Category: Uncategorized

Maui

Packing.

Yes. I started packing three months ago. As per my personality I now am wondering if I could just do carry-on. I’ve always wanted to jet down the breezeway with one tiny bag and a backpack. The question is, do I take with me what I will need or just the essentials and purchase the rest while I’m there. There are advantages to doing just carry-on during this pandemic. Noone else is touching your bag, you don’t have to stand around with all the other travelers waiting for your bags to make an appearance and there’s not as much concern with bag weight.

One carry-on bag plus a large backpack?

What do I truly need that cant be in my bag or takes up space?

1. a knife or some kind of protection to carry with me.

2. Towels

3. Blanket

4. Pillow

5. Gluten free food

6. Body boarding fins that I’m not allergic to.

I had packed everything in the big checked bag three months ago. Then I switched to the small carry-on and then to the medium checked bag. I was able to fit all my stuff in the smaller bag but it didn’t leave room for anything I wanted to bring back. I would have to mail my dirty clothes back or purchase a bigger bag while over there to make it home. So, which did I choose? After three days of contemplation, analyzing, list checking, sleepless nights of packing and repacking I packed the medium checked bag along with my backpack and told myself to go put it out in the truck so I don’t repeat my crazy 😂 so that is what I ended with. I hope I don’t regret it.

With that said, Krystal just started packing the night before the flight. Two hours before bedtime lol. I’m not sure we’re related.

Maui

72 hours

Traveling to Hawaii within the pandemic and covid has made planning a little more complicated. Hawaii had been closed to tourist travel for most of last year. Now they have opened the islands back up with conditions. You now will allow you to forgo the ten day self quarantine by taking a covid test 72 hours prior to your flight. And yes, you do need to have negative results.

So we scheduled our test for exactly 72 hours before our flight. The only testing sites that were approved for flights to Hawaii were in Portland or a saliva test by mail with a Zoom meeting. We chose to go to Portland rather than depend on the postal service to get the test there within the allotted time frame. We signed up with Worksite Labs for a drive thru testing.

It ended up not being a drive thru and we had to go into the building. They were set up at the Sheraton. Krystal went first and then it was my turn. First thing they verified who you were. I suppose you could try to send someone to take the test for you. Then they had you blow your nose three times. Lol. Not two or four but three. Next you open the package with the nasal swab in it and they tell you to insert it in one nostril and rotate it five times and repeat on the other side. They then inspect it for “debris”. Which is code for boogers😂 Mine had “debris” so he had me blow my nose a second time and try again. This time it came out clean. Yay. Now it’s just a waiting game for the results. 🤞

And fast forward 12 hours at midnight my results came in! Drum roll please….

Whoo hoo😁 I’m going to Hawaii! This was probably the most stressful part of the trip.

Maui

Partyofone Crashers

Foxpartyofone will be plus one for a couple of days. No, Kris is not going. Krystal is crashing my party and it’s just Krystal. No Randy or Camden😲 I kinda have my doubts she will go but it is Hawaii😃. Krystal should probably write her own blog on traveling child free.

I know what you’re thinking. Fun, now I have someone to do activities with. Uh, wrong. Lol. At least not the super fun/scary stuff. She doesn’t want to rapell off a waterfall, kayak whale watch, do a pendulum swing, walk across a swinging rope bridge or shark dive. I’m pretty sure that the deepest she will go in the water may be up to her waist. She did agree to hiking, (she probably forgot that I fall down a lot) and she got me Goat Yoga for my birthday 😀 she will be staying for four days and then I’ll be on my own.

Thirtydays

No candy/chocolate

I made it. Thirty days with no candy or chocolate. Well technically 28 days lol. It was tough. Mainly because I am a total junkie when it comes to candy and chocolate. I still allowed myself sugar in my diet. I don’t know if I could completey cut sugar out but who knows. That may be my next thirtydays. Probably not the immediate next. I want to enjoy my vacation 😁.

What did I learn from this?

1. Stay out of the candy aisle.

2. Doing an annual purge of the kitchen cupboards will keep the hoarding to a minimum.

3. Just like online shopping, think before I buy it.

4. Clean out the desk drawer at work.

Now that I have conquered the second thirtydays challenge I’m on to number three. I will be on vacation in March for part of the month so I decided to choose something that would also benefit my destination. I will try to shop small whenever possible. Almost all small businesses have been affected by the pandemic and quarantine with lack of tourism and customers. I’m not saying I won’t go to Costco but I will try to find things first at local businesses. That also means probably no online shopping unless I absolutely can’t buy it local.

