Day 2 - the Joy of Painter's Rags....

I got up early on Saturday and headed down to the lagoons to do a little snorkeling and try to get some pictures with an underwater camera. There were so many pretty fish! The sky was a brilliant blue, an October blue, fading to turquoise near the horizon. The ocean was a gorgeous indigo. A perfect day to paint! ha!

Later that morning, we headed out to Home Depot to buy painting supplies. Even though we both loved the main paint theme of the house, blue and cream, the 4th bedroom / den was painted the harshest shade of yellow I've ever seen. I can't even quite describe it. It wasn't a gold, and it wasn't quite orange. It wasn't a sunny yellow. It was just ugly. It had to go.

I'd discovered an extra can of paint for the creamy sand color they'd used in the large main hallway, so I knew we were after Raffia Cream from Behr. But of course we also needed painter's tape, a paint can opener, a roller, brushes, a paint pad thingy, a box of painter's rags, and who knows what else for $143.

Chris didn't want me to do any painting, which I actually found a little frustrating since I thought it would be kinda fun. I've been watching all those decorating shows on HGTV and was ready to give it a whirl. But he convinced me we'd just have to buy two sets of equipment, so I relented.

While he was prepping and painting, I worked on the kitchen. The cabinets were pretty clean inside, but there were a few spots here and there. The stainless steel appliances also had some spots on them, esp the fridge where water had run down the front from the ice / water dispenser in the door. The previous owners had left "stainless steel magic" and to me the only magic was that the company got people to pay for the product, since it didn't do a thing. I made a mid-afternoon run for lunch and supplies and bought the old reliable "Brasso" which did a great job.

I set the oven cleaning function and it did just fine, though the funny silver stuff in the bottom of the oven remained. It didn't smell funny, smoke, or flame, so it's welcome to stay. Did discover that the stains on the oven door are actually inside the door. They seemed to have spilled something down the vents of the oven door, so the stain is actually on the inside of the outside pane of glass of the oven door. The only way to clean that is to take the door apart or buy a new one. And I might do one or the other - with the way the rest of the kitchen sparkles, having that ugly stained door just makes me wince.

I also wandered around outside and watered a few plants that aren't on the irrigation system and plucked off some of the dead palm fronds. I couldn't help examining them more closely. Even though they were brown, they were still supple, not brittle. I can see Tammy weaving a basket out of them.

One of our side yards is very narrow, and currently has a concrete walkway and a narrow strip of plants. It's a hodge podge. Starts with a nice little evergreen and then a very pretty little tree w/ variegated leaves. Then comes several scraggly rose bushes, a hibiscus, a plumeria, a grape vine (yes, a lonely little grape vine), a large succulent looking thingy with big pointy leaves, and ends with a couple more rose bushes.

We're going to get our future landscape guy to just put in a uniform set of easy-to-care-for plants. I'm hoping the pretty tree, the plumeria, the hibiscus, and the large pointy thing can be transplanted somewhere else. Those poor ol' rose bushes are like the yellow paint - gotta go.

As the afternoon wore on, I so enjoyed spending time in the house, seeing how much sun came in, experimented with ways to keep some of it out, and just watched the light change in general. We had a lovely sunset with the mountains in the background. The only thing that mars our view is a restaurant nearby that has a large sign on its facade "Korean BBQ Buffet."

Chris only needed to put one coat on the yellow, and it looked great. It's amazing how much difference a coat of paint can make. The room, large to begin with at 13X15, looks even bigger now.

After dark, I turned on all the outside lights, including the light in the pool. Wow, it was gorgeous out there. We just have the prettiest house on this island. I didn't want to leave. Kept thinking of excuses to hang around. But finally hunger took hold and I went to the nearby shopping center for Chinese take out, and then we headed back to Ko Olina for the night.

Home Ownership Begins

Yes, it's finally official! I received The Call this morning with the lock box combination, and the news that the deed had officially recorded.

