Have teapot... will travel!

Life has been pretty dull for me since my friend Tara left Libya. I've mostly been throwing myself into my work and been busy getting kids into school. Everyone keeps asking me 'What's Tara been up to?' - well, she's been up to a lot!

She's moved back to the US and bought a house so she can be near her parents. And she's had to re-do her surgery to repair her Achilles tendon - so that's kept her mostly immobile. During all this she's enrolled in Arabic classes at the University of New Mexico - taking two levels at one time. Phew! That's hard! - and I'm so proud of her!

Recently, her professor mentioned that there was a Libyan student enrolled at the university and Tara jumped at the chance to meet him. They worked out a deal that he would help her with her Arabic and she would help him prepare to take the TOEFL and GRE. 

Yesterday we chatted and Mohamed (the lone Libyan at UNM) says that he was so happy to meet Tara and that she 'smelled like Libya'. The two of them drink green tea while they study. This is nice news!

Hehehe.... Libyans cannot go anywhere without their teapots!

Reaching Tall

Yusef is six feet tall! We measured him today... he made it to six feet! He's fourteen so he's still got some more growing to do. Adam stopped letting me measure his height when he reached 6 foot 2 so I don't know how tall he is now.... maybe my sister can take a peek at his drivers licence...???

Holly

It's my sister Holly's birthday today! Happy Birthday Holly!

This is an old picture I had in my album of me and Holly. She was about two here (she's the dark one). We were on this covered pedal cart that we had. We used to play on that thing for hours and hours. Two kids could fit on the seat. It was great fun! In this picture she looks like she's pissed off because I'm not pedalling and the cart has come to a standstill. 

Happy Birthday Holly! I hope your day is a special one!

The search begins...

I sat down this evening and looked at my calendar. It's time to go out to the Great Pumpkin Patch and bring home that one special pumpkin. 

If only it were so easy.... The choice in Libya is pretty limited. It's hard to find one that's orange on the outside....  sigh... but I will try my best.

Warning - this post contains bad language

People keep asking me how the house we are building is coming along. Well, for quite some time nothing has been done. I had been so excited about the house... planning and designing to my heart's content. 

When we had the doors made and installed I was thrilled. Not only were they well made, they were beautiful too. We had two different types of marble put around the entrance door - I was soooo happy with the way it turned out.

Libyan houses are surrounded by high walls, and there are always nice decorative gates facing the street. I spent hours researching and designing the gates. Actually I'm not thrilled with the idea of gates - I'm from a totally different culture - in America very few houses are surrounded by walls and have gates. But I went to work and after what seemed like forever Hubby and I drew out the plans for something we both liked. Off he went to have them  made and installed.

I didn't think he would screw it up.... but he did.... what was I thinking? What was he thinking? 

After the gates were installed I drove out to the house to have a look. .... and nearly had a heart attack. What happened to the gate I so lovingly designed? I found something HIDEOUS instead:

This is AWFUL!  I got on the phone immediately and started SCREAMING very, very, very LOUDLY 'What the F**K happened to the gate I planned?!?'. Hubby said the guy at the iron monger's said that this what was the latest style. 'WHAT????? I DON"T GIVE A F**K ABOUT WHAT SOME IDIOT THINKS IS STYLE! The guy most likely can't even spell his F***ing name - why would you listen to what he says and take his F***ing advice without consulting me?' I demanded to know.

This telephone exchange happened before I walked through the gate and found this:

The stupid fool has ruined my beautiful door by installing a matching HIDEOUS gate over the top of it! More screaming from me and lots of swearing - I think I used every bad word I know in every language I could think of. 

This is a close up of the detail work:

I'm furious - I've been furious for months now. I have spent years living in a too small apartment and all I wanted was to live in a place that I could feel proud and happy with... not a place I think is HIDEOUS. I think what pisses me off the most is that I wasn't consulted. The house has come to a standstill. I'm not living there until he gets rid of the medieval prison gates. 

Do you think I have a right to be angry? 

Running on the old treadmill

I've been too busy to post anything lately. 

The kids are still getting their schedules sorted out. We arranged for a bus to come pick up Ibrahim - this morning at ten minutes past six he arrived. Apparently Ibrahim is the first passenger he has to pick up and will be the last to be dropped off on the way home. That's ridiculous! The poor boy doesn't have to be at school until eight thirty. I sent hubby downstairs to tell the bus driver to leave. I'm not waking up at 5 am just to get him ready for school. His father will have to figure out some other solution. The thought of Ibrahim spending about four hours a day in a bus is just wrong (with most likely a maniac for a bus driver). 

Jenna's school has completed their renovations and she's moved back to the morning schedule. Now the only one going to school in the afternoon is Yusef. I'm not sure how much longer it will be before his school's renovations are finished. I will be happy when we are all back on a morning schedule again.

As for me - I've got my friend's daughter's wedding tonight. This means that I will get to see all the friends and people that I don't get a chance to see very often because we are all too busy to get together - We'll all be at the wedding. The downside of all of this is that we'll get to see each other and that will be about all - the music will most likely be way too loud to have a conversation. So I'll see everyone but not know what everyone's news is. uuughh... It has been way too long since we've all gotten together. Time to start thinking about arranging a good old-fashioned get together - something that hasn't been done in ages. 

 

Thanks to everyone that's emailed me and sent me birthday e-cards and wishes. No cake for me - the candles would cause a fire hazard. I officially feel old. Yesterday three different students told me I was like a mom to them... ugghhh. Well, I guess I should be happy - so far no one's said I'm like their grandmother. 

I'm going to invest in some wrinkle cream....  

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

Shrek, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt were all having lunch together.

Shrek said, 'I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in the world, but how can I be sure?'

Angelina Jolie agreed. 'I'm told I'm the most gorgeous of them all, but sometimes I wonder.'

Brad Pitt said, 'I'm pretty sure I'm the sexiest man alive but I've never had it confirmed.'

They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to ask the famed talking 'mirror, mirror on the wall' to confirm for them whether Shrek was the strongest, Angelina Jolie was the most gorgeous, and Brad Pitt was the sexiest.

They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.

The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, it's true. The mirror told me that I am indeed the strongest man in the world.'

Brad Pitt perked up and said: 'And I know for sure that I'm the sexiest man alive.'

But Angelina Jolie lifted her sad, gorgeous face and said...

'Who the hell is KhadijaTeri?"