😃

Thirtydays

Well, I’ve made it three weeks without candy or chocolate. Only one more week to go. Good thing I picked February for this one.

It’s been tough. I’ve always had candy at work, in the car and hidden all over the house. Which brings me to this.

Found this on my desk😳

These were left on my desk at work. I think my coworkers may be trying to sabotage my efforts 😂. Number one, I love Peeps and Sourpatch anything are my favorites. I will be saving these for March 1st LOL.

Road trips have been a little different. Normally I stop at the mini mart for a drink and some candy but this time when we stopped at the store I walked down the candy aisle and reminded myself of the thirty days thing and got my drink and left. Lol.

Fingers crossed. One more week😁

Thirtydays

No candy or chocolate 😁

Well, it’s been one week now with no candy or chocolate. I’m not going to lie. I had THE worst headache all last week. This may have also been due to the fact that my doc said to cut back on the caffeine……so no Mt. Dew lol or coffee.

I went through all of my cupboards last night. Really I was just looking to throw out all of the expired food but I stumbled upon the motherload lol.

So, what did I do with it? Well, I took it to work of course and put a sticky note on it, ” free to good home” 😂🤣😝 it was either that or throw it in the garbage can but I didn’t trust myself not to go dumpster diving. Hahaha.

As to how I’m feeling. Pretty good. I think the whole withdrawal symptoms are gone. I’ve been drinking a green drink every day. These aren’t all fancy, just orange juice or coconut water, frozen power greens, flax seed and peanut butter powder. They don’t taste all that bad. My body is probably going to go into shock though lol.

Thirtydays

One and done😁

Well, I did it! 30 days and no online shopping. This was easier than I thought it would be but I don’t think I could do it for a whole year. I guess the big question is what did I learn from this? That I shop a lot. LOL. Online. I buy stuff that I don’t need or that maybe I could find locally. I do have a confession to make. Through out the month I did look at stuff online. I put things in my online cart. I just didn’t purchase anything. I contemplated. I researched. I deleted. I added it back in. The thirty days gave me the time to decide whether I really needed it or just wanted it. In the end there were a few things that I did purchase. Things that I will need for the foxpartyofone vacation I’m planning next month. Stay tuned for that blog update🌴😎🏄‍♀️

Today starts the next thirtydays.. I’m thinking since I need to get in shape for next month, no candy or chocolate for February. 😲 and if you know me you know my sugar is my weakness. So fingers crossed🤞

Thirtydays

Well, it’s January 27th and I have stuck to my guns and not bought anything online. That’s not to say that there arent a few items in my cart that I will purchase on the 1st but they are only essential items that I can’t get elsewhere. I think that having to keep things in my cart and not purchase them immediately, made me think about whether or not I really needed them. There were quite a few items that I deleted after thinking about it. My main goal is to get away from the big box online stores and look at second hand or small business like SalvationArmy, Etsy, Mercari and Ebay. Some of these stores are online but I want to feel better about who I am giving my money to.

Fingers crossed. 4 more days😁

Day 14

It’s been two weeks and I haven’t purchased anything online😁. When I look back at it, I feel like this thirty day thing is more about a breakup with Amazon and social media advertising than it is online shopping in general. There are things I need that I can only get online. Like contacts and cat litter pads. So I guess I can’t completely stop shopping over the internet. I think my original wish was just to stop impulse buying. I think one of the major contributing factors to that has been the pandemic. Originally, when we had the stay at home order I spent a lot of my free time surfing the internet. Mainly for those squirrel moments. Lol. Ideas that came to me that would have been forgotten in real time but not in Covid time. Covid time made it too easy to buy stuff with the click of a finger. Instead of getting out of bed, taking a shower, getting dressed, driving to the store and taking the chance that they had the item you are looking for. Thirty days has made me step back and analyze whether I need it or want it.

Day two.

Well. Day two went well. All day I didn’t feel the need to look anything up on eBay or Amazon. Lol my go to’s. So I was fine until I wanted something to read that night. I finished book one of a trilogy and wanted to start book two. That counts as an online purchase so, no go. I checked my other books on Kindle and found some sample books that I downloaded earlier. Sample books are usually just a couple of chapters that will either rope you in or make you glad you didn’t pay for it. Lol. Of course I was hooked. Apocalyptic end of the world story. Great, going to have to add that one to my list of books to read. I guess I’ll check my bookshelf.