The End of the LOST Saga

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, Getting LOST,
and On the Set of LOST.

I rounded the set in my orange abaya, and plunked down in my chair. I started to read my book, knowing we would break for lunch soon, and the chances of me being in another scene before lunch were slim to none. So I thought! A production assistant rounded the corner of the Iraqi tavern and announced that any extras not used in the last scene would be in the next scene. I jumped up, and was snatched up for a on set with another man. As Ben (Michael Emerson) ran out of the tavern after forgetting to pay his bill, he skirted his way around me and the man who walked with me. We did the take three times. A wrap was called, and it was time for lunch. This first meant a trip to my car to pump.

I rolled my shirt up in my car window that I had worn earlier, and threw the long skirt I had worn to the set up on the dashboard all bunched up. I dialed Hubby and spoke to him in the meantime. Son2 actually took milk from a bottle with a cracked fast flow nipple. It didn't work well, but it worked. That was a huge relief that I had not left a dehydrated baby!

I made my way to the lunch lines. There were two lunch lines. One side was for the extras, and the other was for the cast and crew. The food was the same on both sides, though. There was also a lunch wagon that made some food to order that was only available to the cast and crew. I don't think anyone used the lunch wagon, though. I met the caterer. His little boy was an extra that day, too. He used to own a restaurant in town, but he closed his business and does all of the catering for LOST and for any films shot in Hawaii. Throughout the day he had runners bring trays of sandwiches on set, trays of water bottles and drinks, and boxes of ice cream. He also had snack tents set up just off the set. WOW it is a really long day for his company. When I arrived at 5:30am breakfast had already been served. The best thing at lunch was the guava cake. Mmm. I love living in Hawaii! After awhile a production assistant popped by and gave us a ten minute warning to get back to the set. Lunch was over. The only other cast member I saw was Jin. He (Daniel Dae Kim) was not filming that day, but he did stop by to have lunch.

Now here is where it gets exciting for me! I really think the reason I got picked for the last scene before lunch was my orange abaya. It worked well for me all afternoon. After lunch we filmed a scene at the open bazaar in the Iraqi market. Ben and this bad guy that Ben is after were running through our bazaar. Thanks again to my orange abaya I was picked to do the cooking in the Iraqi market. Ben and the bad guy bump into me in this scene, if I don't end up on the cutting room floor. I was cooking chicken and steak kabobs and throwing seasoning salt and pepper all over the already cooked kabobs. The lady with the pan next to me was pretending to cook dry ice. I can't remember how many times this scene took, but it must have been at least 24 times. I remember the assistant director saying we were almost out of letters when this take began with an X. They took this scene with camera men running through the bazaar behind the actors, in front of the actors, and then rolling in a truck in front of the bazaar. When the final wrap was called, we sat on the steps of the tavern. A meeting was called for everyone on set, including cast, crew, and extras. Quickly the extras were divided into two groups. One of the assistant directors gave a long speech about how wonderful the day had been, thanked the extras, and all of the cast and crew began to clap. He said the day had been a success because of our help, said some other mushy gushy things, and then dismissed an entire group of extras. I was not dismissed. Neither was the other extra in orange. I am sure it had to do with my orange abaya!

We went on to film a little more of the bazaar. This time Ben was making his way through the end of the market, and we were filming from a different entrance. Ben was about to make his escape into a back alley. An assistant director chose me to try and block Ben on his exit. Then, there was some discussion about how Ben's exit should go, and instead, they decided he should go behind me while I was serving coffee beans. The discussion went on, back and forth. I took one look at Ben and he started to smile, and I started to crack up. He said, "This sure is crazy isn't it?" I asked him what he meant. "This sure is a crazy way for me to make a living. Me, running out of a market and running over people, over and over." We both chuckled. I was standing with my back to the camera crew and I didn't catch the final decision on what I was supposed to be doing. I asked Ben one last time if I was supposed to block him. What was the final decision? He told me to just scoot forward so he wouldn't pummel me when he ran past me. And the next thing you know, he was off! We did the take a few more times, and Ben went under an arch. I stood in the gateway of the arch and watched the rest of the filming. Over and over I saw the same scene take place where Ben was held at gun point by the bad man. It was odd to see Michael Emerson go in and out of character so much in between takes. That is by far the most popular question I am asked. Is Ben really that creepy in real life? NO! But it was oddly familiar to watch him turn into his Ben character. He was actually very nice in real life, but the creepy Ben you would expect while in character.

After that take, another meeting with extras was called. They dismissed another half of extras, but I wasn't one of them. Again, I credit this to the orange abaya. There were only a handful of us left, and we were directed to sit on the steps. Two of the costume folks emerged on the lot. One had a blood stained jacket, and some clothes for Ben. The other costume person sat on the steps next to me. Sayid showed up about this point, too. While we were waiting she and I got to talking. Everyone on LOST was really nice, but she really felt that was the culture of the show, though she had worked on a lot of nice sets recently. She said that when they film five days a week, the days are long every day. She gets up every morning around 3am and works until 6 or 7pm. Whew! Our conversation came to an end when a production assistant came around with ear plugs. We were about to hear gunshots and she wanted us to protect our ears. I heard gun shots come from the alley several times as *someone* was killed. Then the next thing you know we watched Sayid emerge from behind the arch with someone teaching to fire the gun over and over. All of the gunfire was finally over, and we had one more take in the bazaar. I was walking with another guy in the market place. Once that footage was taken, we sat on the steps. It was 4:30 and I knew I had at least an hour of driving from town back home, in traffic.

