A Peek Into My Life

Oh Well...

2011-01-06T12:21:00.000-06:00

So much for blogging on a regular basis. "The holidays were crazy... So much was going on..." blah blah excuse excuse. The honest truth is that I haven't trudged my butt up the stairs to my computer all that often in the last 2 months. Oh well. And I am not going to say "It's a new year, so lets make a fresh start" because I know I won't hold to it. What I will say, it that when I have something blog worthy, I'll blog.

Today I am blogging because I am procrastinating other things. Dishes, laundry, taking down Christmas (always so depressing), and finally emptying boxes into some cheap bookshelves. (To be honest I REALLY want to do that last one, but I told myself I couldn't work on that one till some of the other things were done. Especially the Christmas part.)

We are getting new neighbors. The old neighbors moved out and in the process cleaned out their freezer. Moving is always a good time to cleanse and purge. Just make sure you are doing it in a responsible manner. They did not. If you put spoiled food out, be sure you bury it. That way other animals won't find it and eat it. Like my dogs who have had food poisoning for the last 2 days!! It has been a yucky yucky mess over here. I won't describe it, just use your imagination. But I am excited to meet the new neighbors. Maybe I will make some bread to take over to them tonight.

I got a new calling at church, Second Counselor in Primary. I am really excited about it. I will miss teaching Sunday School. I was learning a lot doing that. But Primary will be fun, and I LOVE kids. Sunday was our first go at it as a new presidency. It was a lot for the first day. First Sunday of the new year, kids all changing classes, a new presidency and several new teachers. But we survived Primary and Primary didn't implode! I call that a great success! And each week will get a little better. Soon it'll be old hat and you will hear us say things like, "4 teachers are no-shows today, NO PROBLEM" Well, maybe we won't say that exactly. But I AM excited!

My sister is having a baby (probably next week) and then moving 1/2 way across the country the end of this month. I don't think she knows how much I admire her strength. When I heard all of that was happening all at the same time, I called her in a panic for her!! I just knew she was going to be an emotional wreck. (I would be.) But she was calm and collected and almost excited. She is a great mother and a strong strong woman. Maybe one day I can be that strong. I love you sister!

And on that note... I have dishes to do. (and laundry and Christmas and boxes.....)

I am wonder woman.

2010-11-16T14:52:00.001-06:00

At least that is the general feeling I have today. My dearest friend in the whole world called me today and said, "Come over for dinner! It's chicken pot pie!" How can you say no to that!! Seriously. But I remembered that Hubby wanted to go out in the woods tonight after work and put up deer feeders. So I told her I would have to check with him and call her back. Sadness. So, I had a BRILLIANT idea. I called hubby and told him that I would go out into the woods today and put up the feeders for him, IF we could have dinner with said dearest friend. Needless to say we are having chicken pot pie for dinner tonight and I just spent the last 2 hours out in the woods strapping large PVC pipe feeders to trees. Then lifting 40 lb bags of corn over my head to fill them. But it is done and they are in clear view of the hunting blinds but still a fair distance from them. I even knocked over 2 dead saplings (taller than me mind you) to make sure there were clear, unobstructed views. I AM WONDER WOMAN. Oh, and as an update to my last post.... the kitchen has been clean since that day and the new rule is that all dishes must be at least in the dishwasher and the kitchen clean before bed. No excuses. It has REALLY helped. And I have managed to check one or two little house projects off the list. Today life is good. And I am happy. Have a happy day and good hunting.

Spiralling

2010-11-05T15:06:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days? A day that just seems to keep spiralling down. The house is a wreck. Partly because I have been lazy and partly because I have been busy. The laundry and ironing is piled up waiting to be done. The kitchen is literally FULL of dirty dishes. I am half finished working on the wood burning stove project and it NEEDS to be finished soon. The bathrooms need to be cleaned the floors need to be cleaned. And there are a ton of little household projects that need to be done. (Hang a coat rack, fix the washer/dryer closet, reroute the vent that blows under the dresser... etc) And I haven't even gotten to the piles of boxes that still haven't been unpacked from moving in throughout the year. And on top of that I have been procrastinating working on a big activity that I am supposed to be helping to plan for church next month. (It is coming up way to quickly now!!) I feel like there is this HUGE weight of to-do's pressing down and crushing me. And my instinctive reaction when that happens........ ignore it all, curl up on the couch and play video games or watch TV. I know that it doesn't make ANY sense. It doesn't help the situation AT ALL, but that is where I go. It just makes for one huge out of control downward spiral. When the kitchen is a wreck, I don't want to cook... when the house is a wreck I don't even want to work on craft projects. I just want to veg. I guess it's my way of shutting it all out and escaping from it. Or something. And so I have to force myself to look at it all, organize it and decide where I am going to start. But even that can seem SO overwhelming. And another ridiculous quirk I have.... it is hard to be motivated by myself. So when Hubby is away at work all day, I have to make myself do things. Once I am working or crafting or DOING anything, it isn't too bad. But getting moving and getting started seems to take SUCH an effort. I don't understand WHY I am that way. It's just the way it has always been. And so, today, is a downward spiral day. And I think it is starting to make me depressed. I can't let that start either. Come on me! I can do this!! Let's go load the dishwasher and the washing machine. Then I can get the little saw out and finish the trim on the floor. I CAN do this.... I WILL.... Wish me luck. I am off to fight against the current.

I'm back.... and I WILL do better.

2010-11-03T15:31:00.005-05:00

I know it's been ages since I posted last. And the closest thing I have to an excuse is.... I didn't want to blog while Roy was still in Africa and I was living in the country alone. But he's been home for almost 5 months now, so that excuse doesn't hold water anymore. ~~ SORRY ~~ I am going to try this again. But I make NO promises. I am going to try for at least a couple of postings a week and hopefully with pictures.

Anyway, I am definitely happy to be in the US. It's been almost a year since I left Africa. Time can sure fly sometimes. There have been a lot of adventures since I got back. Most of them involve buying our home and land and getting things settled and checked off our list of "to-do's" and "to-buy's". I really love the property we bought and we are slowly making it our own and getting it set up as a farm (maybe). We do officially own a 4 wheel drive pick up and a tractor! Neither of which are new! I will post more about those later. I never really thought I would be a country girl, but the more I am out here, the more I love it. It isn't the most convenient life, and it is a lot of work. There is always something that needs to be bought, or built, or torn down, or fixed, or looked after, or painted, etc. But it is definitely a satisfying life. One where you can step back at the end of the day and say, "Look what I accomplished today. With my own two hands." I LOVE IT! And hopefully next year we will have a garden in and maybe even some chickens! Who'd a thunk it, ME, owning chickens! HA!! I've done a lot in the last 4 years that I never thought I would do. Crazy how life has it's own idea of how it should go. And it hardly ever matches my original plans. LOL

Well, I have to get laundry going and do the dishes. (I really miss Grace, our old steward.) So until I post again... Love your life!

Is your pool ever supposed to resemble skim milk?

2008-08-27T05:51:00.002-05:00

I couldn't see past the top step of the ladders! Who knows what could be lurking in the depths of this pool!! It is actually starting to look much better today and maybe by the end of the week I will feel that it is safe to venture back into its watery depths. We'll see.

I'm NOT a slacker... it has been a BUSY summer.

2008-08-25T10:04:00.006-05:00

I realize that I haven't posted anything since April. But it isn't because I have been laying about doing nothing. So here's a little catch up on what's been going on.

First, I had to travel back to the US (again) for my little sisters wedding! And I found out, at the last minute, that she wanted ME to take the pictures at her wedding!! YIKES

It was a beautiful day though (other than some big wind) for an outdoor wedding. And all in all I think that, I'm not a professional, but I did ok on the pictures.

After I got back from that, I was home for 10 days and we left for our cruise. It was our 10 year anniversary. (Can you believe it!!) So we went on a 12 night cruise to Scotland, Ireland and the port of Paris. Then we spend two extra nights in Amsterdam. It was really nice.

It was a long trip, but if you look through all the photos we really had a good time.

Then when I got back from that trip I was home for just under a month and went back to the US for family reunions. First was the Bennion reunion.

My sister was able to come from Utah for that. She brought her two kids Z and I. We had so much fun spending time with them. And we had a blast at the reunion. I didn't do real well at taking pictures on this trip. I think I was really getting tired by this point and holding up the camera was becoming a huge effort. But I really loved getting to see my family.

Then I flew out to Seattle to go through the temple with my friend Julia. (I miss her terribly.) And she showed me all around Seattle. It was good to see her again. And Washington is beautiful.

Then it was out to Utah for fun with the Pearsons (my cousins), my sister Laura and the Mitchell reunion.

We watched "The Dark Night"... seriously good movie. Ate junk and some seriously tasty breakfast (I made the right decision), stayed up late, laughed till we cried and made me wish I lived closer to my family. Then we camped, had to rescue the dogs, camped a little more and enjoyed the company of family and friends.

By the end of the vacation, I was absolutely exhausted. It was a good trip. And then, there was the trip home...

