Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Few More Things...

This morning I have a few things that are making me extra happy, even though it's a Sunday (normal world Monday).

1.  The evening Primrose and no Sugar is helping.  This may be TMI, but I started today and I do not have cramps.  That is unheard of!

I guess this means no more sugar even after Lent is over. Which I'm a little sad about since I love ice cream, but I'm really happy about because I'm usually not good for anything for at least 2 days a month.  Sometimes to the point that I'm unable to go to work.  So to say I'm excited about not having cramps is an understatement.

2.  I got my new suit yesterday - and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  I feel so put together!

3.  The weight that I gained - 1.5lbs is most likely water weight since I swell like a balloon every month so that means I didn't magically gain fat over night.  That made me happy.

4.  I look pretty in my new suit.

5.  I love my new purse (yes baby, if you're reading this I did buy a purse yesterday!).

6.  I also bought a pretty necklace, he, he, he...

7.  I feel pretty in my new suit.

8.  I made pumpkin muffins, with walnuts, for breakfast this week and even though I altered the recipe they turned out great and are super yummy!  In case you were dying of curiosity - I doubled the amount of pumpkin and halved the amount of sugar.


This is a great start to the week!  Let's hope the rest goes as well as the weekend.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Candy Anyone?

I admit it...

I'm probably on the internet too much.


But I found this little guy:



He looks average right?

Well who knew that average could look like this...








Or this?








And this!








I mean really?!  Look at him!

These photos make me want to lose 50 pounds and spend 3 hours a day in the gym.  Maybe I should print them out and use them as incentive.

Although considering the website I found them one:  

http://www.queerty.com

He may bat only for the home team.  

But that's o.k. with me - after all it's not like I'm available.  

And even if I were, and he was interested, let's face it I'm pretty high maintenance.

And he looks like he's high maintenance.  And two high maintenance people really don't do well together.  

But I can look - and man THIS, THIS is some eye candy.  

So I had to share it.  

Enjoy - 

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I'm obsessed.

With Coffee.

With Wallowing.

With my comfortable American King Bed.

With my Down Pillows, from America, on my American King Bed.

With my Husband.

My poor husband, he came last on the list. 

He may be last on that short list, but he's not least, and he understands. 

He knows I love him most of all...

He knows I'm obsessed with wallowing on Friday mornings and coffee.

And he loves me.  So he indulges me.

It also gives him a chance to work, surf the net, and watch TV programs I don't like...

Guess What?!

Noooo not Chicken Butt!

It's almost Friday.

I didn't get to wallow last Friday because we took our housemaid to the airport.

But I did wallow on Saturday - but it's not the same.

And I felt guilty because my husband was going out of town. 

But this Friday, THIS Friday I'm going to wallow.

Wallow, Wallow, Wallow!

Ahhhh.....

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I just had to share this...

My Grandfather fought in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge. 

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1753.html

It was cold and miserable and he use to tell me that Americans had no idea how close we came to losing this battle.  I was about 16 or 17 when he told me about it.  Still in High School, I was writing a paper on WWII and Pop Pop was my source.   My only source.

I got an 'A'.


He had been in WWII for a few years and during the Battle he captured a couple of Germans.  I remember he told me that the only reason why he captured them was because he got his gun up before they got theirs up.

He had literally stumbled upon them in the woods while he was on patrol.  He said they didn't give him any problems because they were starving and freezing to death in the cold winter air.

Basically my Grandfather said they were young and miserable and happy to surrender because the Americans made sure they had warm clothes and were fed.  And Germans couldn't get supplies to their soldiers so they were starving and freezing to death.

My Grandfather brought home spoils of war - a German saber, a few rings, and one of those 3-D photograph things where you put the slide in front of the glasses to see the photo in 3-D.  Too bad everything was lost over the years. 

I actually think my history teacher kept the 3-D photo thing when I brought it in to show along with my paper.  There were a ton of photos of Hitler - my Grandfather had "liberated" them from a German schoolhouse.

Anyway until the day he died he held a grudge against the Germans - nothing he ever owned came from Germany - or from Japan for that matter.  I guess some things you never get over.

My Grandmother told me that one of his spoils of war was a big Swaskia flag. 

Yep he brought one of those home with him from the war.

She told me he put it on the floor of his work shed so that he could walk on it everyday. 

Every. Single. Day. 

Until it disintegrated.  

Into teeny tiny pieces.

She told me it took years for it to disintegrate. 

The story / joke below reminded me of him when I read it.  I'm not sure if it's true or a joke, to be quite honest French customs officers have never been this nasty to me.  But it could be.

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.  At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.."

The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."

"Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !"

The American gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.
"



You could have heard a pin drop.

I miss my Grandfather - and now that I'm older there are so many questions I'd ask him. But I am thankful that I was somewhat wise as a 16 year old because I use to sit and hang out with him at least 2 or 3 times a week.

I'll always treasure those memories.

Monday, February 22, 2010

COFFEE, I must have COFFEE

My housemaid is on vacation.

Yes, I have a housemaid.

No, we're not rich.

A housemaid is about the only cheap thing here in Dubai.

