Another weekend is here

I love Friday evenings. The work week is over and I know that Sam and I have a couple of days to spend together. We see each other so little through the week. Our work schedules are just different enough to make it hard. Usually by the time he's getting home I should be going to bed. I don't usually though or I'd never see my husband.

For the next month or two I don't see us exactly enjoying our weekends though because of this home improvement project we got ourselves into. That's actually where Sam is right now. He went to Lowe's tonight to get the sheetrock, so we can get busy on the ceiling early in the morning. We only have 4 more sheets to get up. Even to me, that doesn't sound like much, but somehow it is when you're lifting that heavy sheet of sheetrock.

While we're doing the ceilings and repainting the walls I think we should either put new carpet down or lay tile. We looked at some tile last weekend, but when we found some we liked it was pretty expensive. I'm still not sure it would look real good not having the same tile all through the house. It may be better to go back to carpet.

The airlines are having another price war, so that's great for us. We like to go to the other islands and it's a perfect time when tickets are $19 one way. So, today we booked our flights for October. We're going to go to the Big Island again. Those mini vacations are so nice. Just to get away for a couple of days is refreshing.

We (or I should say Sam) have been walking Bill's dog, Kea. He's cute, but a handful to walk because he barks at everything. He only stands a foot tall, but thinks he's the toughest little thing around. Sam walks him in the morning and we usually walk him together in the evening. I feel bad that Sam is stuck doing it both times, but just before leaving Bill got a new room mate and I don't feel real comfortable going in not knowing when he's there. The other night Sam was going to be late, so I needed to walk Kea and sure enough Bill's roommate was just getting out of the shower. It wasn't the most comfortable situation for either of us.

Well, Sam just called and is on his way home, so I'm going to close and go open the gate. We have to bring those sheets in the house yet tonight and then go walk Kea.

Home Improvements

We have the hottest townhouse in Mililani. Part of the problem, I’m sure, is the single wall construction. The walls have no insulation in them and the ceiling is just plywood with shingles covering it. So as the days get hotter the heat soaks into the house and stays there. It was usually hotter inside than out. So...last summer Sam and I had a bright idea. We could just frame in the ceiling in the living/dining room area and put insulation in. It sounded easy enough. The ceiling is open beam construction, so Sam framed in between the beams and we put in a drop ceiling. We used tarp foil insulation (which they claim works better than the pink stuff) and put up sheetrock. The worst part was the 16' cathedral ceiling in the living room. It was a 3 month ordeal that took us to our limits. That was in our first year of marriage and it's amazing that we made through. It was a horrible experience, but it seemed worth it once we got it done. The ceiling looks great and it decreased the temperature by probably 10 degrees.

So now, a year has passed and we obviously forgot how horrible an experience it was because we decided the office and bedroom needed to get insulated too. Last weekend we went to Lowes and bought the 2x4s for the ceiling. I made the comment that I was dreading going through this again and Sam said "Actually, I'm kind of excited about it". I don't think it took too long for the excitement to get dampened. Saturday and Sunday Sam spent framing in the beams and through the week we moved everything out of the rooms. Our bed is now in the dining room and clothes are hanging wherever there is room. Dressers are sitting throughout the living and dining rooms. Gabby loves the new setup. She has all kinds of new places to explore.

Today we got up early and Sam headed to Lowes to get the sheetrock and other supplies. We decided to go with 12' sheetrock to eliminate having to mud and tape the seams. That sounded like a great idea until I tried to lift one sheet. I was able to help carry 3 sheets before Sam got a neighbor to help with the last one. My hands hurt and feel blistered.

For some unknown reason, the people who built this house put a ledge all around the rooms about 6 inches from the ceiling. It's just enough to make it nearly impossible to get the sheetrock up there. The first sheet ended up breaking. We found that if we cut it shorter by about 1/2 inch then we can get it up to the ceiling. We've been at it for around 7 hours and got one long piece up and 2 smaller ones. I'm ready to quit, but we have a lot more to do. My poor husband has been stabbed with the razor knife and hit in the head with a 2x4. It's been quite a day.
Sam had to quit to drive our neighbor, Bill, to the airport. I’m not sure how much more we’ll do today. I’ll try to post some pictures of the progress.

Our visit to Alaska

So, Sam and I just returned from visiting my family in Alaska. It was a wonderful trip home. We stopped in Anchorage overnight to visit with some friends who recently moved there from Hawaii. Tom is a pilot for Alaska Airlines and Maryann recently retired from the military. They have a daughter, Ellen, who attended Bennett Youth Center where Sam worked. That's actually where he first met them. It was nice to see them again and spend a little time there. Unfortunately, Tom had to work while we were there, so we didn't see much of him.

It was so nice being back in Alaska. The weather was great, especially after the 85 + heat we were having in Hawaii. I was really ready to get home to Fairbanks/Delta. Kristy and the kids came up from Ft. Bragg, NC, so it was really nice to have all of us there at the same time. It was great to see Connor and Hadassah again. They are both such good kids. I was glad to get to know Hadassah. Sam didn't get to stay very long, but we enjoyed the time we had.

To the right is Mom, Dad and Hadassah at the Deltana Parade.








Sam and me at creek in Anchorage. The salmon were running, so there were lots of people fishing.








Sam and me at an animal reserve south of Anchorage.

Our life up to now

In January 1999 my Mom and I were on our way to an Army training on Kauai. I had no idea I would soon meet my future husband. Our luggage was lost on the way over, so we ended up going to class the next day wearing the same travel worn clothes. Not the best way to start our training. One of the first people I remember noticing as class started was this guy sitting directly in front of me. It was nearly impossible to ignore him as he was constantly doing something to get attention and make people laugh. He was cute, but I didn't pay alot of attention to him at first. Sam says he was to the point of doing backflips trying to get my attention. He kept every day of the training interesting and fun. It wasn't until nearly the end of the week before we got to know each other and there was a definite attraction. I was sure I would never see him again. Not only did he live in Hawaii and I lived in Alaska, but we were so different....it would never work out. We wrote a couple of letters to each other, but didn't keep in touch.
Jump ahead 3 years to May 2002. I was working in Human Resources at Ft. Wainwright, AK and his name came across my desk as the supervisor of one of our new employees. As such, I had to send him a letter of reference. Of course I included a short personal note. Not even a week went by before an email popped up on my screen from him. For the most part we haven't gone a day without talking or emailing since.
I think from the beginning we both knew we were heading toward marriage. We just had to work out the details of us living so far apart. I tried to get a job in Hawaii to give us a chance to know each other on a daily basis, however that never worked out. So, after two years of long distance dating (with occasional visits) we decided to just go for it. I was visiting him in April 2004 and about 30 minutes before taking me to the airport he asked me to marry him.

We decided to get married September 4, 2004 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Just a few days after our wedding we were off to our new life together in Hawaii.