Saving time

I found a road that will cut off 15 minutes of travel time in the morning. I'm not telling anyone where it is because then everyone will be taking my short cut and it will just end up jam-packed with cars like the other roads in Tripoli.

It's amazing that I can get excited about gaining a quarter of an hour. Now that I have the extra time in my day I have to think about what I'm going to do with it... today it's going to be used to make a blog post!

A reason to be

I was amazed to see prehistoric rock art in Tarhouna on a recent tour. Absolutely stunning engravings of various animals such as cattle, lions, gazelle and deer. Most surprising of all was this rhino. 

[Click on the image to see an enlargement]

Libya holds so many treasures. I've been so depressed lately about life here and then I came across something wonderful.... This is why I'm here.

Absolutely no logic

My car has headlamps that turn on automatically when you start the car. This means my lights are on even during the day. The reasoning behind this is that it's supposed to make you more visible, hence safer. This would be a wonderful thing if I weren't in Libya but unfortunately Libyans have some weird idea that when you use your headlights it wastes your car's battery. I'm not sure where they got this idea from.

They all think they have to be good Samaritans and tell me my lights are on. I get people hanging out their windows waving and shouting 'Your lights!!!!' They are constantly flashing their headlights at me or hold up their hands and flick their fingers to signal to me. God forbid I try to drive with my windows down because they think that's an invitation to pull up next to me and shout at me. I've even had police pull me over to tell me my lights are on.

I just don't get it... why is no one worried about the children bouncing around the car without car seats or seat belts? No one seems at all worried about cars that have their bumpers tied on with bits of twine. Why does no one seem worried about the stupid women who drive with their faces completely covered? How come I see no one waving them down?

Messed up schedules and routines

Last week was a really busy one. I was running all over town trying to get things done and had to rearrange my schedule to try to fit as much in as possible. On top of that we had workers plastering the garden walls and they needed to be fed, so I was cooking for 10 every day. Phew... I'm tired!

Yesterday I didn't even step out of the house. I spent quite a bit of the time in bed relaxing, napping and reading the stack of National Geographic magazines that hubby retrieved from our P.O. Box. (Thanks for renewing the subscription Mom!).

In the afternoon some of the cousins came over to hang out at our house. Actually they've been coming over nearly every Friday for the past few months. I asked them where there mother was and they said she was home (enjoying the quiet). Thank God she doesn't come over with them or I'd be stuck entertaining her. For the most part I don't even notice the four extra kids in my house, or is it five. Their noise just blends in with my kids' noise and if they get on my nerves I can throw them all out of the house and tell them to run around on the farm. We have lots of space! Yeah!

In the evening hubby had guests. This was the signal for the kids to start acting up. Why do they always get so noisy and unruly whenever their father has guests? Nora was in charge of the tea and refreshments for her father. We don't follow the Libyan routine when my friends come over and hubby was grumbling that Nora wasn't doing a good job with the trays and refreshments. I really hate the pretentious Libyan routine...uuugh! We should have sent out iced-tea in honey jars, and peanut-butter and crackers!

  

Taking note of things...

I've really been blessed with pleasant weekends lately. Busy weeks and quiet, easy weekends.

Counting my blessings.....

Hip-pity hop!

I've had another strange dream. This time the sun was shining and I was walking someplace that had green grass and rabbits. Nice big fluffy rabbits. I sat down in the grass and a huge black rabbit climbed into my lap and started sniffing my face. It had the most wonderfully soft fur!

I'm not sure why I dreamt about rabbits but maybe it's because I have what seems to be a house full of kittens. Well really there are only three of them but when they're playing together it seems as though there are a lot more than three! One of the kittens is black with long fluffy fur and likes to climb into my lap when I'm sitting on the sofa. I was also born in the year of the rabbit and was recently talking to someone about that.

Anyway, I looked up the significance of rabbits and rabbit fur on the internet and found this:

Many rabbits in your dream signify an increase in responsibilities which will be pleasant rather than onerous; rabbit fur or anything made of it is a sign that you will eventually be able to afford sable.

I'll go along with that. Sounds good to me! 

Getting ready to face the week

It's been a quiet weekend. Friday was spent mostly at home doing laundry and relaxing. Today was lunch with a friend, errands and lots of retail therapy. Tomorrow it's back to the usual routine.

The driving is really getting to me these days. It takes an hour and a half to get the kids to school in the morning and another hour and a half to get them home again. Add any other driving and I can expect to spend 4 hours of my day behind the wheel of the car. It's exhausting and nerve wracking all at the same time. I found a website that has free audiobooks for download so we'll have something new to listen to on the ride (and to keep me sane!). By the time the weekend arrives I just want to stay at home and do as little as possible.

The phrase of the week...

Close the door! You're letting the flies in!

Sometimes this is said with various swear words placed right before the nouns - the more colorful the choice of vocabulary the better!