Oddly enough, I didn't rush right over there. I finished up some things at work, then drove around one of the neighborhood shopping centers and had a cheeseburger value meal at McDonald's. As I drove to the house, I noticed that we can see the ocean from our neighborhood. For some reason, I was nervous.

I got to the house and parked in our carport for the first time. The lockbox didn't open the first time around, but I fiddled with it and figured it out. The key looked like the holy grail. I opened the door, our door, and went on in. I started opening windows to let in the breeze, and walked through each room. Finally, it was completely empty.

Well, almost empty. There were a lot of cleaning supplies in the bathroom, under the sink, and in the laundry room. I suppose that's okay, but the amount of mildew remover in the bathroom made me pause. They left their mildewed shower curtain as evidence of that. They also left a plant in the bathroom which looks like an orchid that has recently bloomed (no flowers left), and I'm sure I'll kill the poor thing before it blooms again....

I also found one inhabitant left in the house, a large cockroach in the bottom of the kitchen trash can. I took both outside and dumped the little guy on the sidewalk. The most disconcerting thing was the uncleaned oven. It's a self-cleaning oven, so not like that takes a lot of work... We had both noticed the dirty oven each time we'd been there, so my suspicions are strong on that one. It's the one thing we didn't check on the walk-through. We certainly turned the oven on, but not the three-hour self cleaning function....

They left food in the fridge, too. About 8 eggs, a loaf of wheat bread, several large hunks of different kinds of cheese (looks like party leftovers) and a lot of fruit. In the freezer they left us eight cans of various types of frozen juices. In the small fridge just for drinks, they left us a fair amount of bottled water, which we were going to buy for the movers anyway, some diet coke, some beer (which we weren't going to buy for the movers) and a bottle of sparkling hard cider.

Then I called my mother, giving her the honor of being the first phone call from the new house. After that, I hung up the two shower curtains I'd purchased at WalMart yesterday. For one of them, the little hooks have palm trees - couldn't resist that island touch....

Next I called a locksmith to re-do the lock. While I was waiting for him, I fooled around with the fireproof safe they left us. I practiced with the door open, but when I shut the door, couldn't open it again. So I gave up on that and went to stick my feet in the pool.

After the locksmith arrived, I started reading the manuals for the appliances. Found out the oven has a "Sabbath" feature you can turn on for those Orthodox Jews who can do no work on the sabbath. It also has a convection oven feature, which is handy (we had that in England), and a slow-cook feature, like a crockpot. It has one of those ceramic cooktops, which we had in Germany, and didn't like it much, but perhaps they've improved in five years.

I also had time to read the manual on the safe and discovered how to open the door after all. You need both a key and the keypad code. It also has a fingerprint device, but I'll just stick with the code... In fact, I had lots of time with that locksmith. It felt like enough time to try out the self-cleaning oven, but finally he was done.

The owners left us a power washer in addition to the lawn mower. We don't have much of a lawn but we do have quite a few plants around the edges of the yard, and will probably hire a little landscape man to do the yard work for us. There's also a beach ball in the side yard. A pool toy!

Our orange tree is overflowing! Our lemon tree is, too. Our lime tree still has flowers (smells like honeysuckle) and little tiny baby limes just starting to grow. We have some rose bushes but the sun is just beating them up. I'm going to ask our future landscape guy (the one I haven't actually found yet) about replacing them with something better suited. I love roses, but those poor bushes look terrible, and that part of the yard has a drip irrigation system, so they're getting watered regularly, but it's just not enough.

Before I left, I petted the neighbors' dogs through the fence. I walked back through the house, turning off fans, closing windows, shutting the door and finally locking it with our new key.

We have this rental unit through the 10th, and our household goods are being delivered on Tuesday the 2nd. So we'll stay here through the weekend and part of next week as we unpack. But by this time next Friday, I guess we'll be at the house for good. Our first house in 9 years. Our only single family house. I even got excited looking at the mailbox today. I've never gotten mail from my own individual mailbox before!

