Happy holidays!

Gonna take a break from blogging until after Christmas. Just have a lot to get done before the big day w/ wrapping gifts, getting boxes for mailing and sent, and preparing for the big arrival of Santa... and, my friend, Puppy, comes the first part of Jan.!!

If I don't blog again until the New Year... I hope all of you have a peaceful and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas!

busy weekend

The weekend is over, Hashim is home and the house is a lot less frantic... YEAH!!

Long story short... hubby took a side trip (altho ... he's now saying he didn't, but at first said he did) and told me about it only after he arrived (hence not being able to catch the flight in London, not having phone service, blah, blah, blah). Yes... he got in trouble because hubbies aren't supposed to take side trips w/out letting wifey poos know! I'd say he'll be in the dog house for a good week or so.... maybe longer. All the points he's earned throughout the year... well, most have been taken... hehehe... and the rest, we have to talk about. ;)

Oh.... I did get some incredibly delicious chocolate... OMG.... so... sooo... good!!! And Olivia, I had 3 pieces yesterday, but haven't had any since. Does that break the rules?? I figure since it was the first day and all, and I did want to try a few... that I'd have just a couple... :) mmmmmmm!! I'll see if I can get a lovely shot so all of you can imagine just how good they are... :)

I finished my shopping for Hashim today and only have Naief left... can't find Hashim's stocking, so I may wind up making another or buying one - altho, I'd rather not buy it, if I don't have to. Can hardly believe that I finished buying his stocking stuffers... these are usually the most difficult for me... but I'm actually done. Truly, I'm beside myself. :)

The housemaid they sent over is still w/ us. She's nice. Speaks no English so communication is a bit difficult... but we manage. We're all waiting for my FIL to return from Thailand to decide what to do w/ her... since they've been having problems there, his flight was cancelled and he had to take a bus to another part of the country, which was supposed to take a day or longer, in order to get out. This was a day or more ago, so I have no idea what's going on w/ that. I assume we'll probably go over to visit the family this afternoon, so I'm sure we'll find out.

Henry's doing well. He's a loverboy... wants to be cuddled all the time and is behaving nicely. The cats are getting used to him, which is good and Naief really likes him. Henry adores Hashim.... and follows me around like a little shadow... so life is a bit different w/ him here, but I like it. He's a good dog and I'm glad we got him. To answer your question Puppy about taking him back... well, he had been at the shelter for over a year and was up to be killed (they only keep dogs for a year, and they have over 100 right now). And.. knowing what an animal lover I am, you know I couldn't do it... and since he's a lot better now, I'm glad I waited it out and endured those few rough days in the beginning. :) But... not to say I didn't seriously consider it.

So... things have calmed down... altho yesterday was terribly hectic in the house. For about 4 hrs, we had 11 children here w/ probably 5 or 6 teachers, and the reception room in the studio was packed w/ other ppl... we were serving food, drinks, fruit... and trying to keep Henry from running amuck, the cats inside, the kids outside... all the while they were trying to record. :) It all worked out and I had the pleasure of meeting a really nice woman from England. She was so pleasant and friendly.

I also went to the xmas dinner at the Dilmun Club lastnight w/ my English friends (the Manama Singers were there performing)... and had a wonderful time. I really like these women. So chatty and friendly, natural, and they all seem so honest and open. Delish food and great entertainment. I had some of the best English food... mmmmmm... so yummy. Can't remember the name.. but it was a pastry type crust on the top w/ meat on the bottom in a brown sauce... oh gosh, it was sooooooo good!!! I could have gone for 2nds, even 3rds, but I stuck w/ what was on my plate. :) Somebody please help me remember the name of it... and give me a recipe... I'd LOVE to make some! Also had some very British (from what I was told) desserts (tried this dark choc looking thing that was actually a fruit cake - warm (so devine!) and minced meat pies - i just love these little things!!, AND had a few bites of a wonderful pumpkin pie - haven't had any good pumpkin pie in ages), cheese & crackers, half bottles of wine for every one in attendance and we had 10 women!, and... to top off the evening, me and chummy, Helena, had coffee w/ baileys and whipped topping (yummmm). We did secret Santa gifts and I got a lovely vase w/ two nice smelling candles. I brought two sets of earrings for my gift and Steph really seemed to like them.

all in all, it was a wonderful weekend... altho, hubby is still in the dog house... but... I'm sure, w/ a little sweet talk, he'll be out soon. HOpe you guys like the picture... this was the other day before it rained... was taken from our bedroom window w/ my phone. The clouds were so beautiful (picture doesn't do them justice) and I couldn't resist snapping a pic. The tower you see is at my in-laws' house... so, as you can see, they're just a stone throw away from us!

few holiday photos

These are some pics of my family. The first is of my mom with Naief. Then you see the one with my sister, her husband, my niece, mom and me and Naief. The others... well, I think you can figure it out :)

few pics of Naief in California

Thought some of you might enjoy these pics of the baby, his cousin and my sis while here in Cali.

