how to recognize a VIRGO

well... after reading a few blogs by other Virgo's, thought it would be fun to post some info on my sign. i'm a big believer in astrology... don't follow it every day or anything, but i do read about my sign, other people's signs and if i meet someone new, i tend to read up on them. when my SIL had her baby, i read up on the baby's sign... and, believe it or not, the baby is exactly as they described little Taurus babies...

now, i've been searching the net trying to find a good description of my sign. i have found plenty, but i like this one and what it has to say. so... read on and enjoy.


How to Recognize VIRGO

Virgo is the sign of the virgin, but you can't take the symbolism too literally. I can assure you that a September birthday is no guarantee of virginity. Although lots of Virgos remain bachelors and spinsters, there are also plenty who finally settle into connubial bliss. They may not do so with any sudden burst of fire and passion, because marriage is not a natural state for the Virginian nature; yet it's surprising how many of them master its teamwork, and they're almost always devoted to their families.

Married or single, it's fairly simple to spot the Virgo in public. For one thing, he won't be making much noise. He's not exactly garrulous, and he'll stand out as a loner. See that gentle, attractive man over there in the comer, with the thesaurus under his arm? The one with the tick-tock mind, clicking away the hours neatly and methodical­ly noticing the smallest details? If you look closely, you can almost see him measuring each minute for what it's worth. He's a Virgo. See that quiet girl with the beautiful, soft eyes, waiting for the bus? Notice her spick-and-span white gloves, her cool manner. She'll have the exact coins for the fare ready in her hand. She wouldn't dream of asking the bus driver to change a five dollar bill. She's a Virgo.

Social gatherings are not the best hunting grounds when you're searching for these perfectionists. You're more like­ly to find them working late at the office than being gre­garious at a cocktail party. It's not easy for Virgos to relax sufficiently to enjoy the carefree social swim, because they're basically uncomfortable in crowds. They some­times make attempts to follow the party routine, through pure frustration, but duty whistles too insistently to allow for much frivolity. Sometimes, Virgo can make Capricorn look like a good-time Harry, and that's really going some. You'll seldom see them blowing bubbles in the air or building castles in the sand. (it happens!) Virgos are too busy to day­dream, and they're usually too tired at night to wish on stars. (but I do both!!)

The first thing you'll notice about the typical Virgo is the definite impression he gives that there's a serious prob­lem on his mind he's struggling to solve-or a vague feeling that he's secretly worried about something. He probably is. Worry comes naturally to him. One might even say he's affectionately attached to the habit. It's an intangible thing, and elusive, but his delightful smile will always seem to be hiding some great trouble.

Although the ascendant and other natal positions can modify the typical Jack Spratt spare figure, you can gen­erally look for a rather wiry build, and unusually lovely, quiet eyes. Virgo eyes are often so astonishingly clear you can almost see your reflection in them. They sparkle with intelligence and clarity of thought. There's a purity and tranquility of expression on Virgo features that seems to deny those secret worries. Most of them are extremely attractive, with delicate noses, ears and lips. There's cer­tainly no lack of grace and charm, and there may be a bit of vanity which pops up at odd moments. Virgos are very critical of their own photographs and fussy in the extreme about how they look, both on film and in person. If you're observant, you'll catch them primping in front of a mirror when they think no one is looking. They're always well turned out, and usually meticulous, if conserva­tive, dressers. Virgo Maurice Chevalier would rather be caught without a song than without his boutonniere and his tie tack.

The Virgo is normally a small person, certainly no giant, but he's muscular, and he has far more strength than his fragile appearance suggests. These people can stand more intense work over a longer period of time than the tougher, more brawny signs-if they can avoid a nervous breakdown in the process. Although they're ex­ternally capable and cool, inner anxieties gnaw away at them, upsetting their digestion and their emotional balance. Tackling more work than they can safely manage, and then straining themselves to the breaking point to fulfill the obligations is behind many a Virgo's ragged nerves. They were meant to be calm and soothing when their intricate and delicate mechanisms are running smoothly and the wheels aren't clogged with brain fatigue.

Virgos are unquestionably dependable and sincere. Nevertheless, they're capable of pretending to be sick when they don't want to go somewhere or do something. At these times, the latent Virginian talent for acting comes forth. Occasionally, they manage to convince themselves of such imaginary ills, but the cool eye and clear head of Mercury-ruled people insure that most instances of such self-deception are short-lived. They are fastidious and exacting in grooming, eating, working and romance. Your neat Virgo friend who looks as if he just stepped out of the shower probably just did. He takes more baths and showers than any four people you know put together. He also has very precise ideas about health, little patience with laziness, and very few illusions about life and people, even when he's in love. Male or female, romance never clouds Virgo's eyes with a thick enough film to blind him to any existing flaws and shortcomings in either the relationship or in the loved one. To use the idiom of the day, Virgo always "knows where it's at," though the slang-hating Virgos will shrink in distaste from that phrase.

Of course, you shouldn't get the idea that everyone born in late August or September is fussy, prissy and dogmatic. Lots of Virginians shine with a clever Mercury wit-if you catch their side remarks-and they project a bright, Mer­curial charm that's hard to resist. Sophia Loren is a Virgo, which should settle that point once and for all. You may run across a Virgo who is so busy keeping the corners of his (or her) mind neat and orderly that he's become care­less about his clothing or his surroundings, which may fool you when you catch him in an off moment. But wait. Sooner or later you'll find him picking up a pin from the rug, brushing his hair or pinching a piece of lint off his shoulder.

Although they dream very few impossible dreams, Vir­gos often have the inconsistent trait of looking like lovely dreamers-as if they were all wrapped up in the very rain­bows their logical minds refuse to believe in or follow.

When they're annoyed by vulgarity, stupidity or careless­ness, Virgos can suddenly become cranky, irritable, scold­ing and nervous. But most of the time they're gentle folk, and quite nice to have around, especially around the sick room. Some of the finest nurses are born under this sign, full of efficient sympathy and crisp capability. When you have a headache, your Virgo friend is the one most likely to run to the drugstore for you. If you're at his place, he won't have far to go, because there will probably be a miniature drugstore right in his house. His bathroom med­icine cabinet is usually loaded down with patent reliefs for stomach-ache, constipation, upset liver or acid indigestion. Peek inside sometime. He will never take a drug unless he's familiar with each ingredient and how it works, so he'll be an expert at telling you which remedy will be best for your headache, depending on what caused it. Virgos who travel often take their portable drugstores right along with them. They may carry an extra suitcase, just for the pills and bottles. If they're used to a certain brand of soap or lotion, they'll tuck that in, too. It would be a disaster if they happened to get stuck in a town where they didn't sell what the Virgo is accustomed to using. He usually buys his soap' and sundries by the case, because it's cheaper-or at least by the dozen-which is another reason he doesn't like to purchase things en route. Sometimes a Virgo will even tote his own water with him on trips. Don't laugh- do you know what can happen to a person's stomach when .certain foreign bodies in strange drinking water enter the digestive system? Virgos can tell you. When these people form habits, they form habits, and taking a vacation or a business trip is no excuse to break them. If he's used to .keeping his socks in the middle left-hand drawer of the bureau at home, that's where the socks go in the hotel room. If it's one of those bureaus with only three large drawers, and no choice of left or right, it can really hang him up for awhile. He may end up just leaving them in the suitcase, but his sleep will be restless. The next morning, the waitress in the hotel dining room will quickly learn that I when the Virgo says three-minute eggs, he doesn't mean two minutes and forty-five seconds. Or when he says sunny side up, he doesn't mean sunnyside down. And he'll definitely base his tip on her attention to such details. (how true, how true!)

A Virgo may criticize your statements with hairsplitting arguments which drive you wild, but if you are in a jam, he'll also quickly step in to turn things right side up again • with no motive except to serve. If the job you tackled has you so bogged down in boring details you despair of meeting the deadline, Virgo will roll up his sleeves and pitch in willingly. It's not ego that makes him itch to take over when things are in a shambles. It's just that his orderly Mercurial mind can't stand procrastination, neg­lected details or confusion of purpose. He may even straighten things out before he's asked, with no intention of rudeness, because bringing order out of chaos is in­stinctive with him. He's the kind of guest who will happily help the hostess clean up after the party. But he's also the kind of guest who will notice immediately that you have carefully placed the Saturday Review on the coffee table to hide an ugly stain, and arranged the cushions on the couch to cover the cigarette holes.

Like the Libran, Virgo is quick to deny his habits and traits. He has an apparent blindness to his faults and he seems unable to see his own weaknesses in as clear a light as he sees everything else. But the truth is that he does see them-and he sees them in such infinite detail that he can't bear to hear them generalized. Try to tell a typical Virgo he's critical, a worrier, fussy, neat or unusually concerned with diet and health, and you'll face a fiat denial. Who, him? He's not like that at all. I still have the ten-page letter from a Virgo housewife, written in a tiny, precise handwriting, in which she carefully details all the reasons why the descriptions of her Sun sign don't fit her, never realizing that the very orderly form and length of her hairsplitting complaint was giving her away.

"I'm just not neat," she wrote. "My house is terribly sloppy." But then she continued, "After all, I do have two very small children, who constantly make messes which drive me crazy. I pick up after them every second of the day." (She then proceeded to itemize her endless chores, one by one, very carefully.) "I try to keep things in a particular spot, and I never waste time reading or watching TV like my neighbors do. But things are still untidy when my husband gets home for dinner. I don't think he has any right to complain, because I do work till after mid­night while he's sleeping, getting the house in shape for morning. I couldn't get breakfast in a dirty kitchen. Dirt breeds germs, and sickness spreads fast in a family. But before he leaves for work everything's a mess again. So this neatness thing about Virgos really annoys me. I'm really not neat. I'm also not a worrier nor a hypochondriac. I never criticize my husband's mistakes with the check book, at least not very often, because it's not a wife's place to do that. . . . I'd like to be neat, but what can I do with the children and all? Really, if you could see how they . .." and so on. (Naturally, she carefully included a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a reply.) The last line in her letter wondered, "Can you tell me why the descrip­tions of my Sun sign don't fit me at all?" Someday I plan to have those pages framed and hang them on the wall under a symbol of Virgo.

