Keeping Busy

I think I start every post by saying that nothing too exciting is happening-and that's true for this month too! Abu Dhabi seems to lend itself to laziness...especially since everyone delivers! Well with me not feeling well last month Tony and I fell into a little rut of ordering food every night and skipping date nights. Well last week I made a deal with him that if I cooked dinner Sunday through Wednesday, Tony would take me out for a date night Thursday (remember our work week is Sunday-Thursday here) and Tony readily agreed. Well so far I've been keeping up my end of the bargain and Tony's been eating well! So Thursday night after he gets off work we're going to a movie and then we're going to BBQ to give me a night off! Providing I cook tonight of course!

We're still playing poker on Friday nights. I've been getting second or third lately but have yet to get first! (Good thing you get money for second and theird place too!)

Let's see, what else. I've been doing a lot of cross-stitching. I'm making Christmas stockings for Tony and me! When I was little my Grandma crocheted stockings for the whole family which was really special. I got the same pattern and tried really hard to make Tony a stocking and it just wasn't happening. So I decided that Tony and I should start our own tradition and I'm cross-stitching us stockings. I used a really big brand name for the patterns so when we have kids I can find a pattern for them too. I finished mine a few months ago-all I have to do is buy materal for the lining and the back...and then hand sew it all together!

I'm about half way done with Tony's which will feature a river and some deer when it's done. I'm really excited that I should finish by Christmas!

That's about it right now! Just wanted to say hi to everyone and prove that I'm going to get better at this blogging thing!

Internet Problems

Well, all of you in the States probably haven't heard but we've been having internet problems over here. Some ship dropped anchor and severed two internet cables (rumor is it was on purpose) so our internet has been touch and go lately. Sorry to all the people we haven't written back in the past few weeks!

We haven't been up to too much. Tony is a happy boy though! When he got his promotion last summer we decided that he deserved a little congrats present but we had the whole Germany vacation going on. Well, a few weeks ago he FINALLY got his present. It is the biggest flat screen tv I've ever seen!!! It doesn't even fit in the entertainment center so it's sitting on the coffee table! The best thing about the humongous tv is that for the first couple days I noticed the tv stretched out shows so ALL the women on tv looked so much fatter! I loved it! And then I mentioned it to Tony and he adjusted the ratio so now all the women are back to being skinny.

We still have poker night every week and I don't want to jinx it but I'm doing pretty well! I haven't gotten first yet but all except two times I've gotten second or third (which you get money for!). Tony and I are also talking about taking a vacation to Italy, Austria, and the Chech Republic in the next couple months! I know-we've already been to Austria-but we want to go back to Hallstatt so bad!

Also-we may be moving! No, not back to the States-to Al Ain which is about an hour and a half away. Lockheed is hiring a bunch of new people so they're getting more apartments and the ones in Al Ain are really nice. Al Ain is much cleaner and prettier than Abu Dhabi. Besides, this apartment is really ticking me off. The seal on the bottom of our guest toilet is broken so the bathroom flooods every time you flush it, my kitchen sink is leaking, the fridge makes a really high pitched sound most of the time, and the washers in the laundry room STILL aren't fixed and the one in my apartment has had to be repaired three times in the last week! Yea-I want to move! Since we'd get nicer housing, Tony and I are thinking about staying another year or so. We'll let everyone know!

Well that's about it! I guess I should start taking more pictures because I don't really have any new ones to post! But here's a cute one of Kieley helping with the laundry! Oh-speaking of Kieley, she went to the vet a couple days ago and she's officially mange free! Yay! So we can get her fixed anytime! We also bought a crate for her when we're gone because she ate two pairs or my favorite heels and my cell phone all in one week!

Hope everybody's doing great and we miss you all!

So Sick!

Well I've been out of commission for the past few weeks but I've had very good excuses! I kept getting this cold that would last a few days and made me feel really queezy. So I would spend a couple days being sick and then the next couple days catching up on all the housework I didn't do while I was sick, then I would get sick again...then time to catch up again...you get the vicious cycle! Well in the middle of all that Kieley got sick too and had a massive case of (sorry to gross you out) diarrhea which is not what you want to clean up anytime-but especially when you're not feeling well! So while I'm sick, I'm obviously not cooking dinner for Tony and I. But, as sick as I was, I was cooking dinner for Kieley since she was supposed to have chicken and rice for a few days. I'm VERY glad to say she's all better now...except for the mange!

