Book Tag

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

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....

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!!

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!!

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!

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??...

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!!