You should be able to pick out a Virgo in a roomful of people with no trouble. He's incapable of sitting still for very long. After a while, he'll become visibly restless and pace the floor or change chairs like a jumping jack, and project a vague sense of urgency as if he's late for another appointment somewhere. At the same time, the facial ex­pression will portray a certain tranquility, hke a mask. The full damage caused by Virgo's nervous intensity seldom shows completely on the outside, but it surely can mess up the digestive system inside. That's why you'll often find them carrying a roll of Turns for the tummy.

You won't find those people lavish in affection or in spending money. They're normally prudent in both areas, giving their love quietly and steadily with little demonstrativeness, and handling cash just as conservatively. Strangely, as willing as Virgos are to give efficient service to others, they have an almost neurotic and intense dislike of accept­ing favors themselves. They don't want to be obligated to anyone for any reason. And they don't want to depend on anyone but themselves for anything. The deeply imbedded fear of dependence in old age is what makes many of them live so economically as to be called stingy. But that's really too harsh a word. When there's plenty of security and no need to worry about the future, Virgo will spend money more freely, although even then it will be spent with full value received- -or back to the store for a refund.

Though he has absolutely no sympathy for beggars or idle wastrels, he is unfailingly generous when a friend is in trouble. The Virgo who is almost miserly where his per­sonal needs are involved will make charming gestures of financial aid to those who really deserve it, or to people he really likes or loves. But you'll never find him throwing money away carelessly, because waste is one of his pet peeves. Virgos labor hard for what they have, and extrava­gance never fails to shock them. They usually have a few sharp things to say about spendthrifts and people who are too lazy to work.

There's one thing that will remove some of the sting of Virgo's criticism, however, and that's the knowledge that he's secretly as critical of himself as he is of you. He just can't help seeing the flaws, because he was born to notice the tiniest crack in the vase. He won't take to lateness any more kindly than he does to wastefulness. Actually, to be late is waste of a kind. It's a waste of time, and to Virgo, time is the stuff of which life is made. So be punctual if you want to avoid his stinging disapproval. Frank Sinatra's friends have learned that when the singer says "dinner at eight," he means eight, and not eight-fifteen or eight-thirty. Although Sinatra is a warm, fiery Sagittarian by Sun sign, he does have a Virgo ascendant which also explains why he's so painstaking about rehearsing and such a bug for detail in music arrangements. Every note and every tone must be exactly correct when he records or the session will be repeated until he's satisfied. Add such meticulous and impeccable taste to the Sagittarius fire and warmth and you can see why he sells a song.

It's hard to understand why Virginians are sometimes called selfish, since they usually find more satisfaction in serving others than in satisfying their own personal ambi­tion. The selfish label probably arises from the Virgo ability to say "no" and really mean it. He gives freely of his time and energy, but he won't go beyond the point of reason­ableness. When demands become excessive, Virgo will balk and make his objections quiet clear, perhaps too clear. As much as he loves to point out the flaws of others, he fiercely resents open criticism of his own mistakes. When a Virgo makes an error, which will be rare, point it out tactfully if you want to keep his friendship.

Virgos are surprisingly healthy, in spite of their traveling drugstores (unless they worry themselves into illness through overwork, mental tension and pessimism). They take good care of their bodies and they're fussy about their diets. Still, they may complain about minor ailments, such as upset stomach, indigestion, chronic pains in the intestinal area, headaches and foot problems (remember Vulcan, the lame god). They should baby themselves when they have a chest cold, because they're susceptible to lung ailments if their individual planets are afflicted in the natal chart. They may be plagued with pains in the hips, arms, shoulders- gout, arthritis, rheumatic troubles and sometimes sluggish liver and back aches. But the Virgo's concern about his own health will prevent most serious illness. Many of them are vegetarians. If not, you can bet they know exactly what they should eat and how it should be cooked. Now and then you may come across a germ-conscious Virgo who wears rubber gloves to mix a meat loaf or boils his tooth-brush every night, but that's an extreme. Still, even the average Virgo will be sure to wash his hands with vigor before a meal.

Virgos like cats, birds and small, helpless creatures. They also like truth, punctuality, economy, prudence and discreet selectivity. They hate gushy sentiment, dirt, vulgarity, slop-piness and idleness. Theirs is a practical nature, with excessive discrimination-the true individualists, whose keen perception keeps their desires clear of muddy, wishful thinking. A fresh breeze blows through the dream of a Virgo, sweeping it free of wisps of wild, inaccurate fancies. Once he's learned to master life's complicated details, in­stead of letting details master him, he can shape his own destiny with more certainty than any other Sun sign.

Cool green jade and pure platinum complement him and bring him luck. But Virginian good fortune is always followed by five kinds of loneliness, and duty's clarion call is never still within these gentle hearts. Don't forget that the shy, wistful smile of Virgo hides a secret or two. Both the quicksilver of Mercury and the distant thunder of Vulcan run through his quiet blood, as he dresses in his favorite colors of gray, beige, navy blue, all shades of green and stark white. Underneath his serious manner lies the alluring aura of the Virgin-purity of thought and purpose, symbolized by the Virgo hyacinth. Once you've known the fragrance of this Easter flower, you're never quite free of its spell. It returns each spring to haunt the memory. Virgo has its own, secret way of making the heart remember.

Famous Virgo Personalities

Prince Albert Lauren Bacall Robert Benchley Ingrid Bergman Leonard Bernstein Sid Caesar Maurice Chevalier Theodore Dreiser Queen Elizabeth I Henry Ford II Greta Garbo Arthur Godfrey Goethe John Gunther Lyndon Johnson Elia Kazan Joseph Kennedy Lafayette D. H. Lawrence Sophia Loren H. L. Mencken Walter Reuther Cardinal Richelieu Peter Sellers Robert Taft William Howard Taft Roy Wilkins

piercings and tattoos

When I was a young girl - I think I was in the 4th grade - my mom decided to allow me to pierce my ears. I was thrilled and somewhat scared. My mom was always very strict w/ me - she was the disciplinarian in my family - and didn't allow me to do a lot of what the other girls were doing, especially when it came to things to do w/ my body.... i.e. getting my ears pierced - but... for some reason, maybe because of my older sister's urging and my constant asking, she decided I could do it.

My older sister, it was decided, would be the one to do it! Yeah, you may not believe it, but... my sister made little black dots on my earlobes w/ a felt-tipped pen - where I wanted the piercing to be - and that afternoon I was to go to my sister's house and she would pierce not only my ears, but also my niece's ears.

I was so excited. I can remember running to my cousin's house up the street to show her my earlobes w/ the black dots on them. I went home w/ my sister that day and that afternoon we got out the ice and started freezing one of my earlobs. In thinking back... I think I was more excited than afraid... but now... I can't imagine doing such a thing! But anyhow... I can remember sitting w/ the ice on my ear and hoping it would freeze. I mean, how do you know if you're freezing your earlobe? I guess it gets tingly, but I don't remember that happening. I can remember my sister taking a large pin and as I sat very still, she stuck it through my ear.

One ear was finished. I ran into the bathroom and looked... and low and behold, the pin was sticking clean through my ear! I could hardly believe it. It wasn't hurting at all. I was thrilled. She took the pin out and put an earring in. Then... as I sat freezing the other ear, she pierced one of my niece's ears.

Soon, the ear piercing was finished and I had nice little earrings in both my ears. I still have pierced ears today - only one hole in each - altho I've thought about getting more .... I've really thought about getting a few on the top of my ear, I've always liked them there and I've thought about getting one on the inside of the ear - don't know what that part is called - but I asked one girl who had it done and she said it hurt a lot.... AND I HATE pain!!! so... didn't do it.

I've also thought about piercing my nose. When I see girls who have their noses pierced... I always like it, but I can't imagine it. I wonder what that would be like... but I like the way it looks. I've also thought about piercing my naval, but I'm past that stage now, so I guess I'll stick w/ my one little earlobe piercing! ;)

My next favorite things are tattoos! I have three of them. The first one I got was about 8 years ago. I got it on my left ankle and it's a really cool looking cat head w/ eyes, ears, whiskers, nose and mouth. It's beautiful and I'm really glad I got it. It didn't hurt at all really... maybe a little irritating, but I only had to look away and focus my thoughts on something else and, before I knew it, it was done. I got my second tattoo about a year after that. I went with a girlfriend that I worked w/ and this guy who worked w/ us - who wanted a christian symbol on his shoulder - and decided to go ahead and get another tattoo on my right hip area. I saw one on this girl and really liked it there, so I decided to do it.

This time, it hurt like hell! It took forever to do. It's a weird looking tattoo - very unusual. I can't explain what it looks like but it's sorta like spikes that go in a circular pattern and it kinda resembles a flower ... in a way but not really. It's blue, green and yellow. I was probably leaning over in this guy's chair for about 45 minutes while he gave me this tattoo. At first it wasn't too bad but as he started really getting into it, it started feeling like I was being slowly cut open w/ a razorblade! And I mean slowly. Sweat dripped off of me because of the pain. It's weird how you sit and endure such pain.... all for a tattoo. and... here I hate pain! go figure.

Come to find out, they hurt more when you get them in fatty areas, and since this is a fatty area for most women, it can be one of the most painful areas. Even though, I love it and it looks really cool. Altho, some of the sides of the pattern bled... so it's not real crisp, which pisses me off, but... it still looks nice.

My third tattoo I did right before coming to Bahrain. It's a big butterfly on my lower back. This tattoo took about 45 mins. to an hour to finish, maybe a little longer. It has a lot of colors in it and it's very detailed. And... I'll tell ya, this tattoo caused me the worst pain of all of them. I didn't think she'd ever finish it and I had to bend forward in a chair while she did it... which wasn't real comfortable and then w/ the pain... it was a bad experience. But the butterfly is beautiful and I'm glad I did it. When I bend forward, the tattoo gets really big... which is really cool. But when I stand up, it's normal size.