Call me sappy or silly, but I really started to miss my husband and kids. I had gone to bed late the night before, and had about 4 hours of sleep. I hadn't seen the kids since the day before. One of the program assistants thought we might have two more hours of filming left. I usually don't miss my kids when I leave them with a a babysitter or with Hubby when I have plans, but I missed them today! I called Hubby and told him I was ready to just leave early, and tell them if they needed to cut someone I was ready to go. Hubby did not like that idea. He said that was going back on my commitment. He told me not to worry about the kids, and that they were fine. I went back to sitting on the steps when our little group was called to the back alley of the set. The production assistant started to give us direction, when the director gave the word that we would not be needed for the rest of the day. We walked off the set close to 6pm, and they were still filming. What a longER day for all of the cast and crew on LOST than for me! After handing back all of my clothes I was given my time card. It was kind of funny to laugh and point with the other extras at how different we looked in our street clothes and hair than we had in abayas and hijabs.

My clock read 6:10pm when I drove off the lot. As I drove home I thought about how much I had enjoyed my day on the set of my favorite show. It will air on 4/24, I think. I imagine most everything I did will be cut. Just in case, though, look for me in orange. I will DVR LOST and have a debut get together with folks from my Bible study. We filmed episode 9 of the season that day. I had lots of stories to tell Hubby. When I walked through my door around 7pm at night, and saw my kids for the first time all day, I was greeted with some loud shouts of "Mommy!!" and other happy screams. I hugged Hubby and thanked him for taking the kids all day, and taking a day off work. While I had a fun and memorable day, I was so glad to be getting home to my real job.

The Easter Message Retold by Son1

See the cave? It's empty.
Jesus is not there.
See the cross? It's still in the dirt.
Jesus is not there.
He died for my sins.
He lives in heaven now!
Jesus is the King!

And it is so precious to hear his voice tell it like this. We have been working on the Easter story for a few days, but this is how he summed it up.

Hot Malasadas

The other night Hubby brought home a special treat for our family, Hot Malasadas! They are known to be quite ono in Hawaii!A Hot Malasada is a Portuguese pastry. A lot of our Hawaiian food has Portuguese influence. These pastries are a fried dough on the outside, until golden brown. Still, they are moist and fluffy on the inside. Usually they are rolled in cinnamon and sugar or just sugar. Hubby brought some Hot Malasadas filled with coconut and chocolate. GG thinks they taste heavenly!!

GG is here!

Monday night GG flew in from Phoenix just to see her great grandsons in Hawaii. She is Hubby's grandmother, but her five great grandchildren call her GG, short for Great Grandma. She jumped right in with my two boys. She loves reading Son1 tons of stories, and he insists on sitting on top of her.
She treated us to a train ride on the Pineapple Express and we fed the carp at the Dole Plantation. If you haven't done that, and you have kids, that is a MUST DO. Ew...those fish are big and fat and slither up out of the water like hungry crocodiles for fish food. Ew! We stopped in Haleiwa afterward and GG spoiled us at our favorite homemade ice cream shop. Son2 had his very first ice cream...it was called Tahiti something. It was a vanilla ice cream. Oh that was so comical! Son2 cried, screamed, and squirmed each time the spoon was out of his mouth. He LOVED ice cream!Another day we headed out to the Ko'Olina lagoons for a swim and a beach picnic. We took turns hanging onto Son2 in the water.
GG and Son1 floated out in the calm water, and sometimes the gentle waves would push them onto the shore.
We had a bungie cord that was tied around the float to corral Son1 toward us. He loved every minute of the water, just like his big brother did when he was a baby. It was so nice that GG, the two boys, and I could all be in the water at the same time! GG is pretty active, but we just had to get her one thing, a walking stick. Now, GG refuses to use a cane, because she really doesn't need one. She had her knee replaced, and a walking stick just gives her better leverage every now and then on longer walks or hikes. Hubby just wanted me to go out and get an aluminum cane, and GG about came unglued. So Son1 and I ran around looking for a walking stick. GG has several of these in different states. She keeps one in California at her daughter's house, one in Colorado at another daughter's house, and one in Arizona where she lives, so she doesn't have to fly with a walking stick. She doesn't even use it every day, just on longer walks. Finally, the lady in the garden shop at Wal Mart suggested going to our local Hawaiian hardware store chain, City Mill. I explained to the man that my husband's grandmother needed a walking stick, and I needed a rounded piece of wood. He escorted Son1 and me to the back of the store, and waved us to a bin of bamboo sticks. He gave me this freaky look that suggested I might not actually want these sticks. PERFECT! Now, I ended up with a bamboo stick over six feet tall, but I figured Hubby could always cut it. I grabbed the stick for $3.69 and headed back toward the center of the store, where I asked another associate if they knew where I explained the project with the bamboo stick. I explained I needed a rubber bottom next. He looked at me with a cross between a puzzled look and an intrigued look. He led me to a section of rubber feet, and handed me a package. We squeezed a rubber foot over the bamboo, and it fit! Success for an additional $3.99! Once we got home, Hubby used his saw to cut down the stick, and wrapped the top with some duct tape. Now GG is set for some longer distances!