And at least we'll be able to make cheese omelets with toast and juice....

Impatiently awaiting....

I am very much looking forward to going to work on Monday because now the passing of every day is one step closer to being in our home. I have researched paint, vacuum cleaners, HDTVs, plants, and started a little floor plan program (until I realized I didn't have any dimensions of our current furniture).

I've shopped for various small appliances but haven't bought any because I don't want to move them around twice. (I figure moving out of here is going to be painful enough as it is, with all the stuff we mailed and brought in suitcases.) Yesterday I was hunting down sheets, towels and shower curtains and greatly missing Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens'N'Things, neither of which this island has.

I did find a sofa that will be delivered on Friday, Sept 5th, but we still need a coffee table, and at least one other chair for the living room. I've researched bookshelves and storage options for DVDs and CDs for the hundreds that Chris owns of each. All we have for our master bedroom is the sleigh bed from England; no nightstands or chests of drawers for clothes. Neither of us is too thrilled with the current bedspread, so I've been looking at bed-in-a-bag and other options on various internet sites. I keep debating various window treatment options. I want to find some really stunning outdoor furniture.

But now I'm tired of living my life thru this computer. I want to go buy something, anything, and put it in my new house. I want to hang a shower curtain. I want to fold towels and put them away in my little linen closets. I want to put stuff in those nice turn-around shelves in the corner cabinet in the kitchen. I want to run thru the house turning the lights off and on. I want to wash clothes in my own washer and dryer. I want to play with the oven. I want to stock the fridge. And after that, I want to swim in my pool, then relax in my spa and then eat an orange from my tree. I want to ride my bike around my new neighborhood. I want to walk across the street and pick up some fresh veg from Safeway.

And all of that has to wait.

At the walk-through, the agent said we could get in this weekend. Chris replied, "I don't know why we'd want to do that." But of course we want to do that! Er, at least one of us does. I want to get bottled water and treats ready for the movers. I want to hang those shower curtains. I want to open all the closets and kitchen cabinets and see them completely empty. I want to touch the plants and smell the roses. I want to see my car in the carport. I want to feel like this beautiful, peaceful sanctuary is really ours.

I realized the other day that as an adult, I've never lived in a single family house before. I've lived in apartments and townhouses and condos and flats and duplexes. This is the first time we've had a little plot of land all our own. (We plan to hire a landscaping firm...)

The Olympics were a great distraction, but now they've come to an end. So yes, work can't come fast enough. It's a good way to make this week go by fast, this odd week as we continue to finish this process piecemeal. It's an escrow state, after all.

I tell myself to enjoy each day as it comes, to welcome what each moment has to offer. Not working. At least, not at this moment. I'm tired of this semi-vacation lifestyle.

I'm ready for reality. I think...

Home shopping!

I woke up today so excited as I looked forward to sales and shopping for our new house! It's not quite ours yet. Buying a home here has been a pretty weird experience. "It's an escrow state," I keep hearing over and over again. You don't get all the parties together at one time and sign everything over, but you do it piecemeal.

On Thursday, we did the walk-through. It was nice to see the place empty! And there's something about it that still strikes me as gorgeous and peaceful every time I walk in the door. I don't really know what feng shui is, but I think this place has it in spades...

On Friday, Chris and I went to sign the papers to have the house deed recorded in our name. The sellers had come in earlier in the day. Sometime Monday or Tuesday, we'll sign the mortgage papers. Sometime between Tuesday and Thursday at 11:00, we're supposed to get the rest of the downpayment to the escrow company. Then, the deed will finally be recorded next Friday, we hope, and we'll get a call from our real estate agent, probably around 10:00, that we own the property. At that point, we'll meet our agent there, and he will have the lockbox code to open that, give us the key, remove the lockbox, and finally, it will be ours.

We received word that our household goods have arrived, so we have arranged for delivery on Sept 2nd, the Tuesday after Labor Day. I am so excited about getting our things and re-discovering them! We'll experience the joy of being reunited with our treasures and the befuddlement of "We packed this? I thought we threw that out in Australia," that kind of thing.