I was able to arrange my flights so that I went from Las Vegas to Chicago, Chicago to Tulsa, (becuase no airlines go straight from Vegas to Tulsa... sheesh) then was supposed to have a 4 hour layover in Tulsa before heading to Atlanta. This part went quite smoothly. I arrived in Tulsa around 9 am and got some breakfast. I figured I would eat a big breakfast and then eat again when I got to Atlanta around 3. Silly me. I sat waiting in the terminal and watched the time to board the plane come and go, and we were still sitting there. Finally they made the announcement that there was severe weather in Atlanta and everyone was on ground hold till it cleared. That was fine, I had a 2 hour layover in Atlanta, so I should still be able to make my connection. An hour and a half later they finally came back and said that they were still waiting for the weather to clear and the ground hold to be lifted. I knew I was going to miss my connection and that meant I would have to spend the night somewhere, since there is only 1 flight per day to Lagos from Atlanta. So I went up to the desk and let them know that I was going to miss my connection and that I needed to be rescheduled. The poor guy at the ticket counter had to sit on hold with international reservations for almost 30 min. Then he asked me if I wanted to spend the night in Tulsa or go on to Atlanta and spend the night there. (I should have chosen Tulsa!) Thinking that I should get to Atlanta so that there is a less likely chance of missing the flight tomorrow, I said "Atlanta please". DOOMED.... DOOMED I tell you. Finally about a 1/2 hour latter they finally load up the plane and we head out toward Atlanta. We are starting our final descent into the Atlanta area when they close the runways again. More bad weather. They put us in a holding pattern in the air for about a 1/2 hour and then tell us it will be another hour before we can land. Only one problem with that, we will run out of gas before then. So they divert us to Birmingham Alabama. We ended up sitting in the plane on the runway for about 2 hours before we were refueled and allowed to take off again. Then we had to in line to land, and then wait on the runway for an open parking spot. A flight that was only supposed to take and hour and forty minutes took five and a half hours. But we were finally in Atlanta. And as we walked to the baggage claim area, we heard the announcement that the runways were closing AGAIN. Apparently we got there just in time. There were proabably about a thousand people in the baggage claim area trying to figure out what was going on. None of the carousels were moving and no one was getting their luggage. After waiting for an hour and a half and watching my flight show up on the board, dissapear and still no luggage was coming up, I decided to stand in the forever long line and talk to the lost luggage poeple to find out what was going on. They informed me that all luggage was being shipped to it's final destination on the next available flight. Would have been nice to have been told that an hour or so ago. So I went to find the shuttles to the hotels. (I had booked a hotel online in Tulsa when I knew I was going to miss my connection.) It was a madhouse there too. There were so many people stranded in Atlanta. I finally got to my hotel around 11pm. And to my delight found there was an IHOP in the parking lot. (Remeber the big breakfast I ate at 9am.... that was the last thing I had eaten!!) I got checked in found my room and dropped of my caryon bags... since I didn't get my luggage... then went and had breakfast at midnight. It was so tasty, because I was STARVING!! Then went back to the hotel, took everything off and put on just my pajamas (luckily I has them crammed in my carryon because I was just barely over the weight limit on one of my suitcases!) and took all my clothes down to the laundry. Then I went back up to my room, filled the jacuzzi tub (yes I said jacuzzi tub) and took a nice hot lovely bath. By the time my clothes were dry it was almost 2am... but my flight didn't leave the next day until 5pm so I knew I could sleep in. The next morning I got up and checked out around 10:30 and headed back to the airport. When I got there it was once again a mad house. It looked like there had been a lot of people who slept there. REALLY glad I wasn't one of them. I tried to get checked in at the self checkin kiosk, but since my flight wasn't till 5 it said I was too early to check in and I had to come back in about 15 minutes. So I went and found some breakfast. Mmmmm tasty pastries. Sat, ate, relaxed and tried to check in again. This time is said that because I was going to Nigeria I couldn't use the kiosk and they had to check and verify my visa at the ticket counter. BLAH... so I went to the ticket counter... The line was an hour long wait. BLAHHHHHHHH!!! But once I got to the desk, it was a breeze and they assured me that my luggage would be on this flight. (I really didn't believe them... that way I wouldn't be dissapointed when it didn't show up!) I got through security and made my way to my terminal where I found an outlet pulled in my laptop and parked it. It wasn't too bad. Everything from there went very smooth. I got a whole row (3 seats) to myself and was able to lay down and sleep for a good part of the trip to Lagos. And my luggage was some of the first out. The only bad thing was that my luggage got soaked in Atlanta, so most of the stuff inside was wet! Good thing most of my clothes were in space bags to help save room!

Anyway, I haven't been slacking. Just crazy busy.... Oh and to top it all off, about a week after I get home, I get called to be the Relief Society President. PRAY FOR ME.

Market Shopping

2008-04-12T11:19:00.003-05:00

We went out to the market again today and found some great new things.

This is one of the first masks I've seen that I REALLY like.

This pic shows the size.

I also found this wall hanging.

And this table runner.

They are both reverse applique. I love them!! I think I will be visiting that shop again regularly.

Tasty Deliciousness

2008-04-09T06:22:00.004-05:00

I like pancakes. Who doesn't? But the same as with any food, I am perticular about the pancakes I like. Not just any old pancake will do. I really don't like bisquick style pancakes. They are thick and heavy and taste.... floury or something. Not a fan. BUT the pancakes mom would make when I was growing up... now THOSE were tasty pancakes. They were a thinner style pancake. Great for making huge STACKS of pancakes. Anyway, I have that recipe, but it calls for buttermilk. Something that just doesn't seem to exist in Nigeria. So sadly all I have been able to make are the "bisquick style" pancakes. We haven't had pancakes very often. But, once again, oh happy day!! In my fabulous farm journal cookbook I found an AMAZING recipe that tastes pretty much the same as mom's but without the buttermilk!!

The recipe is for "Sour Cream Pancakes" and is as follows.

Sour Cream Pancakes

1 c. sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. sugar
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. dairy sour cream
2 tblsp. melted butter
1/2 c. blueberries (optional)

~ Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
~ Beat together egg, milk and sour cream.
~ Pour milk mixture over dry ingredients and blend with rotary beater until batter is just smooth. Stir in butter. (Fold in blueberries)
~ Pour 2 tblsp. batter onto hot griddle for each cake. (Pour 1 tblsp. batter on to hot griddle for each cake if you want silver-dollar-size pancakes. If you have the time this is a festive way to serve them.) Brown on one side until golden. Turn and brown on the other side. If cakes brown too fast, lower heat. Serve hot wih butter and maple syrup. Makes 12 pancakes using 2 tblsp. batter, or 24 silver-dollar-size pancakes.

If you have leftover batter, cover and store in the refrigerator. It will keep 2 or 3 days, but it will thicken. When you are ready to use it, add 1 to 2 tblsp. milk in which you dissolve 1/2 tsp. baking powder for each cup of batter. Bake as directed.

Man these have made me happy this week!! And eating them with Log Cabin syrup is perfection on a plate!! YUM Oh and as a slightly healthier side note... I completely forgot to add the melted butter last time I made these and I couldn't tell a difference. With non-stick pans these days I don't think it really needs it.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

2008-04-04T06:27:00.006-05:00

You would not believe the drama! Then again, maybe you would. When Roy and I went looking for a new washer/dryer, we measured the old ones, and measured the openings (closet door, the space it will fit in, etc.) We knew we had limited space and mobility getting a new machine in the pantry closet. So we were all proud of ourselves for measuring and remeasuring and making sure that the model we picked fit in those size requirements. But alas.... we didn't check the turning radius with the stupid corner of the wall in the way!!! UUGGHH.

So, my new washer/dryer has been here for 2 days but not installed, because we couldn't get it in the closet. It seriously needed less than a quarter of an inch of space to make it through!! Seriously frustrating!! Needless to say, if I was in my own house in the US I would have already pulled the door frame loose and the thing would be installed!! But the maintenance manager said he didn't want to risk messing up the door frame and would rather notch out the corner of drywall and rebuild it at an angle. I just groaned and said whatever! Luckily for me the facilities group at the office wouldn't approve the cost of rebuilding part of the wall... so this morning, after trying to file the sheet rock corner down enough, they pulled off the moulding and shifted the door frame! (I'm telling ya... I REALLY MISS MY TOOLS!)

And now I have a brand new washer/dryer combo machine that is OH SO QUIET and amazing!! It does everything that it is supposed to! Oh Happy Day!!

And so at least for today I am happy... content even. And I'm not going to let the fact that I noticed that the master bathroom toilet has started leaking when you flush it, and the fitting that connects to the hose that runs to the filter for the washer is totally rusting through, not gonna let it bother me... at least until Monday.

I really could have used a dryer this week...