It's raining today, cold outside and there are so many low lying clouds that you can't see the mountains in front of my sister's place.... I love it. :) I've missed the rain, but, so far, there's no thunder or lightening or such.

Anyway... hope you like the photos.

Here we are

Gosh... it's been almost a week since being in Cali and haven't gotten into an argument w/ my sister one time... okay, maybe a tiny little spat, but it ended quickly, so all is happy on the Jahooni and Um Naief cloud! :)

Naief is still trying to get used to the time change. He's waking up at midnight wanting to play... which last night my sister got us up, played for a while, and he slept until 8:30 this morning!!!! What a relief since he's been waking up at 4:30 and 5 in the morning every day.

We've been spending our days shopping for Christmas presents, stocking stuffers... and even a few things for myself... yeah, how could I not, especially since they're carrying Vera Wang at Kohl's now and her pajamas are to DIE FOR!!!! Oh my gosh, they are sooooo soft... your skin melts in them, believe me!

Stocking stuffers are the hardest to get... I rack my brain trying to come up w/ things to fill stockings, and buying for hubby has always been the hardest for me, but this year... with a little help from my sister, I was able to get things to fill his stocking w/out a problem!

And mentioning stockings, I COULD NOT believe the difference in sizes of the stockings between me and my sister and Hashim's was quite small comparetively speaking (and yes, we're talking about sister jealousy here! ;) ). My mother made me and Hashim stockings two years ago and sent them to us filled w/ goodies, so this year she tells me to bring them w/ me - which I did - and what did my wondering eyes see when I got here, you may ask??!!! My sister's stocking is two sizes bigger than mine!!! Yep! Even the dog's stocking is bigger than mine and hubby's !!! Oh.. and if you know me, that was a no go, so I marched in to my mother and told her right off that that would have to be fixed :)!! So yesterday my momma made me and hubby new stockings!! and now sisterpoo is complaining that mine is bigger than hers! Can you believe it!?? I can... but I laugh because it's been how many years that she's been getting gobs more stocking stuffers than me... matter of fact, there have been years that I haven't even gotten a stocking from my mom... so this is only fair, the way I see it! ;) hehehe AND... found out this morning that she actually measured the stockings last night when one of her friend's was over.... uh huh.... she can hardly stand that my stocking is as big as hers now!!


And... and all of you might figure, I miss my husband a lot. This is the first vacation I've taken w/out him and for it to be such an extended length of time, well... it makes me sad on days... but the daily shopping excursions have helped w/ that somewhat! ;) Altho, I know Hashim is not too happy to hear that! But hey.. I haven't had Christmas w/ my family... well, my sister in about 5 years and ... my mom, well, it's been about 9 or more years, so I see this year as special. Coz who knows when the next time will be that I get to spend the holidays w/ them and such an extended length of time!

My sister has a dog and it's been a difficult task in getting Naief used to him. If I sit Naief down on the floor, the dog is usually all over him... not being mean or anything, just wanting to lick him and it scares Naief a bit, so he usually cries and doesn't want to do anything but be held, which is hard for me. He's also not particularly keen on being held or watched by my mom... crying when I leave the room and when I left to get gas the other day, he went into a complete crying fit, and then when I took a shower, my mom thought she was gonna have a panic attack because of the way he started acting.... so that's been hard, to say the least. I feel like I have a siamese twin and it makes it hard to do anything... but I'm trying to see it as a good thing and know that soon enough he won't even want me to hold him... but it's hard.

Anyway... this has been our time in a quick nutshell. We have a dinner party to go to this weekend, so I'll be making a pie to take - one of my favorites - and then I'm gonna do some baking over the next several days... making some Christmas cookies, brownies and such. The nice thing about here is that they have ready-made pie shells, which is nice. Never tried them, but have heard their just as good as the real thing, so I'm gonna give 'em a whirl this time around.

Happy shopping everyone... and Happy Eid to everyone in Bahrain!

Miss you Hashim!