I know it’s been awhile. Things have gone a little crazy (well, crazier) since my last post.

We did manage to go check out a few places the day after I posted last.  We did a quick swing through of a few places that aren’t exactly what most people would think of as tourist attractions–I know, we do a lot of things that most tourists don’t. I dubbed the day Burial Places and Killer Views.

First stop was the Royal Mausoleum. It is the only place where the Hawaiian state flag can be flown without the US flag.  Unfortunately it was being worked on (like everything else on Oahu lately) so we’ll have to go back in March. They open the vault to see the tombs of the monarchy buried there so I need to go back anyway.

Then we took in the National Cemetery of the Pacific. It’s located in this huge crater and is for fallen military members. Again, under construction so I couldn’t see a whole lot and we had Audie with us, so I had to hustle so he wasn’t bumming in the car with the Mister for too long. There are no upright headstones here, just the flush with the ground plaques. But there is a mall area where all the names of those lost are etched into the walls.  It’s a lot like Washington DC–it reminded me of the malls of empty space near the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. I also found a gift of remembrance left by a living vet. Hit me about as hard as it did to find that letter at the Vietnam Memorial.

Our last stop of the day was Mount Tantalus, or Pu’u Ualakaa State Wayside.  Basically, it’s this windy road up to the top of Honolulu. You can see all over the city from there. The road was intense and since the Mister thinks he’s a race car driver, it was quite the nauseating trip to the top. The views were so worth it though.

I’ve been MIA from most of the social media business since mid October.  The Mister left for Ft. Sill for ALC for the month, so I’ve been focused on keeping myself busy away from the laptop. Now that he gets home next weekend, we will pick back up where we left off with our journeys.

I’ve had some rather needy furry company thankfully, but it’ll be great having another human back in the house.

But in the mean time, I need to do a little catching up with everyone.

So since mid October here’s what’s been going down:

Job Opportunities

Ok, so more like one offer and 100s of rejections and/or ignored applications. I was officially hired on as a Client Service Provider for H&R Block for the 2015 tax season. Basically, I am a receptionist who puts people in the system and opens the door as they come into the office.  While this is only a four month gig, it’s something.  However, I do have my reservations. I’m not fully convinced that I’m really that much of a “key player” as they claim me to be.  It started with the interview process. I was called no less than 6 times to schedule an interview, which I had already done with the same person after the first call. The right hand clearly didn’t know what the left hand was doing. Then at the interview, I was pressured hardcore into considering signing up to be a tax preparer instead. While I was considering it, the stuff with my grandmother’s passing went down and I wouldn’t have made it to 6 of the classes. Maybe next year. Then while filling out the paperwork (all online mind you), I wasn’t allowed to complete it because I wasn’t in the system yet. When I inquired, I was asked if I had even been hired. I had already received the hiring notice (thus being able to get on the website to fill out said paperwork). This will come to be a trend as well. I missed a call and was told I needed to return the call to finalize some paperwork.  When I called back less than 10 minutes later, I was again asked if I was hired. How do you not recognize a name when you just called me? After settling that debacle, I had to attend a town hall meeting to be introduced to the company values. There I was told that senior management would be stopping in to the office and checking in on us throughout the tax season.  While I understand the need, it gave me the impression that they do not trust us to do our job properly. Do tell why one would be hired if they couldn’t perform the specified job to company standards. While at the meeting we were asked to put our top 3 location requests down so we’d know which office we would be working in. Now, I was led to believe that the location I applied to would be where I was hired to work (hence the compulsion to apply with the company). Apparently that might not be the case. Shady much?? I thought that would be the end of it when I had finished sitting through two hours of common sense business, but alas, no. We were told to make sure we had the appropriate employee numbers so when training starts next month we can be put in the payroll system. Since I couldn’t finish my paperwork, I had to ask someone to retrieve the number to make sure this could be done. I was AGAIN asked if I was hired. How the heck did I sit through a scheduled town hall meeting and not already be hired?! It was all I could do to bite my tongue there. Like seriously, I just show up to these things randomly on time and sit through the whole schpeal for fun. Sheesh! Hopefully the rest of this won’t be as big of a clusterfuck as the beginning has been. It’s a job and it is desperately needed both on the resume and for my sanity.  Not to mention, that income will go solely to shipping our other vehicle back to the mainland since the Army decided they won’t ship two and we’re not the best at saving thousands of dollars last minute. I’m still applying to everything I can in hopes of not having to deal with this and have long term employment. Here’s to hoping.

Working Out

I took the opportunity of the Mister being gone to work on myself. In the last 4 weeks, I’ve been working out using Shaun T videos 6 days a week for 30 minutes or more and eating a very strict diet. Today was weigh and tape day. I didn’t lose as much weight as I thought I would, but it is a start. Just over 6lbs lost and about 4 1/2inches all over. Not bad for not having been very active since moving to this rock. Pictures don’t show a huge change, but it’s just a jumping off point. Now that I have a routine, I plan to keep it up. So by my estimate, another 3ish months and I’ll be back down where I want to be. It was really great seeing that scale say something more close to my “normal” weight. It’s a step in the right direction. I think bikes are on the Christmas list, so here’s to staying on the wagon.

Halloween

Though I didn’t dress up and we had no trick or treaters (we live behind the main house so we barely get our mail, let alone have kids come to the door), I did end up carving pumpkins. In the past I have done one for each fur kid and myself (I know, I clearly need human babies), but they are expensive here and I didn’t want to do all that work this time. I ended up carving one for Audie, one for the cats together, and one for me.

