Hi

I've had a few not so good days lately. Don't know if it's hormones, depression or the I need to get the hell outta here NOW syndrome or if something other than that is wrong.

For 3 days in a row I walked for 63 minutes and 3.36 miles, just walked and walked with the mind wandering. I have done 10 minute exercises every day too. Burn them calories.

I have an appt with the diabetic nutritionist tonight at 8PM! I REALLY HATE the stupid, dumb late dr. appt hours. The traffic here is so totally beyond fucked up every single night and Wednesday night is worse because it is like Friday night in the real world. We will have to leave at 6:30 to get there by 8 then the traffic will be almost at it's peak by the time we get done. so another 2 hours home and that is on a 6 lane FREEWAY! Well it's actually only 3 lanes but these assholes make 6 lanes out of it, driving on the extreme left side breakdown lane and the extreme right side exit ramp lanes.

Tuesday night I fell off the good food wagon. I've never really done the traditional food on this day but I tried it. I had Shrove Tuesday pancakes, home made red beans & rice with veal & beef sausage, home made Cajun Shrimp "gumbo". That blew my diet all to shit but it was good. No King Cake though, too much hassle to make that.

That's my story this week

Friend test

I know this has been going around in e-mails for years but this is for my loyal lurkers.

My friend Velda sent it to me the other day when I has having a not so good few days and it brightened my day for a few minutes.

REAL FRIEND TEST!
A simple friend, when visiting, acts like a guest.
A real friend opens your refrigerator and helps himself
and doesn't feel even the least bit weird shutting your 'Pepsi drawer'
with her foot!

A simple friend has never seen you cry.
A real friend shoulder is soggy from your tears..

A simple friend doesn't know your parents' first names.
A real friend has their phone numbers in his address
book.

A simple friend brings a bottle of wine to your party.
A real friend comes early to help you cook and stays
late to help you clean.

A simple friend hates it when you call after they've
gone to bed.
A real friend asks you why you took so long to call.

A simple friend seeks to talk with you about your problems.
A real friend seeks to help you with your problems.

A simple friend wonders about your romantic history.
A real friend could blackmail you with it!

A simple friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument.
A real friend calls you after you had a fight.

A simple friend expects you to always be there for them.
A real friend expects to always be there for you!

A simple friend reads this e-mail and deletes it.
A real friend passes it on and sends it back to you!

Pass this on to anyone you care about......
if you get it back you have no beginning, no end.

It keeps us together, like our Circle of Friends.
Today I pass this on to you.

'Never frown, even when you are sad,
because you never know who is
falling in love with your smile.

A sad goodbye

When you move so far away from home in a god forsaken miserable hell as this place, you meet friends who are here for the same reason and it ain't the scenery. You laugh together, you cry together, you get drunk together, you celebrate holidays together like a family, you solve the problems of the world, you get to know their kids, their parents and their homes. We lost a dear member of our "family" on Tuesday and it was a total shock. Pam & Earl were dear friends, they lived 2 houses down, Pam is a sister stitcher, a cat lover. Earl was a big, brawny guy who I really wouldn't like to cross and sadly he passed away on Tuesday. Pam is devistated, and I wish I could be there for her.
We'll miss ya Earl!
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2009/feb/19/earl-l-mcdaniel-jr/

Ho hum

It's Wednesday TAIW AKA Friday
Got up
Walked
Ate
Exercised
Deleting my Facebook thing soon, leaving some cross stitch groups soon as well.
I get a total blank page when viewing my blog in IE but it's there in firefox.

Have a nice day

I hate spammers!

Some moron zealot spammer named USpace has continously left the same comment on one of my posts. I have kept deleting it so I have gone to moderated comment status. I apologize to my loyal lurker readers who occasionally leave a comment. If this moron keeps it up, I will go to private blog status and report the asshole.

Hey Facebook addicts, did you see the article I posted on my page, LOLOLOL. I am so glad I don't hang out there, that stupid facebook locks up my browser windows all the time and it's SO fucking slow in loading anything. I guess that is where everyone from the cross stitch message boards hides out now. I honestly don't see what is so great about it, I don't see where any of the games are or the supposed groups or chats. All I ever see is my profile pages.


