This is a writing challenge from the Kween_of_Queens

List five (5) qualities of your character that make you attractive.

You may attempt this in most any manner that pleases you.  Be it long explanations or short lists, I leave it up to you.  And just for fun and as a contrast, also list five (5) characteristics YOU find attractive in a person.

Alright here goes:

1. My sense of humor — Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to laugh. I am a smart alec, wise cracker, but most of all I just look for the fun in everything… including myself.

2. My sense of adventure — whatever it is, I’m up for it. Scared, petrified, yes… Let’s go! Skiing, going 120 miles/hr around a race track, roller coasters or strenuous hikes through the rain forest… I’m there. On my life list of goals is to go parachuting, I haven’t forgotten… I will do it. But not just adrenaline things, simple things like trying new foods and learning new places.

3. My commitment to my family — family first, always. Sometimes that’s hard, but it’s got to be that way. I adopt people into my family, long time friends that I now consider my family, and new friends that just fit right in.

4. Love of learning — I love to learn, about anything and everything, how to change the brakes on my Jeep, how to write an IEP, why sharks attack people (especially interested in this right now! lol), why the dirt around a lava vent is yellow… everything, fill me up!

5. My smiling eyes — they may be plain brown (almost black) and on the small side, but they are one of my best physical features — In pictures, I can see my smile in them and that makes me happy.

What I find attractive in others:

Physical traits must come first and most important is:

1. A sweet smile — gets me every time. It’s how I ended up with a blond Air Force guy from Texas (all things I was dead set against).

2. Eyes – no particular color, but they need to be smiling. Eyes are the windows to the soul, and I don’t want to see any curtains!

3. Patience — anyone who is going to me involved with me must have this in spades!!

4. Outgoing – don’t mind shy, as long as they open up and get friendly. I like people who like to go and do or even stay in and do (for example –POKER)

5. Intelligence — can’t have any dummies around here, they would be barbequed.. it just wouldn’t be fair

I will update more late. I have a ton of great pictures and we have had some good times. Some more hikes — including Diamond Head and today Waihee Valley. Unfortunately it has been very wet and cold here. Hope it drys up soon as we really want to go spend a day at the beach in the sun…. not the rain! Bah Humbug!!

Talk to you all soon — and I’ll be around to comment soon — I promise! Until later then……… A hui hou!

So far an amazing trip. We arrived yesterday, checked into the Navy Lodge on Ford Island. We decided to find a hike as that’s what my dad really likes to do. We ended up hiking to Manoa Falls. In the rain and mud. It was awesome.

Before begining we needed to bug spray… this is vital in hiking through rain forests. Then we all choose a nice sturdy bamboo walking stick. This is also vital when hiking on wet, muddy, slippery trails. What followed was a wet, slippery and amazing hike through exotic jungles with plants that “look like they could eat you”. (Think Little Shop of Horrors) We climbed through fern forests, and then a bamboo forest. We ended up at a roaring waterfall that caused deafness, wetness and lots of roaring wind. It was thrilling just to stand there and consider the immensity of it all.

Today we visited the USS Arizona, which if you ever get to Hawaii, I highly recommend this stop. To stand where history has occured is something hard to describe. And to stand on the memorial, where 1,177 soliders are interred is overwhelming. Too much to understand and comprehend at once. It is sobering. At the same time, the pride I have to be an American (and yes, I am proud to be an American) swells and grows. I think about those soliders and airmen that died, and those that rose up in the face of the awful attack and fought back to the last breath, and I am proud that I come from the same country as them.

Tomorrow we will visit the Polynesian Culture Center. So today we looked at some American history, tomorrow we learn about Hawaiian history. It is also a well worth it stop. I especially enjoy their Island Revue show. Right now it’s pouring rain, thundering and lighting. I am hoping tomorrow’s weather will be better.

Well I’m off to finish watching NCIS and then possibly to bed! Hope that everyone is having a great week! Take care and A — L– O– H–A!

Since Silver_Fangs was still throwing up and coughing, I took her back to the doctor yesterday. The doctor said to her, “what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be all better by now.” I agreed and told him that’s why we were there ….. because she wasn’t better yet! Long story short, she got more antibiotics — erythromycin for 7 days, cough syrup with codeine, decongestant, and regular cough syrup. Last night she took her cough syrup with codeine….. 12 hours later we forced her to get out of bed!! She’s doing MUCH better today!! Thank goodness for drugs!

