Annonymous

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Anonymous

We installed our lights in our garage about a month ago when Rick's dad came to visit. We put four 8ft lights in our garage and it's so bright you could wax your car in the wee hours of the night or put on the radio and pretend you've got a ball game going on in your garage. One of our first visitors to see the light show was Kelly and Jaime. Kelly was impressed and kept on telling Jaime how he wanted lights...how he wanted lights.....how it would be in his garage and so on. SO.....she decided to surprise him!

She called us up and we went over on Saturday while he was prep'ing for his race at the monthly drag races. We waited til he left the house, sneaked over, and spent half a day installing lights in his garage. At about 11 or so, Jaime and I left to pick up screws and lunch and left Rick behind. Kelly popped in to pick up chairs while we were gone and he was surprised alright. With the ear to ear grin he thanked and thanked Rick until Rick convinced him to leave asap so he wouldn't ruin the suprise from Jaime.

Later that night when they reached home after the races, Jaime led him out to the garage while he kept his eyes closed and she plugged the lights in and suprised him. Kelly stood there amazed and happy. The next day he stood in his garage with the lights on and just sat in a daze smiling. Jaime was pleased that he was happy. In the evening after he thanked her for the millionth time, she told him that he'd better call the people who made it possible and thank the man for installing it(referring to Rick). He said," Yeah.....I already did". She was confused.....so she asked him when. This is when he blew it......He said, "I thanked him the day he installed it."

You'd think, after all the acting that went on for a day with Kelly and Rick, that they had it in the bag. In a way, I guess it was good knowing he couldn't keep the truth from her.........Yesterday Rick got the call from Jaime......."How come you didn't tell me?" ......BUSTED!!

It's that time of the year again. Are you all ready? Have you purchased your candy, costumes, pumpkins, and flashlights?

In my younger days I used to do anything for candy. I remember the days when Gung Gung and Popo used to pick me and Berta up from Aina Haina Elementary. In just a year or so, Berta was too old for elementary and I was the only kid to be picked up. Straight to the Chinese store for Icee was my whole purpose of life. Many a time I'd squeeze a quarter out of Gung Gung since I was a spoiled grandchild. Popo always set me in line quietly......she'd tell Mom once in a while and I'd get the message not to bother. But being a kid with a sweet tooth, I'd always find a way to get that ono Icee or just a piece of candy.

That's why Halloween was so special. I'm sure you can all remember when you'd go trick or treating and get loads of candy and drop your loot on the dining room table or living room floor and sort the best candies like M&M's, Hershey's, Sugar Daddys, & Raisinets from the less desired candies like bubble gum, lollipops, and mints. Those were the days.....they didn't seem to last long enough so I used to take the kids who I babysat in my young teens so I could get a candy or two.....

Nowadays, since I'm way to big to sneak in a costume and troop with the kids, I've used that handy mind of mine. I now buy candy for the trick o' treaters and package it all nicely. Unlike the houses I went to that were categorized as the junk and the best places to go trick o' treating.....I do both. The early bunch gets the normal candies and the later bunch gets the best......No early bird theory in this home. If there is any left, where does it go???? yup....you guessed. In a bottle and to work with us. And, we don't get the kind of leftovers like our parents did. My parents used to take the unwanted candy to their offices a month or so later.

Well...who knows.....this year I just might have to buy candy to eat.....We may visit the famous Front Street in Lahaina for Halloween. It is supposed to be one of the greatest attractions in Maui.

I may have outgrown many things in life but I still have a sweet tooth to cure!

Well, unexpectedly Rick and I were called to Honolulu for his Nana's funeral. She was 83 and died one month short of her birthday. I won't go on explaining the details since it's not my type of grieving.

After handling family business, I was able to visit with my Mom and Dad. It was great. After not seeing either of them for a long time, we got to spend the day fooling around. The first day, Dad and I went to Chinatown. It's a great place to go if you can understand the short tongued slang, accept the hustle and bustle, got the right color skin, and if you've got the slant eyes. For those of you who don't fall in those categories, I'm not trying to scare you from this charming one of a kind town. After all, my mother-in-law loves the goodies and treats and sometimes goes there and she's Portuguese! Dad led me through the town to all his favorite stores to buy egg noodles, look fun (chow fun noodles), charsiu, roast pork, jung, ginger candy, guava peel, and some kind of soup that I can't pronounce. Being a third? generation kid I only know how to eat Chinese food. I don't know how to order the authentic stuff that Popo once cooked nor do I understand any of the language except for Kung Hee Fat Choy, Humsup, and Ni Hau Ma......okay this is your break to laugh!! Popo was a great cook. Dad bought gai lan (Chinese broccoli....I think) and at the same time gave me lessons of the vegetables and their names and how to cook them. I still don't remember and will have to ask again later!! We then ended the day with Chinese chicken and noodle soup from his favorite place in the Maunakea Market Place.....you know...the one with the wobbly tables!!

