25 years?

Yeah, 25 years, who would have thought. We only came for 2 years.....................
On December 6 1984, in a blinding snow storm that closed major airports on the East coast for several hours and with a 3 year old and a 6 year old in tow, I boarded a PanAm 747 jet at JFK. 12 1/2 hours and 8 time zones later, at 1624 hours on December 7 1984, we landed in a whole different world, a land that time forgot. The children grew up in this strange land, made friends they will never forget, visited foreign countries they will never get to again, experienced life that is difficult to explain to others, moved back to their birth country and are now grown adults with families of their own. 25 years later, my husband and I however are still here in the land that time forgot. WHY you may ask? The only answer I can give right now is that it's a job that pays better than a job in the USA, IF we could find a job in the USA right now. It pays the mortgage, car payment and drug prescriptions. It's warm in the winters compared to the snow and frigid temps at home in New Hampshire, it is better than trying to run 2 full households-one for me back home and one for DH here.
Do I like it here? NO, HELL NO, but like I wrote above, it's cheaper than trying to run 2 households and only getting to see my husband for 3-4 weeks a year. I have the internet, SparkPeople and my cross stitch to keep me busy.
We can't openly celebrate any non muslim holiday, I can't drive, women do not work in public, there is NO alcohol, NO pork, I have to wear a black coat like drape thing out in public but I do NOT COVER MY HEAD OR FACE. Before going on forever ranting I'll end that part here.

YAY, happy anniversary to me----NOT!

It's still overcast, VERY humid and cool here, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was going to rain.

I finished a SanMan ornament last week, YAY me! I enjoyed stitching it too for a change. I started on a Wednesday and finished it on Friday

!

Thanksgiving came and went. We had Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes which I didn't eat, gravy (fat free home made), green beans with red peppers, expensive, imported sweet potatoes, home made from scratch cranberry sauce with REAL Ocean Spray cranberries, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, bread pudding, apple cobbler, spring rolls from my friend Maria. There were my husband's 2 co-workers, our friend and her 2 adult kids. It was good and we'll do it all over again for Christmas.

My Dad had a PET scan last week because his dr found a spot on his lung, they thought it was lung cancer but it isn't and he is clean!!! We are so happy about that.

My son is having a horrible, depressing time right now with his son and his ex-girlfriend. Even though he has his son most of the time, she is miserable to him and causing him great depression. He is having problems coping right now.

I'm still losing and gaining the same 4 pounds, nothing changes. 70 minutes of exercise a day, eating healthy and nothing.

Another day

Here is the Diinky-Dyes Biscornu, it came with the scissors too!

So a couple weeks ago, after 7 years my DS and his girlfriend broke up. She left with their 3 year old son (my grandson) and moved back to her parents house. I am absoultely devistated, hurt, broken hearted and all that goes with it knowing I will lose my grandson. She told me she will never deny me seeing my grandson nor will she ever deny my son seeing him. As much as I would love to believe that, what is going to happen a few years down the road when/if she finds someone else or moves away. It just hurts so bad. My son is trying to get custody back but I don't know how well that will go. The sad part is, I can't seem to get in touch with my son, I've called and left messages but he has no over seas calling plan so if he doesn't answer his phone, I can't talk to him. He has no internet connection either.

I've gotten back to exercising and trying to eat better, and by drinking 2 litres of water a day my blood sugar numbers have gone down. I haven't lost any weight yet but I'm trying.

I was sick on Friday, fever, body aches, headache, tired & blah. Plus I had a severely pulled back muscle that hurt like a son of a bitch. Every time I tried to move or sit up, I saw stars and it took my breath away. The two were totally unrelated because by Saturday, the "flu" bug was gone but it still hurt like crazy to move. Sunday I was better and got back to exercise.

I'm trying to plan a "healthy" Thanksgiving dinner, I have the turkey already and trying to think of better side dishes. I did put up the Thanksgiving/Fall decorations, but I will NOT PUT UP CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! Christmas SUCKS right now!

An announcement

Next week I'll have an exciting announcement to make.

Last week I finished a late Halloween project. I finished my Halloween biscornu by Dinky-Dyes Designs.



Tonight I started a Hinzeit project called Mini Block Give Thanks. I hope I can continue to work on it and have it done by Thanksgiving.