The girl who did this one was such an artist, which I think is really important when you're getting a tattoo. The guy who did my first tattoo - the cat - was a really good artist as well. I think that most tattoo artists are exceptional at drawing... if they're not, then you don't want them. The guy who did my 2nd tattoo.. looking back, I don't think he was that great.

There's a girl that I know that does tattoos here in Bahrain. My SIL got one from her, but honestly, it's not very good. She got a rose on her left shoulder blade... the lines aren't crisp and the colors aren't bright and beautiful like they should be. Personally, I don't think she's an artist, but she thinks she is. She has tried many times to talk me into getting eyebrow tattoos! I'd never have those things. I know girls that do it here, but... to me, what happens when the style changes and here you have these dark ass tattoos on your eyebrows. Just not worth it.

There are no tattoo parlors in Bahrain. Too religious of a country to have them, I'm assuming. My BIL went to Thailand and got an armband tat. It's really cool looking. My husband has talked about getting one... maybe on our next trip to the U.S. I want a couple more... I saw a really nice one around someone's toe. It was really cute but one guy told me that they come off because of wearing shoes.


The one thing about piercings though... women here pierce their daughter's ears when they're infants. I see women doing this all over really, but I don't agree w/ it. A girl I work w/... she pierced her daughters ears when she was a baby. My friend Cynthia pierced her daughter's ears when she was little... but I just don't know if I'd do it. One... I think that it should be my daughter's decision and not my decision. What if they didn't want their ears pierced?! I may be oldfashioned in a sense... but I just wouldn't do it.

Little black bugs

What are these little black bugs that are invading my cupboards? The other day I found tons of them in my pancake box, so I tossed it. Now, I'm consumed w/ the thoughts of them being in all my other food products. I have no idea what they are but I've seen them before in the bird seed from the pet store or something that looks like them.

They are black, really thin and prob the size of a 1/2 of a centimeter, if that big. They have hard shell type of covering on them and four legs.

I'm wondering what they're interested in. Is it flour or just any type of food product? Does anyone know if there's anything I can do to protect my food products... especially my cake mixes and brownie mixes?! I also have jello boxes in there and I'm afraid they've gotten into everything. I'm also ready to take it all out and put everything in plastic bags.

I hate the bugs here.... uurrgghhhh! During this time of year, ants are everywhere. We get the itty bitty tiny ants that you can hardly see that crawl over the counters looking for food, and then we get these big knarly ants that crawl on the floor wanting to attack my cats if they get close to the food bowls... and then there are these dreaded flying ant things that will come in if you open the door or window as they're flying by.... and now... I have these black bugs.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of them? Do they die on their own or will they get into everything inside my cupboard?? The ones inside the bird seed don't die, it seems. They last for weeks on end, but I keep them tightly inside the plastic bucket until they make their way into the bird's bowls. Also, do they like other things as well or just certain things?

Now I understand why my MIL keeps her salt and pepper sitting in water. Never understood it before or saw the real significance of it, but I do now!!

a really good funny - Baby Photographer

The Smiths And The Baby Photographer

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, "Well, I'm off now. The man should be here soon."

Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale.

"Good morning, Ma'am", he said, "I've come to....'' "Oh, no need to explain," Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, "I've been expecting you."

"Have you really?" said the photographer. "Well, that's good. Did you know babies are my specialty?""Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat." After a moment she asked, blushing, "Well, where do we start?"

"Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there."

"Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and me!"

"Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results."

"My, that's a lot!" gasped Mrs. Smith.

"Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be in and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.""Don't I know it," said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. "This was done on the top of a bus," he said.

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.

"And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with."

"She was difficult?" asked Mrs. Smith.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look."

"Four and five deep?" said Mrs.. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.

"Yes", the photographer replied. "And for more than three hours too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment , I just had to pack it all in."

Mrs. Smith leaned forward. "Do you mean they actually chewed on your, um..equipment?"

"It's true, Ma'am, yes. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away."

"Tripod?"

"Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand very long."

Mrs. Smith fainted.

2nd post for today.... phew.....

well... i just couldnt help but to post on a few other issues that have been on my mind...

first, our dryer is being installed today and i'm tickled pink! i have tons of clothes to wash, since i hate hanging them on the line to dry - didn't mind this in the States but don't like doing it here - in the States, if you live in a good place/town, there's always this nice smell that comes w/ hanging clothes on the line... but not here. not that it's terrible or anything, i just don't like it. i think the big thing is you don't get the same smell.... and then the sun tends to bleach things out, which i'm not found of. but hopefully today i'll go home and have a nice dryer to use. i can hardly wait.

two... last night i made a stop at Al Jazeera supermarket and something that always miffs me is the way the girls throw your food when checking you out. i don't mind regular items being thrown but what gets me is when they throw my fruit. i take a lot of care to pick out just the right pieces of fruit... making sure there are no bruises and such or bad places on the fruit AND it never fails... when i get home, my fruit is bruised. same thing last night. i get home, start putting away groceries and my nectarines are bruised. a few of them have major places in them. it drives me insane!!!! aarrrghhhhhh!

you know, i always tell them not to throw my fruit or not to throw things on top of my fruit, but they don't listen. why is this? why don't these ppl care about what they're doing? they just toss the food to the place where you bag it w/out a care in the world. they look at me in a crazy fashion when i tell them not to throw my fruit. sometimes i make a point of telling them before they ever get to the fruit... but still, it makes no difference. do these ppl have training? do they buy their own groceries? do they enjoy eating bruised and damaged fruit?

and then the baggers... some have no clue when bagging groceries. for the most part, i have no probs w/ them, but some of them i want to slap. when i go to Al Osra/Spinney's in Sa'ar, i don't notice this as much - the baggers seem to be a lot better there. at Al Jazeera they all seem to have issues.

most of the check-out girls have a bit of an attitude and seem to dislike their jobs. which, is their own business... but... i really wish they wouldn't throw and bruise my fruit! what is it about throwing your items after scanning them? it's as if they can't be bothered and how dare i say something to them.

i can't help but to compare things to the States... and i'm doing it once again in relation to this. never have i had a prob in the States w/ the checkout ppl throwing my food and fruit. they slide it to the appropriate place to be packed in bags. the baggers place your items in the bags nicely and neatly... never damaging or flattening your bread (which happens a lot here!)....

i don't know... maybe it's a cultural thing.

What is it about Arab guys?

Yesterday I clocked out from work and headed out to the parking lot only to find my hubby w/ the sleeves of his thobe rolled up preparing to fix our flat tire! Beemers are nice but it's a pain in the butt to fix a flat tire on one of these things. For one, to figure out how to get the spare to release from the bottom of the car takes a Ph.D.... it took probably 15 minutes to figure this part out, alone. Thankfully, four other guys came out to help and we got it fixed in prob 30 minutes.

I must say that Arab guys are the **best** when it comes to helping out a stranger or a friend. It doesn't matter how long it takes, they are willing to do whatever to get the job done, and that's really an awesome feeling. These guys pulled out supplies from their cars, got dirty, sweaty, and did all of this in temps of about 120 degrees, if not hotter! No kidding. It was 42 celcius yesterday (not taking into acct. the humidity) and they were all working in the sun to get this tire changed. I must say... unless you're a female, American guys, usually, aren't helpful like this. You could probably wait for hours in a parking lot w/out one single person offering to help you... unless, like I said, you happen to be a female. I guess that's why ppl pay for AAA and such in the States.... just a phone call away and they're out to help you fix flats and such... but wouldn't it be nice if ppl were as friendly and helpful?

I remember a car accident I had about 8 yrs ago... I totalled my RX-7 on I-35 in Dallas and NO ONE stopped to help me at first, and this was during rush hour traffic - so you KNOW that ppl saw what happened. Finally, I guess after about 15 minutes or so, some guy stopped and offered me a ride. So nice to think back on it... I was in shock pretty much... the accident was terrible - I lost control of my car and hit the cement medium in the middle of the highway not once, but twice, while weaving in and out of traffic. What surprises me the most is that I didn't hit any other cars... I can remember my steering wheel going crazy and I couldn't gain control of the car to save my life. It was a terrifying experience and it taught me a huge lesson... but... what shocks me more is that no one stopped to help immediately. Thank God I wasn't hurt!

But anyway... this isn't the only time I've had trouble and no one helped.... and I'm a girl... so imagine some guy needing help in the city... no one gives a crap. In the country and smaller towns, you have better luck cuz ppl know each other and are more friendly, but in the cities ppl shy away from helping strangers. It's a shame really.

When my husband and I were in Beirut, the ppl were really helpful and friendly there as well. We got lost and prob 8 strangers, no lie, stopped to talk to us and tell us how to get to where we were going. You know, that's a great feeling! I love friendly ppl... and I really felt that in Beirut. It's a beautiful city w/ beautiful ppl !!

Yeah I know... most of these guys that helped us yesterday know my husband but still... they could have just asked in passing if everything was okay and left it at that, but they didn't. One guy insisted on taking the jack from my husband and started jacking up the car.... I was really surprised and it made me feel really good that they were so willing to jump in and lend a hand w/out even asking. Some ppl are really caring here... and it's nice.

10-4, this is Kitty Cop, Over.

This is a picture of Charlie (aka Puss, Kitty Cop, Mean Puss). She's a Norweigen Coon. I adopted her from a no-kill shelter in Dallas about eight years ago. She was a kitten then and I got her while doing some volunteer work there. She was a little rebel then and still pretty much is. I could tell right away that she was a little heathen, but I had to have her. What I liked most about her was her spunk. I let her out to play - trying to decide which kitty to adopt - and I can remember her chasing around this little boy cat. It was sooo cute so I had to get her. She had the longest tail I had ever seen on a cat. She'd curl it up like a little pig's tail... refusing to hold it like a 'normal' kitty. She still does this.

Puss is such a smart girl - really intelligent. She's top cat in our kitty household. None of the other cats mess w/ her except for Aimee, whose sorta like her sister (I adopted them together). Aimee has this way of chasing Puss that makes her mad so she'll cry like nothing else when Aimee's gettin' the best of her. But no one else messes w/ Puss. Yumi, our Arab kitty, loves to try to bully her, but she won't allow it. Puss hates Yumi Cat. Most of our cats do... but Puss does the most.