Taz

Remember that kitten in the yard? And how we were going to work with her so we could get her adopted? Well….She might potentially become ours permanently. She’s made leaps and bounds from the scared kiddo in the yard. I have been working with her extensively since the Mister has been gone. I took her to get fixed and microchipped by a local low cost spay and neuter group and the afternoon she came home, she has been a cuddle bug, excited for human contact. Since then, she’s been a whole new kitty. She rarely runs when I walk by or reach to pet her now. She’s currently knocked out on the pillow behind me, content as can be. It’s still a big IF if the Mister will change his mind about getting her adopted out. I’ve prepared otherwise. She has her own carrier, bed, collar, and ID tag.

I am going to struggle if we do give her away. She has gotten really close to our Hina girl too. She loves her. Obviously.

We’ll see how the Mister feels when he comes back. He hasn’t experienced her fuzzy sweetness like I have. She was still really timid when he left. Cross your fingers!

Creativity

I’ve obviously had a lot more free time on my hands the last few weeks, so I’ve gotten back into doing some of the crafty things I’ve been putting off (why, I don’t know…). I had a whole list of stuff I wanted to tackle, but then I got lazy after workouts and just wanted to do nothing.  But! I did get a few things done or at least started.

Bottle cap table top was something I’ve been wanting to try for awhile. And we’re notorious for saving our bottle caps for the last few years. Since my cats tend to use this coffee table for looking out the window more than I use it for an actual coffee table, I thought I might as well. Plus, it was just a cheapy one from Walmart that will likely not make the trip back stateside when we leave.  Though, now that it’s being turned into something cool, I might want to bring it with. Once I finish gluing the last couple of rows down (can’t do it all at once as much as I want to, my fingers don’t handle the use of a glue gun for too long), I’ll use a clear resin to seal it and fill in the spaces between. Then it’ll be all good to go.

Then there were the salt dough ornaments. I’ve seen loads of my friends posting doing them for their babies so I thought I’d do some for my furkids. They didn’t turn out quite as pretty as the Pinterest photos (really, do they ever?), but they did turn out decent. I thought about using a cookie cutter to make the edges smoother after I’d already put them in the oven, go figure. I got to paint them and that prompted me to do our address sign (something I won’t post as 1. it’s only a bunch of outlines and 2. no one needs to know my address). So now, each kiddo has their own paw print preserved. I am sure this will be a nice memento when the time comes that they cross that rainbow bridge, as much as I don’t want to think about that yet (seriously, Jack is the oldest at 4. No one is going anywhere any time soon).

I plan on busting out the sewing machine for a bit as well. I have a bunch of bandanas I’m going to sew together to make a lightweight blanket that we can take when we hike or hit the beach. Something that doesn’t put a bunch of extra weight in the packs. I have them all laid out, I just need to sew them together.

Audie

Today (Nov. 15…It was 11:57pm when I wrote this) marks one year since we brought our pooch home. I seriously cannot imagine life without him any more. He is my little mama’s boy and his dad’s little heathen. Rescues are definitely our thing. He was an amazing choice. I don’t care that he’s some random mash up of a bunch of dogs and even the vet can’t figure out what he is. He’s my bub and I love him more than words.

Upcoming Fun

Like I said, I’ve got a heap of things we’ll be back to doing once the Mister lands safely here. Obviously we’ll have a bunch of sight-seeing to catch up on, but we also have a few other things planned that are out of our norm.

Coming up in December, we’re actually going to have an AMAZING musician stop on his tour in Honolulu. Jason Mraz! The Mister and I are huge fans and were stoked to hear that someone we love was actually playing a few shows here. We scored tickets (thank you presale codes!) in the 3rd row on the floor. I cannot wait! I’m vibing out to his Yes! album as I type now.

Then a couple of weeks later, I bought us tickets for the Diamond Head Basketball Classic at UH. The Mister is not a fan of basketball (or any sport other than Alabama Football–Roll Tide!) but Nebraska is coming to the tournament and since we’re not able to come home for Christmas as planned, we’re going to check out a little slice of home. Granted, I’m not a Nebraska basketball fan (Go Duke!), but seeing the Cornhuskers play 12 miles from my house in the middle of the Pacific is pretty spectacular.

In January, we keep the fun rolling. I still don’t know how I managed it, but I found tickets to see Elton John in Honolulu. Yes, Sir Elton John is coming here. He is one of those musicians that I vowed I’d see before he stopped singing and I’ve acquired tickets. They aren’t great seats, but they aren’t the nosebleeds either. Still floor level on the risers. Since I never got to see Michael Jackson live, I jumped at the chance to get these. I’m a huge fan–even named my car Benny. Really excited.

Since the Mister’s birthday is in January, I wanted to get him something special that I know he’d love. Avenged Sevenfold is also coming to Honolulu and that’s one of his favorite bands. We used to jam out in the car to their stuff when we were dating. When I saw that great seats were available for the lowest price offered, I jumped at the chance. So a couple weeks after his birthday, we’re going to check them out from the safety of loge seating–general admission is a nightmare for bands like this. In high school, I went to Taste of Chaos and it was brutal. I learned my lesson. Plus, we’re too old to deal with moshing and idiots, so seats off the floor, but in the front are significantly more appealing.

Of course, we have a good chunk of sights to still see. December makes only 18 months left in Hawaii. While I am counting down, I realize I should be filling my time to the brim.  I’m excited for what 2015 has in store with an ending like this for 2014.

I hope I don’t fall off the grid for so long this time.

Until next time,

Cheers!

-A. xoxo