Friday, July 11, 2008 - Hale Pua Melia "Plumeria House"

We have been debating the pros and cons of the various types of housing available and finally have decided to go with the smaller yet more quaint and charming older historic home. The ONLY downfall to this house as far as we are concerned is the overall square footage. It's a grand total of 1200 sq ft! BUT! That means less to clean, right? *L* So maybe its NOT a downside afterall.

We cannot take occupancy until 6 August but I wanted to share about it so you all can envision it and anticipate along with us. First, while this may not be our "exact: street, it is pretty close!  Yes, the trees really hang over the street just like this. It feels like you are stepping back into time in this area...the mailman still delivers your mail to the box on your front porch! How quaint is that?

The "Tower" that we can see from our unit is also in this picture in the background...this was standing at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (which is about 2 blocks from us)

I haven't taken any photos of our house yet but to gain some insight you might want to check out this article. If you scroll down and see the lovely little tiles...please note...we don't have those! Thank You Very Much! We had those in Japan and they were a bear to maintain...ugh!

The home to our right is marked as a museum and will be undergoing treatment in the very near futture. I think it will be interesting to see them restore it to its original state/decor. The home across from us is a duplex that is being transformed into one unit. It should be HUGE when completed! You can see one of those in the article above...its the 2 story model. Ours is a one level home with a carport. Although some units have enclosed lanai with jalousie windows, ours is open. I can't wait to take pictures of the backyard to share but until then, just imagine a HUGE pink plumeria tree, banana plants, papaya trees, Imperial palms, and a large grassy area!

That's it for now...Oh! What do you think of the name for the house? Hale means house or home and pua melia means plumeria...pua actually translates "flower". Not sure if we will stick with that or not but it works for this entry!

Thursday, July 10, 2008 - Room With a View

You lucky people! Here is a glimpse into our life here in paradise...hotel life is SO glamorous, isn't it? *L*

These are pix of our current rooms (we now have TWO rooms versus the ONE we started out in). Let's start with the ocean view...  

Sorry these aren't clearer but they have reflective stuff on the windows...so a LOVELY ocean view,, right? Absolutely IF you are lying on the bed , only raise your head up SO far, AND use your zoom lens...otherwise you see this....

Yes...that would be the industrial area near the airport and H1 overpass that loom over us! *L* When we are at the pool we just pretend those are really loud waves we hear and NOT traffic!

Okay...let's move on to our current HOME...of which we ARE TRULY GRATEFUL! The whole 4 people sleeping in one room grew OLD less than a week into it! *LOL*

Here's our room...the little hallway leads to the bath

We do have lots of nice large windows which I love.You can see the girls' room trough the open door...so loet's move over there next. This is looking back into our room.

This would be a DAILY event...

The door leads to the hallway and the bath is to the right.

I had to wait until after housekeeping came through or it would have frightened any small children that might view this photo...what is it about young girls that makes their bathroom things EXPLODE and multiply exponentially on a daily basis??

Lest you think it's all urban here...let me share some nicely edited pix of paradise....these are the palms near the pool area.

Two of my favorite reasons to be back here...A and J...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - Aloha from the islands

We are here and settled for the time being. We tried to stay at the Hale Koa (downtown area) but with a 16 and almost 21 year old in the same room and one bath, let me tell ya...it was growing smaller by the minute in there! Not to mention no cooking facilities. So we (My Beloved Chief) found other accomodations. We relocated yesterday afternoon..

So here is a little catching up...we arrived on 9 June as planned and we met by folks from Beloved's new office. Checked in to the hotel and began a week of eating out three times a day, waiting in the hallway for housekeeping services, sleeping in one room with 4 people who at one time or another practice snoring, talking in their sleep, and/or making other various unpleasant sounds from various body orifices which are simultanously accompanied by a variety of unpleasant odors as well, and sharing ONE bathroom that has ONE sink and only two outlets. Nuff said?

We DID have some fun including sun bathing, eating great local food, swimming, playing with our nephews, reading, walking around Waikiki and people watching. Butterfly got signed up for her summer classes and Beloved got inprocessed. Our car was waiting for us at the port when we arrived so we picked that up the day after we arrived. Speaking of cars...gas is at $4.21/gallon in case you were wondering! It's like a new hobby to check the current daily rate. We are in the process of cponsidering our options for transportation while here so stay tuned for updates.

The girls spent one day taking "Da Bus" (yes that is the name of the local transit system) over to Pearl Ridge and then watched Kung Fu Panda which they both rated 4.5 stars. Guess I will have to check it out. My friend Jenn B. says she wants to see it over and over again. Anybody else seen it? What did you think?

Beloved and I spent one afternoon being "tourists" and hung out at the pool and ordered pool side "drinks with umbrellas." Apparently that is his impression of what "tourists do". Hmmm...and yes they will put an umbrella in anything you want...no alcohol required.

Father's Day was pretty quiet in the morning. We watched the US Open and drank coffee. Wasn't that a great match?  Monday's was unbelievable though! I was still talking about it at dinner...My bil/sil dropped our nephews off to us and we got to spend the day with them at the pools. They are so funny! They are one reason we are so thrilled to be back here...soon they will be too old to care about hanging out with us and want to spend all their free time with friends. Right now we are still pretty cool to be with...and they love to be with their "big cousins" so the girls enjoy spending time with them too. We ended the day with dinner at Red Lobster which was pretty yummy!