Whenever Puss is on the bed and Yumi tries to get up, 'Puss the Kitty Cop' comes out and will run towards Yumi and force her off the bed. It's funny to watch. She patrols the bed and NO kitty is allowed on the bed unless she decides so. She'll walk the parameter of the bed watching for any kitties wanting to jump up and if they try, she'll act like she's gonna tear them to pieces. but.... she doesn't. She gets tired after about 15 or 20 mins and then allows the other kitties on board. Puss also patrols the house and keeps the cats in line. She takes no crap from any of our other furbabies.

Puss is really good at finding things. When she finds a string that she likes - even if it's attached to my clothing - and I hide it, she'll find it. She watches where I put toys and especially these strings and the next thing I know, she has it... chewing little pieces out of it. She loves to play and will run after about anything. She loves for me to put my hand under the sheets so that she can hear the sound and try to attack whatever she thinks it is under the sheets. I love to play this game w/ her but she's really strong and usually gets ahold of me w/in a matter of seconds, draws blood and I wind up quitting. She's a sore loser tho and will usually wind up getting me one way or another.

When Puss was younger she had bad allergies and her mouth and paws would swell up. I had some testing done at the vet's office and they wound up giving her steroid shots, which I don't recommend. She started eating a lot, gained weight and still has the same problems - sometimes. Now, no matter how little she eats, she can't lose it - so she's a rather big furbaby... weighing in at a little over 15 pounds!

Puss has the sweetest cry of any kitty we have or have ever seen. She doesn't do the normal 'meoooow'.... her cry is more like a 'uuuuuhhhhhh'...in a whisper sort of tone. It's so cute. She only uses the regular meow when Aimee is trying to get her or when she's mad. When she's mad... watch out!

When I first met my husband, he hadn't been around cats really, and Puss didn't like him. He would try his best to win her over but it took a long time. I can remember when he first starting holding her and he'd start moving his face close to her real fast - back and forth - and one time she tried to get him. Matter of fact, she slapped him. I kept telling him that she was gonna get him but he wouldn't listen and she did. Not hard but just enough to scare him. She still does this sometimes to both of us... just to show who's the boss, I'm sure, cuz she is boss.

He was afraid of her for a while after that... but it taught him not to mess w/ her. She does me the same way when I aggravate her..... I always know when cuz she'll give this look that sorta says, "I'm gonna get ya" and then she'll smack me. She gives me little love bites too. In the mornings when she's ready for me to get up, she'll come up to my face and give me little bites on my cheeks, chin or nose... whatever is out in the open. I'm the only one that she bites - I don't know why - but it's never hard. All I have to say is "owww, Puss, that hurts" and she'll stop.

She never gives lovie bites to the hubby.... except for maybe once.... and she never bites him, no matter how much he makes her mad. In this picture you'll notice that she's on her back.. this is her fav position. Me and my husband both love to give tons of kisses to her stomach and she just lays there and lets us. If he's doing it, I'll tell her how sweet she is and she'll do the little paw massage in the air ... she's sooo sweet! Her belly is soooo soft and the fur is like velvet. I love to give her kisses there.

Puss LOVES cartoons and watching TV. We have a video especially made for animals that she adores. It's full of squirrels and birds coming down to the ground to get bird seed and nuts, and she'll jump up towards the TV when watching it.... sitting for half an hour giving her full attention to the television. And she loves to go outside and loves watching birds.

She sleeps w/ us every night usually and doesn't get up until morning - unlike some of our others that get up at 3:30 or 4 insisting to go outside our bedroom. She is so spoiled to me and will bite me, slightly, if I don't give her my undivided attention whenever she wants it... which is all the time. Puss is very shy though. She's all bark.... even tho the smaller furbabies in the house wouldn't know it. She hates to have her claws cut and will stare me down when I'm doing it... When she starts staring, I can't look at her in the face cuz if I do, she'll get me w/ the other paw - a smack in the face - which scares me.... she totally controls me (I admit it)... so usually the hubby has to hold her down while I cut the claws as fast as possible cuz she gets really irritated after about the 3rd claw. Some days she's fine w/ it... it just depends on her mood.

Puss snores something terrible... I usually wake her up several times during the night so I can sleep... she also has little kittymares... and will wake up after kinda screaming in her sleep... it's just so cute and I always ask her if she had a kittymare and she'll tell me all about it... and then runs to me. I love her something awful! :)

Anyway... this is our sweet girl Charlie... better known to all that know her as Puss.

Cast Away (spoiler everyone) & Stuff

Last night, while waiting to go to dinner w/ some friends, I caught ... for like the 20th time - no joke - the movie Cast Away. I absolutely love this movie. I could prob watch it another 20 and not get bored. There are just some movies like that... there are others that I feel this way about, but this is one of the biggest ones for me.

I think one thing that gets me every time in this movie is the scene right before the plane is about to crash into the water, and his character is standing in the plane, holding on to those straps.... and it's at that moment that he sees the Pacific coming right at him and boom... they've crashed. Then you see him underwater w/ the life boat and it gets snagged going up, then breaks and he breaks the surface only to be heading towards one of the plane's engines - which is on fire. For anyone that's afraid of flying - like myself - this all is pretty terrifying. Every time I see it, I clinch my fists and wait for the impact. Always thinking about what I'd do if in that situation... last night was no exception.

Tom Hanks is sooo great in this movie. I love everything about it. I especially like when he starts finding all the Fed Ex packages, he opens them and starts using the various presents/gifts and such to help him on the island. One thing that makes me grimace is when he's trying to make fire and breaks that stick on his hand.... uuuhhhh! The pain of it! Then he picks up the soccer ball and throws it... causing a blood stain on the ball. This is when we are introduced to Wilson. I love Wilson. I cried when Wilson got lost at sea... seeing Tom Hank's character there on his raft, crying out his soul for all the years he's been lost on that island and now... to lose Wilson... it broke my heart. It breaks it every time I see it and last night it did the same. Again, I started crying. I weeped w/ him... I mourned Wilson. I can hear him saying, "I'm sorry Wilson"... while he cries and cries. It was so sad.

I loved how he talked to Wilson... the relationship he built with the ball and how it helped his character to survive all those years. What a great story... I think it would greatly help one's mental state to have such a inanimate object to talk to... one would need that to survive... I know I would. I have a little Wilson sitting on my desk here at work. My younger Sis, Jahooni, gave it to me before I moved to Bahrain. You can put in on the top of a pencil if you wan't, but I leave it sitting next to my monitor. I love that little ball. It looks just like Wilson from the movie. I adore it. Not a lot of ppl know Wilson... more should.

I also love the scene when Tom Hank's character makes fire. When he's dancing around and singing "Light My Fire" and burns his hand and is happy about it. It's really great.... shows just how much we take for granted in life... or at least for me it does.

I struggle along w/ his character in this movie... I applaud him, I encourage him, I stand by him. I cry for him when he gets saved, goes back and the love of his life is married with a baby girl. She looked for him ... knew he wasn't dead, but was encouraged to move on... so she did. And it breaks her heart to see him again... to lose him all over again....

I also loved the scene when he's on the raft and has given up on life... and the whale, who has been swimming along w/ him for prob some hundred odd miles, possibly, wakes him up by blowing water on him... so that he can awaken to see that a ship is passing. What a great moment. Even when he's on the raft and is out in the dead of night in the middle of the ocean somewhere and the whale surfaces and comes up beside him to get a look and his character just stares at the whale... what a profound moment.

aaahhhhh.... this is one of my all time favorite movies. I really enjoy everything that Tom Hanks does. I've loved him since he was on Bosom Buddies... which was a TV sitcom he did years ago. He and his friend dressed up like women so that they could get cheap rent in an apt. bldg. that was leased to women only. It was cute and funny..... I also loved him in Big - another movie that I enjoy... altho I don't watch it often. I also really enjoy when he's paired w/ Meg Ryan... one of my all time favorite actresses.

If you've never taken the time to watch Cast Away... I highly recommend it.

It's Wednesday... which is my Friday, so tomorrow starts the weekend. We were supposed to have our dryer installed but the plumber has cancelled on us yet again. I'm bummed. I was really looking forward to doing some laundry - I have TONS to do - and drying some clothes. I love the smell of clothes from the dryer... after having been tossed around w/ Snuggle! I don't know when we're going to find a plumber that can hook this baby up... I'm more than ready.

We don't have a lot planned this weekend. Ali Al Saeed is coming to the studio this afternoon and tomorrow to start recording his book of short stories, called Moments. I think this will be a week long process if not longer. I can't wait to hear it. Ali is a great writer and I've read his book, QuixotiQ - which was a really great ride (I highly recommend it) - and I've read several of his short stories, which I also loved, so... I'm sure Moments will be great. I can't wait. Then, on July 1st, the book launch for Models of Success is happening and my hubby's music will be played for the launch.

Oh yeah, for those of you who don't really know my husband or about him, he's a musician/composer/producer in his off time - after working hours. He'd love to do it full-time and, hopefully, one day, he'll be able to do just that. But, if you're interested in hearing some of his music, go to Alfanan's Radio and you can hear some of it there. He's also at garageband for any of you who might be interested. And... I'll do a plug for myself here... I sing on the song Far Away, which you'll find there... in case you wanna get a taste of the beautiful music we make together! ;)

anyway... have a great weekend everybody....

Peace Out!

29 Things About Me

Olivia, over at Olivia's London Dispatches, had a cool entry in her blog (she has a great blog, btw) where she listed 29 things about herself, and since I loved it... I thought it would be fun to do the same about myself. And since I'm bored at work ... actually I have nothing to do, so why not waste some time. ;)

Was thinking about things last night and wondering what I'd list, so here goes my try at it. Things are in no particular order... I'm just gonna put them down as they come to mind.... and I'll probably think of tons more stuff that I like better after posting this... but... here it goes.