Did you hear about the new cross stitch group? It's called The Stitcher's Village and it's by Jo from Dinky Dyes and The Cat's Whiskers. IT's really neat, I joined yesterday.

Apparently I missed a Dr. Appt. that I didn't know I had. A couple weeks ago my nurse friend called and said she was going to come over for computer help. She never showed up but I had asked her to make me an appt with the Holistic nutritionist for "sometime around the middle of the month". She never called me back with my appointment so I just ignored it. She called last night and wanted to know where I was for my appt. I had no clue so she made me another one for Monday night. I need to talk to the dr. to get this gout thing straightened out so I know what I can and can't eat.

Last night was leftover roast beef in gravy. It was healthy gravy, no butter, just meat juice.

I did my walk this morning, didn't do much, my calf and shin hurt. (No, it's NOT shin splints, I looked that up on several sites and I don't have the symptoms of shin splints) I only got in 36 minutes and 1.61 miles, only 2 laps on the compound main road.

Have a GREAT day.

My update

Ok, so where have I been? I hang out on www.sparkpeople.com
Tons of support, motivation, information and friendly advice for people trying to loose weight, eat healthy, get fit and feel better. There is so much to read and do that I am there a lot.

I'm not at a couple cross stitch boards like I used to be, one has too many flashy, blinking stuff in posts that it's impossible to spend time reading when it slows down so that I can't scroll through posts and read. Another board the new members are so whiny and want to be pampered and are so gushy/mushy hugs and "oh my feelings get hurt so easy", well put your big girl panties on and grow up! I'm still having problems with runboard groups but I think it is essentally the same as Yuku, too many flashy, blinking things just slow shit down. So rather than keep complaining and asking to cut down on the huge blinking things, I just quit going, it was fun while it lasted.

I've been walking, walking and exercising. I have walked 13 out of the past 15 days, 20+ miles and I'm damn proud of that. UNFORTUNATELY, that plate of Arabic sweets that just jumped into my cart the other day at the grocery store did not help at all, but damn it was so good. I haven't lost any pounds, just the same fucking 3 pounds keeps disappearing and coming back. I gotta get past this hurdle sometime.

The diabetes numbers go up and down. They are between 134-158 in the mornings before I eat, then go down during the day and stay down which is good. But I need to figure out how to keep them down in the morning without going on insulin. I don't eat junk and I DO watch what I eat.

I finished a cross stitch project last week, whopee. It was a February project from oakhaven designs for her SAL. Ya know, you HAVE to finish this, post a picture then send me an e-mail in order to get your next pattern and NO a wip picture will NOT do, you MUST FINISH THE PROJECT.

the DH & I were talking last week about mindless stuff and I said those dreaded 3 words, didn't get an answer. Ok, so waited a couple days, said them again, got something like "that's nice" or just a smile but no real response. Ok asshole, so I guess he doesn't love me, time to move on then. I'll have to try and detatch my self somehow this summer so I can be come cold and heartless too.
Speaking of this summer, I won't be going anyplace exotic this year like Frankfurt, Rome, Paris or London. Looks like I'll be getting on a plane 'HERE" and getting off in JFK, non stop, no alcohol, but I guess if that is what is cheapest, I've done it before. Then fly to Bahstan and take the bus home. Hmmmm, wonder if I could take a side trip on NY? I'll have to check and see what the Yankees schedule is for that day, LOLOLOL.

Speaking of YANKEES!!! SPRING TRAINING STARTED! WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO, the boys are back, well almost. Pitchers and catchers were supposed to report on the 13th and practice was supposed to start on the 14th. I'll have to check around to see.