2008-03-31T09:00:00.008-05:00

We still haven't gotten our broken washer and dryer replaced yet. They said it would be delivered by the 1st. That's tomorrow. I'm REALLY hoping they actually stick to what they said this time. (Doubt it's gonna happen though.) ANYWAY... I really could have used a working dryer. On Thursday all heck broke loose in my flat. Mostly because the hose on the water heater in the office broke loose!! There was water everywhere. I was VERY lucky that my steward, Grace, and a maintenance guy were already back there when it happened. In the short time that it took the maintenance guy to turn the water off the office and my bedroom were flooded. If it had happened while we were sleeping or on vacation, it would have been a complete disaster!!

This is the hallway in my flat, specifically the back half of my flat. My bedroom is on the left and there are 2 smaller bedrooms on the right. The front small bedroom we use for the office and back one is guest/storage.

There was water all the way to my bed in our bedroom.

There was enough water that they were scooping it up with dustpans and pouring it into buckets to dump down the drain. They were also using the sheets Grace had just taken off the bed to mop up the water. (Luckily it was clean water, as clean as you can get here, and it was the hose feeding the water heater so it wasn't hot.)

But what worried me the most was all the water in the office.

We pulled Roy's computer up off the floor out of the water. (It was on at the time.) We also quickly pulled the plugs out of the wall, but it did no good. The UPS took over and everything was still getting power.

And of course the UPS was on the floor between the 2 desks. I had to pull the desks apart enough that I could lean in and hold the power button on the UPS to turn it off. What I didn't notice at the time was this.

This is a splice in the cord that runs from the UPS to the power strip that everything plugs into. IT WAS IN THE WATER!! The entire UPS could have discharged into the water on the floor if it had shorted out. We were VERY lucky that it didn't happen.

This is the offending water heater.

The space beneath the water heater is about 6 inches deep... it was full of water AND my flat was flooded. They had to scoop the water out of the hole with a cup and then we had to mop the rest out. Now we have a fan blowing in there to dry it out. (I really hope that it didn't leak into the flat below ours... sorry if it did!!)

Anyway, we found out from the maintenance manager that the flexible hose they used to hook up all the water heaters and toilets is "substandard". The fitting on ours had completely rusted through and the hose broke loose. (The building isn't quite a year old!!) So we asked him what the plan was to fix them since they know about it. And he said "We will replace them as they fail." I'm really glad Roy was there. (I had called him as soon as it happened and he came straight home from work.) I was FLOORED!! I didn't know how to respond to that answer. We were standing in water hoping our computer wasn't ruined and he had the nerve to say, we will replace them when this happens again. Roy immediately told him that was unacceptable and that they needed to schedule replacing every single piece of flexible hose in our flat because we were not going to do this again. (Isn't he a wonderful hubby.)

Once it seemed that things were under control as far as cleaning up the water and getting all the electronics where they could dry out, Roy went back to work. The maintenance guys were still working on getting the water heater repaired though. For some reason, they decided they needed to completely disconnect the water heater and empty its contents in the sink in the bathroom. That normally wouldn't be a problem, but the guy didn't check to see if the power was off to the water heater first. IT WASN'T. When he put his screwdriver to the screw to remove the power... well you can guess what happened. He was standing on a wet floor... He was very VERY lucky that he didn't die. He did however get a big shock and scared the crap out of all of us. There was a huge flash (lit up the whole closet.) He dropped his screwdriver and jumped/flew out of the closet. He was ok, no permanent injury. That was when he decided to make sure the power was off. This whole incident scared the heck out of me. I am deathly afraid of electricity. I don't even like to hook up the jumper cables to jump a car. Scares me terribly. So I was REALLY shook up when that happened. Even dreamed about it that night. Ugh...

But it seems everything is ok now. The water is all cleaned up. The closet is drying out, slowly. All the flexible hose got replaced on Saturday. And it seems that everything that got wet, dried out ok. We were VERY lucky this week. Just thinking about everything that "COULD" have gone wrong with this adventure, makes me want some tomato soup or some mac and cheese!! Anyway, as I said... I really could have used a dryer!! Wet towels... rugs... sheets.... Maybe we'll get it tomorrow. Maybe.

Sometimes it's the little things in life that bring us joy...

2008-03-31T08:43:00.006-05:00

If you know me, you know that one of my sadnesses has been the severe lack of Colby cheese and tomato soup here in Nigeria. Two of my most beloved comfort foods. But during the last couple of weeks we have made wonderful discoveries!!

A couple of weeks ago Roy found Colchester cheese and decided to give it a try. IT TASTES LIKE SLIGHTLY SHARP COLBY CHEESE!!! Heaven!! And then the last time I was out shopping, I stopped in at one of my favorite little grocery stores here and they had Campbell's tomato soup!!!!!!! I bought every can they had (about 8)! And, if there is more when I go back again, I will buy EVERY can again! Because tomato soup with Colby cheese and grilled cheese sandwich is very much a comfort food and for now.... I am happy! (And yes... if you look closely the price on the cheese is N2616.15. That is about $21.80 for approx 2lbs of cheese. That is pretty normal for here. And worth every penny for the delicious colbyness!!)

DELICIOUS

Cuban Pork Tacos

2008-03-25T11:07:00.004-05:00

This recipe originally came from my Aunt Mary. But I think it has quickly become a family favorite and everyone has tweaked it slightly to their tastes.

Cuban Pork Roast
2 lb boneless pork roast

Sauce:
3 T minced garlic
2 T minced parsley
1 T paprika
2 t ground cumin
1 t pepper
1 t salt
2 T lime (or lemon) juice (my mom also uses balsamic vinegar sometimes)
2 T lt corn syrup or honey
2 T olive oil

Cut the pork roast (mom uses pork loin) into smallish chunks (about 2x4"). Dredge them through the sauce and layer up in a slow cooker. Put the cooker on low and leave for at least 8 hours. (It took almost 15 hours for the roast I used this time to be all fally aparty.) When it is done, take the pork out and shred it. Mix some of the liquid back into the shred and serve.

We eat it on Lebanese flat bread with taco fixins!! It's delicious!

Don't you just want to take a bite!! I'm getting hungry.

CARNAGE!!

2008-03-23T13:07:00.004-05:00

Yes... sadly this is my kitchen. Oh, the carnage. And even more sadly, I made most of the mess myself. We had guests over for dinner today. I made yummy Cuban pork. And thank you mom for the advice!! After leaving it in the crock pot for about, oh, 14 hours, it was fall apart tender!! (Meat here can be a little tough.) And it was quite delicious. We used Lebanese flat bread to make soft tacos or wraps with it. Lots of fresh veg... (which means soaking it all in Milton to sanitize anything that isn't cooked thoroughly.) Anyway, we took a piece of flat bread and layered up the Cuban pork, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, olives, cheese, salsa, and ranch dressing or sour cream. Then folded it all up and ate it like a soft taco!! DELICIOUS!! I will have to blog the recipe later with a picture! We also had homemade refried beans, Spanish rice, and jello with fruit. Also I made a dessert. I took a boxed white cake. Made it according to the directions. Then scored the top and took a can of raspberries and blended it all up and dumped it on the top and let it soak in. Then I spread a can of chocolate fudge frosting over the top of it. Raspberry chocolaty goodness without too much work. But I think by the end of dinner, every piece of silverware was dirty, most of the cups, most of the knives.... etc. And now the kitchen is CARNAGE!!

BUT... I have a wonderful husband who saw how tired I was after all that prep and told me to sit down and rest.

I think he is just planning on loading and running the dishwasher. But as you can see by the size of it... it's going to take SEVERAL loads to clean up this chaos! (But, isn't he wonderful!!)

I know I haven't posted for a while...

2008-03-18T16:32:00.011-05:00

The only real excuse I have is that life threw me for a loop and I was just trying to keep up. Roy and I went back to the US around Christmas/New Years time for vacation, to see family, and to get in those pesky yearly doctor visits. It was a really hectic trip. We were constantly traveling to fit everything in. But it was a good trip. The day after we got back to Nigeria, my mom called and told me that her father had another heart attack and they weren't expecting him to recover from it. Two weeks later he passed away at home surrounded by loved ones. That was the longest/hardest two weeks I've been through. I have been very blessed and have had all four of my grandparents alive and healthy. (I am 31 years old.) He is the first to pass and I wasn't sure how to react. Luckily, for me, the company my husband works for covered the expense of a flight home so that I could go to the funeral. It was hard to say good bye to my grandpa, but it was so good to see and visit with all my mom's family. Everyone was so kind and loving on this trip. Going out of each others way to comfort and help each other. It was nice. And it helped provide some closure. But it still hurts... it probably will for a long time. I love my grandpa and miss him very much. But I know that when I need him, he will be close and watch over me.

Anyway, I was only in Nigeria for two weeks before I left for the funeral. And I was home sick with a BAD cold those entire two weeks. Then I was back in the US again for six more weeks. I stayed at my parents house for four of those six weeks. And in the last two weeks I was there, I ripped the paneling off the upstairs hallway, patched up the sheet rock, retouched the stairwell and downstairs hallway walls, primed it all and painted it and the ceiling. And kept it a secret from my dad for the first whole week. He would get up and go to work every morning and I would get up and start working. About four each afternoon I would stop. Clean up my mess, stash all the supplies in my room, take a shower and plop down on the couch just in time for him to get home. (He had specifically said, "I don't want to take down the paneling upstairs. It will be to much work to fix the sheetrock behind it." But mom specifically wanted it off!!) And since he NEVER goes upstairs, he didn't notice. But once he did find out, he STARTED to get mad and raised his voice and stomped up the stairs. But once he got up there and looked at the job that I did... he couldn't keep yelling. I am pretty handy. At least I think so.