1. When I was little, prob 7 or 8 or something, I used to believe my barbie dolls came to life at night after I went to sleep. I'd put them in their barbie corvette and sit it in a particular spot in my room then in the morning when I got up, I'd check everything to see if it had moved and, more often than not, I believed they had. I told no one.

2. I hate to touch raw meat. I can't tear it apart and I hate to stick my hand into meat - like turkeys - to clean the insides - refuse to do it. It really grosses me out, plus I'm really weird about germs.

3. I hate killing anything. I feel sorry for ants whenever I've sprayed them w/ Raid - so I usually don't (even tho they're really bad here) - and, usually, if I use it, I'll step on them to put 'em out of their misery. My husband laughs at me... but I hate seeing them squirm around on the floor after spraying the Raid.

4. I used to imitate Mae West when I was little. My SIL, Ruthie, would tape me on the recorder... I wish I had those tapes.

5. I wanted to be a movie star when I was a young girl. I'd watch all the 1930's, 40's and 50's movies and musicals, and would hope for the day that I'd be able to sing like them. That day never came :(

6. I was in love with Elvis Presley. I cried, mourned and locked myself in my room for days after he died. I remember my brother telling me that he was a drug addict and died of a drug overdose and I got so angry w/ him. I refused to talk to my brother for weeks after that. I couldn't believe he'd say such a thing... and, come to find out, it was the truth! I still love Elvis. We went to his house when we were in Memphis several years back. Me and the hubby wrote on the wall... I'll never forget it. I have a huge poster of him but I think I'll have to sneak to put it up... and lots of magnets on the fridge. Man, was he handsome of what!! Ok, in his younger days...

7. I collect magnets and have one from every place me and hubby have been. Every time I look at them on the fridge, it brings up great memories. I'd have to say the one from Vegas is my favorite... it's a martini glass w/ three cards in it... very cute and different.

8. I'm pretty shy and it's gotten worse since living in Bahrain. When I'm w/ large groups of ppl that I don't know, I don't talk usually, unless I have to. If I only know a few ppl and am in a large group or at a party, I tend to stay around and talk only to the ppl that I know. Sometimes the shyness is pretty intense and I refuse to go to events or out to strange or new places... but I'm working on it.

9. When I was in kindergarten or first grade, my babysitter pretty much kidnapped me. She had seen an ad we placed about our missing cat - actually brought the cat to us - and then my mother hired her to babysit for me during the week. One day she took me out of school and took me home w/ her. She didn't tell my mother, had lied about where she lived, and it took several days for my mother to find me. She was a weird woman. I don't remember a lot about it other than sitting on these steps at her house and laying on the bed, watching TV... and she had some man who visited her quite often. I can see flashes in my head but I don't remember a lot of the specifics. After the police got involved, they found out where she was living, which was about 3 blocks from our house. When the police went to her house - w/ my mother - the lady swore she didn't have me. Not sure if they got a search warrant or what, but they were finally able to get me. I remember that night... it was dark outside and I can remember running to my mother.

10. I hate going to the movies. I'd much rather rent it on DVD and watch it at home. I didn't used to be like this but over the years, it's gotten a lot worse. I get bored and prefer to be able to stop the movie if I don't like it or get up and do something else if I so choose.

11. I love the pump hand soap from Bath & Body Works. They have a new foaming kind that is just splendid. My younger sis gave me some for Christmas and I love them. I love all of their products... too bad there isn't one here!

12. I love to cook and try new recipes. I tried making some Indian dishes a while back and I must say, they were really quite good. I also love to make sweets/deserts. I especially love cup cakes! altho they're really easy... ok ok, I love deserts! :)

hmmm.... I'm having a hard time now... (Olivia, this is hard!)

13. I love cheese and would love to go to France for the cheese. Well, not only that, but... you know what I mean. I can make meals out of cheese and crackers w/ fruit and wine. ummmmm... so so good. gosh, that sounds good right about now! ;)

14. I'm not crazy about Arabic food, but I do love hummus, foul, falafel, grape leaves, baba ghanooj (eggplant dip), labna, biryani w/ chicken... and I LOVE certain Egyptian foods like kishk, um ali (yummmm), and I love the way Egyptians make breakfast and all the different things they serve. It's soooo good. You can get some of the best bread there w/ all different kinds of cheese (see.... I love cheese!).

15. I really miss the U.S. on days and wish we lived there, but I love my husband more and am willing to live here for him. Altho, one day, I hope we'll move back. But living is a whole lot easier to do in this part of the world... believe it or not... well, at least in regards to some things it is.

16. I'm scared of scary/horror movies. I refuse to watch anything that has to do w/ the devil... just don't like it. Sometimes after watching something scary, I can't go to the bathroom or any place in the house by myself if it's dark! My husband LOVES scary movies and insists on watching them.... and then loves to scare me! He's a brat. But hey, I guess this is my payback for scaring little kids. I'd dress up like monsters on Halloween and scare the life out of them... gosh... I really loved doing that. This is obviously my pay back!

17. I've dissected all sorts of animals, including piglets and even owl throw-up - which was actually pretty cool. When I was in high school, the class got mad at the teacher and we all took pieces of our piglets that we had been dissecting for weeks and put it up in the a/c vents.... I wonder what that smelled like after months of sitting there?! It was at the end of school, so I'm sure the janitor is the one that found it.

18. I'd love to work with animals - it's a dream job of mine. I'm talking about big cats (like tigers, cheetahs, lions and such), and training dolphins would be the best job I could imagine having. And wolves... I'd love to work with wolves. Working at a zoo would be a great job.... I'd start from the bottom up, shoveling poo... I'd get my whole body dirty if it meant that I could eventually move into a position such as that. Or... have a huge animal farm... that would be very cool.

19. I love watching the Amazing Race. It would be so great to be able to have an adventure like that... I think it's a great way to tackle so many fears that we deal w/ daily.

20. I hate germs and have a fear of things spoiling. I'm sorta a clean freak because of it. I insist on anybody who touches raw meat to wash their hands immediately if they're in the kitchen w/ me and I don't like to leave anything sitting out... ppl leave things sitting out here, especially meat. I don't. I think it's sooo easy to get sick from something like that.

21. I bite or pick at the skin around my nails. It's a nervous habit that I've broken a few times but I still keep coming back to it. I have a few smooth stones that I carry to keep myself from doing it, but sometimes I don't think about getting them out.

22. I love to draw w/ charcoal but I don't do it as often as I'd like. I also love to paint but I get aggravated w/ myself because I go thru stages of liking what I'm painting and then not liking it or I become somewhat of a perfectionist w/ it, so it tends to take me a long time to finish something once I've started. Wasn't like this when I was younger, but the older I get, the worse it becomes.

23. I love yoga. Used to practice all the time but haven't in months. It really relaxes me and gives me a lot of eternal peace.

24. I like going to the gym but can't find one that I like here. I'll have to admit that most of the girls that I meet at the gym here, I don't like. So, it's easier for me to walk on the treadmill at home. I like going to the gym tho cuz of the free weights... maybe once summer is finished, some of those girls won't frequent the place as much or... I'll buy some free weights for home. That's an idea!

25. I love to burn candles in the house. I have all kinds and will burn them in all the rooms. I only like the kind that are highly scented... to me, there's nothing better than walking thru the house and smelling all of these fresh, sweet scents. It brings such a calmness over me.

26. I love mexican food. Mainly tex-mex and one of my favorite restaurants in Dallas is Chuy's. There's also a place in Deep Ellum that has the best mexican/latino food... and the best margaritas... oh I miss Dallas! And then there's a really good place over off of the M streets... can't remember the name of that street... gosh, how quickly one forgets.

27. I love to be pampered and love massages, facials especially, foot massages and morrocan baths! Never had a morrocan bath until I came here... they're great! This weather dries out my skin a lot so they are really good at taking the layers of dry skin off. If you haven't had one, do indulge! I will say tho, the more expensive places do the best ones. I've tried these small little shops and they aren't good.

28. I've traveled to some great places including Jamaica, Hawaii, Barbados, Mexico, and London, several states in the U.S. including Florida, George, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas, but would love to see tons of others.

29. I want to see Paris, Germany, Italy, Greece, Holland, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, Russia and Australia... to name a few. I'd also love to go on safari in Africa... that would be great. I've talked to a few ppl who've done this and they say it's the most amazing thing they've ever done... I want to do this bad.


ok... this is it. took me a while but it was fun. i'll prob think of tons of other things later and wish i had put one thing rather than something else... but oh well.

Would you allow it??

This morn. on the way to work, me and the hubby were talking about the differences between girls and guys traveling by themselves or, actually, with another friend. Which is safer and would we allow such from our own daughter or son.

First, let me give you a little background. My boss' daughter and a friend of hers - they're both in their early 20s - will be traveling/backpacking through Greece in July - next month. Just the two of them.

So, this morn. I was thinking about it and asked my husband if he'd allow our daughter, when and if we have one, to travel/backpack w/ a girlfriend through Greece or Europe. He immediately said no. Then I asked him if it was a boy would he allow it. He laughed a little and said yes. This is when I took the offensive and said it wasn't fair because boys can get into even more trouble than girls. Which is true, I think, w/ some guys.

He then started explaining how dangerous it is for girls to travel and that boys are probably less likely to be hassled or pick-pocketed or even worse - raped. I agreed. And then he reminded me of that girl, Natalee Holloway (an American), who went to Aruba w/ her graduating class and came up missing. They have yet to find her. She apparently met some guys there and left w/ them late one night after partying at a club and that's the last anyone saw of her.

Her mother has been to Aruba many times, the case is still being investigated (and this happened over a year ago), no one has been charged - altho they have suspects - but the thing is, they can't find the body. They have video footage of her talking to a few guys, but no one can give any details. One of the guys is the son of a diplomat and they highly suspected him in the beginning - not sure if they still do, but he swears he had nothing to do w/ it. He said, as well as a few of his friends, that they all went to the beach and she insisted that they leave her there. A few other guys stated that they took her back to her hotel and dropped her off, but there's no evidence supporting this.

Did she get swallowed into the sex trade? Which from various news programs I've watched, this is something that happens more than ppl would like to think or was she murdered?! They've had psyhics on the case and, if I'm not mistaken, they have said they believe she's dead.... I think.

