Mustache Face

I have never been good at entertaining myself. Even as a child, I never liked to do things alone. My ability to become instantly lonely has carried over into adulthood and makes living alone quite difficult. During the times that I'm not running around on island adeventures...

 [My first sea turtle encounter]

 [Hiking at Kolekole Pass]

*Photos by Beckie

...I'm doing anything I can to keep busy inside the apartment. Since cleaning is boring and obviously out, I've come up with an array of activities to keep myself occupied until Husband makes his appearance. Today, my activity of choice was waxing...

[My wax mustache face.]

Let's just say, waxing and boredom do not mix.

Lesson learned.

Hawaii House Pets

Since I've come back to the island, I have had quite a few uninvited house guests. It stared with the spiders. They like to creep in the corners of the apartment and scare the heck out of me at random intervals throughout the day. This morning, as I took a drink of my water bottle, I looked up and locked eyes with a monster of a spider. In my moment of pure fear, he seemed about the size of my palm, although looking back, he was probably a lot smaller. Thankfully, I've come to be very aware of where I keep the Raid and sprayed that mammoth of a spider. He immediately fell off the wall and did a death crawl into my favorite boots. After shaking him out and them crushing him with that same boot, the spider would just not die. So, I bravely picked him up and flushed him down the toilet.

With Hawaii roach situations, I am not nearly as calm or brave. Just last night, as I was sitting on the couch enjoying some chocolate covered macadamia nuts, the king of all roaches squeezed under the screen door and took a flying start for my face. Luckily, that Raid bottle was within arms length and I sprayed and sprayed until that roach was in a puddle of poison. With tears in my eyes and my heart pounding, I picked it up with a paper towel and tossed it out the door. For the rest of the night, I had to breathe through my shirt because the Raid stench was unbareable, but there was just no way I could keep the door open in case his roach buddies decided to avenge his death.

Not all Hawaii house pets treat me so badly, however. Just this afternoon, it seems I've finally adopted one that I can live with. Meet Derek:

My own personal dino! He lives in the side burner of the grill on the balcony, which is the only reason he is allowed to stay. He's the biggest lizard I've seen to date and for my sake, I hope it stays that way because he doesn't seem to be afraid of me at all.

He even let me take a close up! As long as he stays outside, I think we are going to be great friends. Maybe he can even help me with my bug problem...

Grown-up Girl

Sometimes being a grown-up isn't fun at all. Like when I have to move 3,000 miles away from my home with only the essentials. As if that wasn't stressful enough, when I got here, I realized that the condo I rented was dirty and disappointing. Then I went to pick up the car and it wouldn't start. So I had to buy a new battery. While I was waiting for AAA to install it, I noticed that the tags were expired. I ended up having to pay for new tires and an alignment before I could get them renewed. Top all of that off with moving our stuff out of storage in the constant rain and the last week has been pretty hard.

Thankfully, I had Mom with me. She's the only reason I didn't have a full blown mental breakdown. She was absolutely amazing and helped me make the apartment feel like a home. She helped me pick out my pretty, new couch and even bought me a dining room table, rug, coffee table and vacuum. My apartment that started out as a disappointing mess ended up feeling a little bit like a home.

[Sorry for the crappy pictures]

Sadly, Mom had to go back home and now I'm forced to become a real grown-up girl and live on my own for a while. Some moments it doesn't seem so bad. Others, it feels absolutely impossible. Hopefully I survive.

The Waiting Game

When we got married and I moved from Arizona to Hawaii, we knew Husband would be deploying within 6 months of my arrival. Knowing we would just have to store everything during the deployment, Husband made the executive decision to leave all of our gifts at home. Even though I knew this made sense, I was bitter. I wanted to play with all of my our new presents!

After Husband deployed and I came home to Mom and school, I was even less thrilled with the idea that our presents were not in Hawaii. Having to look at them, day in and day out, for the better part of a year did not sit well with me. The longer they went unused, the more irritated I got.

Yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was tired of living like a transient, always waiting for the the good parts of my life to happen. I was ready to be happy with the way my life is now. So I got a giant box and packed it with my very favorite presents and other things that I just didn't want to live without anymore.

When I make my way back to Hawaii in about a month, this box will be flying with me. I don't care that it's going to cost $30+ to get it on the plane and I don't care that it's going to have to be moved again in another 6 months. I want to be comfortable with my current life and if it takes silverware and cake plates to do that, then that's what's going to happen. I'm going to stop waiting and just start living.

It started...

...with baby fever. Because really, who wouldn't want a miniature version of Chris running around? In case you're thinking you wouldn't, here are some pictures to change your mind:

[Sorry about the picture quality. I know it's hard to see. This is one of four pictures of Chris as a child and this is how it was given to me. He's the middle one in light blue by the way.]

See! How could anyone resist that adorable, little face?! Plus, I'm pretty sure the fact that he looks just like his dad guarantees our babies really will be little versions of him.

Anyway, back to the story of my baby fever. So with Chris being gone for the next however many months, I needed to find some new things to occupy my time. My first obsession came in the form of babies! All things babies! Someone needs me to watch their baby for the day? Done! Someone else needs a baby shower planned? Done! I'm sure you get the point. I really, really want a baby!

Much to my surprise however, today my obsession switched to something new.  What one earth could deter me from my incredible obsession with babies, you may ask?

 

Houses!

Buying and fixing up a house to be exact. Not necessarily this house of course. Actually, Chris would hate this house. The whole cookie cutter house thing isn't his style. But I love it. Hopfully this obsession doesn't last too long because right now all I can think about is how fun it would be to put in one of those cute, little tile backsplashes.

Maybe this is why I shouldn't drink caffeine...