Random rambles on............house work

Laundry! I hate it! Hate it. Hate it! It is not too bad now that I have a washer and dryer. With two kids and a husband I do a load every day or so! I hate folding clothes and putting them away, and since we all that I am a huge procrastinator sometimes they stay in the dryer or in the basket for few days, meaning that now I have to fold at least 3-4 loads and my laundry room gets all messy! I cannot wait until the kids are old enough, they will be doing their own laundry.

House cleaning: I am not too fond of that either! Bas ya3ni I do not hate it as much as I hate laundry. With two very active and messy kids I have to tidy up at least three times a day. Every few months their toys get to be too much. There are too many little teeny toys that I have to keep on picking up few times a day. The kids are awful when it comes to cleaning up. It takes Ziad forever to pickup few toys and put them in the toy box, because he is whining and feeling sorry for himself. It is not fair he says! So all those toys go into a garbage bag and given to the diabetes association which sells them to second hand stores.

I have my own system in tidying up and cleaning. If I do not have enough to time to follow through that I just leave it until later, except now I do not have the luxury! So I have to tidy up before I go to bed every night. :o(

I start from my bathroom, my bedroom, the main bathroom, the kids’ rooms, the laundry room if it needs cleaning, then downstairs to the living room, the dinning room, the powder room, the family room, and finally the kitchen and then the floor, vacuum the carpet and mob the kitchen and foyer. If I cannot do it in that order I get so anxious and annoyed! And would rather just not do anything. I know I am weird. And I hate it when people make the outside tidy but then you look in the closet and everything is just shoved in there! That drives me crazy! The closets have to be as neat as possible as well.

Cooking! I am not a good cook because I just do not enjoy it! I would rather have someone cook for me and I do not mind eating out. When hubby is nice like he has been lately I do not mind cooking. When he is a meano then I do not cook anything good and worth mentioning. My kids are not into tabeekh. They love manakeesh, hummus, and white rice with yogurt, pasta with meatballs, pizza and salad. You know what that means!! When in Amman I will not be cooking at all!! Yippy! Ok maybe I will every now and then so I will not forget how to cook, but I am leaving my cookbook at home.

Ok among those three I am not fond of ironing, dusting, vacuuming or doing the dishes! When I was working hubby and I shared all those chores. Of course most of the time his work was not up to my standards and I had to fix them. Now that I am not working out of home hubby has taken the back seat. Every now and then he may vacuum or load the dishwasher then 7amel me meet jmeeli. I so need a shagalleh! But then again maybe not, although I hate doing all those tasks at the end I am glad to see things done and it is good for our health to stay active. There are a lot of calories burned doing all those chores! If you iron for one hour you burn 90 calories! Not too shabby, it alot more than we burn blogging and browing the net, eh??

rain go away!

rain, rain go away, come again some other day!

It has been raining since yesterday! It is so windy, and cold!

I hate this weather. I guess I have to wear my hair curly today. No point spending 20min blow drying my hair straight only to have it rained on and going back to curly any ways!
This is the perfect stay at home, watch a movie or read a nice book weather! But noooo I have to take the kids to the dentist, then to the gym and then to the library. It is so unfair! I hate going out in the rain. I hate it when water comes on my feet so I have to wear my winterish shoes since all my summer shoes are open toed sandals. It is only +5 , so I have to dig into my not so summery clothes. It is supposed to stay like this until tomorrow evening. I am so not going out tomorrow! I’ll work on my assignment. I am starting to really hate pride and prejudice! Books are fun to read, not to analyse! My essay is going to be on the significance of letters in the book. I found a perfect essay about it online! Damned plagiarism! And then I will start reading 1984, it’d better be good!

This month I have read four books! It is driving hubby crazy! Ya3ni isn’t it better than watching tv?? I am usually not the read a chapter here and chapter there kind of person. Usually when I start a book I finish it within a day or two max. These days between hubby, the kids and my mommy and wifely responsibilities it is next to impossible. So I am training myself to be like a normal person and read few chapters, put the book down, read more the next day and so on. So far so good!

I read the time traveller’s wife, which I loved! It is a very nice book, well written and keeps you interest all the way though. I just heard they are making a movie! It will be interesting to watch! I can not wait!

The kite runner was good too. I enjoyed reading the book. By the middle it gets a bit depressing especially when talking about the Taliban and he does exaggerate a bit I believe. But all in all I enjoyed reading it and I am looking forward to reading his new book.

For an light read on the drive back home from jasper I got a light read. Sweet revenge, I love books about revenge. It was ok, not great, but after reading two somewhat intense novels it was nice to read something light.

And I finally finished reading pride and prejudice! I watched the movies when I was half way through it. So I was not too exited about reading it. Note to self: never watch the movie until done with the book!

I am also reading parts of Palestine children for Ghassan Kanafani. I’ve never read his books in English before! I like the Arabic versions better. From time to time I read from speak bird speak again. I finally found a folk tale that my cousin used to always tell us when we were kids. What is up with all this ghoul stuff old folks used to tell!