Anyway, I found that - even though I didn't want to in the beginning - that I agreed w/ my husband. I think that I would feel better if a daughter were traveling w/ several girls, instead of just one, but even then I think I'd still worry a lot and probably not allow it. I hate to say that because you wan't to show your child love and trust, but how far does that go? In the States, you're pretty much an adult by the age of 18... you can vote and make your own decisions, move out on your own, join the military, start working, go off to college, and so on. In this part of the world, it's different - for girls especially.

I graduated when I was 17 yrs old. I got my own apt., started working full-time at what used to be Republic Bank and started going to college. I didn't have a car and took the bus everywhere. I had a little efficiency apt., I put in a security alarm on the windows cuz I lived on the first floor, and even got myself a gun - if you can believe it. It was a small gun but when I think back on it, I can't believe I had it. I used to have nightmares about using that gun, but I never had to - thank God. All I knew is that I didn't want to live w/ my older brother - he was a nightmare - so living by myself was the best thing for me. Here, in this part of the world, you don't find girls out on their own.... it's just not done.

In the past, I would have probably been all up in arms against my husband and argued about why he wouldn't allow such an adventure for a daugther, but now.... I see his point. I'm sorta surprised that my boss is allowing this BUT the more I think about it, there's also something else that sticks out in my mind that many may disagree with and that is ..... I think Arab girls can travel more easily through Europe than others. For one, many are fluent in a variety of languages which makes traveling easier and two, these girls tend to be of a different caliber and it shows... or maybe I'm just an outsider looking in and I see things differently.... but this is the way it seems to me in a lot of cases. Now, I'm not talking about all Arab girls - because not all are like this - but a large majority are. They seem to have a thickness of skin that many Western girls don't have, and they're raised differently and have different values... and that makes a world of difference when traveling or even being out on your own. They're not out there meeting up w/ all the single guys, partying til the wee hours of the morning and drinking or drugging like many in other parts of the world.

I don't know... I go back and forth with this... and wonder how I'd be if it happened to me. I know that I didn't have the chance to travel through Europe in my 20's but I always wanted to. I know I wouldn't have been stupid or careless if I had, but would that matter? A girl that I used to work with backpacked through Europe w/ her boyfriend and they didn't have any trouble. They stayed at hostels and loved every minute of it. I've traveled w/ girlfriends and have never had a problem, but it was always several girls, not just one. Nowadays, I think it's more dangerous... for some.

No Ted Koppel :(

Well, we found out yesterday that Ted Koppel's schedule changed and he wouldn't be coming. I was so excited w/ the thought of meeting him and feel somewhat bummed about it, but, hopefully, if the need arises in the furture, they'll again decide on the studio and we'll have the great pleasure of meeting him. I did find out from his editor that it had nothing to do w/ our studio... just a schedule change... which was really good to hear.

I was really sorta shocked that they had chosen our studio, but very thrilled. We have the set-up but since we're smaller, it was a complete surprise.

Maybe this is the first of what's to come....

Ted Koppel - Coming to our studio!!!!

This morning I found out that Ted Koppel, a huge American journalist and former anchorman for ABC's Nightline will be coming to our studio tomorrow evening to record for a public radio station in the United States. He was with ABC for 42 years and stepped down from his position with Nightline in November 2005. Following Nightline, Mr. Koppel has taken on a number of roles which span various formats of news media.

He has recently been courted by Al Jazeera to work for their 24-hour English language service that they plan to launch this year.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled beyond belief. I can hardly believe it. I'm sick... want to throw up! ;) First, I really love journalism and this guy is great! I can't wait to meet him, and I'm so excited that our studio - and my husband - will be doing the recording for the story that he's doing on Bahrain.... makes me really wonder what the story will be about. We have no information on that at this time....

This is sooooo exciting!!!!!!

This is Henry

I introduce to you, Henry, our Indian Rose-ringed Parakeet. He's one of our sweet birds. He's the biggest of our parakeets. We got Henry about a year 1/2 ago. I've posted in the past about Henry and his partner, Fonda, whom we lost about 3 mths ago. Henry had a tough time after first losing Fonda, but I'm happy to say that he seems to be getting along quite well now.

He's taken up to mimicing the other three birds and has gotten so good at it that I can no longer tell if he's talking or if it's Stedman, one of our other males. Henry does all of the same calls and even adds on his own little endings and extras. Before, when his partner, Fonda, was still with us, he hardly talked at all. He'd scream a lot when he wanted out of his cage, but he'd never talk. Now, he says all kinds of things, including "hey Oprah", "hello", "pretty bird", and he mumbles a lot which, to me, sounds like he's trying to mimic what I've said.... which is adorable to listen to. It's soooo sweet and cute. You wouldn't imagine... unless, you've had birds and they've done the same. He makes me laugh and really has a way of pulling on my heart strings. I love 'em so much.

He loves green chilis, cherries, apples, bread, and these little dried things that come in the food that we get... they have all of these seeds inside. He takes them as quick as he can from me and will eat every last piece of it. He also loves pumpkin seeds and peanuts. He also loves dried red peppers... he'll crack them open to expose the seeds inside and then ever so gently will take out the seeds w/ his tongue and break them apart inside of his beak. I love to watch him eat. He takes food from my fingers and has never tried to bite me. He never ceases to take food from me but if he's not interested, he'll let whatever it is immediately fall to the ground. He's picky that way.

He loves showers which I give to him courtesy of a water spritzer/old glass cleaner bottle. He'll open his wings when I'm showering him and turn around so that I can get his back feathers. I talk to him softly as I do it... he seems to love it. I tell him how sweet he is all the time... I think it helps to calm him and make 'em happy. He is sweet though.... I'd love to give him sugars... but he'd never allow it! ;)

After Fonda got out and never came back, I didn't think Henry would make it alone. He screamed for days on end and seemed very depressed. But after a few weeks of individual attention, he came out of his shell. He talks so much now that I can hardly believe it. I talk to him a lot and introduce new words to him and new whistles - he's picked up most of the whistles. The words... well, we're still working on words and prob always will. He's very stubborn and only says what he wants. Sometimes, he'll surprise me and say something that I've said out of the blue and that's when I realize that he does listen... more than I thought.

He's still very shy and won't allow me to pick him up, altho I'd love to. He has the softest feathers that I've ever felt. He also has the sweetest eyes and looks right at me when I call to him. He'll whistle and look at me to see if I'm watching him... it's so cute. I put a mirror in his cage after we lost Fonda and he started talking to it and sleeping by it... now... he's just tearing up the wood around the mirror, but that's ok because I know he's better. We'd still love to get him a mate but, as of yet, we haven't found one. We told the guy that brought him to us about Fonda and he said he'd look for another but there's been no luck so far.

We cleaned his cage today and he was soooo good. He was a little nervous but he didn't fly out or act crazy like we thought he might. He came out, finally, after we were finished and sat on top of his cage for a bit... and then when it was time to take him back, he went back in w/out a problem. I was so happy and really felt like he is at ease and at home now. At least that's what I hope.... I'm just really glad that he feels better now.

I still think about Fonda... his mate. I wonder about her... wonder if she's ok. Hope that she is. She was such a shy bird. I also get mad when I think about it because the housemaid is the one that came and got us to tell us that she was gone. Now, I wonder if she had something to do w/ it. After seeing how much she lied... and since the FIRST words out of her mouth that morning were "mu ana" (not me), I wonder. She liked to do things to the birds. They were all terrified of her, but she'd pretend and tell me how much they loved her, and how much Henry talked to her, but I found it interesting how he wasn't comfortable around her when I was in the room w/ her. One of our other birds tried to attack her any time she'd get close to their cage. When we left for vacation, we put a camera in the room to watch her w/ the birds, and she knew it. We know because she told the guy who was watching our house and wanted to know if we had cameras set up everywhere or if they were on the computers... I knew she was a lot smarter than ppl thought!

I just hope that Fonda is living a happy life.... free from the cage that bound her.

Ladies' handbag stollen

Read today in the GDN that a teacher's purse/hand bag was taken from her in the parking lot of the Al Jazeera grocery store!! In broad daylight. I believe it happened around 1:59 p.m. I can't get over it. I go to this grocery store all the time. Her boyfriend was also w/ her and it didn't stop the guys.

There were three or four guys in the car. They drove by her real slow and grabbed it off of her person. She said she thought that the purse had gotten caught onto their miror but then realized they were taking it. She fell to the ground and now has cuts and bruises on her legs and such.

What gets me is that Al Jazeera told her that they have three security guards patrolling the area. I go there all the time and I've NEVER seen security guards there. Never. I'd bet when I go today that I'll see some in the parking lot... I betcha anything. And... like my husband says, that'll prob last for a few wks and then you won't see anyone around.

I guess this is one reason why I'm big on wearing long strappy shoulder purses that I can put over my head that cross my body. No one can steal your purse then. This is something you do when living in a big city..... there are thieves everywhere. Someone would have to knock me down and personally take it off of me if they were gonna steal it. The thing w/ most of the fashionable purses/bags as of late is that they barely hang on your shoulder. So many times when I'm out, if I'm carrying a bag like that, I'm always having to put the purse back up on my shoulder because it's always falling off.

Whenever I go there from now on, I'll make sure to wear one of the purses that go over my body. I'm almost starting to believe it's a good idea to take these purses everywhere. Nowadays, even here, you can't be sure that something isn't going to happen. Sad... isn't it?

I think these guys are starting to get very brave. Here they do this in the middle of the day. Sadly though, neither the girl or her boyfriend can remember what the car looked like and they didn't get the registration number. This is the bad thing about something scary like this happening... it's hard to think and be clear headed, and before you know it, the assailants are gone.

Homeless Man

Lastnight, as my husband and I drove to dinner, we pulled up to the light across the street from DHL and I could hardly believe what I saw in front of me.... sitting there on the step right in front of their building ... was a homeless man w/ what looked to be all of his belongings. We sat at the red light for a few minutes, so I had the chance to watch him. He was rocking back and forth a little and was obviously talking to himself. At one point, it even seemed like he was laughing with himself. I wish I had had a camera so that everyone could see the sadness of the situation. He was probably 70 or so years old... maybe older. His hair was completely white and his face looked old. Living on the streets can age you fast... and if you're a drinker, well, alcohol really ages you... I didn't see any bottles around him - he just looked old and homeless.