Today we drove the back way up the West Maui mountains to go see the Blow Hole. The back way is hold on to your hat, switch back, up, down one lane roads. What’s really funny is when the road is one lane and you come up on a sign that says “Narrow Road”. Uhhh…. what’s this that we’re on?? A wide road?? When I say one lane I mean if you come up on a vehicle going the other direction, unless there is a wide spot…. someone is backing up! Needless to say we enjoyed the Blow Hole, but the trip was half the adventure!

We followed that up with a leisurely drive through Lahaina, stopping to do some snorkeling at Honolua Bay. To get down to the bay you go through this very cool forest. It’s very Mirkwood or Sherwood feeling. Extremely green, with Ivy and moss covered trees. One of the coolest things is all the Cathedral cactuses growing up in the branches of the trees. The roots hang down looking like a weeping willow. It’s quite and kinda creepy. Very cool.

These two places are two of my favorites spots on the island. They are both unique and offer something special. So, question for the day….. what is your favorite spot to go?

Ok, gotta go, need to help get dinner ready — shish kabobs….. yum! Have a great weekend.

Just a quick update…..

Parental Units (ha ha) arrived on Wednesday evening. Sooo good to have them here! We met them at the airport with flower and yarn leis, and came home for a nice dinner. Today we had to take Squirt to her class and then drove around Paia and stopped off at Ho’okipa to see if the waves were coming in. They were pretty nice and the folks got to see their first Maui surfers.They were amazed they weren’t wearing wet suits — warm water though, no need. Then this evening drove Squirt to Altar Server training. While she was there we headed south to check out the sunset. Mom was very excited as I spotted a whale spout for her and when we started watching we saw several whales playing out in the distance. We even saw a picture postcard perfect whale breach. Mom was soooo excited…. she squealed like a kid! It was funny and great to be able to provide that experience for her.

Tomorrow Dad is going along while Hubby golfs, then we are hopefully (weather and Silver_Fangs health permitting) going to snorkel, then meet the Air Force crew down at a beachfront park for a Hail and Farewell. This weekend we plan on doing some snorkeling, and hopefully a Whale watch trip. Then Monday it’s off to Oahu to see the sights of Pearl Harbor and Waikiki — also hoping the surf is up so we can check out the pros on the north shore. (you know, like Pipeline?)

So good to have them here. Although mom is giving me a complex cause she won’t stop cleaning my kitchen, and is retraining my cat. (just kidding)

Silver_Fangs has a dr. appointment tomorrow as she is still sick – sore throat and throwing up. I think that after antibiotics she should be better. Then again, the dr. only gave her 5 days of antibiotics. I’ve never heard of that short of time before. I was always told you had to take them for 10 days without fail or you would  develop immunity to them. Course, I’m not a doctor, I just play one on TV.

Well it’s late and I’m burned out (finished my book — and all I can say is what a load of CRAP — and I can’t believe I had to pay money for that!) so it’s off to bed. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Hopefully I’ll catch up with you all this week end – if not, ENJOY!

Ok I was tagged by:luvmykidsjj’s to list 5 weird things about myself, (why I have chosen to open myself up for public humiliation I’m not sure, maybe that should be number 1).

1. I often get dyslexic speaking, meaning I change the order of the words in sentences while I’m talking, I don’t even know I’ve done it and will in fact often argue about it.

2. I eat one food at a time of my plate, when the first is gone I move on: example with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad and green beans I would eat all the salad, then all the meatloaf, then the mashed potatoes, then finish with the green beans.

3. I hardly ever drink anything with meals.

4. I have very sensitive hearing and sometimes things will get so loud I have to put cotton in my ears

5. I have a brain cloud .

Number five is an inside joke, I actually have a condition that is an excessive amount of spinal fluid in my brain causing too much pressure…. we call this my brain cloud (from Joe vs. the Volcano)

I tag: DiniHJ, ThisIsBullDookie, tracyupstateny, Littlelo_63, iwannaprivacy, and anyone else that feels brave!

Ok, now from DiniHJ’s site I got this the Johari window. Follow the link and fill in the box for me, then get your own and link it to your site. Let’s see how it works huh? Just for fun!