The last two weeks I spent in Houston with Roy while he was on a business trip. We had a great time. We went shopping, to the aquarium and the zoo. We ate out at lots of great restaurants and specifically went to Taste of Texas for my birthday. It was REALLY good steak and they gave me dessert for free. (I need to scan the picture they took and then I will post it here.) I was REALLY glad to be with Roy again. I had missed him so much.

When we finally got back to Nigeria, we had a surprise waiting for us. We got home on a Saturday and I looked into the pantry to see what food was left (Roy doesn't shop much when I am gone.)

This picture is looking straight into the pantry. Around the corner to the left is my washer and dryer. This is what I found:

YES, not only was the door completely OFF the dryer, but the glass was TOTALLY broken. On Monday, I asked Grace (my steward) what happened. She said that she had put the blanket off the bed in the washer and started it and later heard a crash and the door to the dryer was on the floor.

I believe her. These machines have been pieces of @#$%@#$% since we first got them. One problem after another. So we sent an email to the facilities people to let them know that we were going to need a new one.

Then the next day I went in to measure the dryer to see how big it was, when I noticed that the washing machine looked funny. There were clothes in it and the door was shut, but it wasn't. The latch was still engaged, but the hinges had snapped and it was hanging open slightly from that side. UUUGGGHHHHH!!

GINORMUS PIECES OF JUNK. Seriously the hinges of both doors on both machines both snapped within seven days of each other. SERIOUSLY! Another email to facilities. BLAH....

They emailed us back and said, what brand do you prefer. And I said, "Good question." If we were in the US I could tell you exactly what I want. But those don't plug in here so good. (And if you just jam the plug in the outlet, it makes sparks and stuff... not good.) So they told us 3 different stores to go and look at and see what we liked. I found this:

It is a Samsung 7.5kg air wash 3-in-1 combo. It washes, dries and "air washes" all in one machine. It will mean that I can only do ONE load at a time. But it makes MUCH more sense space wise. That pantry closet is SOOOOO small and cramped. We wrote down the make and model and sent the information to our facilities department. They wrote up a requisition and it is waiting approval, I think. Anyway I am HOPING that sometime next week, I will have a new washer/dryer. I just have to keep borrowing the neighbors until then. BLAH.

I think that mostly covers it.

Book Tag

2008-03-05T21:37:00.007-06:00

I've been tagged..... (my aunt Lucy tagged me)

1. Pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag 5 people

"We are including directions for making cottage cheese; they appear in the original Farm Journal Country Cookbook. Homemade cheese does not have the same taste and texture as do commercial cheeses-- it is impossible to get the same results in home kitchens as in dairies.

The homemade cheese tastes like that our grandmothers made, seasoned with salt and flavored with thick cream skimmed from crocks of milk."

I found this cookbook at the antique store where my mom lives. I got it for about $8. My mom was totally jealous. It is her favorite cookbook and hers is wearing out. I was VERY excited to find this one!!

Now... who to tag...
Mom
Alisa
Katie
Roy
Julia

New Haircut

2007-12-05T22:20:00.002-06:00

I am still figuring out how to fix it and discovering ways that I can style it, but so far I really think I like my hair all cut off short. I think I was deffinately ready for a change. What do you think? (I appreciate brutal honesty... if I know it's broken or bad, then I can fix it, otherwise I walk around lookin like a goob.
OH... and next week I should be able to post pics of the whole new look... I am losin the glasses!! LASIK on Thrusday baby!!

Scary moments....

2007-11-15T11:50:00.000-06:00

No pictures for this post. Just a very real reminder that we live in a place that CAN be dangerous.

The other night, around 9:30 or so, Roy and I were in our room reading "Opening the Seven Seals: The Visions of John the Revelator". We aren't very far into it yet, but it is pretty interesting so far. Anyway, our bedroom faces a main street here. Sometimes the traffic and noise from outside can be quite loud. While we were reading together, we started to hear shouting. This isn't and uncommon thing here. Buses stop and pick up and drop off people right below our balcony and sometimes people will get into arguments while they are waiting for the bus. Usually the shouting ends about as quickly as is starts. This time was different though. The shouting wasn't stopping, it was starting to get louder. Then we heard a load bang. Again not to unusual. Cars are always backfiring and all week people at the Indian High Commission (just down the street) had been lighting firecrackers for some celebration. But the shouting was continuing and then there was another bang. I was starting to get really nervous and asked Roy if he thought those bangs could have been gunshots. He was starting to be a bit concerned as well. He slipped quietly out onto the balcony to try and see what was happening. At the gate to the boys quarters there was a large crowd of about 20 people, and there was a MoPol (mobile police) truck. We couldn't tell exactly what was happening. At first we thought maybe there had been a wreck with the truck and an Okada (motorcycle taxi). This happens a lot and when someone hits an Okada, all the Okada drivers swarm to defend the injured Okada driver. It can often get quite violent and out of hand. But we didn't see any Okadas in the area and no motorcycle layed out on the ground. As we were watching about 1/2 the people piled into the back of the MoPol truck and the last one in the back lifted a gun (FN FAL 308, for those gun savy folks) over his head in a triumphant sort of way and cheered and the truck drove off. The rest of the crowd started talking excitedly and using their cell phones and a flash light to look for something on the ground. At that point Roy said, "Whatever it was, it's over and I can find out what happened in the morning, because that's Chris (our driver) right down there." I told him that he should try and call him RIGHT NOW and find out what happened. At this point I was very unsettled. But Chris was charging his phone, he has to take the battery out to charge it, so we couldn't get through to ask him what had happened. I would have to wait till morning to find out. I had Roy to protect me tonight and hopefully that would be enough to help me sleep. I did manage to sleep that night, but it took awhile. The next morning Roy IM'd me with the whole story.

Apperantly, someone tried to mug someone outside the gate to the boys quarters. The crowd we saw was everone in the area ganging up on the robber (including Chris). It seems that here in Nigeria people don't take too kindly to robbery. It used to be that when someone was caught stealing, a mob would form and the person would either be beaten to death by the mob or they would tie him up and shove a tire or two over his head and light it on fire and watch him burn to death. Now days, with the economy being down and times being harder, more people are turning a blind eye. But not everytime. This was one of those times. The crowd had started beating up this mugger when MoPol happened to drive up. MoPol ended up shooting the mugger twice in the leg, (that was the bangs we heard), partly to stop him from running and to get the crowd to back off. That was when we started watching. MoPol loaded the mugger into the truck and left. The reason everyone was looking on the ground was because when they shot the guy in the leg, it broke his leg and a piece of the bone flew out. GROSS. And all this happened right outside my flat. Four stories down and on the other side of the security wall.... but still.... RIGHT OUTSIDE MY FLAT. Oh, and Roy also said that he saw a guy getting mugged on the way home from his bishopric meeting that same night. Other expats here said that robberies and things like this always increase around the holidays. I really glad that we will be home for the holidays!

Awesome Aprons!!

2007-11-07T08:03:00.001-06:00

My aunt Lucy makes the most fantastic aprons! And she is giving some away to celebrate her 1 year blogaverasry. I really love this one!! The pic is linked to her site and there is also a link on my sidebar. Check out her blog! It is full of tasty food, fun crafts, and great aprons! And links to sites where she sells some of this stuff too!!

Had a fun weekend!!

2007-10-28T15:22:00.001-05:00

Julia and I decided to celebrate Halloween this weekend. We made smores...

Watched "The Brothers Grimm" and "Sleepy Hollow". Two very good movies for a Halloween weekend. We also used the new grill!! Woo hoo!!

FYI... That cuban pork roast recipe is fantastic for chicken on the grill!! YUM
Then, Ola the table cloth guy visited my neighbor downstairs and we went to look and see what he brought. I bought a few things this time. I think after being married for almost 10 years, I should own at least a couple of nice/fun table cloths!

So... all in all... it was a good weekend.

I know this is a silly thing to post, but I was proud of myself!

2007-10-25T15:09:00.001-05:00

Today I successfully french braided my own hair. Never in the history of me have I been able to french braid my own hair. I have done french braids thousands of times for sisters and friends, but never on my own head. Woo hoo me!!

And it stayed all day! I took these pics in the evening after I had been out all day long and it is still up... nothing fell or slipped out!! Woo hoo me!!

I looked out my window and what did I see??...

2007-10-24T12:22:00.001-05:00

I was talking on the phone to my friend Julia and glanced out the window and saw this.

I just had to take a picture. Here is a closer view...

