The packers came to do our final express shipment today. It took them all of 40 minutes to wrap and pack. After they left, I had hubby remove the rest of the furniture we won’t be taking which included an old desk/hutch, a recliner sofa, computer chair and cabinet that I used as a pantry. This was the third and final bulk trash and those poor lil ole Japanese men was groaning yet again. We were watching them when they arrived and we started cracking up because we knew they’d see the stuff and they’d start talking about how heavy the items were. I bet they’re glad we’re leaving.

After picking Kamalani up from day care today, she decided to call her friend again so she went into my purse and got the number from my bag, then sauntered over to the cordless phone and started dialing the number. Meg asked her who she was calling and her response caught us so off guard I almost fell over laughing. She rolled her eyes and told Meg to mind her own business. Like mother, like DAUGHTER.

I’m such a doofus. I knew what I wanted to prepare for our last dinner in this house. I forgot to pour some shoyu into a small container before the packers took it so we had to borrow some from the neighbor. Good thing the neighbor’s are Filipino. I thanked her and sent over a bunch of frozen foods that were still unopened. Anyway, dinner came out okay considering I had very little spices/sauces to work with.

I just got done cleaning the icebox so all that’s left now is enough milk for Kamalani’s cereal, a container of chicken kelaguin, a bottle of juice and a bottle of water. I didn’t ship off my pots and pans because hubby said I could have new ones for our new home. Yippie! I also didn’t ship my old dishes because we have a brand new set in our shipment so we’re gonna donate them to the second hand store here on base.

I have a last minute dentist appointment in the morning, then some other errands to run before coming back to load our bags and deliver them to the lodge where they’ll be stored while we wait for our final inspection. I hope we breeze through it.

Ohhh, this is so trippy. I swear, not five minutes after I posted the last entry about trying to sell our car, the guy who went on the test drive with hubby called to say he wants it. Hooray! Am I psychic? Do I have powers to will things to happen for me? I dunno, I think I’m closer to psychotic at times though.

Anyway, I think this is the last post I’ll be making from the Land of the Rising Sun. As we say in Japan - - Sayonara

Well today is the last day of internet service so I thought I’d let you people know. I can’t believe the day is almost here. I’m beyond excited. I’m beyond exhausted. I can’t wait til the housing inspector gives us the all clear notice and we check into the Lodge tomorrow. That will be such a relief for a while. That is, until we have to unpack on the other end and set up house. ugh.

Kamalani went out to dinner with her girlfriend’s family lastnight. It was cute, she thought she was so grown up. The girl’s parents said she could do a sleepover on Saturday and Kamalani forgot that she still sleeps in bed with me or Meg. She asked if she could sleep over at their house, she actually laced her fingers and pleaded. I told the parents that she can spend some time with them but she’ll probably need to come home to sleep because she has never slept by herself. They laughed and said their children has never slept at anyone else’s house either so they understood.

The rest of our things get packed out today; stuff like beddings, some kitchenware, bathroom items, garden stuff, basically whatever didn’t get sent 6 weeks ago. Our cable goes off today and tomorrow our phone gets canceled. I already arranged for my cell to be canceled on Monday. Phew!

The only thing we have left to do is sell our 93 Nissan Skyline. We let a few people know that we’re selling it for dirt cheap, like $200.00 just to get rid of it. Someone asked if we could wait til payday. So far that’s the most likely buyer. Meg had a friend who wanted it but she didn’t have all the required paperwork and there just wasn’t enough time left for her to complete the requirement process. Hubby took a middle-aged man for a test drive and he said he’ll call us back in a few days. I think maybe the car is too sporty for his liking though. Another friend knows someone who recently arrived and might by needing a car so I’m waiting for that person to call us. If we don’t get a buyer soon, hubby will need to work something out with his buddy at work. Cross your fingers for us.

Anyway, I won’t get internet service right away but I’ll try to get to the Public Library to check email and possibly post a few entries until we do get service. So for now, ALOHA!

Lastnight we cleared out most of the things in the kitchen. Things that aren’t being shipping were tossed away. Things that are being shipped was put off to the side. I think I did really good as far as making meals of the items we had stored in the pantry. The refrigerator is nearly empty, save for a few necessities such as milk, juice, water and maple syrup.

It was also a time for us to say goodbye to Kamalani’s pet goldfish. She used to sit on the kitchen counter is a small little tank so she was part of the clearing out as well. Kamalani had a difficult time saying goodbye. In fact, while I was cleaning out the tank and filter, she held the fish in a plastic bag, and was telling it that she’ll miss it. It was so sad, I had to take some time to comfort her while she bawled her eyes out. I explained that we won’t be able to take Ariel on the airplane with us to Washington and giving her to a neighbor was better than letting her die. The neighbor said she could go visit the fish before we flew out so I guess that was a slight comfort to her.

Ok, it’s not like she actually took any time to care for the fish, most days she didn’t even bother to look at it let alone feed it. That’s right, it was Grandma’s job to care for the fish. She’s very tricky, that one. While she was crying for Ariel, she was also asking if we could get another pet when we get to Washington. Knowing her, she’ll make us feel badly about Ariel for …. forever. I didn’t make any promises but I told her that we’ll see how well she takes care of her things before we think of getting another pet. I told her that having a pet can be a lot of work and we all know how much she despises work.

After a few hours she was back to her normal bad-ass self so all is well, for now.

Today, Kamalani brought up the tiny bruise left on her thigh from the immunization she had last Friday. She asked if her mom cried when she got hers and I told her no, her mom was very good about getting her shots. I explained how her mom clamped my hands tightly and took deep breaths while I whispered for her to be strong and it’ll be over soon. She was the easiest of all my children to get her immunization.