The septic system at my house in NH is messed up. DS has been such a good son and going up after the snow/ice storms and shoveling the roof and our deck off for us. A couple times he noticed that the pipes were backing up in our downstairs bathroom. So he called the septic company, they were very rude to my DIL and said someone had to be there, they had to have the tank cover off and that it SHOULD be pumped out every 2 years. Well, sorry, I've never really dealt with this stuff before and I was under the impression it didn't need to be pumed out that often since we aren't there that often. So DIL gets to the house, spends almost 2 hours trying to break through the ice to uncover it and they called the next day and said "well if it's iced over then we can't come clean it out, if no one is there then it won't be a problem, call back when the snow melts" ARGGGGGGGGGGG!

My stitchy friend Kristin tagged me on her blog:

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I guess I'm one of the people who make lemonade...or as Soralis says, maybe I'm the pause that refreshes (hehe, don't know why that strikes me as funny but it does). I was given the Lemonade Stand Award by Kristin.

Here are the rules for The Lemonade Stand Award:
1. You must link back to the person you received the award from.
2. You have to nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award!

So, thank you Kristin. The following people are either the pauses that refresh me or they have made lemons into lemonade. I don't know if I can name 10 bloggers that can rise up and be positive but I'll try.
Kristin is one, Jen Velda, Dee, Margaret, Venessa, I guess that's all the blogs I read.

I have cooked every day again, last night was roast beef with carrots & potatoes, I had 1/2 a sweet potato, salad, applesauce and Tofu Chocolate Cake. The cake was ok I guess, I didn't have the right tofu though. It called for soft/dessert and all I had was extra firm so I added extra cherry juice and chocolate soy milk.
I know I said I would post the recipe for the squash macaroni & cheese and I will soon. It was ok but not something I will make a regular.

Gotta take Annie cat (aka the cat from hell) to the vets today, we think she has a tooth problem. She slept ALL day Wednesday and Thursday and didn't eat anything, she didn't eat much on Friday, Saturday she did eat but sort of gagged and pawed at her mouth. Oh what fun, last time the bitch went to the vets, she tried to go through the atrium window in the vets office just to get away. She will have to be sedated in order for him to look at her mouth.

The brat bastards are still off school, hope they go back soon, it's overcast again today but still did my walk.
Okee dokee, I think that about catches me up. Sorry to worry ya'll but you can e-mail me if you want to chat.

Will update later

Internet connection SUCKS right now. All the locals are sending Valentines, LOLOLOLOL either that or the fucking moronic censors have slowed down the connection today on purpose. Wouldn't surprise me a bit, so I will try and post an update when the connection is better.

Check this out: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/12/saudi.valentine/index.html

Happy Valentines Day - NOT!

On Valentine’s Day

By Fouzia Khan
Friday, 13 February 2009 - 18 Safar 1430 H

SOME Muslims, out of ignorance, have fallen into the evil of celebrating Valentine’s Day. Shopkeepers have jumped into preparing gifts for this day in the hope of earning some extra bucks. It’s sad that a pagan festival that promotes immorality is being observed by Muslims undermining their faith and Islamic values.
The Permanent Committee for Islamic research and verdicts of Saudi Arabia declared it impermissible for Muslims to celebrate non-Muslim occasions like the Valentine’s day, which is also known as the ‘festival of love.’
“(This) is one of the festivals of the pagan Romans, when paganism was the prevalent religion of Romans, more than 17 centuries ago,” said Dr. Su’ad Ibrahim Saleh, professor of Fiqh at Al-Azhar University, Cairo in one of his articles.
Several customs connected with the Valentine’s Day originate from the beliefs held in England and France during the middle ages. One such example is that birds begin to pair on February 14. According to research, the Romans introduced this pagan festival into the Christian world. In Saudi Arabia, however, it’s not permitted to celebrate this festival and the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice strictly banned the sale of any red roses, hearts or even wrapping paper on this day.
In Islam, expressing love is fine as long as it doesn’t fall into what is Haraam. Among the greatest of all types of love is the love for Allah and His Messenger, and the love for Islam. Loving our parents, family and relatives is very much encouraged. Love of courtship is allowed only between married spouses. Islam highly recommends that spouses show affection and mercy towards each other. Islamic requirements are only in the best interest of the society, to protect morality and nourish familial values. Immorality and Haraam relationships lead to disintegration of families and ultimately to the degradation and destruction of a society. Islam is the best model to follow. All praise and thanks be to Allah for giving us this blessing. We, who have the divine guidance, are not in need of imitating the West.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) told us that Muslims would eventually fall into this error. Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span, cubit by cubit, until even if they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would follow them.” We said, “O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and Christians?” He said, “Who else? !” (Al-Bukhari, 8/151, and Muslim, 4/ 2054)
This Hadith should serve as a stark reminder for all of us. We, instead of influencing others to enter the fold of Islam, are following them at the expense of our religion. May Allah protect all Muslims and guide them to the straight path. Aameen. – SG

