Where? Why? What?

Today, I do nothing but what I want to do. Studying is going well and I am doing great on my practice tests. Will probably take a few later today but only cuz I want to, not cuz I have to.

I was up until 3:30am this morning studying Hawaii again. It is pretty much all I do in every spare minute I have. Last night I even dreamed of clearing land in Puna to build a house!

So, I thought I would share with you the what, where and why of all we are doing. I haven't journaled it because I haven't wanted to be held to anything, but this is our blog and I am a woman and I can change my mind, right?

WHAT:

So, we have pretty much decided on the Big Island of Hawaii. That would be the Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii.

WHY:

Many reasons. The biggest is we are wanting to live our dream and we want to be able to afford it and it is the most affordable island. It wasn't a tough choice as when I was a little girl we visited and I fell in love with it then. I puked at the Hilo airport (I left my mark on that island even as it did on me). It was beautiful there. We got to walk right up to the edge of the volcano and see the lava shoot in the air. I remember watching every word I said and every move I made lest I incur the merciless wrath of Madam Pele.

The Big Island also seems to be the most "Hawaii" short of moving to one of the smaller islands. And "Hawaii" is important to us. Why move there to get away from it all if you don't get away from it all? People, relationships and community are our values; it's what's important to us. The BI is likeminded with us in that way and as we come with wide open arms, we feel we will arrive to arms wide open.

WHERE:

So, the big question is: Where on the BI will we find a place that compliments and supports our value system? That has been my driving force as I study and read about it. It is, after all, a big island and there are many cultures there.

When I first started dreaming of living in Hawaii, the picture in my head was of me sitting on my lanai at the end of the day enjoying the sun set over the ocean. I feel that an ocean view is not a matter of life and death. It is much more important than that. (I stole that saying from a plaque in someone's house that was listed on the internet.) The truth is, there are certain things in this life that are more than just nice, they feed your soul. Huevos Rancheros and white peppermint mochas from Starbucks are two (not at the same meal though). AND an ocean view. I want to surround myself with as many of these things as I can.

The most affordable places on the BI are in Puna and Ka'u. Ka'u is simply too far to drive for work and so that was quickly ruled out. Puna has some great pieces of land (2, 3 and 5 acres) that would allow me to hide and get away from it all. The rain forest is stunningly beautiful and the people seem to have our values. It seemed untamed and that was a little scary for me and the ocean views were in a lava zone that was going to cost a lot of $$ when it came to owning or building a house. Truthfully, as an outsider looking in on a community through forums, websites, books and such, there is a lot of negative said about the Puna district.

We also all know that the sun sets in the west and so if I was going to have that sunset I would have to live on the westside of the island, aka the Kona side. I started researching the area and found that anything we could afford was at least 1/2 hour away from Kona (where the work would presumably be). I didn't want Darin to have to travel more than 45 mins for work.

I found a completely dilapitated house with the phenomenal view I dreamed of. It needed a lot of work, but we were up to it. The realtor I am working with sent me the specs on it and the home inspection report. It is in really bad shape and they are asking a good $150,000 more for it than it is probably worth. At first we were thinking about how to maximize our money in our investment and realized that it might be better for us to just buy a lot and build. But I realized that in doing that, it would leave this dilapitated house there. Right next door is a beautiful home being built and it would have been lovely to rehabilitate this home and spruce up the neighborhood. I told Dar (Darin) that I wanted to start thinking differently. That we were thinking too "American" and I wanted to to think more along the lines of where could we be a blessing and be open to maybe not making the best financial investment but the best personal investment into the community, its people and ourselves. To truly live by our values, which for us is: if we are going to find life, we need to give ours away.

It was at that point I began to follow my heart and turn away from the dream of the perfect sunset and towards the daily promise of a sunrise and back to Puna and the east side of the island. Even from Oregon I can feel our hearts beating to the same rythm.

I realized that as I had earlier been looking at property, if I ever saw a neighboring house I would immediately reject that property because I didn't want to see anyone. I wanted as big a piece of land I could find and I would build smack in the middle of it with forest all around and be at one with nature. Now I realized that if I was going to be a blessing and be blessed I was going to need neighbors and they were going to need me. I realized that I would find comfort in the view of my neighbor's home knowing that we were now joined and building a dream together.

Between Darin and I, I am the dreamer . He keeps a good head on his shoulders, but I see him. I see the hope in his eyes. The slowly, but surely believing that this all can come true. The other day I asked him, "What are you thinking about?" I do this all the time. He said, "Oh, you just caught me dreaming about Hawaii."

End of the Year Update

Well, Hell Week is behind us. I should say Hell Three Weeks. The rental just about did us in. We ended up running 12-15 hour days, I took a week off work and I called in a bunch of favors to finish it, but it's done. Almost! There are a couple of things that still need done, but we told the new tenants we would do it in January. We need a break to enjoy the season. Luckily they were understanding and happy to just get in before the month was up.

Hee hee, Darin got upset with me last week because I was stressing about the carpet cleaner coming in 15 mins and needing to get everything off the floor so she could do her thing. He was on the phone with his brother, whom he hadn't talked to in two weeks. He said, "I thought we we were going to practice Aloha now and not wait until we get to Hawaii." Shame on me. He is now up to 85% sure we are moving. Woo Hoo!