Well this cold stoped teasing me finally and turned into an all out worst-cold-in-the-history-of-colds cold. I've spent all last week sick on the couch. All I've done this week is sleep and take baths. Well today I still feel bad, but at least I feel good enough to sit up at the computer-that's a HUGE improvement! Needless to say, my house is a disaster and my poor dog is going nuts because I haven't played with her in almost a week! Poor pup! I have some cute pics of her but the picture button on my blog isn't working.... And I have no idea hy this blog insists on saying Feb. 6 when it's February 18....technology is so frustrating!

Well, since misery loves company I decided to share my cold with Tony just in time for his finals! We spent a couple days on the couch in pj's snoozing and feeling like poo. Well, talk about not fair, Tony felt better within days! I've had this dang cold for 2 weeks straight and I still don't feel that much better, and Tony had it for 3 days! So yes, we were both sick on my birthday so we celebrated by eating toast on the couch and sleeping through whatever movie was on tv. And it made me think....Tony and I have only celebrated one holiday, birthday, or anniversary since we got to Abu Dhabi a year ago-Thanksgiving! We didn't do anything for his birthday, our wedding anniversary, Christmas...nothing! How lame are we! The 7th of Februsary was the 6 year anniversary of our first date so we went out to nice Italian dinner to celebrate my birthday and the anniversary all in one. The rest of the restraunt was so quiet and there's Tony and I coughing up a fit in a nice restraunt.

Besides that, we are still looking for opprotunities to move home. Right now, the opprounity that looks the most promising involves moving to Palmdale, California which would be nice, because both Tony and I have family nearby. On the other hand, we're also looking at opprotunities in Georgia, Virginia, and (of course) Texas. We seriously don't care which of the 50 states we end up in-we just want to be back in the good ole U. S. of A! And we REALLY want to get back before it starts getting hot again!

Anyway, I just wanted to let everone know we hadn't dropped off the face of the earth...I'm right here on the couch...sick. Hope everyone else is feeling better and keep your fingers crossed we'll get to come home soon!

The Day My Coffee Smiled at Me...

No, I'm not crazy! But we'll get to the smiling coffee later! I've made so many posts about the fun we have in Abu Dhabi-I think it's about time to whine!

First, in every apartment here there is a washer-dryer combo. I hate the thing because the washer cycle leaves rust stains on my clothes and the dryer makes them (and the rest of the apartment) smell burnt. But if you hang dry the clothes they get really stiff, partly because the fabric softener part doesn't work. Besides that, the washer doesn't work well because after washing dirty socks in it, they still smell like dirty socks. Matt hates the washer-dryer in is apartment because if he doesn't stop the dry cycle at just the right time it continues onto the delicate cycle and washes them all over again. Poor Kasey has it worst of all! Her washer doesn't drain! This means she has had to put a pot down in front of the machine so the water can spill out. It also doesn't go into the spin cycle so she has to wring out all of her clothes! Also, he machines are REALLY loud. At least the way Matt's and my apartments are laid out we have a laundry room-Kasey's machine is in her kitchen! Usually we don't mind because there is a laundry room upstairs in the game room with two (separate) washers and dryers that work really well and we all use. Well for the past week and a half they have been broken and no matter how we beg, there's no sign of them being fixed! So Tony and I LITERALLY have a mountain of laundry in our bedroom. We hate that washer so much we are thinking about taking the whole mound to the dry cleaner's! So that's how I woke up-looking at a mountain of laundry and remembering how much I hate our washer-dryer and how frustrating it is trying to get something around here fixed!

Then-I had to go to the dentist...I don't think I need to explain why THAT wasn't fun! But the really big problem here was that President Bush is still in town which means traffic is HORRIBLE! As a result, the taxi drivers are charging whatever they want. They were trying to get me to pay 20 Durhams for a 6 Durham ride! I talked them all down to ten which didn't bug me too much because I'm always a good tipper. So, the lady on the phone told me the dentist's office was by the Rotana Hotel. So I went to the Rotana Hotel...and then found out there are two Rotana Hotels and I was at the wrong one! So I had to hop in another over-priced taxi and go all the way across town in that awful traffic again.