I'm excited that the Yankees won the World Series! The first time in 9 years and the first of many World Series wins in the new Stadium! I got up at 5AM to watch the game. then we watched the Parade down Broadway on Friday. WOO HOO, GO YANKEES!

I GOT IT!

Hi Doris!

Happy Dancing in the desert! I got a piece of paper that says I can get on the airplane on May 25! Now I am keeping calming vibes that this flight leaves on time and not 4 hours late like DH's flight did last year. After 13 hours non-stop flying time hopefully I will land at 0800AM on US soil at JFK, on Memorial Day. Then IF I land on time, I catch a 12:30PM flight to Boston and with luck will be at my son's place for dinner.

The Sweatsuit to Swimsuit boot camp on SparkPeople started yesterday with a cardio kickboxing video and writing down our measurements. The video was a work out and I didn't realize I was so uncoordinated! I was flailing fists & feet all over trying to keep up with the moves. Eventually I will get the hang of this video. I'm also still doing my Walk Away The Pounds videos.

I finished my niece's Wedding sampler that my daughter started a couple years ago.

SparkPeople Day at a Glance Calendar note:
"It is never too late to be what you might have been."

Another cute finish

I finished the new project Sunday night. I love it! It's a freebie from Cuppa Joe Designs called Coffee is a vegetable. I stitched it on 32 count French Vanilla Twist linen from Silkweaver with Needle Necessities and Six Strand Sweets flosses. I added the coffee cup buttons.

Calendar note for today

Start a journal. Use it to track your progress, record your successes and learn from your mistakes. When you have a bad day, use it to remember why you chose your goals and how far you've come to date.

I have a journal that I keep track of my weight, measurements and what I eat.

I finished the May part of the oakhaven sal thing yesterday.

Wednesday night I pulled the fabric and some floss to start another project.

Today I am making the St. Paddy's day dinner since the 17th was on a Tuesday and everyone was working. Corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes, Irish Soda Bread. I will portion my meal.

My sinus or allergies are horrible today, sneezing, itchy nose & eyes, watery eyes. All that vacuuming and cleaning yesterday must have stirred up the dust.

Have a great day.

The Ides of March

According to my Farmer's Almanac Calendar today is the Ides of March:

Ides of March

The Ides of March has long been considered an ill-fated day. Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C. Historians note that it is likely that a soothsayer named Spurinna had warned Caesar that danger would occur by the ides of March. William Shakespeare included the phrase "Beware the ides of March" in his play Julius Caesar.

The ides were the 15th days of some months (including Martius, or March) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in other months. The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning "to divide." The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the "halfway point" of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri

I've discovered a new fitness DVD. Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Pounds. I've been doing her videos for a week now and they are quite a workout. I've done the 1, 2 & 3 mile walks but I'm sticking to the 2 mile walk for now. They re GREAT!
I'm still exercising with my friends at SparkPeople, that is how I found about Walk Away The Pounds.

They did get the tree cut down and we can now watch tv all evening without the signal cutting out. Sadly they are cutting down ALL the huge trees on the compound so there is almost no shade when I do my walks. Why they are doing this, I have NO idea.

Don't remember if I posted my April oakheaven thing. I used "buttons" I had left over from other projects. I have absoultely no clue what I will do with it.

Still here

I'm still here, just not on the internet much.
I finished another small project on Thursday. It's the March pattern for a SAL on oakhaven group. It's actually stitched on a green linen but it doesn't show up well in the picture.

Wow, so that makes 2 finishes this week. I'm on a roll, LOLOL.

The other night I wandered outside and stepped on a bougainvillea thorn and boy it hurt. I tried to pick it out but had to call DH home from happy hour. He got most of it but I think there is still a little bit in there. I do have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get infected or anything like that.

Tonight is fish since it's Friday so I'll make that lime and garlic fish from a couple weeks ago with purple coleslaw with apples and of course rice, what else. Rice, rice, rice. I may HATE potatoes but I would love one right about now, nice fluffy mashed potatoes.

I didn't get to walk much on Wednesday. It was cool and very overcast but I got up to the end of the street and around the corner and saw 6 trucks with mosquito spray machines on the back of them and men walking around with spray canisters on their backs. So I just made a short circle and went home and got on the treadmill. And of course since it's my weekend here, I haven't done any exercise so far.