Now final thoughts:

Happy Valentine’s day to all my xanga friends! and to those of you who aren’t in the Valentine mood — Happy Anti Valentine’s Day!!!

Tomorrow my parents will be here! I’m so excited!

Our dog got into our Valentine Chocolates and is not feeling well! Poor BAD doogie!!!

I just got roses and a balloon from Hubby — Good Hubby! Got to go give proper thanks!

Since we are having my folks come visit (in just 2 days!! but who’s counting?), we have been working on getting the house cleaned up, some minor repairs and a few new items like pillows (old ones were VERY old).

One of the repairs was going to be the four wicker chairs I ended up getting for free after a neighbor couldn’t sell them at her garage sale. Unfortunately, since getting them: 1) the dog (still a puppy at the time) shredded each cushion, one by one, they were old and the material was dry rotted, but they were still usable and more importantly, they protected the painted wicker from the elements, 2) They received an unprecedented amount of exposure to wind, rain and sun. So I was going to work on these, gluing lose wicker and hitting them with a new coat of paint and some new cushions and buy a small table to go with them. While examining the damage Hubby said “yeah I think they be just fine” and sat down in one. Then because I commented how Squirt had noticed the supports needed work, he bounced in his seat and said “they’ll be fine”. CRACK — nope, not fine. All four seats were completely rotted out. They took a trip to the dump and we took a trip to Wally World to find some replacements.

Being military, we want serviceable and durable, not stylish, heavy and expensive. So… we narrow our choices down and decide to get a really nice set that has 6 chairs (a bonus for when we have company — like in TWO DAYS!) and a large table and small occasional table. Hubby grabs the tag, we finish our shopping extravaganza, and head to the check out.

Like most Wally Worlds, on Saturdays ours is packed (add that to the fact it’s the only one on the island — you get the picture). The garden center has all four registers open and they all have 10-15 people in line. We finally make it to the register. The cashier calls for a garden associate to come and check if it’s in stock. (we know it is, we’ve already checked ourselves, but she can’t take our word for it). Tick, tock, tick tock, No Associate. People behind us are looking impatient. Hubby offers to show friendly checker where it is so she can go ahead and ring it up. Finally she concedes to this after determining that the garden associate is possibly trapped in another dimension,  they leave, come back a minute later and bar code in hand start the sale.

Oops…. what’s this? It’s not ringing up right. That’s not the right price. Friendly checker leaves the register again and calls again. After several more calls a supervisor shows up… what the problem? The supervisor gets out her magic walkie talkie and calls for a garden associate. Her mojo must have mo-jetted, cause no one shows up. Hubby suggests that we just remove that item and let the rest of the (now extremely unhappy people) move on. Nope, can’t do that till we get a garden associate out here to figure out what’s going on. Tick tock, tick tock.

I can see that the other customers are now plotting against us. I see conspiratorial looks and knowing nods. I begin to fear for our safety and request that hubby demand that she remove the offensive piece of patio furniture and wait patiently for the garden associate to return from his pakalolo lunch. A Manager shows up and calls on his walkie talkie, but he has the mojo and poof… there’s the garden associate! He allows cashier to remove item, saving us all from terrible bloodshed, while they straighten out the patio set mess. Five minutes later, we have the proper bar code, we cut in line (by the cashiers insistence and to my great relief) and complete our purchase. We load it onto the trailer (which garden associate claimed was mo’ better a he dindt hav to lift yeah? — told you, pakalolo lunch). It took us almost 30 minutes in line. I can only imagine those poor souls stuck behind us cursing their bad luck to have chosen the wrong line once again.

I think buying that furniture was the most traumatic thing I’ve done in awhile. It doesn’t quite compare to when I donated a car for a friend (Yes ThisIsBullDookie — it was all D’s fault!!!! — oh and Hubby’s for not taking care of it before he left!). Someday I’ll have to tell you about that.

Have you had trouble in stores — or have you plotted against someone who was holding up the line? Inquiring minds want to know!

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One of my comments about vacations yesterday got me to thinking. LittleLo_63 commented that she loved Hawaii because of the smell. I know exactly what she means. My nose is very sensitive. I often smell things others don’t. During my studies I have also found that the strongest connection to memory is…….. you guessed it! The sense of smell. Now this of course can be good… or as anyone who has changed a diaper knows, VERY BAD! I was thinking about my favorite smells. I have a couple that I love.