When I finally got home and then I had to deal with Kieley. Lately, while I'm gone. she has been tearing EVERYTHING in the house up. So we have a little dressing room between our master bedroom and master bath. I've started putting her in there while I'm gone yesterday and I knew she didn't like it, but I had to for the sake of our house! Well I got home and even though she was only alone 2 hours, and I had taken her out right before I left I had a couple of "piles 'n' puddles" to clean up. I had to throw out her blue rug because it was not worth even trying to get clean. Besides that, she tore up the door and the door frame trying to get out. I've always joked about Kieley having separation anxiety-well it's no joke! She really does! (So until we figure out a better solution I'm asking Kasey to watch her when I'm gone.)

I finally sat down after a very long, frustrating day and realized I hadn't eaten yet. So I heated up left overs and was really looking forward to sitting on the couch, eating lunch, and watching Oprah. But no....on my second bite of lunch I realized I just swallowed one of the balls that holds my tongue ring on. I seriously just wanted to cry. So I try to call Tony to ask him if he'll take me to the mall to get a new one when he gets home so I don't have to deal with the overpriced taxis...and my phone's out of minutes and I don't have enough Durhams to buy another phone card. So I figure I'll email him. But no...our internet quits working. I'm seriously about to have a breakdown!

Well, Tony came home (he had a bad day too-you can imagine what a charming couple we made this evening!) and we went to the mall to buy me a new tongue ring. After we bought it I decided I wanted a cappachino. So I go to a coffee shop I had never been to and ordered. While I'm waiting I'm complaining to Tony non-stop about what an awful day I had and then I looked down and saw....

Yup! My coffee was smiling at me! Isn't that so cute? (This picture was taken after the ride home and it still looked cute!) I stood at the counter and just started laughing! There were three guys behind the counter who were laughing at how happy my smiling coffee made me! It seriously changed my whole day!

Then Tony and I had to do a big shopping at the Carefore-which is just about the worst chore in the world-and I was still in a good mood! Then we got home and I had to try to fit a week's worth of groceries in our already stuffed cabinets, an event that inevitably ends up with stuff falling on me (This time was no exception-darn tomato soup!)-and I was still in a good mood! Such a good mood, in fact, I told Tony to play his PS3 while I made dinner.

I am trying the new Jessica Seinfeld cookbook where you puree vegies and "hide" them in everyday meals. It's supposed to be for kids but I'm not a very good vegie eater-so I guess it applies! Well, tonight I made my first thing from her cookbook-Mac and Cheese with hidden cauliflower. So I steam the cauliflower, I puree the cauliflower (two things I have NEVER done before!), and I make the Mac and Cheese. Well you couldn't taste the cauliflower but the cheese wouldn't melt (that happens with local cheddar cheeses here for some reason) so it turned out not so good-and STILL I was in a good mood!

To prove I wasn't down and out I seeded and pureed dates (yuck) and I decided to make chocolate chip muffins-FINALLY something turned out right! They are SO yummy! Even my oven cooperated with me!

Moral of the story is smiling coffee makes my day! Now I know what to do if I'm having a bad Abu Dhabi day! I don't know if they do that to every cappachino or just heard me whining but either way it seriously made my day do a 180! So I thought I'd share my smiling coffee with everyone back home and send out a huge I love yall!

Nothing too exciting...

Well, I just thought I'd let everyone know I am surviving Mohammed-but barley! Really he's great and keeps me motivated! So far I've lost almost seven pounds-but I think a lot of that is cutting back on the beer...by order of Mohammed! I am really enjoying the gym though and I bought really cute gym clothes this weekend as an added motivator! Tony and I went to the gym this weekend-but not to work out! We went to a restraunt on the private beach instead. We had a ton of fish! Sorry to say it was overpriced and not that good-but the view was beautiful! I think it's the first bad meal I've had in Abu Dhabi.

Besides that, this weekend we had game night with new Cranium-we went through all the cards in the old one! It was a lot of fun! (No we didn't get a cat-this is Kyle and Kasey's kitten who they rescued from the alley by our building. Matt doesn't really like cats which is funny because they seem to like him!) Tony and I ordered poker chips a month ago and they arrived today which means we'll be having poker night this weekend! We're telling all of our friends to save their Durhams because we're ready to win them!

It's been kind of a weird day today. First of all-it's RAINING! I haven't seen rain since Tony and I went to Germany! The other weird thing was on my way to the gym today-there are cops EVERYWHERE and half of the roads are closed. This is because the president of the UAE and President Bush are meeting at the palace today. These aren't the greatest pics (I took them out of the car window) but this is the palace. It really is beautiful and at night there are lights on it that make it change colors. Tony and I have only been in it once for a Lockheed party but we've been wanting to take a tour.