We went grocery shopping today, it was slow and quiet on the streets, so nice! We passed purple dumpsters, a new thing here, purple dumpsters, The singing Rose preschool, the center for Human Rights-which is a oxymoron here, the ReMax & Century 21 real estate office.

I won a contest on one of my Yahoo groups, it was just a random contest but I won! Woo Hoo!

That's my story for now.

It's Tuesday

Information on Whatever! It's stitched on 32 count Ametrine evenweave from Silkweaver with the suggested Weeks flosses. I will make either a little pillow or maybe try to make a flat fold thing.
My next project is a March sal thing from oakhaven designs.

They still haven't come to cut down that tree that is in the way of the satellite dish so it's fun trying to watch tv. It blanks out and when the signal comes back, the show is over or you missed an important part of the show.

I walked for 52 minutes this morning, probably about 2 1/2 miles. Since I stopped doing the boot camp workout videos, I noticed that I have lost weight. Maybe I was doing too much exercise for the amount of calories I was eating.

I'm still cooking every day, mostly recipes from the diabetes site. I need a menu otherwise I stand there and stare into the fridge/freezer.

Whatever!

That's the name of Lizzie Kate's new freebie. I STITCHED IT! Start to finish in 5 hours, it was fun!

I walked 65 minutes and 3.26 miles today, it was a brisk 63F when I got up and 71 when I walked at 9AM.

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.

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!

I'm here

I'm still here but not posting much. I'm on SparkPeople where I feel at home.

I don't get facebook, don't see where you chat with people and post messages like on message boards, never have found the games people play. facebook just locks up my browser pages no matter what browser I'm using.

The message boards are dying, don't know what's up with that, so I quit posting.

I do my boot camp challegne everyday, walk when I get up before 8AM and keep track of what I eat.

I was diagnosed with gout now so have to be on a "Low Purine" diet which means eating less of what I couldn't eat before. One diet says no this, another diet says more of this, one dr says no this, the other dr says this is ok. So I'm making a list of what one says no of and what the other one says yes. I get all this paperwork when I go to the hospital (yes, we're staying with the fancy smanchy 5 star, doorman/bellhop, chandelier hung hopsital) they print out my "diabetic guidelines', Cholesterol lowering guide lines, low purine diet guidelines, etc, etc, etc and they all counteract each other.

I am now taking blood pressure medication, thyroid medicne, Crestor for cholesterol/triglicerides, something for uric acid, vitamin pill, calcium pill, diabetes pill. UGH!

I finished my rememberance biscornu last week. I am not at all happy with the way it turned out, but it's done.

I started another SAL with another group and almost have January done. I HAVE to actually finish it and send a picture in of the FINISHED project and I CAN'T post it anywhere, what a crock.

I'm still cooking every damn night but trying to stick to the menus I print out, drinking 8-9 cups of water every day and I'm about to float away with that, at least my skin isn't as dry as it has been.

So that's my story.

Another year ends

Another year over. Started out ok then went to shit, hopefully 2009 will be better. No plans for tonight, it's Wednesday so it's the weekend, Happy Hour. I don't go but I'm sure DH will.
It was also the New Year here, 1410. Yeah, it's 1410 alright, might as well be the way these morons think.

I finished another WIP yesterday. I finished An American Christmas , it was a freebie from Eterna Silk & Ladybug Lane designs. IT's stitched with Eterna Silk threads on 32 count opalescent evenweave from Silkweaver. Not sure of the color but of course the picture doesn't reflect the true colors.
So, how would YOU finish this one? Flat fold? no sew cube done in CHRISTMAS colors? No sew cube done in PATRIOTIC colors? tuck hanger of some sort? Frame? Pillow door hanger thingie?

IT's dark, grey, humid and overcast today, if I didn't know better I'd say it was going to rain.

It's finished!

Finally that damned beaded stocking is DONE! I started the frappin' thing in 1999 I think and finished it up today. Thank you to my friend Kristin for telling me how to do the beading when it is so close together like that, it worked! All I need to do is put the backing on and tie a ribbon or something on it to hang it with.

Now on to something else, not sure what yet though.

Happy Eid! & I finished a project!!

Eid Mubarak to eveyone. This is the Eid al-Adha holiday that comes with the Hajj. For more info, google Eid al-Adha.