She will be here through the end of the month. Son1 is on Spring Break so we are able to spend all day together exploring the island this coming week, too!

Special Tea at Waimea Falls

A few days ago Son2 and I went scouting out a surprise for some friends. You can read about that here. Now you know it was for a tea party!

When I first read about hosting a Welcome Spring tea party at the Partea Planner, I knew exactly my plan. I invited three friends that fancy tea time on a surprise adventure. Two were able to come. The friends had no idea they were coming to a tea party. They just knew we were meeting at Waimea Valley Audubon Center on the North Shore of Oahu.

Sometimes my friends and I busy ourselves with life, children, and work that it is too easy to miss the beauty of Hawaii. I wanted to have a tea party outside in our surroundings, where we could truly drink in all of God's creation on this blessed island. I wanted us to have a retreat for ourselves, and enjoy our friendship. I wanted us to have time to laugh, talk, and walk, and savor our time together, unrestricted by our schedules. I wanted my friends to be unsuspecting of a tea party.

We headed past Haleiwa Town, along Kamehameha Highway. This is the amazing view from our car window on the way to Waimea Valley. The Audubon Center is across the street from Waimea Bay, one of the top white sand beaches in the world.

We arrived at the Audubon Center, and were greeted by this gorgeous peacock. He blocked our path to the entrance, and put on quite a flirtatious show. We realized this territorial peacock wasn't going to budge, so we maneuvered our way around him to the entrance path and started our hike.

We marveled at the beauty before us, and could feel ourselves giving in to the peaceful surroundings. These are monstera leaves. I call them elephant ears. Some people think they look like big hearts.
We headed toward the fork in the road and followed the path to the right. There was a vast array of tropical beauty, and different layers of green foliage at ground level, eye level, and far above us.
These trees are affectionately nicknamed licorice trees because of the long red, viney blossoms.
Soon we passed a restored family village, and we took a tiny little path off to the right. A few days before I had seen a picnic table hidden off to the side. I hoped it was vacant. It was! I told my friends we had arrived. I pushed my stroller that held the entire contents of my tea table right up to the picnic table. This was the perfect spot given the history of old Hawaii. Women ate separate from the men, and this was a Girls Only event. Men often wondered what was happening at the women's table. Sure enough, hikers passed by us and wondered what we were laughing about, what we were eating, what stories we were telling, and just what we were doing in the middle of this old Hawaiian village.
My friends figured out quickly what the surprise entailed and helped me set the table with a beautiful pastel Hawaiian table cloth. I offered pineapple strawberry tea (organic green and white tea), passionfruit orange (organic green and black tea), and mango peach (organic green and black tea). The table was set with bamboo chargers and paper plates with a lei theme. I did bring linen napkins, and nice flatware, well, because I love an eclectic look.

On the menu:
Pineapple fruit boatsChicken salad, peaches, and grapes served on croissantsVanilla scones and homemade, hand whipped, pineapple cream cheese

Chocolate, cranberry, and almond biscotti, and cheesecake that we NEVER got to!All of this was set against the back drop of our breathtaking surroundings. Our conversation was rich. We told stories. We made confessions about bloopers and laughed and laughed. We sat for a long time. We drank in our friendship and sipped our tea. The time finally came to walk off our indulgences. We packed up our tea table, stowed it all back in my stroller, and continued on the hike. We came upon our next special treat. The Green Jade Vine was flowering in the canopy of the Monkeypod tree in the Lei Garden. A winding path led high into the Lei Garden. The blossoms of the Green Jade Vine are described as being some of the most unnatural colors in nature. The picture does not do the blossom color justice. They are a deep teal color with a dark blue stem. The Green Jade Vine is an endangered species. One of my friends described this tree with the hanging vine as one out of a story book. At the bottom of the Lei Garden we found this huge tree that reminded me of the Banyan trees that the LOST characters jump inside when hiding from the giant polar bears and clouds of smoke. I jumped inside, too!Along the main paved path there were multiple gardens. We felt like we were in total oasis!

Finally we arrived at the end of the hike at the waterfall, Waimea Falls. (This is the same waterfall where Kate and Sawyer swam in LOST.) Waimea in the Hawaiian language means reddish water. The streams above the falls pick up the red volcanic soil, rich in iron. Each of our neighbor Hawaiian islands also has an area called Waimea. Sometimes the waterfall is called "Wahine Falls." Wahine is the Hawaiian word for girl. Water cascades down the rocks forming the shape of a young woman lifting up her skirt as she wades through the pool. Look carefully and you will see behind us. What a perfect stage for a picture of the girls!
We headed back out toward the entrance. I had to take a picture of the "two" babies. As we walked by everyone made comments about the beautiful baby girl in the red stroller. As I strolled past people would peer in dumb founded. I had an entire scuba diving bag filled with my tea stuff with a cooler strapped to the scuba bag. Well, people just didn't know what to say about my baby! Where was the baby?!?!?
Our tea party adventure came to an end. Even our last views were spectacular. These are tall bamboo stalks, so tall that I couldn't capture the ten feel below me, or the ten feet above the frame of the picture.