The next day, Mom flew home from Peru. After her jetlag night, I woke her.....actually she was up, and we went gallivanting. We started the day with a visit to Diamond head mortuary to visit Grandpa Hiu's grave then to the National Punchbowl gravesite to visit Aunty Sue and Aquim. All of the graves were free of graffiti and were spared though the terrible rampage. We went to the wall of remembrance and found traces of spray paint. Seems that the names of the deceased are indented and that is where the paint still lies. The surfaces are cleaned and other than that the volunteers did a good job. We later went to Far Eastern...is that the name mom?...to eat dim sum ( routine for us when I visit) and ate taro cake, shrimp stuff, egg custard tarts, and more. It was truly a treat. We then went to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Payless Shoe Source, and Kwong On (Chinese store) and browsed around. After all that, we ended the day at Waiola Shaved Ice store and ate shaved ice with azuki beans, ice cream, and condensed milk.......eat your hearts out!! Yum......

Well, now that I'm home, Rick has swollen feet from all the salty food from eating out so much and I've got hunger pangs. I'm going to take care of my ono Honolulu food withdrawals!! At least I still fit my clothes!!

Last night I couldn't help but to remember the memories of waffles, pancakes, Grandma, and Nana. We ate Belgian Waffles for dinner. While we ate them we reminisced about the days of eating waffles when we were kids and got to eat bacon while Mom slaved over the stove and that ancient waffle maker. We never imagined to eat Eggo's over the real stuff. Not to mention that thick Karo syrup! We thought of eating pancakes too and how such simple food can seem like a real treat to eat.

Then we started comparing Grandmothers. Funny, Rick talked about Grandma and Mom on their visit to Maui when they broke in our waffle maker and Grandma filled every square with syrup. He said Grandma poured syrup once, twice and she got a "ahem" from Mom, then the third time she got scoldings from Mom but blamed it on her false teeth saying that she couldn't taste because of the plate on her roof of her mouth. I think by that time Mom was the one going into a diabetic coma!

Then, I talked about Rick's Nana. I was saddened since she just passed away but it was neat to talk about how she ate pancakes and waffles and she'd make a plate for her dog with butter and syrup too. I thought she did it for just one dog but according to Rick, she did it for all the dogs she had. What lucky dogs.....no wonder they always looked well fed! Also I mentioned the time Nana fed her dog Hamhar (Chinese salted/dried fish) and since it was stink, the dog looked at the dish and growled. Imagine, I thought all dogs eat everything that tastes good. I guess not!

Today we did the yearly doggie exams. We're late in taking the poochies to the vet so we got to bring them both in on the same day. Sheba....the mellow 118 lb. dog that looks fierce and sounds fierce. Nani....the 14 lb. yappy dog that looks cute and harmless. Ha! Some of you know the truth about these guys!! Yes, Sheba's mellow with a big bark but she's the harmless one...unless she steps on your foot! And Nani's the yappy one but so wired that you've better stay still if you're visiting our you'll miss a finger without knowing it.

Well, we took Sheba in first. She couldn't keep still and wanted to know everything. How niele! She's so calm she even rolled on her back when the Dr came in. But, she's a big sissy. She was weary about standing on the scale, yelped when they drew blood, and yelped again when she got her shot.

Then we took in Nani. She got nicknamed "killer" by the ladies at the Vet. Killer went in shaking like a leaf. Her heart was pounding and tail between the legs. She stood on the scale calmly and weighed in at 14 lbs. Then she got placed on the exam table to get her blood drawn. It's a slow process for a little dog compared to big dogs. Hmmmm seemed like more than a minute! Killer was calm and gave beady eyes to the nurses. Then when she got her shot she stared quietly at the Dr.. When it was time to leave, she stopped shaking.

I guess like most of us....it's a terrible thing to go to the doctors but after it's done, it's a relief to the nervous system!!

Are you mellow? Or is your tail between your legs?

My guess is that only the Dr. knows!!

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