MORONS! (Language WARNING!)

STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING!

Hi Dee, checking in, LOLOL. I'm fine.

Fucking idiot asshole morons! This article was in today's newspaper. And yes I know what you are thinking, this warning comes out every year, why is she still pissed off. It's the principal of the idea, asshole zealots. And it's not like Valentines day means shit in this house either.

Friday 13 February 2009 (18 Safar 1430)

Red rose ‘price index’ shows Valentine’s spikeSultan Altamimi & Omar Mohamed Arab News

RUDDY SEASON: Valentine’s Day flowers and teddy bears are displayed at one of the upmarket gift shops in Jeddah on Thursday. (AN photo)

JEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice(AKA Mattawa) intensified its vigilance over flower, chocolate and gift shops to confiscate items related to Valentine’s Day, a perennial crackdown on a holiday perceived by many to be both Western and immoral.
Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, head of the commission’s branch in Makkah province, said the agency has instructions to eliminate any activities aimed at celebrating this event or sell products related to it.
“This is based on the teachings of Shariah. God ordained Muslims to celebrate their own festivals in place of un-Islamic ones,” he said. “So Muslims are not allowed to celebrate any festivals other than Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.”
Arab News toured a number of shops selling flowers, chocolates and assorted gifts. All but one of the stores avoided any hint in their displays of merchandise that Valetine’s Day is tomorrow.
But money talks even if most shopkeepers don’t: The price of red roses have gone up as much as 10 times the regular price, indicating a demand.
“We ordered thousands of these Indian red roses this morning,” said a Filipino florist in Jeddah who only wanted to be named Armando. “By tonight, the roses will be sold out.”
The price of one red rose is typically SR5, he said. The price starts at SR10 running up to Valentine’s Day. As the stock is depleted, the prices rise to as much as SR50. Armando says he sells full arrangements of 200 roses for SR2,000.
“It is not even Saturday night yet and people are coming in and buying these items,” he said. “This is a season of love and appreciation, so buyers come here to purchase these items for these reasons.”
The religious authorities tend to look out for red items sold in these stores, viewed as an attempt by merchants to market the holiday. However, one shop in Jeddah was found to be openly selling red flowers and stuffed toy animals.
“Red flowers are sold throughout the year,” said the shopkeeper, who only went by the name Fadi.
By tomorrow his roses will be selling for SR50, or 10 times his usual price.
Another flower shop owner said that from his perspective Valentine’s Day is simply one of year’s peak retail seasons. This shopkeeper, who didn’t want his name published, said customers come to him with special requests, or they bring in their own stuffed animals or poems to deliver with the flowers.
In many cases florists keep and arrange bouquets behind the scenes or in separate, undisclosed locations.
Prices of chocolates, too, have risen at specialty shops. At one shop in Jeddah an assorted box of chocolates that normally sells for SR150 was selling for SR200. And though commission members are looking out for signs of Valentine’s Day merchandising, it was possibly to find heart-shaped red boxes of chocolate.

Feb 8

BLOG ENTRY WARNING. TODAY'S ENTRY MAY CONTAIN MAJOR OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE and NOT SO NICE TALK ABOUT THE "NATIVES" WHERE I LIVE. SO IF THIS SORT OF TALK WILL OFFENDS YOU, PLEASE DON'T READ.