Scouting Out the Surprise

I invited some friends to come along for a surprise. We agreed to meet at the Waimea Valley Audubon Center. Here is what the friends were told:

1. Bring a camera and wear bug repellent. Wear tennis shoes.
2. I assured them it wasn't scary.
3. My Competitive Spirit was coming, but they could leave theirs at home.
4. It was going to require a two day post on my blog, with the final day being March 20.
5. Final clue: Spring is here! Some like it hot, and some do not!

They knew where we were going, but they had no clue what we were doing there. Can you guess?


Son2 was my "scouting out the surprise" buddy. Last Wednesday while Son1 was in preschool the two of us did some scouting at Waimea Falls.

On the set of LOST

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, and Getting LOST.

I jumped up the stairs into the hair trailer with my hijab in hand. I was led to the seat right next to NA. I sat down, still mortified by the little convo outside, and tried to completely pretend it hadn't happened, firing off tons of questions for the hair stylist. But NA was making some great political jokes, and had everyone giggling about historical figures trying to affect change. Obviously I was ineffectively ignoring him. I self consciously stifled a giggle. He looked up at me, and I don't know what got in to me, but I looked away!! Awkward! The hair stylist pulled my hair back in a loose pony tail at the nape of my neck. She bandaged my hair down with some ace bandage material nearly across the middle of my head. Absolutely no hair could show from under my hijab. Next she pinned the hijab back in place with some discreet bobby pins. I was done. I glanced to my left. NA was gone. Alone, I bounded the down stairs of the trailer, found a production assistant, and walked onto the set.

You can read a short blog post from a fan about our scene here, and see some pictures from the set here. The ones with the cast were taken the day we were filming. I am not in any of the pictures, that I can tell.

Once on the set, it was a chore not trip over my abaya, or trip someone else with it! Incense was burning everywhere. Totaled cars were smoldering with more incense and more smoke. It was pretty stinky. The first scene was in Tikrit. Well, anyway, the taxis said Tikrit Taksi. It was a funeral procession for Sayid's wife. That is what I got from an extra that had filmed the day before. We were never exactly told that on the set. There were many takes of the scene. I doubt I made it in the scene. I was standing on the edge of the procession. The directors kept coming in for narrower and narrower shots of the procession. Still, I was chased down by many hair folks, constantly tucking back my hair that polked out with a comb, pulling my hijab forward, safety pinning the hijab to my abaya, all in between takes. The abaya and the hijab were surprisingly cool. Since they were rather large on me, air flowed through the costume with ease. The material was so sheer and breathable the 80 degree weather did not bother me. Still, I hadn't gotten over the embarrassment of the morning. Was NA trying to make eye contact with me on set or was I imagining it? He came up to me several minutes later and said, "Sorry, my love." Ok. Now I could quit doing the whole ineffective avoid eye contact thing, and look him in the eye. I smiled, knowing it was over.

Nearly an hour and a half later, we finished filming less than a 20 second scene. The production assistants met with the extras off to the side. They announced a private ten minute rehearsal was in the works for the cast. Meanwhile, they needed eight people to change costumes, and the costume director picked. Well, I stretched my little 61 inches to the moon, attempting to make me be noticed. PICK ME PICK ME. Change me into something SHORTER. I was the last one of just eight extras picked to change clothes. Hooray! We started toward the costume trailer. I thanked the costume director for picking me. I couldn't wait to get out of the long abaya! The costume director looked me up and down and assured me I wasn't getting into anything different. I joked in total shock. "You mean I won't be wearing a miniskirt?" He chucked and said, "Oh honey, this ain't no miniskirt." It was similar to what I was wearing already. The costume resembled an Indian sari. My costume was orange. The pants were devoid of any elastic. They were so large they could have fit three or four of me in them. The costume director folded material from both ends of the pants toward the middle and pinned them, kind of like an old fashioned cloth diaper . Next he took one look at my feet. Black shoes were not going to work. He handed me a pair of bejeweled shoes that looked like a cross between Aladdin slippers and ballet slippers. I slid off the black athletic socks and black lace ups off and exchanged them for Aladdin geenie shoes that totally matched my outfit. Next, I headed off to hair. to have my new orange hijab placed correctly. I sat in the same set where I was before, only now Michael Emerson (plays Ben) was sitting where Sayid had sat. He was there just briefly. Finally my hair was done, and I headed back toward the set. Filming for the scene started already. Anxiously, I headed toward a production assistant. I asked where I could join the scene. I was told to hang out for the time being. Well, that sounded indefinite, and I really wanted to be in the scene. I was directed to stand under the director's easy up tent. I started to inch my way closer and closer into the scene. But the assistant director was wise to me, and moved me right back to where I should have been standing! Well, it wasn't all bad not being in the scene. I interacted a teensy bit with Jack Bender who is an Executive Producer for LOST. I watched the filming on the directors' camera, and observed camera lens changing. Honestly, it was getting very HOT, and I was standing directly in the sun. It was clear to me I wasn't going to be in the scene. I rounded the corner behind the set searching for my camping chair. I located it, pulled out my chair, and turned to find a good number of extras waiting to be useful. Ah ha! I wasn't the only one....

Come back to hear the end....

Stay in Bed!

