My Life

I write a lot about Makili and the garden, but amazingly there are a few other things that go on in my life that I feel like talking about today.

1. I got a new job that I'm really excited about and is paying me pretty well. I place exchange students and make sure that they have a great experience here. And the company is sending me to California next month for training. My mom is coming to help out with Makili, and I'm going to get to see my sister, and Makili will get to see all his big cousins in California. Pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned.

2. I've been running. Anyone that has known me for any amount of time is surely laughing out loud at this point, and justifiably, but it's true. I'm up to running 2.5 to 3 miles a day (at least three times a week), which is a HUGE accomplishment for me and something I'm very proud of. It is making me dream a little too. I told Raph last night, "I already could run a 5k. I bet if I keep going I could run a 10k or even a half marathon!" I don't want to get too excited, but I am proud of the progress I've made. You see, running is extremely mental for me. I have finally learned to ignore that voice that yells "STOP THIS RIGHT NOW YOU CRAZY BITCH" the entire time I'm running. When I started last January, I was running less than 1/2 mile, so I've made a lot of improvement.

3. Raph has been begging me to read Harry Potter for a long time. The truth of the matter is that it just hasn't interested me. Sure, I like the movies, but it just isn't my genre of book. I have so little time to read as it is (and usually I'm reading Pat the Bunny, or Mr. Wishy-Washy) that I would rather read "good" stuff like historical fiction, or non-fiction for that matter. BUT, after years of nagging, I agreed to give it a try. I just finished the first book, and I have to say, it was pretty entertaining. I honestly enjoyed it. So I have book group this week, and we'll get a new book which I have to read next, but then I will probably move onto book #2.

4. We are refinancing our home loan. We still owed a little money on one of our lots in Hawaii, so we decided to look into refinancing as way to pay that off. We ended up getting one of these Federal Housing Authority loans, and honestly I'm so glad that we did. The state of the world is pretty frightening to me, with banks crumbling left and right. I really do think things are only going to get worse. I'm glad I live in a SMALL house that is cheap to heat. We even used some savings to buy a wood stove to heat our house with. Raph also bought a cheap motorcycle that he can use to save gas (if it ever stops raining!) We also bought an awesome glass greenhouse of of craigslist, though our town won't let us erect it. (We're appealing that at the moment.) We have several other projects in the works. 1. THe walkway so that shoveling in the winter isn't impossible. 2. solar hot water 3. solar water pump Actually, the list goes on and on, but these are at least priorities.

Makili just climbed on the couch for the first time. Uh-oh.