I shopped both Sears and Macy's today, though didn't buy anything. Didn't consider their prices to really qualify as "sale" quite yet, so am hoping next weekend (Labor Day!) will bring out the big sales. Macy's did have 800-thread-count sheets - haven't seen anything like that before! And it was great to see so many Lands End items in person rather than in a catalog. I didn't know they sold flatware... May also just check Wal-mart. If the brand and/or thread count is good, I don't care where I buy sheets and towels. Shopping did make me miss Marks and Spencers from England, though. I really liked the stuff I bought there, and am looking forward to seeing it again soon!

The mall I went to today, Pearlridge, is closer than the ritzy Ala Moana, and since it had stores I like to go to, I thought I would give it a shot. But like a lot of things in this escrow state, it was a bit odd. They built the first part in the 70's, and it's kind of grown up in a strange way ever since. It seems more to me like two malls joined together by a lot of parking structures and a small monorail (.50 each way). They call the two sections "Uptown" and "Downtown". There's also been a couple of strip malls that have joined in, and they're now "East" and "West." The monorail was cool, though. You can see Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial as you ride along...

We need a lot of furniture since we sold a good chunk of it in England. Last weekend, I bought a cream leather sofa for the living room, and I also looked around for coffee tables. Found a glass-topped one with beautiful curved legs that would have looked perfect, but not for $1,595. When I was sofa shopping, I also found a cream leather sofa for $57,759. Yup, $57 thousand dollars.

"You're sure it wasn't $57 hundred?" asked Chris. Yes, honey, I am sure, since I checked that price twice. I sat on it, too. Wanted to see what $57 thousand dollars felt like on my behind. It was comfy. I wish I could describe it, because it was both unusual and beautiful. Had sort of a ruched look. I wasn't surprised it was expensive; just didn't expect it to be quite that expensive. However, it makes the sofa that I did purchase look very reasonably priced! ha!

I plan to spend the evening drawing out our rooms on graph paper and positioning the furniture that we have. Chris looks at me like I'm nuts when I do stuff like that, but I enjoy it. Oh, and I'd better practice that music this weekend so Dr. Yoo won't look at me funny during Monday's rehearsal.

It's nice to be settling in now and feeling less like a tourist or like we're just on a long business trip. Sometimes I still can't quite believe we really live here, in this beautiful, balmy, traffic-clogged escrow state.

Making music in Hawaii

One of the things I was determined to do here was have a better balanced life. So I decided to plunge in with some hobbies I'd neglected in England, and get those habits established again before I let myself make work my hobby.

I probably needed a little time off from choral practices after Alice Springs, but 2.5 years was enough! I checked out choral groups as well as I could on the internet, and contacted the Honolulu Symphony Chorus. They were having auditions in August, so I signed up.

We were to bring a prepared piece, such as a hymn, aria or art song, and also be ready to do some sight reading. I found someone at work with a hymnal and got a copy of "Be Thou My Vision."

When it came time for the audition, it was one of the more embarrassing and confusing moments of my musical career. I've auditioned before, but nothing like this. After singing the hymn, and getting lots of funny looks from the director (Dr. Yoo), she put me through some vocal exercises. She told me I'm starting too much of my sound at the back and need to throw the sound out from the front. I'm pushing the sound and need to relax.

Okay. Voice teachers and choral directors always say stuff like that, and I do my best to understand, but I'm a pretty pragmatic type. I've never really understood what they mean. Basically, vocal cords vibrate and sound comes out. All this back and front stuff - what IS that anyway? And relax? In those circumstances? If they want me to relax, tell me a joke. But don't tell me to relax. What good does that do....

At one point she asked me if I'd ever taken voice lessons. All kinds of musical memories flashed through my head. The professional singers who've complimented my sound. The two trophies I won at the Eisteddfood and the professional jurist's compliments. Singing at the Alice Springs fireworks. Singing the Laudamus Te duet from Vivaldi's Gloria. Other singers who asked how much training I'd had. So being asked if I'd ever had any training - well, it was a bit deflating.