That brings us to moving hotels. We checked out, drove the long way around the island since we couldn't check in until after 3 pm. We got our room, parked (which I will have to elaborate on parking here at some juncture) dragged our stuff to our room on the 12th floor and found....a shopping cart full of maintenance supplies in the niddle of the room! The bath was half painted, the exhaust fan was out in the room on the dresser along with the coffee pot and toiletries! Not a biggie but we called to have to shopping cart removed and the bath cleaned up but they insisted we move to another room. We did. To the 7th floor. We unpacked and settled in, got the internet up and going. The phone rang. They wanted us to move back to the other room. Yes. No kidding. We did. We got there and found...a shopping cart full of maintenance supplies, etc etc. *L* So in comes a maintenance guy who takes puts the fan back in (not operational), takes the cart, calls housekeeping to clean the bath. They come, put the coffee pot on the bathroom counter, along with the basket of toiletries and ask if there is anything else we need done. *ROFL!* I could have done that much! I wiped the counter off and replaced everything back on there. Thank goodness for antiseptic travel products! I noticed the floor was pretty yucky when I went in for my shower but figured they would take care of it today. Ummm...I didn't last all night though...I wiped it down myself around 230 am...hey! I went in to use the potty and it got on my nerves so I took care of it. Again...no biggie! Did I mention they only have one working elevator right now? Or that the hot water is being repaired?

BUT! I am NOT complaining cause I'm in HAWAII!!!!!! It's all good...my family is here with me, we are safe, and warm and dry, and we know that God is in control! We just roll with it and chalk it up to yet another moving experience. It's easier when you know it's not going to be like this forever.

One other update...yesterday was our anniversary. I am married to the best guy in the world and couldn't be happier. Bugs...Love you more now than the day we said "I do!" (although you was pretty hot den too.) You are my best friend. Thanks for a wonderful life. Only you can make me laugh like you do...and only you get me. Say it..."stupid!" Happy Anniversary Beloved.

Friday, May 30, 2008 - Some Sonlight Info

I wasn't going to post but then thought this might be if help to some who may have felt SL was out of their price range in the past. They are offering new time-payment options. Read below! What a great thing especially if you need to order more than one level...

Greetings!

I write you today with new information about Sonlight's Time Payment
options. Partly in response to
our economy's recent struggles, we've made three significant changes.

1. Minimum order total is lower, by over $100.
Until now, an order had to be at least $500 to qualify for our Time
Payment
option. Now you can select Time Payments for any order as low as $399.
As a result, no less than 27 of Sonlight's complete programs
automatically
qualify (20 Sonlight Core programs and 7 Sonlight Newcomer™
packages).

2. Down payment is lower, too—by over eight percent.
In the past, we charged one-third down plus a one-time 5.99% service
fee,
for all
Time Payment orders paid across six months. Now you can pay less up
front
for everything need for the school year: pay just 25% of the order
total
(after we apply the one-time fee, with NO additional fees or interest).
For the
remaining payments, you simply pay the balance in equal amounts.

3. Plus, now you can choose how much time you'd like to take.
Need a bit more time to pay for a large order? Or maybe a bit less to
pay
for
a smaller program? Now, you may also choose to make four payments over
just
three months (the one-time fee is 2.99%) or take nine months—that's
39
weeks,
longer than most Sonlight program schedules—to budget your purchase
across
ten payments (for a one-time 8.99% fee).

Sonlight's Time Payment options are NOT "revolving" credit
accounts—just
tools we offer to help 
budget management. We do request the individuals credit score (there is
a
minimum requirement)... our
request has NO impact on the individuals credit history, as would a
request for new credit.

For more information go to: http://www.sonlight.com/timepayments.html

Thursday, May 29, 2008 - Update before moving

Here is where things stand right now...

Our car is shipped, the other 2 are sold. We have a rental until we leave.

Our unaccompanied baggage was way under weight which was a good thing but we could have sent more stuff ahead...no biggie! We will manage with what we have.

Our pre-inspection was smooth and everything is ready for the movers. We have sorted, tossed, condensed and organized as much as we can. I even parted with two more boxes of books by blessing one of the local support groups with some materials via Gwynne, a new friend I just met.

As usual, food is a huge challenge for me...the big freezer is empty as well as the outside pantry. But what do I make with these weird leftover ingredients? *LOL* Popcorn and navy beans just doesn't sound yummy to me...how 'bout you?

So the remaining schedule/plan is this:

30 May-31 May - NASCAR weekend here in Dover so stay home and avoid traffic! Butterfly working for extra money at a concession.
1  June - Church
2 June - Final hair appts
3 June - Packers start
4 June - Continue packing; move to TLF; Bug's friend's graduation; Butterfly Dr appt
5 June - Crate boxes; Movers done
6 June - Clean house; carpet cleaners do their thing; Beloved Outprocess base; Squadron function
7 June -
8 June - Church; return rental car
9 June - catch cab to BWI and ALOHA!

I think I already mentioned we will be staying at the Hale Koa for a while and then a temporary house for 5-6 months. Then one more move and into new housing when it's completed. Stay tuned for more updates and I should be back to regular blogging by mid-July.