He had everything there... his clothes, his prayer mat, blankets beneath him.... everything. It's the first time I've seen a homeless man here in Bahrain. I've seen beggers... I see them daily, matter of fact, and I've seen people who live in these wood shacks - we have a family that live probably 6 blocks from us in what used to be called the shanty town, but all of them moved except for this one family - BUT I've never seen anyone sleeping out on the street.

It's a sad day for Bahrain... maybe I'm out of the loop... maybe it's in other areas and I've never seen it... I don't know, but this was a first for me. I saw an Arabic soap opera two ramadhan's ago that took place in Bahrain. There were three homeless guys in this soap living in one of these shacks, they were beggers, alcoholics and drugs addicts, but I figured it was only on TV. This is probably happening a lot more than I realize... this homeless situation.... is it?

As I watched him, I turned to my husband and the first question out of both of our mouth's was.... "where is his family?" I then wondered if he was mentally ill or maybe a drunk. I then found myself asking all types of questions.... Why isn't there a homeless shelter in Bahrain? Do they have places where ppl like this can go? Is there a food pantry? What about soup kitchens that feed the poor w/ leftover food from these hotels and such? Are there volunteers to help? Why hasn't a mosque reached out to help this man? Does he have any friends? Does anybody care? Is anybody out there?????

As we passed DHL, I kept thinking about him... wondering about him. I'd see people walking on the street, not far from where he was, and I wondered if anyone had reached out to him. Did anybody notice that this man was homeless? How could someone not notice this man?

Or was everyone like us? Did they see him, pass him by and go on w/ their lives and the daily grind of living?

Coming from the United States and having lived in Dallas, Texas, for many years, I saw a lot of homeless ppl. I worked in downtown Dallas for years.... and there are a LOT of homeless people there. Some are very scary... some walk up and down the street having full blown conversations w/ themselves, arguments even.... it's a really sad sight. I did a lot of volunteering in Dallas, worked in soup kitchens, delivered food and clothing on holidays thru my church... and there were a lot of small groups of people who would take the homeless food and drinks during the summer months and deliver blankets and clothing in the winter.

Some of these homeless don't want help - they refuse to go to shelters - is this the way this homeless man was that we saw last night? I found myself wondering that... wondering about his family... if they had tried to help him but he refused the help. Had he been in a mental hospital? Had his money run out? But... money isn't a factor for Bahrainis when it comes to health care in this country - right?? It is in the States... if you don't have insurance, you might as well forget it or when the money runs out - from the insurance company - you might as well bargain for sleeping on the streets. A lot of the homeless in the States are ppl that have been let out of mental hospitals.

It all makes me so sad. I can remember working in the soup kitchens in Dallas. You would not believe the numbers of people that came through to get warm food. I remember working on a Thanksgiving... it breaks my heart to think about it. There were so many children.... so many. And the food wasn't that great. So many items were stale and we'd heat it up to make it edible.... but these ppl never complained... they smiled and said thank you. It really makes you think twice about your life and what you have compared to others. When we'd deliver food and clothing on Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'd sit in my car and cry.... I so often felt guilty for having things when there were so many who had nothing.

It bothers me to see these people. It bothers me to see beggers. Even last night, we were over by the Batelco bldg. in Manama, and there was this guy begging whom I've seen many times. He seems mentally challenged... but I'm not sure. We gave him money... I usually do. So many ppl tell me not to do it, but it's really hard for me not to give. There are a few that I refuse to give money to... that could be out working... but then there are some that need the help - or at least they look as if they do - maybe I'm being fooled. There's one guy that sits in front of Nasser Pharmacy and he begs every day. He's an older man... and I saw him wearing cufflinks the other day! I could hardly believe it. I don't give money to him, but he always asks for it. He sits on a cardboard box and holds out his hand when you walk past him. He probably can't find a job and is too old to be hired (or he would be in the States), but I don't feel good about giving this guy money, especially now after seeing his cufflinks. There's a man that stands outside of AlJazeera supermarket that begs for money. He's a mentally challenged man. We give him money every time we see him. He's always very gracious. He can barely talk, but he always says thank you. There's another guy we see quite often... not for sure of his exact location... (since I'm still not good w/ street names), but he looks like a drug addict. He never wears any underwear under his thobe... he makes all these hand gestures to motorists... and seems high all the time... we don't give him money. Somebody needs to put him in a drug rehab facility - but would it work?!!

I think it's a good idea to get together to form organizations to help the needy in this country. I know there are places that you can donate clothing and food - to various mosques - but what about the homeless? Opening up a place that would be similar to the Salvation Army would be a good idea. Opening up homeless shelters would be good... even organizing and setting up a soup kitchen. I know a lot of people help the poor during Ramadhan and Eid... but what about during these other months? If so many ppl can pull together to boycott Batelco... isn't it worth as much to pull together to help people like this?

Just an idea.

Miss Patty Petunia

Greg asked me thru a comment on my previous post about our animals, so I thought it would be fun to introduce one or two of them each week for any and all of you who might find it interesting, and for those of you who love animals, like myself.

Tonight's picture is of Petunia. I sometimes call her Patty Petunia. We were given Petunia, her sister and brother last April. A guy that works w/ my husband found them at the corniche after their mother had been hit by a car, brought them to work and my husband offered to adopt them, after I begged, of course! ;) Thankfully he loves cats too.... cuz if not, I think it would be difficult to explain to family, friends and such about our animals. She, her sister and brother were prob six wks old when we got them. They all had eye infections and were sick. We nursed them back to health and they're all very healthy now. We have baby pics of them someplace... I wish I had some to post right now. I love kittens, actually all little baby animals, and these sweet things were no exception.

Oh yeah, we have nine cats and four birds. We shipped six cats here from the States three years ago. My beloved, sweet angel, Chloe, died last July - she was one I brought from the States. We have adopted four since then, including Petunia, her sister and brother.

Petunia's a really sweet little girl. She's black with yellow eyes. No one knows that we have a black cat. If my in-laws found out, they wouldn't be happy, especially my MIL. She believes that black cats are jins and do evil things. I don't believe this and have posted about this before..... I find it best to tell people if they're interested and, if not, then to leave well enough alone. I love black cats and find them to be so sweet natured. Petunia is very sweet but more high strung than other black cats I've been around, but usually I've seen the personalities of boys. I think girl cats, in general, are more temperamental and high strung than boys.... boy cats are more laid back and usually aren't as moody. And ppl say that cats aren't like ppl! hehehe I think cats are very smart... even tho many may disagree w/ me. We have a couple that aren't real bright, but most of them are quite intelligent.

Petunia's very talkative, loves to whine, and her most favorite thing is haleeb (milk), or I call it haleebies for her. I know they say not to give cats milk because after a certain age their bodies can't digest it and it'll cause diarrhea, but she loves it so much that I just can't deny her. And... from what I can tell, it doesn't cause her any probs. In the mornings, she loves to drink my leftover milk from my cereal. She'll wait patiently until I'm finished, sometimes being so anxious that she'll prop herself up to look in the bowl... I guess to ensure that I haven't finished everything. She also loves soft food. I usually give the kitties a treat in the afternoons after we come home from work. She prefers a bowl all of her own and sometimes refuses to eat unless I give her one... and I usually pamper her and give in to her wants and needs! When she was a baby kitten, she wouldn't eat, so I would give her morsels of food, one piece at a time, so that she'd eat... this is prob where her stubbornness comes from. I still sometimes do this and she loves it.

Most of our cats take treats from my fingers and prefer that I drop one at a time into their mouths... but her brother, Wilson, forcibly takes them from my fingers... preferring to snatch them from me before any of the others can get to them. He's a brat.

Petunia is quite fit, which is prob from all the exercise she gets during the day. She, her sister and brother chase each other around the house.... running at top speed usually. She loves to go downstairs and cry deeply at the bottom of the stairs until you call to her. She gets this after Aimee, one of our older cats. She doesn't like to be held and will cry like you're killing her until you put her down. She loves to be rubbed but only when she wants it. She loves to be licked and cleaned by Aimee... I'm assuming that she thinks Aimee is her mother. If I'm rubbing her and Aimee walks in the room, she'll leave me to go to her in an instant. Aimee loves to lick her... sometimes even biting her to make her stay still. It's the cutest thing to watch. They all lay together and sleep together, and snuggle in the winter. Petunia will get under the covers and sleep in the winter but hardly ever does it during the summer months.

She loves to go outside and eat the grass, but since it's summer I haven't been letting them out. The fleas are really bad here and they wind up getting fleas, then they chew/eat the fleas and get worms, and since there aren't any really good vets here except for one that charges three times the usual amount, I prefer to keep them indoors. Plus, I always go out w/ them while they're out and since it's so hot, it's easier to wait until the cooler months and then take them out into the yard. Petunia also loves to watch birds.... I think she'd love to catch one and torture it to death.... but I don't allow it. yeah.. I know, I'm a poor sport, but I'm not into that sort of thing. The hubby has laughed and said we should buy them a mouse... yeah, right. Like I want to clean up rat gutts after they eat and then throw up a mouse.... sorry you guys, but that's what happens. And if you think furr balls are bad... you should clean up that mess!! So.. I ignore him when he talks of this... ok, he's kidding, but still! He has no idea.... I've had to clean this mess before and it's not fun, plus... I'm not one for torturing little sweet animals... including mice, and that's what the cats would do. They'd torture it until it died... or maybe they'd eat it before it was dead... not sure. Haven't seen it in a LONG time.. thank goodness.

