Go FETCH!

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A Tale of Thai Fabric

On our girls trip to Thailand Madi and I stayed in the most cozy, unique and beautiful place The PAK Chiang Mai Guesthouse.
Their website claims, "Come as guests, leave as family" . . . . which is exactly how we felt!
Noon has created such a peaceful oasis in Chiang Mai. Her attention to every detail was obvious during our stay.
Noon's mother had a wonderful talent with fabric and a simple sewing machine. We were lucky enough to have her make a few items for us and indulged in buying up almost every piece of fabric(sarong) she had left. (and then some!)

Noon and her family were so sweet and accommodating. It was a wonderful visit that I will treasure forever.

Fast forward a few months:

I gingerly packed that colorful fabric with me for our visit to Utah. I was so excited to show my sisters and mom, sharing with my family countless stories of our trip.

Madi used some of her choices of that fabric to make a quilt with her Aunt Sid.

Again it was packed up for the trek back across the ocean to our new island home of Oahu where we spent the next month or so in a hotel room - no where near the intimacy of the PAK.

Every so often, I would break out my fabric box and look at the bright colorful patterns - imagining how they were going to look in our new home. Obviously anticipating great things to come!

Our long anticipated home of choice in Hawaii didn't come to fruition.

I was bummed (to say the least).

Gone were the images of my colorful fabric splashes in that newly constructed 2200 s/f house on Ford Island. We settled instead on Constance - our "cute" pre-WWII era duplex.

It was tempting to leave that fabric packed away.

"Why bother?"
But I'm so glad I DID bother . . . .

Yes, it's makeshift.
But it makes me smile when I see it each morning.

And I'll gingerly pack it all up in a short 9 months when we move to that "Beautiful new house"

. . . .wherever that may be.

Do I have waaaay too much invested in just silly fabric?

Probably. But that's just how my life is.

Have a lovely week and don’t forget to stop and take in the small and beautiful every day moments.

Back To School

In the spirit of . . . .well . . . . .everybody else,
we wanted to post our "First day back to school photos".

Starting the day fresh and ready to go . . . .

Physical Education . . . . . .

Break between classes . . . . .

And just to reassure you that we haven't dropped the ball . . . .

The curriculum for the year arrived via snail mail.
Yes, all 40+ pounds of textbooks.
(I'm so glad they aren't wearing that on their backs each day!)

As hesitant as we were about this decision to home school while here in Hawaii, I can honestly say we haven't looked back.

I'm a FAN!

No - I (Chan) am not a fan of KISS by any stretch of the imagination. But we all know David is.

His fun crew in Guam sent him the most unique coconut postcard I could ever imagine.

Now THAT crew in Guam . . . . I'm their biggest fan!

My biggest challenge

You know how we're only given challenges that we can handle?

Yah, I'm about done with that concept.

I was proud of myself the way I came out of this challenge with my sense of humor still intact.

Never did I suspect it was just preparation for what lie ahead with this Pearl Harbor move.

Meet the latest:

Polynesian roof rat! And no - I'm not about to personalize this experience more by giving them a different name.

These pests make my termite problem in Guam seem like keiki play.

But with the help of Fred the exterminator/verminator - my new best friend - we're going to conquer! (Or at least displace them for the next 10 months!)

So far 10 of those pests have left our house for a better place - the plastic garbage bag!

*chal·lenge: to arouse or stimulate especially by presenting with difficulties

In the neighborhood

My high school reunion was held a few weeks ago and I missed it.
I wanted to attend - even if it was just to support all the hard work and planning that goes into an event like this. But with the move, a tropical storm (that fizzled out) and David having to leave town - it just wasn't in the cards.
It was a hoot hearing the stories from the event and checking out all the photos.
Trying to match up faces with memories from what seems like so long ago.
But my heart skipped a beat when I came across this one. . .

I had to stop and pause.
These are the kids from my neighborhood.
The Union 17th ward neighborhood.
I see those faces and I'm immediately flooded with years of memories. . . . . .Church, youth activities, toilet papering in the wee hours, etc.
It looks like home to me.
It's had me thinking . . . . . what will tug at my kids heartstrings in 20+ years? What will trigger their memories?

Madi's room

Don't you just love the couch cover? The colors match perfectly.

I must add - Madi did most of it by herself.

The color choices, painting, etc. I taped (where she would let me!) and finished painting where she couldn't reach.

The 'couch cover' - A beautiful quilt handmade by Aunt Sidney.

It's really on there just for display - no one's allowed to sit!

Which isn't too bad - since we're banned from her room anyway.