Last night, I told Son1 that if he got up after I put him to bed, he was going to be spanked. Several minutes later I heard things falling around our desk upstairs. I found Son1 out of bed when I rounded the top of the stairs. He looked guilty, held out a poised hand, and said, "Hand!" No. I told him to get on his bed, and turn over on his tummy, because he was getting a spanking. He dawdled longer than my patience could stand, and I gave him one last chance. Finally he turned on his tummy. Just as I was about to administer his consequence, he shouted out, "READY, SET, GO!!!" Ay yay, yay...what does he think sometimes?

Behind!

1. Behind on New Year's Resolution #1. (about a week)
2. Behind on laundry. (catching up)
3. Behind on blogging. (beware of some marathon blogging tonight)
4. Behind on phone calls. (Sorry AC, HU, DP)
5. Behind on making Hubby's lunches and breakfasts. (actually accomplished both this morning for the first time all week)
6. Behind on exercise. (since last week)
7. Behind on mastering my cell phone. (got it in October)

There, now I am at least caught up on the seven random facts about me.

Getting LOST

Hubby suggested I take his car to the LOST set so that I wouldn't have to pull the kiddos' car seats out of my car. He only bought his car a few weeks ago, and I had never driven it. Bad idea to drive this car for the first time in the dark and in a rush. I hopped in the car at 4:45AM. I couldn't find the lights in my driveway, but finally found them on the dash board. A button controls them. Then I tried to depress the emergency foot brake by punching it the way I do in my car. Nope, that just tightened it. Finally I found a lever to the left and below the steering wheel. SIGH. What else? Was I ever going to leave my driveway? It was raining. Don't ask me where I found those windshield wipers but I finally found them somewhere different from where they are in my car. I started down the road and heard a humming sound coming from the vehicle, and I was lacking power. I looked down and I was in D2. GREAT. I had to wait for a traffic light to slip into Drive. Finally I was on the highway, headed toward Honolulu. The directions were to take the cut off (that is what we call an off ramp in Hawaii) and then drive over the canal. It was still really dark, and I couldn't see the canal. It wasn't one of the major canals I was familiar with in town, so I was a little confused. I started to look for my left turn. The street signs don't hang from the big traffic lights like they do in CA. No, they are on street corners tucked back from the road in dark light. The letters aren't reflective, so I pulled into a convenience store and asked some old men standing out front if they knew where this street was. Yeah, about 1.5 miles down the road. I doubled back on the major road, and headed in the right direction. About .5 mile later I realized I had just passed the turn. I doubled back AGAIN, grateful Hubby wasn't riding shotgun, absolutely horrified the way I was whipping round and round on a major road. I finally pulled onto the right street and into a gravel parking lot with lots of semi trucks and white trailers. A man that could have been no smaller than a 4X shirt size shined a flashlight at me and gruffly asked if he could help me. I told him I was here for LOST and he waved me through with a flashlight. I pulled far into the parking lot. I went to pull the keys out of the ignition and they wouldn't budge. Oh no. Why hadn't I taken the trusty minivan that has never failed me? A security guard came over and insisted I pull forward. I couldn't even pull the keys out of the ignition. He thought I just needed to push a button and the key should just pop out. Well, I assumed the same thing, but that didn't work. I let him have a look, and he couldn't figure it out either. I dialed my house and after 2 rings I hung up because I figured out my problem. I was still in Drive and not in Park. It was just after 5:30AM, my call time. I grabbed my book, pump, chair, identification, and extra clothes, and headed toward a large group of people. A groggy Hubby called me. Had I called the house and hung up? I told him never mind. Poor thing, I woke him up for nothing. I stood in a long line with a lot of other folks. Oh, the costume line. Wait a minute, I hadn't even signed in! I jumped out of the long line, checked in under the New Women, was handed my slip for payment, and was told to exchange my slip for a costume. I muddled my way up to the costume director. He handed me a black abaya with the hijab covering for my head. The head covering was detailed and laden with little rhine stone trim. I asked where I could change and he waved me toward a four sided vinyl white tent. I opened the flap, walked in, and saw women changing in the big empty open space. I pulled on the abaya, and my first thought was that this thing was too big, I looked like the Ghost of Christmas to Come from the movie, Scrooge. I could barely get it on it was so long. I am slightly over 61 inches. I slid back into my leather sandals, and came out of the vinyl tent. I extended my arms like an eagle, and paraded out for the costume director. I told him that the abaya was just too big. It was so long it looked like I was wearing a wedding dress train. He pulled my dress abaya together, tied it in the right place, and looked at the obviously low neck line on the scoop neck, and announced, "NO cleavage! Keep the girls inside!" Some folks in line giggled, and he waved me off toward the hair trailer. He recanted as soon as he saw me take a step. My slides were not going to work. No, another costume helper handed me a pair of black closed toe shoes and black Nike athletic socks. What a combo! Ha ha, none of the females on set had brought black socks. So the costume folks were scrounging to grab socks for all of us. No skin was allowed to show, including my feet that couldn't be seen from under the abaya, anyway.

