Bizcation (What the What?)

I mean... Aloha, friends!

My body and mind are still on island time currently while I sit at the SFO on my 4 hour layover. I am not sure what to expect for sleeping patterns when I get home later tonight.

I was in Waikiki for work this week!!!  My work was actually on the north shore of Honolulu but there are limited accommodations over there.  I still can't believe I was in Hawai'i for work!

Monday night when forecasted blizzard conditions were supposed to hit, I hardly slept waiting for a text from the airline that my flight was canceled due to thunder snow and extreme howling winds. But I got lucky (again...the first time was in scoring this trip!) and the flight was not canceled. I left OKC at 6:22am and arrived in Hawai'i at a little before noon.

There was no group of lovely ladies hulaing and giving us leis when we landed though. Guess that's only in the movies? Or on the Big Island? There was a car waiting for us at the rental place though.

I had on long pants and long sleeves (my ski jacket stowed in my carryon because it was 33 degrees when we left Oklahoma) so the first order of business was to change into warmer weather clothing because it was 78 degrees there in Honolulu!!!

We drove around much of the afternoon taking in the views and ocean air. I felt guilty much of the time walking around in tsinellas while my family was at home in the windy snow\sleet\rain of winter. I don't think winter comes to HI.

Here's how natives describe the weather there: Sometimes same, sometimes a little bit different.


It was beautiful and the views I saw were awe inspiring. I did get to dip my feet into the surf but I didn't get to slip into my swimsuit (probably a mixed blessing there). And now I am trying to hang on to that aloha mana for a little longer.

I am happy to report that not only did we get all of our work accomplished, but I also have been on every highway in Honolulu. There are 3 and they are labeled as 'Interstate'. (What?)

Even though it was a quick trip, you know I took pics of everything so I can share my experience. I will upload pics soon.

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What's Up?

Lots of things....

Digging in the yard (it's not just for the dog and chickens...)

Preparing the garden beds

Things are growing in the yard already and I'm trying to get the gardens and beds ready to plant things OTHER than the things that have accidentally grown in the yard over the years - quite a few mulberry trees have quietly grown in the beds and they are being excavated.

Pretty Maple Blooms

Although it may not look like much, we've been digging around in this bed surrounding the pond. We only have 1 Mulberry Tree left to extract (it's a big one) and a few mounds of monkey grass entwined with Johnson Grass. I keep thinking back to the past 2 summers when it was so hot that I gave up caring what grew in my yard. We are trying to be aggressive and proactive (or maybe just keep up this year) so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor when it gets unbearably hot...

Daffodils, Tulips and Irises

I am not sure about what to plant, but I'm thinking a bunch of strawberries on the side of the waterfall. We're also going to stock the pond (once cleaned) with fish we can actually eat (and our pretty goldfish too). Look for big transformations soon but don't be too disappointed if I peter out on this. I will have a mulberry tree-free yard for sure, but I am not guaranteeing that we will be able to survive off of what we produce in the yard this year. We can only get so many eggs, pecans and figs, right?

And we've been infused with basketball lately...

These girls dominated the court yesterday and won their tournament. We are SO proud of them!



And the other night some friends gave us their tickets to the OU women's basketball game. The little ones hadn't been before and Aubri had just asked if we could go some time. A couple of days later we were given tickets. Presto! At halftime the kids got to go out on to the court and meet with the OU Rowing Team and Baseball players to learn how to be fit.



Things have been nice and busy. We got 3 estimates on replaster of/repairs to the pool and we'll start that project soon. I am looking forward to finally getting that done.  With the hot tub gone and other little projects attended to in the yard, it will be like having a new pool.

And we finally replaced the ceiling fan in the pantry (formerly known as the "breakfast nook") and replaced the light fixture in the kitchen. We are in maintenance mode right now and it feels good to cross things off the list.

Heart Boiled Love

Ok, so maybe not love but EGGS!

I saw this idea posted in my FaceBook feed from a friend's pin on Pinterest. Is that considered 2nd or 3rd hand knowledge? 

You take freshly boiled eggs, peel them while warm and press chop sticks on them until cool. When you slice the eggs, they are heart shaped...

Well, they were heart-shaped when I went to bed last night anyway. They were a little flat on the bottom when the kids ate them for breakfast.

I think the point was that mom made breakfast with love...

Week Ending

This weekend was a rarity in that we didn't have any kidlet activities planned and we were able to hang out around the hacienda mostly. It was much needed down time after a long week at work.

Friday night Scott and I stayed up late after the kids were in bed and shelled pecans until our fingers bled. Just kidding. That would be gross! It's not like we don't have some snazzy nut shellers (I user the Texan Nut Sheller) or a method to the madness. We almost have it down to an art form these days. Which is good because we still have 3 trugs full in the sun room after we get through the 1/3 full trug in the Living Room.

We gave away that gallon bag to the Little Ones' birth mom who came over for a surprise (to them, not us) visit on Saturday.

Mama Bri!

It was a nice visit. Emi and I made Lettuce Wraps (with Thai Peanut Chicken for lack of a better name). It was fragrant and delicious and very messy. I am glad that we got extra chicken thighs because we want to make the same recipe again later this week using spring roll wrappers to hold everything together. It will be a new experience because usually when I wrap something up in an egg roll type wrapper (lumpia wrappers to my people), it is followed up with a deep fry.

Then on Sunday we went to my parents' house for lunch. While there we checked out the "beach" for rose rocks and it was disheartening what we found.

Lake Thunderbird is devastatingly dry.... I have never seen the lake like this before...

During our lake parties boats were tied up just a mere 20-30 feet from where Aubri is...it's so sad.

We definitely need to pray for rain....

Put A Bird On It

I finally completed our video montage for 2012. I could go back and edit/add more pictures forever so I had to force myself to finish up already, or as my family would say "Put a bird on it!".

Enjoy!

Morgans in 2012 from Nolita Morgan on Vimeo.