That little black spec in the middle of the first picture is a guy that free climbed that radio tower. I think he is working on it and I think he is probably going to climb higher. I am so glad that I don't have to do things like that!!

How do you move a mountain of dirt and rubble?

2007-10-16T08:20:00.001-05:00

If I was in the US, I would expect to see an earth mover of some sort. Maybe a front loader, back hoe, a ditch witch maybe. But not in Nigeria. Here it takes 5 earth movers with shovels and buckets!

I watched them stand around for a while, I think the guy in the white hat was just supervising. The guy on the far left was shoveling straight into the truck, but only about half the dirt was actually making it into the truck. And then the guy on the right with the shovel would fill the pans with dirt and the guy in the blue hard hat would lift them to the guy on the blocks who would hand them up to the guy in the back of the truck. It takes so many people to do anything here.

FYI... I was standing in my tub taking this picture out the bathroom window. I'm sure I looked pretty funny!!

Which Jane Austin heroine are you?

2007-09-25T04:56:00.001-05:00

Take the Quiz here!

:: E L I N O R ::
You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Another look at Nigerian life...

2007-08-29T09:15:00.001-05:00

I have taken several pictures this last week of things that you don't normally see in the US...

We will start with Staff Busses.

I know that this one isn't the best picture, but both of those are semmi type trucks that have had the trailers modified to "carry people". They just stop on the side of the road and people run and climb into them.
This is also a staff bus. I guess seat belts laws don't apply if there aren't any seats.

Roy and I weren't exactly sure what to make of the phrase on the back of this bus...I guess this guy wanted to have God as his mechanic??

These are some workers that we saw out our apartment windows.

The fellers on the left are mowing the grass there on the side of the road. They don't have lawnmovers. It is hard to see in this picture, but they are cutting the grass with machetes. Then they gathered up the cut grass into piles and burned it. The guys on the right are working WAY off the ground on this huge billboard that has been going up for about 3 weeks. Notice the safety gear they are using/wearing. Oh wait you can't see it either!! Exactly there is NONE. They are several stories off the ground with no safety ropes or harnesses or anything!! Crazytalk!

This next picture was just funny and very typical for Nigeria.
The green sign in the middle of these fellows says "OKADAS (that means motorcycle taxi) No waiting, No stopping, No parking, No Drop-Off" And it was SURROUNDED by Okadas just waiting for their next rider!

This next picture is the state of the road on the way out to church. Once we turn off the "highway" the road quickly deteriorates. They say it will be filled in after rainy season. But these really are becoming car swallowing holes and the road is ALMOST impassable. (In other holes on this road they threw in bags of quickcrete to help fill them in some. Now they are just huge holes with bag shaped boulders in them!!)

And lastly... This picture is for my mother who keeps telling me that I need to learn where the locals shop and go there.I think I will keep going to the meat counter at the supermarket!! Thanks anyway!

Wednesdays at the Library

2007-08-22T16:41:00.001-05:00

Every Wednesday I volunteer at the American Women's Club (AWC) Library. You can tell it's a library just by lookin', huh?

It is a rented house that is set up to be a library. All the books, magazines, and movies were donated by people who have passed through here.

This is a view from the front door. There are enough books to fill several rooms and we even have a room just for kids books. And there is also a thrift store upstairs. The library is usually open on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. It is really nice to get out and talk to people. After we close the library, we usually go out to lunch.

This was the view out the car window on the way to the library today.

The man on the ladder is either splicing into the power lines or repairing them. But my favorite part of this picture is that the ladder is not leaning against anything while he is working in that tangled mess of power lines. The three guys on the ground are the only thing holding the ladder upright. And where are the hard hats, gloves, safety ANYTHING that would be required in the US????!!!! Just another day in Nigeria.

Stake Conference

2007-08-20T15:56:00.001-05:00

August 5th was stake conference. It was my first time going to the stake center. We were able to convince security to let us go in just one armored land rover with just one armed guard, instead of having to take the armed land rover with a security person and a chase vehicle with at least three armed guards (sometimes more). Anyway, traffic wasn't bad that Sunday so it didn't take us that long to get there. But I learned that the only things Nigerians have to model stake conference after is General Conference. And they really to their very best to pull off a mini version of General Conference. They have a choir with members from several of the wards and they all wear matching outfits. They try and even lay out the format for the meeting the same as General Conference. Luckily they don't make it the same timetable. When we got there, they had ushers seating everyone and they shuffled all us "white folk" up to the very front two rows. They said they had reserved seats for visitors and special guests. We REALLY tried to tell them that we were just regular old members, not anyone special and we didn't need any special treatment. They shuffled us to the front anyway. After it was over Roy snapped off a quick picture of the view behind us.

It was a pretty good meeting. Deffinately interesting. After the meeting we went over to the missionaries house for dinner and fun. It was nice to hang out and socialize.

Weber, Oh how I missed thee...

2007-08-15T13:56:00.001-05:00

It was so great to visit the Weber again! I hadn't been there since I was 14. I had forgotten that there is a little piece of heaven on earth!

This is a cabin that belonged to my great great grandfather and is now owned and maintained by the family organization. It isn't anything big or fancy. Just a nice small cabin with running water and electricity. No phone and no cell phone service. It's great! I was able to spend 7 days here with my family this year. It really was a wonderful week. The weather was great, it rained everyday, which kept the temps down. And of course the scenery was FABULOUS!

There was lots of great hiking...

Some fun creek play time...

And of course some good old fashion kick back and relax time...

Oh and we learned not to get between a pregnant woman and her food!! Love you sis!!

Mitchell Reuinion

2007-08-14T14:09:00.001-05:00

I love reuinions. Sadly they only come once a year and, even more sadly, it isn't easy to get to them every year. BUT, this year I was able to get to both of the reuinions. It was so good to see family and have fun. (It really was fun!) We camped at this little RV park just north of Manti. It was really cool to look up and see the temple all weekend.

It really was a cooshy camping trip. The bathrooms were really nice. There were showers. (I even went back to grandmas to take a shower, because we were that close.) The weather was wonderful. Not too hot. There was even wireless internet access and electricity so that I could talk to my honey over the computer!! But really the best part of the whole weekend was spending time with family! (Oh and Kit was way excited that Harry Potter 7 was finally out!!)

And finally.... the water park!

2007-07-16T19:30:00.002-05:00

Saturday we went to Sun 'n Fun in Ponca City because Brandi had to go for her ASL class. They were having a deaf community fun day there and she was required to attend. She said usually there are a ton of people at these functions, but she thinks no one planned on it because of the rain. There were MAYBE 5 deaf people there. But we had a great time anyway! I was finally able to use my great new camera to its full extent!! Who else would be crazy enough to take their digital camera to a water park for all these great action shots!!

Underwater in the Lazy River.
Nate and Brandi coming off the mat ride. And by the way they almost ran over the two other little girls in the water. The girls had slid off their mat and were crawling back up mid slide to get back on it when Nate and Brandi rounded the corner and almost killed them!! Luckily all was well in the end.
This is a great shot!! This is a great big bucket of water that fills up slowly and then dumps MASSIVE amounts of water on anyone standing below. You can just see the water starting to pour out in this shot. It was perfect timing!!
And then, of course, the water logged aftermath. It is INTENSE. But you can tell by the look on Kit's face, WAY FUN!!
Nate really wins the prize for best splashes. He was also the most fun to double up on rides with!! You would go SUPA-FAST!!
I love the fact that this camera takes underwater pictures!! Sorry Brandi, it was just way to funny!!

The best though was being able to take pictures while I was on the slides!! Check out these action shots!! LOL

It was a GREAT FUN day, and I didn't even get sunburned!!

Great ways to kill time!!

2007-07-16T19:11:00.001-05:00

Em and I have had a great time together. She went with me to visit Roy's parents and she went fishing at the lake. She caught 3 tree bass that day. This is a picture of her reeling one in and releasing it. (I think she kept catching the same one actually!! HA HA)

Then when we were at mom's house we found a GREAT way to spend the day was to go out to Perry Lake with a big drink from Sonic and just kick back on a raft and chill.

Before we knew it we had floated out to the middle of the lake!! You can see how far away and small the shore line looks in this picture. It took us almost 15 minutes of awkward paddling to get back to shore. But it was great fun!

P.S. Whoever invented recliner type floatie rafts with cup holders was a GENIUS!!

I miss my puppy!!

2007-07-16T19:09:00.001-05:00

I went to see Loki while I was in Bartlesville. She was very happy to see me. I was very happy to see her. She seems to be very happy with the neighbors. I miss her very much, but I know that she is loved and taken care of. She will be very happy having Rosevelt (their dog) and their kids to play with. I LOVE YOU PUPPY DOG!

Here's another picture of the flooding

2007-07-16T19:03:00.001-05:00

When I was in Bartlesville I was AMAZED at how high the water got. The flooding there was as bad as the big flood back in the 80's. This road was totally underwater the beginning of the week. By friday it had drained enough that we could drive down it. But you can see the dirty line in the trees where the water was.

That was at least 3-4 feet over the road. Crazy talk. Crazy talk.