Then she had me sight-read about four lines of music. I don't normally think of myself as afraid of sight-reading, but having to do it completely cold and a capella; oh boy. It was painful. I wished later I'd at least said what was in my head - that I noticed the key, the time signature, that kind of thing. Maybe it would have helped me focus.

There were a couple of other parts to the audition, but I don't have the heart to try to describe them! I slunk home after that, stopping at Costco for gas and some quick errands. I learned one thing from that experience - 8pm at night is a great time to stop at Costco...

But then, much to my surprise, an e-mail appeared congratulating me on being a part of the Honolulu Symphony Chorus! It came with a couple of cautions, such as I need to work on sightreading, but I was in, at least for one rehearsal.

The first rehearsal started with a pot luck. I've never been to a potluck with so much sushi before. I met a few people, Marsha from the mainland, and someone from Sweden. I complimented Dr. Yoo on her cool shoes, gold high heels with pointy toes (she seemed to like that...). This chorus is strict on seating, and I was put between Elizabeth on the left and Sue on the right, both lovely, tiny Asian ladies. I felt like a cow in between them.

But the actual rehearsal seemed to go okay. I didn't feel out of my league. The director, Dr. Yoo, looked funny my way a couple of times, but I keep hoping she was looking at someone else...

So we'll see how long I last!

Obama comes home!

Yes, Barack Obama is here on the island, enjoying a vacation. He was born here and graduated from high school here, though I think he also lived in Indonesia as a child. He arrived on Friday and attended a rally in a park, the only event that will be open to the general public. People started lining up at 4:30am for the 12:30pm opening. A few soundbites from his speech were on the evening news, including his plans, such as a possible plate lunch at Zippy's (we've been there!), some shave ice (yes, that's shave ice without the "d"), body surfing and just relaxing on the beach.

He's staying at some $8.3million estate in Kailua, a beautiful part of the island. He was jogging on the beach Saturday morning around 6:30am with two Secret Service agents, when he was spotted by a local woman who sent in her picture of him to the Honolulu Advertiser. More people hung out at those beaches in general on Saturday hoping to get another look, though one woman expressed disappointment that those people weren't watching the filming of "Lost", which was what she hoped to do...

He then played golf in the afternoon (no report on his score), went to see his grandma for a short visit, and then went to dinner with his family in Chinatown. I thought he looked too thin, so I hope he eats hearty while he's here and has lots of those plate lunches. That Chinese food may not do it....

We have started watching lots of Olympic coverage and trying to avoid the news since Beijing is 18 hours ahead of us. Most of what we see is delayed tape coverage, so if we're not careful, we will know the results before we see the events and that's no fun.

I bought a snorkel and mask at Kmart and I think it's been the best 18.99 I've spent so far. I feel a mild sense of claustrophobia when I first put on that mask with the way it covers your nose, so I was a little nervous about doing it again. But as soon as I started seeing fish, I was so overcome with the wonder of it all. Something about snorkeling delights and relaxes me like few other things do. I just love watching the fish! Some of them were BIG, too.

I missed seeing some of the color of the reefs, but that's okay. To be able to walk to a place where I can snorkel still seems like a miracle. I saw some parrot fish (I think), flat fish, striped fish, schools of silvery fish, little tiny fish, one really spotted yellow and black fish, yellow-white-black striped fish. And they were just hanging out, looking for dinner, ignoring me completely. They're so fast, some of them! I'm going to have to get a guide on Hawaiian fish to know what I'm looking at. Not that it really matters. They're beautiful anyway.

Well, almost time for more Olympic coverage to start! Can't wait to see tomorrow how Obama spent his Sunday...

Food in Hawaii...

