another one of those days I should have stayed in bed

Yesterday at work, I was on the phone in search of an engine that was supposed to have been shipped to us a week ago. I got the guy I needed on the phone and he assured me that it had been shipped on the 13th and should be in Hilo waiting for me. Uh...Hilo? Hilo is on the opposite side of the island that I'm on and about a 2 1/2 hour drive. NOT where this this was supposed to go. The guy apologized for the screw-up and promised that they'd reimburse us traveling expenses. Fortunately for me, school hasn't started yet, so my friend, Chris, who's starting as a teacher in a week, is currently jobless. He was more than willing to make a few extra bucks driving to Hilo and back. I handed him the keys to the company truck, which is a nasty old beater, but gets the job done, and sent him on his way about 9 this morning. At about 2pm, he calls to say the truck is overheating and giving him problems, but he's doing his best to get back. Around 3 I get the call that I need to come rescue him, and bring lots of water for a very overheated engine. Then, the kicker, he's at mile marker 29 on Saddle road, about 50 miles away. Saddle road is not one of my favorite places to drive - since our island is essentially a huge mountain, most roads go around the edges of it, but Saddle road cuts right through the middle of the mountains and is a blatant example of local corrupt politics. Hawaii island is one big county, the county seat being Hilo, from the top of Saddle road to Hilo, the road is pretty much a 2 lane super highway, complete with street lights, curbs and all kinds of pretty stuff. On the flip side, the Kona side of Saddle road got repaved in some places within the last couple years, but in a lot of spots it's single lane, no shoulder and back to back potholes. It's this side that I had to drive. Meeting up in the middle of all this is a military base, and that's where I found Chris. He filled the radiator and together we sat at the side of the road, talking and listening to the military blow stuff up over the next hill while waiting for the engine to cool. We did this about 3 times before finally the truck wouldn't start at all. Chris managed to strong man push it off the side of the road where we abandoned it for the night. We crammed the engine he was picking up into the car and drove the remaining 30 miles back into town. I finally got home around 7pm. Tomorrow morning, we're going back to give it another shot. The only plus side to this is that Chris is a lot of fun to talk to, so at least there'll be good conversation - a very important thing since the radio in my car doesn't work. Today, we made up for that loss by singing Dr. Horrible songs while trying to fix the truck.

the logistics of moving from Hawaii

To answer Jeanie's question: When we moved down here over 4 years ago, we got rid of just about everything we owned. At that time, the maximum amount you could take on an airplane at no charge was 2 check-ins and 2 carry-ons. So, that's what we brought with us. For the six of us that meant 12 check in suitcases at 50lbs each and 12 carry-ons. We kept some things in Wisconsin and every time we went back up, we brought another couple suitcases of stuff back. All it took was about one or two trips back up there and we had everything we needed. Hubs shipped a bunch of his tools down here on USPS flat rate boxes when he sold the business up there. Things have changed in the airline industry as well as the fact that it's pretty unlikely that we'll be making multiple trips back down to Hawaii in the future. Hubby's got some work down here he'll be coming back for, but as for the rest of us, I don't see it happening. So, our trip up is a little bit different than when we made the trip down. Once again, we're getting rid of just about everything we own - things are SO much cheaper on the Mainland that it really doesn't pay to bring things up there. But, there are some things that we'd like to take back. We're doing the suitcase cram again, but in addition, we've packed up a pallet load of stuff to ship back to Wisconsin - we just dropped it at the shippers this morning, as a matter of fact. So, we're sending about 800 lbs worth of stuff, tools, kitchen stuff, clothes, etc, first on a boat to LA, then on a truck on to Wisconsin. We'll get it in about a month. Some people send container loads of stuff back, but even a small, u-pack container (about 6'x7'x8') would cost us about $6000 to ship and frankly, my junk isn't worth that much. Like I said, it's so much cheaper to just replace what we need once we get there that shipping stuff just isn't worth the hassle. I've got a friend who did the container thing, but she's much more of a home decorating person and was really attached to her furniture (figuratively, not literally :P ) Since we've lived in the house we're in now for 1 1/2 years and I never did get around to hanging pictures on the wall, it's pretty obvious that I'm no Martha Stewart - so the house stuff goes and I won't miss it.

taking a break

It's been a busy week. I'm not used to having to go into work every day, and to have those days be nine hours long really takes some adjusting. But, my having an excuse to be gone all day does have its advantages. Hubby had to do his own grunt work getting all his stuff out of the house so we can be out of here at the end of the month. Today the shop where I work is open from 9-1, but Angel #2 worked there today. She answers phones and takes customer's money and that kind of thing, which is all that's needed on Saturdays for the most part. While she was working, Angel #4 and I spent the morning at the park at the special Olympics island soccer tournament. The athletes playing soccer are mostly the same guys who were on the softball team this spring, so we know them all and had fun cheering them on. Some of the other spectators and I were talking and we decided that Special Olympics soccer is so much more fun to watch the professional soccer that if it were televised, we'd definitely take the time to sit down and watch it. Watching someone do something perfectly isn't nearly as enjoyable as watching people struggle against obstacles in order to be the best they can be - and if they screw up, nobody's going to get on their case about it. One of our guys accidentally made a goal for the other team, not only did the other team cheer, but our guy got congratulated by his own team for making a goal. That's what makes Special Olympics special. I sure hope there's a local chapter where we're moving so I can continue to volunteer. The thing I'm going to miss most about leaving here is my friends at Special Olympics.