I did my walk this morning, this fucking humidity is miserable. Even though the temp said it was 75 at 9:30, the humidity had to be up around 90%. I had gotten to the end of my street, maybe 45 seconds and I was already sweating. BUT I persevered and walked for 49 minutes, 2.2 miles. YAY YAY ME! Oh and I haven't taken a shower after my walk. Why not? Well because the assholes here cut the water pressure down or cut the water off totally EVERY fucking week day at 10AM until 1PM. I have no idea why, but they do.

When I do my walks the TCNs (Third Country Nationals that this country hires to do meanial labor) all just scowl at me. There are maybe 2 or 3 that will actually smile and say hello or nod when I walk by, but most of them just frown. They are out there all day in the heat and humidity with bright yellow jumpsuits sweeping the trash off the streets with tree branches. Yep, they don't have brooms, instead the brake off branches of bushes/trees and use them for brooms. They work 6 1/2 days a week for about $100 a month, which is about $85 more a month than they would make in their home countries of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. We pay the guy that takes care of our yard more that his company does because he does a good job and he is a pet lover.

The lazy rat bastard rag head brats must be on school break, they are out doing their destruction on the compound. One brainless moron was playing in the irrigation water, now mind you the irrigation water is recycled shit water plain and simple. It's filtered a wee bit then used to water the plants and this moron was having fun stepping on the hose where water was spewing out watering the grassy area on the playground.
The other night when it rained, the brats next door, yes even the 3 year olds, were out running up and down the street bare foot in the water that was running down the street from other sections of the compound. Now even though the streets are swept every day, who knows what is flowing in that water besides all the trash, pull tabs, broken bottles and other assorted bad stuff that the morons throw on the ground.

Yep, I know the solution to this, pack my bags and move back to the USA. But answer this, If you had a secure job with decent pay & so so benefits in a not so great place, would you go back to your home country without a job where the economy sucked right now with a mortgage to pay, needing a new car in the middle of winter? As long as I have my fucked up Internet and my cross stitch I'll stay. I know I shouldn't complain either, DH has a job, I don't have to work, we have a roof over our heads, food to eat, so so health and our kids are fine, which I know is more than some people have.

Anyhow, that is my vent/rant for today but since the bastard brats are on school break, I'm sure I'll be good and pissed off this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

I may be 51 and my Dad 88/89/90 but I still call him Daddy and today is Daddy's birthday! I am going to have to call him later. He isn't in the best of health, he can't hear well, he doesn't drive much but he still tries to be active in the Shriners & Masons and he tries to get out. He has 3 Great-Grandsons to spoil. My oldest grandson calls him Dear, I am not really sure how that started but I think when he was 3 my parents came to visit our house and Ty was there and heard my mother call my father Dear a few times so he picked up on it Even though Ty is 9 years old he still calls him Dear and Dear loves it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

It rained!

I know what you are thinking, ok, so it rained, big deal. Those of you who know where I am know it is a big deal, it rains maybe 2 days a year and not for long. I took my 35 minute walk at 9AM, it was about 81F and so very humid. A little cloudy but sunny. Tonight, DH let the cat out the back door and something hit him. He looked out and it was raining. We had to scramble to get the rugs inn off the patio, his running shoes and my work out shirt that was hanging up. It poured, thundered, lightining, high winds for about 45 minutes then it just stopped. The road is flooded of course and now there are bugs just streaming out of all the puddles. The dumb cat ran out and stayed under the car the whole time instead of coming in.

I made macaroni and cheese for supper. The recipe called for 20 ozs of frozen winter squash. I didn't have frozen so I bought fresh butternut squashes. I followed the recipe, squash, low fat cheddar cheese, monterey Jack, ricotta, mustard, cayanne and other things. I used whole wheat macaroni. It was ok, nothing fantastic but good. I had maranated chicken breasts, green beans with garlic.

That's my weekend! Hope the rain dries up so I can walk again tomorrow.

Weekend Wednesday

Woo Hoo, today is the weekend, whopee!

I took some more pictures today when I walked so it will take me a couple days to get them edited and uploaded to my private album.
I did my walk this morning, 40 minutes, got a later start so it was around 82F and very overcast and cloudy. Also did some jump rope, which I am getting better at and another short jog.