Native Hawaiians apparently have a fair amount of problems with being overweight, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Some of the dietary conventions here don't help. A very common thing at the local restaurants is the plate lunch, which typically contains large helpings of rice and macaroni salad along with some kind of meat. You can even go to some of the local grocery stores and get a plate lunch. The local restaurants offer the plate lunch concept at dinner, too. I like the rice (most offer a brown rice option), but I can pass on most of the macaroni salads I've tasted.

The other thing we've noticed is that we haven't seen a liquor store of any kind. You can buy beer, wine, and even hard liquor at all the grocery stores we've been to, so maybe there aren't any specialized liquor stores. I just did a quick Google and found a few, but not a lot.

The grocery stores all have a section with Asian foods, different kinds of rice, lots of soy and teriyaki sauce, and most have a Mexican section as well. But I've seen very little Indian food and I already miss that. In fact, I think all I've seen is a couple of jars of Pataki pastes, and that's it. Mmmm. I could go for some butter chicken and Naan bread....

Driving in Paradise... (is it a highway or a parking lot??)

We started our jobs last week, so between that and the house purchase, I've had a lot of distractions to keep me from writing! Our new home will be just a few minutes from work, maybe 10-15, and I'm looking forward to having a short commute again. Schools started here on Tuesday (apparently Hawaii has one of those year-round school calendars), and the increase in traffic was notable. Plus, there's some road construction and maintenance going on near this resort, and it can really make traffic crawl. Our commute last week took anywhere from 22 min to 45.

I decided to go to the "Remodel It Right" homeshow at the Hawaii convention center on Saturday and set out about 9:10. I figured I would get there about 9:45, and the home show started at 10:00am, so that gave me plenty of time to park and walk there. But there was an accident on the H-1 interstate, closing two lanes, and traffic just crawled. It took me over an hour to get there, but that is something I have to learn to live with here. The traffic is just incredible. I turned on the radio and tried to be calm. I really miss the SmartCar! Something about driving it always made me happy. I don't have quite the same emotional attachment to the Honda Fit we bought, and I doubt that I ever will (though it is growing on me).

I parked at the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu and walked to the convention center from there, planning to do some shopping afterward. Our new home was just recently beautifully remodeled, but I was hoping to find decorating and furniture info. There wasn't a lot of that there, but I enjoyed walking around and seeing what the show had to offer. Check out the Big Rock site: http://bigrockhawaii.com/index.html

The Ala Moana mall is just gorgeous, and has lots of ritzy stores for shopping (not buying, just shopping). My main goal this time around, though, was Sears for its Lands End collection. I was trying to get some of their sandals without having to pay shipping costs. Chris had already pointed out to me that there are lots of places to buy sandals on this island, which is true, but I really like the comfort of the Lands End sandals, and many of the ones here are the thong style, which I hate. I just don't want to walk around the office making that slappy noise all day.

But of course, once I'm there, I had to check out other stores as well, and Hilo Hattie's was having a sale, so I bought another Aloha shirt. Can't have enough flowered shirts around here...
They also had a calendar for .99 for 2009, which included a picture for December of Mauna Loa on the Big Island, covered in snow. I'm looking forward to going to Maui or the BI in the winter and taking some of my wool sweaters with me! By then I may miss them....

It didn't take me quite as long to get home, but I can see that trips to the Ala Moana will be few and far between, when I really need a mall fix. I'm having a hard time adjusting to all the traffic here. The big local debate currently is whether or not to fund and put in a light rail system. It's a very confused situation with a lot of emotions on both sides, but if rail were available, I'd take it!

But for the last five years, I really haven't done a lot of driving. There weren't many places to go in Alice Springs, and I mostly used the car just to go back and forth to work in Harrogate. I walked into town for most of our errands, which was actually very nice, and we took the train for any longer trips. Our house here is near a small shopping center, so we can walk there, and I hope I can use my bike to go to the larger shopping areas nearby (though we'll be living near hills! So using the bike might get interesting...)

Later in the week I plan to write a little more abt work and about the house. If I'm not stuck in traffic.