Even after raising 4 children, I neglected a rule for traveling. Take a snack. Make sure they (you) eat.
By the time we got to Maui Monday afternoon, I had eaten all the snacks I brought. I needed more food! I was beyond hungry. And got cranky. I couldn't get my mind in a better place. Maybe I could blame low blood sugar.
And I am really working to get over myself, thinking plans should go my way. "Why make anything harder than it has to be?" I kept asking Ben to myself.

And I have gotten into a really 'shot myself in the foot' routine that seems to be part of getting ready for a trip. And that is to stay up way too late the night before. So I am starting out exhausted.

Tired and hungry. Not a super smooth start to a vacation. But the condo is nice. The wind is blowing. The sunset pretty.

The cleaner was finishing up at the condo when we arrived, so we went across the street to the beach. With consternation, I took one look at sand and all the people on it and "eww". There were too many people. When we have been on Maui before, somehow we have seen fewer people on the beaches. OK. So we were camping. And this time we decided to do the "resort" thing. If that means all these people around us, take me off the guest list. Too much like my dad and granddaddy. If there was one other person in the campground, it was crowded. The Aiwohis invited us to join their family on a beach Tuesday night. That was a nice quiet place; just a few others enjoying the late afternoon sun.

The vacation definitely improved within hours of arrival. Pretty much as soon as I got some food inside of me.









We fulfilled our desire to ride the Hana Highway on a Harley Davidson. We rented a Road King.



We love Maui.

http://picasaweb.google.com/elfblf/Maui?authkey=Gv1sRgCJTpu__Y3-qZXQ



Aloha from Maui!

Having a great time.

Wish you were here.

Not the picture I would have chosen. But just trying to figure out how you can look at my vacation slideshow. If you so desire. Won't hurt my feelings if you don't, or just want to fly through it.

It's mock staghorn fern BTW.

budding flutist

Darling husband decided to REALLY learn how to play the flute last fall. He went and signed himself up for flute lessons. Hasn't missed a day of practice yet. I ended up picking up the violin after years to help him through some timing issues he used to have. Now we like to pick out songs to play. Never enough time or often enough, but we like it. This is his 2nd public perfomance. He earned 4 A's in front of judges 2 weeks ago. I admire his tenacity, perseverance and he likes classical music now.

randomness on a saturday nite

busy
overload
so relax. do nothing saturday. temple worship. follow blogs. dinner with friends.
dance I want to dance. just shake and sway to music and let the tension go...
wandering thru videos, utube, monkeysee
bellydance, plaza de anaya, inside the bungalow-that's yoga, then on to hula lindy strawberry koi
i have wanted to learn hula, forever, and belly dance since 1993
on hold
like drawing and art classes
what about music history, art history, fusion of philosophy, science advances, architecture styles and renaissance and...what is a doric column what makes it so...

seasons in life

time will come

when it is time to make time

2 adult children moving on

Navy sailor, challenge, find out what he's made of
he's a Flake
there is a core of steel

the wanderer
on the move again
looking, ever looking
running
and carrying the baggage along

the quiet one
across the continent
ties i can still feel
is he content in his awayness
looking for himself

her
battling fear
demons keep calling
seeking help
one foot in one foot out
looking ahead, holding on
wanting

the quiet of a sunday
promises of healing
restorative
strength for another round

one more day
one more step
the beat is calling
the music is playing
one more dance

Wash the Lotion

Just over a year ago. Ulta Beauty supply opened up near me. Never had heard of them before, but since they were offering freebies and a chance at $100 gift certificate, I went to the Grand Opening.

I like pretty smelly stuff as much as the next girl, so I chose out a few promising scents in body lotions in Ulta brand "buy 2, get 1 deals and the freebies.

One of those intriguing scents was coconut lime. So I started using it. Eventually.

Although I liked the smell of the creamy concoction, it was really sticky. Really left my skin tacky. And that can be a problem. Hubby doesn't like the feel of regular lotion on my skin. When we met at the dance, he confessed that, sometimes, after dancing with some women, he would go wash his hands because they had slathered so much lotion on their hands, it had transferred to his. Even now, it is a sacrifice for him to use lotion to give me a back rub.

I gave up on the stuff, the coconut lime lotion, and went back to something else that leaves a lighter and less tacky coat.

On Friday, I wanted a little moisturizing on my feet as I was going to wear flats and the little slipper socks. I thought about the coconut lime lotion and thought the tackiness would be OK this time since, sometimes, the sockies slip off the heel and bunch up.

After the application, sure enough, my hands were feeling pretty gross. So I went back in to wash them.

With the water running over my fingers, I noticed something peculiar in the basin. Bubbles. Foamy, light, delicate. Definitely bubbles. The strangest lotion yet.

And then I reached up to look again. And even without my readers, I could see that Body Lotion was spelled "B-o-d-y W-A-S-H".

Grimacing at losing time, but smiling and chuckling at myself, feeling silly, I removed my shoes and socks, balanced and lifted each foot, in turn, to the basin and rinsed it off. Dried off the now pleasantly smelling feet and put the REAL coconut lime lotion on. (It was in the travel size tube that I ignored because I don't like how coconut lime "lotion" feels.)

Hubby is groggy when I leave in the morning and wouldn't quite appreciate the story right then, so I shared with car pool buddy on the way into work.

Daughter and I laughed hard over it when I got home to tell her the story. She actually shook her head at me.

On the to-do list for the week is a pair of readers from the dollar store to keep in the bathroom.

brief

burton's open house.
he got an opportunity to enter the navy early.
open house Fri 11/6, 6 pm here.

I am not even close to being ready to go back to school. It's getting worse.

I finished some more painting touch-ups that were started in June. I realized at that time that I really have a hard time with the tedious prep and clean up. I want to do the job--just paint and be done. No taping off or anything like that, which of course are necessary if one wants it to look half way decent. So, I get to exercise patience. Again. Maybe some day I'll have some.

I got to babysit Alessandra this morning. I had fun. I think she did too. We took a walk and played on the minuscule hill. We read a couple of books. And played with a new toy that Grandma had brought over, stacking cups. Then it was naptime, for both of us. She got to, but I had to wait a while. Alessandra is my niece, is nearly 17 months old, and is tri-lingual right now. Some signing so Mommy knows what she needs, English, and Spanish. She will be brilliant, of course, like the rest of them.

I'm ready for a Sunday.