And we have a housemaid to take care of the animals when we are out of town because there are no good kennels.  Ones that we trust anyway.

She actually saves us money because we don't eat out nearly as much when she's home.

Anyway I totally digress.

She's on vacation for a month and therefore I have no coffee.

Yes I know I can fix it myself - after all I'm the one who taught her how to make coffee.

But if you remember...I'm so not a morning person.

And even though coffee from home is better than coffee out (unless you're in Italy of course) I just can't seem to get up the extra 20 minutes earlier to make it.

Soooo I have to go and get it from Starbucks. 

And I have to say, as much as it pains me, my housemaid makes coffee way better than the little guy at Starbucks.  And I do mean little - he's about an inch or so shorter than me.

So I'm sitting here, no coffee, psyching myself up to walk down to get me one.

I really need my coffee.  We all know how I get when I don't have one.

Grumpy.

So here goes.

Coffee...

Here I am, and there you are...

I'm sitting here with the Toot and the Crank sipping on a nice tumbler of 12 year Auchentoshan single malt.

I do so like my single malt. It's right up there with my daily coffee.

Gives me a warm and fuzzy...

The only thing that would be better is if my husband was home, or my bbf SP were here (or I was in Houston with her).

I've given up all sweets, chips (potato and corn), and fries for Lent. So the only other thing I'd like right now is a big huge hunk of chocolate cake, or a cupcake, or some home made chocolate chip cookies....

Yum.

But I'm not going to do it, I'm going to be strong. I can give them up for 40 days, have given them up for 40 days before, sometimes even longer.

I always try to see how long I can go - I usually make it until May, once I stayed off the sugar until almost August.

And staying off sugar would be really good for me right now. My endometriosis is getting worse - my fibroids are out of control and sugar makes both conditions worse.

So I'm off the sugar, I'm taking the Evening Primrose, the Vitamin C, and I'm going to add the multi-vitamin next.

And I need to lose the weight - but that's another blog - one that I'm not as good at keeping up with. Most likely because I'm having issues committing to weight loss right now.

I could go into the endo/fibroid issues - but that's not this blog either...

But I can say this...there is NO WAY I'm going to have surgery here!

Anyhoo - I need to do the dishes...and I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Not Again...

Someone needs to fire the protocol officer at the White House.

Can you see anything wrong with this photo?


I mean seriously they sent the Dali Lama out the side door with the GARBAGE?! 

No one checked to make sure the pathway was clear?!

Would they have sent the Pope out the same way?

Really? Really?

There are so many things wrong with this White House and this just highlights the complete lack of care given to the details.  If you're going to be a President who thinks everything can be solved by "opening a dialogue" you really should surround yourself with people that have half a brain.

The protocol officer's job is to make sure these things don't happen.  What was she doing prior to the Dali Lama's visit?  Getting lunch?

Friday, February 19, 2010

The Notebook!

I found a blog

http://thenotebookjourney.blogspot.com/2010/02/moving-along.html

And the writer - Lauren - is doing a project. She's sending a notebook around to anyone who is interested and they can write anything on one page in the book. So I signed up!

It's traveling around the States for a bit then it'll come to me.

I'm excited, but a little nervous...what do I write? What should I say? Should I talk about my experiences living overseas? Should I talk about my cutie patootie husband? My furbabies?

Lauren also wants a postcard and a photo of me and the book. Now I do have some ideas about that...me and the book in front of the Burj al Arab, or me and the book with a camel, or me dressed in an Abaya with the book. The possibilities are endless and intriguing.

It'll be a few months before the book makes it my way so I'm thinking about what to write. I want it to be good because I'm sure the other participants are going to read the entries.  I know I will be!


And when the book is completed Lauren is checking into having it bound so we can purchase a copy.  I can't wait to see the finished product!

It'll be about 2 years or so until it's finished so it'll be interesting to read my page and see where I was in my life when I participated in comparison to where I'll be when it's finished.

I wonder how many countries the book will end up in? And how many of them will be in the Middle East.

It's very exciting!!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Blogging

Well today I've seen a couple of blogs that I like, or really photos held in a couple of blogs.

This one:

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2010/02/17/emergence/

Is modern art - and I usually don't like modern art but this was really good.

And this one made me chuckle this morning which is pretty impressive, because as you know, I am NOT a morning person.

http://nerviosismo.tumblr.com/post/395023578/mindfuck

And I like this one - it made me smile, most likely because I'm pro choice and I'm pro gay rights (is that the term you use when you think all people should be treated equally regardless of their sexual orientation?).   

http://www.queerty.com/whats-more-important-the-rights-of-an-unborn-fetus-or-the-rights-of-a-living-homosexual-20100217/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

What can I say I have a bit of an off sense of humor.

And I'm hungry...you know what sounds good right now?  A pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw.  YUM!

Look at it:

http://thisweekfordinner.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/pulled-pork-coleslaw1.jpg

I want it!  But I can't get it here in the UAE.  I can get pork products - you have to go back to the porn oops I meant to say pork room to get them, but it's just the meat.  It's not cooked and presented so beautifully to the public.  Every time I go into the little pork room in the back of the grocery store I feel a little dirty, a little naughty. 

