Our property is almost a yard!

I almost cringe with guilt whenever I refer to the extra land our house sits on as "a yard," because it really is not a yard at all.

The front of our house is so overgrown with weeds, it hurts to look at it. When we moved in it was a total jungle.

The good news is that I seem to have narrowed down the number of species of weeds from about 10 to 2, with both of them being incredibly resilient. Nothing will grow as long as they cover the ground.

I avoid making eye contact with our neighbors because I'm so embarrassed by the front yard. It's my goal to have it looking yard-of-the-month good by December. I don't know if the neighbors know this, but I am too shy to tell them. Although I bet it is all in my head, I imagine that they feel hostile about the lack of progress on the front yard. Perhaps they swear at me under their breath for keeping their home values down.

(In our defense, the house was un-lived in for four years, with no yard care. Those weeds had a head start!)

THE BACK:

The back yard has been a rocky wasteland since we moved in. It's literally all rock, rubble and scree. Nothing grows there. It is desert. It is not a nice place. And without a pickup truck, a ton of resources, tropical vegetation know-how and extra manpower, nothing was going to get done.

So we hired a landscaper; and are doing a lot of the labor ourselves to make it affordable. He brings tools, equipment, resources, knowledge and his own manpower. Finally, I think we're getting somewhere.

I wish we could afford to have him do the front yard too.

On Friday we got mulch on the North side of our house. That will be our future melon patch. (And mulch is free, thank goodness).

In the to-be-grassed area we will be growing Tangelos, limes, avocados, and two palms worth of coconuts. We are debating whether or not to plant pineapples along the fenceline, or to put in wild flowers.

The vegetable garden will have loads of basil (I have so much already, and extra seeds to spare!), carrots, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, spinach, green beans, and tomatoes.

If any of you have suggestions about other fruits or vegetables that grow well in warm climates, let me know! I will try to find the seeds.

Hopefully after several more days work I will have a progress-in-pictures post.

Quickie - Hair loss, etc.

Quick update:

-Today, I took a Japanese couple's order completely in Japanese. And I got it right. And they left a hefty tip. Aw yeah.

-I have discovered the secret to hair loss! If you are considering have your hair thinned out, do just this: buy a brand new home in Hawaii. With brand new, extremely expensive carpets. To expedite the hair loss or add some greying to the fun, get dogs...dogs who love dirt and poop are ideal for grey hair and receding hair lines.

On that note, if anyone can recommend the most amazing carpet shampooer on planet Earth, I am all ears. Mahalo!

Updated Guest Room

I have felt inspired to get our guest room a little more updated. I have my eyes on Craigslist every day for the perfect dresser and queen sized day bed. Right now we have a full sized futon acting as a daybed.

As much as I love the colors on our walls, I am tired of boring walls with no art! I broke down and bought a few pieces on Etsy last week for the guest room. By the way, have I mentioned that I am really into Octopi lately? They are really gorgeous and graceful under water. Obsessed. I also wanted to have some sea-life art in the house without doing the tacky, outdated "island style" decorating.

Here are a few pics of the updated guest room:

A few works of art on the wall.

Walking into the room.

Close-up of the futon, set up day bed style. Really comfy for watching TV. (Since the guest room doubles as our entertainment room).

 

Some photos I like in here. The pink one is by a girl from art school (I feel bad that I forgot her name), and the green truck is by Patricia Scarborough.

One of the octopus prints.

Fat

It has been almost six months since my visit to the hospital. I have to check the dates, but I think that's about right. That means it's been almost that long since I got off gluten, and about 5 months since I got off corn.

One thing I was told about food allergies (especially the gluten one) was that a symptom can be inability to maintain weight or accumulate a normal amount of body fat.

And my body is finally getting it.

And I am freaking. out.

It's not unhealthy. It's just that...I have always had the bmi of a professional athlete, even when I wasn't in great shape. I always had some kind of ab definition, and a booty that was round from muscle, not fat. I never had cellulite or even any soft spots on my body. So the recent changes and new discoveries are a little unsettling.

Any body change for anyone can be scary. I suppose this is why a lot of women express a sense of panic after weight gain.

I am not big by any means, but my body is definitely changing. I went my whole life thinking that staying in shape would be a breeze because I couldn't gain weight even when I was trying to (unless it was mass amounts of muscle from training for huge events).

It has dawned on me that I have joined the ranks of every other normal American; and that if I want nice abs and a cute butt I'm going to have to work my ass of for it...just like everyone else.