That same day, Mason needed to get his shots for school and I thought that since Meg didn’t cry he’d wouldn’t be too afraid to get his done. Boy was I wrong. Not only did he start crying, he ran out of the room and hid under the desk behind the receptionist’s counter. He was still screaming while he hid under there. He never cried softly, he always screamed as if someone was trying to kill him. We still tease him about that.

Kamalani laughed when I told her that tale and she smiled proudly and said, I’m just like Unlce Mason, right? I nodded and said, ‘You’re EXACTLY like Uncle Mason.’

Then she looked at me squarely and asked if I cried when I had my shots. Wow, that took me back a few centuries (ok, decades) to my earliest recollection of being tackled down by a team of nurses when the doctor tried to give me a pennicillin shot on my butt cheeks. I remember the doctor telling my mom how strong I was. I didn’t go into details with Kamalani but I did spill the beans about screaming whenever I had to get a shot. At that she smiled even wider and said, “Oh, so we’re all the same; You, me and Uncle Mason. We all screamed.” I laughed and said, “Yep, we’re all crybabies.”

When I think about the similarities between Mason and Kamalani I start to wonder if she’ll be like him on the first day in Kindergarten. I hope not. Mason ran out of his classroom because he wanted to be at home with me. The teacher had the campus walker try to catch him but whenever he got close to Mason, he’d take off running again. They called me at home and my aunt took me to his school to get him. When he saw my aunty, he started laughing and thinking it was a game. She’d call him to her and he’d get close then take of running away again. He finally came running to me and hiding behind my back. I swear that kid drove me nuts when he was little. I had to explain to him that he was a big boy now and he needed to stay in class like the other kids in his class. He finally settled down and got into the swing of the whole school thing. I’m hoping history won’t repeat itself in this situation. I think she’ll do fine because she’s had some experience in a classroom setting at her day care. I’m gonna cross my fingers though, to be on the safe side.

It started on Friday. Kamalani had an early doctor’s appointment for a school physical. She’s been in relatively good health so there was never really a need for her to visit the clinic since her 3 years old physical and recieved her immunizations. At the time, they told me she was good until her 5 year old check up. Well Friday was the day I’ve been dreading for the past 2 years. This time I knew she’d remember the shots she would get. She had met with the physician and she’s in excellent physical health. Our next stop was to the immunization clinic. OMG, she cried when they gave the PPD shot. That shouldn’t have hurt her too much but just the though of being stuck with a needle was enough for her. Then they moved her to another area so they could administer the shots that really hurt. She got her MMR, DPT and IPV (Polio vaccine). Can that girl scream or what? I felt so sorry for her as I leaned over her and held her hands; trying to calm her down. What was funny about this, is that she actually started screaming when they were wiping the area with the antiseptic pad. I wasn’t even paying attention to what they were doing because I was focused on her, until the corpsman said, “we’re just cleaning the area.” ACK. I thought they were done giving her the shot by the way she was screaming. After all that trauma, I went and bought her a hot chocolate from the latte stand in the lobby and that settled her down while we waited for a prescription to be filled.

Saturday could not come too soon. We had been waiting for over a month for the debut of Winx Club. We did the normal weekend thing which is nothing but filling up the day by entertaining Kamalani. I read to her, or we go on the computer and play Reader Rabbit games or sometimes we go online and I let her window shop at Disney. She can spend hours just browsing the online store. At 5:15 she couldn’t stay awake any longer. She closed her eyes just 15 minutes before the Winx Club aired. I wasn’t about to be blamed for her missing it, so I woke her from her nap which under normal circumstances, I’d NEVER do. She totally enjoyed the show and couldn’t wait to watch the next episode that aired yesterday. She used to tell me that she wanted her room decorated in a Disney Princess theme, then it was Princess and Bratz. Now it’s Princess, Bratz and Winx Club. I think something pink/lavender/powderblue should pretty much cover it all.

When she woke up yesterday, the glanced at the TV set and realized it wasn’t on the Cartoon Network so she immediately started whining to hubby and blaming him for her missing the Winx Club. He was blind-sided by this because he was on the computer when she woke up and since he was the first person she saw, it was ALL his fault. I was hiding in the bathroom like the chicken that I am and letting him take the brunt of the blows, cuz I’m generous like that. Anwway, after a few minutes I came out to rescue him and told her that she must’ve been having a dream about the Winx club because it was still way too early for it to come on. She thought about that for a few minutes then decided I was right, because I’ve taught her to believe that I’m always right. heh.

After breakfast, we head off base so I could go get my hair done again. I just love the Japanese salons and I’ll miss it when we’re back in the States. The process took over 4 hours and hubby was kind enough to take Kamalani to the mall while they waited for me. By the time it was over and we were ready to get home, hubby had a migraine and I felt a headache coming on too. We made it home in time for Kamalani to watch the second episode of the Winx Club, then I cut hubby’s hair and we went to buy dinner at Taco Bell. We came home and watched the finale of Amazing Race. The Agus were the most deserving couple and I thought they should’ve won. I was sick of watching that coniving Rob and Amber who did nothing but whine (blame others) on Regis and Kelly, from what I’ve read and heard from a friend in Washington DC. She likes to call me up after the shows are aired over there so she can taunt me until we get it aired here. Now I just need to wait til Friday to watch the finale of The Apprentice and Survivor:Palau.

I’m tired now. I want to go take a nap but Kamalani doesn’t look one bit sleepy. Demmit!