Anyway... this is Patty Petunia. oh yeah... I forgot.. she loves to run down the stairs and make little sounds on each step... like she's talking and, w/ each cry, you'd think the wind had been knocked out of her. It's the cutest thing! She's the cutest thing! I just love her so much. And here ppl think that black cats and dogs are bad, evil and have jins (gennies) inside of them! I've also been told by several ppl that black cats have killed ppl.... or the jins.... this reminds me of the old wives tale about cats stealing your breath. Wasn't there some horror movie about that? Creep Show or something... where a cat got in the cradle of a child/infant and actually started taking the child's breath while the child slept?! You just have to laugh or sigh very deeply.

tearing her hair out!

when i was a young girl, prob in the 7th or 8th grade, me and one of my cousins would get into hair pulling fights. it wasn't fun but it got out a lot of aggression. i usually won and she'd cry, and i feel bad for it now, and did then too. but it was always out of anger and usually because she was mean and would say hurtful things.... so i always thought she deserved it! ;)

BUT....

day before yesterday, i think i could have done the same (w/out feeling an ounce of sympathy) to the housemaid. i wanted to hurt her .... make her feel pain. because after everything, she sat there expressionless, motionless and didn't shed one tear. matter of fact, when she boarded the bus to go to the airport, we heard that she complained the entire way that we hadn't given her a salary for a year, which is a total lie. but, she lived for lying.

i surprised myself really..... i've never experienced such anger and complete, full blown rage. all this time, i felt like i was going crazy, but knew she was behind it. i'd say things but there was no proof. i don't think anyone truly believed me for the longest time. there were times when i doubted myself... i thought i was imagining things. i will admit, that's an awful feeling.

she was manipulative and evil. pure evil. she tried to present herself as such a sweet little thing, and you know, she was good at it. when she first came to our house, i adored her. she was so sweet and busted her butt even when it wasn't necessary. i wanted to show her a better life... i even started trying to teach her English. we took her places, out to eat, swimming, gave her a TV, cable, DVD player (yeah it was old but it worked)... all the works. i was told to make her sleep on the floor outside... which is something i would NEVER do. i always treated her like a person, like a human. i abhor abuse... but... i can now understand how someone could go to that extreme. i hate to say it, but i can undersand. maybe later, when i'm past this experience and over the pain of it... i will prob not understand it... but right at this moment, i can understand it. but, in saying this and before i get ppl saying crazy things to me... i do not recommend it nor do i think that what is happening in this country and elsewhere is a good thing. i personally feel that these ppl/housemaids/help should leave this country and not be involved in ppl's lives or be allowed to work here... but that's just me.

this girl, the housemaid, wore a hijab and covered herself from head to toe. she prayed 5 times a day... to someone/something... but it wasn't for goodness.

i blame myself a lot for the things that happened. i keep going thru the couldhave, shouldhave's. yeah, i know, she's out of our house, and i'm really happy about that. the weight has been lifted, the animals are even relaxed (they were scared of her) and the house just seems more calm. even still... the memories remain, and i was told that it could take a good couple of weeks or more to not feel so helpless and depressed about it. i talked to that lady that Strav (comment from my earlier post) recommended to me... she's a kind woman. she told me that we're not alone. this happens a lot. the indonesian housemaids are really bad, especially when it comes to lying and doing bad things. and... they do DO black magic. wonder why it is that you hear this but when it comes to this stuff taking place, ppl want to ignore it and pretend it isn't happening. i didn't even believe in this stuff. i had soooo many ppl around me telling me that she was prob doing black magic... and when i actually started believing it and seeing things, no one wanted to do anything about it!

i told the housemaid what i thought of her after it all happened. i screamed and yelled at her... i got in her face, pointed my finger a breath away from her... all the while, she looked off. at one point, she said "sorry", but i told her that sorry doesn't cut it. i wanted to take and shake the life from her... i did (meaning i wanted to but i didnt). and i'm not sorry for it. i didn't touch her though, except when she was upstairs and wouldn't leave her room.

it first started when she wanted to lock her door and i told her she couldn't. she had just gotten buzzed by the other housemaid to come downstairs to go to Ramas. she kept stalling for time, pacing in her room. i knew something was up. i stood there and wouldn't leave. she then went into the bathroom and started brushing her teeth. after she finished, she came from the bathroom carrying two big garbage bags. she said it was trash. i told her that she couldn't take them. when i saw these bags, all i could think was, "what's inside those bags?!" when i told her that she couldn't take them, she insisted. i told her again, "NO"... she still tried to bring them towards me. this is when i went to her and said "NO!, you are not taking them out of this room". at this point, she yelled, "OKAY". but she wouldn't move. she then bent down and rummaged thru the one bag and pulled out a letter for the post. she then walked around like in a daze and then said she needed to get her mobile. i'm like... "what mobile, you don't have a mobile" she told me it was her friends. i'm like, "oh no, you aren't taking any mobile" (she had stolen the battery from mine months ago.... that's all i could think about.)

she stood there and wouldn't move. i told her to go and she wouldn't move. i grabbed her arm and forced her from the room. i took her down the stairs and out of the house. after locking the doors, i went upstairs and proceeded to go thru the bags of "trash" and the rest of everything in that room.

i have never been so shocked. i found the battery to my mobile! i knew she had it... even when she said she didn't. i found so many things..... things that were missing, things i had thrown away (she took from the trash), underwear, my clothes, hair things, make up, plastic from the kitchen, towels, hand towels, dish clothes, good pens, jewelry, film... all sorts of things. i had never gone into her room searching for anything. i respected her privacy and tried to treat her like an equal and as a member of our house.

i will NEVER do this again. i do not and will not ever trust these ppl. the last girl we had stole from me. a gold ring my FIL had given to me. she denied it. we got rid of her. this time... it was all under my nose but i didn't see it. she was smart.... i was naive.

but never again.

she's outta here!

our little housemaid will be getting her walking papers tomorrow afternoon. i am overjoyed - i see light at the end of the tunnel! i want her out of our lives because the last year 1/2 has been an emotional rollercoaster thru the brinks of hell w/ this lil angel in our house. i'm sick of the mental choas.

a lot of ppl have not understood and questioned why she is still here - why we didn't get rid of her months ago (which should have happened)... but i'm here to tell ya... convincing my FIL of this has not been the easiest thing to do. matter of fact, he's still not convinced, but the hubby didn't give in to his dad's questions of "why" that was asked many times over today.

we have complained about her many times - told all the stories of the strange "goings-on", and i even heard a gasp escape my MIL's lips, but nothing was done. when it came time to proceed w/ getting rid of her... it wasn't spoken of - so we dropped it more often than not - it was just easier that way.

but..... i waited and hoped... hoped that it would change - it didn't. for months now, i've been finding myself going thru this emotional tug of war, going back and forth in these moments of unnatural **clarity** - feeling sorry for her and wanting to keep her and then something would happen and i'd find myself fearing her. fear is such an unhealthy emotion - and it's especially worse when you feel tied to it.

this girl likes to play big time mind games and for a while i thought i was being paranoid about it all but not so. i know i wasn't, my husband knows i wasn't. we've decided that it's for the best that she's leaving our house.

it all culminated last week after purchasing this cabinet for our bedroom. there's a drawer in the top where i've been putting all of our medicine, knick knacks, various magazine articles that i want to keep and such. i organized this little top drawer. i lined up all the medicine, put my papers in a nice stack, put my gum over on top of my papers, etc., etc. all was good or so i thought.

i came home one day last week from work, opened up that drawer and everything inside of it was completely messed up. some of the medicine boxes were open, it looked as tho my papers had been gone through... it was very weird. and.. this plastic container i have in the bedroom, that i brought down from storage, had been opened. i closed it the last time i used it. i asked my husband and he hadn't touched it. who had opened it? is there a ghost in our house?

ok, no big deal you say... but i'll tell ya this. i don't like someone going thru things that they don't need to be going thru. i don't have anything in there that's worth anything, and that's not the point, but i don't like to imagine her in here snooping thru our things! she's the housemaid, but there are limits.

i put everything back in place the next day before work and off we go.

when we get home that afternoon, i go straight up to the bedroom and head straight for the drawer. it is completely in shambles once again. this time, i told my husband. i told him exactly what had happened the day before and how i had straightened it. we decide to test her to see if it happens again. this time we take a picture of the way i arrange it. we get home the next day, and it's all messed up again but we say nothing. you may ask why we don't confront her... well, my dears, it does no good whatsoever. she will deny, deny, deny.

the next day we lock the door. the day after, we leave it unlocked, organize the drawer, come home.... it isn't touched. it's exactly the way i left it. she didn't move a thing. and she hasn't since then.

these little games happen every day. if i don't say anything to my husband, they continue and switch around, she says bizarre things to me - says things in English but says she can't speak English, so much. if i mention anything to my husband and complain about it.... the VERY NEXT DAY... it is as if there was never a problem. everything is back in working order, if there was a problem, it's fixed..... except when she breaks my things or tears my clothes.

funny how it's only my stuff that keeps getting trashed... and it's all blamed on our cats - except for the clothes... i've gotten to the point that i don't cherish anything.

this madness and much much more has been filling our lives for prob a year now. i am so so glad that she is bye bye tomorrow. we will insist that she packs her bags out in the open... many of my things have been *lost*... i'm sure i won't see them, but we won't give her a chance for anything. our door will be locked tomorrow before heading to work because i'm pretty sure she knows or will know by tomorrow because the housemaids at my MILs house prob heard tonight... so there's a very good chance that she'll be told while we're at work tomorrow.

i'm really hoping that this weight will be lifted from me ... i know it'll give us a lot more freedom - and, truthfully, i hate having someone in our house. i did all the cleaning before and i can do it again. i never wanted a housemaid anyhow... but there are those who don't take "no" for an answer.

we have taken back control and it feels GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD !!!!

i feel like locking her out of every room but it's not possible. we came home from work today and the office door was closed and jewel's, our cat, was inside. the housemaid was cleaning that room this morning, so she closed the cat in there for the day. hubby also found petunia, our black cat, locked in HIS STUDIO!!!! the cats don't go in the studio. i'm sure this was done in an attempt to have things broken... not sure, but nothing was disturbed. like i said, the cats don't break everything. anyway... we didn't mention it to her. we spoke it and talked about it... so she prob knows. yes... i said it.