I headed toward the hair trailer. In between trailers I saw Naveen Andrews (plays Sayid) walking in the same direction, parallel to me. I made a turn toward the hair trailer, and met up with some of the other girls ahead of me. We got to talking, and I repeated what the costume director had said about my cleavage. They laughed. Then wouldn't you know NA comes up right behind me as I am sharing and says, "Hullo ladies! Today is a perfect day for a funeral isn't it?" I was totally mortified, as he noticed. He laughed and went up into hair and make up. One by one, the girls ahead of me were called to have their hair done, and have the hijab placed appropriately. Finally, it was my turn. I was totally mortified again. Guess who was sitting in the chair next to me, getting his hair done, cracking jokes? To be continued...

Lesson From My Three Year Old in Church

Son1 started attending church nursery at 5 months. I was relieved that he was well cared for and we could attend the service without baby noise. Our church in VA had a great nursery with plenty of volunteers and staff. Then we moved to Hawaii where he continued attending nursery. Our current church has a 0 to 3 nursery during the service, and a preschool Sunday School class the other hour. Up until recently, he attended both.

Hubby and I started transitioning Son1 to the adult service about 1 month ago. We expected Son1 to stay with us through worship time, participate in the children's sermon, and then return to the 0 to 3 nursery during the big people sermon. We felt encouraged that he might be ready for the 4 to 6 class during service, even though he won't turn 4 until August. Last week Hubby tried the 4 to 6 class with Son1. He just didn't feel Son1 was ready for the class, but knew the 0 to 3 nursery wasn't the right place for him anymore, either. Since we are in between stages, we decided to keep Son1 in the service with us. He loves to watch all of the instruments, see his Sunday School teacher sing, watch the power point slides, and point to people he knows. He understands that his money he places in the offering plate goes to Jesus. But his favorite part is the children's sermon. It's Hubby's favorite part of the service, too.

Our church in Hawaii is great and allows each individual family to decide where their kids should be during service. Childcare is available, or you can choose to keep your children in service. The church provides gallon sized ziplock bags full of crayons, markers, stencils, and note pads for each child that chooses to stay in the service. Now, I never thought I would be one of those moms that keeps all my children in the service with me, but it works for now. Son2 will be 1 this Friday, and I have never left him in the nursery. He has had several sinus and ear infections, and I don't see the need to expose him to other children when he is recovering from being ill, or possibly contagious. The weeks he is well, I don't place him in the nursery, fearing he may catch something from another child. In Hawaii many families keep their children with them in the church service their first year of life, anyway.

I was somewhat worried that I was teaching Son1 that we just draw in church. Then, just before the sermon the pastor asked that we turn in our Bibles to the book of Matthew for the scripture reading. I am lazy and just read it where it is printed on the back of my church bulletin. Son1 was busy tracing the lines on a tic tac toe grid. He didn't even look up, but a few seconds later, he said, "You open your Bible, Mommy!!" I stared down at him, still intently using his marker. Here we were, sitting in the back third of the church service, and he was absorbing far more than I expected. I am not too worried that he thinks we just draw in church anymore!

Jealousy LOST

In case you missed this before, I originally posted this earlier in the week. I was on set yesterday from 530am until after 6pm. The baby took bottles from Hubby and I was grateful for the opportunity to pump during the day. I had scenes with Sayid and Ben from LOST. I will post more later.

Everyone knows the Farmers are huge LOST fans. Since we live in Hawaii we know people who know people on the show. We know people that have seen LOST stars at restaurants. Someone in our Bible study was best mommy friends with baby Aaron's mother from Season 1 and 2. Another friend helped scout for LOST filming sites. Then, one of my own baby friends was told YES he could be baby Aaron and then NO he wasn't going to be baby Aaron last fall. SIGH. I wish my baby could have auditioned. Shhh! I was even a little bit jealous! My baby was the same age as the would be baby Aaron, but Son2 just wasn't blond and blue eyed. Still, more friends from that mommy group said there was a casting call for extras. So Hubby cropped my pictures and submitted them the first week in October.
Well, my Caucasian friends got called immediately for extra parts for the scenes of Kate's trial in Los Angeles. SNIFF SNIFF. But not me. I wished I may, I wished I might, but it didn't happen. Then, wouldn't you know I got another email from The Baby Hui, saying that LOST was looking for more baby Aarons, male or female, blond, blue eyed, 8 to 15 lbs. Well, that didn't fit me or Son2 again, so SIGH, I forwarded on the email to J.


Her son got an audition. Still, no call for me. Oh well, I was wearing ten more pounds of baby weight in these pictures than I am now. My hair was long then. Hubby suggested resubmitting new pictures about a month ago. But I didn't.

The phone rang on Tuesday. I looked at the caller ID. Hawaii State Govt. Ugh. Did this have something to do with this year's election? I hit the Talk button and said hello. The person on the other line said, "Is this R?" Suspiciously I told her it was me. I am always wary when people ask for me by name. I can't even remember the woman's name, but she was a casting director from LOST!!! Pick me up off the floor, splash some cold water on my face, YES, YES, IT'S ME!!! She and I chatted for awhile, and she said, "I see in the picture you have a baby." I told her I had TWO of them, you know, just in case. "Oh, well, we may need you to work on Friday 6am to 6pm. Will that be a problem?" Hubby was off that day, and I mouthed LOST to him, and then paused and looked at him and mouthed FRIDAY. He gave me the nod. YIPPEEE!!!! I assured the casting director that childcare would not be a problem. So the casting director and I chatted a little while longer, getting all of my measurements, stats, and numbers before we got off the phone. I am getting a final call tomorrow. That phone call will give me a final call time for Friday. See this is so secretive. I have no directions, no time, no nothing except for a final call tomorrow when I will get all of the final directions. But here is what I can tell you. I can tell you that I am being cast for either someone buying or selling in a flashback to a Middle Eastern market. Ta-dah! That is fine with me. I have actually been mistaken for Middle Eastern before. It happened a lot when I was a student at UCLA and also when I lived in Northern VA. I have been mistaken for a handful of other nationalities, too.