Ok I am done procrastinating and writing blah blahs. see when I write about everything and everything it means im procrastinating.

Our vacation pictures

medicine lake in Jasper. It is very cool, because it drains in some seasons and is full in others..

the mud slide that kept us waiting for three hours, aparently we were lucky..they eventually had to close the road and it would have taken us alot longer to get from banff to kelwna

Leaving the prairies of Saskatchewan

stuck in traffic for three hours due to a mud slide

At sunpeak Resort in B.C.

Leaving Banff

Riding horses in Kelowna, the horse were so cute!

The kids and the donkey at theVancouver zoo

A deer we came across in Jasper

The mountains in Jasper

Bolbol looking for interesting rocks by a lake in Jasper

Mana'eesh

Yesterday was our mana’eesh day. The kids woke up waiting for their ‘ooshi when I realized that the pizza crust I have in the fridge expired few days ago. What to do, I promised the kids mana’eesh for breakfast? O well no biggi, I was only 8am and I didn’t have to be at the gym until 12. So I got the white flour out and got to work.
I decided to do it differently this time. I usually hate it sticking so I add flour until the dough is not sticky anymore. I decided I will be brave and add more water and who cares if it sticky. I even forgot to add oil! Tsk tsk tsk eh?? Well not really! Those were my best mana’eesh ever! They were so soft and moist and so yummy, Even if I say so myself.

Later we went to the lake, I decided to take the few ‘ooshis left with us, just in case. The lake is 100km away and the drive is in rural Saskatchewan with no Tim Hortins or anything in between. After we played at the lake, built few sand mountains, ate ice cream and played at the playground we got in the car and we were all hungry. So the mana’eesh came in handy. Hubby and I were talking about how yummy they were:

Me: isn’t the dough so good, it is so soft and moist, 7eta a7la min paramount mana’eesh

Hubby: yeh they are good.

Me: yeh bas ya3ni they are so good I do not believe it!

Hubby: 3ala sho shaifi 7alik? It is ready-made dough you bought from the store, why are you taking all the credit!

Me: what?? O no the dough was expired so I threw it in the garbage, I made these myself from scratch

Hubby: walah? 3an jad? They are very good. I would have never though so!

O well, so my mistake was always not putting enough water! Go figure!!

I even downloaded my pictures from the camera to show you guys! Notice the tiny man’ooshi on top?? That is bolbol’s manooshi. The kids love to help. Each gets a piece of dough and they roll it and roll and then make it balls, then roll eventually we put in the oven with some za’taar and they eat it proudly. Zozo is not satisfied with just getting dough. He likes to do it from scratch. I give him a small bowl with some flour and he pours water over it and makes his own dough, with a little help from me of course. He covers it and waits for it to rise, checking on it every few seconds. Is it bigger yet??

Daloo3a??

When I was going to school in Lebanon my friends and not so friends used to call me eldaloo3a. I used to hate that nick name. I acquired that nick name because I called my mom and dad "mama and baba" instead of yama and yaba like they did in those ancient days when I was a kid.

I do not why this just popped into my mind right his second, when I was contemplating finishing my damned assignment. Of course instead of working on my assignment I decided to blog this silly thought.

I wonder what my old friend's kids call them now, do they call them mama and baba or the old fashioned yama and yaba?

OK khalas I am going to work on my assignment now, no more blogs, no more baby center, no more face book, no more anything. My exam is in three weeks and I still have two assignments to finish. This correspondence study is sooo not for a procrastinator like myself!

O well of I go comparing and contrasting short stories, yippee!

o remember how I said I love the grass cutting thing on my guilty pleasures post? Well now the maintenance guy is cutting the grass, I love the smell but I hate the sound when it is right under my window. OK who cares eh??

hmmmm what else do I want to babble and ramble about before I log out and start on my assignment??

nothing comes to mind, so I guess I'll get back to work :o)

o no wait, let me list the nicknames I was called growing up. My uncles had nicknames for all of us. Two of my nicknames were najeeb eltaweel, and watwatoon. I have no idea what watwatoon means, I guess someone who is very tall. I guess I was tall when I was a little kid. I hated being tall, I used to spend the night praying to god not to let me grow anymore so my uncles will not call me najeeb eltaweel and watwatoon anymore. Well guess what? god listened to my prayers and I stopped growing at 10 years old. I was 5'2 and still am until this day. I wish god did not listen to my prayers until 2 inches later. But there you have it. I am not najeeb eltaweel or watwatoon anymore! Thankfully I left Lebanon before they came up with more nicknames for shorty little me eh?
My cousin was very chubby, and she lived with them in the same house. They had many nicknames for her. It is not wonder that when she got the chance for revenge she took it, who can blame her eh?

Back to comparing and contrasting.

the tooth fairy..