stick a fork in me - I'm done

Big successful garage sale again today. Since we can't have one at our house, (we've got a one way only driveway, you drive in and back out, and it's up a steep hill) we haul everything over to my friend Sunny's house. To cut down on the stuff to haul, we just put a sign at the end of our driveway yesterday and hoped we'd get a few people. Hubby put out his tools and between them and all my stock-piled food I have to get rid of, we made a good haul yesterday and made three times as much today at the real sale. We've still got some stuff lying around here we need to get rid of, but I think we're all garage saled out and will just find some other way to get rid of it.

We've met some interesting people while garage saleing. Hubs met a guy who is as addicted to tools as him and we met this awesome young Micronesian family - she actually bakes her own bread (I was beginning to think I'm the only one) and bought a bunch of the flour we had stored. They also bought a bunch of other stuff and as they were leaving, noticed we had a breadfruit tree and asked if they could have some. It's nice seeing people who work to take care of themselves instead of depending on foodstamps or other assistance.

Anyhooters, we had a very productive weekend and now we're all exhausted. But, it's another step taken and soon we'll be on our way up north.

I'm a Craigslist junkie

Small piece of advice, if you want to sit through supper, NEVER post 10 Craigslist ads at a time in the late afternoon. My phone was ringing off the hook and people were coming in and out of my house. But I sold some things, even some stuff I hadn't listed for sale yet. So, it's all "G".

We're getting ready for Garage Sale-The Sequel on Saturday. Once again, my house is full of bags and boxes of stuff we're going to get rid of and everything's got little orange price tags on them. This whole moving thing is getting old real fast, I can't wait for the end of the month when I can have this over with and can sit and relax without thinking of the one billion things that I should be doing.

Hawaiian kine rodeo

Yesterday morning, Angel #2 and I went to the rodeo. Shortly after we moved to here we went to a rodeo and I remembered that it had been different than the ones we'd gone to on the Mainland, but I couldn't remember why. Sunday reminded me. They've got some completely different events down here - one is called poo wai u, which is a roping event that originated here by the paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys) which simulates tying a steer to a tree trunk. There's also calf mugging and one that had the angel and I wondering. "Calf dressing," she said. "I've heard of turkey and dressing, but never calf dressing." Turns out it's exactly what it sounds like. Different local businesses put up an entry fee, the winner of the event gets the entry fee money to donate to their favorite charity. Three employees of the business (not cowboys) form a team and whoever dresses a calf in a tee-shirt the fastest is the winner. Yep, calf DRESSING. It was pretty darn funny seeing those cows wandering around the area with big ol' tee-shirts on. While watching the rodeo, #2 and I snacked on poi balls, not exactly traditional rodeo fare, unless you live in Hawaii. They were so darn good that I know that's going to be something I'm going to miss when we move back to Wisconsin.

Hubby and the two younger kids got home from their month in WI yesterday afternoon. Hubs is going to go through his stuff and get it packed and shipped this week hopefully. That much less I'll have to angst over. I put a whole bunch of stuff on Craigslist this morning and could have sold my sofa about 5 times over. Now, if I can only find someone who wants to buy a few of the fifteen million bookshelves I've got we'll be in business.

WE has his buddy over today and they've spent the afternoon blowing up water bottles filled with baking soda, vinegar and rice (aka shrapnel). It's been so quiet here the last month, I guess he's trying to make up for all that silence now.

How many times can you sell the same refrigerator?

The answer to the question above is: four Yes, that's how many times we sold our refrigerator before someone finally drove off with it, never to be seen by me again. The first time someone said they'd come back in the afternoon to pick it up and pay for it and they never showed. The 2nd and 3rd time the person was going to come back and get it, then called later to say someone gave them a refrigerator so they didn't need to buy ours - the 3rd buyer even gave me a check, which I had to void out. Part of the problem is that the fridge was down in our basement and difficult to get up to a spot where it could be loaded. I decided to solve this problem by asking Tony, the guy I work for, to help me get it up to the porch so it could be easily loaded when it sold again. Tony liked the fridge and simply loaded it in his truck and now it's gone. YAY! I told him NO returns! I've got another refrigerator and 2 chest freezers to sell yet before this is all over.

Is anybody else watching Persons Unknown? The Angel and I have watched every episode so far and have a good time discussing theories on what we think is going on and what everyones dirty little secret is. We were both a bit shocked at the end of the latest episode and I'm sure we'll be discussing motivation and reasons for the rest of the week...as well as, is Tori going to be back for the next episode, or will she get chased down by the big black semi? And who is driving that semi anyway? And, could Bill be any more irritating? Tune in next week and see!