And then there was the 4th of July...

2007-07-16T17:46:00.001-05:00

I love Independence Day. You get to blow things up and watch other people blow things up!! And our friends are REALLY good at blowing things up! Every year out at their family farm, they blow up several thousand dollars worth of fireworks!! It's a ritual for them. And they invite EVERYONE they know! It was really good to see friends that I love and miss!

We love our Camilla!! Can you tell she misses me?

And of course Dean is still Dean!!!

And then they blew up the farm!! It was FANTASTIC!!

We love pirate parties and corsets!!

2007-07-16T15:52:00.004-05:00

The first day of family reunion we had a birthday party for my little cousin. And it was PIRATE themed! My aunt was AWESOME and made corsets for all us pirate women!! We all had a great time!!

Emily's was made with "dragon skin".

Mom looks great and had great fun!!
It really was a great party! Lots of pirate themed games snacks and fun.

Time to fill you in...

2007-07-16T15:48:00.001-05:00

I have been having a GRAND vacation and I have so much to tell. So I am going to divide it into sections and get it all caught up!!

I always wanted an indoor swimming pool!!

2007-07-02T07:51:00.001-05:00

Just not really this way!

Last night mom opened the door to the basement and found that we have about 2 feet of water in the basement. Today has been the 20th straight day of rain. It seems to be flooding everywhere. I have never seen this much rain in Oklahoma before. Right now the Caney River is about 8 feet above flood stage. And it is still supposed to rise a little more before it crests today. Hopefully the rain will stop for a little while so that it can start to go down. I am worried about friends in Bartlesville. At 21 feet there will be major flooding there, and currently the river is at 20.8 feet. This is just crazy!

Rainy season has come to Oklahoma!!

2007-06-29T22:15:00.001-05:00

I thought I was going to leave the rain in Nigeria when I went home for vacation. BOY WAS I WRONG!! Oklahoma is having it's own monsoon season! Today was the 17th consecutive day of rain. They are breaking records for rain here. I had to take some pictures of the flooding in areas since my husband is posting pics of Nigeria rain. We were heading over to look at the new church building, when we came across a road block. We looked past it and the water didn't look like it was crossing the road. So we scooted the blocks over a bit and drove around. Then we topped the hill and saw this.

There has been SO MUCH rain. And it is raining like it is Nigeria. You either get long steady showers or these small violent rains pop up and dump buckets of rain for about 10 minutes then they are gone. It's crazy. While we were sitting taking these pics, the SUV that was behind us decided to get brave and cross this water!! I was so worried that they weren't going to make it. The water was all the way up to their floor boards.

Lucky for them they actually made it across. Had the water been any deeper, they would have been stranded. This was mom's favorite part of the view. Anyone want to by some water front property.

So not been in the mood...

2007-06-24T11:37:00.001-05:00

Roy keeps telling me that I HAVE to write in my blog.... He keeps telling me things to write about.... blah. I just haven't felt like it. I know, I know, how else are you going to know what's going on you say. Welllllll... blah. But today I will break down and write some more. Lets see, last Saturday we were finally invited to go out to the beach house. Everyone always says how great it is there, but no one had ever invited us to go on a day that we actually could. We were really excited to go. We went down to the boat dock (you can only get there by taking a 45 minute boat ride) and met up with the people we were going out with. But there seemed to be a problem with the boat. They couldn't get the engines both running and keep them running. So we waited while they tinkered with them. We got there at 9am and we waited.... and waited... and waited. And when it was 11:30 and the boat still wasn't running we decided to call it a day and took the food back to our apartment complex and had a pool party. Oh well... it was fun anyway. But here's something interesting that I probably never would have done in the US..... I ate goat. Yes that's what I said. I ate goat. We had BBQ'd goat ribs that day. They were tasty, greasy and not a lot of meat, but tasty. And I did have to tell my friend that they were the best goat ribs I had ever eaten!! He was quite amused at that.

Also we just finished a week long fuel strike and 4 day labor stike. The streets have been virtually empty for days because no one had any fuel. We were worried that they would shut off the power as part of the strike, because we didn't know how much diesel the apartment had left for the generators and there was not any new coming because of the strike. Also I really didn't want to have to reschedule my travel plans for next week if anything major happened. But all that ended last night at midnight. WOO HOO! I can breathe a little easier now. We will just have to wait and see how long it takes things to get back to normal again.

Another piece of info... We finally got our sea shipment!! I got out my sewing maching the other day and totally love it!! Alisa you were totally right, it is a GREAT basic machine!! It makes me very happy!! And very sad that once again I have to box it up and wait to play with it till after my vacation. (But I would rather go see all my family then stay and play with it... it will be here when I get back.) And speaking of getting back, I was hoping to be moved to our new flat BEFORE I left, but that won't happen until AFTER I am gone. And I don't think Roy will be in any hurry to move after I am gone, so MAYBE we will moved before I get back. Oh well, at least I was able to get the kitchen all unpacked and arranged fairly well. I really just want to go unpack everything and get moved in, but we are still waiting on them to get those last little things finished. Things like getting the internet working and putting screens on the windows. I really think most of all the MAJOR work is done. I just have to stop worring about it and know that Roy will take care of everything. He is very good at moving.

So there is a quick update. Life in a nutshell.

New toys!!

2007-06-09T13:53:00.001-05:00

I just ordered 2 new toys today!! One for me and one for Roy. Remember how I said I dropped my little camera. It was a serious bummer. I didn't drop it very far and it didn't bounce even. BUT... that was enough. It will not turn on at all. And the cost to get a little camera like that fixed is almost as much as just buying a new one. SO, we ordered 2 new toys today!!

This is going to be the perfect camera for me!! You can drop it get it dirty and wet and it will fit in your pocket. It will make taking pics in Nigeria a lot easier. If you want to read more about the camera click on the picture. But in a nutshell is is waterproof up to 33ft deep, you can drop it from 5ft up it is resistant to cold (14 degrees F) and it will withstand 220lbs of crushing pressure. It is a serious rough and tumble camera!! So I can drop it all I want, take pictures in the rain without fear and even jump into the pool with it!! I am so excited!!

One drawback though...... It is being shipped to mom's house. So I have to wait to play with it. Oh and if you have to mom, you can open Roy's camera (the silver one) but not mine (the blue one)!! LOL HOORAY FOR PRESENTS!!

I can tell we are sisters!!

2007-06-08T04:06:00.001-05:00

I pulled up my sisters blog and read exactly what I needed to say... "I haven't written in a LONG time, and I know that. And many many people have told me that. I just always feel so funny about posting with no pictures, and I'm sort of in a camera funk. I hope to get a new one soon, I hope." How did she know?? I dropped our little camera last month and broke it and the big one isn't easy to carry around here and take discreet pictures with. Well, I hope to get a new one soon so that I can get pictures of the strange things that I come across here.

Now that the excuses are out of the way... on to what's going on. Since we got back from our cruise (which was so great) it has been a game of hurry up and wait. We are still waiting to move in to our new apartment (that we were originally told we would move into in mid-April). We are still waiting for our sea shipment. (We were told it was cleared by customs 2 weeks ago... They are supposed to deliver it on monday now. And I am not going to let them postpone it again.) But what is really stressing me is that I am going out of country at the end of this month and will be gone for a month. I REALLY want to get this move done and out of the way BEFORE I leave so that Roy doesn't have to worry about it while I am gone. There really aren't that many things left to finish on the apartments to get us moved in. They COULD get it all done in a week if they REALLY tried. But that is something that doesn't seem to happen here. As Roy says, "People here set low expectations and then fail to meet them." Anyway, I am going over to the new flats today to talk to facilities and try and get a commitment on when we are moving in. I need it to be next week honestly. That way I can get everything unpacked and organized before I have to pack and leave. But we'll see how it goes. Anywho.. my driver is here, I gotta run. I'll post more later. Hopefully it will be better.

Need a laugh?

2007-05-25T06:54:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from our cruise!! We were in the middle of climbing a half mile up the side of a volcano and I was tired!! I can walk forever on flat ground, but when it's constant uphill.... well lets just say I need more practice for that. Anyway, I had sat down to try and catch my breath. And I guess Roy just decided that he needed a picture of me. At that point I was so not in the mood for pictures. But it made for a VERY funny pic.

I was a happy camper on the inside at that moment. It was a hard hike (for me at least). But the view at the top was worth it. And going down was WAY easier!

I made banana bread!!

2007-05-11T08:17:00.002-05:00

I had a big bunch of little bananas and already had some in the freezer, so I thought I would try and make some banana bread. I haven't been much of a baker up to this point. Didn't really have that much free time. Have a bit more of that here. Anyway, I also thought it would make a tasty snack on the plane!!

And yes, it tastes just as yummy as it looks!! The bananas here are really good, very sweet and firm, even when they are over ripe. Wish I could send you guys some!! You'll just have to look though.

I had a need... so I did it!!

2007-05-10T08:10:00.002-05:00

That's right... I did it. All by myself. I only asked mom 1 question and the rest I did all by myself.