Tonight the tooth fairy came to our home for a visit. She picked up zozo’s tooth. She will be using it to finish building her castle. And she left him a $20 bill. He wanted a kite. I guess the tooth fairy should have left 20 coins! A bill meant nothing to him; it is just a green piece of paper! He was not too thrilled about getting money he wanted a kite! How the heck was the tooth fairy supposed to put a kite under his pillow?

Apparently he likes the nail fairy better (the fairy that comes at night and cuts his nails because he is so annoying when awake and will not give me his hands to cut his nails). The nail fairy gives him candy. Because you know, candy is so much better than money. KIDS, it is so hard to figure them out.

Sniff, sniff, my baby is growing up! How the heck did that happen? One day he is a tiny baby and now he is a 5.5yr old boy with a missing baby tooth. This tooth came in in March 2002! It is the first tooth to come in and it the first one to come out.

It seems like a losing a baby tooth = tween attitude! In the past few days he has been talking back and giving us this attitude. He was calling me bossy this morning because I would not allow him to eat a cookie before his breakfast! ME! BOSSY!!!?? I am so taking my $20 back!
Is it just me or does time go by way too fast?? I do not remember time passing this quick when I was a little girl. It used to take forever for the school year to be over, now the year is finished with a blink of an eye! Hubby says that there is barakeh in time anymore. It is so true. I wonder if the time is really going by faster or is it that you notice it more as you age.

Finally back home

I cannot say I missed my dingy apartment, but it nice to be back “home” I guess. Our trip was great. The kids were better than great. They behaved so good considering they were stuck in their car seats for so long. We drove for a total of 4500km in those 11 days.

It was good being together as a family, without a computer, work, and phone calls in between us. We did have friends with us for the first 3 days of our trip. Which was even more fun. But they had to go back to Calgary when we drove to Vancouver.

We spent two days in Kelowna. I would not mind living there. It the warmest place in Canada, and it is beautiful. With a huge lake and surrounded by mountains. Why could hubby not have gotten a job there instead of Saskatoon?
We went sailing, horseback riding and shopping there. I was surprised when my son rode a horse all alone and was not scared. I guess it is time for some horse riding lessons eh?

Vancouver was ok; I am not too crazy about the dark skies and rain. So I am not in a rush to move there, although hubby’s friend is badgering him to go work with him there. Thanks, but no thanks! We went to the zoo there. The zoo is not big; I am staring to think that the Toronto zoo is the biggest in Canada. It was fun; the kids are so into animals these days. We went to aquarium and took the ferry to Vancouver Island. Where there was a tiny mall beside a casino. I went shopping while hubby went into the casino. He actually won $2500! Which he is feeling guilty about, when the heck did hubby become so religious? And I know you are thinking I probably spent a lot in the mall, but not even one penny was spent there. The mall was so tiny there were no stores that appealed to me, not even the bookstore!

Of course Banff and Jasper were as amazing as ever! We saw two dead bears on the side of the road :o(poor little guys! And we got to see two bears walking around eating whatever off the ground. We also saw two deer fighting, MEN! No matter what species they are, they will never grow up!

We stayed at six different hotels. They were all nice. After our last mini vacation in Edmonton and that horrible hotel we stayed at, I had to be careful. In Edmonton we stayed at the Hilton, it is only 2 blocks away from the horrible hotel we stayed at last month, and only $40 more. But man what a difference!

Speaking of hotels, what they hell is deal with the stupid sheet tuck in. has anyone watched the Seinfeld episode when George is complaining about those tucked in sheets and asking the maid for one tuck in and one no tuck. He is right; those damned tucked in sheets are sooooo freakin’ annoying! I know, I know you can untuck them before going to bed. Sometimes you forget, and you are in bed all sleepy and you have to get up and untuck them, or be annoyed all night long trying to move the blanket around. Sheet tucking should be banned!

O and I got to finish three books on our drive. From Banff to kelowna we got stuck in traffic for three hours due to a mud slide. We were lucky it was only three hours; I heard it was worse the day after. I was so glad to have my books to read then, I would have gone crazy just sitting there. At the end my friend and I decided to walk down you know for exercise, but the minute we started walking the traffic moved.

Speaking of exercise, I planned on working out at the gyms at the hotel. I am so not a morning person, I got up early twice to workout and I barely had any energy to finish the 30min of cardio, so I gave up. We ate so much junk food; I am not going to eat out for at least a month to clean my system out of that junk. So needless to say, I am as fat as I was before I left, if not few pounds more. But as of today I am officially on weight loss mode and have to need to, and I will inshallah lose those goddamned 10lb before I leave to Toronto and maybe Jordan in mid July.

O o o..one more thing! I got home at 7:30 last night and I actually unpacked right away!! Not the next day, not a week later, or a month later like I used to do. I unpacked on the same day and I even did two loads of laundry. I am so proud of me! When I came from Jordan last summer, my bags sat on the floor for at least one month!

Ok I done now , for real, wallah!! I hope I did not bore you guys:) What? Me boring?? No way eh?