I noticed it the most recently when I was swimming in the pool and realized that my butt was so bouyant it was floating above the water. It was too bouyant. I wasn't quite on plane!

I am more active now that I have a less demanding job; so it should be interesting to see how my body evolves with its newfound ability to accumulate this strange jiggly stuff.

And the winner is!

Rambo!

We tried so many names. Rambo fits best. :-)

In other news, I got the surfboard, and a few basic art supplies to do non-color oil paintings. Grey-scale.

Check out the video in the post below. It's from the scuba dive Ike and I did to celebrate our first year of marriage.

First Anniversary Dive Video

Here's a short video from the dive we went on for our first anniversary yesterday. It's in Honokohau harbor which is about a 5 minute drive, we can see the bay from our driveway. 

Hoping that our GoPro and iMovie skills improve the more we record our dives.

Poll # 2

I have a dilemma.

For our first anniversary, my husband offered to re-build my art studio. That entails replacing all the items that didn't make it over the ocean when we moved here. Top-shelf art supplies for people who prefer to go with their classically-trained backgrounds are pricey.

This offer thrills me.

But he also said that I have the option of getting a surf board instead if I want. Which would mean more time in the ocean, and more time with him. This also thrills me, but surf boards are not cheap.

I have a few days to decide.

Please help me. Poll to the right. :-)

So...Tired...

You know how new parents often talk (with dark circles under their eyes and their shoes on the wrong feet) about how tired they are because they baby keeps them going around the clock?

Well, new puppies aren't nearly that exhaustive. But they are exhaustive enough that I have a new respect for new parents; all the while having absolutely no idea how they muster the human strength.

The pup is awesome. He and Honey are best friends (they get along even better than we hoped they would).

But he does nap most of the day [intense stone-cold naps], which leaves him with LOADS of energy at night. When we partition him off at night, all that energy and preference to be with someone leads to crying ALL-NIGHT-LONG. We initially decided to "kennel" him so that we could sleep without worrying about our carpets getting stained all night. Which seems a little moot when we can't sleep through all the pouting.

That aside: He LOVES the water. We can't take him to the beach yet [parvo] but we have set up a kiddie pool in the back yard for the dogs. He loves it. He also sleeps by the hose (so he stays wet), and when inside, jumps in Honey's big water dish.

We keep calling him Hiro; although we both agree that we're not really in love with the name. We tried Chaco [the poll winner!] but it didn't take. Arthur seemed a little stiff for him, and Ansel doesn't really go with his personality.

So we are stuck.

But I will let you all know when we decide on a permanent name.

P.S. If anyone has any information or tips on how to reverse a dog's nocturnal preferences, I am all ears!

A poll, to help us name our puppy

Hi Buds,

Isaac and I are gearing up to bring home our second child next week! Unlike many of our friends who are bringing home their first and second children soon, this one isn't human.

It would appear that in our household, choosing a great name for a dog is paramount to choosing the right name for a baby.

I am curious about everyone's input. We have a list of names we've been going back and forth on. I put four of them in a poll, which you can see on the right side of my blog. I thought it was a good variety off of our list.

Please click the ones you like best (you can choose more than one)! The little one comes home soon!

The new guy, when he was only a few weeks old. Big even for being about 4 weeks old here!

The wandering woman

I have been debating for months whether or not it would be responsible or beneficial to leave my job. It is a fun job, and I love it, but it is time consuming and most nights I am under house arrest bc I have to take a company vehicle home and cannot go around town. I hate the idea of wandering from one job to another each year. I have always thought it irresponsible.

When I started at Blue I was on my way to being yoga certified. But I have missed so many workshops and regular workouts that it has been on the back burner, and I feel its necessary to start again from scratch.

I have missed time with Isaac and Honey. I have often spent what is sometimes my only day off a week catching up on housework and laundry and not doing anything else I would enjoy.

So, I requested a part time position a few times and was denied. I kept working there because I love working with helicopters. But after Madeline's stay I have realized I hardly had tome to hang out with her and Isaac; and when I did, I didn't have the energy because I had been up since 3:30am.

So, I have been hired for a part time position somewhere else and my last day at Blue is the 7th. I am excited to have time for Isaac, the dogs, yoga, my running group, swim lessons, paddleboarding, and home things...every week! I won't have to pick just one hobby to enjoy once a month anymore.

I am nervous about leaving blue and starting over somewhere else and not being great at it at first. But I keep telling myself, the benefits for me and my husband will far out weigh the costs.