I was officially informed by Roy, my kind sweet loving husband, that a ratty old tank top and faded pair of boxer shorts do not count as an appropriate swim suit coverup on a cruise. Well, then what do I do. It's not like I can just run out to Wal-mart or Old Navy and pick something up!! And I haven't exactly found a sewing store here to buy a good pattern. AND we still haven't gotten our sea shipment yet, so no sewing machine even if I DID have a pattern. But.... I had a need. So, I thought if pioneer women could do it, surely I could. I went to the market on saturday and bought some fabric. Then I took that old ratty tank top and used it to trace a guide/pattern thing. Then I got really brave and CUT! (No going back now.) I spent each day this week sewing, by hand, and ironing and looking and adjusting and looking again and sewing some more. And NOW IT'S DONE!! It's not the best little dress I have ever seen, but I think it will pass for the cruise. And once we are back from the cruise and I have my stuff (aka my sewing machine) I will go back and reinforce every seam!! LOL!

I AM SORRY!!!

2007-05-02T16:54:00.002-05:00

I have been sternly reprimanded!! Several people have "gotten on to me" for not posting anything recently. Well.... I just haven't felt that there has been anything to tell really. And I haven't been out of the apartment much because of elections. It's been quite dull really.... (so there) Well yesterday something interesting finally happened. We had ordered some handcarved chests from an artist here and he delivered them!! We got 2 chests that will sit back to back and we will use them as a coffee table in our new apartment.

They are carved on 3 sides and the backs have a diamond pattern. One chest is carved with a village life scene and the other is a "foundation" scene. That means its a scene of the king and chiefs or elders at a celebration. Then Roy also purchased a few panels from him.
They are all pretty cool. The company is having our entertainment centers for the new apartments built buy the same guy. I think they will turn out really nice. So there is a post, now it's late and I am going to bed!! (I will try and do better this month... but no promises!!)

Random Humor

2007-04-19T08:33:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was in the car on the way to the store. We once again were stuck in the never ending traffic. But I just happened to look out the window and see this...

Nothing seemed unusual or out of the ordinary. Some lady was selling laundry detergent at a road side stand. But what made me almost pee my pants with laughter and I had to take a picture of, was this...

Yes folks you aren't seeing things. That is Miss Bimbo laundry soap. And if you look in the corner you "Save 30%". "Thank you Bimbo" I needed that laugh!!

Josie learns...

2007-04-17T17:40:00.001-05:00

Ok... this post is all my cousins fault!! But it is really a fun game and some of these things are just to funny. Go to google.com and put in your name and a verb then hit search. My cousin started the game with needs. It then moved on to wants and gets. So I decided to try learns. Dear heavens I learned a lot according to google!!

1) Josie Learns To Avoid The Man in the Yellow Hat. (But I still don't know WHY)
2) Josie learns what it means to "get small." (um ok... small)
3) Josie learns the advantages of being shorter than everyone else when she actually shrinks to being four inches tall (ok that explains #3)
4) Josie learns that the rich man left no will (does that mean his fortune is mine?)
5) Josie learns of the suicide of her lover, Michael (Shhhh don't tell my husband)
6) Josie learns what it means to stand up for her own beliefs. (thought I learned that a long time ago.)
7) Josie discovers her own self-worth and softness in a life filled with hard edges. Or, so it seems. (I didn't add that last part... it came that way!! Honest!)
8) Josie learn about the differences that exist between her world and that of John Barton (well now I know there ARE differences... WHAT are they?)
9) Josie learns from a NASA P.R. man, Andrew, that her mother has died (NOOOOOOOO.... and who is andrew and how does he know my mom??)

The list goes on and on.... it really makes my life sound so... so... soap opera-ish. I love it!! What verb should I try next???

Miracles do happen and there is hope for me yet!!

2007-04-17T17:00:00.003-05:00

After being married for almost 9 years.... yes, it's been 9 years... I am showing signs of domestication. And I have pictures to prove it!!

I MADE BREAD!! Not from a mix, not with a bread machine... not even with a mixer. I had a whisk and a spoon and good old fashioned elbow grease!! And the best part is... it LOOKS like bread. It SMELLS like bread and it tastes every bit as yummy as when mom makes it!! I M A D E B R E A D ! ! ! Oh and in the bag just to the left of the rolls are the tasty bisuits I made for breakfast that are light and fluffy and sooooo not hockey pucks. Maybe tomorrow we will dive into the world of desserts...............

WE'RE RICH!!!

2007-04-16T16:25:00.002-05:00

Doesn't it just look like a TON of cash!! If only... sadly each bill in this stack is worth less than a dollar. But it sure is fun to see big stacks of cash. The exchange rate here is about 128 naira to 1 us dollar. So you would think we would be livin' like kings here. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. We decided that the general rule of thumb for shopping here is that if it is about 3 times what you would pay in the US than that is a good price. Heck a box of cereal is between 900 and 1200 naira. (That's close to $10!) Mom keeps tellin me I need to learn where the locals shop and go there. I need to take a picture of one of the street side meat counters and see if she keeps saying that. So for now I keep shopping in about 5 different grocery stores to get the best deals on what I need and to FIND what I need. But at least for today I can look at my big "stack o cash" and pretend I am rich.

Just thoughts today...

2007-04-15T13:20:00.001-05:00

I haven't taken any new pictures. I actually haven't been out of the apartment much in the last week or so. The library is closed for pretty much all of April (it's usually open on Wed and Sat) so no outings there. Really the only times I've been out is to do some grocery shopping. There's not a lot to get out and do here. And with the elections this month, things are a little tense. There hasn't been anything bad happen here where I live, but close by people have been killed in violence leading up the elections. I am not personally worried about the actual election days. I am more worried about violence that may occur when they announce who wins the election. That is when I am worried about possible riots and violence. (Again not to worried about where I live, but close surrounding areas.) Anyway, Friday we got to experience going to the doctor in a foriegn country. I HATE going to a new doctor. You don't know them, they don't know you. (I miss my old dotor back home...) And I had NO idea what to expect here. Would there be all the normal things that you expect to see in a doctors office? Would it be clean? Would they understand what I was saying, would l understand what they were asking? Would the doctor be nice, or tired and stressed and cranky? I just wanted to feel better. I was tired and stressed and cranky. We found the clinic (took a little bit) and went in and filled out paperwork. That seemed pretty normal. And then we waited. and waited... again normal. The clinic wasn't dirty, but it was old and tired and run down. But it seemed ok and I didn't care at that point. I just wanted some medicine so I could feel better. When it was finally time to see the doctor he seemed pretty nice. We had to talk to each other a little slowly, he was french and I think we were trying to understand each others accents. But we communicated what we needed to and I was given antibiotics and cold medicines. The whole thing was a lot less trouble than I was afraid it was going to be. That's good to know. (But I still miss my doctors back home.) Anyway, maybe I will get the camera out later this week and find something good to take pictures of. Maybe I will get out a little more this week, we'll just have to see what the tension levels are like.

Today I am thankful for concrete buildings...

2007-04-06T18:21:00.002-05:00

On Sunday a big storm blew in from the Atlantic. The wind was blowing hard enough that all the windows were whistling. I thought I would open the windows for a little bit to air out the apartment. But the wind was blowing so hard that it almost blew the paintings off the wall!!

It was a beautiful storm. Big dark clouds, lots of thunder and lightning, but it hardly even rained. The wind just blew and blew and the clouds raced by, and it sprinkled here and there. Just enough to get the ground wet. But that will change soon. Before you know it we will be up to our eyeballs in rain!! Rainy season is about to start. It will rain enough that several of the streets will flood.

Anyway, I looked out the window the other day and realized that even though I was homesick and sad the otherday, I have a lot to be thankful for. Today I am thankful for concrete buildings. Construction here is cinder block and concrete and tile. At first it seemed cold and harsh to me. But now it feels strong. Because when I looked out my window I learned that our neighbors didn't fare as well as we did through that storm.

I'm not sure if it is their home or if it's just where they work. But this little "building" didn't quite survive the big winds. And even though they are roped off as a warning, people are still there. So today, if nothing else, I am thankful for concrete buildings.

Sorry, no picture today...

2007-04-03T17:22:00.000-05:00

I had a hard day today. I am really starting to get homesick. It's all the little things that just seem to be building and making it harder. I miss jumping in the car and running to Wal-mart if I need something and knowing that 98% of the time what I am looking for will actually BE at Wal-mart. I looked at 4 different stores for measuring spoons the other day. I was lucky to find measuring cups at 1 store. ONLY 1 store had measuring cups. I want to go to Sonic and get a fountain drink. I want to go for a walk. I want to pick up the phone and call my family and friends without worrying about how much it costs and hurting my brain trying to calulate what time it is there. I want to be able to understand what people are saying without having to concentrate!! I don't want to hear honking car horns and sirens anymore. I want good water pressure in the shower. I want my stuff!! I want my tv shows back. I want Dish Network back. I want.... a lot of things. But I guess in the end I am thankful to have had those things and be able to miss them, because so many people here never have and probably never will. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Sanitation Day or Environmental Saturday

2007-03-31T17:30:00.001-05:00

What to look for in this picture. NOTHING. It is an empty street. But that is precisely why I took the picture. The street was empty!! This is usually a VERY busy intersection. But today was Environmental Saturday or Sanitation Day. By law the last Saturday of each month from 7am - 10am you cannot be out on the streets. That is when they do trash pickup or street cleaning or something. But I think it is a brilliant idea!! It was so quiet and peaceful this morning. There were no sirens or honking car horns. Just peace. Maybe we should do this every Saturday!! Or at least maybe twice a month. I will be ready and waiting for the next one!