Ooooh I am so thrilled. I am not listening to the little voice in the back of my head that says they may just forget to call me.

Final Casting Call

I have a lot to do before tomorrow. The casting call is at 530am, 40 minutes from my house. I like to leave the house and the kids totally planned out for Hubby to make it easy for him. It is an old occupational hazard of writing good sub plans when I was a teacher. The better the plans, the better the chance of the day going smoothly. I actually do leave written plans for Hubby. Fridays are busy days and nights on the Farmer schedule.

I am a little worried about feeding. Son2 refuses bottles and sippy cups, though we are going to try again tomorrow. He up and decided one day about 3 months ago he wasn't going to take any more bottles, and sippy cups were out of the question. Then there is my own comfort tomorrow. There may not be an opportunity for me to pump. So my plan is to pump at 4am, and pray that I can pump somewhere during lunch. Apparently there are these "honey wagons" or potties that sound miniscule and are not an option. Two casting directors spoke with me over the pumping issue. Ugh. They just wanted to make sure I would be comfortable and could go 10 to 12 hours. GULP. I said yes. Did I happen to mention I am taking my pump anyway??

Final directions that I don't think are too revealing were to bring my own chair to sit in outside and also bring my own umbrella. I am going to wear long sleeves and a long skirt, but Costume may have something different for me, and I am not to wear any makeup and have my hair pulled back. And I have one more direction from Hubby. I have to take the bling out of my ears and off my finger because he doesn't want anything getting misplaced. Signing off for now...weekend is a busy one, hope to post again, soon.

For the many of you that have noticed and emailed...YES I know I have not posted lately. Soon folks, soon. I have been busy you know!

LOST update

I just suspended my post about being on LOST until after it airs. You know, just in case.

In the Crevices of the Lava Rock Wall

Son1 spends a lot of time outside in our back yard. He ogles over our lava rock wall, inspecting it for spider webs, lizards, and geckos. Our neighbors have ferns and the spores that blow into our yard cause ferns to sprout from the crevices. Here Son1 is telling me all about the spider that lives there, and detailing for me everything that has been caught in the spider's web. The spider was nowhere to be found, so he was also telling me all about where this spider could possibly be hiding. He loves The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

Lava rocks are found in rock quarries. It is no easy feat to build a lava rock wall. I don't know anyone that has ever built one. We hired a contractor to build the rock wall, who brought in a bob cat to move the rocks to our back yard, and then also have them brought into our front yard. A back hoe was also used to level part of our lot in front and back. Lava rocks are these large boulders, that are porous in character, created by lava. They pretty much look the same until a neighbor pointed out to me the detail of a nicely composed wall as opposed to ones that weren't built so nicely. We had just moved to the island when we had the wall built. I will admit to being skeptical of the Samoan men in sarongs (kind of like a wrap around skirt) and slippers (those are flip flops to you on the mainland). How ever were these men going to build my wall without steel toe boots and some dirty jeans, like on the mainland? HA! When you do it every day you must become a master artist and builder.

This Week's Ono

Here is a little about this week's ono at our house. Ono is the Hawaiian word for delicious.

Since we have instituted the new Farmer grocery habit, I wanted to make our shopping interesting. Each week I buy something new to our family.These are pluots. They are a hybrid of 3/4 plum and 1/4 apricot. Pluots are very sweet because of their high sugar content and their intense flavor. They are also very, very juicy. Pluots are also rich in Vitamin A.
This is misoyaki butterfish. It is quite popular here in Hawaii. It combines the Japanese flavors of miso and sake with a taste that is uniquely Hawaiian. It is really popular at Roy's, but costs you probably three or four times what I paid for it at Costco. The butterfish is actually a sablefish, but because the skin of the fish is oily, it melts in your mouth like butter.
We also went to our favorite pancake paradise that is right down the street from my house. This is Son1's favorite breakfast, eggs over hard, and jasmine fried rice which is onolicious. Rice is a staple that can be eaten with every meal here. This fried rice is sweet and is made with bacon. They make the best fried rice ever!
Ooooh we had never had this before. Every day the restaurant makes a special biscuit of the day for $1.99. This day was peaches and cream biscuit day. It was so huge. It took up the entire dessert plate. Mmmm it was butter topped, sweet, fluffy, with whole peach pieces and layers of whipped cream in between. We have gone there for almost a year and have never been there on a peaches and cream biscuit day.Then there was the day Hubby made cashew chicken with vegetable stir fry just to give me a break. So yummy that Son1 ate his veggies pretty easily. The boys usually don't see their dad until the early evenings since he leaves at 5:30am. When he is home, they want to be right with him.