Had Chicken Penne last night and it was pretty blah. I'll have to figure a way to spice it up a bit for leftovers.

I dragged out my old but never used PerfectAb torture thing yesterday but don't remember how to work the damn thing. I know it came with instructions and probably a video but have no clue where that went and I can't find anything on the internet.

Haven't stitched this week yet.

So there you go, another boreing day in the desert.

Today would have been

My wedding anniversary if I had of stayed married to my first husband. We met in December, married February 3, told me he wanted a divorce February 15, went to Santo Domingo, DR and got a quickie divorce and I had the divorce papers March 4. I was 19, he was 26(?) He was a real scum bag. When I married J, he went to apply for my military benefits and found out that the Marine Corps did NOT recognize the divorce decree from the Dominican Republic and considered me married to my first husband. SO we had to go to a local lawyer at OUR expense and have the divorce decree validated. That took SEVERAL months but they did pay DH all his back benefits from the day we were married. That would have been 32 years ago.

I did my walk this morning, 40 minutes, ready for the boot camp workout for today. I also jogged a bit today but not far, I'm trying it slowly.

I talked to my mother the other day and she is ok after her accident. She said if it wasn't for the snowbank she went into, she would have gone down an embankment which could have been worse. She did over $3,ooo damage to the car but they said it was fixable.

Had a go round with the vacuum cleaner today, I think it won. Nothing gets up the white cat hair or the crumbs anymore. We did talk about having the carpet ripped up and either tile or linoleum laid down.

So anyway, that is my day so far.

The prince is coming!

OH Oh, the prince is comming, the prince is comming, QUICK, send the Americans home! We can't let the prince know the Americans are doing all the work and we don't know how to do shit! I was sitting at my computer with my iPod headphones on boogieing to my music and heard the front door open at 1PM. I jumped up to see DH coming in the front door, he usually doesn't get home until 3PM. Apparently some prince was doing a dog and pony show where DH works so they send all the Americans home so the prince doesn't see that it's the Westerners that do all the work and the "locals" sit on their ass all day looking at porn or paying games on the computers.

I set my alarm for 7AM(UGGGGHHHHHH) so I can get up and walk earlier. Got up and did a 47 minute 2 mile walk, felt good too. I even jogged-get out the oxygen, the girls didn't like that too much but I did it!

I found a couple friends from Saudi on Facebook. I got an e-mail thing that they had found me, how fun. Now if I could actually get out somehow to meet them again, but with no daytime driver I can't go anyplace.

Fixed chicken and mushroom stroganoff last night and that was good!

Ok back to my exercise. Just wanted to let you know the prince was coming but DH didn't get to meet him. Just which one of the 99,999 princes it was, I have no clue.

February 1

A new month, SPRING TRAINING STARTS THIS MONTH! YESSSSSS!



So, I didn't loose or gain weight last month, that same damn 3 lbs came and went, came and went but never ever left. I did the boot camp challenge and it got easier so I am doing it all over again this month by myself. So if you don't see me on message boards, I'm at Spark people.



I finished a project a last night, a SAL project from Oakhaven designs, it's supposed to be a snowman but I have no clue what the black things are, I just stitched it.

The pattern for february is hearts. At least I am stitching.

My mother had a car accident the other day. She just had to go out on an icy, nasty day and apparently slid the car on the ice and ran into another car. She had to have the car pulled out of a ditch but she was ok and able to drive it home. My sister says she is ok but I will have to call her today. No one was hurt in the other car and no tickets were issued. My mother is 84, 85?

I fixed meatloaf the other night and it was SO nasty, EEWWWWWW just doesn't describe the flavor of the beef. Apparently I got the wrong kind of ground beef, it stunk and was just gross. DH said it was grass fed local stuff. Last night I tried to disguise it in spaghetti sauce, extra garlic & onions. It tasted a little bit better but you could still smell it Tonight is chicken stroganoff.

Oh yeah, today is the super bowl football game. Big fat hairy deal, I'm NOT getting up at 3AM Monday morning to watch it. GO YANKEES!