Woo Hoo! I finished my Be Merry project! I also found out that if you change the fabric from the count the pattern suggests, and it comes with a button pack, the putton back is proportioned to the fabric count listed on the chart, therefore when you change the fabric count the buttons look stupid. The project is Be Merry by Shepherd's Bush and I stitched it on 32 count Champagne Cocktail opalescent from Enchanted Fabrics. I had to change the size of a couple buttons and substitute a couple of others. YOu can't see the white snowflakes or the fuzzy white santa beard either. I should have stuck with the 10 count Sand Tula fabric it called for.

I didn't walk today, I just didn't want to. I want to stitch.

My recent finished project

This is my finished Halloween project. It's a SanMan tuck kit called Pumpkin Web. It's stitched on 14 count plain white blah aida with SanMan Strands floss.

I did my 1 1/2 miles today in 33 minutes while talking with my sister. Time goes faster when I talk to someone while walking.

Tonight I made Creamy Basil Sauce with chicken for supper. It was ok, needs something but not sure just what.

Thank you!

Thank you to those special friends who stopped by yesterday to wish me a happy birthday!
Nothing happened at all, but then I didn't really expect anything, a new garage, all new siding for the whole house and removing the nasty mold was good enough for me. I want a house I can feel comfortable in and isn't falling down.

YAY, it's the weekend, don't know what all DH has planned yet. Probably hunting down any GNC stores to see if they have my "healthy food" that I can't find in grocery stores, that would be really nice! I did discover that splenda + cinnamon powder don't mix up. I mixed & mixed & mixed this morning and it didn't mix together at all.

I have already walked 1 lap around the compound this morning, even though the temps said it was only 88 it didn't feel much better. One lap is better than none! Yesterday I did 1.58 miles, better than the day before so that is good. I also did jump rope, (oh my poor boobs from getting so juggled around) and I got my resistance bands out and did a few pulls with them. I gotta do this, now that there are even fewer distractions here. (Yep V, I did take a couple pictures while I walked but I don't know how they came out.)

The picture isn't very good but this is a "traffic direction square" at the entrance to the compound. It's just a little "island" that had trees & a fountain. It's a picture off the cell phone and it was right before sunset around 5:30PM. Gotta be careful when taking pictures here. (rolling eyes)

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I actually FINISHED a cross stitch project!! I'm excited! I finished SanMan Originals pattern called "Oops, Poof, Meow" a cute Halloween pattern that came with a frame. That felt good to finish it too. It really didn't take long at all to stitch it.

Yesterday I had Low sodium Vegetarian White bean chili for lunch & dinner along with a huge green salad for my birthday.

Today it's plain oatmeal with raisins & pumpkin pie spice for breakfast.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I finished up those SanMan Doodle projects this evening, I made a biscornu. I stitched the bright one with 4 different flosses from SanMan Strands and CPR Floss and the dark one is SanMan strands Whirlwind. Both of those flosses are no longer made. I stitched them on 18 count white aida

YAY YAY YAY! My daughter & her family made it home from Florida ok! She said it was very busy but they had a GREAT time! I am SO happy to hear that, I will call her on Tuesday to talk to her.

The Yankees beat Clevaland 1-0 and Boston lost! Woo Hoo

The BIG WAHOO for today is I have a piece of paper with a number on it that allows me to get on a Lufthansa airplane on May 28, fly to Germany then get on another Lufthansa airplane and fly to Boston on the 29th! That is 30 days! Happy dancing in the desert!

I had take out again, a yummy Thai chicken wrap sandwich which was VERY good. DH had a salad.

I just HAD to put that cat picture up there today, I LOVE it! I was browsing the "I can haz cheezeburger" site today and just laughing at the pictures. http://icanhascheezburger.com/

It was still 101F at 8:30 last night, ICK! AT 10:30AM it's "only" 36.2C (97.2F). Yesterday was a really rare nasty day for here.
At 2:00PM it's 39C (102.2F) and I gotta wear that nasty black ninja robe out when we go out later.

I finished one SanMan Doodle yesterday and started another one. I finished the bright colored one on Sunday afternoon.

Last night we had Pizza Pizza for supper. DH went to Little Cesars for take out. That pizza was very dry, they skimped on the sauce, they gave us a blob of tomato paste in a container for breadstick dip, that was NASTY too. Don't know what is for dinner tonight. DH said something about going to get a ticket.