My brain got fried from coming up with the move-out report for the last tenant and so I spent some time learning how to make the lovely above video for you. There is a turkey cooking in the oven and that is pretty much all I can think of right now.

I am starting to study to take my state exam for real estate. Tended the hot tub so that I could get in tomorrow and spend a couple hours out there with my books. I hope to take it within two weeks.

Mele Kalikimaka to all. It's my last cold one! Here's something funny, as a little girl I learned to hula dance to the Mele Kalikimaka song and always thought it was Mele KaMIKImaka. I only learned this year that it was liki, not miki.

Happy New Years All!

It's Christmas and We Are Still Moving to Hawaii

Well, it's been a long time and I thought I would give you an update on things. Our renter moved out and so we are over there most every spare minute getting it ready to have another renter move in. The phone rang off the hook for people wanting the place, which is good, but it kept me very busy. We are renting to a nice couple with a dog.

We are also hiring a new employee at work, so I have been very busy getting that stuff together and updating our agency website so that people can get the application right from the site. I finally got it done, but it only works in Explorer browser and none of the others. Grrrr.

The biggest piece of news I have is I took my final from real estate class last night and passed with an 87%. There were a couple of questions that I argued over whether they were correct or not, but they were questions from the state's exam and there is no sense in arguing with that since the state isn't going to do anything about it. I hope to take the state exam soon.

I have someone coming to look at both houses on Monday to give me a CMA. That stands for comparative market analysis and we will know what the going rate for the houses will be in today's market. That will give me a starting point in putting the houses up for sale.

Well, that's the news. In the middle of it all we are still trying to enjoy the Christmas season. We have a big party at our house Saturday night. It will be nice to relax and enjoy friends for the evening.

Merry Christmas and I hope you are enjoying your holidays as well.
Sharlee

Stuff you could probably care less about.

Dar just gave me the 60% sure we are moving to Hawaii. It has been 50% for a long time, because he hasn't gone there yet to scope it out. He's only been there for military training. I am so excited!

We are headed out of town in a couple days. It will be a good time for us to do some planning for the sale of our houses. The renter moved out of the rental and we are going to go ahead and re-rent it. I don't know if I am going to use a lease or not though. What if someone wants to live there and not use it as a rental and I have a renter in it for a year


Well enough about that. I am posting a before picture of the bathroom.

I am going to put Hawaii stuff on hold for a bit and start planning the remodel of the bathroom. It will be good for me because I fall in love with stuff in Hawaii all the time and since we aren't even visiting for another 4 months, who knows who will buy what out from under me. I need to chill. Secretly I hope we at least sell the house we are living in before we head over so that we can "really" look at property.


This is a before, before picture of the bathroom. It was hideous when we moved in.

This is after a cheap and quick facelift. It is all coming out this time. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Sharlee

Update on our Hawaii move

It's been a while since the last post. Remember that illness Mel had in Italy? Well she brought it back with her and shared. She laid me up for four days! It was aweful!

Well, we made it through the holiday without too much hassle from either in-laws or friends about our move. All the brothers and sisters-in-law were very excited for us and congratulatory. My mom and dad-in-law were just quiet. My mom-in-law calls every other day or so to tell us how expensive it is over there and how they hate white people and will chase us back to the mainland. I know she just doesn't want us to leave and so I just bite my tongue and don't say anything. The next night we had all our friends over for another Thanksgiving meal and went beyond the little mentions here and there of our leaving and really shared our hearts about why we are doing this. My best friend (whom I avoid discussing it with at all costs) cried and yet was supportive. She is a good friend who wants the best for me.

On the a progress note, I got my fingerprints done for my real estate license last week and sent them in. Then Friday I got my eligibility letter for taking my test, so I can test any time. I will set it up for right after I take my class test. I am so excited. I dread getting my house ready for sale though. I am going to have to really depend on my daughters for help. The garage and the attic are scary.

I will do a bunch of touch-up painting as well and then in January we will start on the bathroom remodel. I am thinking about doing a walk-in shower instead of a tub since we have a hot tub if you want to soak. We had originally planned a huge remodel with knocking out walls and everything. We are just going to do a mini one now. I will post some before and after pics for you all.

Venting

My daughter is coming back from Italy today. She is 17. Well, her plane got into Chicago late and so she missed her connecting flight home by 3 minutes. She cried. :( I am pretty frustrated. Airports are like herding cattle these days. No one is there to assist you, they are just shuttling you through for your shot in the hindster. She was able to get on another flight 2.5 hours later only it is not going to be even one hour later. Why couldn't have her last flight been a bit late? Grrrr. I just feel for her.

On to the next subject I want to bitch about...I would like to send our travel trailer over to Hawaii and live in it while we build. I would also like to fill it with our stuff. No can do! The department of homeland security has said you can't do that anymore lest you pack a bomb in there or something. Like that is going to stop the people that want to pack a bomb. Who would pack one in a travel trailer anyway? Your car has to be empty when you send it over as well. It is so frustrating because there is supposed to be a fight going on for our freedom and the freedom of others and yet I don't have the freedom to even leave Oregon because it costs so much. To be stuck is not to be free.