Happy Face

I watched Son1 play outside on our covered lanai. He seemed very intent on whatever he was working on at the table. He had his back to me, but I could see him through the family room windows. After a litle while I went out to join him. He turned and stunned me. "Look, mommy. I painted my shirt!" I aked him why he painted his shirt. "I made a happy face so I could show my teacher. See mommy?" Yeah, I saw that shirt all the way to the washing machine!

Girls Day and Hatted Cats

In Hawaii March 3 is Girls Day. The tradition comes from the Japanese Girls Day called Hinamatsuri. Japan has done away with Girls Day now. They turned the former Boys Day (May 5) into Children's Day. But in Hawaii we still celebrate them separately. The older tradition of Girls Day was centered on doll collections started for daughters at birth. The doll collections symbolized proper girl values. The display could be up to seven tiers. It had to be taken down by March 3, or the tale was that girls would never marry. Now tradition centers around giving your daughter a gift. At our school the girls dress up in kimonos. All of the kids painted little dolls with candy and traditional cookies.


On March 3 we also celebrated Read Across America. Traditionally it is celebrated on March 2, in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. Our school serves a big green eggs and ham breakfast for the kids. My neighbor was sweet enough to serve Son1. She also served him a chocolate milk. Ooh he had this guilty look on his face, and he sat and stared at the chocolate milk for a long time. His teacher only allows the kids to drink white milk. I only allow white milk. Remember me, with the cavity ego? He occasionally gets chocolate milk when his daddy treats him. Well, he only took a bite or two of his eggs. Even though I told him he could drink the chocolate milk he was well aware that he knew I normally would not let him drink chocolate milk! He probably had all of two or three sips!

Absolutely Avocado

Can you guess his favorite fruit? Son2 can put away a half an avocado a day. He would eat a whole one, all by himself. We limit him, because he would eat us out of a house, a home, and an avocado tree. That was our big mistake, not planting an avocado tree when we moved here. He eats avocado by the shovel fulls. He either has really good eye sight, or a really good sense of smell, because if we have avocado in a salad, and he doesn't have it in front of him, he will let us know that we are holding out on him. He won't quit until he gets his avocado! His gobble speed is quite impressive. Just as the plumber who was here fixing my sinks, or any company that has been here. He is definitely a show stopper when he has an avocado in front of him!

I am the Good Mommy That Knows How To Make the Memories

This is just to prove to you that I am the stellar mother.

I walked into the bathroom a few nights ago and found Son1 back floating in the tub. He caught me off guard and I burst out laughing. I used to do the very same thing at his age. I rushed to get my camera, because, after all, I am the family historian, memory maker, whatever you want to call me.I called the end of bath time, and he stood up. I rinsed him off with the detachable shower head, and he jumped out and onto the fuzzy yellow rug. I grabbed a towel off the rack behind Son1, and leaned to sit backward onto the closed lid of the commode when I heard a SNAP! But before my mind could figure out what snapped, my toes were pointed above my tummy, and my okole (Hawaiian word for my rear, but everyone says okole here, pronounced Oh-Ko-Leh) was sunk, nearly into the bowl of the toilet. I jumped up, and the plastic pieces retracted into place from their open scissor like position. And since my camera was sitting on the counter top, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the culprit.
My memory flashed back again to the first day of First Grade. Tony A. sat down after the Pledge of Allegiance and cracked the wooden seat in half. Everyone laughed and he was completely humiliated. Like a mind reader, Son1 looked at me in an accusatory way and said, "Mommy broke the toilet!!! Ohh...Daddy's gonna fix it." Who taught him that? Oh yeah, Mommy did. Anytime anything breaks in this house, and their needs an immediate fix, that's Daddy's job. Only. SIGH. Daddy came up the stairs, and Son1 repeated himself. Hubby just looked at me, and told us he could fix it. Now how was he going to do that? He just looked at me knowingly, and told me he was going to buy a new one. Ok, so my brain was misfiring just a little.

I put Son1 to bed, hoping that he would forget the day his mother sat on the toilet seat and broke the lid. No such luck. For the last few days, at the most random times, he sings out, "Mommy broke the toilet!" I figured I better tell you before you hear it from him.

Aloha to Our First Friends on the Island!

Today we said Aloha to the very first friends we made in Hawaii. They also attended our church in VA. When Hubby got his orders to Hawaii, a couple from church shared that a family with three little girls had moved to Hawaii just months ago. We emailed them long before our arrival, and talked on the phone. They helped us find a realtor, and introduced us to island living before even arriving in Hawaii. Our families became fast friends once we met in person. In Hawaii it is customary to celebrate someone's departure with an Aloha party. So today we enjoyed their party and company, and offered words of encouragement to them and their children.

Now here is the trade off with living different places. Sure moving brings the heartache and loss of what is familiar, the distance from family, and the apprehension of what the next place will offer, and what it will lack. Then there are the tasty treats, the yummies of friendships that happen only because of moving. Today we celebrated friendship, listened to their uncertainties, and offered reassurance. We laughed, we hugged, and said Ahui Ho...until we meet again. Fortunately we know that will be in June, when we see them in California.
The little girl on the far right was Son1's first little crush, before he was even two years old. We caught them sharing a lollipop, hugs, and teeny pecks. There was a time when we hovered over our children in the ocean. Now the kids get in the water on their own. That left plenty of time for Son2 to get special attention from his parents.