The smell of hot dirt that’s just been rained on (Arizona girl), the smell of damp cold dirt – That’s the way my grandma’s house and dirt cellar smelled all the time, and the smell of fall. That’s why it’s my favorite season. Germany in the fall has a great smell. It’s hard to describe, but I remember coming back from a trip to the states, getting off the plan and walking down the airport gateways and just breathing it in. To this day when it gets the crisp feeling in the air, and a certain smell comes along, I picture our first day in Germany. Walking hand in hand down cobblestone streets drinking in the sights, sounds and yes, the smells.

Now, the bad side of smells — I love candles and I have a friend in AZ who is just as addicted to them as I am. We were constantly on the look out for just the perfect candle, so we frequently went candle “sniffing” together, often so long that we both developed headaches. When we first started this she would torture me. Intentionally. It went something like this:

D: (picks up candle and smells it) Ewwww, that’s horrible, here you try it

Me: (uh duh) ok……………….. YUCK, that’s horrible!

D: (laughing) I told you it was bad.

The really sad part was she frequently caught me. I’m not a stupid person (most of the time) so why continually smell junk she has told me stinks??? If someone said you want to smell this garbage, it’s really gross. I would naturally say No thank you, and don’t you think you should take your meds now? But she would say ewww or something derogatory, hand it to me and I would stick my nose right in it! What is that??? Blind obedience??? Crazy. Why is it when someone hands us something that would normally be a pleasure (food, scents etc), tells us it’s bad, we have to try it for ourselves? Is it because taste and smell are subjective and not everyone likes the same flavors and scents? Needless to say I did finally learn that I could take her word for it. Now when I’m out shopping with my dd’s I smell a candle and say ewww… I don’t like this one, then promptly hand it to them. They too follow their mother’s example in blind obedience and sniff away…… muahhahahhaha!!!

So what about it? Any smells connected to memories or just favorite smells? Come on don’t be shy, I won’t laugh……………much!

Not much today. I have a full day ahead with fun, fun, fun. If you are of course masochistic and enjoy torturing yourself by doing huge amounts of reading from Education text books, home schooling, and running children everywhere they need to be. Not to mention since I have had the landlord’s son –W– here all day for the last two days, I haven’t gotten any housework done! With Squirt. Home schooling is fairly easy. We use Calvert for her (her choice, she likes it, I supplement some areas) and the lesson manual at her grade is written to her. I have to make sure she does her work, grade it, and go over Math and Grammar with her so I can check her understanding. Not a lot of skill involved. With W…. all my teaching skill are used. Squirt comment yesterday, “I hope he learns to do what he’s asked to do soon”. LOL. Now I have never expected that, so I’m not frustrated when it doesn’t happen. He has a lot of issues and requires some special skills. He did really well for the first two days, especially since he hasn’t attended school since before the holidays. We are going very slow. He hates writing, reading and math. SURPRISE!!! His math is way behind, but I’m just going to take it one step at a time. So far he has been friendly and cooperative if sidetracked. It has taken my constant attention, and that’s not something I’m used too! But, it is very good for me to be back in “teaching” mode again and I’m enjoying it.

My parents arrive next week. I am soooo excited. This is their first major vacation in years. My mom has always wanted to see Hawaii and I’m so glad I’ll be around to enjoy her excitement. We have an introductory SCUBA dive planned for dad, a trip to O’ahu to visit Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona, the Polynesian Culture Center and the luau at the Hale Koa. We are also going to drive the road to Hana (lots of waterfalls, rainbow Eucalyptus trees, awesome views), swim at the seven pools and hike to the bamboo forest, take a whale watch trip, and visit the blow hole, Iao needle and watch the sunset from the top of Haleakala. I am SO EXCITED. Now, I just need to clean my house, fix my porch chairs, clean my jeep, make the menu, grocery shop and finish their leis before they get here. Oh yeah, I’m trying to get at least one week ahead with my school work too. Hmm… we’ll see, so far that’s not working so well!

What is your best vacation memory?