This is the corniche with the city in the background. It's so beautiful and we've been meaning to spend more time there since the weather is so nice. Well since it's a rainy day I think I'll get to cleaning. Hope everyone is well and we love your comments-at least I know someone's reading this-lol!

Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Doted Kieley

I came home from the gym yesterday to the funniest thing. Kieley likes to lay on our window sills, and our dining room table is right in front of the windows. This means that if I don't close the curtains when I leave the house Kieley will be on the table-and any thing on it is fair game.

Well one of my guilty pleasures here is buying flowers every week or so for the apartment-usually lilies because I LOVE the smell. Well, my lilies were dying, so I put the three I had left in a smaller vase. In the vase were those long blades of grass-looking things they use to decorate bouquets. Well I guess they looked like fun to Kieley because while I was gone she jumped on the table and removed a lot of them to eat.

Well when I opened the door, Kieley's head and chest were covered in yellow and red and it took me forever to figure out it was the pollen from the lilies. I died laughing she looked so hilarious. (I'm just sad the pictures didn't turn out great-something is up with my camera!) So after I stoped laughing I loaded Kieley into the tub and scrubbed her down (with her prescription dandruff shampoo so it wont aggravate her mange-or course!) and no matter how hard I tried I could not get the yellow out of her fur! So my poor Kieley has yellow polka dots all over her. Needless to say, I'll remember to shut the curtains before I leave for the gym today.

Speaking of which-I have a personal trainer now! His name is Mohammed and he very nice, but a little frightening! I was on the elliptical yesterday and he came and asked me how I was doing. I told him I was doing good but starting to get tired. He looked at me and said "If you can still talk your not tired" and reached over and turned up the resistance on the elliptical! Today is my first official meeting with him-hopefully he wont break me!

The First Week of 2008

I hope the new year is starting out wonderfully for everyone! Tony and I are doing great. I am doing good with my resolutions! This is my sixth day without a cigarette-which is NOT easy when you have four of your friends in your apartment smoking! I've warned them all (including Tony) that that's going to end soon. I haven't gone to the gym yet but I gave myself the first week off, along with permission to eat ANYTHING I wanted! But this week it's time to put resolution number two into motion. Tony and I did officially sign up for the gym this weekend. Unfortunatly I forgot to take a ton of pics but this is facing the hotel from the beach-you can kinda see the pool and then to the right those big windows are where the elypticals (with private tvs in each of them) are, and the jacuzzi! Here is the private beach. Tony and I had a great time laying out all day. The public beaches here are crazy crowded! And they don't have a net that keeps out the jellyfish-I've bumped into one but luckily I didn't get stung. There's even a little Tiki bar which is fun! It was a little cold out that day but we still went swimming anyway! Tony even dove off the floating dock they have.

I'm sure everyone is oh-so-concerned about Kieley-lol. Well we took her in to get fixed on Thursday and it couldn't happen because she has mange...not the really bad kind though, just the kind that can turn into the bad kind. And the vet thinks the deficincy in her immune system was because of all the stress she was going through before she had a home. Yes, I have a dog who has mange and is in the midst of a nervous breakdown! So she's on all kinds of meds and one is a bad tasting liquid so I hide it in ice cream so she has ice cream for breakfast every morning which she LOVES! She even likes the pills I have to drop down her troat-lol. She LOVES medicine!

The other thing we did this weekend was paint. Yup, paint. We don't techn ically know if we're allowed to paint the apartments but we didn't sign anything saying we wouldn't paint and it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission right? The other argument I have is that they do not maintain the building-the toilets leak, there's mold, ect...and there hadn't been a fresh coat of paint in at least 5 years so I did them a favor really! It's amazing how a couple gallons of paint and bookshelves make this place feel so much more homey! I actually enjoy the apartment now! Sorry the house is so messy in these pics, we had ust finished painting and the green in the hallway obviously isn't finished yet. We also got a new rug for the entry way and Kieley imediately claimed it as hers...she seriously has a thing for rugs!

Honestly, Tony and I haven't been doing very good at making Abu Dhabi a home. Instead, we've been acting like it's a very long business trip. Since we're not sure when we are coming home we decided to get comfortable here and stop whining. We hadn't even hung pictures or bought anything for the house until a couple months ago. We're also talking about Tony renting a Harley every now and then since he misses his so much.

So that's how we're starting 2008-I'm getting healthier and we are both getting happier! Hopefully everyone else's resolutions have lasted longer than 6 days too!!!