Next bitch subject: RBGs. That stands for the "Really Big Guys" Long story, but they are the ones that compete with the FED (federal reserve) in managing the flow of money in our economy. While the FED is trying to control growth and inflation, the RBGs are making TONS of money off of our panic. I just learned this in real estate class this week. Not a fan of the RBGs!

Next bitch subject: World Economy collapse: where do you want to live when it happens? I personally absolutely hate subjects such as this. I get depressed and feel like, what's the point of even continuing to live? But I like living and so I avoid these subjects to the best of my ability. So, as I am bitching to Darin about airports and rude, unhelpful people, I asked him, "Do you think God is bringing all this dissatisfaction into my life to get me off of my "comfortable spot?" You know, get me out of here?" That sounds like a simple "yes" or "no" question to me, but apparently not. Darin has to bring up the inevitable world economy collapse and where do we want to live when it happens. I am thinking, are we talking about Hawaii or some place else, cuz I want to go to Hawaii. He says he is going to have to give that some serious thought. Ugh!

This morning in the shower I gave George W. a stern talking to in my head. He was pretty unresponsive, but I envisioned him at least pulling some strings so that I could get my trailer over to Hawaii.

Nothing on the Hawaii front today. Last night I fell in love with a house though. It is the first house that is in our price range that I would actually like to own. I am not sure about the subdivision though. I would have to look. But we still will probably build cuz that's my dream. I copied all the pics to my hard drive so I can steal ideas if I need to. It's a stunning place though.

Night!

So much time, and time is flying by!

Wow, so much time before we can move and yet so much to do. My renter called and informed me today that she was giving me her 30 day notice. Not the stress I am looking for right now. Real estate class is pretty demanding, not to mention I also teach one night a week and still working and getting ready for the holidays and everything else. I look all around and see all that needs to be done. We need to clean the attic and the garage. Remodel our bathroom (the floor of the shower is coming out from under us.) and Darin is insisting on doing up the yard before we put the house on the market. I had it in my head that I would advertise it as the yard being a fresh pallet just waiting for a new homeowner to give it their personal touch. I will have to save that for a future listing I suppose.

These blogs are funny. I can just ramble away, kinda like a radio host. No body to talk to, but the entire world might read it for all you know.

Well, my oldest daughter is getting back from Italy on Thursday. She has been sick most of her trip. I want to plan to clean out the attic once she has been home for a week, but then that's Thanksgiving. Typically I put my Christmas trees up the day after Thanksgiving. We have 5 of them. I really don't feel like it this year, but I decided that I would put them all up and then list them on Craig's List as fully decorated trees and get rid of them. I imagine someone would want to save on all those decorations.

My kids are going to hate me for Christmas this year. I just told my youngest that she wasn't getting anything because I didn't want to have to move it. I told her I would take her to a luau when we get to Hawaii. I think I saw tears in her eyes.

How we are preparing to live our dream.

I thought I would blog a little of our background and how we are getting ready.

We don't plan to move until summer 2008. This will allow us a chance to get over there and scope things out and my daughter will finish the school year here. School starts at the beginning of August there and so I would like to be settled by then. However, we are actually seriously considering homeschooling. It is tough for someone to go into 10th grade with a bunch of kids who quite possibly have been going to school together their entire lives. We'll see.

Darin is an electrician by trade. Five years ago the economy sank in Oregon and he was laid off so he started working to start a new business with his dad. During that time, his license lapsed and so he is studying to take the test to reinstate his license in Hawaii.

I am the Executive Director of a non-profit organization that provides conflict resolution training and mediation services to two counties here in Oregon. I love the work of conflict resolution, but the being the boss part has become very stressful for me. Because we are non-profit, it is my job to raise the revenue for the agency every year. Ugh, it's an endeavour to be sure.

Right now I am studying for my Real Estate License. I was studying for it before we decided to look into Hawaii and now I am feverishly trying to educate myself on how to not have to start at square one when I get there. I think what I am going to do is get my license here, which will allow me to sell our houses here as well, and then get a waiver to just take the Hawaii portion of the exam there. Did you know that you cannot just have a broker's license as in the piece of paper? It has to be parked at a Real Estate office and you have to work under them. You don't even get to frame it and hang it on the wall!

We are starting to go through some of our stuff and prepare to sell everything. That is a little tough because our friends want our stuff and so we would like to give them a good deal and yet we need to raise the money. I will let you know how that goes.

Well, stay tuned for more later!

The Beginning of a Dream

Posted by Sharleé

Well, I got our tickets to head over to the Big Island for two weeks in March to look at property and such. This is a very exciting step in the direction of making this dream come true.

Darin and I will be there a week before our daughter gets there. Hopefully we will have possible living sites to show her when she gets there. In the mean time, I spend all my time scouring websites on housing, real estate and other info on Hawaii. I also am reading, So You Want to Live in Hawaii and Affordable Paradise. My heart is singing!

Here is an interesting piece of news. Now that we are seriously considering moving to Hawaii, our other children want to move back home!