Little Bo Peep

This was my morning commute today... First I had to heard some random sheep out of the road. (I didn't even know anyone around here had sheep!) Then there was more surprise construction on the highway. I am glad they are fixing the road. It really needs it! Bit some warning so that you can work around it would be nice.

Maybe having an app for that will help...

I just found out that there is a Blogger app. Maybe being able to post right from my phone will get me back to blogging. Maybe. We will have to see.

Oh Well...

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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!!

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...

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...

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

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!!

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...

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

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!!