I don't remember seeing a bakery anywhere on Front St....

The boss lady provided my transportation home after work. I ate dinner, which consisted of edamame, a spicy tuna roll, and some pineapple. Yummy!

My new bag a friend sent me

I posed for a selfie of me wearing my new bag I received from a friend and then sat down to try out some collage work using the touristy magazines I've been collecting and some of the stuff that came in the mail the other day. By the time I finished, I realized I need a cheap paint brush and some gel medium. I need to check and see if I can order gel medium using our Amazon Prime account.

Having finished up season 1 of Revolution last night - I doubt there's a season 2 based on the way it ended - I need to find a new show. I'll let you know what I find tomorrow.

Aloha!

T Minus 50: Blackout

I hate alarms. When mine went off this morning, I realized I still had 2 hours left to get the doors open at the gallery. I poked the snooze button and tried to get a few more minutes sleep. The next time the alarm intruded on my dreams, I decided I better get up and get going. I toasted up a new kind of bagel - flax, poppy seed, and sesame seeds - that tasted a bit like popcorn without the butter. With a schmear of cream cheese, it tasted pretty good actually.

I surveyed my limited clothing options. When we planned this bit of me being on the island for three months, I brought enough decent clothes to be able to find a job. I need the rest of my wardrobe! I finally opted on an orangish-pinkish number I picked up on the island somewhere. The day of blacks, tans, and greys are behind me. I dress in a much more colorful tropical fashion these days. I still wear black shorts. Black shorts pair with anything. Besides, I simply can't bring myself to wear hot pink shorts.

I checked my tote. Hot Pocket? Yes. Frozen grapes? Yes. Bad Ass coffee cup? Yes. All the important things accounted for, I unlocked the Pink Cruiser and hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go. I followed my new favorite routine for the days I work in the Lahaina gallery - park the bike under the Banyan Tree, grab a $1 iced coffee refill from Bad Ass, throw open the doors to the gallery.

I suppose I must be doing something right. My bosses informed me that starting next month I will pick up some commission shifts at the Lahaina gallery. I like the sounds of that.

Front St experienced a bit of excitement today. The power went out all along the harbor. Nobody seemed to know why but nobody seemed to be really upset either. This apparently happens with some regularity. We closed up shop, as did everyone else up and down the street, and I headed home with the understanding that the power might come back on and I would need to come back to the shop. The way people talked, though, I expected I was done for the day.

Sure enough, though, I barely had time to get home before my phone rang. Jeska said the power was back on in record time. I promised to head that way after I ate some lunch. This meant an extra 2 miles on the Pink Cruiser today! Thankfully, my legs seem to be getting used to it. I still get a bit sore but not nearly as bad as when I first started riding it. I peddle slow. After all, I'm not in the Tour D'France or anything. And, you know, island time, brah!

Back at the gallery, I met another of the artists we represent, Mario from Amata Jewelry Studio. I helped Jeska choose some new pieces for inventory in the gallery. There are some super pretty pieces in there!

No painting today - too dark when I got home. I opened the mail, though, and found an small envelope full of assorted collage bits - papers and such. This will be very helpful to get me started doing collage work!

Hopefully I find enough time in the morning, before I work in Ka'anapali, to paint. Tonight, I'll have to settle for a few episodes of Revolution before I fall asleep.

Aloha!

T Minus 51: Taking it easy

Today, I planned to do very little. I slept in and, when I finally woke, took my sweet time getting out of bed.

I planned out some lunches and made a grocery list. I hoped to visit the farmers market today, so I texted my Maui Momma to see if she happened to be planning a market visit this morning. No luck. I settled for riding the Pink Cruiser to Foodland to pick up what I needed.

I arrived back home at the same time as my neighbor. She wanted to show me something, and seemed super excited about it, so I headed next door to check it out. She showed me a shark, a baby tiger shark, that someone taxidermied around 15 years ago. She apparently has had her eyes on it for a while at a local shop. I admit it looks pretty cool. It'd be better were it her own catch, but it still looks nice.

Speaking of dead things, I found a dead bug today. I'd not seen a single cockroach in the condo since moving in. Bug guy sprays yesterday and the little - and not so little - critters feel the need to come out and die in public view. This particular roach measured about 2 inches long. I grew accustomed to cleaning up roach carcasses once a month when the bug guy sprayed, but few reached the 2 inch length. There was one, horrifyingly big at nearly 4 inches, that I encountered back in Vegas. I encapsulated him in a jar of epoxy but even then he creeped me the hell out and I threw him in the trash.

Moving on to more pleasant things, I painted a bit more today. I found more YouTube instruction videos and learned a few more things. Today, I painted a background and set it aside to dry. Once dry, I'll paint some more elements on it. I also attempted a postcard-sized collage but quickly found that I am not ready for collage. I lack enough clippings and pieces to fill the space the way I would like - I need to collect more stuff!

While my painting dried, I tossed a load of laundry in the washer and cooked up some halfway decent broccoli cheese pasta for dinner. As I ate, I noticed water coming from the washing machine during the spin cycle. Yay. I called the landlord to let him know. He simply ordered a new washer, this one being nearly 10 years old and not worth repair, and let me know it would - hopefully - arrive about the same time as the dryer that is supposedly on its way.

Not only did I do very little today, I made it a short day. Opening the Lahaina gallery at 9:00 tomorrow morning so I need to get my beauty rest.

Aloha!