At home there are squirrels... Here there are lizards!!

2007-03-30T15:05:00.000-05:00

It seemed back in Oklahoma everywhere you looked there was a squirrel running around. Here there are lizards. They are EVERYWHERE. I am finally getting to the point that I am not startled when I see one dart across the edge of my vision. There are many different kinds of lizards here. But so far this is the largest and the prettiest kind that I have seen. This variety of lizard is about a foot long and they are fast!!

A Universal Truth... Teenagers are teenagers no matter where you are...

2007-03-26T17:30:00.001-05:00

Roy has already been called as Young Men President at church. (He's in charge of the young men ages 12-18.) He had his first official activity this last Saturday. They only have 1 youth activity a month here. And I think it is always a combined young men/young women activity. Anyway, this activity was a focus on missionary work, but they went to Alpha Beach for the activity.

The activity started with an opening prayer and song, then a couple of the youth were asked to share their testimonies about missionary work. Then the missionaries spoke to the youth about what they can do to help share the gospel. And then once all the "official" stuff was done, the kids got to play. They played soccer on the beach and played in the surf. The ocean was kind of rough that day, so no swimming. But it was fun all the same.

I think Roy is really enjoying working with the youth here. I can tell he is very excited about it. This is a picture of all the youth, leaders, and missionaries that were there for the activity. Maybe one day I will learn (and be able to remember) all their names.

P.S. I REALLY miss my young women back home!! I think about you girls ALL the time. You ARE loved.

Do not try and adjust your TV sets...

2007-03-24T05:24:00.000-05:00

The water in this picture is the correct color. I still don't take baths here much yet. Mostly because I can't get past the color of a full tub of water. That is the color you get straight out of the tap. No filthy bodies have sat in that tub yet! This is why we don't drink the water out of the sink. We don't even use it to brush our teeth. But, however, we shower in it daily. Hmmmmm... there's logic in there somewhere...

REALLY GREAT FABRIC...

2007-03-21T15:58:00.000-05:00

Here is the close ups of the fabric for Roy's fancy pajamas that I promised.

This is the one that was machine embroidered.

And this is the hand embroidered one.
I'm just dying to go to Yaba Market (that's the fabric market) but we can't go there without a security detail. So I will have to wait until we can arrange a group outting to make it worth arranging for security. *sigh*

The longest drive EVER...

2007-03-21T14:22:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I missed posting yesterday, sooooo.... Today I am doing two.

Yesterday we had an American Women's Club (AWC) Hospitality Coffee. It is a "social gethering" that they do once a month where you can bring people who are new and interested in joining. Well this time it was in Apapa. (Apapa is part of Lagos, kind of like Edmond is part of Oklahoma City.) Anyway, it normally takes 20 minutes to get there. But yesterday the traffic was SOOO bad that it took us 2 1/2 hours to get there!! It gave me lots of time to look around and take some pictures along the way.

As we crossed one of many bridges I looked out the window and saw a sea of roofs. They were all metal and mostly all rusted.

This is beneath one of the bridges. In this picture you can see at least one shop set up and you can see some of the abandoned cars that seem to line almost every street.

In order for for us to be able to go to Apapa we were required (by company protocol) to have an armed escort. This is the policy for several of the oil companies. So one of the larger ones arranged for us to take a bus with a security escort. This is a view out the front window of the bus. We were stuck on a long bridge in a huge traffic jam. We had large trucks on both sides of us and they were closing in just a little. It was a bit scary!

We couldn't decide if this bridge was lined with drying laundry or if it was clothing for sale. I think it is drying laundry. It went on like this for almost a quarter of a mile!

The yellow vans are the buses for Lagos. Most of the buses in Apapa and the mainland are yellow. The ones of Victoria Island (VI) where I live are usually white. But they are everywhere and they are ALWAYS packed.

In this picture you can see the security vehicle that was ahead of us. We also had one behind us. And again the sea of yellow buses.

This is a view of the inside of the bus we took. It was fairly comfortable except for the stopping and starting and then the huge bumps!! The back of the bus would bounce VERY hard. Kind of like the big tan van when we were kids.

The entire trip ended up taking about 2 1/2 hours there and 1 hour to get back and we only stayed at the function for an hour! But it was deffinately an adventure. I got to see a part of Lagos that I don't normally get to go to and I had an enjoyable time talking to the ladies on the bus. It was a LONG tiring day, but a good one. (I'll post more about the actual hopsitality coffee on another day, that was a whole other story!)

Here, you don't have to wait until Halloween to wear pajamas to work...

2007-03-19T16:49:00.001-05:00

Every Friday is Nigerian dress day at the offices here. That means everyone is allowed to wear traditional Nigerian clothes to work instead of stuffy slacks and button up shirts. Traditional Nigerian clothes, in my opinion, are really fancy pajamas. (At least for the men, the women wear very fitted dresses with their hair all wrapped up in fabric... that will be pictures for a different day.) Anyway as I was saying... REALLY FANCY PAJAMAS. Roy just had 2 outfits tailored so that he could wear pajamas to work on Fridays.

(For those interested in fabric... These fabrics are not prints. They are a woven 3-D pattern. I will post closeups later. They are really great fabrics!)

The green outfit was hand embroidered and the blue one was machine emboridered. There was a lot of work put in to these. And the best part is that they weren't to expensive. The fabric (5 1/2 yards of each) was 5,000 nira. That's about $39. (That's what I said mom... 11 yards of this great fabric for $3.55 a yard!!!) And then it was about another 5,000 nira for the tailoring. Oh and each outfit will have a hat that goes with it, but the tailor didn't write down Roy's head measurement the first time and had to get it again when he brought the outfits. So Roy will get the hats on Wednesday. I will take a pics of them when he gets them. Roy is THRILLED with his fancy pajamas. (Can you blame him... I've ALWAYS wanted to get away with wearing pajamas to work!! Not just on Halloween!)

2007-03-18T16:14:00.001-05:00

Twice now we have found little visitors in our bedroom. Geckos seem to like to hang out there. It doesn't bother me to much... I just don't want them to crawl across me in the middle of the night!! EEKKK!! They really are helpful to have around the house. They eat any little bugs that might come in. This is the first one we found. It was actually from my first trip out here, back in January. He was about 2-2.5 inches long. He ran REALLY fast.

This is the one we found just the other day. He was so little and cute. We managed to get a couple of pictures taken of him. Then we stopped to see if they turned out ok, and when we looked back to see where he was, he was GONE. Very fast little bugger.

At some point I'm going to have to post pictures of some of the lizards that are outside. They are EVERYWHERE. There are as many, if not more, lizards here than there are squirrels back in Oklahoma. And they are pretty good sized too.

Traffic is a mess

2007-03-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

I took this picture the other day while we were sitting in traffic waiting for it to move. We were at/in an intersection, nosing our way through it. The traffic lately has been very heavy. It seems the closer it gets to election time (mid-late April) the more congested the traffic seems. But go-slows (traffic jams) are not uncommon here. One time we got stuck in a big go-slow and when we got up to where the wahalla (trouble) was, it was a scraggly horse just wandering down the middle of the road.

This is a view from the top of Roy's "new" office building. (They have been paying rent on this building since October, but they still haven't gotten everything squared away to move in... It is a big joke here "when we move to the new office". And a touchy subject with the ones paying the bills.) This gives you an idea of how the intersections work here. There are no traffic lights, and no one pays any attention to street signs. You just nose your way out into traffic and demand a spot in the chaos. One day I will have to post a picture of the round abouts. I think those are worse than the intersections!!

A project... I need those here.

2007-03-16T05:38:00.000-05:00

I think I am inspired today by the Petersen picture a day project. I don't know if I can quite do a post a day, but I am going to make the attempt and if I miss a day, we won't fret about it. So, the goal here is that I am going to start trying to take more pictures while I am home, out, shopping, at the library, wherever doing whatever. Because I know that everyone is curious to know what life is like here in Nigeria, and I am TERRIBLE at sending e-mails. (I hate a 1-sided conversation.) SO... I am going to do my best to load pictures to my new Flickr account and then do a write up here about 1 picture each day. I have gained a lot of insite into Alisa's family's life with her picture a day project, and I realized it doesn't take a huge write up or big long e-mail stories to share the little things in our days. So today I am inspired... maybe it will last for a week, maybe I will be able to maintain the inspiration. But either way we are going to give it a shot! :o)