Like I'm a bad, bad girl.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Early Morning

I had to get up early today.
My husband had to go to an early meeting in Abu Dhabi and since we share a car that meant that I had to get up and be ready to get out of the house by 6:30am.

So I was at work at 7am. Which isn't too early - I try to be at work by 7:30 due to parking and due to the fact I like to get off at 4:30.

Anyway, I'm drinking my coffe, I've had my breakfast, the brids are singing outside, and I'm ready to take a nap on my desk.

Hopefully I'll perk up after my 2nd cup of coffee.

I wore one of my new dresses today - I like it!

I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gaaaayyy!

I found a quote I like:

"I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes. I am out of control, and at times hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe

This is so true.


Later Gator.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Can I just say...

I LOVE shopping.

I bought the cutest dresses for work. They are professional but feminine. 



I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a woman.

I purchased some trousers too, now I just need some cute tops to go with them.

I tried to buy some shoes to go with my outfits because my shoes get destroyed here with the heat (the soles actually melt), but the card machine in the mall wasn't working.

For any of the stores.

Gotta love being in a developing country. Dubai is much nicer than most, but it is after all only 38 years old.

So sometimes the infrastructure doesn't work quite like it should.

But at least I have stores to shop in. It could be worse, I could be in Syria or Saudi.

Well, not really because I wouldn't live in either one of those places.

But it could be worse.

I could be back in London!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Thursday Blues

I am not feeling it today.

I'm tired and cranky.

Really, I feel like throwing myself down onto the floor (but not here the carpet creeps me out) and flopping around like a five year old.

I don't mean a tantrum, just flopping around like a spaghetti noodle.

It could have something to do with my bed.

My bed was so warm and toasty this morning, I sooo didn't want to get out of it.

My husband came home last night so when I woke up this morning he was next to me which is one of the reasons why the bed was so toasty warm.

So nice!

What a pain to get out of bed and go to work.

Blah!

But on the bright side I'm going to go shopping tonight with a good friend.

I'm very excited - I believe it's going to be a good shopping day.

Last week I saw some cute outfits on sale at the mall that I wanted to try on, but I didn't because my husband was with me.  It's not his cup of tea, unless of course I'm trying on lingerie, then he's all for it! Ha, ha, ha!

I'm so glad it's the weekend.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Wow.

People are reading my Blog...

I mean people I don't know.

I have a second follower.  I can't believe that someone I don't know actually was interested enough to follow my blog.

Wow.

It's very exciting!

Moo goo gai pan exciting!

All I want to say is....Welcome to my crazy life.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Miss me yet?

I laughed out loud when I saw this:


I don't know if it's a real billboard or not, regardless I love it!

I wasn't a huge Bush fan, but I liked him.  I would have preferred Gore, but wasn't unhappy to have Bush in office.  Especially after 9/11.  I liked how Bush handled the attack, well...maybe he could have been a bit more aggressive. 

Anyway...

I agreed with Bush on some things like foreign policy and defense.  And I disagreed on others.  I wasn't too happy with him trying to take away my right to choose. 

In my opinion, unless you're directly involved with popping the baby out or unless you were asked directly by the parties involved for your opinion, keep your opinion to yourself. 

And I also didn't like the way he kept trying to bring religion into government. 

I have my own beliefs thank you, and I don't really need to hear about yours.  If you are a Government official keep your religious beliefs to yourself in the privacy of your own home.

It's called separation of Chruch and State.

Practice it.

People either loved or hated Bush, but I can say this about him...right, wrong, indifferent you knew where he stood on the issues. 

Obama - he doesn't even know where he stands so how can I?

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I've been gone...

I wasn't feeling well, so I haven't been posting.

I know I was missed.

You were crying weren't you?!

Never fear, I am here.

I'm back (said in the creepy little girl poltergeist voice).

Anyway as you know I have fibroids. Well I think you know.

If you didn't you know now. I have fibroids.

My doctor here suggested that I go back to the US to have surgery.

She is an American doctor who moved here because her husband was promoted to oversee this region.

And she's not a huge fan of living here, but she loves her husband.

Anyway - I digress.

So after she suggested surgery I looked up fibroids, what they are, what causes them, and what are the treatments.

And guess what.

Fat causes fibroids.

Why don't doctors tell you in blunt, no uncertain terms, what fat does to you?!

Why didn't one of my doctors say to me if you don't lose the weight you will be in pain, and you will be cutting your life short blah, blah, blah?

I mean, maybe I wouldn't have listened, but I think I would have listened at least a little.

At the very least I think I wouldn't have gained quite so much weight.

Now I have 40 pounds and 5 fibroids to get rid of.

Fat is no Bueno.

Monday, February 1, 2010

The Lottery

I'm practicing the Secret.

You know the one that had a book and apparently has been endorsed by celebrities?

My Secret is that I'm going to win the Lottery.

Not just any Lottery. The BIG one.

At least 100 million dollars.

Then I can stop working and just relax. Doesn't that sound nice?

Especially right now when I 'm about to fall asleep at my desk, literally.

Mmmmm sounds so very nice.