I am so tired. Tired of answering the same questions. Tired of phone calls every day. Tired of them not being capable of reading my name. Tired of getting the same ole response to my first name. I am tired…. of telemarketers. I think I need to find out how to get on the do not call list. Is that still available? And does it really work? Or does it just mean that every time one of this people interrupt dinner you have inform them that you are on this magic list which should have prevented this call?

Every day…………… EVERY DAY for the last month I have gotten a call from a company wanting to consolidate my student loans. I have my reasons for opting to not do this at this time. They are good, valid and well researched reasons. Every time I say “no thank you” they act like I’m a complete idiot for not jumping at this wonderful opportunity! Uhhh…. who’s got a degree and who is paying the bills by harassing people endless via a telephone? Anyway (got a little sidetracked and indignant… sorry ),  when I give my reasons they start telling me…. no that’s not right, you don’t understand, you should reconsider. I get so tired of having to defend my position. I do understand in sales, there is no “NO”, if you want to be successful, but honestly….how much can 1 poor grad student take?? I broke today. Yelled at the poor guy on the other end, who is just trying to make the rent, and then hung up on him. I am usually more graceful than this, even when extremely frustrated. I understand their job — I did it myself, for a whole week, I found I didn’t like being yelled at and hung up on. I admire their ability to do whatever it takes to survive. At least they have a job right?!

Ok — so I lost it a little. Told the guy “man, why do you have to keep badgering me? Why can’t you let it go? Why do I have to do this every FRIGGIN day with you people”, as I was hanging up I could hear him say “sorry, ma’am….” Click.

I’m thinking I may NOT get a call tomorrow. I’m not sure… but it’s possible.

Poor guy, I feel bad for him, having to deal with people like me. He’s not the one who’s called me every day since September, he just got the brunt of all that pent up frustration. I think telemarketers should get hazard pay. At the same time, I think they deserve a special ring in PlainOleMike’s version of Dante’s Hell, Hellular. Somewhere near the bottom I think.

Ok, off to work on school work. This book I’m reading, the author believes it should not be the school’s primary function to provide academic education, but rather a community of caring the develops citizens who care about the animals, plants (which she believes suffer) and even caring for inanimate man made object is placed above learning. HUH??? Let’s just say… I’m TRYING to keep an open mind!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone —————- AHHA!! It’s Wednesday — see????? I burnt myself today too. Can’t I just go in my room and hide the rest of the day? Course, the ceiling would probably collapse and I would be trapped till Thursday. I guess I’ll just tough it out in the real world!

I had a very strange dream last night. In it I was working as part time help to the teacher I student taught with. She was freaking out cause the lunch schedule she developed for the week was missing and her class didn’t know what to make for lunch. She felt sabotaged. In the end I tried to run away, through the back door, but I was barefoot and had to stop for my skater shoes (wth?). I had told two other teachers off for being uncaring and blamed them for the breakdown of the educational system. VERY strange.

I’ve always had extremely vivid dreams. Hubby claims that I dream in technicolor. I frequently remember my dreams and often remember more than one per night.

When hubby and I were newlyweds, I dreamt almost every night. The bad thing (for him) was that my insecurities would come out in my dreams. I would often wake up in the middle of the night, distraught over some dream wronging, and smack him a good one. This was very unsettling  for him (as you can imagine), since he was peacefully sleeping next to me without a care in the world. To be awoken by being hit and yelled at I’m sure is traumatic. One night I woke up and smacked him. He woke up and asked “what was that for”, I replied “you left me on It Road”. “and there’s all these dinosaurs there”. He of course felt the need for more information and repeated “dinosaurs” to which I assured him “it’s ok honey, their all dead”.  Now I still remember this dream and can clearly see the green street sign that said “IT Road”. I can also clearly see the long road lined on either side by huge skeletons of a variety of dinosaurs. He left me there after flirting with a blonde, red-head, and black haired girl at a party we’d attended. (since I’m a brunette I don’t think you have to be Freud to figure that one out). I always wondered what the dinosaurs might mean…. but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know.

As for hubby………. he was up the rest of the night trying to piece together exactly what had happened and wondering what on earth I was talking about. I on the other hand was blissfully sleeping with out a care in the world. I think it serves him right, after all he did flirt and then abandon me on a It road with all those dinosaurs……………….

Do you remember dreams?